Guide to Fantasy Football Drafts

The Basics 

More than 30 million U.S. citizens play fantasy football every year. And no matter how popular fantasy football is, there are still the first timers out there who need a concise guide to conquer the world of fantasy football drafts. This article is an attempt to resolve this problem and guide enthusiasts, so that, they can play with confidence. Fantasy football is a virtual game where players make up fake teams with real football players, primarily based on their performance in the field. The fake teams compete with one another, and the fake team, which scores highest points, becomes the winner. Both luck and strategy play a big role when it comes to winning the fantasy league. To come up with a strategy, the players need to have a proper plan in place. Players spend on an average twelve hours in a week to prepare their fake teams. Over this, they also need to keep up with any situation that would require modifications to the team structure.

How to Play

As the competition is fierce, seeking out advice is vital to winning at this game. If a player doesn’t know simple rules and is unsure of how to begin with selecting football players, then it becomes necessary that a new comer learns the ropes of fantasy football quickly and master the moves. Some people work for ESPN, CBS Sports and other major sports websites who track and analyze the football player statistics. Other independent researchers rank players, on the basis of their performance and predict their future performance. For guidance, enthusiasts can follow these experts and select players accordingly. But keep in mind that speculations decide the rankings. There are websites like fantasypros.com, which provides the average of all experts’ rankings on football players. Narrow down on the analysts and websites that provide rankings and choose the football player based on data points provided. Another important thing is to keep track of players; bye week. When a team is on a week off from the field, the players cannot score with those football players in the fantasy football game. Above all, practice is the key and breaking few rules to check what works is essential. Players should prepare themselves to take the risk along if they intend to win. To make things easy, one can use apps to play the fantasy games such as DRAFT. The apps are a great way to keep track of opponents and make playing fun and intuitive.

Fantasy Football Trends for 2017

The training camps for fantasy football have started by July, and many players are doing mock drafts week after week. Players who want to have maximum exposure are playing against fantasy experts. PPR is the choice of format for mocks among the players.

For 2017, the predictions point that the quarterbacks are deep and hence players should avoid picking them early. To pick quarterbacks the safest time is after the third round. For 2017, there is still uncertainty with running backs. It did not work for 2016, and same holds true for this year as well. Therefore, before selecting running backs make sure of addressing quarterback and tight end first. Deciding on the kicker and the defense early on will bring good results for the year 2017. Placing these players appropriately will stand as a good strategy. There have been some injuries off and on fields. Hence, the players need to keep an eye on the health of football players before selecting.

Odd European News

Liverpool Striker Luis Suarez, 26, has caused some outcry overseas. In their most recent match against Chelsea, Suarez is seen biting Defender Branislav Ivanovic on the arm. He has since apologized but not before everyone and their mother had something to say about it. As a former soccer player who always fought back against those who call Soccer a “sissy sport”, this sucks. As if there wasn’t enough diving and crying already in European Football, now there’s biting!

In completely related news, Mike Tyson is now following Suarez on Twitter. No, that’s not a joke. Tyson, who famously had his boxing license revoked after chewing off a piece of Evander Holyfield’s ear in 1997, is now a Tweet-Mate of the Uruguayan-born futbol star.

Metro.co.uk Picture Luis Suarez

Brady Fined

Tom Brady was fined $10,000 last night after a slide against the Ravens last week that the league called a dirty play. Not that it matters, I’m pretty sure him and Gisele can swing the 10k. Ed Reed said he didn’t mind the play that much because it was in the heat of the game, but Bernard Pollard (one of the dirtiest guys out there) took to the media to complain. He said that if you can call it on the defense, you have to be able to do what’s right and call it on the QB too. Anyways, I like Brady for doing this. It shows that he was pissed off and wanted to do anything to win.

Ignore the voice of the guy in the video, even though it is pretty amusing.

NFL Coaching Carousel: New Faces In New Places

New Year, New Coaches: A few weeks ago the NFL saw a total of 7 head coaches fired by their old teams. Those teams were the Arizona Cardinals, Buffalo Bills, Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles, and San Diego Chargers. Since then all 7 coaching vacancies have been filled. Here’s a rundown of who was hired:

Arizona Cardinals: Bruce Arians, who led the Colts to an 11-5 record as interim coach in the absence of Chuck Strong, who battled Leukemia last season.

