Black Monday Update

Well, it’s midnight-thirty and I can’t sleep. I’ve had a full day (yesterday now actually) of chasing news about Andy Reid becoming the new coach of the Kansas City Chiefs … or not maybe. The insiders are expecting it to be finalized later today (Friday); we’ll see.

As I thought about that, it struck me that we should revisit my blog from a month ago about coaches on the hot seat and see how accurate I was. I listed 10 warming seats. Let’s take another look at each one and see how I did.

Norv Turner, Chargers – He’s gone along with GM A.J. Smith, as expected. 1 for 1 so far.

Andy Reid, Eagles – As mentioned above, he’s in line for the Chiefs job, so he obviously was fired by Philadelphia. 2 for 2.

Romeo Crennel, Chiefs – Winning two games all season will do that. It was so bad that KC Owner Clark Hunt apologized to the fans. Crennel out; GM Scott Pioli may not be far behind. 3 for 3.

Ron Rivera, Panthers – GM Marty Hurney was fired but the Panthers’ late season run has saved Rivera so far. He’s probably safe. My first miss.

Jason Garrett, Cowboys – Owner Jerry Jones is NOT HAPPY with the ‘boys 8-8 finish. There will be changes, but I think Garrett is safe for one more year. Now I’m 3 for 5.

Rex Ryan, Jets – GM Mike Tannebaum got the ax, but Rex is safe. I’d expect OC Tony Sporano to get the boot, too. Their offense was pathetic.

Chan Gailey, Bills – After three underachieving season, Gailey is done in Buffalo. I expect him to catch on as an OC somewhere. That’s now 4 for 7.

Pat Shurmur, Browns – The Browns were improved, but new owner Jimmy Haslam is cleaning house and wants his own guys. President Mike Holmgrem and GM Tom Heckert are gone, too. 5 for 8.

Ken Whisenhunt, Cardinals – Going from 4-0 to 5-11 and having the worst QB situation in the entire league wasn’t good enough. Coach Whiz is out, but he’ll likely get another head job, maybe Buffalo. I’m now 6 for 9.

Mike Mularkey, Jaguars – He’s in place for now, but this may change. I expected Shad Khan to can him and bring in his own guy, and he still may do that. But it’s a miss for now. 6 for 10.

The one I missed … is Lovie Smith of the Bears. They won 10 games but didn’t make the playoffs because the Packers couldn’t beat the Vikings. That’s a tough one. He’ll land another gig, for sure.

Until next time, thanks for reading.

Steve

Top 10 NFL Coaches on the Hot Seat

Well, we’ve come to that time in the NFL season. It’s Week 13, and the playoff picture is coming into focus. The teams in the hunt are clear. And the teams simply playing out the string are painfully evident.

Here’s a list of coaches likely to be out of a job soon. Some will be put out to pasture at the end of the season, some maybe sooner.

Norv Turner, Chargers – This one is past due. Norv has been turning great talent into mediocre records for years in San Diego. He and A.J. Smith are both gone.

Andy Reid, Eagles – Owner Jeffrey Lurie said before the season that a repeat of last year’s 8-8 record wasn’t good enough. I don’t see any way Philly makes it back to .500. But Andy won’t be out of work for long.

Romeo Crennel, Chiefs – There’s no two ways about it. Having one win through 12 weeks will get you fired. Question is, will GM Scott Pioli get to choose the new HC or will he also be out of work?

Ron Rivera, Panthers – GM Marty Hurney is already gone. Can his hand-picked coach Ron Rivera, only in his second season in Carolina, be far behind? He’s likely gone as a new GM will want his own guy.

Jason Garrett, Cowboys – I’m not sure on this one. Jerry says he loves him, but Jerry hates losing more than he loves anything.

Rex Ryan, Jets – This call will probably be made by Jets Owner Woody Johnson. New York loves Rex, but will his two consecutive AFC Championship Game appearance get him one more year to prove it. He’s probably coming back.

Chan Gailey, Bills – He’s a good offensive coordinator, but it is obvious that this train is only going in circles. Gailey is likely let go.

Pat Shurmur, Browns – The Browns have been playing tough, improved football the past few weeks. But new owner Jimmy Haslam may have plans to install his coach. I expect to see Shurmur follow Mike Holmgren out the door.

