10. Knowshon Moreno – I love this kid! And the history of Georgia Bulldog running backs in the NFL speaks for itself. He will carry a big load with Jay Cutler gone but I promise you he will handle it.

9. Clinton Portis - Washington Redskins

9. Clinton Portis – Every year people sleep on this guy and every year the guy that picks him between 8 and 12 usually wins the fantasty championship or overall points if not both. At 27 nothing changes for Portis.

8. Steve Slaton - Houston Texans

8. Steve Slaton – Monster sleeper last yaer and bravo to anyone who drafted this kid before the 10th round and before they took a defense. Are you still not a believer?

7. DeAngelo Williams - Carolina Panthers

7. DeAngelo Williams  – Okay SLOW DOWN …. becaue he will too … I am not ready to anoint him the second coming of Emmitt Smith…yet

6. Ladainian Tomlinson - San Diego Chargers

6. Ladainian Tomlinson  – I would still take him number 1 overall because I love him and he is the man. Something happens to a man when he turns 30 and you’ll find out what I mean this year. Renaissance!

5. Adrian Peterson - Minnesota Vikings

5. Adrian Peterson – Anyone can pick this guy number 1 but you ask the people who took him number 1 last year how that worked out for them come playoff time – BOINGER LAYIN IT DOWN!

4. Ronnie Brown - Miami Dolphins

4. Ronnie Brown – Contract Year ‘nough said

3. Maurice Jones-Drew - Jacksonville Jaguars

3. Maurice Jones-Drew – “Mr Mo-Jo Risin” He’s 24 with 3 years experience under his belt and poised to carry the full load for big numbers with an offensive line that has something to prove.

2. Michael Turner - Atlanta Falcons

2. Michael Turner – Some may say I’m crazy but with just 15 million guaranteed for this 27 year he will look to give the Falcons a reason to secure him some more of that dough. Plus they’re loaded.

1. Matt Forte - Chicago Bears Solidifying My Fantasy Championship With This Rushing Yard!

1. Matt Forte – The man that rushed us to victory! He’s my guy and I’m sticking with him. Plus anytime you hear a guy mentioned in the same sentence with Gayle Sayers, you tend to get a little wide eyed. Go ahead don’t be afraid. It’s just fantasy!

He's had Ravens behind his back all the way in Baltimore. Now let's see how long he stands in front of some Jets... and if we can even see those Jets behind him.

This Rex Ryan is certainly making a name for himself with a confident and brash mouth. Thus far, the big man is being noted for two occurrences of verbal notoriety and virtual nothing else past his reputation as Baltimore Ravens’ defensive coordinator.

The first came when he was being interviewed on a radio show and was asked about facing New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick two times a year. He stated “I did not come here to kiss Bill Belichick’s rings” more or less. Let me analyze. Most people would give Belichick his proper dues and state that they definitely aim to compete/challenge their rival. However, he comes out and makes a statement similar to what a 1930’s era bootlegger might say.

The second issue was his comments about Miami Dolphins starting middle linebacker Channing Crowder here when he claimed to have never heard of him. Crowder certainly responded with truth. He said that Ryan is an “OTA Super Bowl winner” as in he has won the offseason and that if he was truly doing his homework, that he’d know who the Miami Dolphins starting middle linebacker was.

Now, I’m pretty sure Ryan did know him. I’m not saying that a guy talking like this out in the open isn’t interesting. But I am saying that if his team does not end up looking respectable, even this year, he might just look like a real douche bag. If he ends up having a short life in New York, then he will really look like an idiot. He could be the next Mike Tice; big, burly, fat cheeks, thinks he’s a thug, has the respect of his team, but can’t win a damn thing.

Much will be said about Brady's mobility affecting his game this year. But he is certainly a QB who has the smarts to adjust to full-time pocket life.

The fact that Tom Brady’s leg injury from last year no doubt opened the door for many teams in the AFC to be considered at a competitive balance should be no secret to anyone. Now that Brady is back, he has lost mobility, but that doesn’t mean that this year’s Patriots can’t be very close to explosive as they were in their undefeated regular season from two years past.

Even if the Patriots’ offense isn’t going to be as explosive as it was when it was the most explosive offense in NFL history, well then how bad can the drop off really be? Still one of the top offenses ever? Close to one of the top offenses ever? Or at least one of the top two offenses this season. Either way, those odds are good for the Pats.

