Best & Worst Of NFL Week Three

Lots of things that went down in week three in the National Football League. Four teams sit here without a win on the year, Oakland, Houston and Arizona. Miami (another surprise), Kansas City and the Los Angeles Rams are all unbeaten at this point. Week three produced first wins on the year for a lot of teams, the two biggest surprises being the Browns and Bills. We had record breaking and break out performances and some performances that saw players and teams stumbling. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Here's some of the best, and worst, performances from week three.

Best:
Cleveland Browns
Not much explanation needed here. It's been 634 days between wins but the Cleveland Browns finally got a win. For the first time since December of 2016 the Browns pulled out a 21-17 win over the Jets. Baker Mayfield threw for over 200 yards, taking over for Tyrod Taylor, who was injured. Mayfield was nearly flawless in the victory, helping the Browns erase a 14-0 deficit. Sure there were some stupid penalties taken by the Jets, but the Browns did what a good team should do, and that was take advantage of mistakes made by the Jets. Hue Jackson has named Mayfield the starter for week four, which is something that has been coming since the end of the first drive. Cleveland finally got a win and it was a huge sigh of relief for Browns fans everywhere. They have a win under their belts and things are starting to look up a little in Cleveland.

Worst:
New England Patriots
Things in Patriots land don't look too good at the moment. New England sits in last place in the AFC East following their 26-10 loss to the Lions, which by the way was the first career coaching win for former Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia. So now, not only are the Patriots on a two game losing streak, but its the first time since December of 2002 that they've lost two straight games by double digits. New England's offense tried to spread the ball around but connected on just four of ten passes for 43 yards. The Pats managed just 12 first downs in this contest, which is the fewest in the Brady-Belichick era. Lets not jump the gun right now. It looks gloomy for the Patriots at 1-2. But its a long season, with 13 more games to go. New England should be able to right the ship, but boy did they look sloppy against the Lions.

Best:
Khalil Mack, Linebacker Chicago Bears
Chicago pulled out a win by the skin of their teeth on Sunday. The Bears walked away with a 16-14 win over Arizona and Khalil Mack was a huge reason for that. They were down 14-0 at one point and managed to fight their way back to 14-13 win over the Cardinals. On a Sam Bradford run in the fourth quarter, Mack tracked him down and hit him, forcing a fumble. The Bears, who trailed 14-13, took possession and went on a long drive for a field goal and the lead. By the time all was said and done, the Bears find themselves alone atop the division. This is a big reason why the Bears went out and got a guy the talent level of Mack/ On that one play, he proved to the Cards, and the rest of the league once again, why he's one of the best defensive players in all of football

Worst:
Clay Matthews, Linebacker Green Bay Packers
Clay is regarded to be one of the best linebackers in all of football. During the first nine years of his career, Clay had been flagged for four roughing the passer penalties. He's now been flagged for that three times in the first three weeks of the season. The last two calls have been outrages. First was the call on Kirk Cousins of Minnesota last week, then their was the hit on Alex Smith of Washington this week. It looked like a normal sack against Smith this week, which for some stupid reason was flagged. The league is calling it for Matthews falling on Smith with all his body weight, which the league is trying to cut down on. I feel bad for Matthews here because the league is trying to in a way baby the Quarterbacks. Its trying to get linebackers to change their game and a few have gotten hurt because of the NFL's rulings in this regard. Its stupid and I feel bad for Clay Matthews basically being the guy in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Best:
Carolina Panthers Run Game
Carolina showed up on Sunday and beat up on the Bengals to the tune of a 31-21 win. Now it's often talked about how the league is a quarterback driven league. This game, however, proved that an effective running game can be vital to a team success in this league. Christian McCaffery lead all running backs with 184 yards on the ground, on 28 carries. Cam Newton was also a factor in that run game effectiveness, rushing for two scores of his own. Carolina knows that the offensive line isn't that great, but they've managed to scheme their way around it and used that perfectly to beat the Bengals.

