Best And Worst Of NFL Week Two

There has been a lot of negative stuff going around the National Football League this past week, with all of it coming from off the field incidents. While all that stuff has gone on, the play on the field during week two is what should be really talked about right now. There's a lot to talk about from the second week of the season. Sure the injury bug has started to hit hard around the league, with star players like Robert Griffin III (ankle), Knowshon Moreno (elbow), and Eric Decker (hamstring questionable) among the big names going down with injuries in week two. Along with that, some teams saw surprises in their ballgames, like the Saints falling to 0-2 on the year, Seattle losing its first game of the year to the Chargers, Chicago coming back in the 2nd half on San Francisco and Buffalo staying undefeated. Those are just some of the big headlines coming out of this week around the league. We know there's a lot of action going on on Sundays, so we got you covered. Here are some of the best and worst from week two in the NFL.

Best:
Antonio Gates, Tight End San Diego Chargers
It's a well known fact that Gates career has been on a decline the past few years. He was one of the top five tight ends in all of football, but now is somewhat of a shell of his former self. This past Sunday, Gates showed the football world that he still has something left in the tank. He had seven catches for a total of 98 yards and three touchdown catches. Those three TD grabs were the first time he's done that in a game in almost nine years. And to make that even more impressive, he did it against arguably the best defense in the entire league.

Worst:
Seattle Seahawks Secondary
In the season opener, Richard Sherman wasn't really tested by the Green Bay Packers. Week two was a completely different story. It wasn't just on Sherman, it was on the entire Seattle secondary. The Seahawks lost their first really meaningful game in about nine months, and it was the secondary that seemed to be kinda a letdown. Chargers Quarterback Philip Rivers filleted the famed Seattle secondary (and linebackers) for 284 yards and those three scoring darts to Gates. Seattle's defense looked really average, which isn't really a good thing heading into their Superbowl rematch against the Broncos at home.

Best:
Cam Newton, Quarterback Carolina Panthers
After missing week one due to the rib injury, Newton came back under center with a bang in the week two win over the Lions. Despite the fact that he was sacked four times, Newton still finished the day going 22 of 34 for 281 yards and a touchdown. Under normal circumstances, that might not look like a outstanding week, but it was not only the first start of this season for Newton, he put up those numbers and lead the Panthers to victory without DeAngelo Williams and Greg Hardy.

Worst:
Matt Ryan, Quarterback Atlanta Falcons
Week one saw Matty Ice go off against the Saints with over 400 yards passing, three touchdowns and no turnovers in the big win over the Saints. Week two was a different story as it seemed Matt Ryan came back to earth a little bit. Ryan went 24 of 44 for 231 yards and a touchdown. The three picks Ryan threw really hurt the Falcons chances in their loss to the Bengals. Plus throw in the fact that his passer rating was under 50% this week, and it would spell a recipe for disaster for the Falcons passer.

Best:
Dallas Cowboys Defense
In their season opener against the 49ers, the Cowboys defense looked bad. San Francisco really lit them up good in the opening game, plus he wasn't given much help from Romo's performance in week one either. Then week two rolled around and the Cowboys really came to play against the Titans. Dallas held the Titans to 10 points, 82 rushing yards and picked off QB Jake Locker twice as the Cowboys evened their record at 1-1.

Worst:
New Orleans Saints Defense
Their performance against the Falcons in week one was pretty bad, allowing 568 total yards in the overtime loss that started the year off. So many people thought that the Saints would be able to turn things around against the Cleveland Browns. That didn't exactly go according to plan, either. New Orleans lost track of Browns WR Andrew Hawkins, whose 28-yard reception with 6 seconds to go set up Cleveland's game-winning field goal. A popular preseason Super Bowl pick, the Saints and their sorry defense are suddenly looking like playoff long shots given the historical lack of success for teams starting 0-2 — though they remain just a game out of the NFC South lead.