Don’t be surprised if the Patriots run away with the AFC East where the Jets are still growing and have no proven quarterback, the Dolphins rely on trickery and near-perfect play from Chad Pennington at quarterback, and Buffalo where, Trent Edwards proved last year that he still has something to well… prove!

Laveranues Coles Seen Here At Practice

So long Laveranues! I wish you well. I hope you do well in Miami. That is where you are headed right? I mean surely your man crush on Chad Pennington has yet to simmer. Has it? You should be there just long enough to help usher in Chad Henne as the starter. By then you should just about be squirming to get out of what ever silly contract Miami is sure to offer you. I am sure you will get fair market value. A contract to rival that of all those other number one wide outs you so closely resemble on the field. Terrell Owens, Randy Moss, Calvin and Andre Johnson. No question you deserve it after all you have done to help push the Jets forward. Without question your character and attitude alone are enough to overcome the current economic climate. No one will even have to look at your resume either, I mean, it speaks for itself by now.

Good luck and good riddance!

Game one of second round NFL playoff action starts off with a rematch of a 13-10 victory by the Titans in Baltimore against the Ravens, but this time in Tennessee. The game will be televised nationally on CBS at 4:30pm on Saturday, January 10th.

In this week, the Divisional Playoff Round of the NFL, hearts are truly broken. In my mind, there is nothing more embarrassing than being a bye team and losing your first game. It is almost as if all the good your team did was all-for-not, and similarly, for the road team, it means you were only good enough to win in the Wild Card round. The first game of Divisional Round weekend will feature the Baltimore Ravens attempting to go down to Tennessee to pull off a huge road victory.

Advantage Ravens

Once again, the Ravens Defense will be the phase of their game to rely on; 3^rd in the league in points allowed (15.2), 2^nd in yards (261.1ypg), 2^nd in passing (179.7ypg), and 3^rd against the run (81.4ypg). The stinginess of their defense showed up profusely in their Saturday victory in Miami against the Dolphins as they forced Chad Pennington into throwing four interceptions, when he had only seven up until that point. On top of that, they also forced a fumble which they recovered.

What is even more is they rank higher in almost every major category defensively than the Titans; 7^th in yards (293.6ypg), 9^th in passing (199.8ypg), and 6^th against the run (93.9ypg). The Titans beat them in points per game at 14.6, but that is only for a difference of 0.6 points.

Aside from the Ravens defense, the performance of Joe Flacco in his first ever playoff game should pay huge dividends for Baltimore as he now goes into his second. In that game, his numbers were far from solid; 9-23 with 135 yards. That was only good for a slunky 39% completion. But if there are any underlying factors in his performance, it was obviously the fact he committed no turnovers, and amazingly, averaged 15.0 yards per completion. What this suggests was that when he actually did find the right target, it was a big play.

He already had the one playoff game where he saw his defense carry him. Now he knows if he can just step it up a bit, and with his defense playing like it can, that his team is in prime position for success.

Advantage Titans

The difference between the Miami pass defense (25^th at 227.8ypg) and the Tennessee pass defense (9^th at 199.8ypg) is 16 spots in the rankings. If Joe Flacco cannot increase his completion percentage, and is forced to throw the ball more against the Titans solid rushing defense, then the Ravens could be in for a long day. Maybe even the type that sees Flacco performing somewhat like Pennington did.

After that, Kerry Collins threw seven interceptions on the season, ass opposed to Flacco’s 12. But sadly, that seems to be the only advantage that the Titans could have over the Ravens. And too bad for them Joe Flacco hasn’t been prone to throwing games away this season. Oh… and we also saw what happened to the last quarterback the Ravens faced who only three seven regular season INTs.

Conclusion

We already know that the Ravens have better defense. But what is even more is the fact that their offense isn’t too far off either. In total yards per game the Ravens are 18^th at 324, and the Titans 21^st at 313.6. Although the Titans are 27^th passing (172.6), versus the Ravens 28^th ranking (175.5), it is for a difference of 0.7 yards making them virtually equal in that aspect. The real kicker comes in the Ravens 4^th ranked rush offense at 148.5 yards per game against the Titan’s 7^th place ranking at 137.4 yards per game. The Ravens, as a matter of fact, even score more points per game with 24.1, against the Titans, 23.4. However, that points per game number is also for a mere difference of 0.7.

