2009-10 NFL Preview

‘Twas the night before football and all through the house,

Not a creature was stirring, not even a fantasy football-exhausted computer mouse,

The father and sons slept with dreams of footballs in their heads,

The remotes were cleaned and the TV was shined,

Extra batteries by their chairs, chips and burgers smelled divine,

When all of a sudden… “Bwoooooooop”,

Power outage! Wait, it was just a dream. Well, here we are once again. The start of another amazing football season. A chance for the slate to be wiped clean. (I bet the Detroit Lions couldn’t wait.) And once again it’s time for my NFL Preview Post “Fake studio applause”. I’m your host, thisoldsoul.

AFC East: I will take the Patriots here. They would have won the division last year, had it not been for Tom Brady’s injury. The Jets, Dolphins, and Bills just can’t contest this year. Possible wild card for 1 of those 3.

AFC North: This will be contested between the Steelers and Ravens. The Bengals will fight valiantly but lose out, and the Browns will acknowledge another poor season. Steelers will most likely win, with Ravens being in the lead for a wild card.

AFC South: Titans vs. Colts here, with the Jaguars and Texans slipping in here and there.  Tough call but whatever team doesn’t win the division will win a wild card. Best guess: Titans. Texans may have a possible wild card.

AFC West: Plain and simple: Chargers. They may be slightly contested by the Broncos, but the Chiefs and Raiders will not even pose a threat.

AFC Wild Cards:  Colts and Ravens.

NFC East:  Quite possibly the strongest division in the NFL at this point. I will take the Giants here with Eagles and Cowboys, and quite possibly the Redskins in wild card contention.

NFC North: I’ll take the Packers, with the Vikings and Bears lurking in the wild card and possible division contention again. The Lions should pop champagne if they get one win, celebrate by going out to eat if there are two, and if they win three, they should sit around and just stare in amazement. Give them a clap. Or two if they deserve it.

NFC South: Falcons will most likely win, but Buccaneers, Panthers, and Saints should all contend also. Expect those four to fight to the finish.

NFC West: Flat out Cardinals here. Rams, Seahawks and 49ers will not even contend for anything. Except possibly first pick in next year’s draft.

NFC Wild Cards: Eagles and Vikings.

AFC Championship: Patriots over the Steelers. (Sorry, pal.)

NFC Championship: Eagles over the Giants.

Super Bowl: Patriots over the Eagles.

Madden 2010 Review

About a week ago, I got Madden 2010. Now comes a review for fans of the franchise.

This game is great. I love all the new modes and the  in-game minigames are great as well. Those are the new Fight for the Fumble andIce the Kicker abilities. In Fight for the Fumble, when the ball hits the ground, players from bothteams converge on it. The players are then directed to press a series of buttons, either repeatedly, like X X X Y Y Y  or sometimes like A B XXX Y AAA. Whoever can complete their grouping  first without messing up collects the fumble. In Ice the Kicker, I believe that if the teams are separated by three points or less with 2 minutes left in the 2nd of 4th quarters, the defense can call a timeout and control the icing effects on it.

The NFL Superstar mode involves taking control of a player you create yourself, or you can play as a rookie from the ‘09 draft class. You go through the rigors of signing an agent, being scouted by teams, going through the combine, and finally draft day. You also take an IQ test. You get the option to be selected by your favorite team, and now I am playing for the Patriots. I’m playing as a running back. You  go through training camp, do some interviews and play a few preseason games. At the end of the training camps, you get attribute points based on your performance during training camp practices. Use these to up needed skills. Once you hit the regular season you fall into a routine, which you’ll get used to pretty quickly. One downfall is your player gets really good really quickly, and from then on its pretty easy.

 

Fantasy Challenge involves drafting your own “Dream Team” and taking on other similarly crafted teams. You start in the Newbie League and move to the playoffs. After defeating the best team, you take on a team called the Kickers for the League Championship. They are a made up team and if you tackle them really hard you will get a “Roughing the Kicker” penalty because the team is made up of kickers. The only plays they really run are fake FG run and passes. However no matter what the y always score some matter of points. When they kick a field goal, they have unlimited range! The next league is the Black and Blue league. Haven’t made it past it yet.

By the way, after defeating the Kickers, I unlocked them for “Play Now” mode. There is a host of other unlockable teams that I bet you get by beating them in Fantasy Challenge.

Graphics are great!

 

9 out of 10 points possible. 0.1 off because no game is perfect. 0.9 points off because I had a glitch freeze my screen when I was doing really well versus the Steelers in my NFL Superstar playoffs. It didn’t matter though. I turned it on and off, played them again, and scored the winning touchdown reception. HAHAHAHAHA! Yes, I’m talking to someone who reads my blog. You know who you are.

Upcoming Posts:  The long awaited (sorry it hasn’t been sooner) Chapter 3. Any day now. Then Chapter 4. And a look at football season. Also a check on the baseball season so far. And anything else I think of.

Super Bowl XLIII Recap

Well, it’s all over, and boy, was this one for the ages. (Don’t we hear that every year?) The game  was a close one with some new records set, but finally the Steelers won it 27-23 and became the first franchise to win 6 championships.

