Category Archives: Opinion

Odds of the San Francisco 49ers Making it to Super Bowl XLVI?

At 13-3 through the 2011 NFL regular season, the San Francisco 49ers are among the NFC’s elite, but are they good enough to return the franchise to the levels it consistently reached during the 1980s and 1990s?

With a win over the St. Louis Rams in Seattle on New Year’s Day, the 49ers are now the No. 2 seed in the upcoming 2012 NFL playoffs. First-year head coach Jim Harbaugh has reignited the 49er fan base’s enthusiasm and excitement about the team’s postseason prospects (especially after clinching the NFC West) but is it enough to propel the team to the sport’s ultimate stage?

The Super Bowl and San Francisco have not seriously been mentioned in the same sentence for more than a decade, but it’s hard to knock the 49ers’ chances of reaching Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis on Feb. 5, 2012.

But, we can find a way.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Ranked close to dead last in the NFL, the 49ers’ passing game is hardly at the level it was during the Joe Montana and Steve Young eras, but their Frank Gore-led, 9^th-ranked rushing game is a force to be contended with.

San Francisco’s defense ranks 21^st against the pass and 1^st against the rush, but if the team has any chance of slowing the passing attacks of New Orleans or Green Bay, its secondary is going to need to step up and perform. The 49er pass defense did play well against Pittsburgh in the team’s 20-3 win on Monday night in Week 15, but did surrender 305 yards through the air in spite of picking off three Ben Roethlisberger passes and sacking him three times.

In the end, the 49ers showed they can keep a high-powered passing offense out of the end zone.

Final Word

Given its normally less-than-impressive pass defense, the 49ers’ chances of reaching the Super Bowl look bleak, especially because each of the NFC’s potential matchups (Green Bay, New Orleans, Dallas, Atlanta and Detroit) produce more than twice the passing yards as they do on the ground. As impressive as San Francisco’s season has been to date, its weaknesses appear to be too numerous to overcome in pursuit of the Super Bowl.

The 49ers’ offense is rush-centric and its passing game is sub-par. Name the last Super Bowl participant that that could have been said about. Harbaugh has done an impressive job at taking a squad that went 6-10 in 2010 and turning it into a contender, but the chances appear slim that the 49ers will advance beyond the first game of the upcoming postseason.

You gotta like the 49ers’ chances of getting closer to the Super Bowl in 2012 and beyond, though. Especially if they can make some moves to strengthen their passing game and passing defense.

This post was contributed by Jason Carib. Jason is a Manhattan native who works as a writer with the Phoenix Bats Company, which manufacturers world-class wood bats, such as their popular maple bats for amateur and professional ballplayers around the globe.

Green Bay Packers: Secondary Concerns are Secondary, For Now

The Green Bay Packers passing game is nothing to worry about, but their secondary has also started turning some heads and not in the good way.

The Packers have given up 851 yards through the air over the first two weeks of the season. The two quarterbacks they’ve faced, Drew Brees and Cam Newton, has crossed 400 yards. Should Cheeseheads be worried?

Not exactly.

Dom Capers’ defense has been terrific so far shutting down the run. They have allowed only 152 yards on the ground, making the Saints and Panthers ground attack look almost obsolete. If teams are going to beat the Packers this year, they are going to need someone great behind center.

Last season, Green Bay allowed back-to-back 300-yard performances in week’s five and six. Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford‘s arm nearly brought the Lions a win, while Donavan McNabb’s Redskins scrapped out an overtime victory. Green Bay finished fifth against the pass in 2010, giving up 194 yards a game.

They were without arguably their best cover man in Tramon Williams against Carolina. His absence forced Charles Woodson to play out of position and cover Steve Smith throughout the game. The Packers know teams in the NFL are going to throw but what separates them from most of the rest is their ability to contain those offenses.

The success of the run defense has led teams the air it out more than they initially want to. Brees and Newton attempted 49 and 46 passes, respectively. With the ball going in the air that often, the yards are bound to add up. But for those 851 yards, not much (or rather, not enough) have shown up on the scoreboard.