The real deciding factor offensively is going to be the Ravens stronger running game, and better play-making defensively. I also predict another deciding factor to be the performance of young Joe Flacco against that of old Kerry Collins. Their stat lines, although similar, are leaving one thing out. Where as last week I mentioned the experience of Kurt Warner would take over that of Matt Ryan’s, this week it will be the youth of Flacco over Collins. Warner is still a dynamic quarterback. Whereas Flacco and Collins roles in their team’s offenses is to manage the game and not turn the ball over, for Flacco it is more to help ease his transition as a rookie quarterback, and for Collins it is because he is on the downside of his career.

But aside from all this, the most telling stat is the following. The combined records of the Tennessee Titans regular season opponents was 92-115, and the Ravens was 123-94. This just tells me that the Ravens have been having their mettle tested a lot more often than the surprising Titans up to this point.

Ravens move to within one victory of the Super Bowl.

On Sunday, January 4th, at 1:00pm eastern, the Miami Dolphins and Baltimore Ravens will line up against each other one last time in Miami in a Wild-Card Weekend matchup.

Game number three of Wild-Card weekend will feature two teams that had surprise turnarounds from last season. But of the two teams, the biggest surprise was last season’s hapless 1-15 Miami Dolphins doing a complete 180 with an 11-5 record this season while also earning the AFC East title. The Ravens, although always strong defensively, are nothing short of surprising either as they went from 5-11 last year to 11-5 this year. What makes their turnaround so remarkable was that they did it with rookie quarterback Joe Flacco, and if it weren’t for injuries to both Kyle Boller and Troy Smith before week one, Joe Flacco may not have gotten his first start until later in the season and who knows what happens. With that being said, let’s take a look at the key phases of each team’s game.

Ravens’ Advantage

Both team’s offenses seem to even one another out. The Dolphins score 21.6 points per game and the Ravens 24.1 points per game. Although the Dolphins average only 118.6 yards on the ground to the Ravens 148.5, Miami out-throws Baltimore by a tune of 227 yards per game to 175.5. This shows that the Ravens outrun the Dolphins by 29.9 yards per game, and the Dolphins pass for 51.5 yards more than the Ravens.

Even with that being said, conventional wisdom shows that the team with the better running game will win. And that should be the case here. What’s even more is that the Ravens are 3^rd defensively against the run at 81.4ypg, and a whopping 2^nd versus the pass giving up 179.7ypg. The problem the Dolphins have, even though they get to play in the confines of their home stadium, is that they are 25^th against the pass at 227.8ypg, and 10^th versus the run at 101.2ypg. In all respects, giving up 101.2 yards a game on the ground is not that bad, but when the duo of Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams is good for a great total of 1,575 yards, and the Ravens trio of Willis McGahee, Le’Ron McClain, and Ray Rice combined for an outstanding number like 2,028, then not only are the Ravens defending the run better, but they are carrying the ball better as well.

Dolphins’ Advantage

Even though the Ravens outweigh the Dolphins in some key statistical categories necessary for playoff success, they have not been very good on the road playing against the projected playoff teams in the pre-season; at Indianapolis they lost 3-31, at the Giants they lost 10-30. Their only strong points against what were considered playoff teams were at Pittsburgh when they lost in OT 20-23, at the Dolphins when they won 27-13, and finally, when they beat Dallas 33-24.

Allow me to downplay. The Steelers and Ravens are diehard division rivals and always play each other tough. The Cowboys game had two aberration type plays on the Ravens final two drives; an 82 yard scoring run followed by a 77 yard scoring run. Any team would be lucky to get a run of either of those lengths all season long. Last but not least, when the Ravens beat the Dolphins in Miami in week 7, it dropped the Dolphins’ record to 2-4. Since then, Miami has gone 9-1 and are playing at a slightly different level than that period of time.

The other thing the Dolphins have going for them is that they had the fewest turnovers in the league with only 13. Chad Pennington had arguably his best season since his first ever rotator-cuff injury with a career-high 3,653 yards, 19 touchdowns and just 7 interceptions while completing 67.4 percent of his passes. Rookie QB Joe Flacco, although he had a great season for a rookie, 2,971 yards, 14 TDs, 12 INTs (not to mention his eleven fumbles) and completed 60.0 percent of his passes, he is still a rookie and is definitely mistake-prone.

