KG predicts the 2009 NFL season (sorry for the lateness of this)

The following blog post has been brought to you by Mr. T.




So during the week, I've been pretty busy with the whole school thing, and being a beast in life, and doing my preseason predictions. I had finished the regular season before kickoff last night, so please don't hold that against me. But without further ado, here are my 2009 preseason predictions. No fanfare, no stars surrounding a center-aligned title, none of that. Minimal (if any) analysis. Here goes.

AFC East
New England - 14-2
Miami - 6-10
New York Jets - 6-10
Buffalo - 5-11

With Tom Brady back, the Patriots will take its rightful place back on the top. Last year, the rest of the division benefited from an easy schedule, having played both West divisions, and thus inflating their record. As an odd-numbered year, Pennington will struggle or get hurt. One of the two. Bills are really inexperienced at the O-line.

AFC North
Pittsburgh - 14-2
Baltimore - 9-7
Cincinnati - 5-11
Cleveland - 4-12

The Super Bowl champs should challenge for the top seed in the AFC once again. While Rex Ryan's departure won't kill the Ravens, it'll be a little tougher on the defensive side. The lack of playmakers on offense can be a concern. Cincinnati is a big "if" at this point: this team will go as far as Carson Palmer does. If he does hold up, don't be surprised that they look for a playoff spot. Cleveland's got too much mess going on there.

AFC South
Indianapolis - 12-4
Tennessee - 11-5
Houston - 8-8
Jacksonville - 7-9

You would expect that with new coaches and coordinators, the Colts would fall off. But facing the AFC East and NFC West should help these teams' records and playoff aspirations. The Titans will be just fine without Haynesworth, so expect another dog fight atop the division. Jacksonville had terrible luck with injuries last year, but it always seems that they're never consistent on either side, regardless of injuries. The Texans are no slouch themselves, though I have them dropping a few games that could go either way. They could find themselves above .500 at season's end, and even slightly out of the playoff spot, with the state that a few divisions in the AFC are in.

AFC West
San Diego - 11-5
Oakland - 6-10
Denver - 6-10
Kansas City - 4-12

The brilliant AFC West. San Diego looks like the only real player in this division, and due to the lack of competition here, they may drop a few against proven foes. To be honest, either of the other three teams could wind up taking second place, but with Denver and Kansas City, I'm not quite sure how a base-defense switch will fare with them, seeing that both were very porous last season (Kansas City having 10 (!) sacks all 2008, and Denver seemed to allow yards by land and air (and if they were on sea, they'd be toast there too)). Kyle Orton won't be able to game-manage here with suspect offensive pieces. Same with Kansas City, with the loss of Gonzalez. Oakland...who knows what the heck is going on there.

NFC East
New York Giants - 11-5
Philadelphia Eagles - 10-6
Dallas Cowboys - 9-7
Washington Redskins - 9-7

A lot of changes swept through Big Blue this offseason with the losses of Plaxico Burress, Amani Toomer, and Derrick Ward. But this team has some immense depth on defense, and could see any of the receivers they have emerge. And the defense is still as awesome as ever, especially with Umenyiora coming back. Philly and Dallas are also gonna be in that mix for the division crown, but I see both teams struggling with consistency in this tussle. Don't sleep on the Redskins, either. They may have some aging pieces on the offensive line, and Clinton Portis isn't always healthy, but the defense should keep the team in games, and Jason Campbell finally has another year under the same offensive coordinator. Should be interesting to see this year develop.

NFC North
Green Bay Packers - 11-5
Minnesota Vikings - 11-5
Chicago Bears - 9-7
Detroit Lions - 2-14

Aaron Rodgers is ready for another year as Packers' quarterback, and after some changes on defense, this team should contend again, with more of those 50/50 games going their way. Brett Favre basically completes this Vikings' team (for now, at least), and they're ready to contend for a Super Bowl. But with a presumably easier schedule, the Packers should be right up there with Minnesota, edging out the Vikes due to a far-down-the-road tiebreaker. The Bears still have some issues in the receiving corps, but they'll contend with Jay Cutler at the helm. And the most important news coming out of this division (even moreso than Favre v. Packers): the Detroit Lions will be infinitely better than they were last season. Who did I have them beating? I hope nobody back home kills me for this, but it's...the Redskins. And the Browns.

NFC South
Atlanta 10-6
Carolina 9-7
New Orleans 8-8
Tampa Bay 3-13

I really like what I see from Atlanta, but I don't know what to expect from the defense. That's what worries me about pretty much everyone in this division, except maybe the Panthers. I expect them to get it together down the stretch, though. Carolina starts off strong, but run into a tough stretch where the Patriots, Vikings, and Giants await them near the end of the season, and I can't see them winning any more than one of those three, if any at all. Drew Brees and the Saints can put it up with the best of them, but a big question mark is whether the defense can perform up to par. And at this point, the Buccaneers are just a mess. New coach, uncertain quarterback situation, offensive coordinator fired before the first game based on differing opinion of the head coach, loss of Derrick Brooks...they may as well wear the creamsicle jerseys all season.