Best:
Sammy Watkins, Wide Receiver Buffalo Bills
I don't think too many people had the Bills pegged to start the season off 2-0. But they are, thanks to their 29-10 win in week two over the Dolphins. Watkins had a big game this week, helping power the Bills to their victory. The rookie receiver  began paying dividends Sunday, for the Bills, thanks to his eight-catch, 117-yard effort that includes his first NFL TD. Those receiving yards were 5th most in the NFL this week, but Watkins leads all rookie receivers in yards and catches this season. This game was sort of his coming out party, letting other teams know that he has arrived.

Worst:
Robert Griffin III, Quarterback Washington Redskins
This isn't exactly a bad performance but more a case of bad luck than anything else. A dislocated ankle most certainly jeopardizes his season. But it's not the only question that could arise after backup Kirk Cousins, who some analysts view as a better fit for coach Jay Gruden's offense, shredded the Jaguars in relief of RG3. So who knows where he stands when he comes back this year, if he does.

Best:
Bill Belichick, Head Coach New England Patriots
With the Patriots win on Sunday over the Vikings, Belichick picked up career victory number 200 as a head coach in the NFL. The win makes him one of only six coaches in league history to win 200 games, the others being Marty Schottenheimer, Curly Lambeau, Tom Landry, George Halas, and Don Shula. During his 15 years as coach of the Patriots, not including this year, Belichick has had one losing season and one other year where the team has won less than ten games in a season. So congrats to Bill Belichick for hitting the 200 win mark.

Worst:
Marty Mornhinweg, Offensive Coordinator New York Jets
The timeout that he called with about 7 minutes left in regulation cost the Jets a game tying touchdown in their loss to the Packers. What I want to know here is why was he even calling a timeout in the first place. No coach, other than the head coach, is allowed to call a timeout. Marty's stupidity in this instance screwed the Jets over in this game and cost them a chance to win the ballgame in Green Bay.

There you have it. Some of the best and worst from week two!

NFL Goes Through Week From Hell

There's really no other way to put this. The last week for the National Football League has been a week of pure public relations hell, for all that has been going on off the field. First there's the whole situation with Ray Rice and how the league went about that. Then throw in what is being reported about Carolina Panthers defensive linemen Greg Hardy was found guilty in a North Carolina Court for assaulting his former girlfriend, thus causing the Panthers to sit him out in week two. To add more to this pile, Minnesota Vikings Running Back Adrian Peterson turned himself in to Texas authorities for beating his four-year-old son, which caused the Vikings to take him out of the lineup in week two as well. As you can see, this has really been a rough go of it for the league.

First lets start with the Ray Rice incident. We all know that the league mishandled this situation right from the start. Nobody really knew how badly the league mishandled it, but you knew somebody had dropped the ball. Now we have a somewhat clearer picture here. According to the reports that have been coming in, four league executives have said that Roger Goodell had seen the video months ago from inside the elevator and still didn't say a word. If that wasn't bad enough, according to various sources, when Goodell met with Ray Rice back in April, regarding this incident, Rice had told Goodell to his face that he had hit his fiance. Goodell has said in interviews that Rice was indifferent about it when they met back in April. So somebody here is lying, its either Goodell or its everybody else. In this case I really think it's Goodell. He's trying to cover his rear end for this whole thing. Now that all these reports regarding the Rice incident are coming around, Goodell is trying to make up for it by making the ruling against Rice he did. But by the time the ruling came down it was already too late, the cat was already out of the bag.

So with all this going on with Goodell, they are now going to have an independent investigation delving into Goodell’s possible involvement in a cover-up of the Rice affair, it adds even more pressure on what the commissioner will do, either being forced to quit or he's going to get fired because of this.

But wait, there's more to it than that.

Now throw into the mix the conviction of Carolina's Greg Hardy. Hardy was convicted in court for assaulting his former girlfriend, Nicole Holder, in an incident that allegedly involved hair-pulling, slamming a toilet seat on her arm, and putting his hands around her neck, according to reports. During week one, Hardy was allowed to play for the Panthers. Once this story became public, Hardy was scrapped from the Panthers lineup in week two in their win over the Detroit Lions. I'll give the Panthers credit in this incident for the way the have handled this story. They pulled him from the lineup, and gone on public record saying that they do not support this kind of incident. Now whether or not he will be back in the lineup next week is still up in the air, the Panthers are going to allow the legal process to take course.

