The Philadelphia Eagles and Jacksonville Jaguars have decided on coaches for the 2012 National Football season.
The Eagles have gone with a familiar face, choosing Chip Kelly, out of the University of Oregon. Kelly, an offensive minded coach should appease Michael Vick, LeSean McCoy and DeSean Jackson, but the bottom line is will the 2012 Philadelphia Eagles be able to finish long drives?
This past season, they had no problem moving the ball between the 20 yard lines, but simply couldn’t finish drives.
It will also be interesting to see if Kelly is successfully able to make the transition from college to the pros with his offensive run and gun style. I recent years, Steve Spurrier lacked success in Washington and Nick Saban lacked success in Miami.
It was simply an outstanding day for the National Football League on Saturday as the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens won playoff classics.
In San Francisco’s 45-31 win over the Green Bay Packers last night, Colin Kaepernick set a NFL record for most rushing yards in a playoff game by a quarterback. In rushing for 181 yards, Kaepernick set a record set by Michael Vick, who rushed for 119 yards in an Atlanta playoff win over St. Louis in 2005.
Frank Gore had 119 yards rushing and Michael Crabtree had 119 yards receiving.
However, the Ravens victory over the Broncos was remarkable, with Baltimore winning 38-35 in double overtime. In what should be considered one of the greatest games of all-time, five times the game was tied before Justin Tucker kicked a game winning field goal of 47 yards in double overtime.
Many football fans have been cringing over the last couple of days with the enormous amount of injuries at the quarterback position since Sunday.
The list includes Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Michael Vick of the Philadelphia Eagles, Jay Cutler of the Chicago Bears and Alex Smith of the San Francisco 49ers.
Cutler, Smith and Vick all suffered concussions while Roethlisberger went down with a shoulder injury. Unless Cutler and Smith make significant improvements, next Monday’s prime time game featuring the 7-2 Bears and 6-2-1 49ers, will see Jason Campbell versus Colin Kaepernick at the helm. Yikes!
Getting back to the 49ers, they tied this week at 24 against St. Louis on Sunday. It was the first game that ended in a tie since 2008 when Philadelphia and Cincinnati tied at 13. From the San Francisco-St. Louis game Sunday, ESPN was reporting last night that many players didn’t realize the game could end in a tie. It made Donovan McNabb not look so dumb after all.
I am now 69-50 on the season after San Diego’s impressive defensive performance Thursday night where they completely shut down the Chiefs offense. Both Demorrio Williams and Shaun Phillips recorded fourth quarter touchdowns on a 58 yard interception return and a fumble in the end zone in a 31-13 victory.
Here are the rest of my Week 9 picks:
11am
Miami over Indianapolis–The Dolphins defense against the Jets last week was excellent and will win a second straight road game even though Dolphins starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill has a sore ankle.
Houston over Buffalo–The Texans are better on offense and defense. Could be over by noon.
Baltimore over Cleveland–The Ravens might have got spanked by the Texans in their last game, but have had two weeks off since to figure out what went wrong.
Denver over Cincinnati–Peyton Manning is looking great. He is now third in passing yards (behind Brady and Brees) with 2301 (more…)
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame we dive right into the abyss that is the NHL lockout, we take a look at an important day for the Edmonton arena project, salute the Edmonton Eskimos for a big win and dish the latest NFL bounty news. Don’t worry – we’re talking a little baseball too!
In the GABBYs: Justin Verlander, Michael Vick, Dominik Hasek, the Lingerie Football League, the Green Bay Packers and the NCAA. The Punchline this week is Saturday night programming!
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame we discuss the latest NHL lockout news, a rough couple of weeks on the Edmonton arena front, the KHL signing with ESPN and the potential for replacement players. As well, we take a look at a big win for the Edmonton Eskimos on the weekend, which launched them back into a playoff spot.
In the GABBYs: Miguel Cabrera, Adam Greenberg, Michael Phelps, Zinedine Zidane, Roger Federer and Michael Vick. The Punchline this week is US track celebrity Lolo Jones.
The 39th Ryder Cup is currently taking place just outside of Chicago. On Day 1, the Americans took an early 5-3 lead on Europe thanks to some brilliant shot making by Keegan Bradley, Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson and Jason Dufner.
On day two (Saturday, NBC, 7am), there will be four foursome matches in the morning, followed by four fourball matches in the afternoon. The best morning matchup will be Bradley and Mickelson against England’s Lee Westwood and Luke Donald. An interesting morning omission by Davis Love III is Tiger Woods, who played much better in the afternoon on Friday in four ball action than he did in the foursome with partner Steve Stricker in the morning.