New Orleans and Carolina combined for only three red zone touchdowns in 11 opportunities. Two of those three scores came with under three minutes to go in the game and Green Bay up two possesions at the time.

“Red zone, fourth down. As long as we do that, we’re going to be fine,” Head Coach Mike McCarthy said after Sunday’s 30-23 victory. “The other things are correctable.”

The season-ending neck injury to safety Nick Collins will not be so correctable.

Collins has been one of the best and most consistent safeties in the league over the past few seasons (three straight All-Pro selections), so it is safe to say Green Bay has a little to be worried about. Charlie Peprah will step in for Collins, a role very familiar to him. He replaced Morgan Burnett last season for the final 12 games of the year.

A career backup, Peprah did an admirable job for Green Bay in his first major starting duty. The fact that he is now replacing an All-Pro and not Burnett is what may get some Packer fans’ blood boiling.

Burnett, however, is off to a good start this season. He is second on the team in tackles (21), though misleading when compared to guys like Clay Matthews, as a safety he is going to have a lot more tackling opportunities than others facing so many pass attempts.

But what’s seen in tackles is seen on the scoreboard – Burnett is not allowing many receivers to get behind him. He, along with Williams, is keeping guys out of the end zone. The second-year player out of Georgia Tech is also making plays on the field, forcing two turnovers and recording a sack through two weeks.

Meanwhile, Matthews and the rest of the front seven have done a good job of putting pressure on the quarterback. They have hit the passer on 13 occasions and brought him down for the sack seven times.

This may be a passing league, but when you completely take away a team’s running threat, you are going to win games. It is important to remember that 160 of those 851 yards came on the final drives of each game, with Green Bay shifting to a prevent defense both times.

Good teams learn to adapt in the face of adversity. Green Bay faced numerous injuries and struggled to run the ball nearly all season in 2010, despite those issues they are the defending Super Bowl champions.

Yes, there maybe a couple concerns with the Packers after two games, especially with the division they are in. But they proved last season why that shouldn’t discourage you…yet.

Patriots vs. Dolphins: Grading Reggie Bush’s Debut in Miami

The biggest move the Miami Dolphins made in the offseason was trading for Reggie Bush, and Dolphins fans got to see Bush make his debut with the team Monday night as they faced the New England Patriots.

Bush had his ups and down with the New Orleans Saints and now has a chance at a fresh start with the Dolphins. Bush’s big play ability has had Dolphins fans buzzing the past month waiting to see if he could ignite an offense that never really took off last season.

With rookie second-round pick Daniel Thomas inactive, this was Bush’s time to shine.

The Miami Dolphins said before the game they wanted to give Bush 20 touches, and they did exactly that. So how did the first game in the Bush experiment go for the Dolphins? Read on to find out.

Running

As Reggie Bush scampered for 13 yards off-tackle on the third play from scrimmage, it looked like we could be seeing a new Reggie Bush. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case as that was Bush’s longest run of the night.

On the rest of his 10 carries, Bush just managed a measly 25 yards on the ground. Yes, the Miami Dolphins largely ignored the running game. Instead, they resorted to throwing the ball for the majority of the game, and they had great success doing that, but shouldn’t that have opened up the running game even more for Bush?

Danny Woodhead, a similar style of back to Bush, managed 4.9 yards per carry running the ball for the New England Patriots. Now the Dolphins aren’t the Patriots, but Woodhead is supposed to be a poor man’s Reggie Bush, not the other way around.

If one game was any indication, Bush looked like the same back who struggled to run in between the tackles with the New Orleans Saints.

Receiving

Reggie Bush was a weapon catching the ball out of the backfield, but we already knew that.

Bush tallied team-high nine receptions for 56 yards and a touchdown. Though, it should be noted that the touchdown came in garbage time.

