Possible Super Bowl XLIX?

There is a great chance this season that we'll see either the Green Bay Packers, or the New England Patriots in the upcoming Super bowl for the 2014-2015 season. I believe Green Bay has an easier shot at making it than New England, but we cannot rule the Pats out right away considering the season they're having right now.

New England comes into a chilly Lambeau field looking to break the 6-0 home game win streak by the Packers to only come short in this contest. New England only putting up 14 points in the second quarter and a late 4th quarter touchdown falling short of Aaron Rodgers and the Packers 21-26. This game was a battle of the Elite. Everyone watching held their breath watching the future Hall of Fame quarterbacks and their dominant offense, both throwing for over 200 yards. This also happens to be the first time the two players have been starters. In all the time that I've seen Brady play, he has never moved around faster in the pocket. He stepped up in the pocket quicker and his release was like a lightning strike. Brady threw for 245 yards completing 22 of 35 pass attempts. Only sacked once for a 9 yard loss, he also threw for 2 touchdowns. Aaron Rodgers also had himself a night. Rodgers threw for a big 368 yards completing 24 of 38 passes on the night. Rodgers hit Davante Adams 6 times for 121 yards an with average of 20.2 yards and his longest being a 45 yard scamper. Aaron also threw 2 touchdowns and matching with Brady a goose egg on interceptions. Even being sacked 3 times for 20 yards Rodgers held his own in the pocket against a big New England D-Line. Rodgers holds the current record this season for most pass TD without an interception at home in a single season in NFL history with 20 beating out Steve Young with only 10. Now all that said Aaron and the Pack' still have 2 more home games. One against the Atlanta Falcons and then their last season against the Detroit Lions who own up to one of the top two defenses in the NFL statistically. So look for Rodgers to make a mistake and have my guys Darius Slay and or James Ihedigbo slide in for a pick 6 to break that streak.

DETROIT LIONS UPDATE: As the kids all say these days,"Winner winner, Turkey dinner!" well really it's "chicken dinner" but for the sake of the holiday, those kids happen to be the Detroit Lions as they win again on Thanksgiving. making their long Turkey Day record at 35 wins, 38 losses and 2 ties. Hopefully they can maintain a streak to  jump them over .500 in the historic Thanksgiving record.

Saints On A Scary Losing Streak

The NFC South is a garbage division in the 2014-2015 season. It is absolute garbage. The New Orleans Saints are leading their division at 4 wins, and 7 losses. A once prosperous and now back to their "down for the count" team. Ever since the Saints started to do well in the NFL, they've been known to "Virtually" always win at home and "Virtually lose on the road. All being said with the word virtually because of course they've had wins on the road and losses in the Superdome in past years. Having said that, people know most of the time they're winning at home. In the Mercedes-Benz Superdome the great arm in Drew Brees leading the way. This week in football, the Saints find themselves on a losing streak. There isn't a team in any league, age group, or sport other than football that likes a losing streak. It's a terrible feeling. You lose morale of your team, the coaches, and your fan base. New Orleans in week 13 have a most displeasing losing streak of three in a row at home. Oh no you read that right, at home! In the Superdome! The Saints not doing well in New Orleans! Like my father always says, "Stick a fork in 'em, they're done". Except now, the Saints ugly streak may be compared to the slow cooked pot roast I had for dinner last night. You know the kind where it cuts like butter? Breaks down to any abrasive action towards them. The Saints have really been on my side of the fence since they got over being a losing franchise in the 2009 season. The beginning of this season I had high hopes for the New Orleans squad. Now with the lack of offense and not having their biggest asset in winning at home, they will continue to fall late this season.

On monday night in the Superdome a thriving Ravens and Joe Flacco come head on with the Saints. With a tight scoring margin throughout this contest, Baltimore shows us that they are most definitely a contender for the playoffs and possibly another Super Bowl appearance. The Ravens have always been a team not talked about a lot in a season, then come out firing on all cylinders and winning in the playoffs. Baltimore's running game was a huge force against the Saints. Justin Forsett galloped through the Saints defense like a field of wild flowers. The man had a day coming from the back field. His vision was on point for running between the tackles. He switched directions on a dime and had 2 touchdowns on the night. Forsett ran for a career-high 182 yards and had 170 of those yards between the tackles. Joe Flacco had a nice night on the field tossing for 243 yards completing 18 of 24 passes. Hitting Steve Smith for a 15 yard touchdown in the middle of the first quarter. The Ravens also had a pick 6 on Drew Brees. Despite Drew Brees and the Saints offensive struggles, Brees threw for 420 yards and 3 touchdowns. However he was sacked 4 times on 5 possessions for a total loss for 21 yards. No defense and no offensive line are means of disaster for the Saints.

