Back to Lambeau

9 01 2012

I’ll be honest and admit that it crossed my mind for the briefest of seconds during yesterday’s game. With a little over 9 minutes left in the 4th and the Giants holding onto the ball and a 24-2 lead over the Falcons in an NFC Wild Card Playoff game, I did some quick math in the my head. The lead was 22 points, just one more point than the 21 point lead we held over the Eagles with 8:17 to play in that game last year.

And then, just as quickly as the thought came, it then vanished. And with every time Jacobs and Bradshaw barreled through the exhausted Falcons defensive line to pick up another first down and with every second that dripped off of the game clock, the thought grew more and more distant until it was replaced with something entirely different: that this was not the same football team that let the season slip away on that December afternoon against Philadelphia. Hell, this was not even the same team that showed up and let Rex Grossman slap them around the field just a few weeks ago.

The Giants team that has showed up for the last three weeks now seems like a brand new Giants team, but at the same time they look awfully familiar. Familiar because we’ve seen this Giants team before. They might have had a few different faces back then, but I’ll be damned if they don’t possess that same kind of intensity, the same kind of “nobody believes in us” mentality that propelled them to a Super Bowl title just four years ago.

Last time, we had Plaxico Burress and Steve Smith carrying the load for us. They’ve both since moved on to greener pastures (greener, as in the color they both now wear, but not necessarily better — both the Jets and Eagles missed this year’s tournament) but we have two new faces that have more than replaced them: Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz.

Last week, it was Victor Cruz supplying the shot of adrenaline via the electrifying 74-yard touchdown. Yesterday, the Falcons secondary made a concerted effort to minimize Cruz’s involvement, and they succeeded. But they forgot about Hakeem Nicks, and Nicks made them pay with a 72-yard touchdown catch of his own, turning on the burners in the secondary and leaving the Falcons in a trail of smoke behind him on the way to a 17-2 lead.

But it was something else that brought back those feelings of ’07 and ’08 yesterday that seemed to be missing for most of this season. It was the defensive intensity, the feeling that we could stop literally anyone when we needed to. Gone and forgotten were those memories of Rex Grossman and Charlie Whitehurst effortlessly converting 3rd and 14 plays as our winded secondary chased fruitlessly.

Yesterday, it was our swarming and unrelenting defensive line that stuffed Matt Ryan on not one, but two 4th and 1 plays that single-handedly changed the complexion of the game. It was that same stellar defense that held Turner “the Burner” to only 41 yards on 15 carries and the same defense that made big-play threats Roddy White and Julio Jones non-factors all day. And it was the same defense that pitched a shut-out against an Atlanta Falcons team that scored 45 points last week in a rout of Tampa Bay.

It seems cliche to invoke the spirits of the past when talking about the present, because we all know that football doesn’t follow any patterns and has a very short memory, but sitting in MetLife Stadium yesterday among 85,000 other towel-waving fans who suddenly believe, it was impossible not to think of the team that brought us to the promised land four years ago, and impossible not to see the similarities that exist within team we watched completely dismantle a confused and overwhelmed Falcons team yesterday.

Although the offense got off to a slow start, it was Eli Manning, the one who has galvanized this team all year and brought us back from the dead countless times, that put the spark into the team with a 14-yard scamper on a huge 3rd and 2 play that was about as beautiful as it was awkward. But he put the team on his back, like he has so many times this season, and carried it for a first down.

From that point on, the New York Giants would never look back.

And now, it’s back to Lambeau we go, with the hopes of rewriting a story that has already been written once before.


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Home Sweet Home?

4 01 2012

January 14, 2001. That was the date of the last time the New York Giants won a home playoff game. You might remember that game: it was the 2001 NFC championship game, a sound 41-0 beating of the Minnesota Vikings that catapulted us into Super Bowl XXXV.

Since then, in the 11 years that have passed, the New York Giants have played only two playoff games at the Meadowlands and were thoroughly embarrassed in both. In January of 2006, following a successful 11-5 season in 2005, we were shut out 23-0 by the Carolina Panthers in Eli Manning’s first career playoff game. Three years later, in January of 2009, we had locked up the #1 seed in the NFC at 12-4 and were primed for another Super Bowl run. Then Plaxico Burress decided that the waistband of sweatpants were a great place to hold a loaded gun, and the Eagles beat us 23-11 in the NFC Divisional Playoffs.

Eleven years, two games, two disappointing losses.

