September 30, 2009
Now that we are three weeks into the NFL season, it seems like the only thing that we really know is that we don’t know much of anything. If there is one game that sums up the way this season has gone, it is last week’s matchup in Cincinnati between the Bengals and the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers.
Coming off a last-second loss in Chicago the week before, in which kicker Jeff Reed had missed two field goals in the last 10 minutes of the game, everyone expected that the Steelers would find a way to win against Cincinnati. The Bengals had looked better than people expected in their first two games, but people still considered the Bengals at least a step below a team like Pittsburgh.
But the Bengals had something else in mind. Trailing 20-9 at the start of the fourth quarter, with an interception return for a touchdown as the only real offense Cincinnati had put together, quarterback Carson Palmer orchestrated two touchdown drives in the final quarter, including hitting Andre Caldwell for a touchdown on fourth-and-goal from the 4-yard-line with 14 seconds left, to give the Bengals a 23-20 win.
Now, who knows how good Cincinnati is, or how bad Pittsburgh is? I can’t say with any certainty either way. What all of that does mean, however, is that it’s a perfect time to do power rankings for all 32 NFL teams, and see just how wrong they will look in another week or so.
With all of that said, here are my rankings, from No. 32 to No. 1: Read the rest of this entry »
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NFL | Tagged: Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants, New York Jets, Oakland Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Diego Chargers, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, St. Louis Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans, Washington Redskins | 
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Posted by tbontemps1
September 29, 2009
After posting Tuesday’s piece about whether or not Tony Romo is any good, I started to think about whether or not I would place Romo ahead of Eli Manning, as I mentioned I might in the piece, and then I tried to rank him amongst all of the quarterbacks in football.
That process led me to decide I needed to create a list of all of the quarterbacks in the league, who I ranked into nine tiers. Here is my list, starting with No. 32 and progressing up to No. 1: Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger, Brady Quinn, Brett Favre, Carson Palmer, Chad Pennington, David Garrard, Donovan McNabb, Drew Brees, Eli Manning, Jake Delhomme, JaMarcus Russell, Jason Campbell, Jay Cutler, Joe Flacco, Josh Johnson, Kerry Collins, Kurt Warner, Kyle Orton, Marc Bulger, Mark Sanchez, Matt Cassel, Matt Hasselbeck, Matt Ryan, Matt Schaub, Matthew Stafford, Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers, Shaun Hill, Tom Brady, Tony Romo, Trent Edwards | Permalink
Posted by tbontemps1
September 28, 2009
For the better part of three years now, Brett Favre has made sure he’s been the biggest story in the National Football League. As he traveled from Green Bay to New York and now Minnesota, fans from all across the league have grown sick of his Pied Piper act, as he’s retired, then unretired, then retired again while becoming a carpetbagger in his late 30s.
But then Favre comes up with moments of brilliance, like yesterday’s last-second pass to Greg Lewis in the back of the end zone, handing the Vikings a heart-stopping 27-24 win over the 49ers, that take you back in time to when he won the league’s MVP award three straight years, and make you remember just how he became such a beloved player in the first place.
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Leave a Comment » | NFL | Tagged: Bernard Berrian, Brett Favre, Green Bay Packers, Greg Lewis, Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets, Percy Harvin, San Francisco 49ers | Permalink
Posted by tbontemps1
September 22, 2009
Tony Romo has thrown for a lot of touchdown passes as quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. He has won a lot of games for Jerry Jones in his three-plus seasons as the team’s starting signal caller.
But the question remains, and may be being asked louder than ever after Romo’s horrendous showing Sunday night in the debut of Jones’ new cathedral of football: Is he any good? Read the rest of this entry »
1 Comment | NFL | Tagged: Brett Favre, Chad Pennington, Dallas Cowboys, Eli Manning, Jerry Jones, Joe Flacco, Kenny Phillips, Lawrence Tynes, Mark Sanchez, Matthew Stafford, New York Giants, R.W. McQuarters, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Terrell Owens, Tony Romo, Wade Phillips | Permalink
Posted by tbontemps1
September 21, 2009
In the aftermath of Floyd Mayweather’s unanimous decision victory over Juan Manuel Marquez Saturday night, the common refrain seemed to be not how dominant Mayweather had been in the fight, but instead why he didn’t knock Marquez out, or why he had even bothered to fight the man at all.
The criticism was laughable, but, then again, the criticism often is laughable when it comes to the man who calls himself “Money”. Floyd Mayweather is the most gifted boxer in the business, and has never been pushed even close to his breaking point in a fight. Because of that, people are always left wanting more when he cruises from beginning to end, as he did Saturday night, and dismantles his opponent – who, this time, just happened to be the near-consensus No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter in the world entering the fight. Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Boxing | Tagged: Floyd Mayweather Jr., Juan Manuel Marquez, Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, Oscar De La Hoya, Paul Williams, Shane Mosley | Permalink
Posted by tbontemps1
September 19, 2009
The Boston Bruins were one of the best teams in the National Hockey League last season, equipped with solid goaltending from Tim Thomas and a versatile defense led by 6-foot-9 behemoth Zdeno Chara.
But the thing that changed the Bruins last season from a decent team to one that could really contend for a Stanley Cup was the depth and versatility of their forward lines. Between Marc Savard, David Krejci, Milan Lucic, Chuck Kobasew and others, Boston could not only play a variety of styles, but had a group of players that would be able to play together for several years.
