Tag Archives: NFL Players

NFL Week 7: AFC West – Illusions

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Peyton Manning showed true greatness in Monday night’s stunning come from behind win.

In the waning moments of Monday night’s comeback, we saw the true nature of the San Diego Chargers under Norv Turner and the possibilities for the Denver Broncos with Peyton Manning. First lets look at the perennial underachieving Chargers. When our CEO talks about championship football teams, it’s usually around signature wins that bolsters their confidence as they mature over a season. Before you can prove to the rest of the NFL that you’re a force to be reckoned with, you have to knock down a bully in your backyard.

Now wasn’t it one year ago Rex Ryan boldly stated “Had I coached the talent the Chargers have, I’d have Super Bowl rings”, in an obvious dig at Turner?? How did he and his team respond after being called out?? They came out and took a 21-10 halftime lead on the Jets only to show no fight in the end while losing 27-21.  http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201110230nyj.htm They were outscored 17-0 as the Jets promptly took their lunch money without much of a struggle.

Fast forward 358 days and here the Chargers were playing the odds on favorite to win the division in the Denver Broncos. This time they woke in the heat of battle up 24-0. Antonio Gates had just scored after the defense showed it could play Manning tough with Quentin Jammer’s 80 yard interception return for a touchdown. Their crowd was in it. Manning was having his struggles and Phillip Rivers looked like a world beater. So what happened???

Let’s take a look at the AFC West standings…

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Denver Broncos Broncos 3 3 0 .500 170 138 2-1 1-2 2-0 3-2 W1 2-3
San Diego Chargers Chargers 3 3 0 .500 148 137 1-2 2-1 2-1 3-1 L2 2-3
Oakland Raiders Raiders 1 4 0 .200 87 148 1-1 0-3 0-2 1-3 L2 1-4
Kansas City Chiefs Chiefs 1 5 0 .167 104 183 0-3 1-2 0-1 0-3 L3 1-4

That was an incredibly gritty performance by Peyton Manning. Where he could have packed it in after his pick 6, he kept on firing. One strong point to the comeback was they didn’t totally abandon the running game. This kept the Chargers honest and his intermediate passing lanes open. The clinic he performed was reminiscent of the 21 point 4th quarter deficit he erased when his Colts came back on the champion Buccaneers 38-35 in 2003. This time he performed surgery for 2 quarters. Of course we all remembered his epic comeback in the 2006 AFC Championship against New England. However this one seemed better than those..surreal. He has been trying to make it work with a new team, and if you dissect his season, it’s as though he has to realize the strengths of his personnel and what they present in match-ups to the opposition. He’s had to do this in every game and then he gets hot. Do you realize that with 1,808 yards and 14 touchdowns, he is on pace for 4,821 yards and 37 TDs?? Yikes!! Can he physically keep it up for the duration of the season??

So what are we talking about when we say illusions?? In all actuality the Broncos only raised their record to 3-3 and right now the defense is allowing 23 points per game. They do rank 11th in total defense and can play stifling defense in fits and starts. So are they as good as their 3 wins or as flawed as they appeared in their 3 losses?? Puzzling but this win over the Chargers was the first over a winning team as well as a first triumph on the road. As for the rest of the season they only face 3 teams who are .500 or better, and 5 of their next 8 games are on the road.

The Broncos could ride that momentum into a winning streak and a more impressive record. Yet playing good football in spotty fashion has dug to deep a hole against quality teams. With upcoming games against New Orleans, at Cincinnati, at Carolina, home to the Chargers, and then away at Kansas City: If the Broncos were to rattle off wins against these under performing teams and inflate their record, are they a true elite team in the AFC?? Our CEO just shrugged his shoulders at the thought of that…

As for the Chargers, here they were with an inflated record of 3-2 with wins over the back-pedalling Raiders, Titans, and Chiefs. When it was time to step up and show they were for real in a showcase game, they gave us another epic collapse. Just like that loss last year to the New York Jets, it showed this team lacks toughness and has a damaged fight or flight mechanism also. They became clock watchers and couldn’t turn the tide once momentum was on the side of Denver. With the loss of WR Vincent Jackson, this team has lost all of the playmakers they once had to turn a close game in their favor. From a psyche standpoint they will not stand up and fight. As long as Norv Turner is the coach, this team is not to be trusted as being a Super Bowl caliber group.

