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The NFL is Back. Now It’s Fun.

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

LAS VEGAS — Here in the desert, you could hear the reaction. From the Sports and Race Book at the Wynn to the Sports Book at the Mirage, punters (a) breathed a sigh of relief and (b) grabbed the brand new futures sheets as the National Football League went back to work.

It has been extremely interesting here in Vegas as the big bettors try to figure out which player is going what team and which team will improve dramatically over 2010. In fact, there is an excitement about the NFL right now that I don’t believe the NFL thought would exist after a 4 1/2-month lockout. People are so into this free-agent frenzy that when the following happened over the last few days, there were actually cheers in the Mirage Book.

1) The Carolina Panthers signed linebacker Charles Johnson to a six-year $72 million deal.

2) The Baltimore Ravens signed offensive lineman Marshal Yanda to a five-year, $32 million contract. Yes, somebody actually cheered when he heard an offensive lineman had signed. That’s excited.

3) Wide receiver Santana Moss signed a three-year $15 million deal with the Washington Redskins.

4) The New York Jets signed WR Santonio Holmes to a five-year $48 million deal with $24 million guaranteed.

5) The Washington Redskins signed defensive lineman Barry Cofield away from the New York Giants. It’s a six-year $36 million deal with $12.5 million guaranteed.

Meanwhile, the Minnesota Vikings agreed to a trade that would give them veteran quarterback Donovan McNabb as long as McNabb reworks a contract that is set to pay him $12.5 million this season. The Vikings won’t pay that, but McNabb wants to be moved to Minnesota badly enough that he’ll take a new deal.

At the same time, the Vikings are now in a bidding war with the Seattle Seahawks to sign wide receiver Sidney Rice. The Seahawks have signed former Vikings quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, which means Matt Hasselbeck is out (he eventually signed with Tennessee)  and there was more talk yesterday about Brett Favre coming out of retirement to play in Philadelphia. Favre, apparently, laughed.

Regardless, the fun is upon us and teams are getting better as we speak. Right now, the Vikings, Jets and Redskins can all call themeslves winners.

We’ll be back later with more.

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The Regular Season is Over. And a 7-9 Team is in the Playoffs

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

With the exception of the unfortunate fact that the 7-9 Seattle Seahawks, a team that is NOT significantly better than the Detroit Lions, is in the National Football League playoffs, it was a pretty good year for the NFL.

Tom Brady was sensational, Arian Foster was a horse, Troy Polamalu, Ed Reed and Ray Lewis remained the best defensive players in the NFL, our pal Israel Idonije had a great year in Chicago, the Lions got better, Kansas City stepped up, Oakland improved, Tim Tebow showed why he should be No. 1 in Denver, Peyton Manning willed the Colts back to the playoffs, Brett Favre retired, Sam Bradford arrived and the poor Minnesota Vikings finished the year with an interim coach, a collapsed stadium and a vantage point from the basement of the NFC North.

On Sunday evening, the NFL’s playoff schedule has been set. In the opening round, New England and Pittsburgh have the byes in the AFC while Atlanta and Chicago have the byes in the NFC. New England and Atlanta have home field throughout the playoffs. This Saturday, New Orleans plays at Seattle at 3:30 while the Jets play at Indianapolis at 7, both games are on NBC. On Sunday, Baltimore is at Kansas City at 12 Noon on CBS and Green Bay is at Philadelphia at 3:30 on FOX.

Let’s enjoy it because if the folks who run the league and the Players Association don’t get their collective act in gear, we might have nothing but the CFL, the UFL and BCS next season.

OK, Sport Select and Fantasy Players, here are your NFL scores and highlights for Week 17…

Sunday night…

Seattle 16 St. Louis 6

Just a horrible football game. Seattle wins the NFC West with a 7-9 record, the first sub.500 division champ in league history and they’ll get to play host to New Orleans on Saturday.

Sunday afternoon….