The one player who made it all go, however, was Phil Kessel. The Bruins finished second in the NHL in goals last season, and Kessel, who had 36 of them, was the only player on the team to finish among the league’s Top 30 goalscorers (13th). But even more than that, Kessel is still just 23 years old.
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Leave a Comment » | NHL | Tagged: Boston Bruins, Chuck Kobasew, David Krejci, Derek Morris, Marc Savard, Milan Lucic, Peter Chiarelli, Phil Kessel, Toronto Maple Leafs, Zdeno Chara | Permalink
Posted by tbontemps1
September 15, 2009
The situation is one that you hope for as a team in the National Football League, especially on the road – an 11-point lead with five minutes left. For 55 minutes, the Buffalo Bills had played about as well as they could have played, and they had a healthy 24-13 lead over the New England Patriots – a team that had beaten them 11 times in a row – to show for it.
Now this isn’t to say the Bills played flawless football; they had a miserable (but expected) showing from faux left tackle Demetrius Bell, and they had less than stellar performances from their star combo of wideouts, Lee Evans and Terrell Owens. But they did get a strong showing from running back Fred Jackson, and despite allowing tons of yardage, the defense had managed to keep the high-powered Patriots offense out of the end zone.
Most teams would find a way to win this game. But as the Patriots took the field with five minutes remaining, only one thing was going through my mind: how were the Bills going to lose this game?
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1 Comment | NFL | Tagged: Ben Watson, Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Demetrius Bell, Dick Jauron, Fred Jackson, Lee Evans, Leodis McKelvin, New England Patriots, Phil Dawson, Ralph Wilson, Rian Lindell, Terrell Owens, Tom Brady, Trent Edwards | Permalink
Posted by tbontemps1
September 6, 2009
The first weekend in college football is always celebrated for finally bringing competitive football back to the American people for the first time since the Super Bowl in February. But, usually, the vast majority of the games on the sport’s first weekend are as competitive as Germany’s invasion of Poland, with the top teams generally scheduling cupcakes to guarantee a win and work out any kinks on both sides of the ball.
That idea was on display all across the country, from Gainesville, Fla. (Florida’s 62-3 win over Charleston Southern) to Austin, Texas (Texas’ 59-20 win over Louisiana-Monroe) to Los Angeles (USC’s 56-3 win over San Jose State). But in several instances throughout the country, and three in particular, teams did their best to schedule exciting, competitive games – proving they both weren’t afraid to test themselves against quality opposition and that they were willing to suffer the consequences if they didn’t play up to their capabilities.
And that is why Oklahoma, Georgia and Virginia Tech should all be celebrated for playing BYU, Oklahoma State and Alabama, respectively. Despite the fact that all three dropped to 0-1 – and may have been knocked out of the national title chase in the process because of the idiotic BCS – they need to be applauded for being willing to take on quality opponents instead of cupcakes.
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Leave a Comment » | College Football | Tagged: Alabama, BYU, Georgia, Jermaine Gresham, Mark Ingram, Max Hall, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Sam Bradford, Virginia Tech | Permalink
Posted by tbontemps1
September 2, 2009
Josh McDaniels came to the Denver Broncos from Bill Belichick’s staff in New England heralded as a “genius”, in the wake of the way he nearly seamlessly (or as close to seamlessly as he can) got Matt Cassel up to speed last season after Tom Brady’s devastating knee injury in the first game of the season against the Chiefs. But ever since the moment he replaced Mike Shanahan and became the Broncos head coach, it has seemed like McDaniels has attempted to go out of his way to disprove that notion at every possible turn.
First, there was Jay Cutler. For some reason that no one still seems to understand, McDaniels toyed with the idea of putting together a three-team trade with the Chiefs and Patriots to have his former quarterback, Cassel, follow him to Denver, and would allow Cutler to go to Kansas City and become the face of that franchise. But when Cassel was dealt straight to the Chiefs instead, McDaniels was left with egg on his face when Cutler – the organization’s mid-20′s franchise quarterback – found out about the potential swap and then demanded to actually be dealt.
After plenty of posturing by both sides, Cutler eventually was dealt to the Chicago Bears for a few draft picks and Kyle Orton. Since then, Orton has had a miserable training camp, and could potentially be beaten out for the starting job by Chris Simms. But while that has been going on, McDaniels has again been detrimental in a situation that has led to the organization’s remaining franchise-defining player, wide receiver Brandon Marshall, to want to leave as well.
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Leave a Comment » | NFL | Tagged: Bill Belichick, Brandon Marshall, Chicago Bears, Chris Simms, Denver Broncos, Jay Cutler, Josh McDaniels, Kansas City Chiefs, Kyle Orton, Mark Sanchez, Matt Cassel, New England Patriots, New York Jets | Permalink
Posted by tbontemps1
September 1, 2009
Since Adam “Pacman” Jones was selected sixth overall by the Tennessee Titans in the 2005 NFL Draft, he has gone through a series of incidents that have run him straight out of the league. After spending all of 2007 suspended by the league, the Cowboys acquired him for a fifth round pick last year, only to have him go through more trouble with the law.
Now, with today’s news that Jones is headed to the Canadian Football League to play for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the cold, hard realization should be setting in for him: this is his last chance to prove he can grow up and be a contributor to society, and, more importantly to him and his bottom line, he can be a contributor to a NFL team.
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1 Comment | NFL | Tagged: Adam "Pacman" Jones, CFL, Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones, Tennessee Titans, Winnipeg Blue Bombers | Permalink
Posted by tbontemps1