Worst:
Minnesota Vikings Offense
This was supposed to be a rout. Buffalo was a bad team, or supposed to be a bad team. Going into the Vikings-Bills game Sunday, Minnesota was a 17 point favorite. Somebody forgot to tell the Bills that. Buffalo walked away with a 27-6 victory. Minnesota had no offensive flow going at all, as Kirk Cousins was pressured most of the day and turned the football over three times. Hell Jared Allen, the Buffalo Quarterback, had more rushing years then the entire Vikings offense. This may have been a case of getting a little ahead of themselves. Week four is a Thursday Night matchup for the Vikings against the Rams, which could be an early potential playoff preview. It won't stay that way, however, if the Vikings keep playing the way they did against the Bills. Stay focused on the task at hand and don't ever get too far ahead of yourselves.

Best:
Calvin Ridley, Wide Receiver Atlanta Falcons
The rookie wide receiver out of Alabama is expected to play a big role for the Falcons in becoming a third weapon in that offense. He scored his first NFL touchdown last week. This week, in Atlanta's 43-37 overtime loss to the Saints, he proved to be a force for this Falcons club. I know it was in a losing effort, but look at the numbers for Ridley. Seven catches for 143 yards (second most in the NFL this week behind Jordy Nelson of Oakland) and three touchdown catches. Those three scores, all of which came in the first half, managed to match what Julio Jones did all of last year. He was reeking havoc for the Saints defense, who had to take their shut down corner off Julio to Ridley, which is a sign of respect for the rookie.

Worst:
Dak Prescott, Quarterback Dallas Cowboys
Heading into this game, Seattle had looked horrible on defense. They were allowing over 500 yards through the air. This week, in their 24-13 win over Dallas, the defense looked like the Legion of Boom once again. Dak Prescott was sacked five times for 31 yards, and he finished with just 168 yards passing, going 19 of 34 throwing, connecting with one touchdown and two interceptions. Through the first three games, Dak has a total of 498 passing yards. Let's put it this way, I think Ryan Fitzpatrick of the Bucs is averaging that through the first three games. Dak has been pretty terrible through the first three games. He’s struggling like crazy to connect with his receivers outside the hash marks. The Dallas offense is barely alive right now. If not for Ezekiel Elliott, things would be even worse.

Baker Time In Cleveland?

It's been a long time coming for the Cleveland Browns and their fans. Twenty games and 634 days is a long time to wait between victories. December 24th 2016 was the last time the Browns tasted victory, a 20-17 win over the then San Diego Chargers. Now that pain and suffering has ended thanks to their 21-17 win over the Jets on Thursday night, The man responsible for that was first overall pick in this years draft, Baker Mayfield.

He proved on Thursday that he can lead this Browns team. Now the question is, is this really Baker's time?

Browns coach Hue Jackson hasn't made the announcement yet as to who's going to start week four against the Oakland Raiders. it would be pretty stupid on Jackson's part not to go back to Mayfield after the performance he had against the Jets. Mayfield went 17 of 23 for 201 yards. He didn't throw a touchdown or interception on the day either. Not tossing a TD was a bit of a downer, but not throwing a pick was great. He showed a lot of poise and maturity for a guy in his position. His first drive after taking over for Tyrod Taylor with 1:42 left in the first half was pretty impressive, marching the team down the field to set up the field goal that got them on the board.

Tyrod was taken out of the game after dealing with apparent back issues and a concussion, his 3rd in about 13 months or so. But there's more to it then that. Cleveland was calling for Baker well before he got into the game. The Browns offense was going nowhere fast and they needed a spark to get them going. It may have taken an injury to Taylor to give him the chance, but he was able to take his shot and run with it.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention. Mayfield did what he did against the Jets without working with the first team offense before Thursday.

