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NFL Season Predictions

Published
by
joey
on September 4, 2008
in Jets and Random
. 1 Comment

Divisional Standings:

AFC East: Patriots, Jets, Dolphins, Bills

Patriots get the obvious nod here.  Even with an aging defense, they’re entirely too good on offense to be stopped.  The Jets have made considerable improvements during the offseason to improve both lines–and that Favre guy came to town.  The Dolphins youngsters will improve on offense with Pennington at the helm.  And Ronnie Brown being healthy helps plenty.  Injuries will plague the Bills all season and uncertainty at QB with Edwards and Losman–yet again–will cause issues.

AFC North: Browns, Steelers, Bengals, Ravens

The Browns will continue their offensive success from last season and manage to eek out a divisional crown in Week 17.  Nine wins takes this division.  The Steelers will fall short and miss the playoffs as a result, mostly due to a struggling offensive line.  The Bengals are still a shambles and won’t be able to stop anyone’s ground game.  The Ravens have too many questions on offense to make up for an aging, but still competitive defense.

AFC South: Jaguars, Texans, Colts, Titans

Indianapolis finally falls from its perch atop the AFC South.  Jacksonville continues its offensive efficiency and defensive success from last season and manages to win the division by Week 13.  The Texans, with a healthy Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson, and fired-up Mario Williams take the final wildcard spot in the AFC.  The Colts will never recover from the early season injury of Jeff Saturday and struggle mightily out of the gate.  The Titans regress under the poor quarterback play of Vince Young and end the season with Kerry Collins taking snaps.

AFC West: Chargers, Broncos, Raiders, Chiefs

The Chargers finish with the second best record in the AFC behind the Patriots and continue their excellent play on both sides of the ball.  Jay Cutler is the key to the Broncos season and will continue to show signs of brilliance despite missing the playoffs.  The Raiders improve slightly on offense, but JaMarcus Russell will be too turnover prone for it to matter.  The Chiefs, despite a great season by Larry Johnson, will come up too short at the end of games.  

NFC East: Giants, Cowboys, Redskins, Eagles

The Cowboys are the trendy pick here, but there’s way too many combustible parts for this to be the division winner yet they sneak into the playoffs.  The ‘Skins under Jim Zorn will win some games, but not enough in this competitive division.  McNabb’s reign with the Eagles ends and the Kolb era begins which leads to few wins and a dreary season.  The Giants continue last season’s offensive momentum and manage to win 11 games without their feared pass rush of 2007.

NFC North: Vikings, Lions, Packers, Bears

Adrian Peterson and the stellar defense run their way to the divisional crown as Tavaris Jackson makes just enough plays to keep the defense honest.  The Packers stumble out of the gate as Rodgers cracks under the pressure of expectations and the running game falters.  The Lions prove their 6-2 start of 2007 was no fluke and improve upon it to finish at 8-8 for the season.  The Bears switch QBs four times through the season due to injuries and poor play and end up with the worst record in the NFL.

NFC South: Saints, Panthers, Buccaneers, Falcons

The Saints have a magical season (again) as the offense clicks as it did in 2006 and the defensive additions pay off.  The Panthers play consistently and sneak into the playoffs in the final week of the season.  The Bucs take a step back as age creeps up on their offense, in addition to not being able to have a consistent running game.  Matt Ryan takes his lumps in his first season but shows glimpses of what made him a top draft pick near the end of the season.  Michael Turner is a bright spot on this dismal team as he rushes for over 1,500 yards.

NFC West: Cardinals, Seahawks, 49ers, Rams

Kurt Warner and a rejuvenated Edgerrin James lead the Cardinals to the divisional crown, edging out the Seahawks.  They’ll end up with the same record, but the Cardinals will win both head-to-head battles and win the division.  The Seahawks’ injuries at wide receiver and rebuilt ground game will take a while to click and by the time it does, it’ll be too late.  The 49ers will have an explosive offense with Mike Martz and J.T. O’Sullivan, but the defense will take a step back and just like the Lions in 2007, will come up a bit too short in the end after a promising start to the season.  The Rams won’t be able to stop anybody and will have the second pick in the draft behind the Bears.

Playoff Predictions:

AFC Wildcards: Jets, Texans

NFC Wildcards: Panthers, Cowboys

AFC Champions: Patriots

NFC Champions: Saints

SuperBowl XLIII Champions: New Orleans Saints

The Saints end a dream season on their rival Bucs turf as they escape a narrow victory against the Patriots in SuperBowl XLIII.  Drew Brees takes the SuperBowl MVP trophy back to New Orleans in a heart-warming parade through the city.  Jonathan Vilma’s linebacker presence (and Pro Bowl form) gives the Saints the defensive edge they’ve needed.

Season Awards:

MVP voting: Tom Brady, Drew Brees, LaDanian Tomlinson

Defensive Player of the Year voting: Jared Allen, Jonathan Vilma, Mario Williams

Offensive Rookie of the Year: Jonathan Stewart, RB, Panthers

Defensive Rookie of the Year: Jerod Mayo, LB, Patriots

Comeback Player of the Year: Larry Johnson, RB, Chiefs

(Clearly, I want the Jets to win it all as a fan and I might firmly believe that, haha.  I just don’t want to jinx it!)

