Bye-Bye Patriots

Well, this is tough for me. My favorite team, the New England Patriots lost to the hated New York Jets Sunday. It's simple, we were out coached, outplayed, and outworked. As much as people will blame Tom Brady for this loss it is in no way his own fault. The Jets pass coverage was incredible. The reason Brady was sacked 5 times was not because the Jets blitzed a lot, but because the coverage was so good Brady had no one to throw too and the players got there. The Jets offence, which started off slowly, played very well and the Pats couldn't stop it. The Patriots were controlling the game until Tom Brady, who had only threw 4 INTs the whole year finally threw one to David Harris and after that the Jets had all the momentum and never really gave it up. The season is now over and now we look towards the draft where the Patriots own 3 picks in the first 33 including two 1st rounders. I expect them to draft a defensive lineman somewhere in that 1st round.

On to the rest of the games now.
The Green Bay Packers man handled the #1 seed Atlanta Falcons, 48-21. Aaron Rodgers had a GREAT game throwing for 300+ yards and 3 TDs. I really liked the Falcons but the Packers are a dangerous team and I believe will now win the Super Bowl. Next Game: @Chicago Bears, NFC Championship Game.

Finally the worst playoff team in NFL history is out. Don't let the 35-24 final fool you. The Bears were way better than the 11 points they won by over the Seahawks. It wasn't really close at all. Bears looked great, but it was the Seahawks, so we'll see how they handle the Packers next week. Next Game: vs. Green Bay Packers, NFC Championship Game.

Wow, at first it looked like the Baltimore Ravens were handling the Pittsburgh Steelers fairly easily. But things change and the Steelers came back from a 14 point halftime deficit to beat the Ravens 31-24. The downhill spiral for the Ravens all started when Ray Rice fumbled the ball and ended with Ben Roethlisberger threw a great pass to Antonio Brown, who made a terrific catch and set up the Steelers game winning TD. Next Game: vs. NY Jets, AFC Championship Game.

Offensive Player of the Week: Aaron Rodgers.
Explanation: What more do I need to say? He is the reason the #1 seeded Falcons are no longer in the playoffs. 31/36, 300+ yards, and 3 TDs. Very impressive.

Defensive Player of the Week: Tramon Williams.
Explanation: This was VERY tough. There were some tremendous defensive performances this week but Williams had a crucial pick six of Matt Ryan at the end of the 2nd quarter.

Goat Horns of the Week: T.J Houshmandzadeh
Explanation: The Ravens could've came back to score a tying TD. But T.J's major drop on 4th down killed the Ravens. If he caught the ball his team would've had a first down and major momentum.

AFC/NFC Championship Game predictions coming later this week as well as a Patriots season review and off season preview.

Wild Week For The Leafs

So far I have only covered football (Divisional Playoff review coming up too) but, my favorite sport is hockey and my favorite team, ever since I was born has been the Toronto Maple Leafs (go ahead and laugh) so I decided to do a weekly review of what happens in Leaf Land.

Monday, January 10, 2011
The Leafs defeated the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 in L.A. It was a great game to watch and even better that they won. It was a great team effort all around. Goals were scored by: Darryl Boyce, Phil Kessel, and Nikolai Kulemin with the winner.

Tuesday, January 11th, 2011
The Leafs defeated the San Jose Sharks 4-2 in San Jose. James Reimer kept us in it for most of the game and looked great. It was also Ron Wilson's 600th career win. Goals were scored by: Phil Kessel, Clarke MacArthur, Carl Gunnarsson (winner) and Clarke MacArthur (2) (empty net)

Thursday, January 13th, 2011
Before the game the Leafs acquired Fabian Brunnstrom from the Dallas Stars in exchange for fading prospect Mikhail Stefanovich. Brunnstrom is now playing for the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. The Leafs also had a game vs the Phoenix Coyotes, which they lost, snapping a 4 game winning streak by the score of 5-1. James Reimer looked pretty bad on a lot of the goals but, the Leafs weren't giving him much help on the scoreboard anyways. Goal scored by: Colby Armstrong. Maple Leafs forward Mike Brown was also suspended for 3 games for his head shot of Ed Jovanovski.