You can call it a struck a luck or you can it pure skills. Whatever you call it, you have to tip your hat and admit how impressive of a display it was. now the question remains, who are the Browns going to start against the Raiders next weekend? Smart money should be on Baker. Look Tyrod did what he could with this offense, and give credit where iot's due they looked alright over the first two games of the season. Should have had at least one win already if it wasn't for their crappy kicking game. The fans were calling for the change to be made at quarterback even before Tyrod got hurt, which should have been an indication to Hue right there that something had to change. Had the Browns not made the switch, who knows, they still maybe searching for the first win in over 635 days.

They've got that first win under their belt, and their now actually higher in the standings then the Pittsburgh Steelers, which is a sentence I never thought I'd actually write. It makes perfect sense to keep Mayfield under center. Cleveland has had a revolving door of quarterbacks since the franchise came back into the league in 1999. Thirty one in total since 1999. Cleveland hasn't had one guy under center for an entire season since Tim Couch in 2001. They may have finally found their guy in Baker Mayfield. Now let him take the reigns and run full blast with this team. You know you got a capable backup in Tyrod Taylor should he stumble, but the only way he's going to get comfortable with this team is if he gets his snaps in. Now's the time. This is Baker's team, this is Bakers time!

Best & Worst Of NFL Week Two

Wee two is in the books in the NFL, and it was a pretty bad week for kickers, among others. Kickers missed a total of 19 kicks, 12 field goals and seven extra points, more on that to come. Vontae Davis had enough and called it quits. While we had stinkers, like the two New York teams, there were other teams that had themselves a day. Kansas City had themselves a huge day, as did Tampa Bay. We got another tie this week as well, what else could happen. So with all that being said, here's some of the best and worst from around the NFL in week two.

Best:
Patrick Mahomes, Quarterback Kansas City Chiefs
With the way the first two games have gone, think this one was a given. In the KC 42-37 win over the Steelers this week, Patrick Mahomes was nearly flawless. He finished the day going 23 of 28 for 326 yards. Solid numbers. What really pops off the page is the fact that Mahomes threw for six touchdowns this week. You read that right he threw for six touchdowns this week. To make that even better, throw in last week's start, and Mahomes has 10 TD passes over the first two games of the year. That's an unreal number to think about. Those ten TD's in the first two games are a Super Bowl-Era record for QB's. And he's done it on a total of 55 pass attempts the first two games. Small part of me thought that the Chiefs might take a step back going from Alex Smith to this kid, but looks can be deceiving. He's been very good over the first two games and if KC keeps this kind of pace up, they are going to be a very hard team to handle.

Worst:
Jamies Winston, Quarterback Tampa Bay Buccaneers
He hasn't played a snap yet in the NFL and with the way the first two weeks of the season have gone, he may not get a chance to take a snap this season. Winston was supposed to be the guy under center for the Bucs, but got suspended the first three games for off the field issues. It opened the door for Ryan Fitzpatrick and he has kicked it in full force. Fitzpatrick went 27 of 33 for 412 yards another four touchdowns and a pick. The Bucs are also 2-0 to start the year. I'm sure that Tampa and Fitzpatrick will come back down to earth at some point, but until they do, Winston is out in the cold. I mean Winston is a franchise player, there's no doubt about that. But right now, for the sake of the Bucs, it might be smart to stick with a hot hand and Fitz has that hot hand at the moment. He good at throwing a deep ball, which is something Winston needs to work on.

Best:
Bradin Cooks, Wide Receiver Los Angeles Rams
He may not have found the back of the endzone on this day but Bradin Cooks had a day to remember. He did haul in seven catches for 159 in the 34-0 win over the Rams. He is starting to show what has been know for a long time, he's one of the top wide outs in all of football. He's got 246 receiving yards on just 12 catches through the first two games in a high powered offense. He's good, really, really good.