At the very least he was efficient, catching nine of the 10 passes thrown in his direction. However, it should be noted that he only averaged 6.2 yards per catch and his longest reception of the night went for only 16 yards.

In a game where Chad Henne passed for 416 yards, you would have liked to Bush break off a long catch and run in which he shook some tacklers in the process.

Final Grade

The Reggie Bush experiment in Miami didn’t get off to the start many were hoping for.

Bush looked an awful lot like the back we watched for five years with the New Orleans Saints. A good receiver out of the backfield, but a runner who struggles to gain yards up the middle and isn’t decisive with his cuts in the backfield.

If the Dolphin’s plan is to make Bush their feature back, I hope they have a backup plan.

Where Bush really hurt the Miami Dolphins was near the end zone. Because of his inability to run up the middle, when he was in the game near the goal line the New England Patriots knew he wasn’t going to be the one taking a handoff.

On a crucial fourth down play at the 1-yard line with the Dolphins threatening to cut the New England Patriots lead to seven, the Dolphins attempted a fade route, instead of pounding the ball to Bush.

If the Dolphins truly believed Bush was a feature back, he would have gotten that handoff. The Dolphins decision to throw just confirmed what we previously thought to be true. Reggie Bush is a third-down back/return man. Nothing more, nothing less.

Final Grade: C

2011 NFL Season Preview & Predictions

The 2011 NFL season kicks off today and that means it time for my season preview and predictions. I have predicted the order of finishing in all the divisions, the playoff team, the conference champions/Super Bowl winner, and all the major awards.

My big surprise team this year is the Cleveland Browns. With an easy schedule and with Colt McCoy under center, I see the Browns sneaking into the playoffs with a wild card berth. As a result, I see the Pittsburgh Steelers missing the playoffs entirely. The Steelers haven’t made the playoffs the year after they went to the Super Bowl every time since 1995 and I think the trend continues. The defense is very old and if troy Polamalu gets injured, which he has had a habit of doing, the defense goes from being one of the best to a mediocre defense.

For my Super Bowl XLVI prediction, I have one familiar face and one newcomer. The familiar face is the New Orleans Saints. The Saints have a dynamite offense and as the season progresses we will see just how good Mark Ingram can be. I also love what they did to their defense in the offseason signing Aubrayo Franklin, Shaun Rodgers and drafting Cameron Jordan.

The newcomer is the San Diego Chargers. The Chargers have been dominate in the regular season over the last few season, but never played good in January. Motivated by not making the playoffs last season, I think this is the year the Chargers finally get over the hump. Their special teams can’t be anywhere near as bad as they were last season and they also get Vincent Jackson back for the entire season.

You will have to scroll down to see who I picked to hoist the Lombardi Trophy in Indianapolis next February.
This will be fun to look at at the end of the season to see how good (more likely bad) I did. Now sit back and relax, because from now until the beginning of February there is football every Sunday.

(Note: Teams are listen in the order of projected finish)

AFC East

New England Patriots

New York Jets*

Miami Dolphins

Buffalo Bills

AFC North

Baltimore Ravens

Cleveland Browns*

Pittsburgh Steelers

Cincinnati Bengals

AFC South

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Tennessee Titans

Jacksonville Jaguars

AFC West

San Diego Chargers

Denver Broncos

Kansas City Chiefs

Oakland Raiders

NFC East

Philadelphia Eagles

Dallas Cowboys*

New York Giants

Washington Redskins

NFC North

Green Bay Packers

Minnesota Vikings

Detroit Lions

Chicago Bears

NFC South

New Orleans Saints

Atlanta Falcons*

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Carolina Panthers

NFC West

St. Louis Rams

Arizona Cardinals

Seattle Seahawks

St. Louis Rams

AFC Champion

San Diego Chargers

NFC Champion

New Orleans Saints

Super Bowl XLVI Champion

San Diego Chargers

MVP

Philip Rivers

Defensive Player of the Year

Ndamukong Suh

Offensive Rookie of the Year

Mark Ingram

Defensive Rookie of the Year

Von Miller

Coach of the Year

Gary Kubiak

*= Wild Card

Rex Grossman is the Washington Redskins Starting QB (SERIOUSLY!)