Now, on January 8, 2012, the New York Giants will host the first ever playoff game at the new MetLife Stadium. In a season where it was supposed to be the Jets hosting a playoff game and their “little brothers” sitting back and watching them, it’s the Giants who will be extending their season on Sunday, at least for one more week.

On Sunday, the Atlanta Falcons will visit New Jersey for an NFC Wild Card playoff game that many Giants fans didn’t think would even be a possibility as little as three weeks ago after that stinker against the Redskins in Week 15.

Matt Ryan and Michael Turner and Roddy White and Julio Jones and everyone else on that dangerous offense with big-play potential will try to exploit the Giants’ pass defense, which is among the worst in the league. But here’s the thing about Matt Ryan and those Atlanta Falcons: they’re a completely different team away from home than they are in the climate-controlled comfort of the Georgia Dome. In fact, if you look at the home-away splits for Matt Ryan, there is a staggering difference. He is markedly better at home than he is on the road. Will the Giants take advantage of that come Sunday? We won’t know for sure until then.

The last time the Matt Ryan-led Falcons visited the Meadowlands, the stadium was still called Giants Stadium and the giant, gleaming, steel erector set of a building that would later be called New Meadowlands Stadium and even later called MetLife Stadium, was still in the process of being built next door. On that unseasonably warm November afternoon, the Giants, behind two Eli Manning touchdown passes to Kevin Boss, had built a 31-17 lead over Atlanta, only to see it evaporate in the 4th quarter. The Falcons would force overtime, but eventually Eli would do what Eli does — and what he has especially been known for this season — and a Lawrence Tynes field goal would give the Giants a 34-31 win, snapping a four-game losing streak.

Since that day, the Giants have moved into a new home, MetLife Stadium, where they are a slightly average 9-7 over the past two seasons. Playing in a bigger building, complete with more bathrooms (same long lines though) more food and the occasional pyrotechnics shooting from the top of the upper deck, the Giants have certainly sold more tickets, but have they truly made this building feel like home yet?

There is no shortage of criticism to be found about the lack of electricity in the crowd since the opening of the new stadium. “Sterile” is the word most often used to describe the atmosphere at home games. The club seats are empty until the second quarter with people stuck in buffet lines and watching the game from the comfort of the Coach’s Club lounge. Those same seats empty out again at halftime and don’t fill up again until the third quarter. The empty feel of the stadium sucks most of the crowd noise out during crucial moments, noise that is filled in with artificial sound pumped through the speakers to attempt to get the crowd going.

These are all problems that were mostly absent from the old Giants Stadium.

There were only two games during this season where I could feel the same electricity filling MetLife Stadium that used to be present on Sundays at Giants Stadium — the game against Green Bay and last Sunday against Dallas. On Sunday, when the Falcons march into MetLife Stadium, it needs to be even louder, even more electric.

This is the first ever playoff game in our new home, and there’s no better way to break it in and make it ours than with a win — a resounding, convincing playoff win. Hopefully we can begin a new era of playoff memories in a new home this Sunday, and hopefully the fans show up and get as loud as possible, because home field advantage doesn’t exist unless there’s an actual advantage to playing at home.


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NFL Week 14 Picks

10 12 2009

It’s been a few weeks since my last full NFL picks column, so I’m taking the time to give you Week 14, no holds-barred. The Thursday night games have been throwing me off because now I need to have my picks done a full 3 days before I usually do them, so thanks a lot NFL Network, for throwing me off my comfortable routine, and also for providing meaningless games that almost nobody cares about. Come on, Bears-Niners? Jets-Bills, in Canada? Tonight is no better. Steelers-Browns? These games are making me feel fine with the fact that Cablevision doesn’t get the NFL Network. No complaints so far. So let’s get to the picks. As usual, home teams in all caps.

Pittsburgh (-10) over CLEVELAND

Look, I know that I’ve shamelessly name-dropped my fantasy football team so many times in this column that I’m starting to sound like Nicholas Cage plugging another bad movie on Letterman. However, I’m now in the playoffs (at 6-7, it’s a miracle) and it’s starting to get important. At this point in the year, with Michael Turner limping around like House, my most reliable player has become Rashard Mendenhall, a guy I claimed off waivers in Week 4. Tonight they’re expecting a lot of snow in Cleveland. This game has “150 yards, 2 TDs” written all over it for Mendenhall against a weak Cleveland run defense that’s among the bottom 5 in the league. Am I excited about the possibility of him racking up 30 fantasy points on a bad ankle? Yes, absolutely, especially when the team I’m going against has Drew Brees and Chris Johnson. Okay I promise, that’s enough about my fantasy team for at least another 500 words.

