Manny "Shock" Saez's NFL Football fan blog

The Chicago Bears have always been about the defense. They hit hard with furious anger and won’t stop playing until the whistle blows. The offense hasn’t been good in a long time. Not since the days of Walter Payton has this offense been about production. They can’t run the ball, they can’t pass the ball, they really can’t do anything with the ball. And then last year, the defense started to fall apart. How will the Bears be able to play this year without much production on either side of the ball?

The defense fell apart last year due to injuries. It was a defense that one year before was at the Superbowl. Last year, they just couldn’t get the job done. Not everything was bad, but they were not the same defense that took them to the NFC Championship. If the Bears can avoid the injury bug then this defense may be able to produce. They do have playmakers and those playmakers are a central figure to the impact this defense can make. Brian Urlacher will look to stuff the run at Middle Linebacker. Charles Tillman and Nathan Vasher will look to defend the pass at cornerback and Mark Anderson will look to rush the passer. The playmakers need to be there and the rest of the defense needs to step up. The Bears were a major disappointment last year, that needs to be fixed.

Continue reading "32 Teams in 32 Days, Team #26: The Chicago Bears"

I have been holding out on writing about the Green Bay Packers until this whole Brett Favre incident would pass and it finally has. Brett Favre has been traded to the New York Jets. This means 2 things. 1, Aaron Rodgers is finally the starting quarterback of the Green Bay Packers with no ifs, ands, or buts. And 2, everything I wrote about the Jets when I was writing about them means nothing now. Oh well. Its football, it happens. The Packers are one of my favorite teams, so lets get started.

The Green Bay Packers defense is without a doubt my favorite in the league. They are just a bunch of hard hitting, make no excuses, football players. Chuck Woodson and Al Harris don’t know what soft coverage is. They are going to press every receiver and hit them as they are coming off the line. Its how they play and if they are called for incidental contact, so be it. A.J Hawk, Nick Barnett, & Brady Poppinga knock the stuffing out of running backs. If you choose to run the ball, they are going to be in your face and you better hope your line can protect you otherwise you will be completely shut down. Ask Adrian Peterson. Atari Bigby is the hardest hitting safety in the league and if you happen to be running a slant route, you better hope you’re head is still attached after he hits you. Bigby will hit you and it will be hard. And if you thought quarterbacks were safe, think again. Aaron Kampman & Ryan Pickett are coming after you. This defense is as physical as it gets and if you don’t come to play, you will be eaten alive. Its in your face football and I love it. They will have yet another great year.

Continue reading "32 Teams in 32 Days, Team #25: The Green Bay Packers"

The Cardinals finished last season .500. It wasn’t playoff worthy nor was it very impressive. The fact is the Cardinals play in a bad division where the only team that should make the playoffs from it every year is the Seattle Seahawks. However, the Cardinals actually have a lot of talent on their team, it’s a shame that it couldn’t translate to victories last season. The Cardinals have improved their team via the draft with quite possibly my favorite rookie players, with the exception of Glen Dorsey and Darren McFadden. So lets take a look at the Cardinals this year.

On the defense, the star power is lacking. That is a key part to why so many teams in the NFL have bad defensive units. Adrian Wilson is a very talented safety that can and will make plays, but the star power ends there. At least that was the case until this year’s draft. The Cardinals went ahead and drafted Cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie out of Tennessee State. Rodgers-Cromartie is unbelievably talented and is going to make huge plays for this team if given the opportunity. He’ll most likely share time with Roderick Hood, but I don’t see it being beyond the realm of reality to see Rodgers-Cromartie win the position pretty quickly. The next person bringing star power to this team is Defensive End Calais Campbell. He’s going to be a pass rusher and that will allow the Cardinals to apply more pressure to opposing quarterbacks. Campbell combined with the Antonio Smith is going to be fun to watch. Yes they both play the same position, but in the NFL things change. I wouldn’t be surprised to see one of these men playing on a different side come week 1.

Continue reading "32 Teams in 32 Days, Team #24: The Arizona Cardinals"

I find it disconcerting when the worst offensive line in football gets a backup quarterback with known concussion problems. It also doesn’t help that this team finished last season with a 3-13 record. What is wrong with the St. Louis Rams? Its simple. They are an old team playing in a young man’s game. Things can get better. Will they this year? No. They still haven’t fixed their problems at the offensive line. Without a line, you have no running game and the passing game suffers as well. The quarterbacks had very little protection last year and got destroyed in the backfield. Which is why I still don’t understand the signing of Trent Green. That is only going to bring up more questions about the danger of the game of football. Green won’t retire, Roger Goodell should keep a close eye on this situation.

Continue reading "32 Teams in 32 Days, Team #23: The St. Louis Rams"

I believe that a 5-11 record is misleading. The 49ers are a much worse team then that. Perhaps it’s the fact that they play in a horrible NFC West division. Perhaps it’s the lack of playmakers. Whatever the reason, the 49ers are not a good team and they haven’t been for quite some time. This is not the team of Montana and Rice. This is not the team that won 4 superbowls. The team that this organization fields is a disgrace to the great 49er teams of old and I am trying to say that in the nicest way possible.

The defense has been noted as being hard hitting, but in a game where making plays is what’s important, just being hard hitting isn’t enough. Nate Clements has a lot of talent at the cornerback position, but other then that, the defense has no playmakers. There is almost nothing redeemable about the defense that hits the field and I don’t see that changing this year in any way, shape, or form. Perhaps Kentwan Balmer and Reggie Smith can bring something to this defense, but that my friends is just wishful thinking.