Buffalo Bills: Doug Marrone, former Syracuse Orange head coach, went 25-25 in four seasons with the Orange and has 7 years of NFL experience with coaching staff stints with the New Orleans Saints 2006-2008 and  the New York Jets 2002-2005.

Cleveland Browns: Rob Chudzinski, former Offensive Coordinator for the Carolina Panthers and also was OC for the Browns in 2007-2008.

Chicago Bears: Marc Trestman, former CFL coach for the Montreal Alouettes winning two Grey Cup titles, also has 17 years of NFL coaching experience spending most of that time as an offensive coordinator for a number of NFL teams.

Kansas City Chiefs: Andy Reid, Former Philadelphia Eagles Bench Boss, spent 13 years with the Eagles, leading them to five NFC Championship game appearances and a Super Bowl in 2004, he finished last season with a record of 4-12.

Philadelphia Eagles: Chip Kelly, former Oregon Ducks head coach, went 46-7 while helping to turn the Ducks into a college football powerhouse. Kelly also led the Ducks to a BCS National Championship in 2011. Kelly has no previous NFL experience.

San Diego Chargers: Mike McCoy, former Denver Broncos Offensive Coordinator who helped the Broncos along the way to a 13-3 season that ended with a playoff loss to Baltimore last Saturday (January 12th).

Best and Worst Hire: From the list of recent hires above, here’s my choice for who nailed it and who should have kept looking:

Best: The Arizona Cardinals have earned my nod for the NFL’s best off-season coaching move with the hire of Bruce Arians. I chose the Cards over Kansas City hiring Andy Reid for a few reasons.

1. Arians led a Colts team that nobody had winning more than 4-5 games to an 11 win season and a playoff berth. 2. He coached on a team with a green-horn QB in Andrew Luck and found ways to win. 3. He displayed leadership all season long as he stepped in for Chuck Strong, and picked up the teams spirits to push forward.

It’s all of those reasons that I have Arians having success in Arizona with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Kevin Kolb/ John Skelton, Adrian Wilson, and Patrick Peterson.

Side note on Arians: To have success, he will need to address the teams QB situation. Last year Kolb and Skelton shared duties in leading the team. The Cardinals have the 7th pick in the 2013 NFL Draft. Which could give them the option to go for either Geno Smith of West Virginia or Matt Barkley of USC (then again, Matt Leinart didn’t exactly workout in Arizona). Any way you slice it though, Arians will need to resolve that position if he is to ultimately succeed.

Worst: This one is pretty clear cut in my mind. The Philadelphia Eagles took a gamble on hiring Chip Kelly and that’s exactly what Kelly will be in Philly, a risk. Kelly certainly isn’t the first college head coach to try his hand on the NFL Grid-iron.

Some college head coaches like Jim Harbaugh (San Francisco 49ers head coach) Pete Carroll (recently with the Seattle Seahawks) Tom Coughlin( New York Giants 2 Super Bowl Rings) and Jimmy Johnson (Dallas Cowboys Head coach in the 90’s who won 2 Super Bowls) are having/had great success in the NFL . However, more often than not, “The Old College Try” doesn’t pan out so well for most NFL teams. Here’s a list of college coaches who weren’t so hot in the NFL:

Steve Spurrier (Washington Redskins for 2 years going 12-20 before retreating back to college ball)

Nick Saban (Miami Dolphins for 2 years going 15-17 before taking the Alabama job and building a college dynasty)

Bobby Petrino (Atlanta Falcons for 13 games of the 2007 season left with 3 games still to play, the Falcons finished with a 4-12 record. Petrino returned to college to coach Arkansas)

Rich Brooks (St. Louis Rams for 2 years going 13-19 and was fired, which allowed him to return to college and coach Kentucky)

Unlike Harbaugh, Carroll, Coughlin, and Johnson, I forsee Kelly falling into the same category as Spurrier, Saban, Petrino, and Brooks. I just don’t see his offensive schemes working at the professional level.

Also, unless Kelly, an offensive minded guy, can somehow work wonders with his defensive coordinator and the Eagles defense (who gave up an average of 27 points per game last year and ranked 23rd in rush defense with 126yds per game) things will not get any better in the city of brotherly love.

