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Football, not Futbal
Well, I know I went on a rant not too long ago about the whole TO situation, and dont you worry, I will touch on him later. As for now I think I would rather talk about some interesting things and some predictions that I have for the rest of the season and into the NFL draft this coming spring.
As any sports analyst will tell you, nothing is really decided till the very end, and that really seems to be the way the NFL is going this year.
AFC
Who knew the Bengals would be tearing things up with a record of 7-2 when last year the only big news about the Bengals was them trading Corey Dillon to the Patriots. The Bengals are definitely going to the post season and it wouldnt surprise me to see them upset the favored powerhouse of the AFC North Division, the Steelers. Though the Bengals are doing well this year, there is no way that they will make it past the Colts in the playoffs...thats even if they get a chance at the Colts.
Speaking of the Patriots, Steelers, and Colts has anyone noticed that their star QB's have really been in the limelight this year? Last year when ever someone mentioned the Steelers it was Ben Roethlisberger, or when someone mentioned the Colts it was Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady for the Patriots. Granted, they are having spectacular seasons...but you wouldn't really know that unless you followed the teams. Roethlisberger will most likely lead the Steelers to the playoffs again, but there is no way they can defeat the Colts. The Patriots currently standing at 5-4 are leading the AFC East (which is no surprise at all considering the other three teams in the division are the Bills, Dolphins, and Jets), but I would be surprised if the Patriots made a run for the Super Bowl again this year. Sorry Tom Brady, Peyton's defense has your number this year. The Colts are phenominal. This is the type of team that you look at on paper and think to yourself "There is no way this team could ever lose to anyone." The real factor for the Colts being 9-0 right now is their defense, and as I called it back in week one, the Colts are going to the Super Bowl, and yes, I do think they will win the Super Bowl.
The other big surprises in the AFC are the Chargers, the Broncos, and the Raiders. If you had asked me to pick the best team out of that bunch I definitely would have put them in order like so: Chargers, Raiders, Broncos. The Broncos QB, Jake Plummer, has had mediocre seasons his entire career, but for some reason Plummer has just gone balls-to-the-wall this season. I also think Mike Shannahan is one of the best head coaches ever for the sole fact that he consistently finds these running backs that no one else would take a chance on and turns them into hall-of-famers with the snap of a finger. Can anyone say Terrell Davis? The Chargers are a team that I definitely would have put money on for being a Super Bowl contender, not that they are totally out of the running just yet, but their record is 5-4 in a division led by the 7-2 Broncos. LT is one of the best, if not the best running back in the NFL and Drew Brees solidified himself last season as a productive young QB. Their defense is solid, their offense is good as well. Where are they falling short? In my opinion I feel that their biggest weakness on offense is their deep threat in the passing game. Keenan McCardell and Eddie Parker are solid receivers, but their leading receiver is their tight end, Antonio Gates. Sure a TE can be the big playmaker for an offense, look at Shannon Sharpe for the Broncos or Jay Novacek for the Cowboys, but any defense going to play the Chargers has two key focuses: 1. Stop LT, 2. Lock up Antonio Gates. If I were the Chargers I would look to deal Phillip Rivers to a team in the NFL for a high draft pick or a big play receiver. I know there are a lot of teams looking for a QB, especially one of Rivers' potential, like the Dolphins, Bills, Jets, Ravens, Lions, Cardinals, Chiefs, and the Brownies. I think the Raider's are probably one of the biggest disappointments in the NFL slightly behind that of the Eagles' season as of now. The Raiders went out and got Randy Moss, though an asshole he is still the most talented Wide Receiver in the game right now. One would think that Moss and Jerry Porter would give vet QB Kerry Collins and ton of opportunity to win games, but sadly Collins doesn't seem to want to win very much and the raiders are a lousy 3-6 in a conference where anything less than 11 wins probably won't get you into the post-season picture. Collins has thrown 6 TD's and 14, COUNT'EM, 14 interceptions. How in the world could you not throw 40 touchdowns in a season with receivers like Moss and Porter? Broncos - playoffs and potential AFC championship game against the Colts. Chargers - strong season end, wild card, nothing more. Raiders - draft a QB and another anchor for the defense, better luck next season.
Moving On....this has turned out to be a longer blog than I thought, but I hope you are enjoying this...I worked hard on it :-)
NFC
I cannot remember the last time the NFC has put up multiple teams with 12 or more wins (by multiple I mean in comparisson to the AFC who usually has 3 or more each year). The obvious favorite going into this season was the Philly Eagles and the Atlanta Falcons. The NFC East division (Redskins, Eagles, Cowboys, and Giants) is always a dogfight and each game is probably more heated than any rival in the AFC. I would compare those games to Yankee- Red Sox games, but more fun to watch on TV. Right now the NFC East leader is separated by 1-2 games at most.