Worst:
New York Giants Offensive Line
Well, the early returns for this line aren't very good. During the offseason, New York tried its best to make improvements on one of its biggest weak spots in that offensive line. They signed Nate Soilder and drafted Will Hernandez. None of that mattered, or did any good for that matter, Sunday night against Dallas. The Cowboys walked away with a 20-13 win, with the Giants offense looking very sloppy. The line being a big reason for that problem. The Dallas front line had its way with the Giants. Saquon Barkley, for all his brilliance, was only able to generate 28 yards on the ground, but he did manage to catch 14 passes for 79 yards, most of which came in garbage time. New York, as a team, averaged 2.1 yards per carry, while Eli Manning was sacked six times for a loss of 59 yards. This is not a knock against the Cowboy defense, it did what it was supposed to do. Are they a top of the heap defense? No. Are they solid? Yes. The Giants offensive line is in that bad of shape right now. If Big Blue wants to get anywhere this year, that line has got to play better.

Best:
Phillip Lindsay, Running Back Denver Broncos
Going into the season, it looked to be almost a lock that Denver was going to have a rookie taking the bulk of the load at running back. Royce Freeman was projected to be the guy to take the job, but instead Phillip Lindsay has taken control as the feature back in Denver. In week one, he had 102 rush yards. This week, in Denver's 20-19 win over the Raiders, Lindsay had 14 caries for 107 yards and had another catch for four yards to finish with 111 total yards for the day. He's been showing a lot of speed and quickness, making defenders look just silly on certain plays. At the moment, it looks like the Broncos have a solid and consistent run game which they've been looking for over the last couple of seasons.

Worst:
NFL Kickers
NFL teams better have Dan Bailey on speed dial after kickers had a horrible day om the job. On Sunday, in total, 19 kicks were missed. Twelve field goals and seven extra points went by the board. That’s not the record for most missed kicks in a single day, but a lot of Sunday’s were dramatic. Browns kicker Zane Gonzalez missed two extra points and two field goals. One of the extra points would have given the Browns a 19-18 lead; one of the field goals would have tied the game at 21. They lost, 21-18. Rookie kicker Daniel Carlson missed not one but two overtime kicks in Minnesota’s 29-29 tie against the Packers. It's days like this that a guy like Dan Bailey, who for the record is the second most accurate kicker in NFL history, could be on speed dial for a job and quickly.

Best:
Steve Sarkisian, Offensive Coordinator Atlanta Falcons
Play down in the red zone had been a big problem for the Falcons. They heard it near the end of last season, they heard it during the off season. They even heard it a bit during the opening night loss to the Falcons. All that talk went away on Sunday. Atlanta got inside the 20-yard line four times, and scored four touchdowns. That fueled a 31-24 win over Carolina. Matt Ryan's numbers compared to the opener were way up in this game as he totally flipped the script and had two touchdowns and 272 yards passing. Sarkisian called the right plays at the right times and got the Falcons offense right back on track. With how tight this race in the NFC South could look this year,m it going to be a fun year to watch that division.

Worst:
First Year Head Coaches
Jon Gruden, Matt Patricia and Steve Wilks are still in search of their first wins on the year. Jon Gruden’s Raiders blew a big fourth-quarter lead at Denver, and then Gruden showed some remarkable lack of self-awareness by blaming the Raiders’ pass rush for not getting pressure late. That's what happens when your bosses let go one of the best pass rushers and defenders in the game today. For Steve Wilks in Arizona, the Cards look like the 2nd worst team in the league right now, behind the Bills. Not only is Arizona off to an 0-2 start, they got blasted 34-0 by the Rams on Sunday in a flat out embarrassing effort. Then there's Matt Patricia in Detroit. He not only got beaten soundly by the Jets in week one but lost 30-27 to the 49ers. The team doesn't really feel comfortable with him and over the next three weeks the Lions have to deal with New England, Dallas and Green Bay. Things don't look good in the Motor City right about now.

