Free agency is definitely in full swing in the National Football League. Over the last two days many very notable names have switched teams.
One of the biggest names is wide receiver Wes Welker who is leaving Tom Brady in New England for Peyton Manning in Denver. The wide receiver who was eighth in receiving yards last year with 1354 yards, signed a two yer deal worth $12 million.
The Patriots then signed wide receiver Danny Amendola from the St. Louis Rams to a five year deal worth $31 million, who had significantly fewer yards than Welker, but is also four years younger too and could have greater upside with Brady instead of Sam Bradford at quarterback.
In other moves, the Atlanta Falcons have signed running back Steven Jackson from the Rams to a three year deal worth $12 million. The Falcons were looking for a running back after they released Michael Turner, but with Jackson comes a question mark if he is too much like Turner in the sense that he is on the downswing of his career.
Meanwhile the Detroit Lions have signed running back Reggie Bush from the New Orleans Saints and the Houston Texans have signed the biggest defensive name Thursday, safety and Super Bowl champion Ed Reed from the Baltimore Ravens.
Robert Griffin III (Keith Allison, Wikimedia Commons)
There are four games that matter immensely in the National Football League this weekend–the two NFC East matchups and the NFC North matchups.
The winner of Washington-Dallas (Sunday, NBC, 6 p.m.) wins the NFC East. Despite winning six straight games, the Redskins (9-6) may have to win a seventh to qualify for the postseason. In their first game on American Thanksgiving Day, Robert Griffin III had four touchdown passes, and 311 passing yards in a 38-31 Washington win. The Dallas Cowboys (8-7) are eliminated from the playoffs with a loss.
If Washington loses, they can still qualify for the postseason with a Minnesota loss to Green Bay (Sunday, FOX, 2 p.m.) and a Chicago loss to Detroit (Sunday, TSN2, 11 a.m.).
The Vikings (9-6) are in a difficult spot as they have to host the Packers (11-4), who are battling San Francisco for the number two seed. Minnesota clinches a playoff spot with a win and could also get into the playoffs with a Washington win, Detroit win and Philadelphia win over the New York Giants (Sunday, FOX, 11 a.m.).
If you thought you had already received the last gift you’d be receiving this holiday season – you’re wrong! This week on the festive edition of 15 Minutes of Fame we’re looking at the latest NHL lockout news, the World Juniors, a big trade by the Blue Jays & a couple of notes from the NFL!
In the GABBYs: Santa Claus, Arian Foster, Lance Armstrong, Russian soccer fans, the Spengler Cup & Aston Villa. The Punchline this week is Philadelphia 76ers coach Doug Collins!
MEANWHILE: Since we are feeling generous (and didn’t end up getting last week’s video up in time), here is a second dose of 15MOF!
Two of the best teams in the NFC will battle this weekend as the Seattle Seahawks (9-5) host the San Francisco 49ers (10-3-1).
Both of these teams have played stellar defense all season long and rank 1-2 in the NFL in fewest points allowed. The 49ers have given up 218 points, and the Seahawks have given up 219 points.
However, it is the teams’ offenses that need to be praised just as much. Seattle has scored 108 points the last two games, and San Francisco put up 41 points against New England last week. Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch has had a minimum of 100 yards rushing in 8 games this season.
The Seahawks and 49ers will battle on NBC at 6:00 p.m. Sunday night.
Here are the other games I’ll be watching this weekend:
Saturday–NFL–Atlanta Falcons @ Detroit Lions–ABC–6:30 p.m.–With the NFL deciding not to have a game Christmas Eve, the Monday nighter has moved to Saturday. At 12-2 the Falcons can clinch first place in the NFC with a victory. The Falcons had a major statement game last week as they shut out the New York Giants 34-0. Julio Jones had two touchdown receptions in Atlanta’s win.
Well folks. We are now in the down time of the sports calendar a little bit. My apologies for not writing with a high frequency this past week. I am currently doing a massive project for Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame which has taken up every ounce of energy I have had.
