NFL
NFL 2011 Predictions: The AFC
Sep 2nd
Before the start of the season I thought I’d do a quick overview of how the teams are looking and put a few of my thoughts and predictions into words. I’ll start with the AFC.
AFC East:
(1) New England Patriots – The Patriots, once again, drafted solidly. They’ve picked up some great talent (as you would expect with the amount of picks they had in the first 3 rounds!) and have also made some noise in free agency picking up the ever controversial number 85. With Brady coming off a great year and with more weapons at his disposal you can’t look past them for the AFC East crown. Stevan Ridley (3rd round pick) has looked sharp and quite a good talent so keep an eye out for him, although with Danny Woodhead and BenJarvus Green-Ellis in front of him he’ll have quite a bit of work to do.
(2) New York Jets – The Jets have also been making some noise in free agency / trades. Letting Jericho Cotchery go, signing Derrick Mason, letting Braylon Edwards go, signing Plaxico Burress to name the more high profile cases, but they’ve also tied up some current talent with Eric Smith and Antonio Cromatie signing new deals. They haven’t weakened as such, but they don’t seem to have improved much either. I’d expect more of the same from the Jets, hard hitting football and a few bumps on the way. More >
Let the season commence!
Aug 19th
That’s right NFL lovers, Mac is back! We’ve all had a busy off-season and whilst the lockout was on we figured we’d take advantage of the quiet time and take some time off ourselves. That time is now at an end, and with the season only a few weeks away we’ll be back to our usually blogging selves bringing you predictions, fantasy tips, general articles on anything NFL related and of course, the Madden 12 review.
I know you’re as excited as we are 
MacTalksNFL 2011 Mock Draft – 1st Round, picks 21-32
Apr 21st
The home stretch. In this article we finish our first round draft. It was certainly fun, now we play the waiting game to see if we got anywhere near who we think the teams should go for!
21 – Kansas City Chiefs: Gabe Carimi, OT, Wisconsin
Easiest pick so far – the Chiefs need to address right tackle. They should really have addressed this last year, but with a selection of good tackles available they’ll take Carimi as the best of the lot and probably with the biggest upside too.
22 – Indianapolis Colts: Nate Solder, OT, Colorado
Solder is a former tight end, so has good atheleticism for the tackle position. A bit raw, however he has the natural skills to succeed as a left tackle in the NFL. The Colts’ current LT, Charlie Johnson, is set to be a free agent, so they need to upgrade the OT position. DT was a possibility here, but the Colts franchise revolves around Peyton Manning, so protecting him is a must. More >
MacTalksNFL 2011 Mock Draft – 1st Round, picks 11-20
Apr 20th
Carrying on from the first article, we’ll now take a look at the 1st round draft with picks 11 through 20.
11 – Houston Texans: Prince Amukamara, CB, Nebraska
The Texans need secondary help, and if Prince is available come their pick I don’t doubt that they would take him. He seems to be the complete package. His size of strength, speed and size make him the perfect press-cover corner, he has a great read of the game and excellent closing speed. He would definitely help the Texans, who last year finished last in the pass defence rankings. More >
MacTalksNFL 2011 Mock Draft – 1st Round, picks 1-10
Apr 19th
With the NFL draft just around the corner, here at Mac we decided we would take it into our own hands and take a look at how WE think things will pan out over the first round. Andrew, Tom and myself arranged an order and took it in turns drafting and made a brief comment about why we thought our team would go in that direction. Tom got the first pick, I got the second and Andrew got the third. It then went in the same sequence until all our picks had been made. Without further ado, this is how things panned out…
1 – Carolina Panthers: Marcel Dareus, DT, Alabama
While the Panthers don’t have a great QB, I just have too many questions about the top QBs in the draft for them to warrant the No.1 overall pick. Newton is the consensus choice here, but Newton isn’t like Sam Bradford or Matt Ryan, he was never as good as a passer as them in college. Dareus will be a force inside from the get go, and while he won’t be as dominant as Suh, he is a quality player.
The Panthers used to have a dominant D Line, with Kris Jenkins, Mike Rucker and of course Julius Peppers, but these have now all left or retired. The current DT depth chart is headed by Nick Hayden and Derek Landri, and I believe Landri is a free agent. DT is position of big need for the Panthers, and Dareus can be a player to build around for the future.
The 2010 NFL Season… Overtime Overload!
Nov 15th
Last week there were 3 games that went to overtime, which I don’t know is a weekly record, but added to the very high number of games going into a 5th quarter so far this year. And it continued last night.
When Josh Brown kicked to draw the Rams level with the 49ers as regulation expired last night, the 13th game of the 2010 season went into overtime. This equals the 2009 regular season, and is only 2 games behind the 2008 season. At this rate, we’re looking at 22 games going to overtime in this regular season alone. Great for the fans, but hard work on the players.
This year the post-season sees the new overtime rules coming into play, where if the first possession yields a FG then the game with continue. I like it, but wonder how much gametime it would have added to the games that already getting longer and longer. Personally, I love it. But I’m not sure I would if I was being asked to put my body on the line for this additional playing time.
The big winners so far are the New York Jets, who are 2-0 in OT after wins against Browns and Lions. The losers? The Packers, who are 0-2 against the Dolphins and Redskins.
Oh no! Romo!!