NFC West
Seattle - 9-7
Arizona - 8-8
San Francisco - 6-10
St. Louis - 3-13

Atrocious. Absolutely atrocious. At one point in my mind-simulated season, Arizona and Seattle were tied at the top of teh division with 4-5 records. FOUR WINS AND FIVE LOSSES. Now outside of that, let's just say that even though the Cardinals made the Super Bowl, that was a case of them "getting hot at the right time." If you recall, the Cardinals were 9-7 and won the division because they were the only team not to suck enough to change coaches, or have injuries ravage their receiving corps, or the like. The Super Bowl losers curse strikes here. And speaking of injuries ravaging a team, that's basically what happened to the Seahawks last year. You can't get much worse than 4-12 with a team with this talent. They're coming on strong this year with a healthy Matt Hasselbeck (and hopefully a serviceable Seneca Wallace at backup). I'm just not buying the 49ers right now. Shaun Hill did well last year when he stepped in, but with an improved division altogether (even though the improvement is slight), and Michael Crabtree just being a moron (or genius, depending on how you look at it), they'd be fortunate to get back to 7-9. As for the Rams...I just feel sorry for Steven Jackson. It doesn't help that the NFC West has to see the NFC North and AFC South this year.

Now, who's going to the playoffs, and why?

In the AFC, the first round byes go to:
New England - 14-2
Pittsburgh - 14-2

New England wins the tiebreaker with Pittsburgh because of a better record against common opponents (New England beats Denver, but Pittsburgh loses to them)

The other division winners are:
Indianapolis - 12-4
San Diego - 11-5

The Wild Card berths belong to:
Tennessee - 11-5
Baltimore - 9-7 (Could have been 10-6, but because I have Houston losing to New England earlier in the day, the Ravens won't likely go hard in their final game against Oakland)

As for the NFC, the first round byes are:

New York Giants - 11-5
Green Bay Packers - 11-5

Surprising? Perhaps. I couldn't see anyone breaking away from the pack in the NFC East, and the Packers were actually tied with the Vikings atop the North, but beat them out because of a better record against conference opponents. As for this tiebreaker, the Giants had a better strength of victory.

Other division winners:
Atlanta Falcons - 10-6
Seattle Seahawks - 9-7

Wild Card in the NFC:
Minnesota Vikings - 11-5
Philadelphia Eagles - 10-6

Here's how my playoffs played out...the first round:

(3) Indianapolis defeats (6) Baltimore
(5) Tennessee defeats (4) San Diego

(3) Atlanta defeats (6) Philadelphia
(5) Minnesota defeats (4) Seattle

Divisional round:
(2) Pittsburgh defeats (3) Indianapolis
(1) New England defats (5) Tennessee

(3) Atlanta defeats (2) Green Bay
(1) New York defeats (5) Minnesota

Conference championships:
(1) New England defeats (2) Pittsburgh
(1) New York defeats (3) Atlanta

Super Bowl XLIV:
New England defeats New York

And that's the end of my preseason picks. Have a happy season, folks.

~KG~

Brett Favre. I know you all were waiting for it.

The following post has been brought to you by the letters W-T-F.



Well it could have been brought to you by something else, but I didn't want to get too harsh on one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, as well as the absolute greatest quarterback in Packers' history.

But this is clearly bothering me. I kinda knew it was eventually going to happen ever since the fateful offseason before the 2008 season. I just didn't expect him to just say "Oh, OK, I'm not gonna come back, guys. Sorry." and then a few weeks later, express interest. At that point, I should have known that he was just trying to get out of going through training camp and other offseason workouts with the team and all that. All I can say about that is...well, that's his loss.

But here's the thing that scares me. Last year, the Vikings were pretty good at just about every position: running back, receiver, a nice run-blocking offensive line, an excellent run-stopping front 7 which includes two All-Pro defensive tackles, a defensive end who can get to the quarterback with the best of them and some decent defensive backs. Their only problem? Quarterback. And with that, the Vikings are definitely a NFC contender. If Favre just wanted to go into the division, to any old random team just to jam the Packers, I would have just laughed at the whole thing, seeing that it was going to blow up in his face when the Packers did beat them this year.

But this year's Vikings are anything but that. There's no doubt in my mind that Favre chose to go to the Vikings for revenge against the Packers for what happened an offseason ago, because if it wasn't, why wouldn't he have gone somewhere else? We all knew that this was his main intention, and once October 5 and November 1 come around, I'm gonna root hard as hell for the Packers to win both contests.