Denver (+7) over INDIANAPOLIS

It’s Week 14 and we still have two teams that are undefeated. Some may call it a remarkable season, I just call it the biggest piece of evidence to show that the league has more bad teams this season than ever before. It’s not that the Saints and Colts are that remarkably good, it’s that the teams they are playing (for the most part) are remarkably bad. You mean to tell me that it’s just a huge coincidence that in the 37 years since the ’72 Dolphins we’ve had only one team go undefeated in the regular season (’07 Pats, of course) and now all of a sudden we might have two in one season?

Cincinnati (+7) over MINNESOTA

The 2009 Bengals are a lot like Santa Claus in that I want to believe that they are for real. So I will, for now. I will keep believing, even when Carson Palmer throws 16 passes a game.  (sentence deleted because of content about fantasy team). The people of Cincinnati are rejoicing because this is a team that is one year removed from an 0-8 start and now they have clinched only their second winning season since 1991. That’s fascinating. They’ll have an even bigger reason to celebrate if they can hand the Vikings a second straight loss on Sunday.

TAMPA BAY (+3) over NY Jets

Why am I taking the 1-11 Bucs over the Jets? Because they are the feistiest 1-11 team I’ve ever seen. Also because Kellen Clemens will make the start in place of an injured Mark Sanchez (out with a knee). Luckily, Joe Girardi came last week and showed poor Mark how to slide correctly. Fortunately Rex Ryan was able to get Girardi, because the other option was to get Jose Reyes to come in and show Sanchez how to milk a minor knee injury for 5 months.

Green Bay (-3) over CHICAGO

Okay, I think I’m safe to talk about my fantasy team one more time. I’m excited for this game because I have the Packers defense and I know that they are all staring at a picture of Jay Cutler right now and salivating. I’m thinking of a word that starts with “inter” and rhymes with “ception”. Green Bay is peaking at just the right time for them, and just the wrong time for the Giants. The thing about the NFL is that you need to take care of your own business before you can start counting on other teams to take care of it for you.

New Orleans (-10) over ATLANTA

I don’t know whether to be impressed or confused by the Saints, especially when one week I watch Drew Brees pick apart the New England secondary, and then the next week they’re edging out the Redskins in overtime only because Shaun Suisham can’t kick field goals (don’t worry ‘Skins fans, he was cut this week). WHO ARE YOU, NEW ORLEANS SAINTS? WHO ARE YOU???

Detroit (-13.5) over BALTIMORE

I was wrong about the Baltimore Ravens, I’ll admit it. But then again, so was everyone that gushed about them for the first two months of the season. It’s was a nice honeymoon, but I think we’re seeing what it’s like when Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco come back down to Earth. All I’m saying is, let’s not wet our pants just yet. On the other hand, Ray Rice has passed my first test of stardom. When I look at my opponent’s fantasy team (seriously, I promise, this is the last time) and see him on the roster, I actually mutter “oh crap” very softly to no one in particular. That’s what I call the “oh crap” test. Ray Rice has passed that test. Welcome, Ray.

JACKSONVILLE (-3) over Miami

It’s the 2009 Battle of Florida Teams Who Might Be Relevant Again, Only We Can’t Really Tell Yet, We Just Hope This Game Doesn’t Get Blacked Out! Only on CBS! By the way, the Jacksonville Jaguars currently hold one of the wild card spots in the AFC. What I’m trying to say is, if the season ended today (thank God it doesn’t), the Jacksonville Jaguars would be in the playoffs. Their fans can’t even watch them on television at home because they can’t sell out their games. Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2009 AFC Playoffs!

NEW ENGLAND (-13.5) over Carolina

You know what it means when Bill Belichick starts kicking guys out of practice because they got their $80,000 Hummers stuck in the snow and couldn’t make it to morning meetings on time. It means that it’s Serious Time and when it’s Serious Time, Bill Belichick is serious. It’s not anything like the rest of the year when he’s happy-go-lucky and cracking jokes with the media. Not anymore. He’s cutting off the sleeves to his grey hooded sweatshirt as we speak. I don’t want to be the Panthers defense this week.

