Will anyone touch New England? Baltimore MAYBE? (If Suggs recovers) Denver? Dallas? San Fran? I'd like to say GB or Detroit, but they don't have a solid running game, Houston lost too many people, and I'm not sold on Atlanta, San Diego, the Giants or Pittsburgh just yet.
GB is likely the best choice because of their potent offense. I would love to say SF, but their offense smells...
Predictions: Superbowl: Green bay vs New England Season MVP: Rodgers others: -Peyton Manning gets hs bell rung early in the season and calls it quits, leaving Denver in chaos. Favre will be rumored to replace him. -The Saints are decimated by injuries as opposing players make hard/dirty hits as payback for bounty-gate. -The Rams will still suck. -Tebow replaces Sanchez at a halftime by the sixth game (Sanchez still remains the starter however). -Suh leads the league in sacks but remains a ***** on a dead-end Detroit team. -Luck will look very ordinary in Indy. -Griffin is rookie of the year. -I will continue to be annoyed any time Joe Theismann or Michael Irvin opens their mouth. -The media love fest of all things Eli Manning and Brees will continue unabated. -Gabbert will be benched or traded in Jacksonville.
Suggs isn't expected back. And I heard today that the ravens are experiencing a case of the Jacoby Jones butter hands..Thank you. Houston didn't lose too many people. Most everyone that was not resigned was not as big of an integral part last year as years past; I.e.h Damico... Exception Winston.
Still don't think NE is that good. Balt will be good with or without suggs. I worry about their offense more than the niners though. Denver. Competitors. Make it to the playoffs mainly based on their division. Lose in divisional. Not sure where your going with Dallas? San Fran made some good choices in the off season regarding their offense IMO. Wouldn't take much more for them to make it to the SB last season. Contrary to most opinion... I think their defense does better this year. Maybe won't get quite the turnover differential, but they can use the full playbook. I know they didn't get into much of their blitzing playbook.. add in Aldon getting more than 50% of snaps and that sounds potent. Speaking of turnover differential. What people fail to realize is that actually forcing a fumble is not based on luck, but on skill. Recovering the fumble is more based on luck that skill (where/how ball bounces). 49ers D is good enough to force fumbles. Last season they recovered fumbles less than 50% of the time. Its not like luck played a huge roll in the turnovers. Detroit has potential to collapse with all the off season issues. GB will be a big competitor and likely make it to NFCC. Atlanta, San Diego shouldn't even be in the conversation. Pittsburgh is on the way down, Balt on the way up. By the way, Seattle is going to be damn good if Flynn ends up being anything better than Jackson. All IMO. SF fan? Nice! I'm more comfortable with their O this year than last. I'm a season ticket holder. Fly up to every game. Pretty stoked for the new stadium. You live in the bay area?
Brees is really hurting his image. They're supposedly $10mm apart. Im think the Saints are trying to negotiate and Brees has drawn a line in the sand.
Brees won that grievance though. So I think that works out for him in the long run. He might get screwed this year. But next year they have to do 150% premium. That brings him to 24 mill. 2 more than he's asking. They'll have to give him a long term deal just to save money. That's if he stays healthy.
Agree that they made some good moves at the WR position (Manningham only, I am not sold on Moss as I think he is a quitter), however even if they had Rice and John Taylor in their prime it would do them no good until they do something about the QB position....Alex Smith stinks, plain and simple. Die hard, baby! No, I live in Canada (London Ontario) Right in the middle of Detroit and Toronto (2 hours east of Detroit) Awesome, I went to Buffalo to watch SF-Buffalo back in 1998, but the closest I ever came to going to Candlestick would have been that historic playoff game against the Giants in 2003 when the Niners came back from an improbably deficit (Garcia and Owens back then). I was scheduled to go to an Apple conference (Mac World) but my plans changed last minute, I was going to go to that game regardless of how much it cost me.
I think you better look at their offense again. I just don't think GB has the defense to stop a top-notch offense. Where have you been? Houston lost a few very integral pieces on defense, I think their defense today is 'average'. And just like the prior seasons, they are ham-strung by having NO WR's besides Andre Johnson, so they need a GREAT WR2, a VERY GOOD WR3, and another VERY GOOD TE2 just to keep up with what everyone else is doing. They should - but the RBBC this season is not good. They have four legit RB's, I don't know how they will keep everyone happy. Kinda like New England's running game. BARRING INJURIES, I think the best teams in the NFC 'should' be San Fran, Chicago, Dallas, the Giants, a gap, then Green Bay, Detroit, Atlanta. I am not sold on New Orleans. I don't know which defense will show up in GB. Don't forget GB lost their OC to Miami. Seattle in Carolina are underdogs. I just look for complete teams - teams with a solid #1 QB, a solid running game with two good RB's and at least two GREAT WR's, and a very good defense. Not a lot of teams have all that, but the ones you see in the playoffs DO.