Best:
Tavon Austin, Wide Receiver Dallas Cowboys
As a whole, things haven't been great for the career of Tavon Austin. He was picked 8th overall in 2013, with that comes high expectations. He's averaged a little over 38 yards a game in his career, which is a low number for a guy taken 8th overall. Dallas had been saying all summer that Austin was going to be their big gun, but he had just one touch for one yard in the opener against the Panthers. Now, in the Dallas 20-13 win over the Giants, he had himself a pretty good day. Austin got the party started by scoring the game’s first points on a gorgeous 64-yard catch and run for a touchdown. He added another 15-yard reception, along with a 15-yard run, to finish with 94 yards and one of the two touchdowns scored in the game by Dallas. He may not have hit the high water mark just yet, but based on what was done against the Giants, it looks like it a solid step in the right direction.

Worst:
Vonate Davis, Corner back Buffalo Bills
Maybe it a poor attitude on his part. Maybe its the team he plays for. Whatever the exact reason was, is not known yet. We do know this much. Davis had enough. Nine years spent in the NFL is a solid career, three with the Dolphins and six with the Colts. Last year, Davis played in only five games with the Colts due to injuries. This year, he signs with the bills, plays in a blowout loss to the Ravens and can't even make it through the entire second game of the year against the Chargers. He retired at halftime. No that's not a joke, and no that's not a typo. He removed himself from the game at halftime against the Chargers and retired. That's how bad things have gotten in Buffalo when a player retires mid game. Davis just figured he wouldn't destroy his body anymore at the end of his career and just save himself from misery and hang up the pads now. That's how you know the Bills are that bad with players retiring in the middle of a game.

Best Of David Wright

Its a sad day for Mets fans, but we all knew it was coming. In a press conference held early Wednesday, the Mets announced that David Wright would be activated for the final homestand of the season. It starts September 25th vs the Braves and concludes September 30th vs the Marlins. The final time in which Mets fans get to see the captain in uniform. The team has already announced the Wright will play 3rd base for the final time on Saturday September 29th. It will be the final start of his career, one in which he has been the face of the Mets franchise since he came into the big leagues.

Wright is the team leader in every offensive category except batting average (3rd), triples (T-8th), stolen bases (4th) and on base percentage (4th). He's the king of the record books for this team. It sucks to see the way his career has gone down. Here's a look back at some of the best moments of David's career.

Starting it off was July 22nd, 2004  when David cracked his first big league hit:


We'll get back to more moments with the bat in a bit, but we wanna show off his defense a little. Like on August 9th of 2005 when he did this against the Padres:


OK now back to the offense we go. May 19th 2006, subway series. It was a wild night in Queens with the Captain capping it off.


Then we get to the two most emotional at bats he's had. First up was what kick started the captains return back in the Magical year of 2015. It was August 24th in Philadelphia, David announced he was back in a big way.


Finally, we move to October 30th of the same year, in game three of the World Series, Wright showed the home crowd just how much it meant to him playing in the fall classic.


It really sucks to see a guy who has done so much for this Mets franchise have his career wind down the way it has. It would have been even sweeter had the team been able to beat the Royals in 2015, but they won tow division titles and made it to the NCLS twice and fall classic once during Wrights career. He may not be headed to Cooperstown but will without a doubt be heading into the Mets hall of fame and should have his number retired when all is said and done.

So thanks for the Memories David, we look forward to the final game on September 29th., Hopefully it can give Mets fans like me one final thrill.

Best & Worst Of NFL Week One

Football is finally back. When the regular season gets going, it a good way to see what were really getting from our football teams. I know it's only the first week and a whole lot can change over the final sixteen weeks of the season. If this first week was any indication, its going to be a fun year. We had a shootout in New Orleans, Chicago blowing a big lead, the Jets dominating in Detroit and it was a rough week for brand new NFL head coaches. All of that and more went down in the first week of the year. Here's a look at some of the winners and losers from week one.