HOUSTON (-6) over Seattle

I have nothing to say about this game because I feel like it’s between two 5-7 teams who basically play the same exact game every week. I’m sorry.

TENNESSEE (-13) over St. Louis

Last week was the first time in 5 weeks that I couldn’t tweet “VINCE YOUNG WINS FOOTBALL GAMES” on Sunday night, because Vince Young did not win a football game last week. This week however, Vince Young will win a football game and I can go back to living my life the way that it should be lived. Thank you, Mr. Young.

Washington (-1) over OAKLAND

This is what I don’t get about the Raiders: they’ll beat the Eagles, Bengals and Steelers, but then they’ll get trounced at home by the Redskins on Sunday. Of course I don’t know this for sure, but I can sense it coming. If it doesn’t happen that way, then we can just conveniently forget that I ever wrote this paragraph. Okay?

San Diego (+3) over DALLAS

Around here, in Giants country, we have a name for the Dallas Cowboys in December and January: Choking Hazards. That’s right, I said it. Let’s see you win something, “America’s Team.” I haven’t enjoyed a Giants win as much as I enjoyed last week’s win in a long while. Probably since the last time we beat the Cowboys. I’m not very fond of Philip Rivers either, but you better believe I’ll be a Chargers fan on Sunday.

Philadelphia (+1) over NY GIANTS

I hate games against the Eagles. Do you want to know how much I hate games against the Eagles? I hate them a lot. First of all, my brother is a huge Eagles fan, so the tension that builds up in our house the days leading up to a Giants-Eagles game is both exciting and uncomfortable at the same time. Second, they have demolished us the last three times we played them, with one of those times being last year’s NFC Divisional Playoffs. Needless to say, I’ll be there at the stadium on Sunday night with my brother, so we’ll see how this one goes. The last time I saw a Giants-Eagles game at the Meadowlands in December, Jeff Garcia took apart our defense like he was taking apart a bunch of Lego’s.

Arizona (-3.5) over SAN FRANCISCO

What has my fantasy football season come down to? Listen, if you’ve stuck with me for this long, then you’ll have to hear me out when I say this: my starting quarterback this weekend is Alex Smith. I’ve endured a long 13 weeks going back and forth between the likes of Matt Ryan, Donovan McNabb (even after I swore I would never touch him again after last season) and Carson Palmer (don’t even get me started about him), but now going into the first round of the playoffs, Ryan is M.I.A. like Andy from Shawshank Prison, Palmer is looking at a possible stat line of 9/22, 121 yards, 1 INT this week against Minnesota’s defense and I can’t possibly start McNabb against the Giants (as important as I think fantasy is, it will never come before my allegiance to the Giants). So it’s come down to this. Alex Smith. I’ve dropped so many Alex Smith jokes in the past few years that I know I have terrible karma going into this game. It all goes to show that the fantasy football gods really, truly hate me.

Last Week: N/A (out with a swine flu)

Season Total: 101-75


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Falcon Punch

23 11 2009

As I descended down the escalator by Gate B yesterday after the game, I overheard a Giants fan behind me say, “That was probably the most depressing win I’ve ever seen.” Now, I don’t entirely agree with him. I don’t think there is such a thing as a depressing win in the NFL. With a short 16-game season, any kind of win, whether it be a pretty win, an ugly win or even an accidental win, is a good win. Having said that (anyone who has seen the latest episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm knows why I had to throw that in), I could see where that fan was coming from. I wouldn’t call yesterday’s win a depressing one, or even an ugly one for that matter. Maybe “discouraging”. Perhaps even a little “unconvincing”. When the game-winning field goal sailed off Lawrence Tynes’ foot and through the uprights with 11:06 to go in overtime, I celebrated loudly along with whoever else had decided not to leave the stadium when the Giants took a 31-17 lead.

The truth is, the game shouldn’t even have come down to Lawrence Tynes and it definitely should not have come down to an overtime period because like I said earlier, the Giants had a 31-17 lead. How did a two touchdown lead turn into an overtime coin toss in the span of 12 minutes? Well, it happened in very similar fashion to how we lost the game against San Diego. Instead of stepping up and making a big defensive stop or two in the fourth quarter, the defense instead folded like an origami swan. Matt Ryan took the Falcons down the field for two consecutive touchdown drives that looked about as difficult for Atlanta as heating up a Pop-Tart.