For those Packers fans Brett Favre dick suckers who are going to root for Favre to do well this season, give me a break. Barring an unlikely early-season collapse which would take the Vikings well out of playoff contention early, there's no way you can support Brett Favre, a member of the sworn rivals, and root for the Packers to do well in the same time. Even if the Packers and Vikings aren't playing each other. It just doesn't work that way, seeing that any time that a contending team like the Vikings wins, it hurts the Packers' chances at the division/playoffs/home playoff game that much more. I don't see how it can get any simpler than that. (Another exception would be that if a Vikings win against someone helps the Packers into the playoffs, in which case my point will be void.)

However, this stance does not mean that I will forever hate Brett Favre until the day I die. I understand what he (and everyone else back in the early '90s) has done for the franchise, seeing that between Lombardi and Favre, the team was pretty horrible. In fact, I think it would be very classy act for the Packers fans at Lambeau to give Favre a standing ovation on November 1, even as he runs on the field in the hated white and purple. However, once kickoff comes, all bets are off. It's go-time.

And another thing: if Favre actually does well with the Vikings, and does come back to win a Super Bowl with them, at that point, there's no way I can like him. Ever. That is the only thing that can have me hate him for the rest of my life.

And for the record, the Packers won their Super Bowl one year before I even cared about the NFL, so if Favre wins one with Minnesota, it doesn't suddenly even things up. At least with me.

But good luck to the Packers this season. I hope it's a good one.

~KG~

Thoughts on this offseason and upcoming NFL Draft.

The following blog post has been brought to you by the 2009 NFL Draft, from Radio City Music Hall in New York.



These last few weeks have had me thinking. I have had the opportunity, through an NFL Draft Special on ComRadio that's coming up on Draft Day(s), to research the team needs, based on current roster situation and previous stats, of two teams leading up to the NFL Draft. Believe it or not, none of those teams were the Packers. But from following certain forums and keeping track of the news articles from packers.com, there is one thing that's been irking me as of late. And yes, I've commented on this before (in fact, I addressed it the last time I made a blog post), but I feel the need to say it again.

Right now, we are a little over three days until the Detroit Lions are officially on the clock (although as you know they could sign someone before there's an announced pick).

Over the offseason, much has been made of the Green Bay Packers' defensive struggles last season (esp. against the run), and their inability to finish close games later on in the season, or even give Aaron Rodgers a lead to protect, instead of having him being forced to come back from behind all the time, so he will eventually crash and burn. After all, the graphics that you'd see on your TV screen at the end of games would involve the Packers' inability to win games decided by four points or less (they would eventually lose 7 of their total 10 games lost by such a margin).

So what do they do?

Ted Thompson and the management decide to fire the defensive coordinator, as well as nearly every assistant coach on the defensive side of the ball (save Winston Moss). Sounds like a good start, right? Of course it is! It was unfortunate that they had so many injuries during the season, but all those injuries did was expose the lack of depth and talent past our starting 11 on defense.

What's the next step?

They decide to hire Dom Capers, a well-respected defensive coordinator who can help turn around the defense. (I must note that Bob Sanders' defense in theory was not bad, but when dire situations hit as was the case last year with the injuries, the defense was just overwhelmed.) Capers' defenses in the past have taken teams to conference championship rounds, and could help the Packers get back to the playoffs.

But wait!

Most, if not all, of those defenses were of the 3-4 variety! Something that the Packers have never done!

And as every educated football fan knows, switching from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4 is not as simple as picking up a controller and toggling between "4-3" and "3-4" in the "Defensive Playbook" settings in Madden. It's not as simple as just taking a DT out and putting in another middle linebacker.

And after the announcement of the defensive change, you would think that Thompson would change from his typical sit-on-his-ass style of GMing and actually make some real moves to support this, and not just sign a bunch of practice squad scrubs and backup safeties and D-linemen, right? As you may recall in this post, I expressed my discontent towards him and Frank Wren about this offseason (although that post mostly dealt with Wren). And it's not like he doesn't have the resources to do it; he's got $34 million under the cap to work with. And despite all this, this is all that Ted has done this offseason.

http://www.footballsfuture.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=300698

See the first post in the topic, and see under "Green Bay Packers" what they've done in the offseason. You would think that with such a drastic change, he'd actually go after some people who have been proven to succeed in the 3-4 (which were out there in the free agent market), but it's just silly that he thinks that he can just plug his current personnel in any of those front seven spots and it'll all be hunky-dory.

