Greatest Pro Bowls of all time, and other stuff

NFL Week 13 picks: Ready to kick the Patriots to the curb

Jim Reineking — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:10:21 +0000

“They were better than we were in every phase of the game. I don’t know how to put it any other way. They were better coached. They played better on offense and defense. They were better in the kicking game. They covered better than we did. They were obviously the better team. You saw the game.” — New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, following a 38-17 pasting at the hands of the New Orleans Saints.

I’d hate to make too much of a regular-season game, but this one certainly was telling on a couple fronts.

1. The Saints are legit, and their offense — led by the incomparable Drew Brees — may go down as one of the best ever if this team can finish the job in Miami in that very big game played at the end of the football season.

2. The Patriots — now sitting at a pedestrian (by their lofty standards) 7-4 — are done. Not done as in that they’re not going to be in the playoffs, or even be a factor in January. The Patriots are done as an NFL powerhouse. It’s been a long five years since they last won the Super Bowl. Since then, the Steelers have won two Super Bowls, and if they somehow manage to win a third this season, they would have as much stake on “Team of the Oughts” honors as the Patriots, who also have three Super Bowl titles in this decade.

Speaking of teams of the oughts, let’s kick off the Week 13 picks with a perennial contender, the Indianapolis Colts …

Five-star upset special of the week: Titans over Colts. This is going to be a popular pick this week. I hope I’m wrong (I was last week when I picked the Patriots over the Saints in this same spot). This is just a hunch. The Colts have flirted with defeat recently, winning five straight games after being behind entering the fourth quarter (that’s an NFL first, by the way). Will that luck run out this week against a Titans team that has steamrolled back into playoff contention after opening the season 0-6?

That being said, in a perfect world, the Colts and Saints would meet in Super Bowl XLIV on Feb. 7, 2010 with identical 18-0 records. There are a number of reasons why this would be awesome. The obvious one is that both teams would be unbeaten, and that’s never happened before. Another reason is that it blatantly cheapens what the Patriots did two years ago, when they went through the regular season undefeated, won two playoff games, then got faced by the underdog Giants in Super Bowl XLII. Suddenly, going through the season unbeaten and losing in the Super Bowl doesn’t look like such a great accomplishment anymore. Odds are against both the Colts and Saints surviving the next five weeks with their perfect records intact, but it sure would be fun if they did. It’s good for football, and good for America.

Lock of the week presented by (insert your company name here for a special low rate): Bengals over Lions. Want to hear something crazy? If the season ended today — which it thankfully doesn’t — the Bengals would be the No. 2 seed in the AFC (behind the undefeated Colts) and would have a first-round playoff bye. That’s nuts.

Week 13

Thursday’s game
Bills over Jets

Sunday’s games
Eagles over Falcons
Panthers over Buccaneers
Bears over Rams
Jaguars over Texans
Broncos over Chiefs
Patriots over Dolphins
Steelers over Raiders
Saints over Redskins
Chargers over Browns
Cowboys over Giants
49ers over Seahawks
Vikings over Cardinals

Monday’s game
Packers over Ravens

Last week’s record: 10-6
Five-star upset special record: 6-6
Lock of the week presented by (insert your company’s name here for a special low rate) record: 9-3
Overall record: 115-61 (.653 winning percentage)

NFL Week 12 picks: The calm before the tryptophan-induced coma

Jim Reineking — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:29:42 +0000

In 1621, on a plantation near the famous Plymouth Rock, the pilgrims and Wampanoag indians got together to celebrate the autumn harvest with a friendly game of football.

(At least, that’s how we think the story goes.)

Some 388 years later, the tradition of celebrating an autumnal harvest continues with a friendly game of football.

However, now, there are three games instead of just one. It’s called progress.

Let’s progress to the picks …

Five-star upset special of the week: Patriots over Saints. The streak has to end at some point, right? Well, it doesn’t, but leave it up to the Patriots — the last (and only) team to finish a regular season with a 16-0 record — to spoil the fun in the Big Easy. This isn’t an easy pick to make, and I’m hoping I’m wrong for many reasons.