Final Thoughts: With the new coaches in place, it will be interesting to see what these new bench bosses can do next season. Which coach do you think will have the best season? Who will have the worst season? Leave a comment below.

NFL PLayoff Predictor: AFC/NFC Championship Matchups

Well so much for my prediction of a Denver Broncos vs. Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl. As you probably know by now, both those teams lost this past Saturday and Sunday. The Baltimore Ravens beat the Broncos 38-35 in OT at mile high and the Atlanta Falcons edged their way past Seattle by a score of 30-28 in Hot-lanta. The other two teams to advance were the New England Patriots who defeated Houston 41-28 and the San Francisco 49ers who beat Green Bay 45-31.

With that, here’s a look at the AFC and NFC Championship games, and My New Predictions:

AFC: New England Patriots vs. Baltimore Ravens:

Tom Brady and Joe Flacco meet up in the AFC Championship game for round two of what is sure to be a great grudge match between these two squads. If you find yourself feeling a sense of Deja Vu’ this Sunday, that’s because these two teams met up in last year’s AFC Champ showdown. The Ravens though are hoping this Sunday is anything but a re-run of last year’s finish, which left them a few plays away from reaching Super Bowl XLVI.

Meanwhile, the Pats will be trying to return to the Super Bowl once more to avenge last year’s loss to the New York Giants and capture their first Lombardi Trophy since 2005. The Patriots will also have to try and beat Baltimore without the help of Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski. Gronk suffered an injury to his forearm in last Sunday’s win over Houston and will miss the remainder of the post-season.

My Prediction: Despite missing a big-time weapon like Gronk, I feel as though the Pats can outlast the Ravens in a great showdown between Brady and Flacco. Though on a sad note, it will be tough to watch knowing it could likely be NFL linebacker great Ray Lewis’ last NFL game. Nevertheless, New England wins 24-21 edging Baltimore out again and returning to their second straight Super Bowl.

NFC: Atlanta Falcons vs. San Francisco 49ers:

This matchup will be a slightly different grudge match between these two teams. On one side you have San Francisco who like Baltimore were a few plays away from last years Super Bowl when they lost to the Giants in OT by a field goal. So, like Baltimore, the 49ers will look to avoid the same fate twice against 1st seeded Atlanta.

On the other hand, the Falcons want to prove their the same team who started the season 8-0 and finished the season tied for he NFL’s best record with the Denver Broncos at 13-3. Atlanta will look to avoid another fruitless post-season and return to their first Super Bowl appearance since 1998 (where the Falcons lost the then defending Denver Broncos 34-19).

My Prediction: This game will ultimately come down to one key factor that has been absent throughout this year’s playoffs…DEFENSE. The Falcons arguably sport one of the top QB’s in the league with Matt Ryan behind center. Ryan can light up a scoreboard and uses his weapons on offense like a General on the battlefield.

Meanwhile, the 49ers, have an X-factor at QB…Colin Kaepernick. He put up a stat line against Green Bay that was like something straight out of a Madden game: 444 total yards of offense with 4TDS (2 passing, 2 rushing) that’s 263 passing yards and 181 rushing yards (the most ever by a QB in a playoff game).

With that said, whichever defense can hault the others QB first wins this battle. I give this one to San Fran as Patrick Willis and Co. find away to stop Matt Ryan and the Falcons at home. 49ers win 31-21 as Kaepernick does it again with 276yds passing for 2TDS and 77yds rushing and 1 rushing TD.

Super Bowl XLVII: New England Patriots vs. San Francisco 49ers:

On the games biggest stage two storied franchises collide in a Super Bowl for the ages. In what will be a grueling back and forth battle in the Superdome of New Orleans, I have the Patriots edging out the 49ers 28-24 as the Pats capture their first Super Bowl title since 2005. Tom Brady wins SB MVP.

Final Thoughts: We’ll see how it all plays out this Sunday. Until then, what do you think will happen in the Championship games? Who do you have winning Super Bowl XLVII? Leave a comment.