As for the Raiders and Chiefs…it’s been an optical illusion that they have even taken the field this year.

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We would like to entice readers to tune in to The Artie Clear Show which has been a place where Taylor Blitz Times has been on several times talking football. Artie tells it like it is and as of October 17th will be live on Fox Sports Radio as well. Congratulations Artie Clear! Guys and girls, tune in. The Chancellor of Football from Taylor Blitz Times will be on there talking football again.

http://www.theartieclearshow.com/

 

 

NFL Week 7: Turning Points & The Dallas Cowboys

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The Cowboys self destructed again today with untimely penalties and poor clock management in a 31-29 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

If you listen to the mainstream media or Jerry Jones, you’ll get the impression this team has the best personnel in pro football. From time to time they’ll put together a good game but will ruin the continuity of their play with an inability to finish drives, or quarters, that would give them command of football game.

Take what happened in the game earlier today. Leading 7-3 and at the Raven’s 15 yard line, the Cowboys incur two illegal shift formations and get thrown for a huge loss forcing them to kick a field goal and changes the complexion of the game. At the time Dallas had rushed for nearly 100 yards in the first quarter and were on the verge of taking a 14-3 lead on a Raven team that had not gained a first down yet. Instead they lose momentum and the Ravens put a drive together bolstered by a 57 yard reception by Ray Rice and make the score 10-10.

On the next drive Romo throws his fourth interception of the season, on third down, once he’s inside the Ravens 30 and the Cowboys played pensively the rest of the half. In fact the Cowboys had the Ravens held to a 3rd and 15 with less than 3:00 left in the half and Anquan Boldin, who was covered by a linebacker, makes the first down. Consequently Flacco gets hot and drives the Ravens to the go ahead score with a 19 yard touchdown to Torrey Smith with :41 left until halftime. In position to go up 14-3 they wind up being down 17-10 in a matter of minutes. Self induced errors kill this team time and time again. This turnaround sapped the confidence from a Cowboy team that was gashing the Ravens defense. Listen… DeMarco Murray had 13 carries for 90 yards with 8:00 to go in the first half!! Then they went to the air and abandoned the run the rest of the half.

During the game CBS put up a stat that Tony Romo is rated last in quarterback rating on 3rd down in the NFL. Now its hard to keep harping on a team for it’s shortcomings but when a team continually beats itself, how do you not talk about it??

Dez Bryant scores the Cowboys final touchdown before the fateful 2 point attempt.

After the Cowboys give up a kickoff return for a touchdown to Jacoby Jones, they rediscover their running game. Felix Jones and #34 Tanner who chipped in several impressive runs. After performing possibly a team and season defining drive to tie the score the Cowboys hit the self destruct button once again. They ran the ball down the Raven’s throats (226 yards most ever against Raven defense by the way)and then almost faltered once they made it to the goal line again. First they had another illegal shift penalty before Romo hit Dez Bryant with the touchdown to bring them within two at 31-29. Then on a carbon copy throwback fade that gave them the touchdown, Dez Bryant drops a perfectly thrown ball with less than 1:20 to go in the game.

Then came the end of the football game where the final few plays illustrated the damaged fight or flight mechanism of Tony Romo. After recovering an onside kick, Romo had the chance to get off a few plays to put themselves in position for a more manageable game winning kick. After a first down, the clock was down to :25 left in the game. Romo caught the Ravens in a blitz and had both Miles Austin and Craig Ogletree running fly patterns with single coverage. What does Romo do?? The check down that would be fine if it were the middle of the game, saw Dez Bryant tackled in bounds with the clock running. He should have taken a shot down the field. Even though they had a time out left, they don’t call it and had to wait for those receivers to make it back to the line of scrimmage. Bryant was tackled with :15 left in the game. They let almost ten seconds burn off the clock before calling timeout. This forced a young kicker, Dan Bailey to kick a 51 yard field goal that was wide left with :01 to go.