Lock of the week presented by (insert your company name here for a special low rate): Vikings over Bears. The Bears have a 98 percent chance of missing the playoffs this season (at least, according to the number crunchers over at PlayoffStatus.com). The Vikings, meanwhile, are a lock for the postseason and in a fight for dome-field advantage throughout in the NFC playoffs (want to hear a disturbing fact? No? Well, you’re getting it anyway … if the playoffs started today, every NFC playoff game would be played in a dome — well, a couple of those domes would feature retractable roofs, but you get the point).

Week 12

Thursday’s games
Packers over Lions
Cowboys over Raiders
Giants over Broncos

Sunday’s games
Falcons over Buccaneers
Dolphins over Bills
Eagles over Redskins
Rams over Seahawks
Panthers over Jets
Bengals over Browns
Colts over Texans
Chargers over Chiefs
Jaguars over 49ers
Titans over Cardinals
Ravens over Steelers

Monday’s game
Patriots over Saints

Last week’s record: 12-4 (now, that’s more like it!)
Five-star upset special record: 6-5
Lock of the week presented by (insert your company’s name here for a special low rate) record: 8-3 (burned by the Raiders, twice)
Overall record: 105-55 (.656 winning percentage)

How’d we do in trying to predict the 32-team World Cup field?

Jim Reineking — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:16:22 +0000

We’re going to take a short break from the utter insanity that is MLS Cup hype week to look forward to the next huge event on the soccer calendar: The 2010 World Cup.

It’s just 202 short days away. And, thanks to the final day of World Cup qualifying on Wednesday, we now know the complete field of 32 teams.

In even a shorter amount of time from now is the official 2010 World Cup draw. That takes place on Dec. 4. Should be fun.

Anyway, a long time ago (or, seemingly a long time ago), we here at Greatest Pro Bowls of all time, and other stuff made an ambitious attempt to predict the 32-team field for the 2010 World Cup.

How’d we do? Let’s break down the field …

AFC

Who we picked (correct picks in bold): Australia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea

Who we missed: North Korea

CAF

Who we picked (correct picks in bold): Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Tunisia

Who we missed: Algeria, Nigeria

CONCACAF

Who we picked (correct picks in bold): Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, United States

Who we missed: We predicted Honduras to finish fourth in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying, and then defeat Chile in a playoff with the fifth-place team in CONMEBOL. Turns out, “Doin’ it” Uruguay defeated Costa Rica in that playoff, which means that we’ll be missing an additional team in CONMEBOL.

CONMEBOL

Who we picked (correct picks in bold): Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay

Who we missed: Chile

Oceania

Who we picked (correct picks in bold): New Zealand

Who we missed: Nobody! Holla! This will be New Zealand’s first World Cup since 1982, FYI. Double holla!

UEFA

Who we picked (correct picks in bold): Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland (Republic of), Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain

Who we missed: Slovenia, Switzerland

The entire field

(Once again, correct picks in bold)

Argentina
Australia
Brazil
Cameroon
Costa Rica
Denmark
Egypt
England
France
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Honduras
Ireland (Republic of)
Italy
Ivory Coast
Japan
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Paraguay
Portugal
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Serbia
Slovakia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Switzerland
Tunisia
United States
Uraguay

That’s 25 of 32 teams. Not too shabby.

NFL Week 11 picks: Once upon a time …

Jim Reineking — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:19:50 +0000

This week, the 1-8 Detroit Lions host the 1-8 Cleveland Browns in a game many won’t want to watch.

That hasn’t always been the case.

For the time being, we’re going to hop in the way-back machine and take a road trip to a time when the Browns and Lions were the dominant teams in the NFL. That time was the 1950s (which, sadly, didn’t feature such things as the Super Bowl, the no-huddle offense, Twitter or the RedZone channel), when the Browns and Lions combined to win six of eight NFL championships between 1950 and 1957. If you don’t believe us, check it out. The Browns and Lions, together, were the class of the NFL.

The Browns played in their league championship game 10 of 11 years, starting with their original seasons in the old AAFC (1946-59) and into their time in the NFL. The Lions won three championships — all at the expense of the Browns — in four title game appearances.