Detroit 20 Minnesota 13

The Lions won their final four games and finished ahead of the Vikings in the standings. It’s the first time since 1990 that the Vikes have finished last in the NFC North. And Brett Favre, who was inactive yesterday with a concussion, HAS retired. Detroit’s Shaun Hill threw for 258 yards and a touchdown. Minnesota’s only touchdown came on an interception return by Jared Allen. It looks like Leslie Frazier will keep his job as the Vikings head coach.

Green Bay 10 Chicago 3

Aaron Rodgers one-yard pass to tight end Donald Lee gave the 10-6 Packers all they needed in the fourth quarter to win the game and lock up a playoff berth.

NY Giants 17 Washington 14

The 10-6 Giants got the win but they didn’t get the help they needed to make the playoffs. The Packers win eliminated New York.

Indianapolis 23 Tennessee 20

Peyton Manning threw two touchdowns passes and Adam Vinatieri kicked the winning field goal with no time left on the clock as the 10-6 Colts made the playoffs again.

NY Jets 38 Buffalo 7

Veteran Mark Brunell threw two TD passes for the 11-5 Jets as Mark Sanchez rested for the playoffs after the first series of downs.

Tampa Bay 23 New Orleans 13

Tampa finished 10-6 and missed the playoffs. Bucs QB Josh Freeman threw for 255 yards and two TDs. The Saints finished 11-5 and will head off to the post-season.

New England 38 Miami 7

The Pats’ Tom Brady went 10-fort-16 for 199 yards and two touchdowns. His new favorite target, Rob Gronkowski caught six passes for 102 yards and a TD. The 14-2 Patriots won their final eight games. Dolphins coach Tony Sparano could lose his job this week.

Pittsburgh 41 Cleveland 9

The Steelers Ben Roethlisberger went 15-for-22 for 280 yards and two touchdowns as 12-4 Pittsburgh clinched the AFC North title. Expect the Cleveland coaching staff to be fired en masse today. (Note: Eric Mangini was fired Monday morning before 9 a.m.)

Baltimore 13 Cincinnati 7

The Ravens offence did nothing, but Ed Reed had two interceptions and Ray Lewis recovered two fumbles. Baltimore will enter the playoffs on a four-game winning streak.

Atlanta 31 Carolina 10

Matt Ryan threw for 236 yards and two touchdowns as the Falcons finished 13-3 and earned the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

Dallas 14 Philadelphia 13

Jason Garrett will be go from interim to semi-permanent head coach of the Cowboys (all coaches are semi-permanent). Stephen McGee threw a four-yard touchdown pass to Jason Whitten with 55 seconds left to give Dallas the victory. Michael Vick did not play for the Eagles, but will start this coming Sunday against Green Bay.

Oakland 31 Kansas City 10

The Chiefs Matt Cassel was awful – 11-for-33 for 115 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions. Oakland’s Michael Bush carried 25 times for 137 yards and a touchdown. The 8-8 Raiders went 6-0 within the AFC West Division and missed the playoffs. The Cjiefs won it at 10-6.

San Francisco 38 Arizona 7

It was likely Alex Smith’s final game for the 49ers and he was pretty good. He threw for 276 yards and two TDs.

San Diego 33 Denver 28

Chargers rookie Ryan Matthews ran for 120 yards and three touchdowns. For Denver, QB Tim Tebow threw two touchdowns passes and ran for another.

Houston 34 Jacksonville 17

The Texans’ Arian Foster rushed for 180 yards and two touchdowns and won the NFL rushing title.

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How Good is This Guy?

Posted on November 24, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

I knew it when I declared back in July that Brett Favre would indeed sign with the Minnesota Vikings (which, of course he did), but I must admit, after Sunday afternoon’s performance against the Seattle Seahawks not even I thought he’d be this good.

Sunday at Mall of America Field, Favre completed 22-of-25 passes (88 per cent) for 213 yards, no interceptions and four TDs as he led the Vikes to a 35-9 shellacking of the Seahawks. Those numbers are beyond remarkable. Eighty-eight per cent is the highest single-game percentage in Favre’s career. He threw touchdown passes to four different receivers — Sidney Rice, Visanthe Shiancoe, Bernard Berrian and Percy Harvin.