Playoff Predictor: Broncos vs Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVII

The 2012 NFL PLayoffs are set and with the Wild Card round starting this Saturday, here’s a breakdown of the match-ups and my Bold predictions:

 

AFC Wild Card: Houston Texans vs Cincinnati Bengals Saturday at 4:30pm

Houston (12-4) will probably feel a sense of Deja Vu as they play the Bengals (10-6) on Saturday as the two tangoed in last years playoffs. The game marked the first time the Texans had made the playoffs resulting in a 31-10 drubbing of Cincy.

Houston Playmakers RB Arian Foster, DE J.J. Watt and WR Andre Johnson were keys to victory against the Bengals last year and will be relied on again come Saturday. Also the Texans will have starter Matt Schaub this year (Schaub was injured last season late).

For Cincinnati, second year studs QB Andy Dalton and WR A.J. Green will be the X factors for Cincy on Saturday. Also, to the Bengals credit, their defense has been solid all season finishing the year with the 7th best passing defense (212.5 yards per game) and the 12th best rushing defense (102.5 yards per game).

Prediction: I foresee a more competitive contest between these two teams in this go-around. The game will ultimately come down to turnovers. Andy Dalton threw 3 interceptions in last years wild card game. The Texans committed no turnovers. I have the Texans winning 21 to 17 over the Bengals.

Baltimore Ravens vs Indianapolis Colts Sunday at 1:00pm

The Ravens (10-6) will take on the surprising Colts (11-5) in a game that will be high with emotions on both sidelines. The Ravens were a few different play calls away from making it to the Super Bowl last year, and went on a campaign to prove themselves this year in the AFC (though they slowed down at seasons end). The Colts came into this season with little to no expectations at all. A rookie quarterback leading a team that went 2-14 the season before didn’t exactly add up to a winning season. However, Andrew Luck and Co. fought their way into the post-season game by game. Not to mention doing so while watching their head coach, Chuck Pagano, battle Leukemia .

The Ravens will be led by QB Joe Flacco and RB Ray Rice as they’ll attempt to mix their power running game and passing attacks together to try and overwhelm Indy’s defensive schemes.

The Colts will no doubt rely heavily on the shoulders of potential Rookie Of the Year winner Andrew Luck. Luck broke Cam Newtons rookie record for passing yards in a single season finishing with 4,374 yards.

Prediction: I see the Baltimore Ravens winning this contest, but not without a fight from Indy. While the Ravens defense hasn’t been up to snuff with the loss of Ray Lewis and Co. I still believe the Ravens have the upper hand in this one. Luck and the Colts have had a phenomenal season, no doubt about it, but I believe the magic ends this Sunday as Luck cracks under the pressures of post-season play. Ravens win 28-13.

NFC Wild Card: Green Bay Packers vs Minnesota Vikings Saturday at 8:00pm

The Packers (11-5) were stunned by the New York Giants in last years NFC Divisional Round and have an opportunity in this years post-season to prove their still as good as they were when they won it all in 2011. The Minnesota Vikings were similar to the Indianapolis Colts this year in the sense that they weren’t expected to make the playoffs. With second year QB Christian Ponder at the helm, and Adrian Peterson coming back from a knee injury, Minnesota had a few questions marks to say the least. Well, Adrian “All Day” Peterson had a response…run…a lot. Led by Adrian Peterson’ stunning season, becoming only the 7th NFL rusher to reach 2,000 yards (he finished with 2,097 yards), the Vikes find themselves in the post-season.

Green Bay will no doubt be led by the likes of QB Aaron Rodgers, LB Clay Matthews, and WR Greg Jennings, etc. The Packers started shaky at 2-2 but finished strong going 10-2 to close out the season.

The Vikings will no surprise call an number 28 to once again carry the load and the team on his shoulders in this one. The Vikes could stand a chance in this one seeing as they did beat Green Bay to close out the season 37-34. This one, however, I have going to Green Bay with the Packers winning 21-7.

Seattle Seahawks vs Washington Redskins Sunday at 4:30pm

The Seahawks (11-5) and the Redskins (10-6) are nearly mirror images of one another. Both teams sport sensational rookie QB’s in Seattle’ Russell Wilson and Washington’ Robert Griffin III. Both teams are in the top 5 in the NFL for rushing yards per game, Washington leading the league with 169.3yds and Seattle in 3rd with 161.2yds. The only edge Washington has over Seattle is that the Skins made the playoffs by winning the NFC East division in a season finale this past Sunday over the Dallas Cowboys.

