So it all kicks off in a matter of hours! Week 1 is here, so this is our last chance to get our picks for the season published.
These are based on what we’ve been watching, what we’ve been following, some blind faith and our guts. These are are our predictions for the 12 post-season teams of the 2009 season.
Oakland Raiders
Oakland have picked up an important new player in the form of defensive lineman Richard Seymour. Seymour was traded to the Raiders from the New England Patriots yesterday for a first round draft pick in 2011.
Seymour should give the Raiders defence a much-needed boost with his ability and experience. He has played in three Super Bowls with the Patriots and been selected for five Pro Bowls.
Buffalo Bills
News of another coach without a job this morning, as offensive coordinator Turk Schonert was fired by the Buffalo Bills. Thoughts are the same as yesterday, an odd time to do it and the Bills have no time to recover. Tampa Bay suffered last night and I think we will see the same when the Bills face the New England Patriots on the 14th (though it could be said that there was not much hope to begin with).
Hello. My name is Anthony and i’m a New England Patriots fan. Apologies about that – we probably would never have got on in the long term. Best we don’t become friends. I’ve been very kindly asked to write an entry about being a Pats fan, and my thoughts for the upcoming Wembley game in October. Very well…but if I hear one mention of Super Bowl XLII, i’m off!
How about some background to start you off. First really got into the NFL about 10 years ago after being introduced by a friend in the States. He’s a Pats fan as well, so he sort of coached me into the role of supporting them. Wasn’t the best season to do it, as we were awful – coming bottom of the AFC East with a record of 5-11. I wasn’t having the most fun to be honest. Being introduced into a sport where your new team lose more than they win is never great. However, the effect it had on me was one which had me supporting for them as the underdog. By the end of the season I was converted! My team was confirmed and I was going to do my bit to help them move up the table. Enter Tom Brady…
This isn’t a complete look at everything that happened this week. Just some tit-bits to keep us going as week two has now wrapped up.
Our ‘Second Look’ series moves into the AFC, starting in the AFC East. With training camps underway or starting any minute now, there’s still a lot to learn about all the teams at this point.
Refresh your memory with our First Look, and consider: Is there enough information to affect our predictions though?
Continuing our look at our favourite defensive backs, we take a look at the second player in our list.
We can’t vouch that these will be the best players in absolute terms, have the biggest fantasy upside or even be any good (though they might be)… but they’re players that we like to watch.
From Miami, we move to Massachusetts with Shawn Springs.
… More
The AFC East was a strange division last year, with things taking twist and turn through the course of the season and ending with the Dolphins on top, and the Patriots missing out. Are we up for a repeat of an unusual final positions and playoff contributions, or will things settle down to the more familiar feel they’ve had of late?
After Andrew’s post earlier in the week I was left wondering if the Dolphins would be able to sell the giant Wembley robot Jason Taylor to the Patriots, but now it seems they won’t need to…
Can the Dolphins dust this robot off?
And probably not as a Buc…
Word is that Jason Taylor has an unofficial deal in place with the Pats. Belicheck has long been a fan and has a history of getting the best out of players who are, let’s be kind, a little older than the average. Especially at Linebacker. He’d be a good addition on the outside and it could be a good match.
We’ve already seen Jeremy Shockey twice, and there’s probably other players I can’t think of who will get to 2 Wembley games this year. It’d be nice to see Taylor again, perhaps he can leave us with a memory other than him getting skinned by Eli Manning.
