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NFL – Week Fourteen Predictions

07 Dec

Rayonsports.com now has a season record of 120 correct predictions and 72 wrong after picking 10 winners out of the 16 games last week. Here are the week 14 picks:

Cleveland at Pittsburgh – these are 2 old division rivals, and over the years the Browns have pulled some upsets in the series, but it won’t happen here. The Steelers are on a roll and will win easily at home.

Indianapolis at Baltimore – there are a few games that appear to be mismatches on this week’s schedule, including this one. The Ravens’ defense is too much for the punchless Colts, and Baltimore can’t afford to slip up with the Steelers on their heels. The Ravens will win.

Atlanta at Carolina – the Falcons find themselves battling to at least stay alive for a wild card spot, and need this game badly. They’ll throttle rookie Cam Newton and sneak out a close win on the road.

Houston at Cincinnati – both of these teams are fighting for playoff position, and both have played good defense this year. I’ll give the Bengals the advantage and pick them to win at home with the Texans playing with their third string QB.

Minnesota at Detroit – the Lions have faltered after a great start but also have played a tough schedule. They’ll win this division battle at home to keep their wild card hopes alive.

Tampa Bay at Jacksonville – this hasn’t been a banner year for pro football in Florida, and both of these teams came apart at the seams. The Buccaneers have been extremely disappointing, but they still have a much more talented team than the Jaguars and should find a way to win this game.

Philadelphia at Miami – it’s all over for the self-proclaimed Dream Team in Philadelphia, and they’ll be beaten soundly by a Dolphin team that has righted itself and played great football over the last month.

Kansas City at New York Jets – the Chiefs have virtually no weapons left on offense due to injuries, but they’ve been keeping games close and battling. Still, the Jets need the win and will get it at home.

New Orleans at Tennessee – I can see the Titans’ Chris Johnson running wild against a poor-tackling Saint defense, but it won’t be enough to keep up with the Drew Brees passing show, and the Saints will win.

New England at Washington – the Patriots will put one of their non-flashy methodical beatdowns on an undermanned Redskin team, as they are peaking at the right time, like they always do.

Buffalo at San Diego – both teams have been mired in long losing streaks, but the Chargers broke out of their funk on Monday night and seem to have rediscovered their offense. That spells a blowout win for them over the struggling Bills.

San Francisco at Arizona – the 49ers have taken complete control over what was the NFL’s weakest division last year, and should win here in what will be a close game.

Chicago at Denver – the Bears were starting to come on, then lost QB Jay Cutler, and last week their top weapon, Matt Forte, also got hurt. The Broncos haven’t been an offensive powerhouse behind Tim Tebow, but they keep winning. They’ll keep their surge going with a big win at home.

Oakland at Green Bay – the Raiders, when they’re motivated, can be a tough out, and they still have playoff aspirations, but this is just too tough of a spot for them. The Packers thrill their home fans with another lopsided victory.

New York Giants at Dallas – these 2 NFC East rivals are fighting for the division lead and play twice in the last 4 weeks of the season. Round one goes to the Cowboys, who should get the win in Jerry’s Palace.

St. Louis at Seattle – could there be more of a dog matchup to show on Monday Night Football than this? The Seahawks have played more consistent football so far this year and should win at home.

 
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Classic Team Logo of The Day

07 Dec

We’ve featured the logos of some of the top college football programs recently, and the list wouldn’t be complete without including the Oklahoma Sooners. The program began in 1895 and has the best winning percentage (.763) of all major college teams since 1945. The team has featured legendary coaches like Bud Wilkinson, Barry Switzer and current coach Bob Stoops, and 5 Heisman Trophy winners (along with 6 players who were Heisman runnerups). The school has had 152 All American players over the years, including Tommy McDonald, Steve Owens, Billy Sims, Lee Roy Selmon, Brian Bosworth and Sam Bradford.

