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New York Jets holding back from trash talking this week

January 20th, 2011

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Last week the New York Jets were a team that dominated the sports headlines around the country as they weren’t short on words about their arch rivals in the New England Patriots. With an obvious bitterness towards their division rivals, the Jets had no mercy when talking about the Patriots as it was clear there was no respect between these two teams from the AFC East division.

Head coach Rex Ryan may have been the one person to stand out in all of last week as he basically said this playoff game between the New York Jets and the New England Patriots was a battle between him and Bill Belichick. As usual, Belicheck said that wasn’t the case as neither one of them would be suiting up and playing on the field at Gillette Stadium, but Ryan persisted with his talk about the three-time Super Bowl champion head coach.

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Ultimately, it was the players that led the New York Jets to their second straight AFC Championship game, but it has become obvious that the trash talking between the two teams really motivated this New York squad as they came into the divisional round against New England with a never say die attitude that led them to victory.

Now the New York Jets and finally quieted their critics by getting the best of the New England Patriots and advancing back to the AFC Championship game, they may have an even tougher challenge ahead of them as they will go head-to-head against Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Even though the Jets are usually the team that makes more noise than any other during these playoffs, Rex Ryan and company have been really quiet this week heading into their showdown with the Steelers and have shown nothing but respect for this storied Pittsburgh franchise.

The New England Patriots may have been arguably the best team in the NFL heading into last weekend’s playoff game against the New York Jets, but the lockdown defense of the Jets finally showed up and proved that they can stop basically any offense in the league with two consecutive victories over to the best quarterbacks in NFL history in Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.

In the AFC Championship game, the New York Jets will be facing a different kind of quarterback as Big Ben is a player that is not known for his dominance in the passing game, but more for making the right play at the right time and been extremely tough to stop.

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With two Super Bowl titles and the distinction is one of the best quarterbacks in the league today, Big Ben is about as good as it gets at the quarterback position, but like I said before is not known to put up big numbers that can intimidate defense, but the Jets have given this quarterback a lot of respect as they say he is as tough to stop as any QB in the league.

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So ironically enough, the Pittsburgh Steelers in the New York Jets will come into this game with little controversy and no trash talk as these two teams seem to be taking this game in a professional manner with no hard feelings or animosity towards each other.

In my opinion, this should be a good football game against two extremely good defenses, but in the end I believe the Pittsburgh Steelers are just a better and more experienced team and should head to the Super Bowl once again.

Quarterback Rankings: Divisional Edition

January 19th, 2011 admin

1. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers: The playoffs have been turned into Rogers’ personal coming out party. His numbers are astronomical; 136.8 QB rating, seven total touchdowns, 546 passing yards and no interceptions. The guy looked like a hybrid of Randal Cunningham, John Elway, Steve Young and Dan Marino against the Falcons. The Bears better hit Rodgers with baseball bats come Sunday or he’s gonna set Soldier Field ablaze.

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2. Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers: When the Steelers needed to re-group and make some plays in the second half against the Ravens, Roethlisberger was there to lead. His numbers won’t blow you out of the water. He isn’t a celebrity like Tom Brady or a marketable athlete like Peyton Manning. He’s just a regular guy with the same legal problems everyone goes through. In his case though, the women are obviously after his money. In our case, we just want to grab ass.

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Big Ben is a proven winner. He makes the most (or least) out of his offensive line. No one survives an oncoming rush like Roethlisberger. He manages to find the right guy on a broken play. He’s like an eye of a storm — always at the center of chaos but still in control.

3. Jay Cutler, Chicago Bears: Cutler owes us an explanation for suddenly having the right mind to throw passes that make sense. No denying he has a rocket launcher arm. But to operate a weapon like that there needs to be a bright mind behind it. North Korea has nuclear missiles, but can we ever trust them with Kim Jong Il behind the operation? Hell no. Well, overnight Cutler went from Kim Jong Il to Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — still dangerous but somehow subdued and occasionally rational.

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4. Mark Sanchez, New York Jets: I see a hailstorm headed toward my direction. So, why all the hatorade against Sanchez and the Jets? We have to accept that Cutler has played better overall in one game than Sanchez played in two games. The Jets can survive a terrible game from Sanchez and win. Just look at his

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189-yard, one interception and no touchdown performance against the Colts. The defense won that game for the Jets by forcing Peyton Manning off the field and allowing only a field goal in Indianapolis’ final possession.