Unfortunately, the Eagles (whom I generally don't really care for but enjoy watching because they are a great team) have had so much inner-turmoil with the whole TO situation that their season was pretty much over before it really even got started. I feel bad for McNabb because he plays his hardest each game while he is obviously hurting, but this just isnt his season. I am still a bit puzzled why their offensive strategy was so focused on big plays and passing the ball a hundred million times per game and running it only a handful of times. It is true that Brian Westbrook is much better out of the backfield as a receiver, but he is still a huge threat as a runner. I thtink that the Eagles picking up Lamar Gordon from the Jags was a good move. Gordon is not a starting RB by any means, but he offers a more 'power-back' style of running, which is good for short yardage plays and running up the middle. Without the deep threat of TO the Eagles are handed two things: 1. Team Unity and less drama, and 2: Unproven receivers Greg Lewis and Reggie Brown. Lewis and Brown are decent receivers and have stepped up to the challenge nicely. Both are so young though, Brown is a rookie, that no one in Philly is sure of what to make of them. However, Philly fans all around are sure hoping that they turn out to be some demonic force that will catch anything McNabb's hefty arm will throw at them. Right now, the Eagle's main offensive threats are Westbrook and TE LJ Smith. LJ Smith is going to be one of the best TE's in the league right up there beside Algae Crumpler and Antonio Gates. I predict that the Eagles will finish last in the NFC, not by much though...maybe 7-9 or 8-8, and they don't have much of a shot at going to the playoffs being that they are 0-3 against their division rivals. If I were the Eagles I would probably bench McNabb for the rest of the season so he can have surgery to fix his sports hernia and be recoverred in time for spring workouts. I would also throw Ryan Moats into the mix. They drafted him, might as well see what he can do! Who knows, maybe he will be good enough to work into the second RB position next year and take the place of the hopeless Correll Buckhalter.
The Cowboys are anchored by their defense. Period. Parcells drafted Ware and Spears and switched his defensive scheme over to a 3-4 as opposed to the 4-3/cover 2 he ran last year. This has done wonders for a team who had a mediocre defense last year. Roy Williams is one of the sickest safties in the game, obviously with respects to Brian Dawkins of the Eagles and Rodney Harrison of the Patriots. I mean, the guy cause the NFL to create a new penalty because of him. Thats pretty bad ass. The Cowboys offense is much more productive this year after acquiring Terry Glenn and Drew Bledsoe...mainly Bledsoe. I feel like Bledsoe is the new Dan Marino. He always puts up good numbers and is a good leader on and off the field, but I cant ever see him winning the big time. I think the Cowboys can make the playoffs as a wild card, but its going to be a tough tough dog fight for them.
I think the New York Giants solidify my claim and belief that the QB position is the position that can really make, or break, a team. Of course you know that, that makes sense right? Well during the Bill's "hey-day" Jim Kelly was a solid QB, but he wasnt great...they made Super Bowl appearances because of Thurman Thomas and their defense. Hell, Mark Rypen from the Redskins in the late 80's/early 90's was never looked at as a hall of famer QB, but he had ridiculous running backs and receivers. BUT, if a team has solid receivers and a ridiculous QB, they are damn tough to beat. End of Story. So, now that Eli Manning has started to come into his own as a stand out QB in the NFL, the Giants are a force to be reckoned with and could quite possibly represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. It would be tough, but definitely feasible.
Shaun Alexander is having the season that every RB in the NFL dreams about and gets a chubby when thinking about it. The Seahawks have only played 9 games and Alexander already has posted 17 TD's. When you have a RB with Alexander's talent and the veteran arm of Matt Hassleback you get a very explosive offense. Alexander does have a tremendous amount of talent and I believe he will be nominated for Canton in the future, but do not forget that RB's are nothing without their offensive line and my friends, the Seahawk's O-line is one of the best in the league.
At the beginning of the season everyone picked the Carolina Panthers as the favorite to win the NFC and go onto the Super Bowl. I was skepticle of this claim and I still am a little skepticle. I know they are a good team offensively and defensively but for some reason the Panthers going all the way just doesnt make a whole lot of sense to me. Delhomme came out of nowhere and has been hooking up with receiver Steve Smith every chance they get. Steve Smith was also putting up good numbers last year...then he got hurt. I don't know about the Panthers going all the way, especially being in the same division with the Falcons and the Buccaneers who are only a game behind the Panthers. I think if the Panthers can keep Smith healthy they have a good shot at the playoffs as well as in the playoffs.
