Will there be a surprise team in the NFL in the 2011 season?

Will there be a surprise team in the NFL in the 2011 season?

Every season in the NFL there's a team or two that steps up to have that dream season that no one saw coming, which teams will make their mark on the 2011 season. In the 2009 season it was the New York Jets with their rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez going to the AFC championship game that caught everyone by surprise. In 2010 the Kansas City Chiefs had that season no one saw coming, winning ten games taking the AFC west division before bowing out in the first round round of the playoffs.

The Jets used a stifling defense and a great running attack, some timely passing and their cocky coach ( Rex Ryan ) to take heat off his young team to as they made their run. Kansas City had the great fortune Of playing in a division with the San Diego Chargers, hands down the best team in the division ( the number one team in the NFL on both sides of the ball ) but found ways with bad special team's play to lose game after game last season. It's not that the Chiefs didn't play well, they ran they ball extremely well. And with veteran QB Matt Cassel managing the offense, the Chiefs took advantage of the Chargers shote play.

With the lack of offseason praperatetion I'm finding it hard coming with any surprise teams coming into the 2011 season. So I have two 6 & 10 teams from last season that no one would be surprise if they made noise this season and made the playoff. The Detroit Lions and The Houston Texans had surprising season's in 2010. One ( the Lions ) serve notice they were doormats no more, the other ( the Texans ) fell flat on their faces after a dominating win in their opening game with the division champ's Indianapolis Colts.

Both the Lions and the Texans are in prime positions to take one of the six playoff spots this season in their perspective conferences, however with a history of losing in their background, taking that next step will take more than just wishful thinking. The Texans may never get a better chance at winning their division, with the Colts hall of fame quarterback Payton Manning career in limbo with a neck injury that will prohibit him from starting the season. And as Tennessee and Jacksonville go thought a rebuilding mode, anything other than a division title will be a felled season for the Texans.

The Detroit Lions on the other hand will be sneaking up on no-one this coming season, which mean's if there is a playoff spot in their future they will have to go out and earn it. The Lions unlike the Texans don't have a division for taking, with the division champ's ( Chicago Bears) and the super bowl champ's ( Green Bay Packers ) in the mix, a wild card spot seem to be their only way into the playoff's. While I do see the Bear's taking a few steps backward, I feel the Packers are just to high a mountain for them to climb.

Lion's fans must also remember if you give into the fact that ( the Packers will win the NFC north, the Eagles in the east, the Rams or Cards in the west, and the Saints or Falcons in the south ) they will need to compete with 4 maybe 5 teams for two wild card spots. ( the New York Giants, the Dallas Cowboys, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the loser of the south, and maybe the Chicago Bears in their own division ) I believe the Lions in my opinion can be as good if not better than any of theses teams, but it all come down to the quarterback position. If Matthew Stafford can stay on the field for a whole season with the talent they have on both sides of the ball, the Lions may roar into the playoff's.

The fact that the NFL season is starting on time will be the only surprise fans can look forward to this coming season.

Brought to by: AJ Jones from Cambridge
"Let's Talk Football" Visit- www.ajstakeontheNFL.blogspot.com

When the body says " time's up "

When the body says " time's up "

As Colts fans wait and hope with all their mind power that their hall of fame quarterback can come back from a second neck surgery in 15 months, it has me wondering how hard it must be for a player to listen to their body when it's says it's time to go home. Payton Manning is going to go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game of NFL football, but now in the twilight of his career his body is telling him it's time I don't think I can do this anymore.

As we have seen with other great great player in the NFL knowing when to listen to your body can be a hard thing to do. I remember watching Joe Namath and Johnny Unitas at the end of their careers barely able to walk as their body's had been telling them for years to hang it up. On the other side of the coin I watched Troy Aikman, Steve Young, and Sterling Sharpe listen to their body's and as hard as it was walked away from the game they loved.

The game of NFL football and the Indianapolis Colts need Manning to come back and play at the high level we have come to expect from him. My only hope is that his mind is not cashing a check his body can't handle. If there's a lesson to be learn from this listening to your body, you need go back to Brett Favre last season in Minnesota.