Oct 27th
By now I’m sure you have all heard about the injury to Tony Romo. He took a hit in Monday night’s game against the Giants and had to leave the field never to return. Well, that night anyway. Now we know the extent of his injury the forecast shows that Tony will miss at least 6-8 weeks with a fractured left clavicle. Good news? No surgery is required, and it is his non-throwing shoulder. Bad news? I suppose the fact that the Cowboys will be without their franchise quarterback during this harsh time is bad news enough… for Cowboys fans anyway.
Tony Romo
Players Fined For Hits
Oct 20th
This season, more than ever it seems, we’re hearing more and more about concussions. There have been long term studies going on for a while about the long-term affects of playing a game that gets you hit a lot, but there has also been a culture of ignoring it. That definitely seems to be over, with 32 reported incidents so far this season.
James Harrison has been fined $75,000 and Brandon Merriweather and Dunta Robinson have been find $50,000 each. These are high numbers, but not figures that are likely to make a big impact. Harrison’s fine can be equated to somebody that earns £25,000 being fined £145… it’s an inconvenience more than anything else (that said, Harrison has been seriously bothered by it and we’re all watching him for more news) but it’s a start, and The Law is being established and clearly communicated out to all clubs.
Hits are part and parcel of playing football, and all players understand that. But some hits are clearly unnecessary. Brandon Merriweather‘s launch at Todd Heap is a prime example and clearly something that needs to be cut out of the game: The ball was gone, Heap had missed it and was on his way empty-handed to the ground before Merriweather launched himself. I know the game moves fast but it was a dirty, cynical, and pointless play.
Robinson’s collision with DeSean Jackson isn’t as clear, and Robinson is appealing the fine.
I hope that all concussed players are back as soon as it’s safe for them to do so, but there is little doubt we’ll be seeing suspensions in the next few weeks.
NFL Is Back In Abundance
Sep 10th
Special Report from Joshua Modaberi:
After seven months away the NFL was back last night with the New Orleans Saints and the Minnesota Vikings in a repeat of last years NFC Championship match.
The Saints came out on top in that encounter which they won in overtime 31-28. New Orleans then went on to win their first Super Bowl against the Indianapolis Colts in Miami 31-17.
Sean Payton’s side continued from where they left off last season by beating the Vikings 14-9.
The NFL is a bit like a London double decker bus – having been away since February, this weekend in the UK there are still another five games on TV.
Joshua Modaberi has caught up with Kevin Cadle from Sky Sports and Dan Arkush from Pro Football Weekly to discuss the remaining television fixtures over the opening weekend.
Kevin Cadle on
Carolina @ NY Giants Live on Sky Sports 4 Sunday from 17.30:
“I don’t think you can look past the New York giants in this one, they are going to be opening the brand new stadium.
“Eli Manning is probably coming off his best season ever as a pro. Wide Receiver Steve Smith really came out and did a great job last year receiving the ball and Ahmad Bradshaw has established himself as the number one running back.
“You are still going to have to look at what the Giants are going to do defensively and that will be the key to their season. On Sunday they are going to have to go out there and do something with Carolina’s dynamic duo – they had two guys running 4,000 yards last year so you know they are going to be looking to run the football against the Giants.”
San Francisco @ Seattle Live on Sky Sports 4 Sunday from 21.00:
“We don’t know a lot about Seattle, right now you don’t know if Pete Carroll thinking is as a head coach of this particular team.
“What kind of team are the going to have, you have Justin Forsett as the top running back, and he’s only about 5’6 on a good day. With Seattle I think the betting will be out for them until teams can see exactly what they emphasise and what they are doing on both the offensive and defensive edge.
“As for San Francisco we know all about them, Mike Singletary has put a stamp on that defence and the defence is going to get better and better.
“Offensively I think the San Francisco organisation has done a tremendous job as far as trying to assist the role of Alex smith. Last year they brought in Michael Crabtree and now this year you have two new offensive linemen who where the top two draft choices – so they are trying to do whatever they can to get things in order for Alex Smith to be as successful as he can possibly be.”
Dan Arkush on
Dallas @ Washington Live on Channel 4 Monday from 00.55:
“Dallas in terms of pure talent probably have the most talented team in the league. That doesn’t necessarily mean they will get to the Super Bowl by any means.
“I think in this game they match up well against their opponents the Redskins. Nobody can really get a firm reading on what the deal is going to be with Washington.
“They have a new head coach in Mike Shanahan, who was a very successful head coach with the Broncos. By all accounts he seems to be heading in the right direction with the Redskins. Donovan McNabb is another great addition to Washington, but I think Dallas is going to win this game with the Super Bowl in Dallas they are going to want to have a good season and get off to a winning start.”
Baltimore Ravens – A Summary
May 10th
M&T Stadium, Baltimore
Well, the draft is over and the mini-camps are getting underway. Figured I’d wait until this point to give my opinion on the last few months, well, as a Raven anyway.
The Anquan Boldin Trade:
This really did take me by surprise. I could see us trading for a solid wide receiver, but to be honest I never really expected it to be Boldin. A pleasant surprise by all means though. Boldin really is a quality player. He may have had a few injuries lately but his effort and his production is nothing to be dismissed. I really can’t wait to see him in the Purple of Baltimore. He came at a pretty reasonable price too. A 3rd and 4th round draft pick? Bargain, especially since we recouped those by trading down in the draft.
More >