Super Bowl Prediction: Colts win over the Falcons 42-21
NFL MVP: Shaun Alexander
Offensive Player of the Year: Shaun Alexander
Defensive Player of the Year: Dwight Freeney or Brian Urlacher
Rookie of the Year: Kyle Orton or Demarcus Ware
Best Draft Picks in NFL History
By Eric Williams
With the NFL daft quickly approaching, I figured this would be a perfect time to write a column focusing on the best draft selections of all-time. The only criteria I have for this column is that the player selected can’t be a first round pick and that the player greatly surpassed the expectations that were predicted for them prior to their being drafted and went on to achieve a measure of greatness that no one could have ever predicted. So, without further delay, here are the greatest NFL draft selections of all-time.
Joe Montana (third round 1979)
Montana is arguably the greatest NFL quarterback of all-time â€" although, I personally favor the Miami Dolphins’ Dan Marino. Montana led the San Francisco 49ers to four Super Bowl titles and was named MVP in three of them. Pretty good for a guy drafted in the third round.
The Cincinnati Bengals selected former Washington State QB, Jack Thompson (who?), with the third overall selection that year, which as we all know was a decision that altered their future for decades.
Former San Francisco head coach, Bill Walsh obviously saw something in Montana that no one else saw that year, because, while Montana wasn’t the biggest, flashiest or even the fastest quarterback prospect to come out of college that year â€" he was certainly the smartest (along with Phil Simms).
39 times, Montana passed for more than 300 yards in a game and seven times he surpassed 400 yards. His six 300-yard passing performances in the postseason are an NFL record and he also owns the career playoff record for attempts, completions, touchdowns, and yards gained passing.
I believe that Montana is, hands-down, the greatest draft selection of all-time.
Tom Brady (sixth round 2000)
Speaking of the 49ers, they probably could have used Bill Walsh’s keen eye in 2000 when they selected former Hofstra quarterback, Giovanni Carmazzi (remember him) in the third round with the 65th overall selection. Ten picks later, the Baltimore Ravens selected Chris Redman â€" and both teams â€" along with a lot of others - have been kicking themselves ever since.
All Brady, who was taken in the sixth round with the 199th overall selection, has done is lead the Patriots to three Super Bowl titles and earn himself a Super Bowl MVP. Brady’s highly successful young career, which still has quite a few years left, makes him one of the greatest draft selections of all time.
Johnny Unitas (ninth round 1955)
After my wonderful conversation with the Hall of Famer in Philadelphia back in 1996, I will forever be thankful for having met Johnny U., whom I can unequivocally say, has been one of the greatest and most pleasant people that I have ever interviewed in my entire career.
A ninth-round draft choice of the1955 Pittsburgh Steelers, Unitas was cut before he ever threw a regular season pass in New York. Incredibly, Unitas then played semi-pro football for $6 a game before former Baltimore Colts head coach Weeb Ewbank found out about a "prospect" on the Pittsburgh sandlots and signed Unitas for $17,000 on a make-the-team basis. When Unitas finally got his chance to play, his very first pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown but from that point on, for the next 18 seasons Unitas’ quarterbacking feats were seldom matched in NFL history.
His last-second heroics in the 1958 NFL title game, often called “the greatest game ever played,” turned Unitas into a household name. Unitas passed for 40,239 yards and 290 touchdowns in his career and his record of at least one touchdown pass in 47 consecutive games may never be broken. Unitas was a first or second team All-NFL choice eight years, selected NFL Player of the Year three times and was named to10 Pro Bowls. All this from a guy who was an almost afterthought when he was drafted by the Giants.
4. Mike Webster (fifth round 1974)
Although Webster, the man I believe is the greatest center of all-time, was a All-Big Ten player and three-years starter at the University of Wisconsin, he lasted until the fifth round in 1974, when the Steelers wisely snatched him up with the 125th overall pick.
From 1975 to 1986, Webster made 150 consecutive starts and became the glue that held the Steelers’ offensive line together for more than a decade.
The four-time Super Bowl champ also played in six AFC championship games and was an all-pro choice seven times. Webster was also selected to the All-AFC team five times from 1978 through 1982 and played in nine Pro Bowls.
For a guy to be taken in the fifth round and become possibly the greatest player of all-time at his position â€" is almost miraculous.
5. Roger Staubach (tenth round 1964)
I know Staubach won the Heisman Trophy in 1963 following his junior year at the U.S. Naval Academy, however, I thought the Cowboys’ drafting of Staubach was a stroke of genius. You see, every team knew that Staubach wouldn’t be available to play until 1969 - four years after he served his commitment to the Navy and his collegiate career ended, which, obviously scared a lot of teams away.