All of these doomed the Cowboys to a loss that drops them to the NFC East basement with a 2-3 record. With the Redskins beginning to feel their oats and the Giants putting the wood to the perceived best team in San Francisco today. When are the Cowboys going to turn this around?? They completely outplayed the Ravens today and were too afraid of success to close the deal. Have the Cowboys really not practiced what to do when there are seconds left in the game?? Of course they have but the Cowboys keep blowing situations and that is the fault of coaching. This team is one loss away from the buzzards circling overhead for Head Coach Jason Garrett. Time and time again if it isn’t a Romo short circuit: Not throwing the ball downfield or using the timeout to preserve 10 seconds it’s Garrett’s play-calling. First abandoning the run when Murray was averaging 6.6 yards per carry and Jones with 5.1 yards at points during each half. http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2012101406/2012/REG6/cowboys@ravens#tab=recap&menu=highlights

Bottom line is they gave this game away today. The Ravens didn’t win it, the Cowboys found a way to lose it.

Time is running out on this era of inconsistent Cowboys football. We here at Taylor Blitz Times are always saying “At some point, you have to believe what you are seeing.” This is an average ball club with average personnel and very average results. In their last 200 games, the Cowboys are 100-100. They are a mistake prone bunch that will give games away like they did today. Constant mistakes at the point where they’re concentration should be at their best says something about the damaged psyche of this football team. Can they straighten themselves out before this season is over as Jerry Jones would have you think?? The Chancellor just left our meeting shaking his head.

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NFL Week 4: AFC West -Teams Making Progress

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Darren McFadden takes a hand-off from Carson Palmer in Sunday’s come from behind win.

Funny how attention on one team seems to trump the news of the rest of the division. Many of us were paying so much attention to Peyton Manning and his progress with the Denver Broncos, we wind up surprised when other teams show they are not to be taken lightly. Such was the case in Oakland last Sunday. There was an emotional response to Darius Heyward-Bey being helped off the field late in that game. From that point on the Raiders played spirited football that hadn’t been seen in the first two weeks, when they couldn’t score more than 14 points. After an 0-2 start, the Raiders got off the canvas and an offense ranked 20th sprang to life and came from behind for a 34-31 victory after being behind 31-21 with 3:00 to go.

The San Diego Chargers fell from the ranks of the unbeaten with a  27-3 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.  In a test against one of the NFC’s heavyweights, the Chargers showed they are still lacking when it comes to playmakers. In Antonio Gates, Ryan Matthews, Malcolm Floyd and company, they can get the yardage a given play is designed for but nothing more. Not a game-breaker in the bunch. Atlanta crowded Phillip Rivers and he had nowhere to go with the football as evidenced by his 21 of 38 for 173 yards and 2 interceptions. What this means is they are one of the best of the lesser teams. They can sit on the Oakland’s and Tennessee’s of the world but come up short against stronger teams. This week they travel to Kansas City where they haven’t won in 3 years. Can they do it?? The Chancellor sees a second loss coming.

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San Diego Chargers Chargers 2 1 0 .667 63 51 1-1 1-0 1-0 2-0 L1 2-1
Denver Broncos Broncos 1 2 0 .333 77 77 1-1 0-1 0-0 1-1 L2 1-2
Kansas City Chiefs Chiefs 1 2 0 .333 68 99 0-1 1-1 0-0 0-1 W1 1-2
Oakland Raiders Raiders 1 2 0 .333 61 88 1-1 0-1 0-1 1-2 W1 1-2

Last week’s 233 yard rushing performance was an eye opener.

Speaking of the Chiefs they are riding the momentum of their 27-24 win in New Orleans. A game where they finally started to look like the team most pundits expected out of the gate. Jamaal Charles ran for a season high 233 yards and displayed he hasn’t lost his game breaking ability with a 91 yard touchdown on the bayou. In those 2 prior meetings the Chiefs stayed with a commitment to the run with 26 rushes in 2010 and 34 in 2011. Now with Cassel and the passing game not totally in rhythm yet, Charles coming off 33 carries last week in the Superdome, and the Chargers allowing 5.7 yards per carry (14 car. 80 yds) for Michael Turner last week. We’re going to take a wild guess and say Kansas City runs the football this week. What do you think??