Best:
Aaron Rodgers, Quarterback Green Bay Packers
Not only was it rough to watch the Bears take a 20-3 lead on the Pack, but Aaron Rodgers got carted off early on with what looked like a knee injury. But Rodgers managed to get himself off the floor, help get the Packers off the floor and walk away with an improbable 24-23 win at home. When Rodgers went down, Khalil Mack started going bonkers against DeShone Kizer. Rodgers comes back into the game and goes off the rails. He went 20 of 30 for 286 yards and three touchdowns. All of that came IN THE SECOND HALF ALONE. Those numbers just from the 2nd half were better then 19 other starting QB's had in an entire game. Let that sink in for a second. And erasing a 20 point deficit was tied for the largest deficit overcome in Rodgers career, and he did it all on one leg. His performance on Sunday showed you, me and the rest of the football world why the Packers made him the highest paid Quarterback in the game.

Worst:
Nathan Peterman, Quarterback Buffalo Bills
After the year that the Bills had last season, this is not how you wanted to try and build off of it. Then they named Nathan Peterman the week one starter, which was a sign of bad things to come. He threw five picks in his first game against the Rams last year in the first half alone. This year wasn't much better. Buffalo was routed by the Baltimore Ravens 47-3 and Peterman didn't finish the game. He went 5 of 18 for for 24 yards and two picks. Bufflo suffered the worst season opening loss in franchise history and gained just two yards of total offense in the first quarter. The Bills were a mess in the opener and unless Josh Allen is a miracle worker, I don't see things getting any better for Buffalo.

Best:
Ryan Fitzpatrick, Quarterback Tampa Bay Buccaneers
FitzMagic manages to show up against the Saints on Sunday. If somebody had said that Fitzpatrick would outplay Drew Brees I would have said you were crazy. But that's what happened in the Bucs 48-40 win in New Orleans on Sunday. In a game in which he was nearly perfect, Fitzpatrick wen 21 of 28 for 417 yards and four touchdowns, all without throwing a pick. Only guys to throw for more yards this week were Philip Rivers and Drew Brees. Fitzpatrick was on top of his game, including a beautiful TD pass to DeSean Jackson to kick the scoring off. Sure it was just one game, but just imagine if he plays like this again over the next two games. If he does that, Tampa is going to be in a tough spot once Jameis Winston comes back from suspension.

Worst:
Sam Bradford, Quarterback Arizona Cardinals
Sam Bradford is going to be good in Arizona. Right? Didn't look like that way in week one. Bradford has two top playmakers to play with in Larry Fitzgerald and David Johnson, he had trouble getting them the ball. Combined, the two had 12 catches for 106 yards. Oh yeah, the rest of the club had eight catches for 47 yards. And that was on 15 targets. Washington rolled to a 24-6 win over the Cards (and by the way congrats to Adrian Peterson on his 100th career touchdown). Bradford was bad, and it wouldn't surprise many if Josh Allen gets playing time and even starts in the very near future.

Best:
Joe Mixon, Running Back Cincinnati Bengals
In a game in which the two starting quarterbacks seem to cancel each other out, somebody needed to step up. In the Bengals 34-23 win over the Colts, Andy Dalton and Andrew Luck (who looked OK in his first start in a year and a half) kind of negated each other. Somebody had to step up, and someone did in the form of Joe Mixon. Mixon rushed for 95 yards and a touchdown on just 17 carries and added another 54 yards on five receptions. With some of the weapons that the Bengals have in the likes of AJ Green and John Ross, you throw in a guy like Mixon, they got something to build off of. If they can keep this pace up, the Bengals could be a big surprise coming out of the North.

Worst:
Jon Gruden, Coach Oakland Raiders
Jon Gruden is back on the NFL sideline and it hasn't started very good. Hell it kind of went sour before the Raiders even took the field. It started with Kahlil Mack doing well Mackian things against the Packers Sunday night. Then the Raiders took the field in their opener on Monday night against the Rams. Didn't end well as the Rams walked away with a 33-13 win. Again it's only one game, but things haven't gotten off to that great a start for Gruden and the Raiders.

