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Last Word On Sports

Sports News Since 2011. Honestly.

Last Word On Sports Logo

Sports. Honestly. Since 2011

Day: September 10, 2011

Fantasy Watch List – NFL

Posted on by Ben Kerr

The Draft is over.  Now the season begins.  And as with every season it is the waiver pick-ups that often determine the league.  If any of these players begin to produce it may be more than just a one week spike.

A. Been and D. Briscoe – WR – Tampa – Count these as Josh Freeman picks.  If he takes the next step then one of his secodary receivers could make the leap.

D. Carter – RB – Indy – With no Manning the Colt’s may have to resort to pounding the run game.  If Addai is not up to the task Carter may be.

J. Harrison – RB – Detroit – J. Best is not a number 1 running back.  Harrison has produced everywhere he has played. If he gets enough touches expect results.

A. Hernandez – TE – New England – Not available in all leagues and for good reason.  Hernandez will be the Pats main deep threat and could surpass 800 yards and 6 TD’s.

L. Kendricks – TE – St. Louis – The new Rams offense will feature the TE.  Bradford will be fantasy freiendly. It is just a matter of figuring out who his favorite targets will be.

A. Brown – WR – Pittsburgh – Ward is no longer a #2 WR.  E. Sanders is supposed to step into the role but Brown flashed mega speed in the preseason.  If he gets the nob instead expect results.

T. Young – WR – Detroit – Much like Freeman, loading up on Staffords targets could be a good idea.

Big Time Game – NFL season underway!

Posted on by Ben Kerr

It doesn’t get much better than the game Thursday night.  Two Big-Time QB’s showing up and putting on a dominating display showing that when two QB’s are on their game they are nearly unstoppable. The game ended up coming down to an early Saints turnover but more than that their inability to convert in short yardage situations.  What else did we learn?

How are the teams without All-Star QB’s supposed to compete when you have to face offences like that?

Grant or Starks?  Grant opened the game with most the carriers but as the game wore on it looked like Starks was the feature back.  He displayed good power after first contract and was trusted by the coaching staff in passing situations.  Starks has the early edge.

Are the Saints really tougher?  They switched their Center this offseason an added two massive Defensive Tackles.  What did it all mean?  The Saints lost in the short yardage battles.  Twice unable to convert on offense in situations where they needed only 1 yard.  On defense the Packers had no issues with grinding out positive gains by running up the gut and it even produced a short yardage TD.

Big Time Injury – The Saints top WR Colston is reportedly lost for 4 weeks with a broken collarbone.  A huge loss or someting the Saints can overcome? While the Saints may be better than any team at spreading the ball around they can’t afford to slip up at all in what will be a tight division race with Atlanta, especially since they are already 0 and One.

NFC Preview

Posted on by Ben Kerr

The balance of power in the NFL is shifting.  Maybe more than just an injury, Peyton Manning’s absence from this opening weekend’s games signifies the official end of the dominance of the AFC over the NFC.  The NFC has now won the last two Superbowls, before that they have won just two of the previous nine.  Michael Lombardi of NFL.com recently wrote on excellent article on NFL division power rankings.  His rankings put three NFC divisions in the top four (Ranking: North, East, AFC East, South).  Only the lowly NFC West is dragging the conference down coming up last.

Should this be a surprise?  Look at the list of QB’s: Rodgers, Brees, Vick, Ryan, Romo, Freeman.  Follow the QB’s and you see why the NFC is so dangerous this year, and this is before factoring in Sam Bradford and Matt Stafford, the two most dangerous up and coming players.

Sure the AFC still has more dangerous Super Bowl contenders, but top to bottom the NFC reigns supreme.  What does all this mean?  Well it means that predicting the NFC division winners this year is no easy task.  With so many good teams the winners will come down to one thing: division games.  The good teams will win and lose their fair share with few pulling away from the pack.  That means it all comes down to how you did against your biggest division foes.  This is how the NFC breaks down for me.

NFC EAST

  1. Philly 10-6 – The offense has questions with an unsorted offensive line and three less than 100% Wide Receivers.  But the defense holds it together while they get it sorted out.
  2. Dallas 9-7 – Dangerous on offense.  Makes up for a shaky secondary.
  3. Washington 8-8 – Mike Shannahan has installed his offense and his run game will look a lot more like his Denver days.  This will take a lot of pressure off of Rex Grossman, but can he play well all season?
  4. New York Giants – 7-9 – An offseason with few additions has ended with several injuries to the defense. How will they make it through the season?

NFC North

  1. Green Bay 12-4 – Rodgers is too good and the roster too deep to look elsewhere in the division.
  2. Detroit 9-7 (WC)– The offense is explosive and the D-Line has the ability to dominate which is becoming the only thing that matters against the leagues top QB’s.  Should be a strong home team.
  3. Minnesota 8-8 – Still that big, tough, veteran team from two years back.  Now they will have decent QB’ing to go with it.
  4. Chicago 8-8 – How many games can this O-line win in a division with three strong D-lines?