Yeah, Ryan Pickett could probably be put in at nose tackle, and Barnett and Hawk can play the inside linebacker position (as well as our current depth), but who's on the roster, other than Cullen Jenkins, who are big and quick enough to play the DE positions and tie up blockers and at outside linebacker? Last time I checked, the OLBs need to do a lot more than just rush the quarterback, including *gasp* drop back into coverage, something that there is no evidence that Aaron Kampman can do. And neither does he have a quick first step when he does rush the quarterback; most of his sacks have to do with his...dare I use this sports cliché again...willingness to keep playing until the whistle. Yeah, he played linebacker at Iowa, but once again: college...NFL...completely different animals.

That said, what makes Ted think that he can find everybody that he needs in the draft? Especially when, like I said in the last post, the last starter-caliber players he's drafted were Greg Jennings, A.J. Hawk and Daryn Colledge (all from 2006)? Yeah, let's all assume an effective OLB/DE, 3-4 DE, NT or an elite offensive tackle are gonna still be there when it's time to draft. And then when it is time for them to draft at No. 9, he'll wind up picking the best player available, even if it's yet another wide receiver.

I'm just tired of Ted just sitting on his ass during the offseason, when there are several opportunities that he could take to make his team better, but doesn't want to give up his precious second and third and fourth round draft picks for a proven player, and settles for 10-13 draft picks, where only 8-11 of them actually make the team, and only five of them even make a positive impact for the team.

Mike McCarthy also better watch his ass. I've already commented enough on this bum.

Goodbye.

~KG~

Why do my teams suck at the offseason?

The following blog post has been brought to you by Theater of the Mind.



I bought it from iTunes just yesterday. It's an OK CD, nothing special. A few good songs here and there. But I had to get it since I've seemingly always liked Ludacris' stuff.

But back to the issue at hand.

The events of the past few days (i.e., Griffey denying a report that he had signed with the Atlanta Braves, then a day later signing with the Mariners) have had me thinking. Seeing that this isn't the first time a major name reportedly signed with the Braves, then backed out and went elsewhere this offseason, I'd like to know what in the hell is Frank Wren doing wrong? I'll be the first to admit that I have no clue what goes on during those negotiations, nor will I ever claim to be able to general manage a professional sports team.

In an offseason after seeing my most-hated team in baseball (at least for the time being) win the World Series, as well as being reminded of it every day I go to and from campus as I'm surrounded by hundreds of red-P-hat-wearing students, I contemplated boycotting baseball in its entirety this upcoming season.

But during the offseason, there had been talks about the Braves really being active.

First, Javier Vasquez came over in a trade with the White Sox which sent several minor leaguers the other way, including Brent Lillibridge and Tyler Flowers, who were highly touted in the system.

During all of this, the Braves were in constant trade talks with the Padres and Jake Peavy. During this time, even I thought this would be a fantasy.

But that was until the Braves were in negotiations with Rafael Furcal, who started his career in the ATL before leaving for the Dodgers. While he did struggle with back problems last year, I was hoping for him to get back on track, and if the Braves landed him, we'd have that leadoff hitter that I've been longing to see this team have since he left. Not only that, but we'd suddenly have more leverage in the Peavy talks, as Yunel Escobar (one of the key parts that San Diego wanted) would have been available.

And I was a little excited when it was announced that he did sign. But a day later, I hear that Furcal denied reports that he had signed with the Braves. A day or so passed, and I hear that he returns to the Dodgers. Everything comes out that Wren believes that Furcal's agent reneged on what Wren thought was a verbal agreement, and then decides to cut off that agent for any other free agents he may possibly represent. And I momentarily lost some respect from the Furcal camp.

But a few days pass, and the team finally does land someone of note, Derek Lowe. While he isn't really ace-material, he should be solid enough to carry the rotation before Tim Hudson comes back sometime later in the season. *knocks on wood*

A few other minor signings occur, and then there's the Griffey situation. It hasn't been made a secret that the Atlanta Braves have the worst outfield power-wise, having put up only 27 homers last year between Jeff Francoeur (whose defense and arm accuracy has even slipped a bit), Mark Kotsay, Brandon Jones, Matt Diaz, Gregor Blanco, Josh Anderson, Omar Infante at times, and Greg Norton at times. Griffey, even though he's 39 and way passed his prime, would at least just platoon in left field against righties and churn out maybe a .265 average with, say, 15 bombs and 70 ribbies, which is already more than half of this group's output last year. And this week, what do you know, he decides to sign with the Braves.

Oops...Oh well, good luck in Seattle.

But what does this tell us about Wren and his ability to pull free agents? Is there something about him that he's not selling to the prospect? Is he just bad behind closed doors? (no, folks, I don't mean it that way so don't even start)

Now when a few days pass, I might be thanking Furcal and Griffey for not signing with the Braves, seeing that none of them are can't-miss guys at this point in their career.

