NFL Week One

New this year at Zweifel’s 2 Cents we will select a winner for each game against the spread and then predict who we think will be having a big week on the gridiron.

**As tweeted earlier in the week, I had GB over NO 34-27, check.

Pittsburgh 20-16 over Baltimore

Detroit 23-21 win against Tampa Bay

Philadelphia beats the St. Louis Rams 34-28

Buffalo over Kansas City 24-21

Tennessee with a division win over Jacksonville 27-20

Indianapolis falls without Houston, 34-16

Cleveland overhauls Cincinnati in the battle of Ohio, 27-13.

Atlanta takes down Jay Cutler in their opener in Chicago 28-27

NY Giants beat the Washington Redskins in a 9/11 10-year anniversary classic.  Giants 30-26 in a game that is second to what is really going on today.

San Francisco over Seattle in a battle for Andrew Luck, 24-20

Chargers win big in San Diego over new-look Minnesota Vikings, 38-21.

Carolina falls in Cam Newton’s debut.  Arizona wins 27-10

Sunday Night, Jets over Cowboys in Ryan Bowl

Monday Night New England wins over Miami 34-17

Denver defeats the Raiders 30-20

Player of the Week: Philip Rivers

Rookie of the Week: Julio Jones

Upset of the Week-Buffalo over Kansas City

Game of the Week:  NY Giants at Washington Redskins for non-football reasons

Five Things To Keep an Eye On:

1.  Rookie quarterbacks in their debuts.  Andy Dalton and Cam Newton.

2. New additions in New England; Ochocinco and Haynesworth play well to start season?

3. New faces in new places.  How did the shortened off-season effect free agents.

4. Philadelphia Eagles new secondary against Sam Bradford.  How does DRC, Samuels, and Nnamdi play together.

5.  September 11th effect and the ceremonies on the field and throughout the stadiums.  Green Bay started it out in a first-class way Thursday and expect it to continue.

Enjoy the games as football is back, but also remember those who lost their lives in 2001 and all of those who have given up their lives to defend this great nation we live in.  USA!

Super Bowl Favorite?

In the End

When the dust settles, the confetti has all fallen to the grass, and the lights go out at the Super Bowl in February what will have happened in the NFL?

As previously mentioned, San Diego, New England, Houston, and Pittsburgh will have won their divisions.  The NY Jets and Baltimore Ravens will have made the playoffs as Wild Cards.

In the NFC, the Packers, Eagles, Falcons, and the Cardinals will have won their NFC divisions.  The Bucs and Lions will have made the final 12 as Wild Cards.

Last season neither number one seed won a game in the playoffs as both the Pats and the Falcons lost to number six seeds, Jets and Packers.  This year I see division winners and quite possibly two number ones making it to the Super Bowl.

The Chargers and the Packers meeting for the Super Bowl this year.

The Packers repeating and Aaron Rodgers winning the SB MVP.

Philip Rivers wins the regular season MVP.

Rookie of the Year will be won by Randall Cobb and Coach of the Year to Jim Schwartz of Detroit.

AFC Rundown

We looked at the NFC division by division, but the AFC is a little different animal to go about it one at a time. So let’s get wild and crazy and take a look at the AFC as a whole.

The defending AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers have a good chance to repeat and win the AFC again this season.  Don’t be surprised it the Steelers make a big run again as they have a dominant top five defensive unit in the NFL.

I like the Baltimore Ravens to compete in the division and in the playoffs, but the Steelers winning the AFC North again.

The Ravens look to get to a Super Bowl under Joe Flacco and Ray Rice, but the defense must remain healthy in order for that to happen.  The Cleveland Browns look to improve and be competitive again in 2011, with Peyton Hillis and Colt McCoy leading the charge, but being in the division they are in, they may be a year or two a way yet, or perhaps an injury or two to one of the top teams in the AFC North.

In the AFC East, it again appears to be a two-horse race.

The New England Patriots went 14-2 and were then bounced in the Divisional Round to the second-place team in their same division, the New York Jets.

The Patriots made a big splash in the off-season by trading for Chad Ochocinco and Albert Haynesworth.  They have not won a playoff game since winning the AFC Championship game in 2009,  I like the Pats to win their first playoff game since then, but to come up a little bit short of their ultimate dream in winning the Super Bowl.

The Jets never lack confidence or swagger, but they still lack an explosive offense.

Mark Sanchez has improved in nearly every week a season ago for the Jets who have been up-ended in each of the past two AFC Championship games.  Offensively the Jets will need to get a successful passing game which will allow them to pound the football between the tackles in the fourth quarters.

Jets make the playoffs with the Pats winning the division, Dolphins and Bills bring up the bottom end of the AFC East.

