Sportaholic NFL Power Rankings Week 13

The AFC playoff picture is about as cloudy as Lindsay Lohan’s caree path. It’s a train wreck but no one can stop watching. This much is clear in the AFC, someone has to win the conference. It’s just hard to tell who it will be at this point. If the season ended today the Houston Texans would be the AFC’s top seed sitting at 10-3 with two missing QBs and their best defensive player. Baltimore would be # 2 but they seem to save their worst games for their worst opponents with two of their three losses coming to cellar dweller Jacksonville and a Seattle team that scares no one. At # 3 would be the Patriots and its been well chronicled how woeful that defense can be at its worst moments. I always knew Tom Brady played with a chip on his shoulder but geez does he have to go in on his offensive coordinator with such fire? If you can read lips, well really when I think about it you don’t even have to know how to see the venom that Brady was spitting at offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien.


As a result of the shortcomings of the front-runners of the conference, in my opinion it makes for a wide open race. Any team that gets hot (Read: Denver Broncos) at that perfect moment can really steal the conference. That goes for all the bottom teams as well as all they have to do is ride their momentum and they could topple a Houston, Pittsburgh or whoever ends with the top seed in the conference.

In the NFC it’s a different story as the Packers continue their quest to go undefeated and clearly the best team in all of football. San Francisco and New Orleans each have a commanding lead in their respective divisions as well. The only division race that is up for grabs at this point is the NFC East or should I say the least with the way Dallas and New York are fumbling and bumbling all the way to the finish line. This is a role reversal as over the past decade its usually been the NFC that was scrambling to find the dominant team of the conference.

1. Green Bay Packers (12-0) – Their demolition of the Raiders couldn’t have gone better if it wasn’t for the loss of WR Greg Jennings. He was the team’s leader in recpetions with 67 and only second to Jordy Nelson in receving yards and touchdowns. This will slow down that vaunted passing attack and the you tell the Packers didn’t take any other risks after the Jennings as Rodgers and most of the other starters were taking out on the next series. That is the biggest unknown in Green Bay’s pursuit of perfection as injuries always play a role in a team’s season. The Pack has to make sure that their priorities are in order as they have to stay healthy more than they need to go undefeated. If another star player goes down look for the Packers to shut it down.

2. Baltimore Ravens (10-3) – I thought Indy might stand a chance against the Ravens as we all have seen how Baltimore seems to play down to their competition. But there was no let down this time for John Harbaugh’s team as they did what they were suppose. It was a nothing to see here victory that keeps them on top of the AFC North. Looking at their schedule they should at least win two out of three and take the division and se themselves up with a # 2 seed and a first round bye.

3. New Orleans Saints (10-3) – The Saints league leading offense looked downright pedestrian for 3 quarters against the Titans before finally waking up. It was a dog fight to the end as Jake Locker made some big plays but he couldn’t make the biggest one at the end of the game and spared them. You have to win games like that in this league. Winning ugly is better than losing pretty that much is for sure. Once the playoffs start games will slow down defenses will be ready so games like this are inevitable. I do still have my doubts about New Orleans secondary as they gave three big pass plays in this game. As long as Brees is standing upright though, this team has a chance at the Lombardi trophy.

4. Pittsburgh Steelers (10-3) – Was James Harrison’s hit on Colt McCoy worth a suspension? Considering it was Harrison, the NFL”s poster boy of big hits who has been fined over 100k since he began playing then I guess. But this is getting quite ridiculous that guys on defense can’t do what you pay them to do. It was a vicious hit I will agree to that but what was Harrison suppose to do? McCoy was ripe for a big hit and there is no way Harrison can just turn it off once he is in motion. The bigger problem I had in that game was the Browns training staff allowing McCoy to back into game when he clearly was concussed. The NFL may have a ticking time bomb on its hand as 5-10 years from now we will see a lot of guys who are not going to be in the best mind frame from all those concussions. Big Ben also suffered a bad ankle sprain in the game but he’s a gamer and I fully expect him to be in uniform for their big game against the 49ers.

