Pre-Season
Welcome To The Greatest Show On Reality TV
Jul 30th
Ego Number One
So I’m sure you’d have heard about this, but on the off-chance… Terrell Owens has agreed terms with the Cincinnati Bengals and has joined up with them for training. He’s signed a one-year deal and Antonio Bryant has handed him his favoured #81 shirt (in exchange for a donation to one of little leagues) so the Chad and Terrell (and Antonio!) era begins. The CO/TO show.
Owens is 36 now, and not the number 1 option that he was, but he won’t be asked to be. He’ll need to contribute when called on, and be a good team member. You can’t really use last year’s stats as an indicator of his performance as the Bills were pretty bad. What you can look at is that he was a good soldier – the model of a quiet (for him) professional who just got on with it. If he can bring that attitude in, then he should do fine. And it’s difficult to imagine him taking verbal pops at Carson Palmer and have the team stand for it – their QB has proved himself again and again and is a popular leader there.
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Thirteen, Forty-five, Ninety-Seven…
Jul 26th
No, that’s not a snapcount. It’s a countdown to some key dates in the forthcoming NFL season.
In thirteen days the Bengals face the Cowboys in the Hall of Fame game. It’ll be the first chance to get a look at Dez Bryant, Jermaine Gresham and the other rookies. Antonio Bryant in a Bengals uniform and the always entertaining Chad Ochocinco.
In forty-five days, the mouth-watering matchup of the Minnesota Vikings at the New Orleans Saints. That’s a heck of a way to open the regular season and a game I suspect we’ll be staying up for it.
And in ninety-seven days we’ll be at Wembley (for the forth year running!) as the NFL comes again to the UK. This year the Broncos visit the 49ers. We get to see Alex Smith, Frank Gore and the rest of Mike Singletary’s 49ers as well as the Broncos. We’ll be keeping an eye on both of these teams in the build-up to October 31st.
Coming up in the next few weeks we’ll gear up for our in-season mode, which features predictions on every match as well as in-depth looks at three matches a week. Before then we’ll make our predictions on the post-season and keep our eyes on the big stories and how they’ll affect our predictions.
Keep visiting!
First Look 2010… AFC West
Jul 23rd
So with our final part of this year’s First Look series, we turn our gaze towards the AFC West. As well as the Chargers, who were part of the great entertainment at Wembley Stadium in 2008, NFL UK fans will also keep an eye on this division for the Broncos who will be visiting these shores at the end of October this year.
This was the division that I most accurately predicted last season, correcting stating that the Chargers would win and that the Broncos in second would not make the play-offs. I’d take some credit but really, who saw it any differently?
Let’s see if it’s as straight-forward this year…
First look 2010… AFC South
Jul 14th
Two divisions left to go, both in the AFC. The West, but first let’s take a look at the South. Things didn’t happen in quite the way they were predicted last season. Judging by the number of Colts and Titans shirts we saw at Wembley last year, UK NFL fans would love to see some of these teams in London soon. But they’ll probably just have to hope for serious post-season runs for now…
First look 2010… AFC North
Jun 16th
Being my first ‘Division’ prediction, ever, I figured I might as well do one for the division I know most about! The AFC North is usually an entertaining and exciting division. The matches are played well, and are usually close. Rivalry is fierce and the bouts are relentless. It’s always difficult predicting without seeing the four pre-season matches, but I’m going to give it a go.
First Look 2010… AFC East
Jun 14th
We all know that predicting the divisions before the season has started can be, well, lets say – tricky! However, it is one of the things that we love doing and something that serves as a reference point for the changing fortunes of teams throughout the year. Oh, and more importantly means we can refer back to the awful predictions each other made as the year goes on!.
So Long Moose and Bruce
Jun 11th
With the average NFL career being less than four seasons, when someone’s spent 14 years they deserve a mention.
Muhsin Muhammad retired yesterday. He leaves the game ranked 20th on career receiving yards and having spent the vast majority of his year with one team, the Carolina Panthers. He was selected in the second round of the 1996 draft. This year’s second round pick – Jimmy Clausen – was just 8 back then.
Take care Moose, be well.
14 seasons you say? Isaac Bruce will see your 14 and raise you 2 additional season. Likewise the 20th career placing… Bruce is 3rd on the all time career yards and spent thirteen years with the Rams, helping them to Super Bowl victory for the 1999 season.
After two years a 49er, he retires a Ram. His club will honour him by retiring the number 80 in the game against Carolina later this year.
Again, be well.
Image Credit (Isaac Bruce): Jachdeja
Image Credit (Mushin Muhhamad): pnther60
Video Credit: LilMike1309
First Look 2010… NFC South
Jun 10th
The run that the Saints went on took us by surprise. Indeed, from the pre- and off-season Graham and I both fancied the Panthers to be the err, big dogs of the division. As it happened, they were pussycats and the Saints went marching on and it’s now history. But enough of me murdering metaphors…
This NFC South has been particularly well balanced in recent years, with all four teams making the post season and each team has made the championship game and all but the Falcons made the Super Bowl since 2002. That could make things hard, but could make them fun too!
So let’s take a look…
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First Look 2010… NFC North
Jun 3rd
There are no easy divisions to predict but the NFC North is one of the toughest. Last year neither Graham or I saw the Vikings being as good as they turned out to be. Neither of us saw the North sending two teams into the post-season either but it turned out to be the case. Although we all called the Lions to prop up, the Bears were a disappointment and again caused us to get it wrong.
Let’s take an early look ahead to the 2010 NFL season…
First Look 2010… NFC West
May 28th
This is another division where I didn’t cover myself in glory. By my own admission it was the one that I struggled with most, but my call of Seattle and Arizona as a wildcard. The Seahawks were appalling, and the 49ers finished strongly to take second but were way short of the playoffs.
Graham did well though, calling the Cards as divisional winners and 49ers as runners up but missing the playoffs. Nice work.
What will happen this year?
