Author Archives: davecouture

Patriots vs. Giants: Defensive Line

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Today we will take a look at the defensive lines of the Giants and the Patriots, I know this might be the best part of the Patriots defense (not saying much), but I think you all know where this one is going.

20120126-115805.jpgThe Giants have arguably the best pass rush in the whole NFL. There isn’t a team that can pressure the quarterback without blitzing the way the Giants can. I hate bringing it up as much as the next guy; but when the Patriots matched up against the Giants last time in the Super Bowl their offensive line got exposed by the rush of the Giants. On many passing downs the Giants will switch off D-Tackle Linval Joseph and they will go with a four man front of Umenyiora, Tuck, Pierre-Paul, and Kiwanuka. The fact that the Giants pass defense is as bad as it is when they often times have no need to blitz and can keep many players back in coverage really shows how inept their secondary is. A combination like that possesses more speed up front than any D-Line in the NFL. The bright spot of their defensive line has to be Jason Pierre-Paul. He leads the team with 16.5 sacks so far this season. Osi Umenyiora isn’t to bad himself; he’s only played in nine games this year and has still recorded 9 sacks. Expect Brady to make many changes at the line of scrimmage based on the personnel the Giants send out there. This game is going to come down to the success both sides have in the trenches.

Overall Grade: A

The Patriots defensive line is very solid. They have a big presence in the middle with Big Vince clogging up all the running holes, and he even showed last week he could get after the quarterback as well. The loss of Andre Carter certainly didn’t help the pass rush, but veteran Mark Anderson has stepped right in and recorded 10 sacks this season. Like many positions on this team, the Patriots have a constant rotation on the D-Line. Kyle Love, Brandon Deadrick, Shaun Ellis and Gerard Warren always move in and out of the game. You have to be confident the Patriots run defense shouldn’t be the main issue against a team that often times forgets they have a running back. Overall the Patriots defensive line looks solid and should be able to get some pressure on Eli.

Overall Grade: B+

Edge: Giants

Patriots vs. Giants: Linebackers

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Today we will take a look at the linebacker comparison between the Giants and the Patriots.

The Giants linebacker presence often times goes unnoticed. This isn’t because they aren’t good, or they don’t get their job done. It’s because of their QB hungry defensive line. Giants linebackers aren’t on the field to be pass rushers like many other teams use their linebackers. The linebacking crew consists of Michael Boley, Mathias Kiwanuka, Jacquian Williams, Greg Jones, and Chase Blackburn. Boley and Kiwanuka are both above average linebackers, with great speed. The others are mere average defenders.  Often times you will see Kiwanuka line up at the end position when they are in passing downs. Overall the linebacking group is average at best, and Perry Fewell does a great job making sure they don’t get exposed.

Overall Grade: C

Like the Giants, the Patriots have a seamlessly never ending linebacker rotation. Brandon Spikes coming back from injury was huge for their run defense, and it showed last week when the Pats basically shut down the most explosive part of the Ravens offense. Jerod Mayo is a top tier middle linebacker, and Rob Ninkovich has been improving all year and is showing he can be solid NFL talent and consistently put pressure on the opponent’s quarterback. Overall the Patriots linebacking crew is very solid when healthy, and that’s how it is right now.

Overall Grade: B

Edge: Patriots

Patriots vs. Giants: The Secondary

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Okay so from today until next Friday before the Super Bowl I will analyze the Patriots vs Giants matchup position by position. Today I am going to begin with the Secondary.

We’ll start with the Giants. Their secondary has been one of the worst in all of football, and the fact that it has been that bad with the pass rush they have is pretty pathetic. Opponents’ quarterbacks are always under pressure and they still allowed 28 TD passes and over 4000 yards. If the Giants were up 20 points in most games this year and opposing QB’s were forced into situations where they had to throw the ball this stat would be somewhat inflated. That’s not the case. The lone bright spot of their secondary is that they ranked 6th in the league with 20 interceptions. If the Patriots O-Line are able to keep Brady on his feet, expect some serious numbers to be put up on this defense.

Overall grade: D+

20120124-105302.jpgThe Patriots’ secondary has been in shambles all season. The move to switch McCourty to safety was a great one in my opinion. The Patriots’ secondary allowed over 4700 passing yards this season and allowed 26 touchdowns against, both ranking amongst the worst in the NFL. Like the Giants; the Pats also ranked amongst the best in the NFL with 23 interceptions. The Patriots secondary has been slowly improving and the pieces seem to be falling into place. They are going to be tested early and often against this confident Giant offense, and their performance may be the deciding factor in this game.

Overall grade: D

Edge: Giants

 

Raiders Fire Hue Jackson After Just One Season

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With new management coming in, the Raiders have decided to part ways with Head Coach Hue Jackson after just one season.