Saturday, January 15th, 2011
The Leafs were defeated by the Calgary Flames in a snore fest by a score of 2-1 (SO) There wasn't much action in this game until midway through the 3rd period. Even though they lost, they still manage to get a point. Goal was scored by: Mikhail Grabovski.

Upcoming schedule for the Leafs: @NY Rangers (1/19/11), vs. Anaheim Ducks (1/20/11), and vs. Washington Capitals (1/22/11)

NFL Divisonal Round Predictions/BCS National Champioship review

So, as promised I am going to do my NFL Divisional Round. But first the National Championship. I wanted Oregon to win for a few reasons. 1. I like their colours. 2. I'm not a big Cam Newton fan. and 3. Their my second favorite US college (WVU!) But of course they didn't.. It wasn't the big 60-55 shootout everyone thought it would be. Both defences looked fired up to stop the oppositions high powered offences.

Offensive Player of the Game: Michael Dyer
Explanation: He rushed for 143 yards on 22 carries and whenever Cam Newton wasn't playing well Auburn just turned to Dyer and he picked up yards.

Defensive Player of the Game: Nick Fairley
Explanation: This one was easy. He shut down LaMichael James and the rest of the Oregon offence and forced them to not use their up-tempo fast paced offence.

Goat Horns of the Game: Darron Thomas
Explanation: No so much in the 2nd half but early on he was just not playing well at all. Maybe if he was better earlier on the Ducks might have won.

Now onto my predictions. (Not in order)
First game: Seattle vs. Chicago.
This is just the downer of an otherwise great Divisional round. It probably won't be a blow-out, but again I just don't think the Seahawks will win. But I said that for last game and look what happened. Winner: Chicago.

Baltimore vs. Pittsburgh.
This will be one hell of a game. Both teams hate each other and they're evenly matched. I think if the Steelers can stop Ray Rice, they'll win. If the Ravens can stop Hines Ward and Mike Wallace, they'll win. Winner: Baltimore.

Green Bay vs Atlanta.
Green Bay might just be the most dangerous 6th seed ever. Not even with a good running game their dangerous. But when you add James Starks running it so well they're almost unbeatable. I guess that'll be the X-Factor whether the Packers can run it well again. Winner: Atlanta

New England vs. New York Jets.
Let me go out and say right away. This will not be another 45-3 blow out. It will be a closer, tighter, good game. The Jets have confidence after the win vs. Indy and the Patriots have rest thanks to the first round bye. This might come down to coaching. Belichick is the best at keeping things to himself and preparing his team while Rex Ryan (as much as I hate him) is the best trash talker and still being able to keep his team focused. Winner: Patriots

I'm going to start doing weekly Toronto Maple Leaf recaps. Starting on Monday, January 17th.

Eagles PACK it in, Ravens soar

(Oh I crack myself up...) I'm going to review the Packers-Eagles game because of a few reasons. 1. It was a blowout. 2. I picked the Chiefs.. and I am embarrassed. and 3. I didn't watch most of it. So lets begin. Going into this game I wanted the Eagles to win because well... it'd be easier for the Patriots, because the Packers are a bad match-up for them. But of course nothing goes my way and the Packers won pretty easily. The main problem for the Eagles, they couldn't do anything consistently well. Throwing was ok, but when DeSean Jackson got hurt for a while it didn't work. Running was below average, maybe it was the blockers not creating holes or maybe it was just the Packers defence getting to McCoy quicker but it just did not work. Pass defence, although 180 yards doesn't look like much, 3 TD passes and 6.7 yards per pass does. They were lucky James Jones had that brutal drop near the end of the first half which would've all but sealed it. Run defence, what more is needed to be said other than they gave up 123 yards to a 6th round rookie who was originally going to be a 3rd stringer. The only positive I can really come up with for the Eagles is that it could've been much worse.