As we move south as the Indianapolis Colts look at what life is like without Peyton Manning for the first time since his rookie season.  Kerry Collins gets the call and that could sound disaster season for the Colts.  With no Peyton, no problem for the Houston Texans as the divisional winner for the first time in their franchise history.

If Manning remains out for a number of weeks, a veteran quarterback led Tennessee Titans to finish second and the Jacksonville Jaguars to sneak in, in front of the Colts for the division rankings.

Finally,out West where crazy and wild are not quite sufficient enough adjectives to describe what goes on.  For example, in 2010, the Oakland Raiders went 6-0 against their divisional opponents and still did not make the playoffs.

The Kansas City Chiefs return with the top ranked rush offense from a year ago and the San Diego Chargers have Vincent Jackson for an entire season.

Philip Rivers is still searching for that first Super Bowl that appears eminent and I like that to happen soon.  With that I’ll take the Chargers to finish first in the AFC West.  For second place, it could go a number of different ways.  The Denver Broncos will start with Kyle Orton as their opening day starter, but it is looking as if Tim Tebow will get another chance at the starting position soon.

I’ll take KC with a second place finish and just missing out on the playoffs.  Denver finishing third and Oakland fourth.

San Diego, New England, Houston, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and the NY Jets reach the post season.

NFC East Outlook

A year that three of the teams would like to forget and for Wade Phillips one that couldn’t end soon enough.  The NFC East was a division that had high hopes and like a rollercoaster went down as fast as it possibly could have.

The Redskins under new coach a year ago, Mike Shanahan was a tweet away from guaranteeing a playoff appearance in his new job and with his new quarterback in McNabb.  The New York Giants after an array of injuries were a punt return coverage of Eagles’ Desean Jackson away from possibly making the playoffs.  In Big D, the Cowboys had high Super Bowl aspirations with the big event culminating in Jerry’s new palace, but once Tony Romo went down early in the season it was evident that the end was near for Wade and the Jason Garrett regime to begin.  Finally, the Philadelphia Eagles traded away McNabb to let the Kevin Kolb era get started, but after a week one concussion, thanks to Clay Matthews III, Mike Vick had an MVP caliber season to lead the Eagles to a division title and a playoff appearance.

In 2011, the NFC East race appears to be over before it even gets started.

The Eagles made the biggest splash in the off-season with the additions of Nnamdi Asomugha and the trading of Kolb for Dominic Rodgers-Cromartie.  The signing of free agents Ronnie Brown, Cullen Jenkins, former Giants’ receiver in Steve Smith, Donald Lee, and Vince Young, the Dream Team has been assembled.

The additions and the in the time they had been done were fascinating, but with limited time to get into a rhythm may be an issue.

Also an inexperienced offensive line could provide for an early season injury to MVP candidate Vick and again force the Eagles to play their number two quarterback.  If this is the scenario, the defense would likely have to score a touchdown or two to get the offense going.

Young has a high winning percentage as a starter in Tennessee, but does he have what it takes to carry a NFL team.  A Dream Team to the Super Bowl where they are the favorite now in the NFC.

I like this team to finish tops in the division by a couple of games while also snagging the top seed in the conference at 13-3, they will have to not only get to the Super Bowl, but they will have to win it in order for 2011 be a success.

The Dallas Cowboys look to get off to a good start and patch up a new offensive line with two rookies, including first-rounder, Tyron Smith.

Marion Barber and Roy Williams were the headline departures, and both end up with the Bears.  The Cowboys may surprise a few folks with a healthy Romo, a hungry Felix Jones, and a stud in the making at wide receiver in Dez Bryant.

I like the Cowboys to be better than most in 2011.  After a dreadful 2010, it can only go up from there.  How ’bout them Cowboys going 10-6.

The New York Giants thought they would easily retrieve an injured Steve Smith back from free agency, but obviously they have not, will have Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham as their opening day starting wide receivers.  It looks like it may be a long, blue season for the Giants.

Add in the injuries they suffered in preseason as defensive back and Osi Umenyiora the Giants would be lucky to finish .500.  Personally I don’t see the Giants finishing that good in 2011, but every time it seems the Giants are counted out, they rally back and prove everyone wrong.

Sorry for big blue, 7-9 for the Giants in 2011 and perhaps the last season for Tom Coughlin in the New Meadowlands.

Finally, the Washington Redskins look to Rex Grossman to shoulder the load in 2011 as they look to turn things around in the nation’s capital.

Shanahan is famous for a ground and pound style of offense dating back to Terrell Davis in Denver, Tim Hightower is the likely ball carrier to try to extend his game plan.  Whether or not Hightower can shoulder the load on the ground has yet to be seen as he didn’t have to carry anything but Larry Fitzgerald’s lunch in the desert.