Same thing too with the Vikings. Before Sunday's loss to the Patriots, the Vikings found out that Adrian Peterson turned himself in to Texas authorities for beating his four-year-old son bloody with a tree branch. He faces two years in prison for child abuse if convicted, but for now he will simply remain on the 53-man roster. He didn't play Sunday, but the team said he may be back for week three. The team is going to wait and let the legal system play out before making a decision on what to do. Minnesota has taken the high road and gone on record as to where they stand with this.

Nothing can be done yet to either Hardy or Peterson by the league until the process has gone through the legal system. I'm sure, though, once everything is sorted out, that appropriate actions will taken by both the NFL and the respective teams. What both teams should do is take this week by week as the story unfolds.

From a league point of view, these two stories couldn't come down at a worse time. Things were bad enough with what was happening with Ray Rice. Now add this onto that story, its making a public relations nightmare for the entire league. The NFL has had better weeks, that's for sure. The league is too powerful to ahve this really bring it down, but there has been damage done. It shows that the NFL isn't perfect and really needs to change the way it handles things. If it doesn't, it's going to get a lot worse.

David Wright Injury And Mets Playoff Hopes

There's no doubt in anybody's mind who the face of the New York Mets franchise is. David Wright has been THE man in Queens since 2008 and has spent his entire ten year big league career with the Mets franchise. This season was expected to be a big year for David, a bounce back year of sorts by his standards. That hasn't exactly been the case. Some may thought it would be an injury, while others thought it was a mental issue. Well now we know exactly what the problem is with David Wright.

It's an injury thing. Wright has been battling a shoulder issue for the last three months, finally catching up to him, causing the Mets to shut the captain down for the year. The persistent inflammation in his rotator cuff that Wright has been dealing with is the reason why he has turned in the worst of his 11 year big league career this year. Before the Mets shut Wright down, he was hitting .269 with eight home runs and 63 RBI. In fact Wright hasn't hit a home run since July 11th at home against the Miami Marlins.

When healthy, Wright usually averages 25 home runs and 101 RBI's in a season while hitting around .301. You could just tell by watching Wright play over the last month that something wasn't right with the captain at the plate. In the field, Wright looked fine, but when he would come to the plate, you could just tell that something wasn't going right with David. Some speculated that it might be mental. He had a little protection in the lineup with how well Lucas Duda and Daniel Murphy had been hitting this year, but still Wright is normally a little more productive than what he had been showing in years past. You almost kind of knew that it had to be an injury, because when Wright was healthy, he can still drive the ball, which is something he wasn't doing at the plate this year.

Now Wright can get the rest he needs, come back stronger than every in 2015 and look like the Wright of old.

So now with David out for the rest of the year, this begs the question as to what the Mets are now going to do at third base the rest of the year? Also you have to wonder how this will effect the teams playoff hopes? Well the Mets tried an experiment against the Rockies in the final game of that series, moving Daniel Murphy to 3rd from 2nd and they placed rookie Dilson Herrera back at 2nd. Herrera spent time at 2nd earlier this year when Murphy spent time on the DL. This experiment worked out pretty well for the mets in this game, but now we just have to wait and see if this could be a possible long term solution. Not having Murphy at 3rd because Wright has that job locked down. It helps show the Mets what they have in the system with guys like Herrera and Wilmer Flores, both of whom could be used as the shortstop next season.

But that's not till next season. First the Mets have to get through the rest of this season, which has 16 more games left for the team. Some Mets fans think that the team still has a shot at the last Wild Card spot. At the moment they currently sit 5.5 games out of the last wild card spot, trailing still the Marlins, Braves, Brewers, and Pirates for the final spot. I can see a bit of an argument here, considering that the Mets have won four straight games, are 7-2 in the month of September and are 13-7 in their last 20 games. That does give the team a little bit of hope. But at the same time, most of the teams they've played in the last few weeks are teams that are under .500.