This week the entire division is squaring off against one another as the Raiders make the trek to Invesco Field. The Broncos will be without the services of MLB Joe Mays who will be serving a suspension. Not the right time when Darren McFadden just had his best game of the season. His 113 yards came on only 18 carries and had a showcase run for a 64 yard touchdown. Right now Denver is 13th against the run and Oakland is 26th against the pass. Last year, Oakland won in Denver when McFadden rushed for over 150 yards. Had the Raiders not played such an emotional game last week they would have a chance to hand the Broncos their third straight loss. The real issue is Manning is going to be able to hit his receivers and expect a huge day from Brandon Stokely. He’ll have a Wes Welker type of day and the Broncos should pull away in this one.

Then it will be time for the first quarter report cards with the season 1/4th over.

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NFL Week 3: The AFC East – Bizarro World

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Reggie Bush breaks out for a 65 yard touchdown against Oakland.

If you are a fan of any of the AFC East teams last week, you undoubtedly were scratching your head on Sunday night. First you had the New York Jets, without a touchdown in week 1 while obliterating the Buffalo Bills 48-28, get throttled by the Steelers 27-10. The Jets scored a touchdown on their opening drive and never saw the endzone again. If you close your eyes and listen you can hear the faint chants of “Tebow” starting up.

After one of the most drab editions ever of “Hard Knocks”, it looked like the Dolphins were in for it with rookie QB Ryan Tannenhill taking his lumps, especially after an 0-1 start. Enter Reggie Bush. Not only did Bush dazzle with a 26 car. 172 yard afternoon. He caught 3 passes for 25 yards and energized Dolphin fans on both of his touchdown runs while being named AFC Offensive Player of the Week. With a 35-13 win the Dolphins are feeling confident when they face the Jets this week.

Speaking of AFC Player of the Week candidates: What about CJ Spiller in Buffalo?? Not only does he lead the NFL in rushing after two weeks (292 yads), his play seems to have brought life to a Bills offense beating the Chiefs 35-17. Going back to week 1, Buffalo looked dazed and confused while sleepwalking against the Jets. However once Fred Jackson was injured, Spiller came in and broke a long touchdown run to give the Bills some hope. He carried it into this last game scoring on the first two drives and the team never looked back.

Which brings us to the New England Patriots and the…serious… get up off the floor. Alright we’ll get back to that in a minute. Lets take a look at the AFC East standings…

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New York Jets Jets 1 1 0 .500 58 55 1-0 0-1 1-0 1-1 L1 1-1
New England Patriots Patriots 1 1 0 .500 52 33 0-1 1-0 0-0 1-0 L1 1-1
Miami Dolphins Dolphins 1 1 0 .500 45 43 1-0 0-1 0-0 1-1 W1 1-1
Buffalo Bills Bills 1 1 0 .500 63 65 1-0 0-1 0-1 1-1 W1 1-1

Yes, the New England Patriots fell to the undefeated Arizona Cardinals 20-18 when Gostkowski missed a last second field goal. Are you serious?? Even in their 2008 Super Bowl run, Arizona lost 47-7 in Foxboro. The Cardinals were let off the hook after Ryan Williams fumbled the football with 2:00 left in the game. However there was a huge hold by TE Rob Gronkowski when Danny Woodhead broke what appeared to be the game winner. Very uncharacteristic of a Bill Belichick team. The game itself was a defensive struggle and the one thing New England could take away from this loss was the solid play of their young defense. After 2 weeks they are ranked 2nd in the NFL.

One thing that needs to take place is Wes Welker has to be a larger part of the offense. The Patriots offense really bogged down once they lost TE Aaron Hernandez. However the Patriots were beaten on the line of scrimmage and Tom Brady saw pressure most of the game. The riff between Welker and the front office has to stop and they need to go to him 12-15 times in this Sunday nighter against Baltimore. The short pass is what Brady needs to keep from getting hit and he’s been sacked 3 times each game. This is the wrong stat when facing the Ravens defense which promises to bring pressure. Here is where Welker needs to be prolific although Kellen Winslow has been signed to replace Hernandez. However losing their  first home opener since 2002 did raise some eyebrows. Surely the meetings and practices will be ratcheted up because a second straight home loss could send off alarm bells.

CJ Spiller leads the league in rushing after 2 weeks.

How did Buffalo look so anemic in week 1 yet show so much explosiveness against the Jets?? No question CJ Spiller is drinking some different gatorade in his third year. It could be the reincarnation of OJ Simpson where he played for a few years without distinction and BOOM the light goes on. There has been no player more explosive in these first two weeks in the NFL. He’s on pace to gain over 2,200 yards and right now Bills fans are thinking “Fred Jackson, take your time in coming back.” Jackson was the starter at the beginning of the season and just signed a big contract extension but would you bench him for Jackson right now??