The Skins went heavy on defense in the draft the past few years and Brian Orapko has amped up his production the last few seasons and is one of the elite pass rushers in the NFC and is one of the few in league to generate a pass rush against a double team.

There are coming around slowly, but again it seems to be the same story in DC, who is going to quarterback this team into the post season?

Grossman is likely not the one to do it, nor is the 2011 season likely to be the turn around year for the team either.  Washington improves as the year goes on, but do not expect a pile of victories to be gathered.

Washington finishes up 5-11, in 2011.

NFC North Preview

Home of the World Champion Green Bay Packers looks to be host of an up and coming team in Detroit, a legitimate Super Bowl contender, a questionable rebuilding squad in Minnesota, and a questionable, uncertain group in Chicago.

The Packers won the Super Bowl with 16 players on injured reserve, many of which would have played an important role on the team if they would have stayed healthy.

The good news for the Packers is they get the majority of them back and also the players that stepped in last season gained on-field football experience to the table this season.

The Packers look to win the division this year and possibly a first-round bye and avoid a three game gauntlet like they had to endure a season ago.  The green and gold will be strong at nearly every position on the roster and the biggest problem for the Packers may be who to play and when to play them.  I think the Packers will finish with a respectable 12-4 season and another deep run in the post season.

The Detroit Lions may have the best defensive line in the NFL and also have a likely dynamic duo of quarterback-wide receiver combination in the league as well in Matthew Stafford and Calvin “Mega-tron” Johnson.  If the Lions can defend the pass and run the football this season the Lions will make a run at on Wild Card playoff berth.  Lions finish the regular season at 10-6.

The Chicago Bears enter the 2011 season year two with Mike Martz as their offensive coordinator and year two of the Martz-Jay Cutler relationship.

The defense will be consistent enough to keep the offense in games, but with the new kickoff rule will hurt the Bears the most in the NFL.  The new rule takes out their biggest offensive weapon in the return game, but with the addition of Roy Williams will allow the little receivers to run underneath.

However, maybe the most important move that nobody is talking about that will hurt anyone team in the league is the loss Greg Olson to the Panthers via trade.  Olson was a first-round pick but was inconsistent, perhaps mostly because he wasn’t getting the targets a top-tier receiver between the numbers.

I like the Bears to finish 7-9.

Finally, the Minnesota Vikings enter the 2011 campaign with a new quarterback in Donovan McNabb and without their top wide receiver in Sidney Rice.

The mainstay is Adrien Peterson, All-Day, will be needed all-day to help a depleted receiving corps.  The Vikes took a major step backward last season in year two of the Brett Favre experiment, and this year they are trying to piece together a team on offense with McNabb for a good run.

There’s no doubt McNabb at one time was an elite player in the  NFL, but now he is in the downward spiral of his career.  Can he get it done for 16 games?

That’s a big question for the Vikings as well as if the defense will pick it back up.

Jared Allen is back for another run at the likes of Rodgers, Stafford, and Cutler, while the Williams brothers (not really) will be MIA for a few games due to a suspension.

This will be a down year for the Vikings, no doubt about it, 5-11 this year and just out of the running for the Andrew Luck sweepstakes.

NFC South Preview

The NFC South season gets started tonight as the New Orleans Saints, winner of Super Bowl XLIV, take on the defending champions, the Green Bay Packers in Lambeau Field.

Last season the Atlanta Falcons took the division by storm and going on to the top spot in the NFC Playoffs before being routed by the eventual champion Packers.  The Falcons made a big splash in the draft and look to make the next step as a favorite to make the Super Bowl this season.

The Saints and Tampa Bay Bucs try to reclaim dominance of the division while the Carolina Panthers look to gain some momentum and get back to a strong defensive unit with a ground and pound offensive game plan behind rookie quarterback, Cam Newton.

Matt Ryan is quickly becoming a top five quarterback in the NFL and with his additional weapon on the outside in Julio Jones I like Ryan’s progress to avoid a speed bump and continue to take the Falcons to the heights they have not seen in some time.

I like the Falcons defense to also be much improved.

They signed Ray Edwards to generate a pass rush from their front four will now allow the team to blitz less, and play more in the secondary where they need the most help.  If they can get after the opposing quarterback’s like Drew Brees, Josh Freeman and Aaron Rodgers, I think the Falcons can get to their ultimate goal.

The Saints were ailing a season ago to a prolonged Super Bowl hangover, but deservingly so.

After the incredible turnaround from the “Aints” to the Champs of the NFL is a legendary story in its own right, but Sean Payton and Brees know they need to pick it back up with a window of winning another Super Bowl is limited in New Orleans.

They went back in an abbreviated offseason to get physical by adding Shaun Rogers and also drafting Mark Ingram with one of their first-round picks.