In the final 16 games the Mets play the Nationals at home for four games, the Marlins at home for three, go to Atlanta for three, then to Washington for three and close out the year with three at home against the Houston Astros. The Mets would have to go 12-4 over the final 16 games to even sniff the last wild card spot and, as much as I hate to say this, that's not going to happen. The Mets can't beat the Nationals at home to save their lives, when they play the Marlins they play a little better and they are average against the Braves. So a lot has to go right for the Mets to make the playoffs, but sad to say its not going to happen the Mets are going to once again miss out on post season ball.

Best And Worst Of NFL Week One

Week one of the NFL season is in the books, a week which saw quite a few interesting twists and turns that fans didn't see coming.  Some things nobody saw coming, like the fact that the Jets Bills and Dolphins all won while the Patriots lost (to the Dolphins). We also saw two overtime thrillers, with Atlanta beating New Orleans and Buffalo beating Chicago. Week one also saw dramatic comebacks and blowout games. Some teams played the way they expected to, while others had a tough go of it to start the season. So with all that being said, here are some of the best and worst of week one in the NFL.

Best:
Philadelphia Eagles 2nd Half Offense
When the Eagles came out of halftime in their opening game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, they were facing a 17-0 deficit. Things didn't look too good for the Eagles. Then the light switch came on. Philadelphia turned it on, scoring 34 points, while piling up 291 total yards and didn't turn the ball over at all.

Worst:
Philadelphia Eagles 1st Half Offense
This is what made the Eagles second half of the ball game so impressive. Not only did they somehow manage to fall behind 17-0 to one of the worst teams in the league, on paper, in the Jaguars, but they did so in somewhat epic fashion. The offense was just horrible to start off the game. They gained 129 total yards on offense, couldn't score a single point, and oh yeah managed to turn the football over three times, all from Nick Foles fumbling twice and getting picked off once. With as bad as the team looked in the first half, it made their second half performance just that much better by comparison.

Best:
Buffalo Bills Run Defense
Just last season, the Buffalo Bills had one of the worst running defenses in all of the league. In fact the Bills run defense was the 5th worst in the entire league a season ago, allowing on average 128.9 yards per game to opposing running backs. To make matters worse, they had to start off against one of the top tandoms in the league in Chicago. But the Bills managed to hold Forte and Carey to a total of 86 yards on the ground, a noted improvement from last season.

Worst:
Oakland Raiders Running Game
In most cases, the running game in football is supposed to be able to take pressure off the starting quarterback, especially if he happens to be a rookie quarterback in his debut. That didn't happen in this case. now granted the Raiders went up against the Jets, who last season had the 3rd best rushing defense in all of football, allowing just 88.2 yards per game on the ground. But still its sad that Maurice Jones-Drew, Darren McFadden and Marcel Reece combined for 26 yards on 14 carries against the Jets. Sorry but that really can't happen in this game.

Best:
Derek Anderson, Quarterback Carolina Panthers
Now I know that Anderson didn't have the best statistical week for a Quarterback this week, consider this. The Panthers number one QB, Cam Newton, missed his first ever NFL start due to a rib injury, which forced the Panthers to go with Anderson in the first place. Anderson hadn't won a game as an NFL starter in almost four years. But that still didn't stop him from going 24 of 34 for 230 yards and two touchdowns. He played an efficent game, playing almost mistake free football. He threw a bad pass that if Dashon Goldson had hung on to a would-be fourth-quarter interception that might have allowed Tampa Bay to complete a comeback from a 17-0 deficit. Still he was able to step in and lead the Panthers to a win.

Worst:
Tony Romo, Quarterback Dallas Cowboys
It seems like I've had to say this quite often lately when it comes to the Cowboys franchise QB. It’s not like he can afford to be picked off three times under normal circumstances. But given the state of the Dallas defense — as evidenced by Sunday’s performance vs. the 49ers — the Cowboys aren’t going anywhere but the top of the draft if their $108 million quarterback doesn’t play better. Romo had a rough outing, and if he doesn't get it together then its going to be a long year for the Cowboys

Best:
Matt Ryan, Quarterback Atlanta Falcons
Matty Ice was back to form in week one in the Falcons thrilling victory over the Saints in overtime. Ryan was the top individual performer of the weekend, among quarterbacks at least, throwing for 448 yards and three touchdowns. Ryan was brilliant from the pocket, shredding a Rob Ryan defense that finished fourth in the league a year ago in opponent’s yards per game. The Saints gave up just more than 300 yards per game last year, and the Falcons gained 568 yards on Sunday. The Falcons trailed at two separate points in the fourth quarter and Ryan led them down the field to score twice. He was that good this weekend.