To me this makes absolutely zero sense. Jackson had looked to have the franchise headed in the right direction until a couple of key injuries really hurt their playoff chances. After showing he was one of the top running backs in the NFL through the first half of the season Darren McFadden went down with an injury that plagued him for the remainder of the season, as well as starting quarterback Jason Campbell going down with a broken collarbone. Jackson was forced to take what he was given.

How many first round busts can a team draft before they realize it isn’t the coaches’ fault? For a team that seems to always pick in the top 10 they don’t exactly have the best recent draft history. Since 2005 here are their top draft picks in order: Fabian Washington (2005) Michael Huff (2006) Jamarcus Russell (2007) Darren McFadden (2008) Darrius Heyward-Bey (2009) Rolando McClain (2010). So throughout their past six draft picks they end up with one franchise player, a few average players, the biggest bust in NFL history (Russell) and a guy that believes its okay to run others over with his cars (McClain).

To add to their terrible draft picks, they seem to always make absolutely terrible trades. Randy Moss for a 4th rounds picks? Giving a team two first round picks for a 32-year-old Carson Palmer? I guess the only defense they have for making the Palmer trade could be… Well we don’t really draft that great anyways right?

Every time the Raiders make a coaching change, (which I swear happens like every year or so) I think to myself; how can they not see that the coach isn’t the issue? The real issue is the front office and their absolutely unintelligent moves. Hopefully for the sake of those insane Raiders fans new management will also mean new results.

 

AFC Wild Card Playoff Predictions

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So the with the end of the Regular Season coming to a close, and the playoffs about to begin I will start to analyze the upcoming AFC playoff games for this weekend. If you had told me in August that the Tim Tebow led Broncos, along with the Texans and Bengals would be continuing their season into January I would have been willing to bet everything I own on it. Fortunately for me I didn’t…

Bengals @ Texans

The Bengals come in losing five of their last eight. All of those loses came to AFC playoff teams, one of them being the Texans. Even with Schaub sidelined the Texans can still offer one of the AFC’s best offenses simply because of the run game they have. Their defense is solid and was what got them where they are today. The young Bengals offense has really shined this year led by the rookie combination of Andy Dalton and A.J. Green. I expect this one to be a low scoring game based on the strength of both defenses. The Texans are favored in this one but I see otherwise, I’m going with the Bengals.

Prediction: Bengals 17 Texans 14

Steelers @ Broncos

I for one am certainly glad that all the Tebow hype is over. He finally came down to earth and is playing more like the QB he really is. I cannot take away the fact that the guy is a proven winner, which is literally the only reason the Broncos even have a shot here. The Steelers are injury depleted and I feel like it is definitely going to hurt their playoff chances. Big Ben is still shaken up; Mendenhall is done for the playoffs, and Ryan Clark being kept out of this one. Luckily for the Steelers they are facing a team that went 8-8 in the regular season, but have the talent of a 5-11 team. Like the other AFC Wildcard game I expect this one to be low scoring. Tebow better do some extra praying this week. His savior doesn’t save him here; Steelers win.

Steelers 20 Broncos 13

BSB Pick of the Day

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Okay so it hasn’t been a great start to this whole new pick of the day thing, but I’m confident I’ll get back on track and hopefully it starts right here. The Orange Bowl between West Virginia and Clemson looks to be one of the more exciting games of the bowl season. With the spread at 3 so far this game is definitely a toss-up for me, so I’m gonna go with the over of 63 on this one. The teams combined average over 68 points per game this season and I see it continuing as neither team has a top-tier defense. I’m going with the over of 63 as my pick of the day.

BSB Pick of the Day

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Beginning today I will be introducing a new daily pick of the day. This is going to be a pick involving the spreads, not just a win or lose situation. The sport will vary daily based on what I see as the best pick. Hopefully you gamblers out there can get something out of this.

Todays Pick of the Day:

Heat –8.5 @ Timberwolves

The Heat are averaging over 105 PPG to start this season and they have looked like the best team in the NBA so far. LeBron, D-Wade and Bosh are all starting to gel together and their supporting cast has come up big in clutch situations. To add-on to that the T-Wolves have allowed the 5th most points against in the NBA so far this year. I see 8.5 as an easy spread for the best team in the NBA to cover against one of the worst. Take the Heat.

Patriots Preview

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The Patriots end their regular season at home on New Years Day this year, and if all goes well they won’t have to play any true away games throughout the playoffs. With a win Sunday the Patriots clinch the top seed in the AFC East and will have a chance to both playoff games leading up to the Super Bowl.

The Bills have looked absolutely terrible in the second half of the season, but did have a pleasant bounce back win against the Tebow led Broncos last week. The Patriots struggled greatly in their previous matchup with the Bills, but I look at that as a fluke. With Fred Jackson on IR and Ryan Fitzpatrick playing like the Fitzpatrick we all got to know in the past this Bills team cannot matchup talent wise with the Patriots and it will show this week. Expect the Pats to come out firing as this game has great playoff implications.

Prediction: Patriots 34 Bills 21