NFL Picks, 2012 season, Week 10

by | Nov 5, 2012 | 2012 season, NFL Picks

They’ve been criticized for playing a soft schedule, which so far has included only one opponent with a winning record at the time of their game. Their quarterback was demonized for shoving an offensive lineman during a nationally televised loss to Green Bay.

But since that week two loss, the Bears are 6-0 and they looked like the real deal Sunday in putting a 50-spot up against the Tennessee Titans. Like Jay Cutler or not, believe in that supposedly aging defense or not, it’s a team that, at this point, looks loaded.

“The 2012 Chicago Bears have what it takes to make a trip back to the Super Bowl,” says Jake Perper, owner of Bearsbacker.com. “The Bears’ defense is elite, the Bears’ special teams is rock solid and the Bears’ offense is coming together, especially the running game with Matt Forte. If they can continue to stay healthy and can continue to create turnovers at will on defense, they will be hard to stop.”

Perper notes that the offense has to limit its mistakes and the team cannot afford many scares such as the one posed by a plucky Carolina squad a week ago. The tough part of the schedule, including back-to-back contests with Houston and San Francisco and four remaining division games, will determine where this team goes. But Perper is a believer.

“I think when it is all said and done, this year we will be calling them contenders.”

Hard to argue based on what we’ve seen so far.

Perper joined us for the week 10 pick segment. He follows Steve Isbitts from JoeBucsFan.com. Isbitts struggled to an 8-6 finish while Tony dominated at 11-3 and Andy was close behind at 10-4. That leaves the collective blogger community tied with the brothers heading into week 10. Ahh, the drama.

Week Nine Season
Celebrity Bloggers 8-6 83-49
Andy 10-4 83-49
Tony 11-3 83-49

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NFL Picks, 2012 season, Week 9

by | Oct 31, 2012 | 2012 season, NFL Picks

Josh Freeman has looked great for the better part of a month. Doug Martin seems to be getting it. And Tampa Bay’s run defense is right there with the best in the NFL. When the Bucs destroyed Minnesota last week, it put Tampa in a position to end the first half of the season at 4-4 and spend the second half chasing a playoff spot.

Fans talking playoffs may be jumping the gun a bit, but this team is on the right track, says Steve Isbitts, co-founder of JoeBucsFan.com.

“Sober, reasoned Bucs fans are largely happy this season is playing out as expected with encouraging, inconsistent football,” he says. “Look for the Bucs to continue to be very physical and explosive with mixed results. This is a .500 team on the right track. Nothing more. Nothing less.”

Isbitts joined Zoneblitz as our celebrity guest blogger for the week. He follows Barrett Walton from the Texans Bull Blog, who scored a 9-5 record in week eight. That tied with Tony. Both were two games behind my 11-3 record – which was good enough to overtake Tony and jump into second place for the season. I’m comin’!!!

Week Eight Season
Celebrity Bloggers 9-5 75-43
Andy 11-3 73-45
Tony 9-5 72-46

So here are the picks for week nine.

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Steelers’ gamble on Wallace likely pays off

by | Apr 20, 2012 | 2012 season, NFL Free Agency, NFL Random Thoughts

It’s the last day teams can sign restricted free agents to contracts and it appears as though tendering wide receiver Mike Wallace at just a first-round level is going to pay off for Pittsburgh.

I think the Steelers had even semi-resigned themselves to losing the wideout, who reportedly wants a new contract that pays him as a top five receiver.

Now, those contract demands likely hurt his cause. Wallace is a very good receiver with some dynamic numbers – 18.7 yards per catch and 24 touchdowns in his first three seasons. But he also disappears for stretches too. He’s on his way toward the top, but does not yet belong in the same category as a Larry Fitzgerald, a Calvin Johnson or an Andre Johnson, among others. (more…)

In depth: Pittsburgh Steelers

by | Mar 4, 2012 | 2011 season, 2012 season, NFL Draft, NFL Free Agency, NFL Random Thoughts

The Pittsburgh Steelers certainly did better in 2011 than many previous teams coming off of Super Bowl losses. They finished 12-4 and got into the playoffs. But they were far from a dominant team, losing twice to division rival Baltimore and succumbing early in the playoffs to a plucky Denver team.

Mike Tomlin and Kevin Colbert will have their hands full in 2012 trying to match the success of the last two seasons. There remain questions along the offensive and defensive lines. Age is becoming a factor in several key areas, which means younger guys with promising skills but little experience will have to step up and play key roles. And salary cap issues mean Pittsburgh could lose other key contributors from past seasons, most notably deep threat wide receiver Mike Wallace.

But the Steelers are run as well as any team in the league. So where does this team go from here? Neal Coolong, assistant editor of Behind the Steel Curtain, joined us to share some thoughts. Here’s what he had to say:

Zoneblitz: Coming off of a Super Bowl loss, Pittsburgh had a pretty good season but didn’t win the division and lost to an inferior Denver team. What happened in the playoff game and how do you grade the 2011 season? (more…)