5. New England Patriots (10-3) – The Pats have finally cracked the top 5 again on the strength of their 5 game winning streak. I wasn’t impressed with their victory over the Redskins as that defense again allowed to many points to Washington’s terrible offense. When Rex Grossman is looking good against your team then your team defense is a problem. And then we had the whole Tom Brady-Bill O’Brien shouting match on the sidelines. When it was all said and done the Pats took home the victory (Thanks to Grossman’s mistakes of course) and it puts them in the driver seat for the AFC East. They will have their hands full with the Denver Tebows especially with that league worst passing defense but more on that later.

News and Notes from the league:

Tebow and the Broncos do it yet again: Its so redundant at this point but I just have to ask the question once again? How in the hell are the Broncos able to do this week in and week out? Now granted they had a little help this time from Marion Barber as his two bonehead plays (Not staying inbounds on one play and fumbling on the next). Its just crazy how every week they seem to just hang around in the game and then just take the other team to the woodshed in the fourth quarter. Matt Prater deserves a lot of praise with his two +50 yard field goals as well. Now is this divine intervention as Tebow’s preacher is claiming in Denver? I don’t know and I don’t even want to speculate into something like that but you have to admit it does seem like Tebow is playing for a higher cause. We will really see what they are made of when they face New England this weekend’s premier game. Can’t wait to watch that one.

Cowobys lose again on last second FG miss: To be Cowboys fan these days has to be torture. You have your team up by 12 points with less than six minutes to play and somehow, someway they find a way to lose the game. While a friend and I were watching the game, we could just sense that Dallas letting the game slip away. After Miles Austin short-armed Tony Romo’s deep pass it was all but over for the Cowboys psyche. When a team is use to losing close games as Dallas is, all it takes is for one thing to go wrong in crunch time and all those doubts and fear begin to reappear. The game shouldn’t even have been in question by the time Giants stud linemen Jason Pierre-Paul blocked the game tying field goal. The Cowboys have to find a way to finish games and it may be too late this season to figure it out. The Giants on the other hand ended a four game losing streak and took control of the NFC East.

Sportaholic best games of the weekend:

New England Patriots (10-3) vs. Denver Broncos (8-5) – Tebow’s magic versus Brady’s golden arm in what should be an epic showdown. Brady and Belichek will surely say all the right things this week but come Sunday they will be ready to shatter the white Broncos Tebow aura. Tebow should actually have a lot of success against the Pats awful pass defense but more than likely he will struggle until the fourth and then go bonkers like he always does.

Detroit Lions (8-5) vs. Oakland Raiders (7-6) – Something has to give with the Raiders and Carson Palmer. He looked flat out horrible against the Packers last week and if he is to prove Hue Jackson and the organization right about the trade they pulled he has to at least put competitive performances. For the Lions they basically have to win out to secure a playoff spot with Dallas now breathing down their neck

San Francisco 49ers (10-3) vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (10-3) – This one just has playoffs oozing out of it. Two post season bound teams meeting in San Fran for a Monday night tile so of course you can count me in for this one. The niners are coming off an embarssing lost to the Cardinals so they should be ready to come out and raise hell. Will Big Ben play? Of course he will because like he earlier he is a gamer.

Women's Top 5 Reason's For Loving Football

Ashley Danielle is back! She is chronicling the rise of women in today’s NFL and also the top 5 reasons women love the game of football so much.

Things have definitely changed since the first days of leather helmets and footballs. The biggest change in my opinion is the inclusion of women into the testosterone and ego filled world that is the NFL. Back in the old days, women tended to be at a football game for one or two reasons: A family member was playing or they were a cheerleader. Fast forward to now and the game has exploded on the woman front as there are now women only fantasy football leagues and women catered football parties. Even the NFL has recognized the potential women gold mine as they now have a separate apparel line to cater to females. What we see as the norm now in Erin Andrews, Pam Oliver, and Suzy Kolber reporting on the sidelines was non-existent about 20 or 30 years ago. The change in football culture has been stunning as most women viewed the sport as downright barbaric not long ago, but modern women are some of the most passionate fans of all nowadays.

To give us more insight on the woman and football phenomenon we bring in former Titans cheerleader Ashley Danielle to give us her thoughts and share her top 5 reasons women and football are enjoying such a great relationship these now.

