ZB Notebook 1-13-2013

by | Jan 13, 2013 | 2012 season, NFL Random Thoughts

The Divisional playoff round is one of my favorite weekends of sport all year round and this year exemplified why. The Denver/Baltimore game and the Atlanta/Seattle contest provided extreme drama. The San Francisco/Green Bay game, which is the one I was not able to watch, introduced Colin Kaepernick as perhaps the league’s next great quarterback. And the Patriots/Texans game … well, nothing is perfect.

I was pretty surprised only by the results of the Ravens’ double overtime win over the Broncos. I had started to feel, like many, that Denver was the best team in the NFL. But the result, I think, does lend some credence to the possibility that the one downside to Peyton Manning’s selection of Denver as his later-career home is the potential for cold playoff games. No matter what anyone says, that could play havoc with his neck issues.

Nonetheless, the Ray Lewis retirement party carries on for one more week and I think the AFC Championship game rematch between his Ravens and the Patriots should be a fascinating game.

The NFC game also presents plenty of intrigue, with a rough, physical defense from San Francisco going up against the 2010s’ version of the 49ers of yesteryear, the Falcons. I’m already looking forward to it.

Can we hold off on Tebow talk?: I was tuning in Saturday morning to NFL Network for pregame information and before I got any information at all about the games coming up in mere hours, I was subjected to two segments on Tim Tebow’s future as an NFL quarterback. (more…)

Did Bears make mistake firing Smith?

by | Jan 8, 2013 | 2012 season, NFL Random Thoughts

Heading into the weekend of week 17, I had a Twitter exchange with Da Bears Blog wherein he indicated he did not believe Smith’s job was in jeopardy, regardless of whether Chicago won or lost in week 17 against Detroit.

The Bears went on to win the game, but Smith was fired regardless of the 10-6 record posted by the Bears. I thought there was a decent chance Smith’s job was on the line but guessed that he would not be canned if the team finished 10-6, even if it missed the playoffs.

We both were wrong, but looking at some of the candidates teams are looking at right now, I’m starting to think Da Bears Blog should have been right.

The Chicago Tribune reported today that the Bears have a list of 12 potential candidates they might interview. AND they aren’t letting their assistant coaches interview anywhere else because they might want to retain guys like Rod Marinelli and Jeremy Bates, respectively the defensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

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ZB Notebook 1-6-2013

by | Jan 6, 2013 | 2012 season, NFL Random Thoughts

For the playoff teams, wild card weekend was the news. For the rest, the coaching carrousel was the biggest news. A couple surprises popped up.

The biggest stunner to me was Buffalo’s selection of Syracuse head coach as its next leader, replacing the fired Chan Gailey. Syracuse is better than it was four years ago, but it’s still a mid-level school in an uninspiring conference. So I was surprised to see Marrone get the attention he did this offseason.

The 48-year-old also was being pursued reportedly by Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia and San Diego. And he does have experience as an offensive line coach and as an offensive coordinator in the NFL, so it’s not like he’s coming in cold.

Judging by the comments at BuffaloRumblings.com, the hire is receiving mixed reviews in Buffalo, but Brian Galliford, manager of the site, has a number of posts with information about why he was hired. The Saints had a pretty successful offense when he was there, Galliford notes, even though Sean Payton called the plays. (more…)

NFL Playoffs: Wild Card Weekend Picks and Bets

by | Jan 5, 2013 | 2012 season, NFL Gambling, NFL Picks, NFL Random Thoughts

The chili is in the crock pot. The logs will soon be ready for the fire. And the regular season is over. It’s time to separate the contenders from the pretenders. It’s time for playoff football.

It’s well documented that while our picks during the season were ok, our bets during the season were terrible. So even though we did ok with a different betting system for college bowl games, we decided to mix things up again for the NFL playoffs, given that there are fewer games to choose from. So, our picks are below. Let us know in comments who you think is going to win this week and who is likely to emerge with the Lombardi Trophy in a month. (more…)

Redskins’ “other” rookie leads team into playoffs

by | Dec 31, 2012 | 2012 season, NFL Random Thoughts

At my fantasy drafts back in August and September, whenever someone was hemming and hawing over who to pick, I often rather arrogantly shouted out “Alfred Morris is still available.” I generally was rewarded for my trash talk with some confusion, a couple of guffaws (unless it was the seventh or eighth time I brought up his name) or perhaps some ridicule. The drafter would usually roll his eyes and pick someone else.

Well, 1600 yards and 13 touchdowns later, Morris has made me look like a dumbass.

I had a fairly successful season this year. I won two leagues, took fifth place in a game-picking pool that included 167 participants and, most importantly, beat my brother in both our picks and bets segments (although admittedly the latter isn’t saying much).

But it is guys like Morris who make fantasy football challenging and who keep me from talking too much trash. They make deep research rewarding — and this year I failed. There was no greater “no name” getting selected in drafts as the 2012 season got underway. He’s a rookie sixth-round pick on a team coached by Mike Shanahan, who usually rotates running backs like Lindsay Lohan rotates court appearances. (more…)

Are the Vikings actually good?

by | Dec 28, 2012 | 2012 season, NFL Random Thoughts

I had a successful run for a brief few games during the middle of this season betting and picking against my hometown team, the Minnesota Vikings. I picked up that strategy in 2010, when gambling against the purple was extremely profitable during a lost 3-13 season.

For the most part this year, however, Minnesota has been surprisingly solid. The defense, with the addition of safety Harrison Smith, is much improved. Adrian Peterson has had a monster season. And Christian Ponder has been maddeningly inconsistent, but has shown, at times, flashes that he might not be a complete dud.

After Sunday’s dismantling of Houston – the second time this season the seemingly outmanned Vikings have physically dominated a supposedly far superior foe – I texted my brother and asked: “Are the Vikings actually good?”

His response: “Been trying to figure that out for some time now myself. Suspect Texans aren’t quite as good as earlier thought, but Vikings are better than I gave them credit for.”

That makes two of us. We went on to agree that this team has the talent to potentially stick with any team on a good day and the shortcomings where on a bad one it could lose to any dreg of a team. But given last season and the predictions going in – few “experts” had the Vikings winning six games this year and I would have thought that a reasonable level of improvement myself back on opening day – how has this team improved to the point where it can be considered a legitimate playoff contender? (more…)