Brought to by: AJ Jones from Cambridge
"Let's Talk Football" Visit- www.ajstakeontheNFL.blogspot.com

Preparing for the future

Preparing for the future

I've been reading and listening to all the pre-draft talks about who each team should take and why. With this year's draft being highly spotlighted ( with the Players lockout and the Players Union asking draftee to stay home ) and draft picks not knowing how this could impact their lives the days and maybe months after draft day is over. I keep going back to a story I read on the ESPN Webb sight, John Clayton one of the best in the business at getting the inside scoop on what is happening in the NFL; had two opportunities to address the question of the New England Patriots drafting a young Quarterback in the early rounds of this year's draft to have him mentor behind Tom Brady and maybe one day take over.
In my opinion he missed badly on both answers to this question, first he believe's it might upset the veteran QB that a quarterback has been drafted ( IMO a horrible answer ).Given a second shot at the same question he soften his take on the subject, by saying yeah maybe it's ok but don't look for any help from the veteran QB in the mentoring of a guy who might be his replacement one day. He feels the veteran QB may be unwilling or unable to help in the development of the Quarterback who could be drafted as a look to the future for his team. He sighted the Aaron Rodgers, Brett Favre situation as a reason it might not work out. I know its has been talked about over and over again about the fact that Brett wanted nothing to do with the mentoring of his replacement.However taking a young QB by the hand and saying here let me show you how to take my job, is neither realistic or what a true team player has or needs to do to help a young Quarterback to grow into an NFL QB.

As I stated in my earlier blog sitting and watching is just as Important to a young QB's development than anything a veteran QB might say. One would hope a veteran Quarterback at the end of his career ( when ever it might be ) should want to see his team in good hands because it's not if, but when that day is going to come. We're not talking about a lot of Quarterbacks here we're talking about the Payton Manning's, Tom Brady's, or the Drew Brees's of the NFL. The hard true about this game is all careers come to an end ( by the Players choice or the team's ) and the team who most prepares for that ending will be the one who will sustain that winning edge.

Brought to by: AJ Jones from Cambridge
"Let's Talk Football" Visit- www.ajstakeontheNFL.blogspot.com

Can an " Elite Quarterback " be develop or is he just " that guy "

Can an " Elite Quarterback " be develop or is he just " that guy "

With the game of NFL football at the height of it's popularity and no ceiling in sight, the Quarterback position has become the most debated in football. In my opinion the NFL Quarterback position has to be the hardest to play in all of sports. In a sport that is totally Quarterback driven, you might be hard press to come up with a list of ten QB's ( out of 32 teams )who will hit anyone's Elite list. With such a high premium put on the Quarterback position to carry a team, you have to ask yourself, why there are so few team's in the NFL with the capability to develop a championship caliber QB. The first thing you might hear is players don't work as hard at the game the way they use to. I don't believe that to be true, professional football player probably train harder at their sport than any other. People might say it's all the money players make, it give them no incentive to work at their craft. While I think there might be a case to be made with some players, I think the number is very small. You don't play this game without some love and passion for it.

Where as I don't think money is the reason Quarterbacks fell to make the impact we as fans feel they should. I do feel money is the main reason their development is hinder. NFL Owners and General Managers feel they can't let that kind of money sit on the side line and learn the game at a more gradual pace. The Quarterback position is the one position on any team where a longer learning period is needed. There have been very few exceptions of Quarterback who have started their rookie year and became Elite QB's. ( Troy Aikman, Payton Manning, Dan Marino to name a few ) Theses three guys had that " it factor " the first day they step on the field. Troy and Payton took a pounding their first few years, just tying to stay alive while learning on the job. Dan Marino looked like a polish veteran right from the beginning, one in a million, you may never see this kind of Quarterback again.

Without the time that is needed to sit behind and watch a veteran Quarterback go though the day to day riggers of being an NFL Quarterback, these young QB's are eaten alive. I believe it take a minimum of three years to develop an NFL ready Quarterback, a guy who learn's the position inside and out.This mind you is not an Elite Quarterback, this is a QB who might not lose his team a lot of games. We have seen this type of QB win Super Bowls ( Trent Dilfer, Rob Johnson, Doug William, Mark Ripen ) the one thing these Quarterback have in common, they learn the game from the bench. These were veteran QB's who had the opportunity to develop their skills to the point where they could lead a team to and win the Super Bowl.