So sorry that I have been on hiatus but I am happy to get back to writing! Women do have more power in the world of the NFL than previous years and that is a huge stepping stone. Female reporters, photographers and even cheerleaders grace the sidelines during the games which make us somewhat of a sideline distraction. We've put in years of hard work to get to that point and I'm proud to have been apart of that. Female fantasy football leagues and parties are on the come up and I think should get more into that in the near future. Something that Carlos did not mention was the all female football league. I don't know about any of you but I keep up with the LFL now. Those ladies bring a whole new light to football. If you haven't seen them then you're seriously slacking!

Now I must say that the top 5 reasons that I love football would not be the same for the general population of females. I'll try to keep my extensive football knowledge out of this....hehe!

The top five reasons women love the game....

5. Tackling

This is a sensitive subject because yes the sport can be barbaric to most women. The thought of 200 pound men hitting each other is not what they want to see on a Sunday afternoon. Don't get me wrong but there are some ladies that do like seeing hits. I actually find myself cringing with excitement when someone gets leveled from a kickoff or punt return. The women that love tackling are the same ones that enjoy WWE, professional boxing, MMA or anything that has to do with extreme sports. Finding a girl who loves hits just as much as you do is a total rarity and I would advise keeping your guard up if you ever find one!

4. Love of the game!

Some of the female population actually know what in the hell is going on out there on the field. These lovely ladies purely love the sport or secretly wish that they could put on the pads and make some tackles themselves. (Especially if the game is less than spectacular!) These women may be mom's of sons that play football or grew up around the sport itself. I happen to be one of these women. I love the game, everything that comes with it and cry like a baby in February when it's all over!

Now we get to the girly stuff...

3. Tailgaiting/Beer

Who doesn't love to tailgate hours before the game and knock a few cold ones back? These women may not know much about the game but they sure do know how to have a good time. Great relationships can be made when you're tailgating. This is where women learn information about the game that they would otherwise be oblivous to. For instance, Kristie was invited to the game by a coworker. While tailgating she may learn who played the Titans last week and scored the winning touchdown. Kristie, who knows very little about the game, can now say she learned something very valuable the next time she's out on a date. You never know when Kristie may have to answer a trivia question about week 8...lol! Kristie now has a new perspective of the game of football and looks enticing to the guys. How great?!

2. Looks

Some guys just look AMAZING. Point blank, period! Not only are they great professional athletes but they have the entire package including a great face. Although I love the sport, there are some players that just make me feel like I've walked into a sauna. I am not the only girl that thinks this guys.... remember that!! If you don't find your lady staring too hard at the television, especially when Miles Austin gets a close up, then you should leave her! I'm just saying.

1. Uniforms

Now I know plenty of divas that watch the game purely to see men in uniform. It's so sad to say but those posterior regions look rather nice in pads and that's why we don't mind sitting for 3 hours to watch the game with you. Hey...what can I say?! Men have there reasons of watching women's tennis; we have a reason to watch the game. The best asse....ahem...uniforms include the Cowboys, Ravens, Saints and even the Cardinals. Now that's not all of them, those just happen to be MY favorites. These teams' uniforms look slimming in the right areas and delicious from others. Sorry guys but you asked for it!

Now these top 5 reasons girls tune in to watch football are generally speaking and from a standpoint that most men have already stereotyped for us. There are plenty more reasons why a women may watch football....to look at the cheerleaders, eat excessively at the games, watch the mascot or even just tag along to make you happy. Whatever the reason may be just know that she's putting forth her best effort to understand the game.

Just my two cents....

Cheers!

Ashley Danielle

Follow me on twitter @_ashleydanielle

What do you you most look forward to in the upcoming NFL season?

This time of year we football fans are usually in frenzy as free agency is in full swing and training camps are on the horizon, as the beginning of the season would be less than a month and a half away. However, this year with the lockout being enforced since March 11th the only thing we can do as fans is wait, watch and hope that some type of agreement can be met before it interferes with the season. Most experts agree that in order for the season to go on as scheduled; a deal will have to be brokered sometime this week.