As for the Packers, they were rolling all game it seemed, don't let the final score of 21-16 fool you the Packers dominated both sides of the ball. Aaron Rodgers had no trouble throwing the ball, or scrambling and picking up yards on the ground. They ran well, with rookie James Starks picking up 123 yards on 23 carries. On defence they never let Vick get into a rhythm, picking up 3 sacks. Stopped LeSean McCoy from burning them (they didn't give up a run play longer than 15 yards) and kept Vick in check when he ran too. Jason Avant had a pretty solid day though with 7 catches for 93 yards and a TD. All in all a very good day for the Packers who now go on to play the Atlanta Falcons in Atlanta for the Divisional round of the playoffs.
(Other NFC Divisional match-up: Seattle Seahawks vs. Chicago Bears)

Offensive Player of the Game: James Starks.
Explanation: He was the main reason that the Packers had success on offence. Without him the passing attack would not have worked as well.

Defensive Player of the Game: Tramon Williams.
Explanation: He was all over the field all game. He covered his assignments well. And got the game saving interception in the dying seconds to seal a Packer win.

Goat Horns of the Game: Winston Justice.
Explanation: It would've been James Jones if the Packers lost. But they won so it's Justice. He got 3 penalties called on him on back to back plays. First a false start on him. There goes 5 yards. Then on the same play, tackles Packers linebacker Clay Matthews to the ground as a "block" and gets an illegal formation because he lined up in the back field and a holding (more like throwing) call. And there goes 10 more yards. Good job Mr. Justice...
Want to see the embarassment? Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_-hPnfvdIM

Other Sunday game, the Baltimore Ravens blew out the Kansas City Chiefs 30-7 and will now play division rival Pittsburgh on Saturday.
Predictions for the Divisional round will be up sometime this week. GO PATRIOTS!

The SEAHAWKS!? Whaaa?

Did that actually just happen? The worst playoff team ever, the 7-9 Seattle Seahawks just beat the defending Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints 41-36. Now, I actually picked the Seahawks because of the spread being 11, but I NEVER thought they would win the game! The Saints just could not stop Marshawn Lynch out there (19 carries, 131 yards, 1 TD) and while they weren't spectacular the Seahawks defence did what it needed to do to stop the Saints offence. While the Saints only ran the ball about 20 times, the Seahawks didn't let Reggie Bush or Julius Jones do any damage, they combined for 20 carries, 71 yards, and 2 TDs. But don't let those 2 TDs fool you, they weren't big gains at all. Those two TD runs were a total of 9 yards. But the Saints did have some success passing the ball with Drew Brees throwing 60 passes to make up for their non-existent run game. But again the Seahawks didn't give up a big TD play. The two TD passes combined for a whopping total of... 7 yards.

But the biggest weakness for the Saints, their defence. More specifically, their secondary. What happened to this new solidified secondary with Jabari Greer and Malcolm Jenkins? Now you might look at the passing yard total and say "Well, they only gave up 266 pass yards compared to 397 thrown by the Saints" But it was the big TD plays that killed the Saints secondary. 2 of the 4 TD passes thrown by Matt Hasselbeck went for more than 35 yards. When you have guys like Brandon Stokley out running your defensive backs, you have a problem on your hands. The other 2 TD passes? Both to TE John Carlson and both times he was left WIDE OPEN. Especially on the 2nd, where there wasn't a Saints defender within a good 7 yards of him. And one thing that just came to my mind about some of these TDs, Roman Harper was getting burned all day. Cameron Morrahs only catch a 39 yarder that almost was a TD who's fault? Harper. Carlson's 2nd TD? Harper. Stokleys big TD? Harper. But it wasn't just Harper. Mike Williams' 38 yard TD? Safety Darren Sharper. Carlson's 1st TD? Sharper.

But what also shocks me is that twice the Saints had a 10 point lead over the Seahawks, and they could not put them away. Letting Hasselbeck and his offence do whatever they wanted on almost every drive. But I cannot fault Drew Brees, he did not make many mistakes (if any) and threw for 400+ yards and two TDs. But it was the secondary of the Saints that let them down.

