8.06.10 4:04 pm by Alex, Brian and Pat
Football season is right around the corner, and we are more than ready. Brian, Pat, and I (Alex), have decided to release power rankings for each week of the NFL season, as a means of stimulating discussion and keeping track of the rise and fall of teams during the 2010 season. Here’s how it works: the three of us rank all the teams 1-32 and we average him out and then we write a sentence or two about what’s been going on with each team. To make that part easier, we’ve divided up the divisions, and we’ll each be “covering” those divisions for the entire year. The breakdown is as follows:
- Alex – AFC North, NFC East
- Brian – AFC East, AFC South, AFC West
- Pat – NFC North, NFC South, NFC West
So, check it out, leave a comment, or hit us up on our respective Twitter accounts and call us out on our biases. (more…)
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5.21.10 2:29 pm by Brian
Now to wrap up the discussion of “gauntlet” game scheduling for the 2010 NFL Regular Season, I move on to the National Football Conference’s 16 teams. As a recap of the prior story, I’ve repeated my opening few paragraphs. If you are familiar with what I’m working with here, feel free to hit the jump and read on.
To further explore that idea, I’m defining a “gauntlet” schedule as a series of at least three or more games in a row that are taxing to a team either because they have to face strong teams or because there is significant travel involved. A team can have a difficult schedule but avoid this “gauntlet” idea if the games against the tougher teams are further spread out across the season; by the same token, a team with an easier schedule who has to face good teams multiple weeks in a row can still face a “gauntlet.”
If a team does face such a “gauntlet” during their schedule, it is also important to note when it happens in the scope of a season. If a team has a series of tough games at the beginning of the season, then it’s problematic because they might stumble out of the gate and never recover. If the “gauntlet” comes at season’s end, there will be added pressure on building up a good record before those games so that the team can “absorb” losses if they have to. And “gauntlets” in the middle of the season are perhaps most problematic, because they can jostle teams into and out of playoff position with little time left to recover.
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5.17.10 5:30 pm by Brian
The regular season schedule for the upcoming NFL 2010 year has been out for over a month now, and I’ve already taken the opportunity to preview some of the bigger storyline games that fans can look forward to once the summer comes to a close. However, one thing that I have not yet addressed is the concept of “gauntlet” game scheduling and the effect that can have on a football team.
To further explore that idea, I’m defining a “gauntlet” schedule as a series of at least three or more games in a row that are taxing to a team either because they have to face strong teams or because there is significant travel involved. A team can have a difficult schedule but avoid this “gauntlet” idea if the games against the tougher teams are further spread out across the season; by the same token, a team with an easier schedule who has to face good teams multiple weeks in a row can still face a “gauntlet.”
If a team does face such a “gauntlet” during their schedule, it is also important to note when it happens in the scope of a season. If a team has a series of tough games at the beginning of the season, then it’s problematic because they might stumble out of the gate and never recover. If the “gauntlet” comes at season’s end, there will be added pressure on building up a good record before those games so that the team can “absorb” losses if they have to. And “gauntlets” in the middle of the season are perhaps most problematic, because they can jostle teams into and out of playoff position with little time left to recover.
In this story I have addressed the schedules of the 16 AFC teams for the upcoming season, picking out each team’s “gauntlet”—or set of “gauntlets”—that will factor into their hopes for success. Check back in the near-future for reports on the 16 NFC teams.
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5.04.10 4:09 pm by Brian
A recent saying has taken root in the NFL that you’re not truly an NFL superstar until you have a rule change come about because of something you did or something that happened to you. We have the “Tom Brady Rule” about defensive players not being able to hit quarterbacks below the knees after Brady’s 2008-ending injury—and some would add the “Tuck Rule” to Brady’s résumé as well—and this season will see a “Flozell Adams Rule” where personal fouls occurring at the end of a half can be assessed on the kickoff that begins the next half of play thanks to Adams’ antics with Justin Tuck the New York Giants before halftime in a game last December.
I think one of our old NFL superstars could use a rule of his own, however; #4 for the Minnesota Vikings, Brett Favre.
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4.24.10 5:38 pm by Brian
In my story, 2010 NFL Season Divisional Predictions — Pre-April/Pre-Draft Version, I asked you–readers here at The Sports Geeks–to weigh in on who you thought would end up winning each of the eight (8) National Football League divisions for the 2010 season. I also tasked you with picking the two teams that you felt would have the best chance of making the playoffs as a Wild Card team from each conference.
The polls have since closed–less than 24 hours before the start of the 2010 NFL Draft’s 1st Round in prime-time–and I wanted to share those results with you here, along with a comparison to my original picks from the story.
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4.20.10 6:59 pm by Brian
Although the final seconds ticked off the clock of Super Bowl XLIV over two months ago, there has hardly been a moment to rest and take a breather from news in the National Football League. The Saints’ triumphant victory was a feel-good story that had all of Louisiana in jubilation, and the offseason moves all over the league have kept football on the minds of sports fans everywhere.
After a number of delays—presumably to tweak the schedule match-ups with all of the offseason moves being made this NFL offseason—the 2010 regular season schedule has finally been released to eager fans. Finally, those die-hard fans can begin circling specific dates on the calendar to make their plans for game-viewing beginning in September.
Here at The Sports Geeks, we understand that not everyone can sift through the 256 regular season games to find the biggest stories of the upcoming season. To help out the casual NFL fan, I dived into the entire schedule to pick out some of the juicier storylines—along with the dates those games will be played—to provide a one-stop guide to the regular season’s most dramatic games. As with so many things, however, the NFL is subject to change; some games highlighted on this list may end up being snoozers if players are injured or teams are underperforming compared to the expectations currently held of them.
Obviously, divisional games are always big draws; playing six games a year against rival teams creates dramatic storylines, and the interactions between both players and fans makes for must-see games. However, for the sake of this list, those divisional match-ups have been avoided as much as possible to focus in on the other storylines present behind the games on the docket.
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