Despite both teams having play-makers on both sides of the ball, this games outcome will be determined by the play of two men. The performances by Seattle’ Russell Wilson and Washington’ Robert Griffin III will decide who moves on and who goes home.

I predict a shootout in this one with both rookie QB’s trading punches all game long. I have Seattle edging out Washington 31-28.

Divisional Rounds and Super Bowl Pick:

The Denver Broncos and New England Patriots earned a first round bye, same for the Atlanta Falcons and San Francisco 49ers. Both the Broncos and Falcons earned home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. With the picks I made above the Broncos would play the Ravens with the Patriots playing the Texans in the AFC. In the NFC, based on my picks, the Falcons would play the Seahawks and the 49ers would play the Packers.

My Picks:

I have the divisional rounds and championship rounds going down something like this:

Patriots vs Texans: The Pats send Matt Schaub and the Texans home as they win 24-14 in style led by Tom Brady and Co.

Ravens vs Broncos: Peyton Manning and the Broncos make it look easy in Mile High Denver as they beat Baltimore 28-14.

AFC Championship Broncos vs Patriots: Peyton Manning gets the better of Tom Brady and leaves New England fans heart broken as Denver wins it at Mile High by a score of 24-21.

Falcons vs Seahawks: In an absolute shocker, I have the Seahawks upsetting the Dirty Birds as Russell Wilson and Seattle find a way to keep Matt Ryan and Atlanta at bay winning 17-14.

Packers vs 49ers: The Colin Kaepernick show continues, with help from the defense and a solid rushing performance by Frank Gore, as San Fran sends Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers packing with a final score of 28-24.

NFC Championship 49ers vs Seahawks: In an NFC West battle for the ages I have the Seattle Seahawks pulling off another upset and catapulting themselves into their first super bowl appearance since 2006. The Seahawks recently walloped the 49ers back in week 16 42-13 and split the season series 1-1 with a 13-6 loss to San Fran in week 7. It could happen.

Super Bowl XLVII Broncos vs Seahawks: Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos win the franchises first Super Bowl since 1998 (The Denver Broncos had home-field advantage in 1998 also) as Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks heroics aren’t enough with Denver winning 31-21. Manning wins Super Bowl MVP.

Final Thoughts: I want to here from NFL fans and Pats fans on this one. Can the Patriots win their first Super Bowl since 2005? How do you see the playoffs panning out? Leave a comment below.

2012 NFL Awards: Handing Out the Hardware

The votes for this years NFL awards including MVP, Comeback Player Of the Year, Offensive and Defensive Player Of the Year, and Rookie Of The Year have to be in by this week. Like most years the voting is intense, but this year we may see the closest race yet in nearly all the above categories. Let’s take a look at the awards and their nominees:

NFL MVP: The Nominees: Peyton Manning, Adrian Peterson, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and J.J. Watt.

Of the nominees, two men stand above the rest. Peyton Manning has led the Denver Broncos to home-field advantage in this years playoffs by going on an 11 game winning streak to finish the season tied with the Atlanta Falcons for the leagues best record at 13-3 overall. Manning has also done all of this coming back from a neck injury that kept him out all of last season.

Adrian “All Day” Peterson. Peterson much like Manning, had a simply phenomenal comeback season this year. Last year Peterson was out due to a knee injury. Some wondered how Peterson would respond this season. Needless to say, Peterson answered all the questions and then some. Peterson put on a rushing clinic this season eclipsing the 2,000 yard mark, a feat only 6 other NFL running backs have done in the history of the league. Peterson finished the season with 2,097 yards, just 9 yards shy of breaking Eric Dickerson’ record of 2,105 set back in 1984. All Day’s performance this year has helped put the Vikings in the post season.

My Pick: I have to go with Adrian Peterson. The fact that this man came back from reconstructive knee surgery, and nearly broke a 28-year-old NFL rushing record is enough for me. The selling point on Peterson to win this award though, rests in the fact that he helped lead the Minnesota Vikings to the playoffs.