The Washington Redskins depth chart lists Rex Grossman as first on the depth chart for quarterback. The “sex cannon” is once again a starter in the NFL (And people wonder why I call Daniel Snyder the worst owner in all of sports).

Does that sound nuts to Chicago Bears fans? It should because Rex Grossman’s one “good” season. Actually, it was a good half-season as Sexy Rexy led the Bears to the Super Bowl (or you could say they went to the Super Bowl in spite of him,

His twenty-three touchdowns in one season (’06) rank Grossman among the best Bears quarterbacks in the franchise’s history. while his twenty interceptions in one season are among the most thrown by any Bears’ quarterback in almost two decades. The unusual combination ranked Grossman as statistically the most inconsistent quarterback in almost a decade. See the chart below

But it’s not that crazy, as Grossman had his best season passer rating for his career last year; by about 10 points. And he played in four games, started three, so he ended up with the third most passing attempts in a season for his career.  And what else can Mike Shanahan and the Skins do? John Beck, could beat Rex out for the #1 position. But after that……it gets real ugly (Kellen Clemens ugly). It’s pretty sad that Washington has had so few options that they need to settle for Rex.

It’s going to be yet another long season in what should be the NFL’s toughest division. Good luck getting past the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys.

Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site that generates millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports. You can follow him on Twitter

NFL Retirements Emerge as One of NFL Lockout’s Side Effects

Rather than trying to land a blockbuster deal in a much shorter window than usual, multiple NFL players decided to walk away from the game that made them household names this year. The limbo created by the lockout left many players in poor shape with little time to adjust to the resolution that allowed the preseason to begin this week.

Others just couldn’t find a team willing to spend the money to retain their services. Certain teams decided the conditions of the post-lockout world were more conducive to rebuilding their teams rather than reinventing them.

Retirement became a better option for some players than signing a low-ball deal with a team having little to no chance of making the playoffs this season.

The huge free agent pool teams had to choose from this year created a climate where player trades were outnumbered by acquisitions. Some of the bigger names were easy to get lost in the mix of available talent. Salary cap concerns were also likely a factor in causing some players to go out to pasture.

For Former Cincinatti Bengals Quarterback Carson Palmer, it was easier to leave the team and the sport for good than it was to deal with the team’s management. Having one of his top targets in Chad Ochocinco get shipped off to play in New England could have also helped speed his departure. Palmer was not exactly in the prime of his career, but he also wasn’t completely shot, either.

A bigger surprise was 27-year-old Linebacker Channing Crowder hanging up his cleats. The Miami Dolphins drafted Crowder in 2005, and he was slated to make $2.5 million with the team this year. They released him instead. He reportedly visited New England for a physical before making his final decision, but there’s no word that his exit is injury or health related.

As a Dolphin Crowder recorded 469 tackles (343 solo). The Patriots are still in search of a new linebacker or two after releasing Tully Banta-Cain, but Crowder is off the market. Crowder is confident that leaving the league is his best choice and told local Miami news outlets that he saved most of the money he’s earned in the NFL over the years.

Right Tackle Damien Woody quit the NFL earlier this month after 12 seasons as an offensive lineman. He has a geniune backup plan, though. He’s set to join ESPN as an NFL studio analyst. The former Jets, Lions and Patriots player is known for his quick wit and formidable size. He spent his last three years with the New York Jets.

Woody was drafted by the Patriots in the first round out of Boston College in 1999. He helped New England win two Super Bowls. This year he might watch and comment on them wining another one from the broadcast booth.

Polarizing Receiver Randy Moss had his share of ups and downs in the NFL, but there were at least two teams willing to sign him this season. Some saw his retirement announcement as a play to increase the offers coming his way, but when the Eagles and Patriots had talks with him none of the contracts they presented were appealing enough to prevent his leaving the league completely.