Best:
Tyreek Hill, Wide Receiver Kansas City Chiefs
Have yourself a day young fella. in the Chiefs 38-28 win over the Chargers, Hill was all over the place. It started with a fantastic 91 yard punt return, continued when he hauled in a 58 yard touchdown pass from Patrick Mahomes and concluded with a goal line score late in the half. In total, Hill finished with 268 all-purpose yards and those three touchdowns. it was one of those performances that coaches, and fantasy football owners, dream about. Hill was feeling it on Sunday.

Worst:
Matt Patricia, Head Coach Detroit Lions
It's funny but for some reason, a disciple of Bill Belichick never seems to fair very well as a head coach on their own. He got beat up pretty good in his coaching debut as the Lions got whooped 48-17 by the Jets on Monday Night. I don't know what it is but coaches who leave under the all seeing eye of Belichick can't seem to get it done on their own. Not only did the Lions get whooped by the Jets, but there's even reports floating around that Lions players are already unhappy with the culture that Patricia has started to create in the Motor City. if that's already starting in week one, it's going to be a long year in Detroit

Best:
James Conner, Running Back Pittsburgh Steelers
If there was any fault in the game of James Conner in the season opener against the Browns, it was the fumble late in the game that allowed Cleveland an open window. Cleveland was able to come away with a 21-21 tie against the Steelers. Conner still had himself a great day, finishing with 34 carries and 192 rushing yards, the most in the NFL in week one. He also had a pair of touchdown runs in this game as well. He had vision all over the field, and made more then a few defenders look really silly. That's how you know you got a good runner on your hands. It's not quite the same as having Bell in the lineup, but Conner did pretty well for himself.

Worst:
Le'Von Bell, Running Back Pittsburgh Steelers
The biggest thing he's missed out on so far is a huge payday, as sitting out the opener cost Bell $855,000. His replacement, James Connor, did pretty well for himself, see above. But Bell comes out a loser here, and so do the Steelers, because maybe having Bell in the lineup could have cut down on the six turnovers that the Steelers had in the ballgame. There's no telling how much longer Bell is going to be out, but the more he sits out, the more he's hurting himself. Looks like the steelers might be OK without him.

2018 NFL Season Preview

The time has finally arrived. After a long long wait, the NFL regular season is finally upon us. We are ready to go with the kickoff to the 2018 season in the National Football League. Everybody starts off the year with a clean slate and one goal in mind, to hoist the Vince Lombardi trophy as champions of the game of football. Lots to get caught up on before we dive into the full blown season preview. There are some tweaks that have been made to the rules for this year. There's plenty of new faces around the league in new places, while others have decided to hang up the pads. Here we go, lets start with some of the new rule changes.

What is and isn't a catch around the league have been more clearly defined. A catch takes place when a player has two feet down or any body part other than the hands, and they have control of the ball. To go along with that, they must make a "football move" such as making a 3rd step, reaching/extending to the line to gain, tucking the ball away, warding off defensive players, or have the ability to perform such an act. Finally, the rule for receivers who were going to the ground during the catch process has been deleted. Then there's the rule of hitting with the helmet. Can't lead with the crown of the helmet or its a personal foul penalty.

The 2017 season saw the end of some pretty good careers. Kam Chancellor, Antonio Cromartie, Dwight Freeney, Devin Hester, Nick Mangold, Carson Palmer, Darrelle Revis, Jason Witten, Martellus Bennett, Matt Forte, DeMarco Murray, Victor Cruz, Eric Decker, and Brent Celek have all called it a career. We've also got some new faces in new places around the league. First the trades. Cleveland reloaded by adding Jarvis Landry and Tyrod Taylor in separate deals, then sent DeShone Kizer away to Green Bay. Kansas City dumped off some talent by trading away both Alex Smith (to Washington) and Marcus Peters (to Rams). Denver got rid of some talent as well by trading Aqib Talib (to Rams) and Trevor Siemian (to Minnesota). Los Angeles made a splash by getting Brandin Cooks from the Patriots, while the Giants also made moves by acquiring Alec Ogletree from the Rams and dealing away Jason Pierre-Paul to the Bucs.