NFL.com reported that Favre’s previous career high was an 85.2 percent completion mark against Detroit on Sept. 20 of this year. But, amazingly, he has only completed at least 80 percent of his passes in a single game, two other times in his previous 18 seasons in the league.

Having had the opportunity to interview Favre (albeit in news conferences and scrums) on a number of occasions this season, I’ve concluded that the 40-year-old quarterback has reached a stage in his career in which every down is a bonus. As a result, he’s become more likable, more respected (if that’s possible) and perhaps even more skilled that he was when he was leading the Green Bay Packers to the Super Bowl.

In fact, on Sunday, Favre set an NFL record with his 22nd career game with at at least four touchdown passes. He and Dan Marino were tied at 21 each.

When Favre’s achievement was announced to the sellout crowd during the fourth quarter at the Metrodome on Sunday, he received a standing ovation and yet looked like a guy who had no idea what he’d done.

One gets the sense he no longer cares. At 40, he’s playing on perhaps the best team he’s ever seen — let alone been part of. In fact, if you base greatness on the number of weapons a team has, then Favre’s Minnesota Vikings might be the greatest team in the NFL today.

Frankly, it’s extremely unlikely even the unbeaten New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts can claim to have seven of the most potent weapons in all of football, but Bret Favre can. In fact, does any team have more great offensive players than Minnesota: Favre, Harvin, Rice, Berrian, Peterson, Taylor and Shiancoe. No team in the NFL can touch that group.

The post-season is going to be fantastic.

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Vikings Go To 8-1 With Easy Win Over Detroit.

Posted on November 15, 2009 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

MINNEAPOLIS — OK, so it wasn’t their best effort of the season, but in front of 63,854 spectators — including thousands of Winnipeggers — the Minnesota Vikings drilled the Detroit Lions 27-10 at Mall of America Field on Sunday afternoon.

With the win, the Vikings improved to 8-1. The Lions fell to 1-8.

The Vikings were handed a load of penalties (there were times when this thing looked fixed), many of which, head coach Brad Childress had little trouble questioning. In fact, a roughing the passer penalty against Ray Edwards, caused Childress to call out the official who made the call.

“I said to the official, ‘Ray never hit the quarterback on the head and he didn’t tackle him low so where did he tackle him that would result in a penalty?’,” a frustrated Childress explained. “The official said, ‘He (Edwards) launched himself at the quarterback and hit him high.’ And I said, ‘Where does it say in the rules that you can’t launch yourself at the quarterback?’ When I looked at the replay I noticed that Ray didn’t make contact at all. That wasn’t a very good call.”

It didn’t help that the Vikings lost a couple of fumbles, one by Adrian Peterson near the Detroit goal line, but Minnesota’s Sidney Rice did pitch-in with a career-high 201 yards receiving (on only seven catches) while Peterson did rush for 133 yards (100 in the first half) and scored two touchdowns.

The win gave Minnesota its best start since 1998 when the Vikes went 15-1 and then lost the NFC championship game to Atlanta.

Vikings quarterback Brett Favre (in his 300th consecutive start) completed 20 of 29 passes for a season-high 344 yards with one touchdown pass to backup tight end Jeff Dugan. Meanwhile, Rice’s 201-yard game was the fourth 200-yard receiving game in team history. It was just nine yards short of Sammy White’s team record (210 against Detroit in 1976).

“Wde were coming out of the bye and we were loose,” said Childress. “Maybe we were too loose. We have to tighten things up and play better next week against Seattle. It’s all about improving. We still need to improve.”

