UW Mens Bball - Heartbreak

Being a Wyoming native, you really have no sports team to pride yourself on and call your own. You felt stupid wearing a UW sports anything outside of Laramie. A few nuggets over the year gave us some pride. But the start of the men's hoops season made us feel special. Wyoming was nationally ranked, and undefeated, beside a few respectable schools. So, naturally, I wanted to go see them. I wasn't aware of the situation change by the time I arrived at the AA in Laramie. The star player for our Cowboys was suspended, from what I hear for involvement in a bar fight. It was disgusting how much of a difference one player made. In the first half, UNLV quickly took a 20 point lead, and held it the entire game. UW was making no effort to rebound, no effort for loose balls, no effort on the fast breaks, and no effort shooting. At the half, the pokes were 9/40+ shooting. Their were moments of rebounding with one white jersey in for the ball, surrounded for 5 black jerseys. Easy steals were available, but we were more concerned with guarding the player then going for the ball. Every possession was taken to the shot clock and forced. This wasn't the team I thought I was paying to see. This game left me depressed, and disappointed. I was ashamed and embarrassed that I bought Wyoming gear to wear to this event. If not for other plans for my trip and visiting family, it would have been a wasted trip. The highlight if the night was watching a local a row back suffer a series of minor heart attacks screaming vulgarities in disapproval for the effort our team showed, and myself shouting "I love waffles!" My only regret is not starting a "We want tacos" chant. Folks, UW's 5 minutes of fame are over. Take the gold and yellow off, and hang your head low. We're back to the way things were.

Titans to Add Williams

Titans to Add Gregg Williams

Image obtained from: http://blog.nola.com/saintsbeat/2009/01/gregg_williams_hired_as_new_or_1.html

Gregg Williams, former defensive coordinator of the "Bountygate" +New Orleans Saints. The scandal has plagued the NFL, the players, and coaches involved. Although he was suspended indefinitely, he has already been given two jobs in the NFL. He was given a contract for St. Louis last season, and never coached a game for them before he was fired. Now, according to +ESPN, it appears that Tennessee is willing to give him an opportunity as their assistant head coach, and defensive coordinator. This is embarrassing and a sham.

Although he is still suspended indefinitely and no relief in sight, the +Tennessee Titans are willing to give this man some control of their franchise. Keep in mind, they will at least need to find an interim defensive coordinator to coach the defense until Gregg is allowed back on an NFL sideline. This means they will have to instill one defensive strategy at the beginning of the season, and then when Williams is allowed to coach again (probably sometime this upcoming season) they will have to switch their whole scheme.

If they are going to stick to the current scheme, why not just give the interim the full time position and allow him to coach. This hiring really makes me mad. What the man allowed to happen and even encouraged in an NFL locker room is unacceptable. But apparently the Titans are willing to give up ethics for a guy that has shown improvement in defenses in the past. I hope the Titans made this a conditional contract and it is not as binding as others!

NFL Championship Round

NFL Championship Round: Previews and Predictions

*Update* 

Picks for TFT Crew:

Nat: 49ers and Ravens

Ron: 49ers and Patriots

Kyle: 49ers and Ravens
Marshal: 49ers and Patriots

*Original Story*

+San Francisco 49ers vs. +Atlanta Falcons- 3:00pm ET Sunday, January 20

In a match-up of the #1 and #2 seed of the NFC, these heavyweights will slug it out and find out who is going to the Super Bowl, and who is beginning their offseason. In the 49ers case, this is the game that they went out last year in a few fluke plays. For Atlanta, this is the first championship game for most of the players on the team.

Atlanta is the home team, and I think that may be their only advantage in this game. The Falcons are short on experienced players in playoff situations, and they are also coming off a less than impressive performance against the +Seattle Seahawks last weekend. In a game that Atlanta dominated in the first half, their second half nearly undid the early lead. They won on a last second field goal that put them up 30-28. Seattle basically gave the game away, and that is why I have little confidence in Atlanta.

San Francisco is coming off a game they would be hard pressed to match. Kaepernick was nothing short of Maddenesque in his first playoff performance. I don't think he'll be able to match the performance against a better Atlanta defense, but he and Frank Gore should be able to do enough to get them to the Super Bowl.

The Niners need to have a better showing on defense, else this game could get out of hand. The Falcons have as potent a passing game as any in the league. They sport Roddy White, Julio Jones, and Tony Gonzalez who are all very difficult to cover up. Luckily for San Francisco, they have a very athletic linebacking core that can help in coverage and get to the quarterback to take some pressure off of the secondary.