But unforunately for me, this isn't the first time I've had to deal with crap in the offseason. I'm usually not the biggest critic of Ted Thompson, but he has pretty much been passive when it comes to chasing good talent in the free agent market, as he'd rather have unproven draft picks fill his roster instead. Yeah, Ted. How's that Justin Harrell pick going? That was a freaking waste, and anyone who has the audacity to try and defend that pick needs to be shot. I was mad when the pick was announced (but not as mad as this guy:)



(Yeah, it was probably TiVo'd and pre-meditated, but whatever)...but anyways, I was mad when the pick was made, and I tried to have patience and hope that this would pan out, but it hasn't, Harrell is still a lazy bum, and I thought this was a completely bullshit waste of a pick. In fact, he's spawned absolutely zero starters in the last two drafts (and no, people, kickers, as well as fullbacks who are just merely there to take up a roster spot do not count as "starters." And neither does that bum Jeremy Thompson).

And in the free agent market, right after the Packers were on the doorstep of the Super Bowl, the Packers only pull some backup linebacker Brandon Chillar (who did do an all-right job adding depth and experience to the linebacker position), and the year before, they only get some guy slated to play nickel or dimeback, and he doesn't even do that during the season because Tramon Williams punks him at that position.

Seriously, Frank and Ted, get your fucking shit together. You're making my life, as well as the lives of everybody who has the weird combination of liking the Packers and Braves, miserable. In fact, I'd be more comfortable with Wren not even getting everybody's hopes high with the potential signings of those individuals.

Oh well, looks like I'll be resigned to seeing Brandon Jones flail around in left field, Matt Diaz run into the picture of Hank Aaron picture in left field while chasing down a fly ball and Gregor Blanco being a complete failure at the plate. We can only hope that Jordan Schafer and Jason Heyward are the big boys that they are touted to be whenever they are ready to come up (likely to get some playing time in 09, might be with the big club in 2010). That, and Tommy Hanson waiting in the wings for the newly-signed Tom Glavine to wet the bed on the mound, then break his arm throwing his 60 mile-an-hour "fastball."

I'm out of here.

~KG~

Thoughts about this past season, plus a look back on my preseason predictions.

The following blog post has been brought to you by Super Bowl XLIII.



Yes, I know it's been a long time since I've last done this. Due to the fact that I've just been busy with God-knows-what over the last few times that I did this, plus my absolute frustration with the way the 2008 NFL season turned out for the Packers, that basically explains my apparent lethargy towards this. But nonetheless, I'd like to talk about a few things, specifically what happened during the course of the year, going over my preseason predictions.

Let's start with the AFC East, where I said:
New England Patriots - 12-4
New York Jets - 10-6
Buffalo Bills - 8-8
Miami Dolphins - 2-14

OK, I didn't do bad here, despite the fact that I didn't get the playoff team right. I almost nailed the Jets' record right on the nose, and I did add the detail in which they'd miss out on the playoffs during the last week of the season. Who would have known that Tom Brady would go down for the year in week 1? Regardless, they did put up a valiant effort with Cassel, and were unfortunately the second 11-5 team to miss the playoffs (once again, due to a tiebreaker). The Miami Dolphins I swung and missed on (but who didn't?), mainly because Chad Pennington was playing for them, and I didn't have confidence in him. But hey--the Wildcat offense works wonders. Bills were basically who I thought they were.

In the AFC North...
Pittsburgh Steelers - 10-6
Cleveland Browns - 10-6*
Cincinnati Bengals - 5-11
Baltimore Ravens - 4-12

The Browns and Ravens turned out to be in flip-flopped positions, more or less. Derek Anderson was a disappointment and was probably seen as a one-year wonder, but is it all his fault that Braylon Edwards has stone hands at wide receiver? And then when Quinn went down for the year, we knew the Browns were screwed. Get this: their last offensive touchdown was back in week 11 in a Monday Night tilt with the Bills (it also turned out to be their last win). They did score a garbage-time interception return for touchdown on a Monday Night game against Philadelphia on Week 15, but I'm not counting the defensive touchdown. But it's also interesting to note that that was the last time the Browns scored a point at all this season, as they were shut out in two consecutive games to end it.

Now for the Ravens, who knew Joe Flacco would have played the way he would throughout the season? And I give props to the defense's play, especially one Ed Reed. If I knew the quarterback play would be this good, I'd have had more confidence in them. But it's impossible to know how exactly rookie quarterbacks will fare. Bengals and Steelers were on target for the most part.