THE NOTEBOOK: The Vikings have won 15 of their last 16 games with Detroit… Minnesota was just 3-of-11 on third-down and had 13 penalties for 91 yards, which kept the game close until the fourth quarter… What a great game for Ray Edwards. The Vikings defensive end/linebacker had five tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble… There were 63,854 people inside the Metrodome (the 121st consecutive sellout in Minneapolis) and they were all breathing the same air. Obviously nobody really cared about H1N1… It’s shocking that 16 teams failed to draft Percy Harvin before the Vikings selected him. As Favre said yesterday, “He runs like a runningback, he’s built like a runningback and plays like a receiver. He’s one of the best players I’ve ever seen.” And yet 16 teams passed on him. What does that say about scouting in the NFL?

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The Insanity Continues. And the Local Media Proves How Hypocritical It Is Once Again.

Posted on November 14, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

MINNEAPOLIS — If the Minnesota Vikings win the Super Bowl, it won’t be because they were threatened in their own division.

I mean, how good do the Vikings look after both the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers were clobbered last Sunday and then the Bears lost again on Thursday night?

Well, we’re here in the Twin Cities to watch the Vikings pummel the Lions at Mall of America Field on Sunday and then we’ll be back to watch the Vikings beat the Seahawks next weekend and the Bears on the 29th. Three straight home games against inferior talent should have the Vikes at 10-1 by the end of this month. And that means the Vikings could have the NFC North sewn up and their ticket to the playoffs punched.

It’s been a fun week in Winnipeg, made even more fun by Winnipeg drivers who need a little NASCAR fix and the local mainstream media who just can’t stop taking out all their frustrations on the only person who has the guts to call them what they are — belligerent, obnoxious, childish, ignorant and thin-skinned.

1) Blue Bombers head coach Mike Kelly made them all crazy again, just by saying he’ll be back next season. They whined and moaned and cried and bitched. Even the ones who have never, ever interviewed Kelly, screamed for his firing.

Then the hypocrisy of the local media mob reached comical levels.

Remember when the Bombers got to 7-9 and suddenly the local media made Manny Matzakis the darling of the masses. According to the tall foreheads with the cameras and microphones, Kelly had nothing to do with the team’s resurgence and it was all Matzakis.

Then, after the Bombers were drilled in the final two games of the season, Matzakis suddenly got a pass. The lousy offence wasn’t his fault, it was Kelly’s. Nowhere in the local media was Matzakis even mentioned as a culprit.

The smartest thing anyone in Winnipeg can do is this: Don’t believe a thing you read in a newspaper. They’re just making it up.

2) I love NASCAR for plenty of reasons, but this is the biggest: There are no turn signals on the cars. In Winnipeg, turn signals are the most frightening things you can give a driver.

Seems that in this town we have two types of drivers: the ones who turn on their signals and then never make the turn and the ones who don’t turn on their turn signals until they’re in the middle of an intersection, backing up traffic for blocks.

No wonder Manitoba Public Insurance pays out hundreds of millions of dollars in claims each year.

3) This is why I love it when the Green Bay Packers lose. The franchise is run by a heartless GM and an ignorant, heartless head coach…

According to the Associated Press: “A maintenance employee who’s worked for the Green Bay Packers for more than two decades was fired after making a comment to head coach Mike McCarthy.”

WTMJ radio then reported on Friday that 53-year-old Mike Wood was sitting in a maintenance cart in a stadium tunnel a few days before the Minnesota Vikings visited Lambeau Field. As McCarthy talked to members of the ground crew, Wood says he yelled out to McCarthy to “get the boys ready to kick some butt this weekend.”

A few days later, Wood was fired from the franchise he loves.

Wood says his supervisors thought he told McCarthy not to lay an egg, or something similar which Wood says was a lie. McCarthy said he didn’t fire the maintenance worker, but my insiders say he told the maintenance department to run the guy out of the organization.

Can’t wait to watch that paranoid Packer organization lose again. Those clowns need to worry a lot more about their offensive line and a lot less about the maintenance department.

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Can ex-Steeler Whisenhunt Coax the Mediocre Cardinals to a Title?