 

Classic Sports Card of The Day

07 Dec

We’re featuring 2 old Topps football cards today, for a reason. On the left is a 1970 Topps card of former Minnesota Viking quarterback Joe Kapp, who played 8 years in the Canadian Football League before joining the NFL Vikings, and leading them to Super Bowl IV, where they were upset by the Kansas City Chiefs. On the right is a 1959 Topps CFL football card of former Hamilton Tiger Cats defensive lineman Angelo Mosca, who was a legendary CFL player who played in 9 Grey Cup championship games, more than any other player in league history. Mosca was also a professional wrestler, fighting under the nicknames King Kong Mosca and The Mighty Hercules. Kapp and Mosca were involved in a confrontation in the 1963 Grey Cup game when Kapp took exception to a late hit by Mosca on his running back. The reason we featured their cards together was because recently, at a CFL reunion luncheon, the pair, now both in their 70s, renewed the nearly 50 year old feud when they exchanged blows on stage, which was caught on video and became an internet sensation.

 

NFL – Bills’ Game Review

05 Dec

The Tennessee Titans put the final nail in the Buffalo Bills’ coffin on Sunday, earning an impressive 23-17 win on the road to keep their own playoff hopes alive. Running back Chris Johnson, who had a big game last week, continued to resurrect his season, rushing for 153 yards and 2 touchdowns. It was a methodical win for the Titans, as they took advantage of 2 Buffalo turnovers while not turning it over themselves, and let their running game, led by Johnson, do the heavy lifting on offense. The Bills’ offense didn’t play terribly, but hurt themselves all day with mistakes, dropped passes, penalties and, of course, the turnovers. As coach Chan Gailey said afterwards, they didn’t execute the fundamentals well enough to win the game. The same thing could be said for the defense. Once again, they didn’t pressure the quarterback, didn’t stop the run, didn’t cover receivers and didn’t tackle well at all.

The Bills have now lost 5 games in a row and the excitement they created early in the season seems like a distant memory. They’ve not only lost the 5 games, they’ve lost the battle of attrition as one key player after another has been lost to injury. Although they are not technically eliminated from the post-season yet, they are at the point where they need to start looking for players who will help them continue to advance as an NFL team next year. Here are some things the Bills need to do the last 4 games:

* Continue to develop C.J. Spiller into a major offensive weapon. Had his second touchdown not been called back on a questionable holding penalty, Sunday’s contest would have been a breakout game for him.

* Work with Ryan Fitzpatrick to improve his accuracy and his ball security skills. The Bills made a major investment in him, now he has to earn those big paychecks by investing the time in improving every part of his game.

* Find out what they have on the roster as far as wide receiver talent. Can Brad Smith develop into a starting receiver? Can Naaman Roosevelt become a more reliable option? Is Stevie Johnson worth investing big money in? Are Derek Hagan, Kamar Aiken or practice squad player Tim Toone diamonds in the rough or bodies taking up space?

* See what their new young defensive players – Marcell Dareus, Kelvin Sheppard, Aaron Williams, DaNorris Searcy, Justin Rogers, Joshua Nesbitt, Arthur Moats, Danny Batten, Kellen Heard and Alex Carrington – do with the valuable remaining game experience. Do any of them step up and make a statement that they might be ready to be an impact player in 2012?

* Find out if the 2 young veteran defensive linemen added to the roster, Kyle Moore and Lionel Dotson, have any pass rush skills.

 
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Classic Team Logo of The Day

05 Dec

A logo used in the 1950s of another of the great college football powerhouse schools, the University of Southern California Trojans. USC has an amazing legacy, having won 11 national championships and also holding the distinction of having 472 players drafted into the NFL, more than any other school. The Trojans boast 6 Heisman Trophy winners, plus another awarded to Reggie Bush that was later vacated for NCAA rules violations. The school’s list of great players is just too long to list, but one amazing fact that shows the impact the Trojan football program has had on the pros is that there are 11 former USC players in the Hall of Fame in Canton, including Frank Gifford, O.J. Simpson, Anthony Munoz, Lynn Swann, Ronnie Lott, Marcus Allen, Bruce Matthews and Willie Wood.

 

Classic Sports Card of The Day

05 Dec

1962 Fleer football card of former Buffalo Bills’ offensive lineman Billy Shaw, who was a classic “pulling” guard in his 9 year career with the Bills. Shaw was one of the American Football League’s most outstanding offensive linemen, being named an AFL All Star 8 times. He was a mainstay on the Bills’ 2 consecutive league titles in 1964 and ’65, and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1999. He holds the distinction of being the only player ever inducted into Canton who played his entire career in the AFL.

