Tex787's NBA Basketball friend's fan blogs

Saturday’s NFL action started with a barn-burner and ended with a merciless slaughter. Sunday’s slate is going to have a hard time following it up, but that won’t stop me from writing another edition of The Opening Drive!

After putting down the Bengals last week, the Texans stay in the AFC North but get a serious upgrade in competition. T.J. Yates hasn’t exactly been lighting up the scoreboard but he’s gotten by due to a fantastic Houston rushing attack behind a great offensive line that clears holes for Arian Foster. To beat Baltimore though, Yates will need more of those deep throws to Andre Johnson to pull the defense away from the line of scrimmage. The Ravens secondary has grown during the year, but they’re still not totally battle-tested. Baltimore will surely be gearing up to stop the run before all else. That rookie QB is going to have to stand up to a pass rush that includes Haloti Ngata and Terrell Suggs. Have fun putting up anything more than 13-17 points on that T.J.

Continue reading "The Opening Drive: 2012 Divisional Sunday"

After six long days of waiting, the NFL playoffs are back today with a great match-up in the NFC and a highly publicized showdown between Jesus and Satan in the AFC. It’s a great day for some football. That means it’s a great day for The Opening Drive!

(13-4) New Orleans Saints at
(13-3) San Francisco 49ers
4:30 PM ET, FOX

Off for a week, it’s easy to have forgotten about the Niners and their tremendous regular season which earned them that rest. Alex Smith had a solid year (finally), but he hasn’t been all that impressive to me when I’ve gotten the chance to see him. He has a few decent weapons, but the Saints’ focus should be on running back Frank Gore and tight end Vernon Davis, Smith’s main outlets. ‘Frisco’s offensive line is underrated and should have the clear advantage in the running game, but how are they going to put up points? Michael Crabtree is (sorta) good, but he’s not dangerous enough to put up a monster game and abuse the Saints secondary all day. If they’re going to win, Jim Harbaugh’s defense will have to contain this next man.

Continue reading "The Opening Drive: 2012 Divisional Saturday"

Are you exhausted yet? There was TOO MUCH DRAMA! (That’s a lie. There’s never too much.) Both nights of Wildcard weekend ended in tremendous excitement, wrapping up with a dramatic overtime ending that didn’t even warrant explanation of the new rules. I’m still appalled. Let’s just get The Final Drive started.

The first game of the weekend started off awfully sloppy, with plenty of penalties and “jitters” as described by Nessler and Mayock. As the game drew on though, the Texans clearly established themselves as the better team by man-handling Cincy. Rookie lineman J.J Watt, who has shown an inherent talent and awareness to deflect passes at the line of scrimmage made the play of a game by boomeranging Dalton in the second quarter. Watt timed his jump perfectly and made the catch and rambled 29 yards to paydirt. Then he sacked Dalton to end the first half as the Bengals were driving. It was hilarious afterwards to see Dalton with the “Why didn’t you tell me that lineman wasn’t actually fat? I never would have thrown it his way had I known” face. I blame the scouts on that one. The Bengals performance could be encapsulated with their second half opening drive: they were stopped on second down for a loss, then flagged for 12 men in the huddle, then Dalton wasted a time-out as he couldn’t hear the play-call in Reliant’s noise. Those wheels came off. Missed chances to take away the ball from Houston, poor tackling on defense allowed Houston to let Arian Foster loose and control to flow of the game. T.J. Yates never had to make a big play, so the Texans got the win.

Continue reading "The Final Drive: 2012 Wildcard Weekend"

If Saturday’s games were any indication, then Sunday’s remaining Wildcard action should be entertaining as hell. Who’s got time for lengthy introductions though? Let’s break down this action!

 


(10-6) Atlanta Falcons at
(9-7) New York Giants
1:00 PM ET, FOX

Even more of a toss-up than Texans-Bengals, this game seems like it could go either way. Matt Ryan and the Falcons have been hot of late, winning five of their last seven games. However, all of those wins except one (Tennessee) came against sub .500 teams. Atlanta’s been kicking the crap out of crappy teams in 2011. Ryan hasn’t looked as sharp against quality defenses, but he hasn’t been getting help from receivers Roddy White and Julio Jones in those outings. Too many drops in an inconsistent passing attack. As always, the key to their success is the production of Michael Turner. The Falcons have a very aggressive offensive line that excels at run blocking, but their pass blocking hasn’t been as dependable. Defensively they’ve struggled to produce any sort of pass rush, even with Ray Edwards. John Abraham needs to have a big day.

Continue reading "The Opening Drive: 2012 Wildcard Sunday"

It’s time. Time for the select few to battle out for the most coveted prize in the NFL: the Lombardi Trophy. The playoffs begin today with the Wildcard round. I’m so excited I can’t even finish this introduction! Let’s just get right to these games, shall we?