Worst:
Alex Smith, Quarterback Kansas City Chiefs
All offseason long, Smith wanted a new contract from the Chiefs.  Kansas City gave him what he asked for. Alex Smith wanted a new contract this offseason, and the Chiefs gave him one, to the tune of $76-million. You would think a player making that much money would show up on opening day. Well that didn't happen for Smith against the Titans. Kansas City’s offense was stagnant all day long against a defense that wasn’t supposed to be all that great, and Smith struggled to move the ball through the air. Smith completed 19 passes for 202 yards, but he threw three interceptions which ruined any chance at a Kansas City comeback. The whole Chiefs offensive game plan was baffling, including Andy Reid’s decision to only give Jamaal Charles seven carries, but Smith was the worst of the group.

Best:
Miami Dolphins Defense
Miami pitched a second-half shutout against the Patriots, holding them to 67 yards and five first downs over the final two quarters while taking the ball away twice. Assist to the 89-degree South Florida temperature and 61% humidity.

Worst:
Jadeveon Clowney, Defensive End Houston Texans
This isn't exactly the worst performance of the weekend, it's more a case of bad luck for Clowney. He logged one tackle in his NFL debut, but that was about it. Why? well he ended up with a torn meniscus in his knee trying to make a tackle, which will cause him to miss at least a month. Talk about a bad break.

Ravens Cut Ties With Ray Rice After Incident

You almost knew, in some way shape or form, this was going to happen. It was only a matter of time. We all know about what happened with Ray Rice and his fiance, now his wife, Janay Palmer in Atlantic City back in February. Before Monday, all that was known was that Rice was seen dragging an unconscious Palmer from the elevator in the hotel. How she got knocked out wasn't exactly known, but it was speculated that Rice had hit her and knocked her out. Due to this he had been suspended for 2 games by the league for this. But as time has passed, the NFL has changed their policy on domestic abuse because of this story. Now things have changed even more, and in a big way.

Early Monday, TMZ sports had gotten hold of a video from the elevator in the hotel. The video shows Rice and Janay Palmer in an elevator at an Atlantic City casino. Each hits the other before Rice knocks Palmer off her feet and into a railing. An earlier TMZ video showed Rice dragging Palmer, now his wife, from the elevator at the Revel casino, which closed Sept. 2 (ESPN). Due to this video coming to light, the Baltimore Ravens have cut Ray Rice from the team, and the NFL has come down as well, suspending Rice indefinitely. The Ravens said earlier Monday that they never saw the new video released by TMZ Sports. Hours later, they sent out a one-sentence statement: "The Baltimore Ravens terminated the contract of RB Ray Rice this afternoon." (ESPN).

Now this is a ruling that people would not only agree on, but would say that it's long overdue. Hitting a women has no place in society, it is morally wrong in all aspects. Under no circumstances, whatsoever, is it OK to strike a women. Rice should never strike his Fiance for any reason.

In regards to how the NFL handled this whole situation, it could have gone a lot better, but they did get the ruling right. When this whole story first broke, what the League and the Ravens should have done is, put Rice on suspension indefinitely until this issue was resolved. The fact that it was originally just a two game suspensions left sort of a black eye on the league, which the league tried to rectify by strengthening its policy on domestic abuse. The policy now states that for a first offense its a six game suspension and a second offense is now a lifetime ban. I think something really should have been in place before this went down. I'm just hoping that the NFL can now have a better handling of this situation, should it arise again, in the future.