Nike Human Race 10k

Published
by
joey
on September 2, 2008
in Random
. 2 Comments
Photo courtesy of killercorn on Flickr

Photo courtesy of killercorn on Flickr

On Sunday evening, Stacey and I partook in perhaps the most grueling and challenging races we’ve ever run.  The Nike Human Race 10k started in Austin at an auspicious time of 6:30PM CDT on Sunday night with temperatures reaching above 95 degrees fahrenheit.  After walking two miles to get to the start line from our house (mistake #1), we squeezed into the 9:00 minute mile starting zone.  A few fourteen year old girls with entirely too much energy pretty much rendered us deaf by shrieking along with the pre-run music.

I’m not sure who decided the layout of the course, but the hills in downtown Austin can be killer.  Add that to the heat and it’s no wonder we saw about 80% of the participants (including us) walking at some point or another, especially up the hills. I’m sure most of us would have fared better had it started at 8AM, but the allure of the simultaneous starts across the country led to the evening race.

I remember hearing about the lack of volunteers prior to the race, but had no idea it would impact the water situation as much as it did.  You literally had to stop at the water stations, find a cup–preferably unused, and fill it yourself with water from warm Ozarka jugs.  There were a couple of stations that were well-equipped, but the ill-equipped counterparts were a disaster of elbows, impatience, and unsatisfied folks looking for cold refreshment.  I feel bad for the folks who were attempting to man the short-handed water zones.  You guys did your best and I commend you for that.

The worst part of this all is that–ironic as it may seem–my right Nike+ shoe failed me during the race.  The padding in the front (right beneath the balls of my feet strike zone) completely gave way after about two miles leaving me feeling like I was striking the pavement almost directly with my foot.  I’m not quite sure how it happened, but maybe I held off on getting new shoes for too long.  Wearing relatively new shoes on race day can be a bad idea but probably would have been better than the epic failure I endured.

After all was said and done, we clocked in probably around the 90 minute mark which is a clear 30 minutes over our normal 10k pace.  I’m shocked we didn’t do worse.  It was quite a challenge for us as it was for most.  I hope all the folks who needed medical attention were okay.  Rest assured, we’ll be better prepared for the next time this one-of-a-kind race comes around, poor starting time or not.

Favorite shot from NYC

Published
by
joey
on August 11, 2008
in Photography
. 1 Comment

We went to NYC a couple of months ago and I took a ton of photos (see my Flickr for more shots) and I ended up with a pretty nice HDR of the Brooklyn Bridge.

 The Brooklyn Bridge

Dig?

Sold out!?

Published
by
joey
on August 11, 2008
in Technology and Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

We hit up the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar to see the Pineapple Express on Sunday afternoon at 4:35pm.  Naturally, we arrived at the show about an hour beforehand so that we could have our cold beers and chips and queso on hand before the movie started, however, this was not to be our day.  The movie was sold out for the next three showings–and the line for the 4:35pm show looked like they’d been there for at least an hour and patiently waiting for Apatow’s latest gut-buster.

I guess the movie had only been out for less than a week and a Sunday matinee showing is rather desirable to a Friday night viewing for most and that’s why it was sold out.  What strikes me as off is that the Drafthouse web site didn’t note that the show was already sold out before our five minute drive (I’m the type who always triple checks the time of the show right before I leave the house just to make sure).

It would be neat if there were some kind of “heat” rating on movie house web sites where it would show you the collective desire by past ticket sales to determine the public’s desire to see the movie (and so you can plan accordingly).  Or, better yet, let us know how many seats are still available for a show (or at the very least, whether it’s nearly sold out or sold out).

To make a long story short, I probably should have just used Fandango.

 

Don’t do it Jets

Published
by
joey
on July 28, 2008
in Jets
. 2 Comments

I’ve been cautiously following the Brett Favre saga on espn.com (and just about every other sports web site out there that’s covering it) and I have three simple words for the Jets: don’t do it.

Chad Pennington is your starter.  He deserves a chance behind the revamped offensive line.  The new WR weapons will be a nice addition to his available receivers.  You’ve built a stable of quarterbacks already for the now, near future, and distant future with Pennington, Clemens, and the rookie Erik Ainge.  Even Brett Ratliff might get his shot soon.

Don’t add the wishy washy Favre.  What everyone fails to mention is that he took about a year to become comfortable in the Green Bay offense when Mike McCarthy came aboard for the 2006-2007 season.  Favre had 18 interceptions that year to go along with 18 touchdowns.  Last year things obviously took an uptick, but going to a new team with new players and a new staff and Brian Schottenheimer’s inventive offense will take a while to get used to.  He might not even be in the greatest of game shape–add that to the rumors that some of his teammates felt like he was out of gas in the playoffs.  There are so many reasons against this, but most of all, do you want to sacrifice your future and your current beloved quarterbacks (and draft picks!) for a soon-to-be 39 year old with a wavering desire to play the game?

Go with your QB who was a Doug Brien field goal away from the AFC championship three years ago.  Go with the QB who came back from two shoulder surgeries and is one of the most accurate passers in NFL history.  Go with the QB who has the most impressive play-action motions outside of Indianapolis when the running game is working.  Go with the QB who knows he wants to be there and wants to end his career as a Jet.

Don’t do it Jets.  Don’t trade for Favre.