The NFL free agency signing period opened yesterday with three of the biggest names on the list quickly signing with new teams. With the collective bargaining agreement set to expire at the end of the 2011 season and with 2010 expected to be played uncapped, it was the Bears, Giants and Dolphins showing no fear wading into the free agency waters and making a splash.
Peppers Highlights First Day Of Free Agent Signings
The Bears struck first with the biggest name on the market in Carolina Panthers DE Julius Peppers. With Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith and the executive team on the hot seat, the conservative Bears opened their wallets to save their own hides. Despite being on the north side of 30, Peppers was showered with a six-year deal worth up to $91.5 million, with $42 million guaranteed. Taking advantage of the uncapped season, the Bears loaded $20 million into the first season of the contract. The Bears were very busy yesterday, also signing Vikings RB Chester Taylor and San Diego TE Brandon Manumaleuna.
It’s do or die in the Windy City.
A similar atmosphere loomed in the Meadowlands yesterday, with the New York Giants scrambling to fill holes in a defense that went from being the best in the NFL to the worst in the NFL in the middle of one season. With gaping holes at linebacker and safety, the Giants will likely address these areas of need in both the free agency signing period and at the draft. With a treasure trove of linebackers in the draft, the Giants passed on Arizona LB Karlos Dansby and signed his teammate, S Antrel Rolle, fresh off his first Pro Bowl since converting from cornerback.
Rolle was released by the Cardinals last week in a salary dump move. Rolle was due a $3 million roster bonus as well as an $8 million salary for the final season of his contract. The Giants were quick to swoop in and pick up the top safety on the market and make him the highest paid safety in NFL history. The deal is a five-year contract worth $37 million, of which $15 million is guaranteed.
After losing out on Rolle, the Miami Dolphins targeted Dansby to fill the hole left by the departure of the talented malcontent LB Joey Porter. Dansby is the first change made under new defensive coordinator Mike Nolan to fix a defense that melted under pressure and caused the Dolphins to miss out on back-to-back playoff appearances. Dansby was awarded a five year deal worth $43 million, with $22 million guaranteed.
The first day of free agency was marked by defense, defense, defense. Outside of the Baltimore Raven’s trade for Anquan Boldin, very little news occurred on that side of the ball. Expect to see momentum pick up on offensive signings in the next few days.
The Big Easy will host the NFC Championship game today in a game that should produce offensive fireworks all night long. Both teams are lead by their quarterbacks that can make big plays with the wealth of offensive arsenal at their disposal.
Drew Brees Will Have The Big Easy Rockin'
The Vikings are coming of a 34-3 domination of the Dallas Cowboys last week. Brett Favre was more than stellar throwing for four playoff touchdowns, a career best. Favre tossed three of those scores to emerging wide receiver Sidney Rice.
Rice caught six passes for 141 yards to go along with the three scores. Along with Rice, tight end Visanthe Shiancoe also caught a touchdown pass. Shiancoe caught eleven touchdowns in the regular season. Favre threw for 33 touchdowns this year.
You can see that Favre has a couple of imposing threats in the receiving core. Adding to the offensive threat is Adrian Peterson. Peterson rushed for eighteen touchdowns and is a homerun threat every time he touches the ball. As you can see, the Vikings have more than enough offensive weapons to light up the scoreboard.
With all this said, it might come down to the Vikings defense to get stops. Minnesota is lead by sack leader Jared Allen who had 14 1/2 this season. Minnesota pressured Tony Romo all day long and will need that same pressure on Drew Brees or else he will pick them apart all night long.
The Saints are coming off their own impressive 31 point victory last week. They totally dominated the defending NFC Champions Arizona Cardinals 45-14.
Drew Brees threw for three touchdowns and 247 yards. Brees threw for 34 touchdowns this year and like Favre has a number of weapons at his disposal. Brees hooked up with Robert Meachem and Marques Colston for nine touchdowns each. The Saints have a couple of running backs to add to these receivers.
Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush are versatile and have the speed to hit the endzone form anywhere on the field. Bush is healthy now ,and he showed it last week. Bush had a 46 yard touchdown run and a 83 yard punt return for another score. A healthy Bush will mean more trouble for the Minnesota defense.
Speaking of defense, New Orleans only ranked 25th in the league this year. They will need to step up like last week, when they held the vaunted Arizona Cardinals to only 14 points. They must use that momentum.