Offensive Player of the Game: Marshawn Lynch.
Explanation: It would've been Hasselbeck but it was more because of the bad safety play that he had his TDs. And Lynch's running set-up the passing game

Defensive Player of the Game: Raheem Brock.
Explanation: This was tough. You had David Hawthorne, Earl Thomas, and even Scott Shanle from the Saints. But Brock forced the Jones fumble and had a crucial sack of Brees

Goat Horns of the Game: Roman Harper.
Explanation: He let 2 guys run by him for huge gains (Stokley and Morrah) 2 guys burnt him for TDs (Carlson and Stokley) he was just shaky the whole game.

Other Saturday game; New York Jets def. Indianapolis Colts 17-16 on a last second field goal by Nick Folk. Jets go on to play the New England Patriots.

Why The Patriots Will Win Super Bowl XLV (45)

Ahh.. The 14-2 New England Patriots. Now the easy thing to say would be "Well, just let Tom Brady throw and run the ball from time to time and hopefully the defence forces some turnovers and hopefully the offence doesn't turn it over" Yeah... And I've "hoped" for 14 years the Toronto Maple Leafs would win a Stanley Cup.. First of all, it's not all about Tom Brady. He has tremendous talent catching the ball; Deion Branch, Wes Welker, Aaron Hernandez, Rob Gronkowski, and (when needed) Danny Woodhead and BenJarvus Green-Ellis. The most well known name is clearly Wes Welker, and for good reason, 500+ receptions, 5,000+ yards, and 20+ TDs. But for now lets focus on the two rookie tight ends, Hernandez and Gronkowski. Now coming out of the draft you'd look at the Patriots selections for offence and you say "Well, you have a marijuana user (Hernandez) a kind of slow, average catching, tight end (Gronkowski) and a low profile receiver (Taylor Price)" Now, you look at the two TEs and your like "Wow, I wish my team drafted these guys!"Just look at the stats. Gronkowski: 42 receptions, 546 yards, and 10 TDs. Hernandez: 45 receptions, 563 yards, and 6 TDs (Note: Hernandez didn't even play the last two games of the year, so those totals could've been higher)

Now, onto the running backs Danny Woodhead and BenJarvus Green-Ellis. I'll start with Green-Ellis. Just let me start by saying, he was an undrafted free agent. Look at the stats (again) 229 carries, 1,008 yards, and 13 TDs. When you think of the Patriots you think of our passing game more than anything else, now to get a running back who puts up an 1,000 yard rushing year? That makes the attack even more dangerous. Of course we can't forget about Mr. Everything, Danny Woodhead. Don't even get me started... He's 5'8 (maybe not even that!) and he's arguably our most dynamic player! 926 total yards and 6 total TDs. He also didn't play for us until Week 3, so he could've had over 1,000 total yards and 10 total TDs!

I don't need to go into much detail with our QB (MVP! MVP! MVP!) or our receivers (2 combined for over 1,500 yards and 13 TDs) So, I will now focus on our defence.

25th most yards given up per game, 30th most pass yards given up per game. Sounds like we have a problem here? Not so fast, 8th least points given up per game, and (my favorite stat) 25 INTs (best in the NFL) Looking at the stats we have a high risk, high reward defence. But, you need to watch them play before you can judge them. We have improved every game. Great young talent (McCourty, Meriweather, Chung, Mayo, Spikes, Cunningham) and great veteran leadership (Wilfork, Gerard Warren, Banta-Cain) add that to the best coach in the NFL and you have a good defence for a while to come. (Don't forget they have 2  first round picks this year so we can get even younger and better)

It's not all about stats though. The Patriots do a lot of the little things right: blocking, route running, coverage, pass rushing. And that might just be the X-Factor, whether or not we can continue to do all of those things well. I truly believe they can (and will) win the Super Bowl and contend for years to come!