Another golfer to watch out for on Saturday is Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts, who will be teamed with Spain’s Sergio Garcia against Americans Zach Johnson and Jason Dufner. Colsaerts had eight birdies and an eagle on Friday afternoon.
The Ryder Cup will then conclude Sunday with singles play (NBC, 10am).
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.
I’ve been on quite a roll lately folks! Last week I was 13-3 and improve my overall record to 142-66. Here are my week 15 picks:
Thursday
Atlanta over Jacksonville–I know the Jaguars scored 41 points against the Buccaneers last week, but don’t expect the same in Atlanta tonight. At 8-5, it will be interesting to see how the Falcons play with pressure.
Saturday–
Dallas over Tampa Bay–If the Jaguars can put up 41 points on the Buccaneers defense, I’d hate to see the amount Dallas can put up.
Another full slate of games are scheduled in the NFL today. To date I have an overall record of 20-12. Let’s see how I do in week 3.
11AM
San Francisco over Cincinnati–The 49ers defensive line has impressed me significantly to date. Navorro Bowman, Patrick Willis and Ray McDonald have been excellent for a San Francisco team that is very capable of winning the NFC West.
Carolina over Jacksonville–The Panthers played the Packers tough last week, and will beat the Jaguars if they have a similar performance today.
Detroit over Minnesota–If the Lions’ defense can limit Adrian Peterson to under 80 yards, the Lions will get a victory.
Touchdown Atlantic goes for the second year on Sunday and for the second consecutive season a CFL team from Alberta will be involved. In Moncton, New Brunswick on Sunday, the Calgary Stampeders (7-4) will play the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (5-6). The game is a home game for the Tiger-Cats, who are coming off a lackluster performance against the Edmonton Eskimos in a 38-23 defeat. The Calgary Stampeders also struggled mightily last week, falling to the B.C. Lions 32-19.
The Stampeders defeated the Tiger-Cats 32-20 on August 6. Henry Burris threw for 341 yards.
Last year in Moncton, the Eskimos hammered the Toronto Argonauts 24-6 in an outstanding defensive performance by the entire club.
The game can be seen on TSN at 11am. Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
If you liked offense, the Philadelphia Eagles and Atlanta Falcons put on quite the show, with the Falcons winning 35-31. Both teams are now 1-1.
The Falcons were led by tight end Tony Gonzalez (83 yards receiving and two touchdowns), Michael Turner (114 yards rushing, touchdown) and Matt Ryan who had four touchdown passes.
The Falcons also spoiled Michael Vick’s first return to Atlanta since spending time in prison.
I’m very impressed in the early going by the Detroit Lions. On Sunday, the Lions had four touchdown passes from Matt Stafford in a 48-3 rout of the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Chiefs got horrible news in the contest, as it looks like running back Jamaal Charles is out for the season with a torn ACL.
The Lions join the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, New England Patriots, Washington Redskins, Houston Texans, and Green Bay Packers at 2-0.
Finally the upset of the weekend in my opinion came in Tennessee, as the Titans shocked the Baltimore Ravens 26-13. But it was the passing game, and not the rushing game that beat the Ravens. Matt Hasselbeck threw for 358 yards, 125 to Kenny Britt. Both teams are now 1-1.
In week one I was 10-6, and wrong with the Cleveland Browns, Denver Broncos, Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Tennessee Titans, and Pittsburgh Steelers.
Here are my week two picks:
11am
Green Bay over Carolina–The Packers will win a tight one. Panthers’ quarterback Cam Newton raised eyebrows with how he was able to find instant success with Steve Smith last week.
Oakland over Buffalo–The Raiders defense impressed me significantly last week, and will pressure Ryan Fitzpatrick more than the Chiefs did a week ago.
Baltimore over Tennessee–The Titans don’t have the passing attack like the Steelers do, and the Ravens did a great job of pressuring Ben Roethlisberger last week. The Ravens’ defensive tandem of Ed Reed, Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs are still playing at a high level, and cornerback Lardarius Webb is starting to come into his own as a significant presence as well.
It is a jammed pack weekend of sports coverage, and I will be keeping an eye on a wide variety of sports.
In rugby, Canada is looking for a second consecutive victory when they take on the mighty French. France has one more point in the Group A Standings because they were able to record four tries in their 47-21 hammering of Japan.
The Canadians meanwhile exemplified outstanding determination in coming from behind to beat Tonga. They were down 20-13 with about ten minutes left before the Canadians scored 12 unanswered points to win. The game can be seen at 2:30am on Sunday morning on TSN.
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