ZB NFL Preview 2013: NFC West

San Francisco has a Super Bowl appearance and an NFC Championship game appearance to show for the last two seasons. By the end of 2012, however, Seattle may have been playing the better football. St. Louis had a win and a tie against the 49ers last year and most experts think only quarterback play held Arizona back from being just as competitive. The NFC West is simply stacked. The top two teams are young and talented – possibly the best in football. The only thing preventing St. Louis and Arizona from contending for potential playoff spots is their unfortunate placement in this division. The West will be playing some Must Watch football over the next few months. (more…)

Catch Maggio on Fantasy Football Sunday

There’s a lot of injury news to catch up on before week three games start this afternoon. Don’t miss Anthony Maggio on the radio this morning giving his last minute advice on 1500 ESPN’s Fantasy Football Sunday.1500ESPN_logo_stacked

The show runs a half hour from 9-9:30 a.m. this week. You can get the live stream here. You can also reach him via twitter at: #1500blitz or email questions to maggio@zoneblitz.com.

 

ZB NFL Preview 2013: AFC East

The AFC East has been New England and everybody else for more than a decade. The Patriots had a tough offseason, losing players to injury, free agency, incarceration and who knows what else. But Bill Belichick and crew remain the class of the division, at least for one more year. Miami and Buffalo appear to be headed in the right direction, but neither team has solved all of its problems. And the Jets … well, the Jets have a long way to go to get back to being the team that just a few years ago went to back-to-back AFC Championship games. (more…)

2014 Football Hall of Fame Inductees

2014 Football Hall of Fame Inductees

PFHOF Logo-mPro Football Hall of Fame voters charged with selecting the honorees for 2014 may think they made their job easier by selecting Cris Carter as part of the 2013 class. But the strong first-year candidacy of retired Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison means they’ll be trying yet again to break a logjam at that position.

Carter emerged as the first of three solid candidates – Andre Reed and Tim Brown being the others – who seemed to cancel each other out for years before the 2013 class was announced.

Who they’ll choose between the trio of Harrison, Brown and Reed is just one of the questions that the panel will face as another strong group becomes eligible for the first time.

So who joins senior candidates Ray Guy and Claude Humphrey as the 15 finalists who’ll be debated before the Super Bowl? Then who will the committee ultimately honor with gold jackets in Canton, Ohio next August?

A guess at the 2014 class starts with a look at the 2013 finalists and who were ultimately not selected to the Hall’s 2013 class. Those who survived the cut down from 15 to 10 were Michael Strahan, Jerome Bettis, Charles Haley, Andre Reed and Aeneas Williams.

I go back and forth on Bettis’ qualifications at times, given that for the last few years of his career he was really a short yardage and goal line complement to guys like Willie Parker. But he did have six consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, make six Pro Bowls and finish his career 13,662 rushing yards, which still ranks him sixth all-time. Strahan, I am guessing, missed out because the voters selected Warren Sapp instead. The other three are multi-time finalists. So let’s start with the assumption that all five of these guys will rejoin at least the round of 15.

The five candidates who made finalist status but did not crack the final 10 were Tim Brown, Will Shields, Kevin Greene and two owners, Ed DeBartolo and Art Modell. Let’s start with Shields. There probably isn’t a current day candidate out there that I think more warrants induction than him. In addition to the fact that he played the glory-less position of guard (where even Randall McDaniel had to wait three years for election), he’s had the unfortunate bad luck to be eligible in the same years that Willie Roaf and Dermontti Dawson were selected in 2012 and Larry Allen and Jonathan Ogden made it in 2013. Shields will get inducted and, with McDaniel as a barometer, I think this is his year. (more…)

Claude Humphrey, Ray Guy named 2014 Senior Hall of Fame candidates

With the class of 2013 enshrined in Canton, the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s senior committee Wednesday got started on naming its class of 2014.

Ray Guy, the Oakland punter who earned seven Pro Bowl nominations, three First Team All Pro awards and spots on both the team of the 1970s and the 75th anniversary team, was joined by Atlanta defensive end Claude Humphrey, a six-time Pro Bowler who was All Pro twice in his 13 years.

Guy has been a finalist seven times. He is bound to be the more controversial of the two candidates because he is a punter. Supporters say his ability to boom high punts with long hang time reduced potential returns and allowed the Raiders to play a field position game previously unseen in the NFL. Detractors point to a low net average and say guys like Tommy Davis or Jerrel Wilson were equal or better to Guy.

Humphrey, a three-time finalist, is an oft-mentioned name on this site. Though he was just All Pro First Team twice, his Pro Football Reference page also indicates he won AP All Conference honors several additional times. (more…)