Continue reading "32 Teams in 32 Days, Team #22: The San Francisco 49ers"

The Seattle Seahawks ended last season with a 10-6 record and a loss in the second round of the playoffs to the Green Bay Packers. There were good aspects of the team and of course there were bad aspects of the team. Losing fullback Mack Strong to injury and eventually retirement hurt this team a lot. He paved a lot of holes for running backs in Seattle. Star running back Shaun Alexander seemed to lose his game last season, he just never seemed to do something great. We’ll get back to the running game a little bit later on, but lets us first see what we can expect this year.

The Seattle defense is good, not great. There are stars on the defense and thats always an important thing. Having playmakers can only be good for a playoff contending team. Patrick Kerney, Marcus Trufant, Lofa Tatupu, & Julian Peterson all make big time plays for this team. Seattle also looked to improve upon their defense by drafting Lawrence Jackson out of USC & Red Bryant out of Texas A&M. I wouldn’t say that they are stand outs, but if developed probably, they could be a force to be reckoned with.

Continue reading "32 Teams in 32 Days, Team #21: The Seattle Seahawks"

The San Diego Chargers are without a shadow of a doubt my favorite football team. However, in the spirit of writing, I will write this as unbiased as I possibly can. The Chargers ended last year’s regular season with an 11-5 record and a trip to the playoffs. They were able to dispose of the Titans and then pulled off a major upset against the Indianapolis Colts, beating them and making it to the AFC Championship Game. The Chargers defeated Indy with both their starting quarterback Phillip Rivers and their star running back Ladainian Tomlinson on the bench. This amazing role would end in a loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. The Chargers were again without Ladainian Tomlinson and also had to deal with an injured Phillip Rivers. Maybe that game would have ended differently with both of the Charger’s stars healthy. Despite that, the fact is that they lost and there is no getting around that.

Continue reading "32 Teams in 32 Days, Team #20: The San Diego Chargers"

A 4-12 record showed us how bad the Kansas City Chiefs can be. They have issues all over their team. Its unfortunate for Coach Herm Edwards. He is a terrific coach, but he’s got a team that just doesn’t get the job done. The Chiefs may have improved aspects of their team in the draft, but they are still a long way from being a team that matters. My biggest concern with the Chiefs is their terrible offensive line. The line could not produce the holes for stud running back Larry Johnson, while he was playing, and they also couldn’t protect their quarterback, whoever it was. The Chiefs addressed this problem by drafting Guard Brandon Albert out of Virginia and Tackle Barry Richardson out of Clemson, but I still think the line is far from improved.

The defense was improved via the draft and the improvements are terrific. The Chiefs drafted Glenn Dorsey out of LSU in the first round. Dorsey shouldn’t have even been available by the time it got to the Chiefs, but he was and they bit. Dorsey is an incredible defensive tackle that can stop both the run and rush the passer. He is a stand out and will bring a lot of credibility to the defense. They also drafted Brandon Flowers out of Virginia Tech to the cornerback position. I am normally very critical of rookie cornerbacks, but I think Flowers has all the talent to be great at the cornerback position. Just don’t expect it to be this year. It wasn’t a great defense last year, but it was probably the best aspect of their team. It will be better this year, but I still think the Chiefs are a year or two away from being a viable contender.

Continue reading "32 Teams in 32 Days, Team #19: The Kansas Cirty Chiefs"

The Denver Broncos ended last season with a 7-9 record and missed the playoffs. Despite that, there were many aspects of the team they fielded last year that were encouraging. They have always had a great running game ,but the passing game picked up under young quarterback Jay Cutler. The talent is there on their defense, however they struggled against the run and that was very detrimental to their effectiveness on the defensive side of the ball. Not being able to stop the run took the Broncos off balance and made them weaker against the pass. This year they look to stop the bleeding and be far more competitive in the AFC West.

The defensive line struggled last year to stop the run. It seemed like every week, running backs were giving Denver a taste of their own medicine. It was sad. This year, The Broncos are looking to fix the problems up front on their defense. They went out and got linebacker Boss Bailey, the brother of their star shut down cornerback Champ Bailey. With the brothers united and combined with the other star cornerback Dre’ Bly and superstar free safety John Lynch, the Bronco defense is going to be far more fierce then it has been in the past. With these stars in place, I believe the Denver Broncos will be a much better defensive team.

Continue reading "32 Teams in 32 Days, Team #18: The Denver Broncos"

The Oakland Raiders opted to not improve their horrendous defense in the first round of the 2008 NFL Draft. Instead they went with another offensive playmaker in Arkansas running back Darren McFadden. Was McFadden so desirable that a team with a defense as bad as Oaklands really couldn’t pass him up? I guess so. Still their defense needs work and without a strong defense their hopes of making it to the playoffs will be shot down. For Oakland is too easy to run on and they are even easier to pass on. They play in a division that is praised for their respective running games and if Oakland can’t stop them, they don’t stand a chance. They finished last season with a 4-12 record. Last season, was a horrible display of both offense and defense, but I think that they’re offense was better then they were given credit for. Their running game was fantastic. 3 running backs from Oakland had 100 yard games last season and I don’t see that changing much this year. Their offense will be much improved and maybe that can make some noise, but it takes a whole lot more to make the playoffs.

Continue reading "32 Teams in 32 Days, Team #17: The Oakland Raiders"