As has become tradition in the NFL, the opening game of the Wildcard round is sorta… crappy. The Bengals are a slightly above average team that defied their lowly preseason expectations. Andy Dalton started strong as a rookie, but his production has certainly fallen off in recent weeks. A.J. Green will be healthy enough to make a difference, but I don’t think Dalton has enough developed talent around him to light up the scoreboard. Cedric Benson is a workhorse running back, but he’s never been explosive. Cincy’s offense is decent, but I’d give the edge to Houston’s defense in that match-up. They’re fast and aggressive and can slow down the Bengals enough to give their own rookie quarterback a chance.

Continue reading "Joe's 2012 Gameday Preview: Wildcard Saturday"

Well that didn’t take very long. After all of three days, Lovie Smith has found his next offensive coordinator. The big-time hire? Mike “Boat Show” Tice. (I would have also accepted “Ticket Scalper.” I hinted at Tice’s eventual hiring on Tuesday when I addressed the firing of Jerry Angelo and Mike Martz, but I suppose I should break down this “hire,” yes?

Bears promote Offensive Line Coach Mike Tice to Offensive Coordinator

Oh Mikey Tice. A man of football if there ever was one. His stint as head coach in Minnesota from ’02 to ’06 was best remembered for scandals, most notably his scalping of Super Bowl tickets. As a play-caller, Tice is all about smacking people around on the ground. His tenure in Jacksonville provides evidence to that, as his work with the o-line and offense gave the Jags one of the best running games in the league during his tenure. That means he'll know the value of a premiere runner like Matt Forte. He does tend to favor the downfield throws, shying away from the short routes that are more of the West Coast variety. This will utilize Jay's best asset: his arm.

Continue reading "Bears promote Tice to OC: Right call?"

Black Monday came and went, but the coaching news continued on Tuesday with releases in Chicago and major retentions in San Diego and Philly. Were they the right moves? Let’s break ‘em down!

San Diego Chargers retain General Manager A.J. Smith and Head Coach Norv Turner

OH COME ON!!! I was finally ready to break-up the Turner/Philips romance. However, you can chalk up this stay of execution to a few select reasons. First, key players (i.e. Rivers) probably bitched enough to convince management that it would cause chemistry issues to change coaches. Second, who were they going to get that was even marginally better? Turner’s still got swagger when it comes to his offense, so I’m not sure who was out there (that would come to San Diego) that would be a marked improvement. Maybe Cowher or Gruden if they got extraordinarily lucky, but I’m sure they were rejected outright on those fronts. Finally, it’s the AFC West. A couple plays would have made the difference in getting the Chargers to the playoffs, so they don’t need to improve much to get there next year.

Continue reading "Reid and Turner back for 2012: Really?"

Woof. The news broke quickly today from Halas Hall as the Chicago Bears started their offseason with a major shake-up near the top of the organization with the removal of Jerry Angelo and the “resignation” of Mike Martz. No time to waste in breaking these moves down!

Bears release General Manager Jerry Angelo

In a move that both surprised and delighted long-time Bears fans, Team President Ted Philips announced the firing of 11-year General Manager Jerry Angelo. I know some fans are confused as to why Lovie wouldn’t be on his way out too, but nearly every problem this season could be attributed to poor personnel decisions and a lack of depth at key positions. Angelo has had eleven years to accomplish the following: find a number one wide receiver construct a cohesive offensive line through the draft, provide quality depth on the defensive line find a viable number two corner behind Charles Tillman, or draft or sign at least ONE competent safety for Lovie Smith’s cover-two scheme (which I feel is the most important position in the system). I debated running through examples of players Angelo missed on at those positions, but I didn’t want to make myself cry. Ultimately, your GM can’t find occasional success in free agency and the rare fifth-round gem while completely missing on nearly every first-round draft choice. It simply sets your franchise back too far.

Continue reading "Wha??? Bears move on without Jerry Angelo and Mike Martz"

Black Monday in the NFL is always chock-full of news and storylines and this latest incarnation is no different. Along with the two head coaching vacancies we’re already aware of (Miami and Jacksonville) two more holes opened up on Monday (with more likely on the way). Here’s my take on the day’s news.

As many great sound bites as Morris has given us, he also managed to deliver one craptacular year after raising expectations so high with a ten-win season in 2010. After starting this season 4-2, Morris’ young Bucs lost ten straight to finish at 4-12. And they weren’t close games either. These Bucs were routinely pummeled, ending with the 42-point first half they allowed to the Falcons on Sunday. The Glazer family had no choice.

Continue reading "Joe's 2012 NFL Black Monday Breakdown"

The 2011 NFL regular season ended with a bang with some great finishes and superb drama on Sunday. Records were set by a back-up QB, a team captain was benched for “quitting” and a fat-handed QB lost missed out on the post-season. The Final Drive must begin!

This makes me beyond furious. Mike McCarthy takes out his MVP quarterback and starts a fourth year back-up with one career start in Matt Flynn, and f*cking records are broken. Six touchdowns? 480 yards? Who wouldn’t want to be Matt Flynn right now? That guy is about to make BANK as a free agent. Blow me Green Bay. Take your awesome quarterback development and blow me.

Continue reading "The Final Drive: Week 17, 2011-12"