Moss couldn’t find a home after the Patriots let him go and replaced him with Deion Branch, but his teammates had nothing but nice things to say about Moss when he departed the squad. Moss himself showed great respect for his old team and likely would have been ecstatic to play for them again if they really needed him to. Signing Chad Ochocinco made that prospect much less likely, though. The Eagles were still showing interest in Moss even after his retirement announcement, but their recent signing of Ex-Giant Steve Smith pretty much eliminated any shot of Moss coming back this year.

Another NFL Retiree, Jerry Rice, will work with ex-Patriots Coach Bill Parcels at ESPN this year. Rice left the league a long time ago at the end of a very lucrative and long career. He ripped Moss for leaving so much on the table when he heard of Randy’s retirement.

Another NFL analyst will leave his media post for the field of play as one of the only players to actually vacate retirement since the lifting of the lockout. Tiki Barber had a positive workout with the Miami Dolphins and flirted with the possibility of signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but nothing is set in stone for the running back just yet.

The lockout resolution hashed out multiple contentious issue, but one problem still looming is how to take care of retirees. There is an ongoing lawsuit led by Hall of Famer Carl Eller that seeks to arrange for the NFL to share billions of dollars in yearly revenue with retirees as well as active players. If the suit is successful this year’s retirees could wind up collecting cash without even having to play a single snap.

What NFL Team is Most Improved for the 2011 NFL Season?

he NFL has seen a flurry of transactions in the past few weeks. After sifting through all the moves, which teams improved the most for the 2011 NFL Season.

The NFL Preseason begins next week, and teams are still scrambling to make deals to shore up their squads on both sides of the ball. Looking back at all the deals already made, multiple teams can be considered worthy of the “most improved” label. Leaders of this growing pack of skilled wheelers and dealers include: The New England Patriots, The New York Jets, The Philadelphia Eagles, The Chicago Bears, and The Miami Dolphins.

The Patriots added key veterans in Wide Receiver Chad Ochocinco, Defensive Tackle Albert Haynesworth, and Defensive End Shaun Ellis to an already formidable squad. Finishing 14-2 in the 2010 regular season, the Patriots wound up a touchdown short against the 11-5 New York Jets in the playoffs. The addition of Ochocinco gives Tom Brady one of the best deep threats in the business, and Deion Branch’s late season return to his former squad last year was already paying dividends before Ochocinco joined the team. All-purpose Wide Receiver Wes Welker will now have more opportunities to get open and make the clutch plays his supporting staff can’t. Though the Patriots seem to be lacking more at the linebacker position than on the defensive line, Haynesworth and Ellis make for imposing new bookends. Ellis comes to the team as the pick that was only made possible by the Patriots hiring Coach Bill Belichick. The team gave a 2000 draft pick as compensation for Belichick to the New York Jets, and they chose Ellis. The Patriots get a player with 72.5 sacks to his credit and over a decade of valuable NFL experience, not to mention a guy who has intimate knowledge of the operations of a key arch enemy of his new squad. New England was able to better the team without giving much up in return and gets their best new players in exchange for a few draft picks they really didn’t need in the first place.

The only downside to the Patriots making such targeted improvements is the fact that the New York Jets made some of their own impressive acquisitions. The Jets shed Jerricho Cotchery and Braylon Edwards, making room for two new major talents at their position. Plaxico Burress joined the team first, and Derrick Mason is the most recent addition to the team. Mark Sanchez is developing into a formidable force at quarterback, and having Mason and Burress at his disposal is a huge boost to the team’s hopes of getting back to the playoffs this year. The team’s losses might outweigh their gains, though.