Ken Whisenhunt, Cardinals – The Cards’ Superbowl appearance a couple season ago bought him some time and patience. This team seems to be headed in the wrong direction. It needs a good QB. And maybe a new coach.

Mike Mularkey, Jaguars – Nice guy. Bad head coach. The skiddish nature of Blaine Gabbert hasn’t helped. Doubt to see him back in Jax next season.

So who am I missing? Where do I have the order all messed up? Sound off; give me your list.

Thanks for reading.

Steve

 

Predicting the 2012 NFL Playoff Teams

It’s that time of the year when all the so-called national experts and football pundits take their shot at predicting the field of NFL playoff teams for the upcoming season. It’s a pretty mixed bag, with most of the ”predictions sure to go wrong” as ESPN’s Mike & Mike have labeled it. That’s pretty much the case here.

So with all the know-it-alls giving it a shot here in the last few days of the pre-season, I thought I’d throw my hat into the ring. I spend a lot of brainpower thinking about it anyway, so I just as well share it with the sporting world and make a jerk out of myself like everybody else.  Here goes …

*Division winners

~Wildcard teams

AFC North – Baltimore*, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati

The Ravens finally ride their offense to the post-season as Flacco blossoms.

AFC South – Houston,* Tennessee, Jacksonville, Indianapolis

Texans are too talented to not take advantage of a weak division.

AFC East – New England*, Buffalo~, NY Jets, Miami

New England reloads on D finally. Buffalo takes a step forward.

AFC West – Kansas City,* Denver~, San Diego, Oakland

The Chiefs ACL crew returns with a vengeance. Peyton leads Broncos to a wildcard.

AFC playoff teams – Baltimore, Buffalo, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, New England

NFC North – Green Bay*, Chicago~, Detroit, Minnesota

Packers repeat at division champs, but the Bears are much improved.

NFC South – Atlanta*, Carolina, New Orleans, Tampa Bay

The Falcons finally put it all together. The Saints are distracted. Carolina continues to climb.

NFC East – Philadelphia*, Dallas~, NY Giants, Washington

Can the Eagles play finally equal its talent? It all hinges on Vick’s health.

NFC West – San Francisco*, Seattle, Arizona, St. Louis

Harbaugh and gang fall back to the pack slightly, but still manhandle a weak division.

NFC playoff teams – ­Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Green Bay, Philadelphia, San Francisco

Super Bowl prediction: Baltimore v Chicago

The Ravens offense and defense put it all together in 2012, thanks to the arm of Flacco and Ray Rice’s all-around play. The D isn’t bad, either. Ray Lewis goes out on top.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Come on … give it a shot. Who do you think will be the surprise and potential flop teams this season?

Until next time, thanks for reading.

Steve

The NFL’s Top 10 RBs for 2012

As the first installment in a series of blogs I’ll be doing over the next two weeks leading up to NFL Kickoff Weekend … here are my thoughts on the best running backs in the NFL, right now. Not what they’ve done in the past, but rather what we can expect from them this season.

1. Arian Foster – Two-time defending rushing champion. Hard to argue with that.
2. Ray Rice – The bowling ball from Rutgers. Who wants to tackle that thing.
3. LeSean McCoy – Has been called the nearest thing we’ve seen to Barry Sanders.
4. Chris Johnson – CJ2K had a down year last year, but looks electric in the pre-season.
5. Maurice Jones-Drew – Now the man in Jax, he’s holding out. That hurts his ranking.
6. Adrian Peterson – Would be No. 1 except for that December knee injury.
7. Matt Forte – Mr. Do It All with no fanfare. Forte is solid in all phases.
8. Jamaal Charles – He’s a virtual carbon copy of Johnson, but with less baggage.
9. Steven Jackson – Rams all-time leading rusher. Five straight 1,000-yard seasons.
10. Michael Turner – He’s carried the ball a ton. May be set for a down year.

Best of the Rest – (listed alphabetically) Ahmad Bradshaw, Frank Gore, Fred Jackson, Ryan Mathews, Darren McFadden. These guys are all great backs, but each of them have yet to put in all together on a consistent basis either due to injury, opportunity or production.

Who am I missing? And how would you list them?

Thanks for reading.