Now the reason I say it should have been just an indefinite suspension is because, when the story first broke, the league didn't have the full story as to exactly what happened. You knew at some point the full story and video was going to come out to public knowledge, it was just a matter of time. I do believe that the League and the team had never seen the video before because if they had this would have been taken care of months ago. As far as the Baltimore Ravens are concerned in this matter, they handled the situation they way they should have. Once this information became public knowledge, they cut Rice, which tells me they want nothing to do with this kind of player on their football team.

Now Janay Rice, Ray's wife, has a different take on this story. She is standing behind her husband, which any good wife does, and she is going out and bashing the media for Rice getting cut. Here is a direct quote from Janay, that she posted on her Instagram account:

“I woke up this morning feeling like I had a horrible nightmare, feeling like I’m mourning the death of my closest friend, but to have to accept the fact that it’s reality is a nightmare in itself. No one knows the pain that the media & unwanted options from the public has caused my family. To make us relive a moment in our lives that we regret every day is a horrible thing. To take something away from the man I love that he has worked his a– of for all his life just to gain ratings is horrific. THIS IS OUR LIFE! What don’t you all get. If your intentions were to hurt us, embarrass us, make us feel alone, take all happiness away, you’ve succeeded on so many levels. Just know we will continue to grow & show the world what real love is! Ravensnation we love you!”

That's a direct quote from her. I'm sorry but she's wrong in this regards. The media did play a role in this story, there's no doubt about it. But the media really had nothing to do with the fact that Ray Rice was cut. Ray rice's actions in February was why Ray Rice was cut by the Ravens. The media made this story public and helped the NFL change it's policy but the media had nothing to do with Ray Rice's stupidity when he struck Janay in the elevator. that was his doing. I understand she wants to stand by her husband's side during this time, but lets be honest here, the media had nothing to do really with Rice getting cut, Rice did that to himself.

To make matters worse, I really can't see Ray Rice getting back into the NFL anytime soon. Firs the NFL has to lift his suspension. Even if the league decides to lift said suspension, in my mind, it's going to be tough for any team to try and sign him to a contract. Is there a chance that Ray Rice could be back in the NFL? Absolutely. Will it actually happen? Highly unlikely.

NFL Season Preview

The time has arrived. Another fall, another NFL Season ready to kick off for it's 95th year. With some new faces in new place, as well as new rule changes that are going to be put into effect this year, its going to make for a highly entertaining football season that's for sure. The Seattle Seahawks come is as the defending Super Bowl Champions and are still a very good football team, but took a bit of a hit this year with losing talent. Despite the fact that the NFC East may be the weakest division in all of football, the NFC is still the stronger of the two conferences, which will make it a battle for the six playoff spots. There are some teams that got a lot better, some teams took a few steps backwards, while yet other teams didn't really do much at all to improve their odds.

There will be a few new looks on the rule book for this season. One is the new rule on dunking. "Dunking" the football through the goal post/crossbar is now considered unsportsmanlike conduct (15 yards). This rule was enacted thanks to Jimmy Graham of the New Orleans Saints. Graham was known for dunking the football after every touchdown. His celebration in week 12 last year, a game against the Atlanta Falcons, caused the goal post to be bent out of shape, causing a delay in the game. This was a big reason for the new rule change. Another change that will be enacted this year is video replay and review on fumbles. Expand replays to cover recovery of loose balls even if the play is blown dead. This was in response to the blown call in last years playoffs, in the NFC title game between Seattle and San Francisco. The 49ers NaVorro Bowman's clear recovery of a loose ball and downed by contact, but the ball was still given to the Seattle Seahawks after Seahawks running back Michael Robinson took it away from Bowman after Bowman was forced to let go of the ball due to a severe knee injury. Despite the indisputable video evidence of the recovery by Bowman, the play was not reviewable. So that lead to the change in the rule.

But enough about the boring rule changes. Lets get down to the nitty gritty. Here's what I got for each and every division this season in the NFL. We have here our predictions, made before the start of the season, for the division winners, the wild card teams and the SuperBowl!