The Ravens pull this one out in New Orleans 34 to 27. With the Saints leading the division, I can see them being dominated later this season in the playoff picture. Look for the Ravens to sneak up like they always do in the hunt for the playoffs. I wouldn't be surprised to see them play in at least the AFC Championship this year.

The Battle Of The Bergers

The so called "Berger Bowl" took place Monday night between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Tennessee Titans. For those that do not know the Berger Bowl is not an annual thing, but just a made up name by sportscasters to have a little fun for the late Monday night game. The two Quarterbacks featured in this match up are Ben Roethlis-"Berger" and Zach Metten-"Berger", see what they did there? Sports Center always has some kind of historical fact for the NFL during any game. This time the history brings up the "Berger" QB's again. Ben Roethlisberger and Zach Mettenberger combine for most letters in last names of opposing Quarterbacks in any NFL game. Wow! If that doesn't get you excited for football then I don't know what will! Sport Center never fails to amaze me.

The Steelers are coming into this Monday night game after a disappointing loss to the struggling New York Jets. Lucky for them they would pull out this fight against their new struggling opponent. Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers came out of the gate a little slower than usual. The team offense itself did not score until the 4th quarter. The first quarter was all the defense and the Field Goal Unit for the Steelers, Shaun Suisham booting in a 49 and 23 yard field goal. This along with William Gay returning a 28 yard pick 6, putting the Steelers up 17-13 after the first half. Tennessee running in a short 9 yard touchdown, a field goal and a long 80 yard pass from Zach Mettenberger. Ben Roethlisberger's arm looked swell, but their receivers were left covered well in the secondary. Roethlisberger finished his night with only 207 yards passing tossing 21 completed for 32 attempts. This shows that he needed some help from the running game, and boy he got it. Le'Veon  Bell, my old favorite running back from Michigan State University had himself a day. Showing up to this game getting 33 carries for 204 yards and a touchdown. The kid still amazes me. He's one on the slender and taller running backs. Not necessarily the usual build of a running back but he gets the job done. He continues to impress me by not only breaking through the tackles but also blocking to a great extent. Many QB's don't get that a lot out of their running backs anymore and I'm sure Roethlisberger is very thankful for that.

The final score from this monday night game was a tight 27 Steelers - 24 Tennessee and Ben Roethlisberger becoming the "Berger King" on a game saving touchdown pass in the 4th quarter to squeeze past the Tennessee Titans.

Cardinals Keep Rolling

During the NFL season, you see a lot of hype over most of the "Elite Teams" with well known players. You could hear about Tom Brady and New England, Russell Wilson and Seattle, or Peyton Manning and Denver. I doubt anyone would think that this year we would be talking about the, Cardinals? The 7 win and 1 loss Arizona Cardinals. The best record in the NFL Cardinals. I couldn't even remember who plays for Arizona besides Larry Fitzgerald, and I doubt that anyone else could either. However we will all know now about the Arizona Cardinals now as they continue to roll and defeat the Dallas Cowboys in week 9 of the NFL 2014-2015 season.

Carson Palmer has been doing great work in the quarterback position for Arizona in the first 9 weeks of a long season. Although with ups there are downs, Palmer's downfall was his first drive of the game. Throwing a pick-6 to the Cowboy's Tyler Patmon, a 58 yard scamper for Dallas to put up the first points of the game sunday. Speaking of Dallas scoring, they didn't do too much of it against a tough Cardinal defense. On offense quarterback Brandon Weeden filled in for Tony Romo who has been struggling with back problems. It was safe to say that Weeden was not comfortable at all in his own stadium, being held to only a field goal and a late 3 yard pass to Dez Bryant. Who can blame the young quarterback though? The Dallas Cowboys have been sticking to the run all year with DeMarco Murray. Murray already has more than 1000 yards on the season and was on a record season for 8 straight games with 100+ yards each game. The Cardinals defense shut their whole running game down, ending Murrays streak by keeping him to a 79 yard performance on the ground. Turnovers by Weeden and a non-existent running game were key in the win for the Arizona Cardinals. Carson Palmer would make his only mistake with the opening drive pick-6 and turn this game around with scoring drives in the 2nd and 4th quarters. Completing 22 of his 34 attempts in the air Palmer ended his day with 249 yards and 3 passing touchdowns to John Carlson, Jaron Brown, and Andre Ellington. 