Now, to the AFC South...
Indianapolis Colts - 13-3
Jacksonville Jaguars - 11-5*
Tennessee Titans - 8-8
Houston Texans - 8-8

Was Kerry Collins really worth more wins than Vince Young was? Looking back at it, I'll have to say yes. So many times he has been written off as being "done," but this time he isn't asked to do too much, but to not make mistakes. And you can thank that two-headed monster in LenDale White and Chris Johnson in the backfield, as well as that defense. I was right that there would be two 10+ win teams in this division, but not right on the fact that the Colts would not be the division winners. But they did make it interesting and didn't give up. The Texans are pretty much in the same position as they were last year. But the Jacksonville Jaguars were the real disappointment here. I honestly don't know WHAT happened here. Perhaps it was the loss of their two great run-blocking offensive guards for the season in the early parts of Week 1 that has hindered their ability to run the football with Taylor and Jones-Drew. And it also doesn't help that Garrard wasn't feeling comfortable back there because of the offensive line woes; that led to his subpar season.

And to round out the AFC with the West:
San Diego Chargers - 14-2
Denver Broncos - 6-10
Kansas City Chiefs - 4-12
Oakland Raiders - 3-13

So it's not too hard to pick the bottom two of this division this year. Nearly nailed it on the nose, but I think that's close enough. While the Chargers weren't 14-2 good, their 8-8 record winning the AFC West doesn't show how good they really were, especially when they lost their first two games at the gun/on a controversial call. (But then again, they almost lost to the Chiefs twice, so it might have evened out there.) But still, they played better than anyone in that division during the last four weeks, and took the division away from a Broncos team that really didn't want it. I swear, those guys would have been the worst division winners in recent memory if the Chargers didn't take it away from them. I don't think I predicted that 32 of the Broncos' running backs would go on injured reserve, but the defense is still putrid.

To the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 12-4
New York Giants - 11-5*
Philadelphia Eagles - 11-5*
Washington Redskins - 8-8

Gotta love overhyping the NFC (b)East! I should have seen the Cowboys just cower when Marion Barber went down, or when locker room chemistry issues started poking its ugly head out on them. But then the same thing happened to the Giants, no? They had home field advantage pretty much solidified, but then they shot themselves in the foot. Or leg. Whatever. The Philadelphia Eagles did a good job of getting their shit together in time and clinched the playoff spot (at the expense of my fantasy team's championship, but that's neither here nor there) before it really hit the shitter. And can we laugh at the Cowboys again? The Redskins...I don't know what happened here. This type of underachievement was expected from me, but not after they'd do so well in the beginning of the season.

Here are my wonderful NFC North predictions.
Green Bay Packers - 10-6
Minnesota Vikings - 9-7
Detroit Lions - 6-10
Chicago Bears - 5-11

I still don't regret my choice for division winner. The Packers really could have gone 10-6 if a few things went their way, or if they had a defense that was capable of actually holding late game leads. But then again, this kind of thing can be said about a lot of teams. I was almost on target with the Vikings, but too much bias kept me from giving them another win, as well as my unbiased expectations of them. But you knew the winner of this division would fail in the playoffs, and they did as expected. Even the Bears could have fought for that playoff spot if they didn't decide to wet the bed against Houston in Week 17, and they would have made Minnesota earn that division win, which they would have gotten anyway even if Longwell missed the kick at the end. I know I was talking about the lack of an offense the Bears appeared to have at the beginning of the season...but I'd have to say Matt Forte is a nice-looking running back. And trust me, you were lying if you said the Lions would go 0-16. Don't even act like they were going to do it. But I'm pretty sure you said they'd go 3-13 or 2-14 or 1-15 or whatever. But hey--at least they went undefeated in the preseason.

The NFC South lies ahead.
New Orleans Saints - 10-6
Carolina Panthers - 9-7
Tampa Bay Buccaneers - 8-8
Atlanta Falcons - 3-13

Well let's just say I was wrong with the Falcons. Matt Ryan basically proved EVERYONE wrong with his performance as a rookie. I was somewhat confident in Michael Turner taking the load at running back. Unfortunately, my analysis for the Falcons wasn't very extensive, as I was tired of typing a bunch of shit at the time. The Panthers finished 12-4, but weren't really as good as their record shows with Jake Delhomme playing inconsistently, and five of their wins totaling four points or less each time. The Saints...well that's what happens when you don't stop people from scoring. Drew Brees can pass the ball for miles, but it doesn't matter if they can't do anything against the other quarterback who can pass it for miles. How about that chokejob from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? A playoff berth (and a possible chance at hosting the Super Bowl) is within reach, and then they get diarrhea against the Raiders. Yuck.