Matthew "Solly" Solomon (Co-Host)
AFC East: New England Patriots
AFC North: Cincinnati Bengals
AFC South: Indianapolis Colts
AFC West: Denver Broncos
AFC WC: San Diego Chargers
AFC WC: Pittsburgh Steelers
NFC East: Philadelphia Eagles
NFC North: Green Bay Packers
NFC South: New Orleans Saints
NFC West: Seattle Seahawks
NFC WC: San Francisco 49ers
NFC WC: Detroit Lions
Super Bowl: Denver Broncos vs Green Bay Packers

Steven Carollo (Co-Host)
AFC East: New England Patriots
AFC North: Pittsburgh Steelers
AFC South: Indianapolis Colts
AFC West: Denver Broncos
AFC WC: Cincinnati Bengals
AFC WC: Kansas City Chiefs
NFC East: Philadelphia Eagles
NFC North: Green Bay Packers
NFC South: New Orleans Saints
NFC West: Seattle Seahawks
NFC WC: San Francisco 49ers
NFC WC: Carolina Panthers
Super Bowl: Denver Broncos vs Seattle Seahawks

Danny Delaney (Intern)
AFC East: New England patriots
AFC North: Cincinnati Bengals
AFC South: Indianapolis Colts
AFC West: Denver Broncos
AFC WC: San Diego Chargers
AFC WC: Pittsburgh Steelers
NFC East: Philadelphia Eagles
NFC North: Green Bay Packers
NFC South: Carolina Panthers
NFC West: Seattle Seahawks
NFC WC: San Francisco 49ers
NFC WC: Detroit Lions
Super Bowl: San Francisco 49ers vs Denver Broncos

Jeff Miller (Audio Technician/Executive Producer)
AFC East: new England Patriots
AFC North: Cincinnati Bengals
AFC South: Indianapolis Colts
AFC West: Denver Broncos
AFC WC: Kansas City Chiefs
AFC WC: Pittsburgh Steelers
NFC East: Philadelphia Eagles
NFC North: Green Bay Packers
NFC South: New Orleans Saints
NFC West: Seattle Seahawks
NFC WC: Detroit Lions
NFC WC: San Francisco 49ers
Super Bowl: Seattle Seahawks vs Denver Broncos

And there you have it our predictions for the 2014 NFL Season!

New York Jets Season Preview

Three years is quite a bit of time to wait. That's how long it has been since the New York Jets have seen playoff football. A 6-10 finish two years ago sandwiched in between a pair of 8-8 finishes, including the improbable finish a year ago. This year's Jets team looks a bit different from last years club. Rex Ryan has a new contract in his pocket, and has some new weapons to work with. Geno Smith has some new targets to throw to, a new back to hand the ball off to and more confidence in his game. The Jets did some retooling in the offseason, some of it good and some of it not so good.

Lets start with the not so good. That being the inability to address the need in the secondary. The Jets failed to capitalize on the market for secondary help, which could end up hurting the club. Right now, Gang Gree's secondary is composed of Dee Milliner (hurt will miss the opener), Kyle Wilson, Dawan Landry, Jaiquawn Jarrett, Calvin Pryor, Antonio Allen and Dimitri Patterson (we all know what kind of trouble he's been causing lately). Its strange top see a Jets secondary that doesn't have either Darrell Revis or Antonio Cromortie in it at all. The Jets knew going into the year that the secondary was going to be a weak spot. The only thing they did to address it was draft Calvin Pryor in the first round and sign Dimitri Patterson for $3 million, making many fans of the team scratch their head. This is going to pose a problem for the club during the early part of the season, as during a six week stretch, the team faves six of the more potent passing offenses in the entire league.

The front seven that the Jets have, they will be good enough to be a top five defense in the league and keep the team in a lot of the games. Muhammad Wilkerson, Sheldon Richardson and Damon Harrison are going to have that Jets’ defensive line as another force to be rekoned with. All three are Pro Bowl-caliber players, capable of disrupting offenses. That could take some pressure off the secondary if they can stifle the run and get to the quarterback, something linebackers Quinton Coples, Calvin Pace and Jason Babin will be counted on to do. So that front seven is going to be a major disruptive force in this league.