I can see now that the biggest NFC contender in the Arizona Cardinals are not joking around. Look for them to compete in the playoffs against some of those big names you hear constantly about. By the end of the regular season, I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot about big Cardinal defense, Palmer, Fitzgerald, and Ellington, the key players in the fight to Super Bowl XLIX (49). That would be an interesting feat for Arizona, playing a Super Bowl in their own house at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale.

Making The Saints Look Like Fools In The D

I tried to tell myself that when writing this blog, I would not write about the same team until I was forced to by the way games are played each week. This is a special case because the Lions performance this past Sunday was astounding! A comeback win from being down 2 touchdowns, and the best defense statistically stopping a future Hall Of Fame quarterback. Have a day Detroit, have a day.

I winced every time the camera was put on Calvin Johnson that was not dressed to play in Sundays game against the New Orleans Saints. The Lions were praying that their group of talented wide receivers would show up to the game. That receiving core brought all of it's talents and impressed me to the point of almost smiling to see Calvin on the sideline. Don't get me wrong, I don't believe that Johnson wouldn't have helped the cause against the Saints. Heck he probably would have added on another TD or a few hundred yards. I just loved seeing the other receivers doing work out there even though that big leader was standing arms crossed, and hoping for the W. Golden Tate and Corey Fuller were showing off their big hands and quick feet. Golden Tate with 10 receptions, 154 yards and his longest catch of 73 yards for the TD. Tate put up 87 of his career-high 154 receiving yards after the catch. Tate averaged 8.7 yards after the catch, which is the most of anyone with 10 receptions in a game this year. Corey Fuller also had 3 receptions for 44 yards averaging 14.7 yards a catch, with one huge winning touchdown topping the comeback for the Lions. Stafford was also on his game with 299 passing yards making 27 of his 40 pass attempts. His two interceptions were a sight for sore eyes. However he pushed his offense to the max in this comeback. Matthew Stafford also made a day for himself by a tie with Bobby Layne for Detroits career lead with 118 touchdown passes.

I would expect nothing less from the Lions to have some sort of setback with a great win on Sunday. Reggie Bush spent most of his time on the sideline into this game. It appeared that he may have tweaked his ankle but don't take my word for it. It could have been anything. Luckily Joique Bell like the Lions receiving core, was ready to take charge when a fellow teammate at his position was out. Joique did not see many yards with 48 on 18 carries, but he also scored a 1 yard run into the endzone on an 80 yard Detroit offensive drive. The Saints are obviously struggling losing their "Killer Instinct" as it was put in an ESPN article. Four injuries have been critical for the Saints play on game days. Tight End Jimmy Graham played with a shoulder injury but did not catch a pass all day. The Saints Center Jonathan Goodwin left in the second quarter with a leg injury. New Orleans lost Nose Tackle Brodrick Bunkley in the second half with a concussion, and his counterpart on the defensive line of Glenn Foster with a knee injury. Being 0-4 on the road, the Saints need to find a spark to get this 2-4 team into the playoff picture.


LIONS KICKER UPDATE:

YES! Prater put one through the uprights! Even though he barely made it in. With a loud BONG made the "Kickers Music" by placing a shot directly on the goal post. Making me more nervous about his future play. Maybe his teammates held him to only a few shots of whiskey before the game and not the whole fifth? Lets just hope he strays little by little from that.

Ravens 'Toss' Around Bucs in Tampa

The Ravens and Joe Flacco showed up to play in Tampa on Sunday. The Ravens were looking to get a shaky looking season back on Track. Baltimore could not have played any better to show that the whole team was all in for a better season. Flacco and the Ravens offense put on what had resembled a record setting performance in the first half. Their defense even showed up against the struggling Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Though losing a tough 48-17, the Bucs were not all terrible on the stat sheet. Besides the 1 win and 5 losses, 3 being at home. Tampa's offense wasn't awful, but no where near any good.