The Philadelphia Eagles might be the real front runners for the most improved team award. Their management’s wheels began grinding soon after the lifting of the lockout. Cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, widely considered to be the MVP of free agents, is sure to add significant talent and experience to the Eagles defense. Asomugha is joined at the cornerback position by Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, who is another awesome addition to the team. Defensive linemen Cullen Jenkins, Anthony Hargrove, Derek Landri and Jason Babin are the icing on the cake for the Eagles. Their early playoff loss to the Superbowl Champion Green Bay Packers last season gave the team plenty of incentive to tweak their defense, so they completed a top to bottom overhaul virtually overnight to start this year. All these new additions will allow more chances fo QB Michael Vick to make more amazing plays by kicking opposing offenses off the field quickly. They will also surely generate more defensive scoring opportunities as well.

The Chicago Bears raided the Dallas Cowboys for their best new players, and their offense is now better than ever. Ex-Cowboys Sam Hurd, Marion Barber, and Roy Williams could help make QB Jay Cutler look like Peyton Manning this season. The Bears also imported Amobi Okoye from Texas by signing the defensive end away from Houston. To round out their top-flight group of new recruits the Bears picked up Defensive End Vernon Gholston from the New York Jets. Obviously their failure to get past Green Bay in last season’s playoffs put the Bears in a position to make serious changes. Suddenly this squad is Superbowl material, but only if all these new faces mesh well with the existing players. Chicago will certainly be making opposing defenses work much harder this season if their new offensive superstars rise to the occasion.

Of all the most improved candidates the Miam Dolphins needed the most help in turning the franchise around. Though they’ve made some superb new pickups, the team has been so intent on getting better that there’s rumors circulating that they want to inspire Brett Favre to make yet another improbable comeback. The Dolphins ranked 30th in the league in the points scored category last season, so adding Running Back Reggie Bush from the New Orleans Saints will be crucial to upping the offensive ante. The offensive line blocking for Bush will also include new recruits Marc Colombo from the Dallas Cowboys and Ray Willis from the Seahawks at the tackle position. Linebacker Jason Taylor also returns to the team this year after a brief stint with the Jets. He’ll be joined by fellow linebacker Kevin Burnett from the San Diego Chargers. Defensive Tackle Ronald Fields from the Denver Broncos is another key addition for the Dolphins. Former Carolina Panther Matt Moore will be the new backup quarterback for Chad Henne on the other side of the ball. Despite a potential deal for Kyle Orton not panning out, the Doplhins still have a solid team that could still be made even better before the season begins. Considering this team finished third in the division at 7-9 last season, their deals make them the hands down on-paper candidate for most improved team.

The landscape of the NFL changed more significantly this year than most due to multiple factors, and many teams look much better now. Of course, looks can be deceiving. Though there are more roster changes this year, there is much less time for teams to adjust. Before the first snap of the preseason, it’s easy to imagine so many new players translating to tremendous success for their new teams. Imaginations don’t win championships, though. Teamwork does. Whatever team is able to best absorb their new talent and thrive in real-time competition will be the one to claim the honor of being the most improved NFL squad. The clear winner in this category will only be determined once this season-that-almost-never-was finally ends. Stay tuned.

Are the San Francisco 49ers the NFL Lockout’s Biggest Loser?

he biggest loser of the NFL Lockout may end up being the San Francisco 49ers. The San Francisco 49ers might need to pull off a miracle to rebuild their defense after losing five of their top players before the first preseason game. Among the departures are three linebackers: Travis Laboy, Manny Lawson, and Takeo Spikes. Cornerback Nate Clements and Defensive Tackle Aubrayo Franklin will also play for new teams this year. Clements is the only post-lockout defensive casualty for the 49ers to be replaced so far. Former Redskin Carlos Rogers signed a one-year deal with San Francisco after Clements was cut from the team.