Steve

NFL Week 8: Games to Watch

I'm headed to Michigan tomorrow with seven guys from church for a weekend getaway at Life Action Camp in Buchanan (http://www.lifeactioncamp.com/retreats-events/momentum/). I'm not going to have my usual time to break down this week's key games, so you're going to get an abbreviated version.

I had a terrible week last week, going 0-4 with my picks. That brings my overall record to 17-11. Yuck.

Here are this week's four games to watch ... 

REDSKINS (3-3) @ BILLS (4-2)

Buffalo 31, Washington 17

PATRIOTS (5-1) @ STEELERS (5-2) 

Pittsburgh 24, New England 23

COWBOYS (3-3) @ EAGLES (2-4)
Philadelphia 27, Dallas 24

LIONS (5-2) @ BRONCOS (2-4) 

Detroit 31, Denver 17

Missouri Round-up

The Missouri Tigers are in Lubbock to take on Texas Tech; probably another road loss. The Rams host the Saints, and will lose big. The Chiefs host the Chargers, with the winner taking over first place in the AFC West. I think they'll do it and bring their record to 4-3, which is unbelievable considering how they started the season.

Thanks for reading.

Steve

NFL Week 6: Games to Watch

We are five weeks into the 2011 NFL Regular Season and if there’s one thing for sure, this year is turning out to be the season of surprise – surprises positive and surprises negative. On the plus side, we have great unexpected success stories in Buffalo, Detroit, San Francisco and Washington. And on the down end, we have teams laying eggs like Indianapolis, Minnesota, Philadelphia and St. Louis.

 

Two months ago, who would have thought the 49ers at Lions game would one of the biggest ones on the Week 6 schedule. Well, it is. And the records for the teams in the Eagles-Skins game are backwards from what everyone expected. That’s why they play the games.

Last week I went 3-1 on these preview games; overall I'm 15-5.

Here are four of this week’s best games.

49ERS (4-1) @ LIONS (5-0)

These two teams are the talk of the NFL football world, going a combined 9-1 through five weeks of games. Detroit was somewhat expected; San Francisco was not. The 49ers were terrible last year, they have a rookie head coach and the lockout kept them from installing a new system this summer. None of it seems to have mattered. And the Lions are rolling, winning in every conceivable fashion. The edge goes to the Lions playing at home.

Detroit 31, San Francisco 24

BILLS (4-1) @ GIANTS (3-2)

This is a hard game to figure. Buffalo is one the real surprises of the season so far; the team’s only loss so far is a road loss to the Bengals. The Bills have beaten New England, Oakland and Philadelphia, and certainly look like a team that is for real. The Giants are, again this year, one of those tough teams that just seem to find a way to win. Their defense has been hit hard by injuries, but they find a way to put players on the field and gut out hard-fought victories. The G-Men do it again this week, but just barely.

New York 24, Buffalo 23

EAGLES (1-4) @ REDSKINS (3-1)

It’s hard to say which of these teams is a bigger surprise – Philly on the down side or Washington on the plus side. Everyone has heard all about the Eagles’ talent and how they were supposed to be winning. And everyone has grown accustomed to doubting the Redskins’ talent and Mike Shanahan’s coaching. Well, maybe Washington is finally putting it together. The team is leading the NFC East and hosts the reeling Eagles. They keep on surprising and the Eagles keep on falling.

Washington 27, Philadelphia 24

TEXANS (3-2) @ RAVENS (3-1)

At the beginning of the year, most folks probably looked at this match-up and just marked is as an easy win for the Ravens. And maybe it will be anyway. But when you look closer at this game, it gets more and more interesting. The Texans are balanced on offense, and Wade Phillips finally has the team playing some defense. The Ravens are a hard team to figure, going hot and cold from week to week. Flacco is still inconsistent, but Ray Rice is the offensive engine. He’ll deliver again.

Baltimore 23, Houston 21

Missouri Round-up

The Missouri Tigers celebrate the centennial of the Homecoming where homecomings all began. Mizzou welcomes the Iowa State Cyclones to town for the big party, and everybody remotely associated with the university hopes they don’t spoil it. The Tigers are 2-3 and already 0-2 in conference play; I don’t see how they can lose this one at home. The Chiefs are off on their BYE this weekend, and the Rams will probably wish they were by the time they leave Green Bay. I fully expect the Packers to destroy St. Louis’ undermanned Rams. Run for cover, fellas.

As always, thanks for reading.

Steve