Brett Favre to Retire?
August 4, 2010
The new NFL season is fast approaching and it is that time of year when we have the will he or won’t he saga of Brett Favre and retirement.
Earlier this week the AP, Fox Sports and Minneapolis Star reported that Favre had told the Vikings that he was not going to play.
Now an unnamed person close to the Favre family has told the Biloxi Sun Herald that the 40-year-old had not made a final decision.
Do you think Favre should retire or would you like to see him out playing again in the NFL?
A Win for the People as Saints Collect First Super Bowl Title
February 8, 2010
With Hurricane Katrina still something you hear plenty about a Super Bowl win for the New Orleans Saints was something every wanted to see, at least all non Colts fans.
For the Saints to be in the Super Bowl was amazing in itself and something to celebrate. They had won just two playoff matches in 42 years. Now with a Super Bowl win they have won three in a season. Today the Saints defeated the Indianapolis Colts 31-17.
The key play came at the start of the second half when the Saints coach called for an onside kickoff. At the time the Saints were down 10-6. The Colts had opened the match with a 10-0 first quarter. Once the Saints recovered the onside kick it was all Saints.
The plays that followed saw Pierre Thomas complete the drive with a touchdown. He caught the ball near the 20 yard line and cut left and then with another big step he was over.
With the game still on the line the Saints grabbed an intercept to give themselves a 31-17 lead with a couple of minutes to play. The Colts had the ball over the line with around a minute to go but the receiver did not take a pass that he should have. From there it was game over.
Drew Brees took the MVP after matching the record for completions in a Super Bowl with 32 to match Tom Brady.
Mardi Gras is on in under two weeks, New Orleans now has something bigger to celebrate…
Saints into Their First Super Bowl
January 25, 2010
Minnesota scored first after a 19-yard play came with 9:41 to play in the first quarter. Adrian Peterson took the hand-off from Brett Favre to score untouched after running left then straight up the middle of the Saints defense. The TD came on the end of an 80-yard 10 play opening drive.
The Saints hit back just over three minutes later when Drew Brees found Pierre Thomas off a screen pass for a 38-yard TD. Thomas caught the ball near the 40-yard line and still had plenty of work to do. He cut outside and evaded several defenders before stepping inside to make the Vikings tacklers look foolish.
The Vikings were not going to let the Thomas TD get them down, they came back with a TD when Brett Favre found Sidney Rice for a 5-yard touchdown. Rice had run straight then stepped left to receive the Favre pass as four Saints players watched from close range. The TD came with 2:11 to play in the first quarter and took the Vikings out to a 14-7 lead.
In a see-sawing match the Saints then followed up with two TD’s to take the score to 21-14. First Drew Brees connected with Devery Henderson for a 9-yard TD pass to tie, then Thomas ran in a second TD, this time for close range to complete a 9-yard play.
The Henderson TD saw him cut outside once he was in the end zone to give him space, Brees had plenty of time to eventually throw the pass which led to the TD.
Thomas got his second TD after running straight up the centre of the Vikings defense. He was tackled just short of the line but was able to reach out to break the line for a TD.
Just to keep things exciting the Vikings got the scores back on level terms when Peterson also scored his second TD. He crashed over to complete a 1-yard play.
Now what would happen? Would one team finally be able to break away and take their place in Super Bowl XLIV? The answer was no. First the Saints scored through a 5-yard Reggie Bush reception then the Vikings levelled at 28 apiece when Peterson went in for TD no. 3. That’s how the game ended after regular time.
The Saints won the toss and received the ball in OT. From the kickoff they made good ground and then steadily worked the ball towards the Vikings goalline. A few penalties along the way helped the cause.
The refs made a tough call for pass interference on a ball that appeared to be uncatchable against Ben Leber, it was tough as Thomas and Leber’s feet got tangled up. Leber hit back on the next play to force Bush back for a five-yard loss, then came a Brees pass to Meachem for 12-yards that saw the ball spotted on the Minnesota 22-yard line.
Then came the inevitable Garrett Hartley field goal from 40-yards to give the Saints a 31-28 win and a ticket to the Super Bowl.
In the end it was the six fumbles and two interceptions that did not help the Vikings prevent the Saints from reaching their first Super Bowl.
Indianapolis Colts Book Super Bowl XLIV Spot
January 24, 2010
The Indianapolis Colts have come from 17-6 behind at the 1:16 mark of the second quarter to defeat the New York Jets 30-17.