Posted on January 24, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

NFL Super Bowl Report No. 1, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2009

TAMPA — Some thoughts from Day 1 on Florida’s remarkable West Coast:

 

1) So what’s the real reason for the incredible improvement of the Arizona Cardinals? Was it the re-invigorated play of the young-again Kurt Warner? Was it the brilliance of Larry Fitzgerald (who might be the best all-around athlete in the NFL)? Was it a defence that has come around during the past five weeks?

 

Yes and no. While all of those things had a lot to do with it, it is, ultimately, the coaching of Ken Whisenhunt. A former Steelers assistant who took the job in Arizona just as Pittsburgh was hiring Mike Tomlin, Whisenhunt brought along Pittsburgh assistant Russ Grimm to be his assistant head coach and another Steelers assistant, Kevin Spencer to run his special teams.

 

The Cards are now headed to their first Super Bowl. The Steelers are going for the seventh time in 43 years. Although he denies it, Whisenhunt has brought a little Steeler tradition to the desert.

 

2) Depending on where you go in Las Vegas, the Pittsburgh Steelers are either 6 ½ or seven-point favourites in next Sunday’s Super Bowl XLIII. Ask the Arizona Cardinals and that’s exactly what they want to hear. Let’s not pull any punches. This year the 9-7 Cardinals, a team that lost 35-14 at home a month ago to the less-than-brilliant Minnesota Vikings, were a mediocre football team that caught fire at exactly the right moment. 

 

According to Cards head coach Ken Whisenhunt, “I think that it’s not a surprise that we would be an underdog. This is a very good football team that we are going against; one that a number of the members of this organization are familiar with. Obviously, there will not be a lot of people singing our praises. Hopefully, that will keep us focused.”

 

The Cards might get as much energy from the oddsmakers as they get from Tampa’s abundance of strip clubs over the next week. 

 

3) Do uniform colours matter? Guess we’ll find out in Super Bowl XLIII. On Thursday, the Arizona Cardinals, the official home team in Tampa, chose to wear their home red uniforms in the big game. 

 

That means the Steelers will wear their white road uniforms, just as they did when they defeated Seattle for the NFL title three years ago in Detroit. In the 2006 Super Bowl, Pittsburgh had the option of wearing their black home jerseys, but decided to wear white after playing and winning three road playoff games in as many weeks.

 

This will be only the third time in their seven Super Bowls the Steelers have worn white. They’ve never lost in their white jerseys. 

 

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Put on your fantasy thinking caps. The 2008 NFL season starts tonight.

Posted on September 4, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

Say whatever you like, but this is the greatest moment of the sports calendar.

 

The National Football League, the greatest sports league on the planet, opens a new season tonight with the Washington Redskins at the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants (that’s still hard to write with a straight face), and I have just spent an entire morning answering questions like these…

 

“I have a choice. The Lions defence in Atlanta or the Jags defence in Tennessee? What do you think?”

 

I like the Lions defence, not because I particularly like the Lions defence per se, but because the Lions are favoured on the road for the first time in 23 games and only the fourth time this decade, so since hell has indeed frozen over again, I fear Vince Young more than I fear Matt Ryan.

 

“I have a choice between Matt Hasselbeck in Buffalo or Derek Anderson at home against Dallas. What do you think?”

 

I hate road openers (unless it’s Detroit in Atlanta), and I’m not sure Dallas is as good as everyone thinks. Derek Anderson will put up some points at home. I’m not sure Hasselbeck, against a pretty decent Buffalo defence playing in their own backyard, will do much of anything.

 

“I can either go with Arizona’s Anquan Boldin at San Francisco or the Jets’ Jerricho Cotchery in Miami. What do you think?”

 

Boldin is a great receiver, but Kurt Warner will look for Larry Fitzgerald first (wouldn’t you?). Boldin doesn’t even want to be in Aizona anymore. Brett Favre, meanwhile, seems to love Cotchery. Big target who runs Brett’s routes. Take Cotchery simply because he’s going to see the football.

 

Isn’t this fun? It’s football season. Real football season. Major league football season. And there is nothing more fun than lining up your fantasy team in Week 1.