Like one analyst put it… “What the Ravens thrive on, the Dolphins simply don’t do”… turn the ball over!

Conclusion

Although the Dolphins play at home, and are riding the emotional high an unprecedented successful season and comeback year of Chad Pennington, I have to go with the Ravens. They can negate their opponent’s run, and kill them with their own. Furthermore, Joe Flacco is quickly being molded into the confident game manager who can make a few plays here and there that Baltimore has been looking for. I only see Joe Flacco having, at the most, one turnover, and with their 2^nd ranked total defense (261.1ypg) and 3^rd ranked defense in points given up per game (15.2), the Ravens can easily overcome it. I cannot see a team who beat squads like Seattle without QB Matt Hasselbeck by two points, Oakland by two points as well, San Francisco by five, all at home, and Saint Louis by four on the road beating this gritty Ravens team.

Ravens will move on to play the one-seeded Tennessee Titans next week.

With just two weeks of play left in the regular season of the 2008-2009 year, a few teams have locked up a spot in the playoffs while others are still fighting to make it. What is about to unfold in this article is, what are in my mind, the teams that will make it.

We already know the Steelers and Titans have locked up spots and first round byes in the AFC. In the NFC the Giants have clinched their division while the Cardinals have as well. First I will go over the locks to get in.

In the AFC the only sure-fire lock I have is the Indianapolis Colts. If they beat Jacksonville this Thursday in Florida, they’re in. With the way the Jags have disappointed, I do not even see them using the rivalry bug as added motivation to beat Indianapolis.

In the NFC, surprisingly, the Carolina Panthers have not clinched even with an 11-3 record, which is a testament to the competitiveness of the NFC. However, one more win or one more loss from another team or two would put them in. The Cowboys have been hot lately. I don’t care about Romo’s performance in Pittsburgh. The game was still close, and it has been their only slip up since his return from injury. They face the Ravens at home, and Eagles in Philadelphia. The Eagle game should be tough and they easily can lose, but to me, I think all of the air got sucked out of the Raven team with their last minute loss to Pittsburgh last weekend.

The Vikings should clinch their division as the Bears face the Packers on Monday Night at home, but then travel to Houston the last week. Houston is on pace to finish up 9-7 and Andre Johnson should be able to shred their weak pass defense.

After that I don’t think Tampa will get in as they have slipped up and their weaknesses are beginning to be exposed. The Falcons and Eagles to me will be the ones to fighting for the 6th seed in the NFL as they have both been consistent as of late.

Back in the AFC, I’ll take the Patriots to win their division. They are at home against the Cardinals who have clinched, and then at a bum Buffalo team. That would put them at 11-5. The reason I see this happening is because the as-of-late inconsistent Jets should lose in Seattle this weekend, and the Dolphins will beat the Kansas City Chiefs. But when they play each other in New York, I’ll take a last-ditch effort by Favre to even their records at 10-6, giving one of them the 6th seed.

The only seed I am unsure of is the 4th seed in the AFC as the Broncos are 8-6 and Chargers 6-8. If the Chargers beat Tampa Bay in Tampa this weekend, which is not an oversight, and the Broncos lose at home to the Bills, which is still a bit of a stretch even if the Broncos aren’t so consistent, then they will be playing in San Diego for the division in week 17. If that happens, I’ll take the Chargers.

So that’s how I believe the “tournament” brackets will be set up come January.

Trent Edwards is still young but he still has a chance to win this division.

In week 7, the Jets are playing in Oakland who looked like they had no spirit when they played the Saints this past weekend losing 34-3. If the Jets win, they are 4-2 and that would be no surprise if they did.

New England plays host to Denver on Monday Night Football. This game should not be easy for New England to win. They’ll have to grind it out big time. However, they’re at home in front of a national audience and if they do pull it off, they’re 4-2 as well.

Finally, those loveable Bills play host to the San Diego Chargers. Albeit the Chargers are only 3-3, they are still a good 3-3. If the Bills lose, they’ll be 4-2. Now picture this possible version of the AFC East standings at the end of Week 7;

AFC East

BUF 4-2

N.E. 4-2

NYJ 4-2

MIA 3-3

Doesn’t look too clear cut anymore now, does it? I didn’t think so.