The 49ers also had some offensive hiccups to start the year after Running Back Frank Gore skipped four days of practice hoping to inspire contract negotiations. Gore is on the final year of his contract with San Francisco, but he’s adamant about wanting to be a 49er “forever.” Gore came back this week and will need to go into overdrive this season to make up for the heavy defensive losses. Gore missed the last five games of last year due to a hip fracture. This year Gore will be running behind a new center as the team also lost David Baas. They replaced Baas this week by signing a three-year deal with Jonathan Goodwin from the New Orleans Saints. Quarterback Alex Smith looks like he will be the one taking the snaps from Goodwin this season after inking a one-year deal to stay with the squad. Wide Receiver Braylon Edwards is bound for San Francisco from the New York Jets to give Smith another versatile target to throw to.

It’s not much of a surprise that the 49ers would take an overzealous offensive approach considering the fact that they have an ex-quarterback as a head coach now. Jim Harbaugh will have to make some more free agency moves to shore up the defense enough to allow his offense more time on the field to win games, though. Due to the speed of dealmaking these days, the best defensive players are already aclimating to new teams. Still, some standouts are still left waiting for new contract efforts. Acquiring a couple new linebackers could make Harbaugh’s first year coaching the 49ers a little more comfortable. Channing Crowder, Ben Leber, Rocky McIntosh, Dhani Jones and Kelvin Smith were some viable options still available as of Thursday morning. Seattle’s Lofa Tatupu could also be a new leader on their defensive squad with six seasons under his belt.

The 49ers need to act fast to shift gears to the other side of the ball soon, though. Team management’s spent too much time tweaking the offense and too little time securing defensive deals so far. If this squad goes into the regular season without making any more significant defensive improvements it could be an unbalanced disaster with all the pressure on the offense to carry the team. So far San Francisco could be considered the biggest flop of the free agency period. Their fans and players are surely hoping there’s more big deals to be made down the road.

Do NFL Fans Deserve An Apology From the NFL About the NFL Lockout?

Finally on Monday, the NFL Lockout ended after 132 days. In the end no football was lost except for the Hall of Fame Game. The owners didn’t lose any revenue and the players didn’t lose any game checks. So no harm, no foul right?

If you listen to Peter King then yes. This is what the Sports Illustrated writer had to say on the matter:

Many fans were angered by this. The NFL has built itself as a 365 day sport and they just took it away from fans (their consumers) for 4.5 months at a time when the game was as popular as its ever been.

The NFLPA apparently thought it was important enough to apologize to the fans, so they released a video on YouTube thanking fans for their support and patience during the lockout.

So what do you think, the fan? Do you want an apology from Roger Goodell and the NFL Owners? Or do you agree with King? Let us know in the comments section.

Also be sure check out our tumblr site, 2 Minute Drill, for quick updates during this crazy time for the NFL.

Final 2011 NFL Draft Thoughts

The 2011 NFL Draft is set to start in New York within the hour. Here are some of my final thought’s about this years draft class.

• This QB class is weak. However, they will benefit from the draft coming before free agency so more teams will be looking to get their hands on a young signal-caller.

• Of the top 7 QBs these are the 3 I like the most: Cam Newton, Ryan Mallett, Jake Locker

• And the 4 I’m not a fan of: Blaine Gabbert, Andy Dalton, Colin Kaepernick, Christian Ponder

• It appears NFL teams are finally realizing you don’t need to draft a RB early in the draft. Mark Ingram may be a successful NFL RB, but you can find someone just as good in the 4th round.

• In my opinion the two best players in this draft are A.J. Green and Marcell Dareus with Patrick Peterson a close third. They will all be studs in the NFL.

• It’s funny how in January Da’Quan Bowers and Nick Fairley were the projected 1-2 and now neither of them might go in the Top 10 without playing a single game.

• This class has tons of great 3-4 DE (Dareus, J.J. Watt, Cameron Jordan, Muhammad Wilkerson, Cameron Heyward), but other than Von Miller is short on 3-4 OLBs.

• Two highly rated prospects that I think will bust are Prince Amukamara and Robert Quinn.

• Not being able to trade veterans is going to put a damper on the draft. I hope all this “buzz” about there will be a flurry of trades is true.

• I will have a better Mock Draft than Mel Kiper.

Enjoy the draft everyone.