However, after arriving in Dallas as a 27-year-old rookie, Staubach eventually won the starting job two years later. For the nine seasons he was in command of the potent Cowboys attack, the Cowboys played in six NFC championship games, winning four of them, and recording victories in Super Bowls VI and XII.
6. Bart Starr (seventeenth round 1956)
First of all, for Starr to even make the Packers team as a 17th round draft pick is an incredible feat in itself. The fact that he led the Packers to almost rivaled dominance for nearly a decade is almost unbelievable.
In 1960, Starr led Green Bay to the Western Division championship, which was the first in a long sequence of successes for Starr and the Packers. From 1960 through 1967, Starr’s won-lost record was a sizzling 62-24-4 and the Packers won six divisional titles, five NFL Championships, and the first two Super Bowls.
Starr may not be the greatest quarterback ever, but he is clearly one of the smartest players to play the position and one of the greatest leaders to ever line up under center.
The statistics will never show what Starr brought to the game, but he did lead the league in passing three times and was the NFL's Most Valuable Player in 1966. He also won MVP honors in both Super Bowls I and II and after their first title loss to Philadelphia in 1960, the Packers never lost another playoff game under Starr â€" pretty good for a gut picked in the seventeenth round as an after-thought.
7. John Stallworth (fourth round 1974)
Looking back at the Pittsburgh Steelers’ dynasty of the 1970s, it’s easy to see why they were so dominant. They basically out-scouted every team in the league for a decade. Not only did guess correctly on some of their early round draft picks, but they struck it rich in the later rounds with Hall of Famers like Webster and Stallworth.
A lot of teams failed to recognize the immense talents of Stallworth who played at tiny, Alabama A&M. The coaches in the 1974 Senior Bowl played him at defensive back, rather than at wide receiver, which also didn’t help either. However, the Steelers brass â€" and former head coach, Chuck Knoll â€" knew better â€" and turned their selection of Stallworth into one of the greatest of all-time.
8. Terrell Davis, Broncos(sixth round 1995)
Before I get into Davis’ vast accomplishments, let me name some of the running backs selected ahead of him in 1995. Ki-Jana Carter (No. 1 overall) Larry Jones, Aaron Hayden and of course, Citadel’s Travis Jervey. Although Davis’ career was cut short because of injuries, a case could be made for him being one of the greatest running backs of all-time. Not only did he lead the Broncos to two consecutive Super Bowl titles, winning MVP honors in Super Bowl XXXII, but he also gained a total of 5,296 yards over a three-season period, including one of 2,00 plus yards.
9. Nick Buoniconti (thirteenth round 1962 AFL draft)
Incredibly, Buoniconti who played both ways at Notre Dame, was ignored by the NFL â€" and to a certain degree â€" the AFL as well - although he was eventually taken in the thirteenth round by the Boston Patriots. The 5-11, 220-pound middle linebacker (can you say Zach Thomas) went on to play 14 seasons with the Patriots and the Miami Dolphins and made an immediate impact at linebacker with the Patriots - helping the team capture the 1963 AFL Eastern Division title.
However, it was with my beloved Dolphins that Buoniconti achieved his greatest measure of admiration. The eight-time pro bowler helped the Dolphins reach three consecutive Super Bowls â€" and win two of them.
“Every play is like life or death,” Buoniconti once said. “I can’t think of anything except the play that is taking place at the moment.”
Maybe that’s exactly what the Patriots saw when they made Buoniconti their selection way back in 1962.
10. Shannon Sharpe (seventh round in 1990)
No matter what you think of Shannon Sharpe as an individual â€" although he is quite on the arrogant side â€" much like his brother Sterling - he’s really not that bad. As a three-time Super Bowl winner who played an integral part in all three victories, I couldn’t deny Sharpe’s place in history.
Sharpe helped the Broncos to the league title in 1997 and 1998 and then helped the Baltimore Ravens win the championship in 2000. The eight-time pro bowler finished his 14-year career with 815 receptions for 10,060 yards and 62 touchdowns in 204 games. Sharpe is the NFL's all-time receptions and yardage leader for a tight-end, as well as the second leading receiver in Denver Broncos history. He also holds the team’s single-game record for receiving yards, with 214 against the Kansas City Chiefs in 2002. Not to shabby for a guy picked in the seventh round.
So, there you have it. The 10 greatest draft picks in NFL history. Remember - one man’s trash can be another man’s treasure â€" and this list backs it up.
Eric Williams is a sports columnist for the Philadelphia Sunday Sun who can be heard every Wednesday at 3:15 eastern on BetUSsradio. Contact Eric at eklass66yahoo.
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