In Depth 2014: Washington Redskins

by | Feb 12, 2014 | 2013 season, 2014 season, NFL Draft, NFL Free Agency, NFL Random Thoughts

For much of 2012, Washington Redskins fans probably figured things were finally headed in in-depththe right direction, after rookie QB Robert Griffin III had a tremendous season in leading the team to a playoff berth for the first time since 2007. But a torn up knee suffered in Washington’s wild card loss meant rehab took up an offseason that otherwise could have been spent building further wrinkles into the team’s offense.

As the 2013 season got underway, several things became clear. Griffin was not the same player he was as a rookie. And his relationship with coach Mike Shanahan was not progressing either. The team got off to a rough start and never fully recovered, ending the season dead last in a weak NFC East.

After the season, Shanahan was fired, replaced by Jay Gruden. Griffin is clearly “the guy,” but the team needs to put some pieces in place around him – and must do so without its first round pick, having sent it to St. Louis as part of the trade that allowed Washington to acquire its franchise QB.

So where does Washington go from here? Kevin Ewoldt, managing editor of Hogs Haven, shared his reflections on 2013 and hopes for the year ahead.

Zoneblitz: After a positive 2012 season that ended with a playoff berth, 2013 went in the other direction. What happened? (more…)

In depth 2014: Houston Texans

by | Feb 10, 2014 | 2013 season, 2014 season, NFL Draft, NFL Free Agency, NFL Random Thoughts

The Houston Texans entered the 2013 season riding high hopes off of two postseason appearances. Some called them in-depthone of the top contenders to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl. They looked the part for two weeks, with wins over San Diego and Tennessee. Then QB play went south and the wheels fell off, resulting in a 14 game losing streak to end the season.

So, change is rampant. Gary Kubiak is out, Gary O’Brien heads south from Penn State to replace him. The QB position is in flux and aging superstars Arian Foster and Andre Johnson are enduring more upheaval as they head into the twilights of their respective careers.

So what do the Texans have to do to get back on track? Patrick Starr, owner and editor of the blog State of the Texans, joined us and shared his thoughts.

Zoneblitz: Houston went from 12-4 to 2-14. What happened? (more…)

Fantasy football offseason thoughts

by | Feb 5, 2014 | Fantasy Football

Seattle wrapped up the 2013 season with its dominant win over Denver last weekend. So we’re officially looking ahead to the 2014 season.

That includes fantasy football where, just like in the real NFL, there really is no off-season anymore.

We’ll revisit fantasy frequently throughout the next several months. But for those who are suffering football withdrawal, here are some things to ponder from Anthony Maggio, fantasy editor for Zoneblitz and co-host of Fantasy Football Sunday on 1500 ESPN radio in the Twin Cities.

Andy: Who heading into their second or third year in 2014 do you see taking off as a fantasy contributor next season? (more…)

Wrapping up the postseason

by | Feb 5, 2014 | NFL Gambling, NFL Picks, NFL Playoffs, NFL Random Thoughts

As a matter of course, I like to provide a year-end wrap-up of our picks and bets. It’s a good reference for the future and it provides a level of accountability.

So … after a pretty decent regular season of straight up picks, things were less stellar in the playoffs. I guess that makes sense, as most of the teams that make the postseason are pretty good (for now – but just wait until the playoff field inevitably expands).

You can check out our regular season wrap-up by clicking here.

As for the Super Bowl, coin flip my backside. A game that on paper looked like one of the more intriguing match-ups in quite awhile turned out to be a snoozer.

The Seattle Seahawks made all of us at Zoneblitz look like fools by getting a quick lead on the Broncos and then teeing off on Peyton Manning, making the future Hall of Famer look downright ordinary in the first blowout Super Bowl in awhile. I was not at all surprised Seattle won. I was stunned at the ease with which the Seahawks dispatched Denver.

Each of us picked the Broncos in a close game. Each of us was wrong. That gave Tony the postseason win for correctly predicting seven of the 11 outcomes straight up. Anthony Maggio and I both hit six.

Throughout the entire regular season and into the playoffs I was abysmal against the spread this season. I’m going to have to do some reading during the offseason in order to improve on that in 2014. What an embarrassment. After a 27-38-3 debacle during the regular season, I nailed the line just 3 of 11 times during the playoffs, including botching the Super Bowl — switching to Denver after entering the season having picked Seattle to  take home the Lombardi Trophy. Disappointing choice.

I saved face a bit going 6-5 in over/under picks during the postseason, but I’d still be getting killed in Vegas if this were anything more than hypothetical.

And so, with that, we’re heading into the post-season. We’ll have some more thoughts on the Hall of Fame class in the days ahead. We’ll also start looking ahead at fantasy football in 2014 and at the draft. Stay tuned.

 

Hall needs separate category for contributors

by | Feb 2, 2014 | Hall of Fame

Overall I think the Hall of Fame selection committee did a pretty good job in picking the 2014 class of inductees. The class is illustrative, however, of one problem the voters seem to have these days.

When they narrowed the candidate list from more than 100 down to 25 in November, there were six coaches and contributors on the list. When they narrowed it down to five on Saturday, none of them came from those categories.

And that’s a good thing, at least to the extent that there is a long, healthy list of players who warrant induction into the Hall of Fame and, put head-to-head against owners, referees, coaches and other oddball contributors, I prefer that the players get the tiebreakers.

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