The turnaround came as Peyton Manning found Austin Collie in the end zone for a 16-yard TD just over a minute out from halftime. It was poor coverage from the Jets that allowed Collie to take the touchdown pass. A perfect pass when Manning went long for a 46-yard play to Collie a couple of plays earlier had setup the TD.
The Jets had established there first half lead thanks to two great passes from QB Mark Sanchez. The first came early in the second quarter when from the Jets 20-yard line Sanchez found Braylon Edwards wide open. Edwards had run a nice in and out fake to shake his defender and a pump fake from Sanchez gave him a crucial second to get the pass away from 15-yards. After Edwards caught the pass he accelerated to complete an 80-yard play. The extra point saw the Jets up 7-3.
The Jets second TD came when Sanchez found TE Dustin Keller for a 9-yard touchdown on a third and six play. Sanchez just got his pass away before the defender knocked him to the ground. The score was 14-6 after an extra point was slotted though the goals.
A Jay Feely field goal took the Jets to a 17-6 lead in the second quarter. That was the last score to come from the Jets.
The go-ahead TD came for the Colts with the clock at 8:03 in the third quarter. Manning found Pierre Garcon close to the right side out of bounds in the end zone for a 4-yard score.
This was followed by a 15-yard TD pass from Manning to Dallas Clark down the middle. Clark went over untouched after a fake to a running back made space downfield.
Late in the game Kelvin Hayden intercepted a Mark Sanchez pass to seal the win and send the Colts to Super Bowl XLIV to be played on February 7, 2010.
Just One Upset In NFL Divisional Playoffs
January 18, 2010
Three out of the four NFL Divisional playoffs went to the favored team. Unfortunately for San Diego Chargers fans they were the one team to suffer an upset. There is always next year I tell myself as I am a Charger fan.
The Colts took care of the Ravens with a 20-3 win. The Vikings easily saw off the Cowboys with a 34-3 win. The Saints cruised to a 45-14 win over last years Super Bowl runnerup Cardinals. That left the Chargers to close out the weekend with a win to see all favourites advance.
It was not to be as the New York Jets broke Chargers hearts with a 17-14 away win. Two intercepts off the passing of Phillip Rivers saw the Jets surge in the final quarter to take the win. In Q4 they scored 14 points after touch downs to Dustin Keller and Shonn Greene
After the second Rivers intercept the Jets made him pay with points. Not long after on third down, Sanchez rolled right and threw to Keller, who shook off linebacker Tim Dobbins in the back corner of the end zone and made a 2-yard catch that put the Jets ahead 10-7.
Greene followed that up with a match winning run for a TD after going 53 yards to score.
A key to the loss was the kicking form of San Diego’s All-Pro kicker Nate Kaeding. He missed three field goals. He was wide left from 36 yards on San Diego’s second possession and was short from 57 yards as the first-half clock expired. With the Chargers trailing by 10 with 4:38 to go, he was wide right from 40. Who knows how it would have been if I sent one of those attempts between the posts.
Next week we discover who will be in the Super Bowl. The Jets next will play the Colts for the AFC Championship while in the NFC we see the Saints playing the Vikings.
How would it be to see a Vikings-Jets Super Bowl?
Defense Wins the Game for Cardinals
January 11, 2010
It was the defense of the Arizona Cardinals that won their epic match in the wild card playoff match played in Arizona against the Green Bay Packers. It is not what you think especially when you see an NFL playoff record scoreline of 51-45.
The match went to OT and it was a recovered fumble by Karlos Dansby that he ran for a 17-yard return after reserve cornerback Michael Adams sacked Green Bay QB Aaron Rodgers. The fumble that followed led to the game winning recovery. The Packers had won the won the overtime toss and were in the box seat to take the win before the costly error by Rodgers.
This was a match that saw a combined 1024 yards of offense and 62 first downs. That and the 96 combined points were playoff records in the NFL.
The Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner threw for 379 yards including five touchdowns. His completion rate was 29-of-33 passes. This all came against the No. 2 ranked defense.
Arizona’s Neil Rackers must be feeling relieved after seeing the winning touchdown. He had seen his game winning field goal attempt from 34-yards go wide with just 14 seconds left in regulation time. “I just hooked it” said Rackers.
For the losing side Rodgers did enough to get a win until that fateful moment. He completed 28-of-42 passes which gave him a Packers playoff-record of 422 yards with four touchdowns all coming in the event filled second half. He and the Packers came back from 17-0 after one quarter, 31-10 early in the third quarter. At that stage you could have given it to the Cardinals. The Packers were not giving up and twice drew level in the fourth quarter at 38-38 and 45-45.