I don’t typically use phrases like “dinking and dunking” because I’m not Ron Jaworski, but that’s exactly what the Falcons did on their back-to-back 12 play drives in the fourth quarter. They played it safe and kept everything in the middle of the field, which is ironically exactly what the Giants defense did. By guarding against the big play (a 70-yard touchdown pass to Roddy White or something along those lines) and trying to keep the clock running, they ultimately ignored the short to medium 10-15 yard passes over the middle and stayed away from Atlanta tight end Tony Gonzalez like he was a leper, even when he scored the game-tying touchdown with 28 seconds left.

Call me psychic if you want, but I knew that this game was going into overtime when the Falcons scored to cut the Big Blue lead to 31-24. It’s not that I’m a cynic or that my Gatorade cooler is half-empty, it’s just that if I’ve seen this once, I’ve seen it a hundred times. The Giants are just about the only team that can make a two touchdown lead feel like they’re losing. Giants fans shouldn’t have to sit on the edge of their La-Z-Boys or uncomfortable plastic stadium seats when the score is 31-17 with 12:08 to play in the fourth quarter, yet that’s exactly what I was doing yesterday. Luckily, yesterday’s overtime drama didn’t last too long, but it was just long enough for my Overtime Anxiety Syndrome to kick in. I seem to be a magnet for overtime games lately, as yesterday was the third one I’ve been to in the past two seasons, but before I could start chewing on my hat like it was a 14 oz. NY Strip, Eli Manning stepped up just like he had been doing all day and completed a 29-yard strike down the far sideline to Mario Manningham to set up the Giants on the Falcons’ 23-yard line. A few plays later, as we held our collective breath, Tynes tucked one inside the right upright and the Giants had snapped their 4-game losing streak. The first win in 42 days.

The performances that stood out the most to me yesterday were the ones turned in by Eli Manning (25/39, 384 yards, 3 TDs), Mario Manningham (6 rec., 126 yards) and Kevin Boss (5 rec., 76 yards, 2 TDs). Our fearless leader put forth his second thoroughly impressive game in a row, and aside from an interception on the opening drive of the game, he was nearly perfect. His 384 yards marked a career-high total and the first time he had ever thrown for over 300 yards at Giants Stadium, a pretty odd statistic, considering he’s in his 5th full season and has started almost 50 games there. He stepped up and made big throws in big situations, including huge 51-yard pass to Steve Smith (4 rec., 79 yards) that led to the Brandon Jacobs touchdown run early in the 3rd quarter which gave the Giants a 24-14 lead and answered the Falcons previous touchdown drive to start the second half. As for Mario Manningham, my love affair with his athleticism grows by the week and he made some catches yesterday that made me forget all about Amani Toomer’s sideline acrobatics and Plaxico Burress’s one-handed grabs. He is going to be a phenomenal wide receiver one day, and I feel like we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg right now, as far as his potential in the NFL.

All in all, the Giants picked up a sorely needed win yesterday that may have been the spark that they need to rejuvenate their season. Having said that, there are still several kinks that still need to be smoothed out on the defensive side of the ball. We’ll be able to tell for sure on Thanksgiving night in Denver, but for now, a nice overtime victory works well to help me forget the fact that I picked up Jason Snelling for my fantasy team to replace Michael Turner and then left him on the bench and watched as he scored two touchdowns yesterday. That’s life.

Read more: http://giants.gearupforsports.com/blog/#ixzz0XjCcoIHj


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“Kiss the Baby…”

9 09 2009

I am positive that not a single person reading this really cares about my fantasy football team, but I’m very excited about this year’s squad, so I’m going to tell you about it anyway. Last year I grew extremely fond of my rag-team team of over-achievers who brought me within one win of taking the league championship and I’m happy to say that I managed to salvage a few of those guys for this year’s team.

It seems that last year was almost a perfect situation that occurs only once every few years. I say this because I had three running backs on my team last year (Michael Turner, Steve Slaton, Matt Forte) which are now Top 10 picks this season.  Plus, I picked up two of those guys, Slaton and Forte, off of waivers near the beginning of the season. Did I get lucky? Yes, there was certainly some luck involved in getting my hands on two running backs right before they broke-out and had enormous rookie seasons, but I’ll also gloat and say that it’s partly due to my incredible knowledge of the NFL and my eye for talent.

