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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5.14.10 4:54 pm by Brian
From May 24th through May 26th, 2010, the NFL owners will be coming together for another set of offseason meetings. While rule changes and ownership approvals will be on the docket, there will also be another matter of importance which will be addressed: the site of Super Bowl XLVIII, which will be played in February of 2014. The deadline for submission of bids to host the game was Wednesday, May 12th, and three host committees got their proposals in to the National Football League for consideration:
- Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida
- Sun Life Stadium in Miami, Florida
- The new Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey
Even though the meetings are still a few weeks off, the internet has already begun to buzz over which of the venues should be chosen and why. While this makes my discussion here entirely not unique, it makes it no less valid. It is my opinion that the NFL owners should select the new Meadowlands Stadium as the site for Super Bowl XLVIII, for the three reasons detailed below.
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5.12.10 4:13 pm by Brian
Despite all of the excitement of free agent moves and superstars finding new homes for the 2010 National Football League season, the uncapped year that has provided the foundation for all of these moves disguises a damaging potential situation coming about at a high point of the game’s popularity; without a renegotiated collective bargaining agreement between the National Football League and the NFL Player’s Association, there will be no football played after Super Bowl XLV comes to an end on February 6th, 2011.
Now that football is firmly-entrenched as the sport of choice among key American demographics, the league and its players simply cannot afford to have a work stoppage kill their momentum.
Even though I am a sportswriter here, I can’t speak intelligently to the set of agreements and compromises that will need to be reached in order to bring the two sides together to continue football into the future. However, one clear point has been that NFL veterans need to be better compensated, and one way to accomplish that goal is to bring about a new rule: setting a salary cap for rookies that will free up money to be paid to players who have accumulated more time in the league.
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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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