Its been his play that allowed QB Ryan Fitzpatrick to get comfortable last week after a horrible outing against the Jets. The jury is still out on his play for 2012. This week he gets a tune up against the Browns defense that is missing CB Joe Haden to a suspension. He has to get going to complement Spiller and open it up with Stevie Johnson for in two weeks they host the Patriots. By then Belichick figures to return the AFC East to some normalcy. Buffalo’s new playmaker may have something to say about that though.

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2012 NFC East Previews & Predictions

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Robert Griffin III, the new hope for the Washington Redskins.

Its always interesting to watch the reaction of division foes when you have a surprise NFL champion. There will be responses from the Jerry Jones’ comments on the Cowboys “Super Bowl window closing.” As though they too can make the necessary leap from also ran to world titlist. You’ll have teams like the Washington Redskins make an immediate splash that will pay future dividends in drafting a dynamic quarterback like Robert Griffin III. While a loaded Eagle team, long thought to be the division’s most dominant, do minor tinkering figuring this to be the year they put it all together.

Meanwhile the steady Giants have just marched along with a ‘business as usual’ quiet approach to the new season.  However they did make a move in signing TE Martellus Bennett formerly of the Dallas Cowboys He will want to make an impact against his former team this Wednesday in the NFL’s Season Kickoff Classic.  How will things play out in the NFC East for 2012??

2012 NFC EAST PREDICTIONS

New York Giants 10-6 *

Philadelphia Eagles 10-6

Dallas Cowboys 6-10

Washington Redskins 4-12  

Hate to say it but the buzzards will be circling Cowboys Coach Jason Garrett by week 10. Take a look at Dallas early schedule and tell us who they will beat in their first 8 games. Maybe Seattle and Carolina as the only sure wins. Then they follow that up with back to back road trips to face a playoff bound Falcon team and the hated Eagles. Of 2011’s top 13 ranked defenses, they face 8 of them in a total of 10 games which doesn’t include the two with the World Champion Giants. For a fan base that doesn’t entirely believe in Tony Romo this could be it as the Cowboys will face a truly difficult season. The pressure heaped on an under talented team by one Mr. Jerry Jones will come back to haunt them.               https://taylorblitztimes.com/2012/05/26/the-chancellor-weighs-in-on-jerry-jones-comments-on-cowboys-super-bowl-window-closing/

As for the talented Eagles, they will frustrate their fans with games where they look like world beaters and then come up anemic against a team they should beat handily. Truth of the matter is we may have seen the best of Michael Vick already. At 32 years of age this isn’t the spry kid running around the SuperDome with Virginia Tech anymore. The hits have mounted and he has missed 7 games in the last two years. Now they have former Buffalo Bill Trent Edwards, who was a starter that was cut and not traded, backing him up and not a somewhat proven Mike Kafka. Uh oh!! Losing former Pro Bowl Tackle Jason Peters to injury this off-season is not going to help matters. Vick has to be more controlled with his feet and use his arm more to cut down on his hits. He goes down for another 3 or 4 games this season, that will be the losing streak that will allow the Giants to take the division from them when they face each other in Week 17.

McCoy operates best in space. To do so he needs Vick to remain healthy to be most effective.

For Eagles fans they have to realize the tactical disadvantage for RB LeSean McCoy this year if Vick goes down for any significant time. Sure he ran for 1,309 yards and 17 touchdowns but did so with Vick and Vince Young as quarterbacks. Peeling defensive ends and linebackers had to pay attention to those two mobile quarterbacks first. This gave McCoy freedom he won’t see with a stationary Trent Edwards on the field with him.

Although the Eagles ranked 8th in total defense in 2011, many are considering this a bounce back year for them. They did sign former Texans underrated LB DeMeco Ryans to anchor the middle of their defense and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie is the new starting corner opposite Namedi Asomugha. They definitely need Namedi to live up to the billing as the top cornerback in football after signing him to that big free agent contract last year. Have they found the best way to utilize him yet?? Time will tell but the truth of the matter is this isn’t the same Eagles team of promise at the end of 2010. They have come back to the NFC East pack.