The game’s first score was a rushing touchdown by Gary Russell, which put the Steelers up 7-0. Next, Jeff Reed kicked the shortest field goal in Super Bowl history, an 18-yarder which made it 10-0.  The Cardinals scored off a touchdown pass by Kurt Warner, who had stumbled earlier during the play, but kept his balance and threw it in the corner. Next, they drove deep to the end zone again, but on the next play the ball was picked off by James Harrison. Harrison followed blocking all the way to the end zone for the longest interception return for a touchdown ever-100 yards. He made a fumble recovery but it was declared incomplete.

Pittsburgh made another field goal which put them up 20-7, but Arizona came roaring back with a 1-yard pass for a touchdown to Larry Fitzgerald. The Steelers were then put deep on their own 1-yard line off of a punt with 3rd and 20 to go, or something like that. Ben Roethlisberger made a great pass to Santonio Holmes for a first down, but what?!? Holding, offense. Safety. Then the Cardinals scored again with a long touchdown pass and run to Fitzgerald. Yet again, he evaded all defenders and made his way for a touchdown putting them up 23-20. With 2 minutes left the Steelers drove all the way to the end zone. Then, a Ben Roethlisberger pass to Santonio Holmes. In the corner of the end zone. With 3 DBs on him. The world held its breath. He came down to earth.

TOUCHDOWN!!!

When the Cardinals got the ball back, they tried to drive for the touchdown, but to no avail. Lamar Woodleyforced a fumble and the Steelers fell on it, clinching the game. Penalties plagued the Cardinals all game long, and they led to some costly first downs for the Steelers. Santonio Holmes was awarded the MVP award, as he well deserved.

But the season is over and I can’t  wait for next year!!!

P.S. Sorry, but Wednesday I’ll preview the Nationals future for the upcoming baseball season.

Super Bowl XLIII Pick

Alright, now I know you’ve all been patient. And here it is! My pick for the 43rd Super Bowl in Tampa, Florida on February 1st. My pick for the Bowl is……………………….  *Drum Roll*

The Pittsburgh Steelers!

I’m picking them over the Cardinals because of their solid defense and great running game.  Their receiving corps is not as good as the Cardinals group but Big Ben is solid and so are their receivers. A sports simulation site ran this game a couple hundred times and got the Steelers winning over 55% of the time, the Cardinals the remaining 45%. I pick again the Steelers, by a score of 23-20, with a winning field goal by Jeff Reed.

But come this Sunday we will know who the 43rd champion will be, either the favored Pitssburgh Steelers or the underdog Arizona Cardinals. And a champion will be crowned and a loser will walk off in defeat.

Super Bowl!!

The Steelers and the Cardinals have fought their way to the Super Bowl. The Steelers through the obstacles of the Chargers and Ravens and the Cardinals through the obstacles of the Falcons, Panthers, and Eagles. The Steelrs won a hard fought game vs. the Ravens and the Cardinals squeaked it out versus the Eagles. Now the two teams will face each other in the 43rd Super Bowl in Tampa. Pittsburgh Steelers vs. the Arizona Cardinals. This will surely be a good matchup!

Till then,

thisoldsoul

P.S. Coming Thursday: My pick for the Super Bowl!

P.P.S. Coming next Monday: an outlook on the 2009 Washington Nationals season.

P.P.P.S. Coming the Thursday after the upcoming one: an outlook of the entire baseball season.

Saturday Wild Card Round Review

Well, the Wild Card Round is over and for those who didn’t see it, here’s what happened.

On Saturday, the Atlanta Falcons visited the Arizona Cardinals in the first game. The Cardinals pulled away early and took a 14-3 lead but the Falcons fought back and made it 17-14 at the half. Kurt Warner threw an amazing flea flicker bomb to Larry Fitzgerald, then gave the ball to Anquan Boldin on a beautiful pass for a 71-yard score. Boldin injured his hamstring on the play, with no word on his recovery.  They scored two more touch downs in the third to make it 28-17, then got a safety. The Falcons scored again but were not able to win as their season ended with a 30-24 loss. The Cardinals will take on the Panthers in the next round.

 

The second game was the Indianapolis Colts at the San Diego Chargers. The Colts took a 7-0 lead but the Chargers scored two touchdowns to make it 14-10 at the half. Then the Colts got another TD and a last minute field goal tied it at 17 going into overtime. When the Chargers got the ball they gave it to Darren Sproles who took  it for a 43-yard touchdown to win it. The Chargers will take on the Steelers who will have Big Ben Roethlisberger on Sunday afternoon.

Playoffs?!?

Don’t talk to me about playoffs! Playoffs?!?

Well,the season is over for the Patriots and the Redskins. The Redskins ended another dismal season, finishing 8-8 with a horrific loss to the lowly 49ers, 27-24. I didn’t even watch the game because I had no interest in it at all. Instead, I decided that STAR WARS Battlefront 2 was more interesting. Zorn has done well for a first time head coach, bringing the ‘Skins to 8-8, which is good for a beginner. We can expect more of him next year.

 

Meanwhile the Patriots have been knocked out because of wins by the Ravens and the Dolphins. But it was a great game to watch as they played the Bills in 40 to 50 mph winds, with some gusts up to 60 mph. There was one field goal attempt where the ball was kicked to the left on account of the winf going to the right, and the wind blew it across , out of play, and into the stands!

Well, now I am officially fans of the Steelers in the AFC, and the Giants in the NFC. I am fans of them because I was born in the New York area and was conscripted by a close friend into the Terrible Towel regime.