Barring a major letdown from the owners and players it looks as if an agreement should be reached soon. Both sides are now realizing the sense of urgency as the NFL Hall of Fame game between the St Louis Rams and the Chicago Bears is less than a month away. This entire summer of the NFL has been hijacked by the labor agreement but this article is not about the lockout. I found myself being asked this question this weekend that got the wheels turning in my head. The question was what do you most look forward to for the upcoming season? This is a question that of course assumes the season will goon but nevertheless it was a question I haven’t pondered so far this summer.

So I decided I would come up with a list of things I most anticipate going into this new season. There are so many players and scenarios that I look forward seeing to so lets just jump into the list starting with number 5:

5. How will the Pack attack after winning it all last year: The Packers went from a darkhorse in the NFC playoffs to the Super Bowl champs. They were led by Aaron Rodgers and a prolific passing game and a stingy defense led by Clay Matthews. Rodgers has received all the adulation of a Super Bowl MVP quarterback and deservedly so but will that affect his performance on the field this upcoming season? Will the team have any complacency issues as former Super Bowl winners have had in the recent past (2010 New Orleans Saints, 2008 New York Giants for example). It will also be great to see the Super Bowl champs at full strength as they had an astonishing 15 players on injured reserve. The Packers will get back starter and possible game breaker Jermichael Finley at tight end, starting running back Ryan Grant who was coming off a 1,200 yard season, linebacker Nick Barnett the franchises second all-time leader in tackles and many more on the field after a terrible year of injuries for Green Bay. Can Green Bay sustain the level of success it obtained last year? We shall see.

4. What kind of Free Agency Bonanza will we see: With the labor strife that has taken away most of the off-season, the NFL is set for an unprecedented and unforgiving free agency period. Teams with cash to spend will only have a limited amount of time to sign players like Nnamdi Asomugha, Matt Hasselbeck and Sidney Rice just to name a few. (For a complete list of the 2011 free agent class click here: http://www.footballsfuture.com/freeagents.html). Deep pocket teams like the Washington Redskins, Houston Texans and Dallas Cowboys will be ready and willing for some wheeling and dealing. You know GM’s are ready to make improvements to their respective rosters and have to be itching to sign players they think can help out. This should be the best part of the shortened off-season as the signings should be fast and furious.

3. Can the Michael Vick experince continue its epic resurgence: We all know the story on Vick but his spectacular play last year added a new chapter to his book. Vick was everything and more that the Eagles bargained for as he put up an MVP worth state line of: 3,018 yards passing, 21 touchdown passes, 6 interceptions, and a career high QB rating of 100.2. Vick should be more acclimated with the offense this year and he also will have the benefit of being coached by OC Marty Mornhinweg who Vick made great strides under last year. If Vick can avoid injury, which always is a worry with his sometimes reckless abandon for his body, than he should be able to build off of last season and have an even better season this year. If a guy can make that much progress in a new system in one year just think about what he can do in year 2. However due to the success of Vick I do look for teams to gameplan more for him as the last two victors did over the Eagles last season. The Vikings and Packers had tremendous success blitzing their cornerbacks on Philly. The Eagles tried to address their lack of depth on the offensive line by drafting Danny Watkins at number 23 in the draft. So with the addition of Watkins and Vick’s continued growth in Andy Reid’s system I expect a big year from him.

2. How will the Dallas Cowboys respond after a dismal 2010 year: America’s team was America’s wasteland in terms of football last year. After a bunch of Pomp and Circumstance due to the Super Bowl being held in Dallas and Jerry Jones going on record as saying this team will be the first host team to make it to the Super Bowl, the Cowboys got off an ugly 1-5 start before losing starting QB Tony Romo and it just went all down hill from there. The terrible start caused Head Coach Wade Phillips to be relieved of his duties in favor of Offensive Coordinator Jason Garrett. Garrett had a respectable 5-3 record down the stretch and was named head coach for good. Is this finally the year Romo and the ‘Boys can make it to the Super Bowl? A lot of things would have to fall in place for Dallas for that to happen. The Cowboys have an aging offensive line that could spell doom for their season as it did last year. Romo also has to prove that he can be a dependable clutch player something he has yet to do since taking over the reigns as the Cowboys starting QB. There are also questions in the defensive backfield as Dallas went from having one of the best DB units in 2009 to one of the worst in 2011. Dallas has all the talent in the world but they need to develop heart it takes to win a championship but they will be fun to watch as always and hopefully Roy Williams won’t mail it in on the field as he did in his proposal (Sorry Roy, but you made it easy for us writers)