Not going down that road again. The defense is fine, and I think they'll be fine everywhere else. The weak link is the O-line. Demico was a good player and team leader, but as I believe I mentioned before his play time last season was more-than cut in half. It was a huge discussion during last season as to why and was assumed that he didn't fit into the system and he would probably be gone this year; which happened. Only time will tell, but i have very little qualms about this season. You have to remember, we won the majority of the games last year missing at least 4-6 starters at any given time. There are very few teams that could have hung in there losing players week after week.
What RB do you think they are dropping? Dixon? Gore/Jacobs are similar big up the middle/goal line guys. James/Hunter are small fast outside guys. Not sure where Dixon fits in? Not sold on Dallas. But I think Chicago and Seattle will be big surprise teams this year. Chicago might not be a surprise... they were looking hot before all the injuries, not to mention they made additions in the off season. If Flynn ends up being anything better than Jax then I think Seattle is a pretty serious contender.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8207423/suspended-head-coach-sean-payton-keeps-eye-new-orleans-saints Who Dat! Image Unavailable, Please Login
Manning getting his bell rung is a concern. The Denver offensive line has been a sieve. Unless they protect Peyton his career could end sooner than expected. Hope I am wrong. Elway liked to hit and be hit. Not so sure Peyton really gets motivated by getting smeared anymore... if he ever did.
I have a feeling the offense is going to suprise. I think the wide receivers were much more of the problem than Alex Smith last year. Of the 10 incompletions to wide outs in the NFC Title game only 2 were Smiths fault. This year will be different. Moss looks really good (I know, I know) and with Crabtree, Manningham, and a out for redemption Kyle Williams the wide outs have had a battle in OTA's. Not to mention our 1st WR pick who is having some growing pains but should come around. Gore gets some help from Jacobs up the middle and James/Hunter allow for some creativity to put in the run/screen game. Oh yea We also have Vernon Davis. Right now my only concern on offense is right guard. Although we did sign a 6'6" 375lb 3 time Pro-Bowl right guard on Thursday. #49ersfaithful
http://www.neworleanssaints.com/news-and-events/article-1/Saints-Unveil-%E2%80%9CRebirth%E2%80%9D-Sculpture-of-Likeness-of-Steve-Gleason/74d7814d-8c1a-47d6-b0b0-94ff1b26a2a0 [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIGgBhNtOP4[/ame] Who dat! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
It's just amazing to me how little respect the Giants get. Even in this thread there is hardly a mention of them. They win the Super Bowl 2x in 4 years and nobody ever gives them a shot. I don't get it..Great QB, solid D and top notch receivers. Lighten up..
I've got all the respect in the world for what the Giants did in the post season last year. As a die hard 49ers fan they ripped my heart out! However the biggest problem is the division got more difficult and winning it isn't going to be easy if they play like they did in the regular season last year. The wild card will be hard to get considering that the NFC Central and NFC South should produce multiple 10 game winners. I don't think a 9-7 Giants team makes the playoffs this season.
Wow, things in SD must look really bleak: http://espn.go.com/nfl/trainingcamp12/story/_/id/8211188/kyle-boller-retires-one-day-joining-san-diego-chargers I wonder if he even unpacked.
So sad. http://www.chron.com/sports/article/Police-Titans-player-dies-in-apparent-suicide-3746575.php
I never said they were dropping anybody, but trade bait during the season maybe? I have all the respect in the world for them, and I'd say most everyone does, but you can't list everyone as favorites. Maybe the better question is: who is gonna suck the worst? Indy or Jax? I'm with you on Seattle, but the problem is there really are about 20 teams that could make it to the SB and it would not surprise us. Parity is unreal this coming season.
Yep and tacky too. When I first heard about it on the radio I thought it was small sign in the locker room or some place similar. If they wanted to do make a statement like that (i.e. purposely attention grabbing) it should have been simply a black banner with... DO YOUR JOB -SP ...in gold lettering. Still gets the message across to everyone but less "creepy" and more professional.
I was watching the NFL Network a couple days ago and one of the commentators went off the handle about it, and the Saints overall. Don't remember who it was though, but even his colleage seemed shocked by his heated response.