“Wait, what about his performance against the Patriots?” No denying that Sanchez outdueled Tom-Terrible with a three touchdown, no interception performance. It’s just that Cutler one-upped him with a nontraditional Cutler four touchdown performance. He channeled his inner Cam Newton and rushed for 43 yards and two touchdowns. Cutler rushed for two touchdowns! Cutler actually risked getting hit instead of throwing into heavy coverage! It’s gonna take me another week until I fully comprehend the two previous statements.

Green Bay Packers contain Michael Vick to advance to Divisional Round

January 15th, 2011 admin

The Green Bay Packers have had a rough season to say the least as they came into this NFL regular-season as a legitimate Super Bowl title contender and immediately had to deal with some serious injury problems on the offensive side of the football

With two of the Packers best offensive players put on the IR early in the season (Ryan Grant and Jermichael Finley), perennial Pro bowl quarterback Aaron Rodgers had to figure out how to get this offense back on track and firing on all cylinders once again.

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This was a difficult task to say the least as the Green Bay Packers now officially had virtually no running game with their best running back out for the season. With no running attack out of the backfield, Green Bay became a predictable offense with Aaron Rodgers having to do literally everything to lead his team to victory.

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Fortunately, even though they look like they would miss the playoffs entirely, the Green Bay Packers were able to get back on track and into the playoffs with some impressive wins to finish the regular season. Despite been able to get into the playoffs, their first opponent was arguably one of the best teams in the league and the Philadelphia Eagles.

Not only did the Eagles have a rejuvenated NFL MVP candidate Michael Vick under center, but they also had one of the best offenses in the NFL with weapons like wide receiver DeSean Jackson and running back LeSean McCoy at Michael Vick’s disposal.

So the stage was set for a first-round thriller as it would be Michael Vick against Aaron Rodgers in what should have been again filled with offense from start to finish. Not only did these two teams have potent offenses, but they were also pretty good on the defensive side of the football.

With that being said, this was a game destined to come down to the wire and that it did as neither team was backing down.

In the first half of this first-round matchup, the Green Bay Packers were basically dominating the Philadelphia Eagles as they were able to contain Michael Vick and put 14 points on the board to just 3 points from the Eagles.

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With the impressive performance by the Green Bay Packers in the first half and Michael Vick seemingly a nonfactor, the Philadelphia Eagles seemed to have little hope in the second half, but after an early touchdown grab from wide receiver Jason Avant from Michael Vick, there seemed to be light at the end of the tunnel.

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Unfortunately, despite a late surge by the Eagles in the second half, the Packers ultimately came away with the win as running back Brandon Jackson basically sealed the deal with a 16 yard touchdown pass from Aaron Rodgers 21-16.

Michael Vick did end up rushing for touchdown with four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, but the two-point conversation failed and as a result ended the Philadelphia Eagles season.

Now the Green Bay Packers will hope to keep their Super Bowl hopes alive as they head to Atlanta to take on the NFC South division champion Falcons on their home field at the Georgia Dome.

Baltimore Ravens dominate the Chiefs to set up a showdown with the Steelers

January 15th, 2011 admin

Before this NFL regular season even began, the Baltimore Ravens looked like a vastly improved football team as they have improved on the offense the side of the football every single season and were able to add a major piece of the puzzle in Pro Bowl wide receiver Anquan Boldin.

With quarterback Joe Flacco coming into his own and a Pro Bowl caliber wideout at his disposal along with one of the best running backs in the league in Ray Rice coming out of the backfield, the sky was the limit for this Ravens football team as defensive veterans and perennial Pro Bowlers Ray Lewis and Ed Reed were back for one more season.

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So heading into Week 1 the consensus around the league was that the Baltimore Ravens would be one of the best teams in the NFL this season, but they first have to contend with another team that went through some drastic changes for the better in the New York Jets.

Even though the revamped offense of the Baltimore Ravens wasn’t exactly on display in the first week of the season as they only managed to score 10 points against the New York Jets defense, they still came out with the win and looked as good as ever with Super Bowl aspirations from there on out.

Fortunately, the Ravens really keep up their winning ways as they only ended up losing four games on your long during the NFL regular season. Despite losing just four games, Baltimore was unable to win the AFC North division title which ultimately went to the Pittsburgh Steelers. As a result, the Ravens would have to travel to Kansas City for the first round of the playoffs to take on the AFC West division champion Chiefs.

Even though the Baltimore Ravens for -3 point favorites coming into this football game, the Kansas City Chiefs had proven throughout the season that they were a force to be reckoned with in the AFC Conference and would give the Baltimore Ravens a run for their money.