1. How will the lockout affect players’ performance? Well we have come full circle as I mentioned at first that this column would not be about the lockout but in the end this is most burning question of them all and could not be avoided. All players have their off-season training regiments but they also haven’t had anyone around to force them to workout. The coaches and trainers are usually monitoring everything the players doing in the off-season including fitness, nutrition and a ton of other things. For those who can remember to back to NBA lockout of 1999 and the player most synonymous with lockout overeating is Shawn Kemp. The Reign Man had just signed a multi million dollar deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers before the lockout and when the season resumed for just 50 games, Kemp had ballooned to over 300 pounds. He was never the same high-flying above the rim dunk monster that led to him receiving that contract. Kemp’s story is the most cautionary tale about players not being supervised under the lockout. I guarantee you there will be players overweight and out of shape whenever the season does begin. I can think at least one guy that come to mind in Albert Haynesworth that more than likely hasn’t missed too many meals since the lockout started. Also another aspect is that players will be more susceptible to injury due to lack of preparation and inadequate time needed to fine tune their bodies. Yeah I know the players are holding their own “Camps” but do you really think they will push themselves as hard as a coach or trainer would? Yeah me neither.

So that does it for the things I most look forward to seeing this upcoming year. I know I missed on a few things so what are some of the things everyone else is anticipating going into the 2011 season? Feel free to drop comments and let’s get the ball rolling on this list.

Monday Night Review: Disaster in Dallas

If you thought it couldn't get any worse for America's team, you thought wrong. The Cowboys fell to the Giants last night 41-35, but more importantly loss starting Qb Tony Romo for at least 8-10 weeks with a broken Collarbone. That is just a devastating blow to the popular preseason Super Bowl picks. Their season effectively ended with Romo's injury.



The play occurred in the beginning of the second quarter. Linebacker Michael Boley busted through the Cowboys line at full speed and just leveled Romo. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was bad. Romo lay on the ground motionless, grimacing in pain. Boley himself was quoted as saying he heard “Romo let out a little scream.” That scream was surely echoed by owner Jerry Jones, who was witnessing the end of his team’s season. All the Super Bowl talk and being the first team to host and play in the Super Bowl ended on that one vicious hit.



The game itself had such a promising start for Dallas. Eli Manning threw an interception to Terence Newman on the fourth play of the game and Newman returned it to the Giants five yard line. A Marion Barber rush for one yard and than a five yard pass from Romo to tight end Jason Witten would lead to a Dallas touchdown. On New York’s second drive, Manning would be picked off again by Gerald Sensabaugh, who returned it to the Giants 18. From there Romo completed a 13 yard pass to Martellus Bennett but the drive would stall and Dallas would settle for a field goal.



The Giants got back into the game with a good drive that ended with a Hakeem Nicks touchdown catch. On the next drive Romo led the Cowboys to a field goal and the Dallas defense forced New York to punt on their next drive. On the punt, Rookie Dez Bryant made a nice cut up field and was able to find a seam and was off to the races for a 93-yard return. That score made the game 20-7 and that would be as happy as the story gets for Dallas. From that point, New York would go on to five unanswered scores and put the game out of reach. Eli Manning caught fire in the middle of the second and would finish 25 of 35 for 306 yards 4 touchdowns but also 3 interceptions.

Dallas would later add two cosmetic touchdowns going to Dez Bryant but the game was never really in doubt after the Romo injury. The Cowboys now sit at 1-5 without their starting QB. Jon Kitna looked a mess running the offense and could never get it going until the game was out of reach. The season ended all on the Boley blitz in that instant. The question now becomes how far will Dallas fall this season? Will Coach Wade Phillips be able to survive the turmoil that will ensue now? One thing is for sure, for this season the Cowboys are down and out.