This game will come down to you wants it more. Favre will use his experience an leadership to have the Vikes ready. The defense can use the great play of last week as momentum against the Saints great offense. The Saints started out 13-0 and had the city of New Orleans in a state of jubilation all year long.
Brees was tremendous all year long and with a healthy Reggie Bush will be hard to stop for even one possession. I think with the home field rocking, and the fact thst the Saints have never made the Super Bowl, it will be their day.
Brett Favre showed yesterday that he still has some air in his forty year old tires. He outplayed fellow counterpart Tony Romo in the Vikings total domination over the Cowboys 34-3. What a story book finish it would be if Favre could win next week in the Big Easy and bring the Vikes to the Super Bowl. Don’t bet against him…
Favre showed poise and confidence all day long. He stepped up form any Dallas pressure, made adjustments,and most importantly made no mistakes. Favre was 15-24 for 234 yards and had four touchdowns. He found his favorite target and emerging star Sidney Rice with three of these scores.. This combination has been in synce all year long. This makes the Vikings a dangerous team offensively. Tony Romo came into the game with confidence and a swagger, Favre left with it. Favre played with a youthful exuberance that became infectious to both his teammates and the Vikings crowd.He became the first forty year old to win a playoff game.This was also the first time in his illustrious career that he passed for four touchdowns in a playoff game.
Bret Favre was all smiles after his play yesterday against the Cowboys.
He has had one of the best years of his career and this game followed that to a tee.
Favre will bring his act to New Orleans next week. He will have another chance to out play another young quarterback Drew Brees. He can use the motivation as the elder to his advantage.The Saints also won in domination fashion over the defending NFC champions Arizona Cardinals. This time Favre will be in enemy territory, and this will be a bigger task because of that. It will be very interesting to see how well he handles and plays in hostile grounds. Doe Favre have one more trick to pull out of his hat?Next week in New Orleans will answer that more than intriguing question.
Kurt Warner always seems to rise when it counts most. Holding most of the single-game records in playoff and Super Bowl history, he gave us another one for the ages last week. His stat line read 29 for 33, 379 passing yards and five touchdowns. Not bad for a guy that prior to the game against Green Bay was contemplating retirement.
Warner Looks For A Repeat Performance
Warner brings his Cardinals squad to New Orleans today, in a familiar underdog role trying to take down the top seed in the playoffs. Facing a New Orleans defense which withered down the stretch, its likely that the words “Warner to Fitzgerald” will be heard time and again during this afternoon’s matchup.
If you are going to defeat Warner, putting pressure on him is the key. New Orleans’ defense this year was defined by solid middle of the defense play by Jonathon Vilma, Darren Sharper and Roman Harper. Pressuring the quarterback in not their fortay, as only Will Smith can consistently get at the quarterback. If Warner is not pressured, he is going to feast on a New Orleans defense that makes big play, but does so inconsistently.
On the other side of the ball, the Arizona defense matches up nicely with the New Orleans offense. Drew Brees had a phenomenal season, playing very consistently all year long. Brees had just two blips on the season, Miami and Dallas. In both games, Brees was harassed by get-to-the-quarterback defenses.
New Orleans benefited greatly all season from matchups against defenses that didn’t put pressure on a pass happy offense. 12 of New Orleans’ 16 games this season came against pass rushes that ranked in the bottom half of the league. Minus the Philadelphia Eagles meltdown in Week 2, the Saints looked awful against the top pass rush teams that they played in Washington, Dallas and Miami.
For New Orleans to come out with a victory, they will need to establish the run to slow down a strong Arizona pass rush that ranked sixth in the NFL in sacks. The negatives look to be outweighing the postives entering today’s game. Toss in Tom Benson’s slobbering salute to Deuce McAllister that is nothing more than a distraction to their game plan preparation…Saints fans show get ready for Warner to pin a loss on them.
The Dallas Cowboys are on a roll and seem to be gaining confidence each and every week. The Boys are winners of four in a row including last weeks domination of their fierce division rival the Eagles. This streak started with a signature victory over previously unbeaten New Orleans. This is the kind of victory that makes teams look back and say that this was the win the catapulted them to a Super Bowl win.
Tony Romo has the Cowboys on a roll.