Unfortunately for Matt Cassel and company, that turned out not to be the case as the Baltimore Ravens dominated the Kansas City Chiefs from start to finish. Not only did the Ravens offense score 30 points against the Chiefs, but they were able to contain a potent running game of Kansas City and hold them to just seven points.

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This one of its use was impressive to say the least as it continues to prove that the Baltimore Ravens are legitimate Super Bowl title contender.

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Ironically enough, in the divisional round of the playoffs the Baltimore Ravens will be on the road once again as they travel to Heinz Field to take on the division rival Pittsburgh Steelers.

There is no question that this game will be much more difficult for the Baltimore Ravens as the Pittsburgh Steelers have arguably one of the best defenses in the NFL this season, especially against the run. Despite being a dominant football team, I believe the Baltimore Ravens will get the best of their division rivals this weekend as their dynamic offense might be too much for the Pittsburgh Steelers defense.

NFC Wild Card – The Road to the Superbowl

January 9th, 2011 admin

New Orleans at Seattle

Good: Seattle’s a tough team at home especially if the Saints find themselves on third and long. Seattle’s fans can be very loud on third downs.

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The Seahawks are a respectable 5-3 at home, which is probably the only statistic that gives them a glimmer of hope against the defending Super Bowl champs. On the other hand, the Saints are a great road team with a record of 6-2. Their road record is actually better than their record at the Louisiana Superdome.

Bad: No one is giving the Seahawks a chance in hell to beat the Saints, but if the Saints play like they did against Tampa Bay, who are we to doubt Seattle. Brees is throwing interceptions as if they were post-Christmas gifts. For the past eleven games he has thrown at least one interception. Reggie Bush played well against the Buccaneers and finished with 70 yards rushing and 55 yards receiving, but the numbers lie. His hands had holes in ’em because he dropped at least two passes.

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Ugly: Where has the New Orleans passing game gone? It has loss its trademark explosiveness. They rely heavily on short passes to their running backs and screen passes to their receivers. Their passing game has become a move-the-chains offense rather than deep ball threat.

The Saints face third down more often this season, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing because they have Drew Brees at QB. It becomes a bad thing when they have to face third down on the road.

Key for the Saints: New Orleans’ running game needs to get going early. Their running backs are too talented and Seattle’s run defense allows 119 yards per game.

Key for the Seahawks: Shut down the running game. They did it against Steven Jackson. If they do that they can focus on Brees and force an interception or two.

Who wins: Brees played without Reggie Bush, Pierre Thomas and Jeremy Shockey in the season meeting with the Seahawks and still shredded them for four touchdowns.

This game will be closer than most people think. The Saints’ experience will be enough to overcome the ruckus crowd in Seattle.

AFC Wild Card

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NY Jets at Indianapolis

Good: Indianapolis’ front four of Robert Mathis, Daniel Muir, Fili Moala and Dwight Freeney can give Sanchez problems. The Colts have an underrated pass defense that allows their linebackers to roam around waiting for a pass or hold ground anticipating the run.

Bad: Peyton Manning will miss Austin Collie in this game. He’ll try his best to distribute the football, but the absence of a running game will be too much for even him to overcome.

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Expect Manning to attack Darrelle Revis early just to keep the Jets secondary guessing.

Meanwhile, the Jets have a more dynamic offense. They should get Mark Sanchez’s confidence up by throwing short and safe screen passes to set-up the run. If the Jets establish a solid running game in the second and third quarter, Sanchez can find his targets late in the game.

Ugly: It’s always fun to hear Rex Ryan run his mouth during press conferences. His personality is made for Broadway. In his recent presscon he boldly declared that it was a personal battle between him and Peyton Manning and he was determined to win it. We love how Rex is with his declarations, but don’t you think he’s putting a little too much pressure on his players to perform? He has become this spotlight hog that can be a distraction. Then again, the Jets play in New York so distractions are merited. It is a different matter though when your coach and not your players are the focal point of distractions.

Keys for the Colts: Contain Sanchez and limit his effectiveness. His impact on the game will determine the Jets running game. If Sanchez attempts more than 30 passes, the Colts will win.

Keys for the Jets: Run the football to keep Manning’s field time limited.

Who wins: New York hasn’t dominated anyone offensively this season. It won’t happen this week. All the Jets’ offense has to do is dictate the pace of the game and it’ll be an early exit for Manning and the Colts.

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