If they can generate the turnover numbers they did in their Super Bowl season they have an opportunity to contend for the NFC South crown and a Super Bowl appearance.

The Tampa Bay Bucs were a nice story last year as they finished 10-6 and a narrow miss of the post season by tie-breakers the Bucs look to make the next step forward after spending a brief tenure rebuilding.  Josh Freeman is playing up to his first-round bill and with the past few drafts selecting defensive lineman, the Bucs have one of the deepest lines in football and a potential dominating one that will allow the Bucs safties to play off the line.

Freeman and LaGarrette Blount and the emergence of Mike Williams on the outside, the Bucs appear to have the blueprint for a balanced attack up and down their roster.  The only question that remains is whether or not the team can consistently compete against the elite in the NFC and stay off the injury list.

Cam Newton, like it or not, was selected number one by the Carolina Panthers and will open the season as the Panthers’ signal caller.

Expectations are obviously not high in 2011 for the Panthers, but they do come in with a veteran tight end unit as well as a nice mix of defensive players.  Oh and don’t forget about 2009′s dynamic duo at running back, D’Angelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart, who rushed for 2,200 yards combined.  Williams was paid this off-season and could return to form with an injury-free offensive line that remains a strong part of the Panthers unit.

In the end, it is obvious, minus a boat-load of injuries, the Panthers will bring up the rear in the South.  Teams one through three can go any direction.  I’m going out on a limb and going with the Falcons to win the division and then second place picking the Bucs and Saints to finish third.  Freeman is improving quickly and he looks hungry to win this year.  Brees and the Saints still may compete for a Wild Card, but there may be a team in the East or a second team out of the NFC  North that hasn’t been into the post season in over a decade joining the party.

NFC West Winner’s Record in 2011

NFC West 2011 Preview

The NFC West was perhaps the worst division in the NFL last season looks to be that way again in 2011 following the summer’s lockout.  Although there are a few bright spots within the division, there is promise for a few teams with big expectations.

The Arizona Cardinals finished the season with the worst record in 2010 in the division, they may have made one of the biggest turnarounds in the NFL with some major transactions in the off-season.

The Cards are just a few years removed from a Super Bowl appearance and a Hall of Fame quarterback running their offense.  However, with the selection of Patrick Peterson in April’s Draft and trading for Kevin Kolb, their franchise quarterback, the Cardinals look as if they can take the division by storm in 2011.

I like what the birds in the desert did this off-season and can see this team making a run at the division and possibly a deep run in the post season if they can stay healthy on defense and Kolb can play up to his new contract.

The San Francisco 49ers added a new head coach and named their starting quarterback the same quarterback that has been a disappointment for the past six seasons.

Their defense will again be led by Patrick Willis and offensively watch out for Vernon Davis and Frank Gore, but they still lack a signal-caller to “manage” the offense.

Smith has struggled to pick any of the offensive coordinators he has had and again there is more pressure to succeed and give the Bay area something to cheer about during football season.  Their still seems to be something missing in the home of NFL greats like Rice, Young and Montana.

I still think the 49ers are a year or two away from really competing in the NFC or even the NFC West.

The St. Louis Rams had a surprising season in 2010.  Their number one pick, Sam Bradford, had a sensational rookie season in which he almost led the Rams straight to a division win and a playoff berth at 7-9.  The Rams are building in the right direction and may be closer to their goal than one may think.

The only questions I have for the 2011 Rams is whether or not they have enough talent at the receiver positions to catch the ball from Bradford to take pressure off of Stephan Jackson and whether or not Jackson can maintain a heavy workload that he has assembled since Marshall Faulk’s departure.

Watch for a playoff push from the Rams again in 2011, but may fall a game short once again.

The Seattle Seahawks became the first team in the divisional era to win a division with a losing record and make the playoffs.  They didn’t stop there, but shocking the world with a win over the defending Super Bowl Champions Saints as well.

Pete Carroll has turned around the attitude in the Great Northwest and now has changed the quarterback from veteran leader, Matt Hasselbeck, to an unproven and questionable at best, Tarvaris Jackson.

Carroll is sending a message to his team that nobody is safe on the roster with an exponential amount of roster transactions since arriving, but the addition of Sidney Rice has hope at wide receiver for Jackson to throw too and use Marshawn Lynch to keep the ball away from the opposition with a defense that will struggle to hold opponents out of the end zone.

The Seahawks won the division at 7-9 last year under Carroll’s first year, don’t count on a repeat performance.

Come playoff time I like the Cardinals to win the division at 9-7, with St. Louis finishing at 8-8, third the Seahawks at 7-9 again and the Niners bringing up the rear at 5-11 and also coming up a few wins shy of landing the Andrew Luck sweepstakes.

Wisconsin Badgers Season