The 2008 season provided no lack of quality story lines and many of them came straight from the AFC EAST .
Bert Favor got the Jets off to a 9 - 3 start . Tom Brady got hurt for the year early in week one and the lowly Miami Dolphins turned in the greatest single season turn around in NFL history . ( without a dancing Jason Taylor ) . Now as the season progressed young Matt Cassel steadily improved while an ageing Bert Favor got old quickly and the Dolphins managed to win the division .
****EDITORS NOTE****** The author of this blog ( Peter D McGarry ) is a lifelong Green Bay Packer fan and after 16 years of defending # 4 has decided it is no longer in his best interest to ever say that name correctly again . ************************************************
That being said the 2009 AFC EAST is again the source of several multiple compelling stories . Tom Brady is back , Favor is gone and the worlds biggest and baddest crybaby has moved to Buffalo . It could prove to be an interesting year , but not in the win/loss columns .
The Dolphins and Bills are improving but the records wont show it . Even if the Bills are more competitive this year with T.O. they are not going to start any better than 8 - 4 at the absolute most . That would be remarkable for starters but the real downer is that they finish off the season with the Pats , @ Atlanta , and finally home to the Colts . If they aren't 10 and 3 going into that then they aint making the dance .
Like wise the Jets have a lot of talented players but figure to loose some close games as neither the rookie Sanchez or the backup Clemons give them a proven closer .
Now the dolphins are a good team again but they just don't have the fire power to compete with the Patriots for the whole season . Not to mention they start the season going to Atlanta , home for the Colts , and @ San Diego before division games with rivals Buffalo and the Jets . With a bye in week 6 the Dolphins could be 1 an 4 . That would make them spoilers at best .
Which brings us to the New England Patriots . I only have one stat . When Tom Brady starts more than 4 games in a season the Pats win the division . Barring injury it will hold true in 2009 .
PREDICTION
NEW ENGLAND - ( 13 - 3 )
MIAMI - ( 9 - 7 )
NEW YORK - ( 6 - 10 )
BUFFALO - ( 6 - 10 )
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Monday Night Gruden ?
One word . I'm in !
Despite the fact that it is still the pre-season I got my first taste of Jon Gruden in the box tonight and I loved it .
Believe it or not the meaningless Monday Night tilt between the Ravens and Jets tonight was kind of entertaining . Not because it was the ' quote machine ' Rex Ryan's first appearance against his old team , or because it was the first real test for jets first round rookie photo shoot . I mean quarterback . ( sorry ) The reason ? Jon ' Chucky ' Gruden was in the house . I think this is going to work .
Now I've always considered Mike Torrico to be an admirable sports caster . Always informed , always well prepared , speaks well , ( obviously ) and always seems to be genuinely exited about the contest at hand . Regardless of the sport . Not to mention he IS a Syracuse grad . But to me one of his best qualities is his ability to mediate between two loudmouths with big egos , a la the great James Brown . I think old Mike is enjoy this particular setting .
We already know what Ron Jaworski is all about and now we have the ultimate football fan in Jon Gruden in there with them . Awesome . Good old ' Chucky ' the grinder himself . I love a color guy that actually knows the ins and outs of the game , which Gruden most certainly does . I'm really looking forward to some titanic arguments between he and Jaws . They have played nice so far but you know it's only a matter of time M.T. is doing his best not to laugh his ass off at these two NFL know-it-alls .
I can't freaking wait . Monday nights just got a lot better in my book .
Despite the fact that it is still the pre-season I got my first taste of Jon Gruden in the box tonight and I loved it .
Believe it or not the meaningless Monday Night tilt between the Ravens and Jets tonight was kind of entertaining . Not because it was the ' quote machine ' Rex Ryan's first appearance against his old team , or because it was the first real test for jets first round rookie photo shoot . I mean quarterback . ( sorry ) The reason ? Jon ' Chucky ' Gruden was in the house . I think this is going to work .
Now I've always considered Mike Torrico to be an admirable sports caster . Always informed , always well prepared , speaks well , ( obviously ) and always seems to be genuinely exited about the contest at hand . Regardless of the sport . Not to mention he IS a Syracuse grad . But to me one of his best qualities is his ability to mediate between two loudmouths with big egos , a la the great James Brown . I think old Mike is enjoy this particular setting .
We already know what Ron Jaworski is all about and now we have the ultimate football fan in Jon Gruden in there with them . Awesome . Good old ' Chucky ' the grinder himself . I love a color guy that actually knows the ins and outs of the game , which Gruden most certainly does . I'm really looking forward to some titanic arguments between he and Jaws . They have played nice so far but you know it's only a matter of time M.T. is doing his best not to laugh his ass off at these two NFL know-it-alls .