In the end it was the Packers 3 turnovers that proved costly. There was an interception from a Rodgers pass, a Donald Driver fumble and of course the final fumble by Rodgers. The Packers had just 16 turnovers in 16 regular season games which was the fewest in the NFL.
In the other playoff match on Sunday in the NFL the Ravens took out the Patriots with a 33-14 win. The Ravens took control of the match with a 24-0 opening quarter.
Next week the AFC Divisional matchups see the Ravens take on the Colts, the Jets play the Chargers. In the NFC the Cowboys play the Vikings and the Cardinals play the Saints.
Jets and Cowboys Grab NFL Playoff Wins
January 10, 2010
In the opening NFL playoff match ups it was the New York Jets and the Dallas Cowboys that have taken the spoils. Both had convincing wins. The Jets playing in Cincinnati were too good for the sloppy Bengals running out 24-10 winners. The Cowboys playing at home ended a playoff drought which went all the way back to 1996 as they won 34-14.
For the Jets Shonn Greene starred as he tormented the Cincinnati defense running for 135 yards and a 39-yard touchdown on a career-high 21 carries. The Bengals could have closed to within a score with a 28-yard kick by Shayne Graham that would have brought his team within one score with 3:49 remaining. To add to their woes Graham had already missed a field goal attempt.
It is hard to imagine but the Dallas Cowboys had not won a finals match since 1996. Against the Eagles they were close to having the game wrapped up at the half leading 27-7 going into the break. The closes the Eagles were was 7-7 early in the second quarter after Michael Vick was brought in for a play and he threw a 76-yard touchdown pass. Vick later messed up a hand-off deep in Eagles territory which Dallas recovered then turned it into a touchdown for a 24-7 lead.
Tony Romo was 223 of 35 for 244 yards with two touchdowns and no turnovers. Felix Jones had a big game for Dallas and finished with 148 yards from 16 carries including taking a short catch and turning it into a 30-yard gain on the opening drive.
Next for the Dallas Cowboys who have now ended a six game postseason losing streak, is the Minnesota Vikings away. Tony Romo will faceoff against his childhood hero Brett Favre.
The New York Jets take on either Indianapolis or San Diego depending on whether New England or Baltimore wins on Sunday.
Plaxico Burress Begins Prison Sentence
September 29, 2009
The man who caught the winning touch down pass when the New York Giants won the Super Bowl XLII is now behind bars. Plaxico Burress was sentenced to two years in prison on Tuesday 22, September. This was for illegal possession of a handgun in a New York City nightclub last November.
If he behaves himself he is likely to get a four month credit which would see him released in the spring of 2011. This means he will be 34 years old at the time the 2011 NFL season begins. A note on the espn site says he will be allowed to immediately sign with a new team and play upon being released.
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Detroit Lions winless no more
September 28, 2009
Long suffering Detroit Lions fans finally have seen their team win a game in the NFL. It was a fitting scoreline as the 19 points they scored matched how many games they had gone without a win.
The unfortunate team on the end of a defeat to the Lions was the Washington Redskins. The final score was 19-14. Last season of course the team did not register a single win.
Rookie quarterback Matthew Stafford came up with the goods when in mattered most. He got a 24-yard completion to Will Heller on second-and-9 with 2:33 left in the game. This helped Detroit seal the win.
The last win for the Lions came on December 23, 2007. A long time between drinks.
Now it remains to be seen if the Lions can put together a two-game winning streak, or heavens forbid actually win more than they lose for a change. For now they can say they have done more than seven other teams in the NFL and that is to win a game. The Carolina Panthers have a chance to change that as they play Dallas in Monday night football.
NFL – San Diego Chargers Win Monday Night Football Opener
September 15, 2009
As a San Diego Charger fan my heart sunk when I saw the Oakland Raiders score a go ahead touchdown with 2 mins 34 on the clock. Louis Murphy scored from a pass play when he was found to be wide open, he completed the 57 yard play. I realised there was still time on the side of the Chargers so all was not lost.
What came next was an 89 yard nine play drive which ended with Darren Sproles rushing for a game winning touchdown. Sproles also got some big yards in the lead up to the touchdown. With 1:58 to play he ran for 15 yards and then ran for nine yards a short time later.
The Raiders twice had gone to the lead in the final quarter after a field goal early in the quarter put them up 13-10 and then the Murphy touchdown made it 20-17. The Chargers came back both times with touchdowns. A 15 yard pass to Vincent Jackson who made a move out wide was caught for a 17-13 Chargers lead.
In the end it was heartbreak for the Raiders players and fans and a good win for the Chargers as they look to win their Division.