NFC South

  1.  New Orleans 11-5 – Injuries simply cannot be as bad as last year. A renewed run game lets Brees rip it up again.
  2. Atlanta10-6 (WC)– Had some nice breaks last year that led to their dominant record. Still like them.
  3. Tampa Bay 8-8 – Played tough against good teams last year but too many wins came against the scrubs.
  4. Carolina 5-11 – Don’t see them as a pushover with strong run game and defense, but who do they beat?

NFC West

  1. St Louis 9-7 – I have no idea so let’s go with the divisions best Quarterback.
  2. Arizona 8-8 – Kolb-Fitz, Kolb-Fitz, Kolb-Fitz, Kolb-Fitz, Kolb-Fitz and Kolb-Fitz
  3. Seattle 4-12 – TavarisJackson. Is that how you spell his name? I’m not looking it up.
  4. San Fran 2-14 – How pumped up can the players get for a game with Alex Smith?

Playoffs:

Wild Card Round: Atlanta over St. Louis, Detroit over Philly

Divisional Round: Detroit over Green Bay, Atlanta over New Orleans

Conference Championship: Atlanta over Detroit

AFC Preview

Posted on by Ben Kerr

The AFC is considerably less interesting than the NFC, at least as far as the top of each division goes.  While it might be tempting to pick Baltimore to rise up and conquer the Steelers or to think the Jets are ready to make the next step and win the AFC East it probably won’t happen.  This is a QB league and to go against the likes of Tom Brady or Ben Roethlisberger is nothing short of foolish.  I’m not saying it can’t happen; it’s just not very likely to happen.

So what about the other two divisions?  There is a little more drama here with Manning out for an indefinite amount of time and Kansas City coming off a division title in the West.  Let’s settle the West first.  KC is not winning again.  Last year was a product of an improving team meeting the right schedule, specifically the easiest one in the league.  This turns the West into another automatic. Philip Rivers is the king of the West and looks to assert his dominance again this season.

So that leaves us with one wild card division:  The South.  Indy still has a handful of superstars; their pride and surely a huge chip on their shoulder after watching everyone write them off at the drop of a hat this past week.  Houston, the perennial pre-season contender has everything they need on offense. But they have been nothing if not soft over these past few years; can they ever turn it around and play kick-ass football?  The Titans have a new coach, new QB and same O-Line / RB combo.  Is it enough to turn their fortunes? Jacksonville is last with a newly anointed starting QB and a barley improved defensive secondary that got chewed up last year.  Let’s see how it all shakes out:

AFC EAST

  1. New England 13-3 – One of the most loaded rosters in the league can seemingly play any style of ball.  Will the new D-Line be a force that takes them to the next level?
  2. New York Jets 12-4 – A solid team that fights for every yard.  But they can’t best the Pats of a 16 game schedule without better Quarterback play.
  3. Miami 5-11 – Tough team returns but is the organization in shambles?
  4. Buffalo 5-11 – Ryan Fitzpatrick is who they choose to be their QB.

AFC NORTH

  1. Pittsburgh 13-3 – One of the easiest schedules in the league for one of the best teams.
  2. Baltimore10 -6 – With speed issues and O-line problems if any contender slips it could be the Ravens.
  3. Cleveland 9-7 – Ride easy schedule to dominating start before falling with four of last five games against the Steelers and Ravens.  How does that happen?
  4. Cincy 1-15 – I don’t even think they are that bad, but how do you start a rookie second round pick at QB?

AFC SOUTH

  1. Houston 12-4 – Count me in as a Wade Phillips believer.  For one regular season at least.
  2. Tennessee 10-6 – Hasselbeck + dominant O-line = Easy Completions
  3. Jacksonville 4-12 – Tell me how they improved, then explain how they managed to win 8 last season.
  4. Indy 3-13 – Might be a few weeks of tough play before they realize they can never score more than 17 points.  Are we sure Caldwell is an NFL calibre coach?

AFC WEST

  1.  San Diego 13-3 – Don’t go against Rivers.  Most explosive passing attack in football could be in San Diego.
  2. Denver 8-8 – I like Fox to come in and give these guys an attitude.  Additions of Dumervil (injury) and Von Miller (draft) will make this a ferocious pass rush.
  3. KC 6-10 – This is about how good they were last year.  Count me out as a Haley believer.
  4. Oakland 4-12 – Any time you change your well liked coach and you are also the Oakland Raiders I am predicting you for 4 wins max the next season.

PLAYOFFS

Wild Card Round: Pittsburgh over Baltimore, Jets over Houston

Divisional Round: Pittsburgh over San Diego, New England over Jets

Conference Championship: New England over Pittsburgh

SUPER BOWL

New England over Atlanta