The Cowboys are lead by their quarterback Tony Romo. Romo has been playing great during this streak with a 100% passer rating. Romo got the monkey off his back last week and has tasted what a playoff wins feels like. Romo and Dallas fans expect to go all the way and anything other than that would be a disappointment.Romo has a bunch of viable options at his disposal. It is these weapons in combination that make his job easier and defensive jobs a lot harder.
Dallas has three running backs that are capable of beating you on any play. Marion Barber has been hampered in recent weeks. Dallas just plugged in Felix Jones and Tashard Choice and did not miss a beat. They also have three receivers in the stable. Their main threat is Miles Austin, but when he is double covered Patrick Crayton or Tight End Jason Witten can come up big with a reception. During this four game win steak, Dallas has scored 12 touchdowns, five by receivers and three by runningbacks. This is the type of offensive sharing that is the definition of team work. Oh ya, don’t just rest your hat on the offense, the defense has been coming up big as well. Dallas has outscored their opponents 99-31 during this streak. Dallas is a complete football team right know.
Dallas will face Brett Favre and the Vikings on Sunday. This could be Favre’s las shot at a Super Bowl ,and he will play motivated football. But I think the hungrier quarterback, Romo, will play with more incentive and drive to get the victory in this NFC Divisional Playoff and move on. From there, Dallas would meet the winner of the Cardinals and Saints. The Boys match up well with both of these teams and have already knocked off the Saints. I think Dallas is just a more complete team of the four left in the NFC. If Dallas is fortunate to get the Bowl, they will be a tough team to beat. It has been a while since they won one, and if they get there watch out.
As a Eagle fan this hurts me to say, but I have to be objective. Dallas rates a pretty good shot to win the Super Bowl.
The NFL needs to decide whether or not it wants to enforce its own rules. It’s playoff time in the NFL now. Win, or go home.
In one of the best playoff games in recent memory, and arguably one of the greatest playoff games of all time, Green Bay was sent packing by the Cardinals. However, there were a few blown calls late in the game that could have cost the Packers a chance of advancing to play New Orleans.
Snyder Dismisses NFL Rules
On the second play in overtime after a thrilling four periods of regulation, Aaron Rodgers was hit in a helmet to helmet collision in the process of completing a fourteen yard pass. No personal foul was called, and the play was called back for offensive holding. Two plays later, everyone watched in shock as Rodgers was taken down by the facemask, losing the ball in the process as Karlos Dansby scooped it out of the air and into the end zone for the Arizona win.
Over the past season, and going further back into prior seasons, the NFL has shown their commitment to protecting the quarterback, no matter how minor the offense. Some argue that certain players have received special treatment from these rules, a la the “Tom Brady treatment.”
To maintain fair competition, the NFL needs to stop over blowing the whistle when these “elite” quarterbacks are out there or make consistent calls. Since the evidence shows that the calls are never consistent, they should stop overprotecting the quarterback position and let defenses go and do what they are paid to do, which is play defense.
Another rule that has become even more of a mockery than the protection of quarterbacks is the Rooney Rule. This states that teams who are in the process of hiring a new head coach must interview at least one minority. The purpose of this is to give the opportunity of obtaining a head coaching job to a minority. At the very least, even if said minority is passed over for the job, it gets their name out there for future vacancies.
However, it has become commonplace for owners in all sports, including the NFL, to continually recycle the same Caucasian coaches who have been mediocre in prior stints on other teams. Presumably some of this has to do with media hype over certain coaches when coaching jobs open up, no matter how merited that hype may be. The ignorance of the owners perpetuates this.
In two jobs that opened up shortly after season’s end, the Redskins and Seahawks had their positions filled (at least in principle) before full interviews really took place. Dan Snyder played footsie with Mike Shanahan for weeks with Zorn still under contract, and days after the season was officially over, he was hired. The Seahawks were quick to dump their first year coach in favor of USC’s Pete Carroll, who has been mediocre at best in his prior head coaching positions in the NFL.
What’s questionable is if and how these two teams complied with the rule when looking for their replacement. The Redskins interviewed one of their assistants during the season while Zorn was still head coach, and the Seahawks were trying to set up an interview with Minnesota’s defensive coordinator while at the same time working on a contract with Carroll.
