Manny will be Manny but he didn't get the trade to Green Bay he asked for. He's playing for Joe Torre in Los Angeles. (After Torre's name, I almost type "New York.") Pudge will be united with A-Rod, his former Texas Ranger teammate as will Mark Tiexiera and Gary Matthews Jr. What's that? The Rangers gave up someone good? Let's just hope they hold onto Young, Hamilton and Kinsler. Please, don't let them go. Oh, and Ken Griffey Jr. has made a new home in the windy city.If you want to read up on a certain QB situation going on in Green Bay, you've come to the wrong place. There are other places to get your fill as far as that goes. Speaking of Brett, what's John Madden doing these days? If He does come back, will he still be on the Madden cover?
Don't go out and buy the fantasy football magazines. They may help you with the draft but that's just about it and you can get that on just about any website. Who knows, maybe this one some soon as well.
Alright, if people are having fantasy football drafts it's because football season is around the corner. Teams are at camp and the Hall of Fame Game is just about here. We had the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony today and it brought up so many memories. Whether it's from watching Darrel Green match up against Michael Irvin (I hated the fact that Canton was filled with so many seas of red.) or from when I was there two years ago to see Troy.
Alright, enough already, let's start the season preview with the first two divisions. Let's go west.
AFC West:
Talk about a week division. Cutler, Coyle, Russel and Rivers are the QBs. Rivers has the most experience and he's pretty young but takes the cake on this one. There's no question who the best RB is here. Ladanian had 35 touchdowns a couple years ago, an insane amount. Larry Johnson is behind him, but not right behind him. In fact, LT runs way with it.
San Diego pretty much owns the division. They've got the best QB, best RB, and with last year's addition of Chris Chambers, they've got the best receiving squad. Rod Smith retired from the Broncos and Jerry Porter left the Raiders. Antonio Gates and Tony Gonzalez are arguably the best TE's in the league and they both so happen to be in the same division. They also both played college basketball.
The defensive battle is a toss-up between San Diego and Denver. The Chargers bright spot is Shawne "Lights Out" Merriman and Denver's secondary lead by Champ Bailey is top of the line. However, since I seem to be in San Diego, I'll stay there. I'm saying the Chargers steal yet another category in the division with the best defense. They're pretty darn good.
I'll give the Broncos a win in one categorie, best head coach. Mike Shanahan has two Super Bowl rings and has been there building that team from scratch for a long time. Norv Turner just doesn't have it on him. Herm Edwards is a great coach and is in the middle of rebuilding. Lane Kiffin is young but ambitious but has nothing to work with right now. I think he will rebuild the team but right now he's just picking up the pieces. The Divisional order at the end of th
e 2008-09 season may just be the following:1. SD
2. Den
3. KC
4. Oak
NFC West
Why is it the west is so week. NL West, AFC West, NFC West. The NBA Western Conference is solid, but they did lose. Anyway, that being said, I don't think I can give this division to anyone. The Cardinals? No, they are who we thought they were last year. Have they ever been good? The one bright side on the entire team is Edgerrin and he's getting old. SF? Not a chance, Alex Smith still hasn't shown me anything to think that he's worthy of anything. He's still young and has plenty of room for improvement, but we'll see. They've got Frank Gore so that's something. They drafted Vernon Davis a couple years ago, and he'll probably be good, but give him time. At least another year. Seattle lost the Sonics and Sean Alexander. In his place they got a running back out of Notre Dame. Julius Jones lost his starting position in Dallas and headed west.
So with all that, the best QB in the division goes to Matt Hasselbeck, mainly because his competition consists of Bulger, Smith and Leinart/Warner. Hasselbeck has had his good and bad days, but lately, not as many good, but he gives the Seahawks the W on this one.
Many teams are going to the two back system now a-days but not so much the teams in this division. The four main RB's here are Frank Gore, Edgerrin James, Julius Jones and Steven Jackson. I'll give it to Jackson. Jones is too inconsistent and James is on the edge of his career. (I'm sorry, that was bad) Gore finishes in a close No. 2.