But I’m watching football today because I’m in the quarterfinals of my fantasy football playoffs, the premier fantasy football pool in Calgary. Here are the games I’ll be watching:
Sunday–NFL–San Diego Chargers @ Pittsburgh Steelers–CBS–11am–Big Ben is back in the lineup for the Steelers after a shoulder and a rib injury. At 7-5, the Steelers delivered an impressive road win last week in Baltimore. As for the Chargers, there were reports this week that Norv Turner would be fired with the team currently at 4-8.
Sunday–NFL–Dallas Cowboys @ Cincinnati Bengals–FOX–11am–The Cowboys received a tragedy this week as linebacker Jerry Brown died in a car accident. Defensive lineman Josh Brent was charged with intoxicated manslaughter. The Cowboys are 6-6, while the Bengals are 7-5.
The Canada Cup of Curling will be having its playoffs this weekend from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Two Alberta teams are still in the mix–Calgary’s Kevin Koe and Edmonton’s Heather Nedohin.
Koe (4-2) will be playing an early morning tie-breaker against Manitoba’s Mike McEwen (Saturday, TSN, 7:00 a.m.) with the winner playing Glenn Howard in the men’s semi-final (Saturday, TSN, 5:30 p.m.). The winner of the semi-final will then play Jeff Stoughton of Winnipeg in Sunday’s final (TSN, 1:30 p.m.).
On the women’s side, Nedohin will face Team Jones (without Jennifer Jones who gave birth two weeks ago) in the semi-final, and then Stefanie Lawton of Saskatchewan in Sunday’s championship final (TSN, 8:30 a.m.).
The Edmonton Eskimos will try to snap a two game losing streak to their provincial rivals, the Calgary Stampeders, when they face the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Ivor Wynne Stadium this afternoon (TSN, 1pm).
The Eskimos may be sitting last in the Western Division at 5-5, but with a victory can move an important six points up on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in a possible opportunity to cross-over in the East come playoff time, if they cannot make up ground on the 5-5 Saskatchewan Roughriders.
This week the Eskimos and Tiger-Cats also made a trade. Edmonton acquired fullback Darcy Brown from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for defensive back Ricardo Colclough and a sixth round pick in the 2015 Canadian Football League draft.
Last night in the Super Bowl, festivities, the National Football League had an event that simulated something that has taken place in the Canadian Football League for years– an awards show immediately prior to the Championship game.
On Saturday, Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers was named NFL MVP. Rodgers won 48 of a possible 50 votes. The Packer quarterback led Green Bay to a 15-1 regular season record and led all quarterbacks with a 122.5 quarterback rating.
Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints was named the top offensive player. Brees set the NFL record this past season with 5476 passing yards and also led the NFL with 46 touchdown passes.
Other award winners were Terrell Suggs of the Baltimore Ravens for top defensive player, Detroit Lions’ quarterback Matt Stafford for comeback player of the year, San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh won Coach of the Year, Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton for NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.
Is it me, or does anyone disagree with the notion that there still should be two weeks between the NFL Conference Championships and the Super Bowl?
For those that just might have forgotten, the New England Patriots beat the Baltimore Ravens 23-20 in the AFC Championship and the New York Giants beat the San Francisco 49ers 20-17 in overtime for the NFC Championship to set up Sunday’s big game from Indianapolis.
If you watched the Pro Bowl in Hawaii this past weekend, and apparently saw Brandon Marshall of the Miami Dolphins record four touchdown receptions, shame on you. How can you have an All-Star Game when the two best teams in the league aren’t represented?
The New Orleans Saints got a dominating offensive performance last night.
The Saints recorded a NFL record 626 total yards of offense in a postseason game in a 45-28 win over the Detroit Lions. The old record was set by the San Diego Chargers, 610 yards of total offense, in a 1963 playoff game against the Boston Patriots.
Brees threw 466 yards passing and three touchdowns. Running backs Darren Sproles and Pierre Thomas also added a major score.
Believe it or not the Lions actually had a 14-10 lead at halftime.
Another remarkably storyline is that the Saints did not punt the ball once. Detroit was able to stay with New Orleans in the first half due to fumbles by Brees and wide receiver Marques Colston.
Colston had 120 yards receiving, while Meachem had 111 yards.
New Orleans will now play the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Divisional Playoff next weekend. The matchup should be quite interesting because the 49ers had the best defense in the NFC, as they only gave up 229 total points.
