Please remind me not to make football predictions next year. I’m happy with a few of these I got right, but there are a few really embarrassing predictions in here as well.
Here’s how I did on predicting the order of finishing.
NFC East prediction: Eagles, Giants (*), Cowboys, Redskins. Got this almost completely backwards. Terrible.
As a passionate football fan, Super Bowl Sunday is both the best Sunday of football (the big game, the hype, the over the top snacks) and the worst Sunday of football (it being the last Sunday of football for more than seven months). This season certainly went out in style with a game for the ages that almost saw the 49ers come back from 22 down to win.
This game had a little bit of everything, and really, either team could have won. Sometimes it’s the small things that make the difference between winning and losing, and both teams did some very smart and very dumb things on the way to the eventual result. Beneath the big plays and flow of the game, here are a few things that caught my eye. Continue reading
Last year when I wrote my Eagles report card for 2011, I said simply that the season was a failure. If that was the case (and it was), then I’m not sure how to describe what transpired in 2012. Colossal failure? Total embarrassment?
Truthfully, I could see this coming. Well, maybe not 4-12 coming, but a bad year nonetheless. Yes, I know I “predicted” the Eagles would be NFC East champs, but even I admitted I was picking that with my heart, not my head. Preseason, the early indicators of a sub-par season were there. I had serious doubts about QB, the offensive line was missing it’s top player, and there were too many questions on defence to count. With my vision now 20/20 after 16 games, here’s how I saw the Eagles performance, position by position, and in some cases, player by player for 2012. Continue reading
Given how things turned out on Sunday, I’m fairly certain I’m going to grow weary of all of the Ray Lewis and “Harbaugh Bowl” talk that will happen over the next two weeks. It’s hard to deny both teams deserve to meet in the Super Bowl, and on paper, it should be a great match up of two very physical teams with a lot of play making ability on both offence and defence.
Here’s what I saw during the two conference championship games: Continue reading
After a disappointing wildcard weekend, the divisional weekend slate of games produced wall-to-wall drama. Here’s what I saw in the four matches:
Ravens-Broncos: Wow. Aside from Eagles playoff games (ah, those were the days), I can’t remember a playoff game that had me glued to the TV like this one. Deep passes, turnovers, special teams TDs and inconsistent officiating all came together to produce a spectacular double overtime win for Baltimore. Truly, I didn’t think the Ravens would play consistent enough to make the AFC championship, but they’ll be back there for the second year in a row. Aside from all the spectacular plays, a few more subtle things caught my eye in this game: Continue reading
I’m a pretty big football junkie, but three of the four games this weekend bordered on unwatchable for long stretches. Thankfully, the last game on Sunday provided a full sixty minutes of entertainment, and possibly a story line to last through the offseason. Here’s what I saw in the four games this weekend:
Bengals – Texans: In what was one of the least appealing playoff games in recent memory, the Texans won by six points and by the balance of play, should have won by three touchdowns. Letting Cincinatti hang around, the Texans were within an Andy Dalton overthrow of AJ Green late in the 4th quarter of losing. For the third time in four years, the Bengals flame out on wildcard weekend. Continue reading
A three day conference had me in Denver, Colorado. Unfortunately, the timing didn’t line up for me to combine two of my favourite things – travel and football. To make up for that, I decided to use a bit of the very limited free time I had to do a tour of the Broncos stadium – Sports Authority Field at Mile High. A short light rail ride from downtown and ten minute walk away I came upon the stadium:
Sitting at 3-4 after an embarrassing 30-17 loss to Atlanta, the main question for the Eagles is “Where do we go from here?” With five division games remaining on the schedule, they’re by no means out of a playoff race, but there are some trends and hard questions to be asked.
The first question – Is this really a talented team on offence? Continue reading
The Eagles bye week this week provided a good break from watching my team fumble the early part of their season away. It also gave me plenty of time to check in on some other teams and games. Here is what I saw this week:
Steelers: After their defence allowed the Bengals to march down the field in the first quarter for a TD, they almost completely shut down Cincy the rest of the way. Taylor kept AJ Green in check, the d-line and strong linebacker play shut down the run, and the overall group held Dalton to just over 100 yards passing. The Steelers run game dominated and is showing that the strength of this team’s much maligned offensive line is their ability to run block. In the first half, the Steelers overcame dropped passes (including one for a TD), a dropped interception and four penalties on kick returns that resulted in a loss of more than 100 yards of field position. It wasn’t the prettiest win, but a divisional win on the road doesn’t have to be pretty.
In one word, the game against the Lions was disappointing. Sad. Frustrating. Undisciplined. Terrible. Ok, that’s more than one word but you get the picture. Being a fan of the Eagles is like being suspended in some sort of déjà vu land where you’re stuck watching the same story unfold each and every Sunday, season after season.
Bluenose Traveler 