Anyway, this season I landed the second pick in the draft and managed to bring back Michael Turner, Andre Johnson and Kevin Walter from last year’s team. And I’m happy about that, considering Turner and Johnson were my two biggest players last season, as well as being my favorites. Not to mention that my bench is almost good enough to be someone’s starting team.  Here it is:

Starters

QB – Matt Ryan – Atlanta Falcons

RB – Michael Turner – Atlanta Falcons

RB – Willie Parker – Pittsburgh Steelers

WR – Andre Johnson – Houston Texans

WR – Greg Jennings – Green Bay Packers

TE – Greg Olsen – Chicago Bears

WR/RB/TE – Le’Ron McClain – Baltimore Ravens

K – Adam Vinatieri – Indianapolis Colts

DEF – Green Bay Packers

Bench

WR – Donald Driver – Green Bay Packers

WR – Kevin Walter – Houston Texans

QB – Carson Palmer – Cincinnati Bengals

RB – Jerious Norwood – Atlanta Falcons

WR – Steve Breaston – Arizona Cardinals

WR – Chris Chambers – San Diego Chargers

One thing you might notice is how I grabbed Jerious Norwood (Michael Turner’s back-up) for my bench as well as Donald Driver to complement Greg Jennings. I’ve got all the bases covered this season. Same thing with Andre Johnson and Kevin Walter, both Texans WR’s. I did that last season, starting both Johnson and Walter and it worked out beautifully. Kevin Walter scored 10 TD’s last season without anyone really noticing and mostly receives man-coverage because of the double-teams that Johnson demands.

Although Michael Turner is coming off of a 370 carry season and running backs rarely bounce back too well from a season with that big of a workload, I feel pretty good about his ability to score touchdowns and if not, Norwood is backing him up. Either way the Falcons are going to score a lot of points this season, so starting Ryan at QB will hopefully work out. If all else fails, Carson Palmer is a safe bet if he stays healthy.


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MEGA, SUPERSIZED, COLOSSAL 2009 NFL Season Preview, Part II

2 09 2009

Continued from Saturday’s first part, previewing the NFC South and NFC West…

NFC South

1) Atlanta Falcons (12-4)

There’s no telling whether last year was a case of beginner’s luck for quarterback Matt Ryan or whether he actually is the real deal. This season will be the ultimate test for Ryan and the young Falcons offense. There’s no overlooking the fact that the offense is stacked, but it’s all going to come down to the running game and whether or not Michael Turner can repeat last year’s monster season. If the Falcons can run the ball as well as they did last year, it will once again open up the passing lanes for Ryan. They have a solid receiving corps in Roddy White, Michael Jenkins and Marty Booker, capable of breaking big plays and with breakaway speed perfectly suited for Ryan’s cannon of an arm and propensity for throwing the deep ball. The NFC South was one of the most competitive divisions last season and I expect that it will be once again this year, with four very talented teams. If Atlanta can duplicate their success from last year, which abruptly ended in the playoffs against destiny’s darlings the Arizona Cardinals, they should have a big year in store.

2) New Orleans Saints (11-5)

Drew Brees put up record-setting numbers last season and he did it with little help from the rest of his team, which finished the season with an underwhelming 8-8 record. The Saints have all of the offensive firepower necessary to be a dangerous team late in the season…all they have to do is get to a point where they can allow themselves to compete into January. Three years removed from an appearance in the NFC Championship game where they lost to Chicago, New Orleans appears to be inching their way back to the offensive powerhouse that they were in 2006. With a two-headed backfield threat in Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush, the running game should be successful enough to provide Drew Brees, one of the most efficient passers in the NFL, with ample time to throw the football to Marques Colston, Lance Moore and Devery Henderson. With a similar offensive style to the Falcons, expect some quality shoot-outs between the two teams when they meet in Weeks 8 and 14.

3) Carolina Panthers (9-7)

Watching Jake Delhomme implode in last year’s NFC Divisional Playoff game against Arizona was like watching a train wreck happen in slow-motion. And I’m sure it was no better for his teammates watching the game from the sidelines. Or even on the field with him for that matter. The quarterback once known for being a proven leader, who once had the Panthers seconds away from a Super Bowl title, is now better known for melting down and giving games away. I’m pretty sure that there was a point during that playoff game against the Cardinals where Delhomme had completed more passes to the Arizona defense than he did to Panther receivers. That’s not a good sign. However, that’s going to be the story of the season for Carolina. Sure, we can have countless stories shoved down our throat by FOX about how his Tommy John surgery has made his arm ten times stronger, and how he’s a great game manager and all of that, but the truth is, Jake Delhomme no longer is the great underdog story he once was and for the Panthers to be successful he has to make more plays than mistakes. It won’t be good enough anymore to sit back and watch DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart do all the work; or heave deep balls down the field and hope Steve Smith can run under them.

4) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-10)

Relying on Byron Leftwich and Luke McCown to drive your team’s success is like letting your wife plan your bachelor party. Leftwich was named the starting QB over McCown late last week, and Bucs fans probably breathed a sigh of relief….but they collectively turned their sighs into boos when Leftwich overthrew Kellen Winslow (and every other Bucs receiver) by about 60 yards in the last preseason game against Miami. In fact he overthrew so many receivers that Joe Buck actually (and this really happened) blamed it on the Florida humidity. The Bryon Leftwich Glory Days are over. I can feel the excitement from here.

NFC West

1) Arizona Cardinals (11-5)

Let’s be completely honest here, the Arizona Cardinals could probably win this division with an 8-8 record. They did it last year at 9-7, and there’s really no one in this division that screams “NEW AND IMPROVED FOR 2009!” this season. So with Kurt “I’ll buy you puppies if we make the Super Bowl” Warner returning for another year as well as Anquan Boldin, we’re basically looking at the same Cardinals team that was minutes away from upsetting Pittsburgh in last year’s Super Bowl. Once you get past the fact that Larry Fitzgerald is on the cover of Madden 10, it shouldn’t be a problem for the Cardinals to repeat as division champs.

2) San Francisco 49ers (9-7)

The Niners looked like they were a team on the rise towards the end of last season, winning 5 of their last 7 games under new head coach Mike Singletary. Singletary, the former Bears great, took over midway through the season for Mike Nolan after a rough 2-5 start and went 5-4 the rest of the way, salvaging as much hope as he could from an otherwise lost season. Once you put the Pants Incident to the side and forget about his much-publicized confrontations with rookie tight end Vernon Davis, Singletary was exactly the presence that the 49ers needed in their locker room and he should be a major factor in the rebuilding of a once great franchise — providing that he keeps his pants around his waist. With talented young players at the receiver position and in the backfield, the only other glaring issue they need to address is the quarterback position. Former number one overall pick Alex Smith has been such a bust that San Fran would have been better off drafting a pepperoni pizza with their first pick in 2006. Neither Shaun Hill nor Smith are what the 49ers need to move forward and the quicker they realize that, the better off they will be.

3) Seattle Seahawks (8-8)

There’s no question that last season was a major disappointment for Seattle fans. Those poor, poor Seattle fans. First, they lose their beloved Supersonics to Oklahoma City and then their beloved Seahawks end their string of 5 consecutive playoff appearances (one of which led to Super Bowl XL) and 4 consecutive division titles, by finishing 4-12. The Seahawks, famous for retiring the number 12 for their “12th man” (representing the deafening crowd that fills Qwest Field for 8 Sundays in the fall) could have used a 12th guy on the field last season when they were embarrassed week in and week out. Going into this season the Seahawks haven’t done too much to improve their roster or their chances of exorcising last year’s demons. They did sign former Bengals WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh back in March so they can own the distinction of having the player with the most unpronounceable last name in the NFL, but unless Matt Hasselbeck can stay healthy for a full season, it won’t matter much. The truth is, Hasselbeck isn’t getting any younger and it seems like his best years are now behind him.

4) St. Louis Rams (4-12)

New head coach Steve Spagnuolo (former Giants defensive coordinator) should bring a much needed spark to the 2009 Rams, and at the very least he should be an upgrade from the Scott Linehan Error (Oops, I mean “Era”). Regardless, it’s going to take awhile for the team to get adapted to a new system and aside from a three week stretch in the middle of last season where the Rams beat the Redskins and Cowboys and then took the Patriots down to the wire, the team hasn’t shown any signs of life in two full seasons (they are a staggering 5-27 since the start of the 2007 season). Marc Bulger, once a reliable starter who was capable of putting up gaudy numbers has disappeared over the last few years, mostly to injuries and a revolving door of young, unproven (and unheard of) wide receivers. This season the Rams expect to start Donnie Avery, Laurent Robinson, and Keenan Burton at WR, and if you’re scratching your head wondering if I just named current NFL wide receivers or the cast of Saturday Night Live, don’t worry, we’re in the same boat.

Coming on Friday, it’s Part III of the NFL Preview, featuring the AFC East and AFC North


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