Flacco lead his Ravens in the first half scoring on six straight possessions. He was the first NFL quarterback to throw five touchdown passes in the first half since Tom Brady in 2009. He threw TDs to four different receivers and completed passes to 5 other Raven receivers. Torrey Smith caught the first 2 TD's in the first 6 minutes of the game. That was more than what he had in his previous 10 games combined! Kamar Aiken, Steve Smith and Michael Campanaro would follow for a lead early in the second quarter putting the score at 35-0. The Ravens running game also came to Tampa with Forsett rushing for 111 yards on 14 carries, with his longest being 52 yards. Pierce also rushed for 32 yards on 15 carries. Flacco's passing was a pretty outstanding stat on the post game sheets. However one of the more important in my eyes is the "Sacks-Yards Lost" going 0-0 on the day for the Ravens. Meaning their offensive line put a whooping on the Bucs defense. Being a retired Center myself, that always puts me in a good mood! I think it's safe to say that Flacco's arm was better Sunday than the Buccaneers Pirate Ship cannons in the North Endzone. Giving the Ravens the edge in this game.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the other hand were not up to the challenge on Sunday.  With Cornerback Alterrraun Verner and the Bucs shaky defense gave up a staggering 48 points. You can really only describe it as sloppy play and nothing else. The Bucs offense was riddled all game as well. The same stat of Sacks-Yards Lost that the Ravens did so well in, was the downfall of the Buccaneers. Tampa Bays offensive line gave up 5 sacks for a loss of 37 yards.The Bucs quarterback Glennon was sacked or put under duress on 26 of his 49 dropbacks. YUCK. If you do the math that's 53% of his drop backs that were disrupted. That is absolutely a garbage performance by the long time struggling Buccaneers. The only good stat that I can think of is Glennons performance despite being chased more than half the time of possession. Matt Glennon threw for 2 TDs, 314 yards completing 53% of his passes and only 1 interception. That is really all I have to say about the sad looking team. The Bucs are the first team in the last 14 seasons to be outscored by at least 35 points in a half, twice in single season.

NFC North Beat Down

Everyone in "Packer-Land" was told to relax by their great leading quarterback Aaron Rodgers after a shaky set of starts for Green Bay. Rodgers was right to calm everyone down. The Packers have started their roll in the NFC North. Since his most recent statement, Green Bay has put up 38 and 42 points in their last 2 games. Both games were also wins against teams in the NFC North. The Chicago Bears and the most recent Minnesota Vikings. I like the big scoring games so we'll stick to the whooping of Minnesota this past Thursday.

The Minnesota Vikings were without their new star quarterback Teddy Bridgewater this week. Relieving any chance of a win against the Packers. Last week Bridgewater had 317 yards, sparking a huge flame under the Vikings showing that they finally have someone to keep running the offense. It really shows how momentum of one player can lead to a victory or a loss. Many people think kickers in football are just headcases and cannot be coached out of their nerves. Honestly I believe every player on a team, professional or not, is a headcase at some point. It all wages on the performance of players. Not having the new quarterback and bringing in the old (Christian Ponder) would send their heads spinning into a 42-10 loss. Minnesota had given up 2 interceptions and a fumble, along with 9 penalties for 91 yards, and any chance of their offense to roll against the Pack'.

Eddie Lacy ran for a season high 105 yards and 2 touchdowns in the win against Minnesota. Lacy ran more balls up the middle in Thursdays game than he did in the first 4 games this season. The Packers averaged 37.3 rush yards before contact per game in the first 4 weeks. Through 2 drives against the Vikings, the Packers already had 39 rush yards before contact. A season high game and probably one of the best for a top running back like Lacy in the NFL.

Lacy was moving like a tank on the ground all night but that doesn't mean the offense didn't have some struggles. Rodgers and the Packer offense were not at their best performance. Rodgers only connected on 12 of his 17 passes for 156 yards on the night. There were several three-and-outs with a few touchdown drives.  Randall Cobb was the first to strike on Thursday night with an 8 yard pass from Rodgers for the touchdown. Cobb would finish his night with 2 other receptions for 26 yards. Jordy Nelson also had a 66 yard touchdown that would be his only reception on the night.

In all the scoring of the night for the Packers, even Linebacker Julius Peppers found himself crossing the goal line after a 49 yard interception. This also granted him his first Lambeau Leap that every Green Bay Packer takes after scoring on an opponent. Peppers with his Pick-6 would also put him over a major defensive feat. He became the first player in NFL history with 100 sacks and 10 interceptions.

LIONS KICKER UPDATE: I'm not getting into detail on this because it's so very frustrating to see. Can they just find someone to put the pigskin through the uprights?! Please and thank you! They will need it after seeing how Green Bay is stepping up their game in the NFC North. The Lions will need all the help they can get to defeat Green Bay and win the division this year,