The other question facing this Jets team this season is going to be some of the offense.

If the secondary starts to falter, the the new look offense could be thrown into a slugfest. This year, hands down, Geno Smith will have the starting job outright, with Michael Vick on the roster as sort of a fail safe just case something happens to Smith. Now how far the offense can go will be determined on which Geno Smith shows up. Will we see the Geno Smith looking like a rookie or will we see a composed, above average quarterback leading this team? So that's as much a question as how well the secondary is going to play. But there is some big pluses for the Jets on the offensive side of the ball.

As far as Smith goes, he now has some weapons to work with in the passing game. The Jets now have a number one receiver to throw to in Eric Decker. Decker is a very  good receiver and will be looking to solidify the top tole in the receiving game with the Jets, who haven't really had a top guy the past few years. Now the team has their top guy, to go along with Jeremy Kerley in the slot. Only question the Jets have in the passing game is who will fill in as the number two wide out. Some thought it would be Stephen Hill, but he didn't work out with the team, so its up to the likes of Kerley and David Nelson to fill that role behind Decker. To go along with that passing game will be a revamped running attack. Chris Johnson was brought in over the winter, which will make a big impact on this team and the running attack. Johnson isn't going to be the 2,000 yard rusher we saw back in 2009, but he is still a 1,00+ yard runner. Combine him with the soild running of Chris Ivory, and the Jets have a good running game to work with.

Here's the Jets schedule for this season:
1 September 7 1:00 p.m. EDT Oakland Raiders MetLife Stadium
2 September 14 4:25 p.m. EDT at Green Bay Packers Lambeau Field
3 September 22 8:30 p.m. EDT Chicago Bears MetLife Stadium
4 September 28 1:00 p.m. EDT Detroit Lions MetLife Stadium
5 October 5 4:25 p.m. EDT at San Diego Chargers Qualcomm Stadium
6 October 12 1:00 p.m. EDT Denver Broncos MetLife Stadium
7 October 16 8:25 p.m. EDT at New England Patriots Gillette Stadium
8 October 26 1:00 p.m. EDT Buffalo Bills MetLife Stadium
9 November 2 1:00 p.m. EST at Kansas City Chiefs Arrowhead Stadium
10 November 9 1:00 p.m. EST Pittsburgh Steelers MetLife Stadium
11 Bye
12 November 23 1:00 p.m. EST at Buffalo Bills Ralph Wilson Stadium
13 December 1 8:30 p.m. EST Miami Dolphins MetLife Stadium
14 December 7 1:00 p.m. EST at Minnesota Vikings TCF Bank Stadium
15 December 14 4:05 p.m. EST at Tennessee Titans LP Field
16 December 21 1:00 p.m. EST New England Patriots MetLife Stadium
17 December 28 1:00 p.m. EST at Miami Dolphins Sun Life Stadium

This is going to be a very interesting season for Gang Green. Geno Smith had some growing pains in his rookie season, now he has the year experience under his belt and he has a few more reliable weapons to work with this year. That will lead to a vast improvement in his game. The passing and running games for this Jets teams are both improved from a year ago. The front seven on this Jets team may be one of the top in all off football, but the secondary still leaves something to be desired. If the Jets secondary can step up and be an average to solid secondary, then there's no telling how far this Jets team can go.

Best Case Scenario: 9-7 maybe 10-6
For this to happen, a couple of things have to fall into place. The biggest thing, again, is going to be the secondary. That secondary has to play well to help out the front seven. Also Geno Smith has to get a good handle on the ball. If he can cut down on his interceptions and manage the clock the Jets are going to be in great shape.

Worst Case Scenario: 7-9
The Jets are going to faulter if Geno has a repeat of the way last year started, he ends up looking like another rookie quarterback instead of a 2nd year pro. Also if Eric Decker can;t handle being the top guy at receiver it won't help Geno's cause much. Then again there is the secondary which isn't viewed too highly.

Final Prediction: 9-7
This team is a little bit different then last year's squad. Geno has that experience and now has a few more targets to throw to. He has more confidence in his game and it will help in a big way.