The term Elite Quarterback is used to loosely for my taste. The real question is what make's a Quarterback Elite? I know it can't be winning a Super Bowl, Dan Marino was one of the most Elite Quarterback's in NFL history ( no SB ring ) Ben Roethlisberger on the other hand has been to three Super Bowls and won two and there's a lot of so call experts who don't think he's Elite ( I'm not one of them ). My definition of an Elite Quarterback is every time he go's on the field the opposing team know's he can win, Big Ben fits that definition. There are only a few QB's in the NFL today that give me that feeling.They are ( Payton Manning, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger ) these are the only QB's I feel have that " it factor " in the NFL.

Aaron Rodgers is the only QB on my list who got the chance to sit and watch the game being played by a veteran for a extended period of time. And if not for Brett's on again off again retirement talk he might still be sitting. I believe sitting helped Rodgers become the Elite Quarterback he is. Time.... Time..... Time is what it take's to develop an NFL ready Quarterback! The approach a majority of Owners and GM's take with the most important part of their team's blow me away. It put to much pressure on coaches, their team's, and most importantly the young Quarterbacks they bring in to lead their team's.

If money is the underline reason for the under development of an NFL Quarterbacks, than money should be the main reason team's take a more diligent approach to this position. Most of the team's in the NFL go though QB after QB tying to find that guy, a ton of money spend hoping there's a diamond in the rough coming out of college football. I read a very amazing take on this subject on the ESPN Webb sight the other day.( and by amazing I don't mean good ) John Clayton had a Q&A on his blog sight, a fan of the New England patriots ask John if the Pats should draft a Quarterback to develop as Tom Brady's successor? John said no because it might upset Tom ( wow! John miss the whole football field on this answer ) if there's a right time to draft a young Quarterback and develop for future it's now for New England. They have a great QB and the time to let a young man sit and watch how it's done.

As we have witness with this lockout, NFL football is a business, so any Quarterback who gets upset about a smart business move has no loyalty to his team. ( he can't play forever ) I believe if more time is taken with the development of young Quarterbacks, we might see 15 to 20 team's with a real shot to win a Super Bowl instead of the 4 to 5 we can count on each year.

Brought to by: AJ Jones from Cambridge
"Let's Talk Football" Visit- www.ajstakeontheNFL.blogspot.com

Fantasy

Fantasy

I'd like to tell you about a dream I had the other day, no it was more of a fantasy than a dream. I woke up at 6am in the morning, let my dog out, put on a pot of coffee like I do each morning. Then i turn on ESPN to see what was going on in the world of sports. And there on a huge stage were ten NFL Owners among them were Jerry Jones and Dan Snider There were also ten Players with them Payton Manning, Tom Brady, and Drew Brees were among the Players there. They were surrounded by 200 fans. I saw Owners and Players going from fan to fan shaking hands and sincerely apologizing for being morons. At first fans were kind of cold toward them, you know kind of like that friend your husband or wife has, you don't care for them, can't put your finger on why, but that's how you feel.

To a man they were saying how sorry they were for not taking into consideration how fans might be taken back by all the selfishness on their part. How they had lost touch with fans and the fact that fans should not have to watch them fight over monopoly money. They said they were so sorry for pretending that it was not the billion dollars that had them walk away from the bargaining table. If I had not herd it with my own ears I would not have believed it(in my fantasy that is), a few Owners openly apologizing to season ticket holders for having the nerves to ask for a deposit on next seasons tickets, after having locked out players, and not knowing when the season might start. For not being more sympathetic with their economic needs( since this is the reason given for the extra billion dollars by Owners to run their teams).

After watching Owners and Players working the stage tying to win back fans trust, you started to see smiles everywhere. Then the alarm clock go's off, I let the dog out, put on my pot of coffee like I do every morning. Than I turn on ESPN, the first thing I hear is the Owners are digging in for a long lock out, and a Player comparing the CBA negotiation to modern day slavery(talk about out of touch with reality ). I know my fantasy of seeing everyone locked arm and arm singing we are all in this together, is just that a fantasy! My dream is that the Owners and Players wake up and smell the 9 billions roses in front of their noses before one by one they wilt and go away.

Ajjones

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