A feat few thought to be possible when the season began so many weeks ago. Peyton has no doubt had a great year, and is vital to the Broncos success, but Denver could have made the post-season with someone else at quarterback, especially with the awful play by the rest of the AFC West this year. The Vikings don’t do much of anything without Adrian Peterson this year (or any year for that matter).

MVP is the Most Valuable Player award, and in my opinion there’s no one whose been more valuable to a team than Adrian Peterson this year.

Peyton Manning - Seattle Seahawks v Denver Broncos

Comeback Player: This year the award for Comeback Player Of the Year is probably the most clear cut award as only two players fit the bill. The two men mentioned in the paragraph above, Manning and Peterson, have both done more than what anybody expected from them. Both have had great seasons. Both have their teams in the playoffs. Both came back from career jarring injuries. However, only one of them can win the award.

My Pick: I’m choosing Peyton Manning for this one. Peterson could very well win this award, but I’m giving it to Manning because he not only had to comeback from an injury, but he had to comeback with a brand new team, brand new offensive sets, brand new targets to throw to, brand new everything. Manning not only came-back as the Manning we all know, but he made us nearly forget he ever left. With that, Manning is my choice for Comeback Player Of the Year, hands down.

Offensive Player Of The Year: The Nominees: Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Calvin Johnson, Adrian Peterson.

Like the first two awards this is another one that either Manning or Peterson could win, but given they both may win one of the two aforementioned awards Brady, Rodgers, and Johnson have a higher chance at this award.

Brady and Rodgers have both had solid seasons. Brady threw for 4,827 yards with 34 TDS while Rodgers threw for 4,295 yards and 39 TDS. Both are essential to their offenses overall success. However, I’d like to argue my pick for Offensive Player Of the Year, Calvin Johnson.

My Pick: Johnson has been nothing short of amazing this season. Johnson not only had the most receiving yards of any wide receiver this year, he broke Jerry Rice’ single season record for receiving yards with a 225 yard 11 catch performance against the falcons in week 16 against Atlanta. “Megatron” finished the season with 1,964 yards. Johnson averaged 115 yards and 7 catches per game this season. Those numbers are certainly award worthy. Of course, it will be hard for Johnson to beat out the likes of Brady and Rodgers, but he should absolutely be considered and is my pick for this year’s Offensive Player Of the Year.

Defensive Player Of the Year: The Nominees: J.J. Watt, Von Miller, Aldon Smith.

All of the nominees are no doubt a quarterback, heck lets be honest, these guys have any one on offense scared to death on any given Sunday. But, like any award, only one of them can bring home the hardware. Let’s go to the stats:

J.J. Watt- NFL season sack leader with 20.5 sacks, 81 combined tackles, and 4 forced fumbles.

Aldon Smith- Finished second in total sacks with 19.5, 66 combined tackles, 3 forced fumbles and 1 interception.

Von Miller- Finished 3rd in sacks with 18.5, 68 tackles, 6 forced fumbles, and 1 interception.

My Pick: Again, all of these men wreak havoc on opposing offenses week in and week out, but I have to choose one. My choice has to be J.J. Watt. Watt burst on to scene last year in his rookie season with his tenacious play in the regular season, and really broke out in the Texans playoff win against the Bengals with an interception return for a TD. Watt has , asserted himself as a force to be reckoned with this year in the NFL and has earned the right to this award.

Rookie Of The Year: The Nominees: Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Russell Wilson.

The three rookie QB’s listed above have all had incredible seasons in their own right. Each of them have led their respective teams to the playoffs. Here’s the numbers on these newbies:

Luck: rookie record for passing yards with 4, 374 and 23 TD with a 76.5 QB rating.

RGIII: 3,200 yards passing with 20 TD and  102.4 QB rating, Griffin also rushed for 815 yds and 7 TDS ranking him in the top 20 in rushing yds in the NFL.

Wilson: tied Peyton Manning’ rookie record for passing TDS with 26 and threw for 3,118 yards. Wilson also had 489 rushing yds with 4 TDS.

My Pick: My choice for Rookie Of the Year would have to be RGIII. No disrespect to Andrew Luck, but at the end of the day it’s hard for me to not pick a rookie stud who finishes in the top 5 for QB rating with the likes of Rodgers and Manning. Plus with his versatility in the pocket as a rushing threat he is hard to ignore.

