Oof. Ugly week last week. Hit only three of six straight up and two of six against the spread.
Maybe it’s a good thing sports gambling isn’t legal here.
The divisional round is typically my favorite weekend of the NFL playoffs. The pretenders are usually out. There are usually four really good match-ups. This year is no different.
So, yeah, postseason is here. We’ve been getting away from pick and gambling segments, but I’m bored – so, what the hell.
Would love to see your picks below. (more…)
The Houston Texans started 11-1 and looked like the team to beat in the AFC until falling three times during the final four games of the season. Houston still won the AFC South, but couldn’t parlay that into a championship season, as the Texans fell in the second round of the playoffs to Baltimore.
The core of the team is back. Any team with Matt Schaub, Arian Foster and Andre Johnson has the weapons to be competitive on offense and J.J. Watt was a demon defensively in 2012, overcoming several injuries in the process.
But the Texans also suffered some free agency defections to contributors like linebacker Connor Barwin and tight end/fullback James Casey. So where does the team stand heading into the 2013 season? Ryan Cook, editor of Toro Times, says despite having a few holes to fill, this team isn’t far away.
Zoneblitz: The Texans went 12-4 in 2012 but lost three of four to end the regular season and, for the second year in a row, lost in the second round of the playoffs. How would you assess the season and what does the team need to do to get deeper into the postseason? (more…)
Andrew Luck provided Indianapolis fans with another comeback win, this time ruining the weekend for the Detroit Lions. The level of success Luck is having early in his career has created speculation about just how far this team can go in 2012, which was supposed to be a rebuilding year.
Greg Cowan, managing editor and senior writer with Colts Authority, says he’s intrigued by that question too given that “on paper, they probably should have stopped winning about two wins ago.”
Cowan is realistic. If the Colts do make the playoffs they probably should be one-and-done. But he also thinks they could be capable of a first-round shocker, particularly if they get a match-up with a flawed Baltimore squad.
“Are they going to win it all? Not this year,” he says. “But beyond this year, the sky is the limit.”
Cowan joined Zoneblitz.com as week 14’s guest blogger. He follows Steve Spooner, team editor at 49ers Gab.
Spooner struggled to a 7-9 mark during another wild, upset-filled week. Tony was 10-6. Andy was 11-5. This put some distance between the brothers and the bloggers, but tightened the match between the two of them, err, us. Tony retains a two-game lead for the season.
| Week 13 | Season | |
| Tony | 10-6 | 125-66-1 |
| Andy | 11-5 | 123-68-1 |
| Celebrity bloggers | 7-9 | 116-75-1 |
There are four weeks left in the regular season. Here are the picks for week 14. (more…)
Editor’s Note: When we contacted Barrett Walton about contributing to our pick segment last week we also asked what his thoughts were on how the Texans were sitting heading into the second half of the season. I think he warned me once previously, when he did a Q&A interview for us during the offseason, that brevity was not a strong suit. He gave us way more insight than we could have used on that post, but I thought it was an interesting read.
I thought about writing a post on Houston myself and incorporating some of the comments into that, but I think Barrett’s comments can stand alone. So here’s a guest post from Barrett Walton, managing editor of the Texans Bull Blog and weekly contributor at the Austin Chronicle’s sports blog.
Entering their bye week at 6-1 and resting comfortably as the clear favorite to secure home field advantage throughout the playoffs, the Houston Texans have to be thinking “we have finally arrived.” If you were following this team closely then you realized back in 2010 that you had something special brewing down in the bayou. The Texans offense was becoming unstoppable as Arian Foster broke out of obscurity and Gary Kubiak’s zone scheme came together as a pure system offense. The defensive side of the ball was loaded with talent. All but one of Kubiak’s first round picks had been defensive players.
Like many teams trying to breakthrough into relevancy, the Houston Texans couldn’t put all the pieces in place. The 2010 defense was historically bad. Loaded with talent but with no schematic direction, the Texans couldn’t get out of their own way. While the offense was putting up over 25 points per game, the defense was giving up even more in heartbreaking fashion. (more…)
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