The Robert Griffin III experience will start in DC. Much like Cam Newton did last year he will have the chance to start Week 1 and offer a glimpse of the Redskins future. The talent level of the rest of the roster will keep this team in the division cellar as Griffin III develops. It will be a season of growing pains as defenses in the latter part of the year will know his limitations and game-plan better. It happened to Cam Newton last year as it has every young quarterback once defensive co-ordinators have studied a young quarterbacks tendencies. How well will Shanahan and the Redskins adjust?? Long season but hope for the future.

Two time Super Bowl winner and coming into the prime of his career, Eli Manning.

For the 2012 season, the World Champion Giants are the best team in this division for an entire season. Each team will have their moments or 3 to 4 week stretches where they look great…but for 16 weeks?? Eli Manning becoming one of the NFL’s vanguard at quarterback. Jason Pierre-Paul coming into his own as another great New York pass rusher. Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks have the talent to be the best starting WR combination in football. The only weakness this team has is running the football for the tough 3rd and 1 or goal line situations. They will work that out with Ahmad Bradshaw as the season progresses. As for defense of their Super Bowl title?? Starts this Wednesday when they host the Dallas Cowboys and expect to chase Tony Romo out of the building.

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2012 NFC South Previews & Predictions

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Second year wideout Julio Jones skies over a Ravens defensive back for a touchdown in last week’s preseason opener.

As the 2012 regular season beckons, many pundits and fans are looking for the Carolina Panthers to light up this division. There will be several young stars that will come to the fore in the toughest division in football, yet there will be one second year player who should take the league by storm. Oh you thought we meant Cam Newton?? He’ll do well but the player who is about to break out is WR Julio Jones of the Atlanta Falcons. His play so far in the preseason along with the maturation he showed toward the end of last year. Look out his star is on the rise.

No division in football has been as competitive from top to bottom as the NFC South. Since its inception in 2002, there hasn’t been a repeat division winner and again its the only division to have every team play for the conference championship during that time. Each team can run at you physically, Atlanta with Michael Turner (1,340 yards in 2011), thunderous LeGarrette Blount (1,007 yards in 2010), former Heisman winner in Mark Ingram, and former twin thousand yard rushers DeAngelo Williams and Jonathon Stewart in Carolina. Yet with last year’s emergence of Cam Newton and 2010’s Josh Freeman (25TDs to only 6 ints), each team fields better than average quarterbacks. This is before we get to record setting Super Bowl champion Drew Brees and 3 time playoff participant QB Matt Ryan. This division is stacked on offense…

However there are several questions moving into 2012. How will the Saints fare with the suspension of Head Coach Sean Peyton?? Will their game day adjustments suffer or will the overall gameplan be inferior?? Have the Panthers made enough moves to allow Cam Newton to star again or will he have a sophomore slump?? Which team was the real Tampa Bay Buccaneers?? Was it the 10-6 2010 team that was coming on at the end of that season or last year’s 4-11 debacle that got Head Coach Raheem Morris fired??

We’ll answer a few of those later in the article….as for our predictions

2012 NFC South Predictions

Atlanta Falcons 11-5 *

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 9-7

New Orleans Saints 9-7

Carolina Panthers 6-10

Now that the Saints signed Drew Brees to a long term deal: How will he fare this season without Sean Payton?? Payton and Brees have been lethal these last several years with game plans but they will suffer with game-day adjustments. There should be a drop off this season as Interim Coach Joe Vitt can’t put his stamp on the team. In a single season lame duck situation?? Not going to be good. More important, without their spiritual leader on defense with the suspension of Jonathon Vilma, this defense will give up points by the bushel and will behind in the race to win the south. As evidenced in Saturday night’s preseason game against Houston, this defense struggled in a 34-27 shootout. The Texans marched to two easy touchdowns while the starters were out there. Don’t forget the Saints were at home. How do you think they will fare when they are on the road this year?? http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2012082554/2012/PRE3/texans@saints#tab=recap&menu=highlights

They have a murderous schedule and will lose tie breaker advantages during the weeks of 12-15 where they face San Francisco, who beat them in last year’s playoffs. Then they face a stronger Atlanta Falcons team on the road, then travel to play the World Champion Giants in the cold, then come home to face a resurgent Tampa Bay Buccaneers team. Even though Tampa had a down year in 2011, they only lost 27-16 in New Orleans and defeated the Saints in the Superdome in 2010. At full strength with Coach Peyton, Jonathon Vilma on defense, the Saints would be in good shape against these ball clubs but with a coaching staff trying to keep the ship steady?? These are four losses waiting to happen and all to NFC teams. This is after they would have played the Packers at Lambeau in week 4, and the Philadelphia Eagle in week 9.  Too many in conference losses will doom the Saints this year.