Final Thoughts: Almost forgot an award. Coach Of the Year. Mike Shanahan (Redskins), Leslie Frazier (Vikings), Pete Carroll (Seahawks), and Bruce Arians (fill in for Chuck Pagano and the Colts) all up for the honor. I believe for what Arians accomplished, in Pagano’ honor while he battled Leukemia, is more than deserving of the award and has undoubtedly earned it. Who do you think will take home the NFL Hardware? Leave a comment below.

NFL Coaches, General Managers Get Canned

Coaches Cut: With the NFL season over, those teams who are not in the playoffs use this down time to sit back and assess their team needs, staff hiring/firing, and of course financial business decisions. Nine NFL franchises wasted no time at all in addressing the second part of that list I just mentioned. The Arizona Cardinals, Buffalo Bills, Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, San Diego Chargers, and Philadelphia Eagles all fired their head coaches before lunchtime this past Monday. Here’s a list of the coaches who will be looking for new work in 2013:

Andy Reid Former Eagles Head Coach

Pat Shurmur Former Browns Head Coach 

Lovie Smith Former Bears Head Coach

Chan Gailey Former Bills Head Coach 

Romeo Crennel Former Chiefs Head Coach 

Norv Turner Former Chargers Head Coach

Ken Whisenhunt Former Cardinals Head Coach

GM’s Going Going Gone: As mentioned earlier in this post coaches weren’t the only ones getting cut by teams. A total of five general managers were all let go. The Browns, Cardinals, Chargers, Jacksonville Jaguars, and New York Jets all parted ways with their GM’s. Here’s who got the boot:

A.J. Smith Former Chargers GM

Rod Graves Former Cardinals GM

Mike Tannenbaum Former Jets GM

Gene Smith Former Jaguars GM

Tom Heckert Former Browns GM

Final Thoughts: Just to recap the Browns, Cardinals, and Chargers will need both a new GM and head coach. The Bears, Bills, Chiefs, and Eagles will all need new head coaches. While the Jets and Jaguars will need new GM’s. To put these firings into perspective nearly a 1/4 of the NFL will need a new head coach. What do you think? Who should these teams hire next season? Should any other NFL coaches get axed? Leave a comment below.

Issues with Fireman Ed’s Departure

By now I’m sure you’ve all heard the big news out of New York…Fireman Ed has stepped down. The stereotype of an arrogant New York fan, who celebrates rooting for the most embarrassing franchise in the NFL, has had enough, writing a formal resignation letter to the public.

I’ve got two issues with this letter. First and most clearly – the statement of his regarding “the greatest chant in all of sports”. Alright. A humorous statement to say the very least. I think he has that mistaken with the most ridiculed chant in all of sports. I don’t even remember the last time Jets fan were cheering anything but “Put Tebow in!” Actually, J – E – T – S, Suck! Suck! Suck! is arguably more popular than both.

Second, it’s clear that this has been one of the most controversial times for the Jets, but they’ve had worse seasons. Fireman Ed, or I guess just Ed now, is putting the blame on his own constituents, claiming he has had enough of the ridicule regarding the Sanchez vs. Tebow debate. My issue lies in the fact that you know he’ll be back. Enough with the dramatic exit. Maybe not this year, but hypothetically speaking, if the Jets win the first two games next season, Rex will claim they are going to win the Superbowl and Ed will be once again known as Fireman Ed. Can’t take the heat when things get tough but one sign of a decent season and Ed will be back. Cowardly if you ask me. His team needs him now more than ever and he’s bailing on them. I mean I love what happened Thanksgiving night, don’t get me wrong. But at least give us some sort of competition. I’m ashamed for you Ed. SuperFat would stick with the Pats through thick and thin. Step your shit up.

Throwback Thursday – Pats vs. Colts Rivalry

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This gallery contains 12 photos.

I’m not exactly sure how I feel about the Patriots/Colts rivalry with the absence of Peyton Manning. Regardless, here’s a few throwbacks that will help you relive the intensity that ensued when the two AFC power houses would clash. Enjoy! … Continue reading