 

NFL – Week Thirteen Predictions

30 Nov

Week 12 wasn’t a great week for me picking games, but I still managed to stay on the positive side of the ledger with 9 correct and 7 wrong. The record for the season stands at 110 right and 66 wrong. Here are the choices for week 13:

Philadelphia at Seattle – neither of these teams is going to the playoffs, but the Eagles may be playing to save coach Andy Reid’s job. Although the Seahawks are tough at home, Philly has more talent and will pull out a win.

Tennessee at Buffalo – the Titans are 2 games out of their division lead but with Houston down to their 3rd string QB, they are legitimate contenders. Chris Johnson finally looks like he’s on track, and I see Tennessee battling to a hard-fought win over the fading Bills.

New York Jets at Washington – the Jets won the game they had to win last week, and are much better talent-wise than the Redskins. It won’t be easy, but the Jets will win.

Kansas City at Chicago – both of these teams are playing with backup QBs, so any further success they have will be because of their defense. The Bears have the edge there, plus the home field which is huge for them. The Bears win.

Cincinnati at Pittsburgh – the Bengals have a tough defense and rookie QB Andy Dalton has played well, but this is the time of year the Steelers get serious. Pittsburgh wins to stay even with the Ravens in the AFC North.

Atlanta at Houston – the Texans have to try to stay afloat with their third string QB, but Atlanta’s defense is too much of a challenge. The Falcons win on the road.

Denver at Minnesota – Tim Tebow doesn’t really do anything amazing, but he also doesn’t turn the ball over, and allows the running game, which he is a big part of, to keep drives alive to help his defense stay rested. That formula will work again to beat the Vikings.

Carolina at Tampa Bay – Tampa has been disappointing, but this is a home game against a division rival so they’ll find a way to tough out a win.

Indianapolis at New England – when Peyton Manning was playing, these teams played some classic games. Without him, it’ll be over by halftime. The Patriots win in a rout.

Oakland at Miami – both teams have respectable defenses and I expect it to be a low scoring game, but Carson Palmer is getting comfortable in his new surroundings and will make enough plays to give the Raiders the win.

Baltimore at Cleveland – the Ravens are supposed to be one of the AFC’s top contenders and lead the AFC North, but this is the type of game they’ve been blowing all year. I just can’t see an upset here, though, since the season is reaching the point where the top teams have to win to secure the best possible playoff seeding. The Ravens win.

Green Bay at New York Giants – the Packers are solid, and don’t appear to be losing any focus despite basically have their division locked up. The Giants are once again doing their Jeckyl/Hyde act. Green Bay stays unbeaten with a win that pushes the Giants almost out of playoff contention.

Dallas at Arizona – the Cowboys have worked themselves into position to take control of the NFC East race and can’t afford to stumble here. It’ll be close but Dallas wins.

St. Louis at San Francisco – this is a bad matchup between the Rams’ pathetic offense and the tough Niner defense. Looking to get back on track after losing on Thanksgiving night, San Francisco wins easily.

Detroit at New Orleans – the Lions will be missing their top defensive player Ndamukong Suh, against the team they need him for the most. Because it’s at home in their dome, the Saints win easily.

San Diego at Jacksonville – this game is a Monday night clunker. The Jaguars just fired their coach, and the Chargers probably will also very soon. San Diego has underachieved badly but has too much talent to lose here. The Chargers, who started the year 4-1 and are now 4-7, snap their long losing streak with a win.

 
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Classic Team Logo of The Day

30 Nov

    

Political correctness is rampant in our society today, and has even found its’ way into college sports. These logos are an example of that. The Miami of Ohio Redskins (left), existed until 1997, when the school bowed to political pressure and changed the name to RedHawks and began using the logo on the right. The school has been called the “Cradle of Coaches” because of the number of football coaches who worked there that went on to high profile careers, including Weeb Ewbank, Paul Brown, Sid Gillman, Woody Hayes, Ara Parseghian, Sean Payton and John Harbaugh.