And lastly, the NFC West:
Seattle Seahawks - 12-4
Arizona Cardinals - 7-9
St. Louis Rams - 5-11
San Francisco 49ers - 2-14

I knew the Seahawks' receivers were hurt for a good chunk of the year, and as was Matt Hasselbeck, but I went with my heart instead of my head. After my praise of the Cardinals during my analysis, I turned a complete 180 on them and said "nah, they won't do it." And with the way they were playing down the stretch, they shouldn't have done it. If there were a team that was capable of playing football in this division, they wouldn't have done it, and we wouldn't have seen this great story about the Cardinals being underdogs throughout the playoffs and silencing everybody. The 49ers sucked, but were better than 2-14, obviously. The St. Louis Rams, however, I'd have to say they're the worst team in the NFL, even with the 0-16 Lions. There's no logical reason for them beating the Redskins and Cowboys; they should be 0-16 with the Lions.

And so I got five teams in the playoffs as well, with three in their correct slotting (Steelers, Chargers, Eagles), while the others are just there (Giants, Colts). Of course, I had the Seahawks and Patriots in the Super Bowl, and that won't be happening. Just one win in the playoffs as well (Eagles), and I had one of those teams in the second round (Chargers).

That's gonna do it for this post. I should be coming back with some more writing hopefully soon.

Out.

~KG~

Thoughts on Green Bay Packers @ Detroit Lions, 9/14/2008

The following blog post has been brought to you by a near-epic chokejob to the hands of the Detroit Lions.



Oops...wrong sport. But still, it was pretty ugly at the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth.

But anyways, time to get started on this edition. Here are my thoughts.

• While Aaron Rodgers appeared to have better passing numbers than his last game, the stats are a little misleading. He did have 24-38 for 328 yards, but there were a lot of dropped passes and misfires, especially in the second half. And also, he's been known to hold onto the ball a little too long, as evidenced by the sack-and-strip from the blind side with Dewayne White. And for the second consecutive game, a center-quarterback exchange went awry with Jason Spitz. That needs to be eliminated before it becomes a big problem.
• But because I don't want to dwell on a negative so much, Rodgers was as good as advertised from his second drive on during the first half. He hit 14 of his first 17 targets during those first four scoring drives, including some situations where he eluded the rush and still delivered a strike to his receiver (the James Jones TD and another Jones first down catch come to mind). For the second week in a row, Rodgers reared back and showed off his arm (to the misfortune of him being compared to Brett Favre here), hitting Greg Jennings on a pass that flew 60 yards in the air. He also found Donald Lee on a seam route for a good chunk of yardage, being able to thread the needle in that zone. He'd then throw a perfect pass to Jordy Nelson, burning his man. And then there's his scrambling ability that I've been raving about all this time.
• It also helps that Greg Jennings was still his beastly self. But I don't think I need to reiterate that.
  
• But Rodgers had to throw the ball a lot today because of the nonexistent running game that did exist against this team in the form of Michael Turner last week. I'm not quite sure if Ryan Grant was still being bothered by his hamstring, but the numbers didn't look promising at all. 20 yards on 15 carries? I need to throw up. But at least Brandon Jackson had a redeeming game, going 61 yards on 7 carries and a touchdown, so it wasn't completely a disastrous day on the ground.
• Did Calvin Johnson just run past our DBs again? I don't know what to say, but that dude's just a freak of nature. Big, strong, fast, and made a nice catch for his first touchdown. But the coverage of good receivers worries me if Johnson did this to the team twice in the same quarter. What's going to happen when Terrell Owens, Reggie Wayne, Andre Johnson and others does this to the team? (Not that I worry about Andre Johnson, but still...) At least we haven't ha da problem with a good pass-catching tight end like we always do, but that may happen next week with Jason Witten.
• Another special teams snafu almost cost this team massively. Derrick Frost lets a snap through his hands when he's about to punt from his endzone. That just can't happen.
• For the second week in a row, Mike McCarthy playcalls like he doesn't want to lose, rather than to win. I forgot to note this, but the massively conservative playcalling during leads makes me wonder whether the head coach's first name is actually Joseph. Especially when Cory Redding was eating our running backs alive (specifically Ryan Grant). And even during the Vikings game, they couldn't run the clock out sufficiently. How about a screen pass instead of running behind the imbecile offensive guards on this team? Mix the shit up, please!
• At the end, at least we know that the Detroit Lions realized that they were in the lead...and promptly became the Detroit Lions. After taking that lead, it's like they shit the bed on defense and Jon Kitna gained about 20 pounds. Greg Jennings continued being a beast when the Lions forgot how to tackle, so he ran for about 60 yards. Then Mason Crosby kicked a field goal. Then...Kitna somehow donned a white helmet with a blue stripe down the middle, white pants, and a navy blue jersey with a big "14" on the front and back, and threw it to someone from the school with the winged helmets twice...one of which went back for a score. And then he threw one to someone from a HBCU, and that went back for a TD. Jon Kitna being Jon Kitna. Stick to your unfulfilled guarantees.
  