That's about the only category the Rams will finish in first for the division. Their receiving squad is getting old as former LA Ram Isaac Bruce retired this off-season. The Seahawks are in decent shape with guys like Bobby Engram, Deion Branch and Nate Burleson. Arizona is in decent shape as well with Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald. Since the Niners can't participate in this competition, I say it's between the birds, the hawks and cards. I'll flip for it. Alright, it's tails which means Seattle.
Every defense in this division is weak. Basically you have to go with the lesser weak of the teams. Arizona doesn't have anyone to play defense and San Fransisco wishes they had Arizona's defense while the Rams never got the memo about the other side of the ball. Well the Seahawks do have a guy like Julius Peppers. I know, one guy doesn't make the team, he makes the D. They do have a few other bodies to get in the way of the runner so they'll be alright in the West.
What coach has been with his team the longest? Holmgren, alright, give him the best coach of
the division. Whisenhunt might be there some day but not today. Mike Nolan is still too young. Scott Linehan? Well, you know, no not a chance.The order of the NFC West will go something like this:
1. Sea
2. SF
3. Stl.
4. Ari.
Put them in any you wish, but I guarantee you one thing, I got the teams right.
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4 comments:
Nathan,
You're gonna have to stop drinking the Kool-Aid, buddy!
Some minor corrections / revisions:
No one is lobbying for the AFC West to win "Division of the Year", but you didn't mention that it offers up the toughest contested rivalries in the league? For shame! Also, can I interest you in the AFC East? One dominant team and three of the worst should qualify for the list.
For now I'll let you slide on the Rivers pick. Let him enjoy the spotlight while he can. Playing injured in a playoff game scores big points. Clearly better leadership than flying to Mexico with a ditsy blonde pop star! “Is Tuna Fish or Chicken?”
On the running back front, LT is impressive. Nonetheless, he went down in almost every measurable category last year. Important to note, Fargas finished behind LT last year, not Johnson.
Not to get nit-picky, but if this is a preview, it would be important to note that Oakland is fielding the #1 RB from the draft & college star and Heisman hopeful Michael Bush is coming off of PUP for the first time since he was drafted.
On WR front, the AFC West may just be one of the worst. Not much to comment on here, except that Porter leaving Oakland is what they call addition by subtraction. Denver would probably say the same about Walker, but only time will tell.
Gates is a top notch TE. Gonzalez, although a pretty boy cry baby, as seen on HBO's Hard Knocks a year ago, is still performing well. I can't hold you to account for this one, but #80 Zack Miller may be one of the more impressive new comers at the position. Don't take my word for it. Just wait and see.
On the defensive front, there are almost too many changes to predict for this division. For example, Oakland now has two premier CBs, a Superbowl caliber Safety, and youth. Denver, Oakland, & KC all struggled against the run, in no small part due to afore mentioned LaDainian Tomlinson & Justin Fargas, and all three teams are making adjustments.
Mike Shanahan (.605), eh? I was almost worried you were going to say Norv Turner (.422). What exactly has Shanahan done since Elway’s retirement? After averaging 11 games a season, he has dropped to averaging 9 and has only won the division once since winning two Super Bowls.
I do agree that Herm (.464) & Lane (.250) are fighting uphill battles. They have their work cut out for them, but given time, I think both could bring their teams back to excellence.
Here’s my prediction for in division play:
Chargers
4 – 2 (losses to DEN & OAK)
Raiders
5 – 1 (loss to SD)
Broncos
2 – 4 (defeating SD & KC)
Chiefs
1 – 5 (defeating DEN)
The Chargers may win the division, but only KC is likely to finish with a losing record.
It was gator aide actually. I admit, I did no research before doing these but went on the top of my head. I've always said though, if you want to be right, disagree with me. Thanks for reading though.
Well, righting without research has done wonders for all the boys at SI.com. It's not a bad strategy. Hell, it might make you famous!
All joking aside, I really enjoy the site. Great piece on the recently departed Oakland legend.
Oh, and that was a hard thing you did. Picking Eli over Tony. You're probably right, but then I say the Raiders will win the Super Bowl every year, even Turner's years.
Hey thanks so much. I really appreciate it. I'll have you know if I was writing this for anything but my blog I would do my research. The sad thing is guys for SI and what not actually do some research and still say the most stupid and ridiculous stuff. Oh, I will admit when I'm wrong. It happens all the time. Thanks again.
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