Super Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers.

Has there been a more electrifying rookie quarterback in NFL history than Cam Newton?? The Chancellor can only think of one and that was Dan Marino’s 1983 season. Yet a closer look and Newton broke the rookie record in week 1 with 422 yards against the Cardinals, rushed for 706 yards and 14 TDs (another record), while completing 60% of his passes for 4,021 yards (another record) and 21TDs. All as a rookie?? Yikes! That dwarfs Marino’s 20TD passes and didn’t start for Shula’s Dolphins until week 6 and was no threat with only 45 yards rushing. What is he going to do for an encore??

Once upon a time Tim Tebow was given the nod over Newton at the University of Florida. My how the tables have turned as the Panthers defeated Tebow and the Jets 17-12 last night in pre-season action.

The question is did they do enough to move up in the competitive NFC South?? They still have the “Cash & Carry” backfield of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathon Stewart, who just signed an extension last week. Ageless Steve Smith revitalized his career with Newton’s emergence and may have a running partner in WR Louis Murphy who scored in last night’s game.  On offense the answer is yes, but on defense they haven’t done enough. They did get LB Thomas Davis back but they have to keep their fingers crossed he doesn’t injure his knee for a fourth time. They need all the help they can get on a defense that was 28th last year and finished 25th against the run. In this division that last stat will be what they need to improve and the draft only brought one lineman in 4th rounder Frank Alexander. New leaders have to emerge for the Panthers to make a  move up… that can happen in 2013. The problem is it’s still 2012 so they’ll improve just a few wins on offense as a team.

Former Boise St running back Doug Martin should rush for 1,200 yards for Tampa this season.

Now a team that will be the surprise winner in this division is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Last year this team dropped to 30th in the NFL in rushing and brought unnecessary heat on QB Josh Freeman. Team brass addressed that with 1st round selection RB Doug Martin out of Boise St. With the rushing attack under performing it also kept the Buccaneers defense from resting. In 2011 this was a run first, pass second team that went 10-6. Josh Freeman had the second lowest touchdown to interception ratio, 25TDs to just 6 interceptions, to a record setting Tom Brady. With the acquisition of WR Vincent Jackson from the San Diego Chargers to go along with TE Kellen Winslow Jr, WR Mike Williams and WR Arrelios Benn, this team has some big targets.

Speaking of Tom Brady, the Buccaneer defense made his life miserable in pre-season action Friday night. The Bucs pass rush harassed him all night and made him throw a pick six in a 30-28 win. Brady played into the 3rd quarter (unheard of in pre-season) and New England needed 2 4th quarter touchdowns to make the score close. One of the differences was the efficient play of Freeman and Doug Martin, who rushed for 53 yards on 13 carries and sat out more than half the game. This talent who has been a Taylor Blitz Time favorite https://taylorblitztimes.com/2011/08/02/2011-heisman-campaign-doug-martin-of-boise-st/ will tilt the balance of power for them from a tactical standpoint all year. They should return to form and match the 10-6 record of 2010. They’ll be ready to make a serious move in 2013.

However 2012 will belong to the Atlanta Falcons. They have built for this season for the last four and this is the year for the payoff. TE Tony Gonzalez can’t go forever and RB Michael Turner is about to turn 30. When the Falcons lost in last year’s wildcard to the New York Giants, it marked the second season in a row their season ended at the hands of the eventual Super Bowl champions. As a matter of fact, if you include the 2009 NFC Divisional playoff loss to the Arizona Cardinals, 3 of the last 4 seasons has ended at the hands of the eventual NFC Champion. Its time for their maturation and ascend to a Super Bowl themselves. Head Coach Mike Smith and Matt Ryan have to prove they can win a playoff game. They are primed as a team talent wise to make a move.

Next up: NFC North

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