But anyways, 2-0 is 2-0, and I'm happy that this is the case. But if the Packers have any chance at beating the Cowboys, then there needs to be massive improvements during all three phases of the game.

Boom...outta here.

~KG~

Thoughts on Minnesota Vikings @ Green Bay Packers, 9/8/08

The following blog post has been brought to you by the coming of Aaron Rodgers onto the NFL scene and doing work!



The Green Bay Packers...welcome to life after Favre. It won't be as sunny as it was at times today, but it was nice to see Aaron Rodgers winning his first career start, the first start for any Packers quarterback not named Brett Favre since 1992, and beating of all teams, the hated Minnesota Vikings. This really put a smile on my face. Here are my observations of the game.

• Aside from the long run that Ryan Grant had in the fourth quarter, the running game was basically as I expected: nonexistent, and you can thank the Williams Wall, other Vikings linemen, and the crappy guards/centers on the Packers' side of the ball, specifically Tony Moll. Take away Grant's 57-yarder that set up Rodgers' TD plunge, and the Packers only have 47 rush yards from running backs on an average of 2.5 yards per carry, and that number's rounded up.
• You could not have asked for a better performance from Aaron Rodgers in his first year out. 18-22, 178 and a nice TD toss, threading the needle between a jumping Kevin Williams and diving Ben Leber to find fullback Korey Hall, who only touched the ball eight times last regular season, all receptions. On that same drive, I must note that Rodgers missed a wide-open Donald Lee in the corner of the endzone, but that was called back because of offsides. The completion number may be a little more inflated than usual since there were a lot of unproductive swing passes here and there. But it should be a little higher, as Rodgers perfectly hit Donald Driver in stride for what should have been a 68-yard touchdown strike but Moll's useless fuckup-self cost them with an ill-advised ineligible man downfield penalty. That drive led to a punt. But Rodgers definitely confirmed my thoughts about him after that Dallas game, that he is much more mobile than Favre and will scramble for yardage. But I'm sure Favre was like that during his younger years too. Speaking of Favre, he reminded me a little of Favre with that playaction fake and bomb to Greg Jennings who leaped for that ball. And best of all, no turnovers from him.
• I feel sorry for the Lambeau Field janitors, though. They've got to clean up all that yellow dirty laundry from the field, and no, the Packers did not just decide to have a big-ol' orgy on the field. But yeah, 23 times has a flag been thrown, and 21 of those were accepted penalties, 12 of which occurred against the Packers. I've already mentioned one Tony Moll fuckup, but here's more. He had a tripping penalty called against him. That only occurs in hockey, the last time I checked. He was also ineligibly downfield on another occasion, though the Packers didn't benefit from it greatly. I can't wait for Scott Wells to get back and move Jason Spitz back to right guard, getting this bum off the field. And that tripping penalty was part of a hellish drive that started with a false start, included a fumble from Brandon Jackson (which was recovered by Greg Jennings for a first down (WTF)), then 12 men on the field, and after that tripping penalty, a holding penalty on Chad Clifton, resulting in a whopping first-and-33. I challenge someone to name me another instance where a team found its way in a first-and-33 situation. Good luck doing that. On the other hand, the Vikings had a spree of penalties near their own goal line with the Packers having the ball. Ray Edwards had a sack on Rodgers, but that was called back for defensive holding. A few stops at the goal line, and the Vikings are offsides. But still, too many penalties on the Packers' side. We can only hope this number decreases over time.
• The Vikings' pass defense...well, it looks like nothing's really changed there. Still porous.
• Jared Allen: ZERO sacks, and ZERO tackles. At least none that mattered on defense. Clifton did a great job of neutralizing him. In fact, there were no sacks at all from the Vikings' defense. Rodgers was flushed from the pocket very few times (and when he was, he scrambled for the first down).
• The run defense...played as I expected. Adrian Peterson was a load to bring down at times, and earned all 103 yards he got. But on several occasions, when he was counted on to get key third down yardage, the Packers turned him away.
• The same can't be said about Tarvaris Jackson's running. 65 yards on the ground means that the pass rush has been pressuring him, but Jackson is a better athlete, as he can scramble with ease for the first down. Aaron Kampman in particular has been wreaking havoc with the subpar OTs that the Vikings had (Bryant McKinnie was suspended, leaving them with trouble spots on both sides). A non-mobile quarterback would have been sacked more. Jackson also showed off a pretty strong arm at times. Too bad he hadn't been able to get any long completions. Jackson also had a shaky first half, but got into his groove in the second half on his scoring drives.

Well, that's all I have. Great win for the Packers. They need to work on some stuff as they go to Detroit next week, but after seeing what the Lions did, I don't know how much I have to worry. Hopefully not too much.

~KG~