Some big names switched uniforms during the offseason. Sam Bradford (Minnesota to Arizona), Teddy Bridgewater (Minnesota to Jets (traded to saints)), Kirk Cousins (Washington to Minnesota), Case Keenum (Minnesota to Denver), Isaiah Crowell (Cleveland to Jets), Carlos Hyde (San Francisco to Cleveland), Dion Lewis (New England to Tennessee),  Danny Amendola (New England to Miami), Allen Hurns (Jacksonville to Dallas), Jordy Nelson (Green Bay to Oakland), Allen Robinson (Jacksonville to Chicago), and Sammy Watkins (Rams to Kansas City), Jimmy Graham (Seattle to Green Bay), Austin Seferian-Jenkins (Jets to Jacksonville), Marcedes Lewis (Jacksonville to Green Bay),  Mike Pouncey (Miami to Chargers), Justin Pugh ( Giants to Arizona), Weston Richburg (Giants to San Francisco), Nate Solder (New England to Giants), Josh Sitton (Chicago to Miami), and Travis Swanson (Detroit to Jets) were all on the move. That was just offense.

On defense, Vinny Curry (Philadelphia to Tampa Bay), Sheldon Richardson (Seattle to Minnesota), Ndamukong Suh (Miami to Rams), Muhammad Wilkerson (Jets to Green Bay), Demario Davis (Jets to New Orleans), Trent Murphy (Washington to Buffalo), Tahir Whitehead (Detroit to Oakland), Avery Williamson (Tennessee to Jets), Malcolm Butler (New England to Tennessee), Morgan Burnett (Green Bay to Pittsburgh), T. J. Carrie (Oakland to Cleveland), Marcus Gilchrist (Houston to Oakland), Trumaine Johnson (Rams to Jets), Tyrann Mathieu (Arizona to Houston), Rashaan Melvin (Indianapolis to Oakland), Patrick Robinson (Philadelphia to New Orleans), and Richard Sherman (Seattle to San Francisco) all changed cities during the offseason.

So now that we got that all caught up, here's how things go down. This is how we see the divisions playing out for the 2018 NFL Season.

Solly:
NFC East: Philadelphia Eagles
NFC North: Minnesota Vikings
NFC South: New Orleans Saints
NFC West: Los Angeles Rams
NFC Wild Card: Green Bay Packers
NFC Wild Card: Atlanta Falcons
AFC East: New England Patriots
AFC North: Pittsburgh Steelers
AFC South: Jacksonville Jaguars
AFC West: Los Angeles Chargers
AFC Wild Card: Tennessee Titans
AFC Wild Card:  Houston Texans

Steve:
NFC East: Philadelphia Eagles
NFC North: Green Bay Packers
NFC South: New Orleans Saints
NFC West: Los Angeles Rams
NFC Wild Card: Minnesota Vikings
NFC Wild Card: Atlanta Falcons
AFC East: New England Patriots
AFC North: Pittsburgh Steelers
AFC South: Houston Texans
AFC West: Los Angeles Chargers
AFC Wild Card: Jacksonville Jaguars
AFC Wild Card: Denver Broncos

3rd Mic Dan:
NFC East: Philadelphia Eagles
NFC North: Minnesota Vikings
NFC South: New Orleans Saints
NFC West: Los Angeles Rams
NFC Wild Card: Green bay Packers
NFC Wild Card: San Francisco 49ers
AFC East: New England Patriots
AFC North: Pittsburgh Steelers
AFC South: Jacksonville Jaguars
AFC West: Los Angeles Chargers
AFC Wild Card: Kansas City Chiefs
AFC Wild Card: Houston Texans