The rosters of those two teams was a who’s-who of 1950 footballers. The Lions featured Hall of Famers Bobby Layne, Doak Walker, Yale Lary, Jack Christiansen, Joe Schmidt and Lou Creekmur. The Browns featured Hall of Famers Otto Graham, Marion Motley, Dante Lavelli, Len Ford, Lou Groza and Bill Willis. The Browns were led by Hall of Fame coach Paul Brown, the “father of the modern offense” (which, basically means that he helped put the forward pass into pro football. There’s a great story here — bear with me here — the Browns’ original game in the NFL came in Week 1 of the 1950 season against the two-time defending NFL champion Eagles. The Browns crushed the Eagles 35-10, in one of the great “upsets” in NFL history. Eagles coach Greasy Neale dismissed the Browns’ shredding of the supposedly vaunted Eagles defense by saying, “All they do is pass the ball.” In a rematch later in the season, the Browns set an NFL record that still stands by attempting no passes in a 13-7 win over the Eagles. That was an epic face at the time. Hope you enjoyed storytime with Greatest Pro Bowls of all time, and other stuff).

Anyway, while the Browns experienced varying degrees of success since the 1950s, the Lions have not been a team of consequence since then.

While we celebrate the renewal of this once-legendary rivalry, let’s make some pro football picks …

Five-star upset special of the week: Titans over Texans. Following an 0-6 start, the Titans have won three consecutive league games. Adding to the crazy karma in Nashville is that team owner Bud Adams was fined a bunch of moneys for flipping off fans of the opposing team. Adams, it should be noted, is one who had a big hand in moving the Titans from Houston — where they were the Oilers — back in 1997. Houston got a pro football team back in 2002, but the local team has a dismal 11-4 record against Houston’s former team. This year, the Texans are 5-4 and harboring playoff ambitions. A loss to the Titans at home would be devastating to those hopes. That’s not to say it won’t happen.

Lock of the week presented by (insert your company name here for a special low rate): Bengals over Raiders. Oh, what a weird state of affairs in the old AFC North. Suddenly, and seemingly without any warning whatsoever, the Bengals are the dominant team, sweeping away the previously assumed stalwarts of the division. Now, the “Who Deys?” travel west to face a Raiders team that spent the week trying to decide whether to start JaMarcus Russell or Bruce Gradkowski. That’s like trying to decide whether to drink a Coors Light or Budweiser. You’re a loser either way.

Week 11

Thursday’s game
Panthers over Dolphins

Sunday’s games
Colts over Ravens
Cowboys over Redskins
Browns over Lions
Packers over 49ers
Jaguars over Bills
Steelers over Chiefs
Vikings over Seahawks
Giants over Falcons
Saints over Buccaneers
Cardinals over Rams
Chargers over Broncos
Patriots over Jets
Eagles over Bears

Monday’s game
Titans over Texans

Last week’s record: 7-8
Five-star upset special record: 5-5
Lock of the week presented by (insert your company’s name here for a special low rate) record: 8-2
Overall record: 93-51 (.646 winning percentage)

Photo of the day: Nov. 13

Jim Reineking — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 06:51:24 +0000

The lights go out less than 20 minutes into the MLS Western Conference final between the L.A. Galaxy and Houston Dynamo at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. (Photo by Jim Reineking)

From the L.A. Times: Galaxy reach MLS Cup

For more great photos, click here

NFL Week 10 picks: Let’s hope this goes better than last week

Jim Reineking — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:33:34 +0000

A long time ago, on an Internets far, far away …

While sporting my collective football prognostication chops for FOXSports.com, I made a host of horrible predictions. It as 2005, and my picks are — thankfully — nowhere to be found on the World Wide Webernets. Instead, only the utter humiliation served up in the form of words by Gregg Easterbrook, then of NFL.com and now of ESPN.com, who bestowed on me the dishonor of “Worst Prediction of the Year” (A form of this piece can be found right here. I don’t care if you read it. In hindsight, it’s quite hilarious).

When I have a bad week picking games — such as the one I had last week — I will always have that to look back at and think, “Hmm, it could be worse. Gregg Easterbrook could be reading my little blog.” He doesn’t. I know this for a fact. I have a very small (very, very small) following. Even fewer of those people use these picks to make recreational bets on the sport of professional football.

Like me, please don’t take these picks seriously …

Five-star upset special of the week: Seahawks over Cardinals. Yes, I know the Cardinals completely worked the Bears at Soldier Field last week. Yes, I know the Seahawks are just not that good. Well, that’s why this is an upset pick. Turns out, the Cardinals have been a despicable 1-3 at University of Phoenix Stadium this season. Conveniently for the Seahawks, Sunday’s game will be played in that facility. That’s why I’m playing a hunch here.