I can't freaking wait . Monday nights just got a lot better in my book .
Thursday, August 20, 2009
He Shoots ... He Scores !
Over the years many a theory has been put forth as to the affect video games and Hollywood movies have on person's grasp of reality . Does over indulgence in the world of fantasy eventually warp an individuals ability to separate make believe from reality ? Can a murderer be be forgiven his crime due to his own desensitization ? Very few of us are qualified to accurately judge the mental capacities of another human mind . Personally I've always thought that for one to be so heavily influenced by fantasy that they can no longer tell the difference between it and reality , that that person had to have a couple of miss firing synapses in the first place .
That was until I got home from work tonight , fired up the old flat screen entertainment rectangle , and tuned in to the evening ESPN feed . Where upon I saw ( or at least I think I saw ) Chad Ochocinco , a wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals kicking the extra point after the Bengals only score against the Patriots .
Suddenly disoriented and confused I tried to shake it off . Telling myself I must have been mistaken . Only to then be further blown way as the very same ' receiver ' proceeded to put his foot to the ensuing kickoff ! ................ What ? Did that really happen ? No , no it couldn't have . No professional football team would conduct these kinds of on field hi jinks . Not even in the pre season . Not even the Raiders would do such a thing .
No I think it's a far more logical explanation of events that I have simply lost my mind . I believe my conscious mind has finally given up and left me stuck in a perpetual after midnight Madden bender . You know before the days when you could play online . The days when you had seen every conceivable scenario the computer had to offer on it's own and you began to randomly change the players positions just to keep it interesting .
Oh don't act like you don't know what I mean Gamers . You remember how it starts . ' Ok lets see what happens if put I put Jerry Rice in at running back . ' Interesting , but only for a minute . ' Now what if i do that to the whole league ? or better yet let me see which middle linebacker will lead the league in rushing if they are all playing halfback ' now we are talking !
But alas that first high can never last . After Ray Lewis leads the NFL in rushing for the 2nd year in a row it becomes the Law of Diminishing Return . The 2nd , 3rd , and 4th crazy ideas you come up with are never as good as the previous one . So before long ( as the sun is coming up your on beloved Saturday night ) you hit rock bottom and make all the kickers qb's , all the qb's wide receivers , and all the wr's kickers .
This is the only way to see Chad Ochocinco kicking an extra point . Unless of course you are me and have completely lost control of your mental faculties . But don't feel bad for me America . When you are busy watching your predictable playoff scenarios play out , I'll be watching the Washington Redskins win the Superbowl as Pro-Bowl halfback Albert Haynesworth rushes for an unprecedented 3000 yards and Jamarcus Russel leads the league in sacks .
Yeah , top that..................reality
That was until I got home from work tonight , fired up the old flat screen entertainment rectangle , and tuned in to the evening ESPN feed . Where upon I saw ( or at least I think I saw ) Chad Ochocinco , a wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals kicking the extra point after the Bengals only score against the Patriots .
Suddenly disoriented and confused I tried to shake it off . Telling myself I must have been mistaken . Only to then be further blown way as the very same ' receiver ' proceeded to put his foot to the ensuing kickoff ! ................ What ? Did that really happen ? No , no it couldn't have . No professional football team would conduct these kinds of on field hi jinks . Not even in the pre season . Not even the Raiders would do such a thing .
No I think it's a far more logical explanation of events that I have simply lost my mind . I believe my conscious mind has finally given up and left me stuck in a perpetual after midnight Madden bender . You know before the days when you could play online . The days when you had seen every conceivable scenario the computer had to offer on it's own and you began to randomly change the players positions just to keep it interesting .
Oh don't act like you don't know what I mean Gamers . You remember how it starts . ' Ok lets see what happens if put I put Jerry Rice in at running back . ' Interesting , but only for a minute . ' Now what if i do that to the whole league ? or better yet let me see which middle linebacker will lead the league in rushing if they are all playing halfback ' now we are talking !
But alas that first high can never last . After Ray Lewis leads the NFL in rushing for the 2nd year in a row it becomes the Law of Diminishing Return . The 2nd , 3rd , and 4th crazy ideas you come up with are never as good as the previous one . So before long ( as the sun is coming up your on beloved Saturday night ) you hit rock bottom and make all the kickers qb's , all the qb's wide receivers , and all the wr's kickers .
This is the only way to see Chad Ochocinco kicking an extra point . Unless of course you are me and have completely lost control of your mental faculties . But don't feel bad for me America . When you are busy watching your predictable playoff scenarios play out , I'll be watching the Washington Redskins win the Superbowl as Pro-Bowl halfback Albert Haynesworth rushes for an unprecedented 3000 yards and Jamarcus Russel leads the league in sacks .
Yeah , top that..................reality
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