It’s quite evident that the spirit of the rule was not followed by either team. Quick moves to dump their current head coaches were made to make room for candidates that were available and coveted by ownership of both teams. Any lackadaisical interviews that occurred with anyone were done simply for compliance sake, not to give those candidates their fair opportunity as was the plan when the rule was originated. But I guess ignorance is bliss.
The Green Bay Packers will look to keep things rolling as they return to Arizona for the third rematch of Week 17 looking to make it a clean sweep by the Week 17 winners. The New York Jets dominated the Cincinnati Bengals yesterday afternoon and the Dallas Cowboys blew the Philadelphia Eagles off the field last night. Its now up to the Packers to keep it going.
Woodson and Green Bay Defense Look To Be Difference Makers
Closing out the season with seven wins in its last eight games, the Packers entered the playoffs with the tag of the NFL’s hottest team. They rolled into Arizona last week and put a statement on a game that although meaningless to the Cardinals, they certainly didn’t roll over.
The Cardinals continue to be the same Jeckyll and Hyde team they were in their Super Bowl runner-up season in 2009. You never seem to know who is going to show up on a weekly basis. This season, the Cardinals have not shown the mettle they did last year and Kurt Warner appears to be showing his age.
This game will be decided on the defensive side of the ball between these two explosive offenses. Both teams field solid defenses that have their moments. Each need to have their moments today.
Green Bay’s defense led the league in turnover margin, which may be the deciding factor today. Green Bay registered a +24 turnover margin in the regular season, making big plays on defense and securing the ball on offense.
Conversely, Warner has a penchant for turning the ball over with errant passes. When he’s on, he has pinpoint accuracy. When he’s off, forget about it. If Green Bay can apply pressure to Warner and force him into mistakes, it is likely the Packers will leave Arizona with a similar result this week.
For the Packers offense, they will look to take advantage of an ailing Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie who missed practice all week. Rodgers-Cromartie, a Pro Bowler in 2009, injured his knee on just the third play of the game last week. It has been diagnosed as a deep bruise on the knee cap. Rodgers-Cromartie has been limited in practice and has been unable to plant and cut, which could prove disastrous against Green Bay’s WRs Donald Driver and Greg Jennings as QB Aaron Rodgers looks to exploit his injury.
Look for Green Bay to move on in the playoffs with a solid victory.
The final week of the NFL season is upon us and the playoff scenarios are the talk of the NFL. In the NFC, the teams have been decided, but the seeding are a crap shoot from positions 2 to 6. Only the New Orleans Saints get the opportunity to rest this week knowing they are assured home field advantage throughout the playoffs and everyone else is fighting for the other first round bye.
The Eagles control their destiny. A win secures a first week bye and home field, a loss send them on the road for the entire playoff. With an Eagles loss, a free-for-all will ensue, giving every team left a shot at that first week bye. The following is a breakdown of all the possibilities for today’s games.
The defending Super Bowl champions are mirrored in a five game losing streak that has the team in a funk and dealing with reality of missing the playoffs. At the beginning of this season, this
Mike Tomlin has seen better days in Steel Town
would have been the last thing the Steelers would have dreamed of. This five game skid has the players and their coach Mike Tomlin in more than a miserable mood. Everyone is in a state of shock in Pittsburgh.
The Steelers stand at 6-7 and and their five game losing streak has been by a total of 22 points. Three of those games; Kansas City, Baltimore and Oakland have come by only three points. The loss by Oakland in the final minutes when they gave up a touchdown drive was followed up with a listless effort in Cleveland on a Thursday night resulting in a 13-6 loss. You cannot lose games to the likes of those teams in this league and expect to play in the post season. The Steelers are 1-7 in games decided by seven point or less. It seems that lack of execution and a failure to close the game has lead this team to the predictement they are currently in. This is in large contrast to last season when there executed with greatness in the fourth quarter including last years Super Bowl triumph over the Arizona Cardinals.
Pittsburgh’s remaining schedule does not do them any favors. They have Green Bay, Baltimore and finish off in Miami. It looks like they will end their season in the warmth of Miami, FAR from the plan they add for this season. Their will be a new Super Bowl champion this year in the National Football League.
The Eagles control their destiny. A win secures a first week bye and home field, a loss send them on the road for the entire playoff. With an Eagles loss, a free-for-all will ensue, giving every team left a shot at that first week bye. The following is a breakdown of all the possibilities for today’s games.