Wildcard weekend takes place this weekend as the NFL Playoffs commence.
The game that has the most intrigue will be Sunday afternoon when the Denver Broncos host the Pittsburgh Steelers (CBS, 2:30pm).
On paper, all of the signs lead to Pittsburgh. The Steelers, at 12-4, had a for and against ratio of +98, compared to Denver’s for and against ratio of -81.
But the Steelers have significant injury woes. Running back Rashard Mendenhall is out with a torn ACL. Safety Ryan Clark is sitting out this week due to a health precaution. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will be playing injured with a bad ankle, and Big Ben has not looked great in the pocket since getting hurt against the Cleveland Browns on December 8.
The Broncos meanwhile, aren’t playing great football, but at 8-8 won the AFC West. It has been a very interesting season for Tim Tebow, and I don’t think Tebowmania is over just yet. But a major reason why Denver won the AFC West was because of their strong team defense. In half their games, they held their opposition to under 20 points. The Broncos just might have what it takes to pull off the upset, in a very low scoring game.
We now know what the National Football League playoff picture looks like.
With their 31-14 win over the Dallas Cowboys this evening, the New York Giants have won the NFC East. Wide receiver Victor Cruz, who should be going to the Pro Bowl, but got completely snubbed by reporters because they had to get their ballot BEFORE the regular season ended, had a remarkable 178 yards receiving. With the win, the Giants now host the Atlanta Falcons in one NFC Wildcard matchup.
The other NFC Wildcard matchup will have the New Orleans Saints hosting the Detroit Lions. The Saints beat the Lions 31-17 on December 4 in New Orleans. The Saints were an offensive machine at home. They scored 40+ points in five of eight home games, including a 62 point performance in week 7.
In the AFC, the Denver Broncos are hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers in one AFC Wildcard matchup. Today, the Broncos lost 7-3 to the Kansas City Chiefs, but clinched first in the AFC West after the San Diego Chargers defeated the Oakland Raiders 38-26 on three touchdown passes by Philip Rivers.
The Cincinnati Bengals clinched the sixth seed in the AFC, when Denver lost to Kansas City. The Bengals will now play the Houston Texans next week.
The top two seeds go to New England and Baltimore in the AFC and Green Bay and San Francisco in the NFC.
Drew Brees set a significant NFL record in the New Orleans Saints’ 45-16 rout over the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night.
By throwing a nine yard touchdown pass to Darren Sproles, Saints quarterback Drew Brees set the NFL record for most passing yards in a season with 5,087, breaking Dan Marino’s 1984 record with the Miami Dolphins of 5,084 yards. With the win, the Saints improve to 12-3 and Atlanta falls to 9-6.
Expect Brees to play next week as the Saints can still finish second in the NFC with a win over Carolina and a San Francisco loss against St. Louis.
The Falcons clinched a playoff spot with Green Bay’s 35-21 win over Chicago Christmas night.
There were two other interesting records set this weekend. When Indianapolis beat Houston 19-16 Thursday night, they became the first team with only one win to beat a team with more than ten wins in a season.
Also on Saturday, David Akers set an NFL record for most field goals in a season with 42. Akers kicked four field goals in San Francisco’s 19-17 win over Seattle.He breaks Neil Rackers record of 43 field goals that was set while he was with the Arizona Cardinals in 2005.
In other action on the weekend, the Detroit Lions clinched a playoff spot with a 38-10 win over the San Diego Chargers. It is their first playoff spot since 1999.
It may be the Christmas season, but it is a very big weekend on the world sport stage. On Boxing Day, the sports world will be focused on Alberta for the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championship. The event is significant because it is the first time that Edmonton and Calgary, two bitter provincial rivals have joined forces to host a world class sporting event. Edmonton will host all of Team Canada’s round robin games, with Calgary hosting the medal round.
Team Canada’s first game is Monday at 1:30pm against Finland (TSN). Both teams have something in common. They both lost to Russia in the medal round at the 2011 World Junior Hockey Championships in Buffalo. Finland lost 4-3 to Russia in the quarterfinals, while Canada lost 5-3 to Russia in the Gold medal game.
Loading ...