Lock of the week presented by (insert your company name here for a special low rate): Vikings over Lions. Easy. Too easy. The Vikings, and old man Brett Favre, are coming off a bye week. The Lions are coming off a brutal showing in the Pacific Northwest, a 32-20 pasting at the hands of the Seahawks in which rookie QB Matthew Stafford threw an eye-popping five passes to the other team.

Week 10

Thursday’s game
49ers over Bears

Sunday’s games
Falcons over Panthers
Dolphins over Buccaneers
Jets over Jaguars
Steelers over Bengals
Saints over Rams
Titans over Bills
Broncos over Redskins
Raiders over Chiefs
Cowboys over Packers
Chargers over Eagles
Patriots over Colts

Monday’s game
Ravens over Browns

Last week’s record: 7-6
Five-star upset special record: 5-4
Lock of the week presented by (insert your company’s name here for a special low rate) record: 7-2
Overall record: 86-43 (.667 winning percentage)

Photo of the day: Nov. 6

Jim Reineking — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:42:00 +0000

The view at the Stadium by the Sea for a Pali High vs. Hamilton High football game in Pacific Palisades. (Photo by Jim Reineking)

Click here for more great photos

NFL Week 9 picks: Big hurts for the horse

Jim Reineking — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:04:30 +0000

Injuries are a natural part of the game of football, but what has transpired in Indianapolis this past week has been a bit out of the ordinary and very devastating to the team’s Super Bowl championship hopes.

Right as the Colts prepare to hit arguably their most crucial part of the 2009 season schedule, the team lost starting safety (and 2007 NFL Defensive Player of the Year) Bob Sanders and cornerback Marlin Jackson for the season. In addition, starting cornerback Kelvin Hayden is expected to miss up to four weeks of play.

Those four weeks will could ultimately decide the Colts’ fate.

It all begins Sunday with the red-hot Texans coming to Lucas Oil Stadium, continues with the always-intense matchup with the Patriots, followed by a visit to Baltimore and a trip to Houston.

The Colts have owned the Texans in their all-time series, winning 13 of 14 matchups — seven of seven in Indy — since the 2002 inaugural season for Houston.

That being said …

Five-star upset special of the week: Texans over Colts. While the Colts deal with some serious hurts, the Texans are working out an injury situation of their own. Tight end Owen Daniels is out for the year. It won’t be the Texans’ backup tight ends who will decide this one. Rather, the Texans receivers, namely Andre Johnson, who will create serious matchup issues for the Colts, who desperately need Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis to get pressure on Matt Schaub. This is a statement game for the Texans, who have won three consecutive games and are off to the best start in franchise history.

Lock of the week presented by (insert your company name here for a special low rate): Packers over Buccaneers. The Packers need a bounce-back game following the emotional defeat against Brett Favre and the Vikings at Lambeau. Rookie QB Josh Freeman will make his first career start for the Buccaneers, and this would be a good time for Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers to unleash some crazy blitzes early to rattle the rookie into repeated mistakes.

Week 9

Sunday’s games
Falcons over Redskins
Bears over Cardinals
Ravens over Bengals
Jaguars over Chiefs
Patriots over Dolphins
Saints over Panthers
Seahawks over Lions
49ers over Titans
Chargers over Giants
Eagles over Cowboys

Monday’s game
Steelers over Broncos

Last week’s record: 8-5
Five-star upset special record: 5-3
Lock of the week presented by (insert your company’s name here for a special low rate) record: 7-1
Overall record: 79-37 (.681 winning percentage)

Plenty of good seats available in Jacksonville

Jim Reineking — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:13:09 +0000

The Jacksonville Jaguars lead the league in blackouts. They are officially the JaMarcus Russell of NFL franchises.

Sunday’s game against the visiting Kansas City Chiefs is expected to draw less than the franchise-low 42,088 that witnessed first-hand a game against the visiting St. Louis Rams on Oct. 18.