 

So without further adieu, here are the 10 things you need to know heading into the NFL’s Kickoff Weekend:

 

1. The Lions and Vikings will battle for first in the NFC North. Barring catastrophic injuries to either team, they could both battle for the NFC crown. In fact, if you’re looking for a sleeper team in the NFC this season, look out for Detroit. they have an easy travel schedule (only 11,860 miles, making them 27th on a list led by Seattle at 34,766 miles) and their quarterback, Jon Kitna, is not as inept as his reputation would suggest. In fact, Kitna threw for 4,068 yards last year, his second with the Lions, becoming the first quarterback in club history with back-to-back 4,000-yard seasons.  Kitna, who passed for a career-high 4,208 yards in 2006, ranks fourth in the NFL with 8,276 yards over the past two seasons. The 12-year veteran has thrown for 200 yards in 28 of his 32 starts with Detroit, the most 200-yard games in the NFL during that span. If the Lions get any defence at all, they could win a lot of football games. 

 

2. The New York Giants won an NFL single-season record 10 consecutive road games in 2007, going 7-1 in the regular season. Considering they opened the year in London, England, they travelled 15,618 total miles. They won’t do that again and, as a result, won’t win the NFC East.

 

3. Watch out for teams with a “tandem backfield.” In 2007, 12 clubs boasted two running backs each with at least 500 rushing yards apiece, including five playoff teams: Dallas, Indy, the Jags, the Giants and Seattle. In fact, in Jacksonville, Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor (1,202) combined for 1,970 yards and they went 12-4 with a first round playoff win.

 

4. RUN THE FOOTBALL!!! Last season, teams with a 100-yard rusher won 73.4 per cent of the time, compared to 56.9 per cent for teams with a 100-yard receiver and only 53.1 per cent for teams with a 300-yard passer. Run the football, win the game.

 

5. Oh yeah, and force turnovers. San Diego led in takeaway-to-giveaway ratio with a plus-24 takeaway differential and finished 11-5 (it didn’t hurt to have LaDainian Tomlinson either). 13-3 Indy was next at plus-18 while 16-0 New England was third at plus-16.

 

6. The New England Patriots went 16-0 last season. They also finished first in fourth-down conversions, going 11-for-11 and second in sacks with 47. The Super Bowl champion New York Giants led in sacks with 53, but both defensive ends Michael Strahan (rertirement) and Osi Umenyiora (knee injury) are gone.

 

7. Win in Week 1: According to the NFL’s media department, there are never any guarantees, “but there are trends and they start in Week 1.” History is clear that the best way for a team to start its drive towards a possible Super Bowl championship is to win its opening game. The 42 Super Bowl winners have a 34-7-1 record in the Kickoff Weekend games of their title seasons. However, as the Super Bowl XLII champion New York Giants proved, a loss on Kickoff Weekend can still lead to a championship season. According to the league, since 1978, when the NFL went to the 16-game schedule, and excluding the abbreviated season of 1982, teams that are victorious on Kickoff Weekend are more than twice as likely to reach the playoffs than losers of an opening game. 

 

8. Once again, you have to like Pittsburgh. After all, QB Ben Roethlisberger is chasing his third divisional title in five years. Roethlisberger has a 39-16 (.709) regular-season record and was named to his first Pro Bowl after shattering the Steelers’ single-season record for passing touchdowns (32) and passer rating (104.1) last season. Yeah, it’s hard NOT to like Pittsburgh.

 

9.  A team that’s been forgotten during the pre-season is Tampa. The Bucs won the NFC South last year and have won the division three times under head coach Jon Gruden. In fact, under Gruden, the Bucs are 17-0 since 2002 when not committing turnover. Meanwhile, quarterback Jeff Garcia was named to Pro Bowl last year and in his career (incl. playoffs), Garcia’s teams are 32-12 (.727) when he has 95+ passer rating. The Bucs will not roll over this year.

 

10. Can the Giants repeat? The short answer is no, but until we meet up in Tampa in January, who really knows, right?

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