 

Classic Sports Card of The Day

30 Nov

1986 Topps football card of former quarterback Steve Young, who had the unenviable task of following in the footsteps of the greatest QB of all time, Joe Montana, but managed to carve out his own niche and eventually was elected to the Hall of Fame. His career started in the United States Football League when he signed a record contract with the Los Angeles Express, but when that league folded he moved to the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was considered a bust by the Bucs after 2 seasons, but Bill Walsh saw the talent he had and traded for him, to serve as Montana’s understudy with the 49ers. In time, he made his own legacy with San Francisco, winning 2 MVP awards and being a part of 3 Super Bowl winners, although 2 of those were as Montana’s backup. He was named to the Pro Bowl 7 times, and elected to Canton in 2005. Young, who attended BYU, is a great grandson of Brigham Young, and currently works as a football analyst for ESPN.

 

NFL – Bills’ Game Review

28 Nov

The playoff hopes of the Buffalo Bills for this season were all but ended by the 28-24 loss to the New York Jets on Sunday, and that’s a major disappointment to their fans, who had high hopes after the team started 5-2. After 4 straight losses and devastating injuries to a number of key players on a roster that didn’t have a whole lot of talent to begin with, the Bills now have to use the final 5 games to figure out which players are going to be part of the team going forward into next season. With Fred Jackson out for the year, they’ll find out whether C.J. Spiller can carry the load at running back, or if he is just a novelty, Reggie Bush type of player. They have to decide whether Stevie Johnson is worth investing big dollars in. He is a good enough player, but his selfish antics and penchant for dropping balls in the most critical situations are things that don’t appear to be getting better. He is the Bills’ version of DeSean Jackson, a talented receiver for the Eagles who is a major distraction for that team. GM Buddy Nix should step in at this point and suspend Johnson for next week’s game, since his selfish touchdown display and drops at the end of the game practically single-handedly cost the Bills the game on Sunday. He should then be told to spend the time he spends dreaming up ridiculous celebrations on catching extra passes after practice to improve his game, and that he has the final 4 games to prove that he deserves to be signed to a new contract for next season. After 3 straight awful games, the Bills’ offense at least returned to respectability, against a good Jet defense. There were plenty of positives to build on the rest of the season – the play of 2 players whose development has solidified them as major factors going forward, David Nelson and tight end Scott Chandler. The beleaguered offensive line played a decent game, other than having some penalty problems. Guys like Kraig Urbik, Chad Rinehart, Erik Pears and stellar rookie Chris Hairston will be getting valuable experience the rest of the way. Johnson, for the second time this year, had pretty good success against Derrelle Revis, the guy who supposedly blankets all the great receivers. On talent alone, he is worth keeping for the future, but he needs to be given a wake-up call attitude-wise, which is why I think a suspension would be a good idea.

On defense, the Bills have been bad all year, even when they were winning. They played well in routs against the Chiefs and Redskins, but in all other games have not been able to stop anybody consistently. Their third down defense has been really bad, and they have not been able to make stops at crucial times in close games. The Bengals, Giants and Jets all drove downfield at will when the game was on the line and picked up wins. That being said, there were signs of improvement from the defense in Sunday’s game. Although they buckled and gave up touchdowns at the end of both halves, with both TDs looking like they were the result of blown coverages, overall the new players in the secondary, Aaron Williams, DaNorris Searcy and Justin Rogers, all made plays on the ball and had decent coverage on receivers at times. The linebackers looked a little more active than usual, and even disrupted some passes. They’ve clearly moved on from Leodis McKelvin, who likely won’t be back next year. Again, the experience players like Williams, Rogers and Searcy get the rest of the year will help them going into next season. The biggest negative with the defense is the lack of a pass rush. The play of the youngsters in the secondary is even more impressive considering the lack of pressure on the opposing QB. Somehow, the coaching staff has to accelerate the development of players like Marcell Dareus, Alex Carrington and Torell Troup (who wasn’t even active Sunday) on the defensive line, and figure out how to manufacture some pressure from their stable of young linebackers.

 
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