ESPN.com’s Greg Garber took an in-depth look at the Jaguars’ struggles in Jacksonville, which included this dandy of a quote from team owner Wayne Weaver …

“”Give us the time and tenure, and we can do it. We’ll rival places like Pittsburgh and Green Bay in terms of passion and support.”

Pittsburgh and Green Bay? Seriously? There’s absolultely no way the Jaguars even come close.

Just in case you were curious, the Jaguars checked in at No. 2 in our most recent “teams to move to L.A. power rankings”.

NFL Week 8 picks: Pointing and laughing at the Raiders

Jim Reineking — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:05:57 +0000

“I don’t think it’s me personally, I really don’t. It’s a bad combination of one guy doesn’t do something right one time. Personally, I don’t think so. Do you?” — JaMarcus Russell, following the Oakland Raiders’ 38-0 shellacking against the New York Jets on Sunday.

That collective, “Yes, JaMarcus. Yes, it is you,” is coming from America, which can easily see what the former No. 1 overall pick can’t …

This pro football thing just isn’t going that well for Russell.

The player chosen six spots ahead of the incomparable, possibly Hall-of-Fame-bound Adrian Peterson in the 2007 draft is teetering ever so dangerously close to the not-exactly lofty standards set by Ryan Leaf and Akili Smith before him. Leaf, of course, is the gold standard as far as draft busts are concerned. His is the first name mentioned in such discussions. Leaf is followed closely by Tony Mandarich, whose bustatude is beginning to slowly fade from memory by the two decades that have passed since that star-laden 1989 draft and the fact that there have been many more colossal top draft pick failures since then.

Leaf made just 21 starts in four seasons in the NFL. Russell has made 23 starts over three seasons. Let’s check out some key statistics for comparison’s sake …

Leaf (complete statistics)
Comp-Att: 317-655
Comp %: 48.4
Yards: 3,666
TD-INT: 14-36
QB rating: 50.0

Russell (complete statistics)
Comp-Att: 308-594
Comp %: 51.9
Yards: 3,687
TD-INT: 17-20 (2-8 this season, FYI)
QB rating: 66.7

Those are some ugly numbers. Please keep in mind … Leaf’s statistics are epically bad, among the worst all-time for a quarterback who was actually at one time a regular starter.

In the middle of a 6-for-11, 61-yard performance, in which Russell threw two perfect passes to Jets defensive backs, Raiders coach Tom Cable pulled Russell and replaced him with journeyman Bruce Gradkowski, whose own stat line — 10-19, 97 yards, no TDs, no interceptions — wasn’t enough to keep the former Toledo QB in the starting lineup for next week’s game against the Chargers in San Diego. This disaster should be fun for fans of other teams to watch.

While football fans outside of Oakland should be thankful that they are not Raiders fans, Greatest Pro Bowls of all time, and other stuff will make some football picks …

Five-star upset special of the week: Packers over Vikings. Brett Favre, meet Clay Matthews. Hopefully, you two will become very acquainted when your new team meets your old team in Green Bay. The last time Favre played at Lambeau Field he cost his former team a shot at the Super Bowl with another untimely interception when it mattered most. Packers fans — well, those not still harboring pathetic loyalties to the Packers’ former QB — will be hoping for similar antics in No. 4’s return visit.

Lock of the week presented by (insert your company name here for a special low rate): Chargers over Raiders. Two weeks ago, Greatest Pro Bowls of all time, and other stuff got burned by the Raiders, who defeated the Week 6 lock of the week — the Eagles — in the season’s biggest upset. Lightning doesn’t strike twice, or something like that, which is why Greatest Pro Bowls of all time, and other stuff feels comfortable picking against the Raiders once again. Well, that, and the fact that JaMarcus “el busto” Russell will be back behind center for the Silver and Black. Get ready to point and laugh at the Raiders.

Week 8

Sunday’s games
Cowboys over Seahawks
Bears over Browns
Colts over 49ers
Jets over Dolphins
Texans over Bills
Broncos over Ravens
Lions over Rams (and 0-16 watch begins in St. Louis)
Eagles over Giants
Titans over Jaguars
Cardinals over Panthers

Monday’s game
Saints over Falcons

Last week’s record: 8-5
Five-star upset special record: 5-2
Lock of the week presented by (insert your company’s name here for a special low rate) record: 6-1
Overall record: 71-32 (.689 winning percentage)