I look for Frank Gore to have a heyday against this Falcons defense. He should take pressure off of Kaepernick and allow him to do what he does best behind center. Atlanta will  keep this game close, but in the end, run out of firepower.

Prediction: San Francisco 35- Atlanta 31

Player of the Game: Frank Gore

+Baltimore Ravens vs. +New England Patriots- 6:00pm ET

Baltimore is coming into this game fresh off of an impressive win against Denver to face a very talented New England team. This will be a rematch of last years AFC title game that saw Baltimore fall short on a missed field goal that would have sent the game into overtime. With Billy Cundiff safely out of Baltimore and what seems to be a more impressive Joe Flacco, this game could be every bit as interesting as it was last year.

New England is also coming off of an impressive win, in which they dismantled the Houston defense. The final score looked a lot closer than the game actually was, and it still didn't look good for Houston. Houston did have the talent to compete in that game, and did early on. But the offense stalled on far too many drives to keep the defense off the field and fresh against a very high powered offense. This could be the case in this game as well for Baltimore. Tom Brady will have a challenge against this stout Ravens defense, and it will be another case of great Offense vs. a great Defense. Lately these matchups have favored the offenses, but I expect things to change.

Fortunately for Baltimore, Joe Flacco has never looked as good as he did last game. Granted it was against a weak defense in Denver, but New England's defense is very suspect as well. I still do not buy into the Patriots defense being "that much better" than the squad they sent out last year. They have just been lucky enough to play while ahead and only have to defend against the pass for the most part. This Ravens defense will play inspired to try to get Ray Lewis one more ring in his last hurrah, and keep Tom Brady and the multiple offensive threats off of the field. Can this Ravens offense do the job though? I think they can, Ray Rice is as dynamic a player as the league has, and he can do many things for the offense. If he can keep the pressure off of Flacco enough for him to hit Jacoby Jones, Torrey Smith, and company this game could very easily go in Baltimore's favor. Inclement weather should not be seen, and I believe the Ravens get the upper hand in this game.

 

Prediction: Ravens 31- Patriots 27 

Player of the Game: Joe Flacco

Writing History

Lebron James continues to add to his resume and the argument of the greatest basketball player. Last night (January 17, 2013) at age 28, Lebron became the youngest player to reach 20,000 career points. Impressive, seeing as the rest of the active 20,000 club is nearing the ends of their careers. He also chalked up his 5000th career assist. Last season, he got his ring, 3rd season MVP, and Olympic gold on the off season. Lebron definitely will be Hall of Fame material at the end of his career, regardless of how many more rings he acquires. In the chase of points, he is still 3000 points away from reaching the top 25 scores list of all time. He is also roughly 12,000 behind out scoring Micheal Jordan's number three spot, and 18,000 behind Kareem. The maturity of the king, we have seen progressively develope. He has gotten better as a player every season. We saw him play like a champion in the finals last year. He was focused, serious, determined, and a leader. He probably will reach another championship. I look forward to what the king and the Heat bring in coming years.

In other milestones this month, Steve Nash reached 10,000 career assist, sitting at 5th all time in that field (5,765 away fom John Stocktons record). Before his career is over, I see it entirely possible passing Magic Johnson on the number 4 spot, with only 100 assists to gain that spot. And finally, a name I actually do remember from when I was a kid. Grant Hill had a milestone of his own playing in his 1000th career game. Congratulations are in order for all Thea accomplishments!

NFL Divisional Round Recap

NFL Divisional Round Recap

+Baltimore Ravens vs. +Denver Broncos-

This was a very exciting game from beginning to end, and was the first double overtime playoff game I have ever seen. While there was some added drama with the officiating, let's not allow that to take away from the game. Denver and Peyton Manning were really held in check for the most part for the majority of this game, but two return touchdowns by Trendon Holliday kept them in the lead for most of the game. But the real story of this game for me was Joe Flacco, not only did he play well, he showed he belongs in the playoffs to many of the naysayers. He and his receiving core consistently tore up Champ Bailey, who is widely considered one of the best cornerbacks in the league!

I've been saying all along that this Denver defense isn't good enough to win the Super Bowl, regardless of who their quarterback is. This defense padded it's stats against the cupcake schedule that was the last 11 games of the season, and made many believe that defense was a strength of this team. Can you imagine if it had been New England rather than Baltimore in this game? With the Patriots offense, the Broncos wouldn't have lost 38-35, they would have lost 50+ to less than 35 considering the Patriots great special teams play. 

Living in Utah, the majority of people here are Broncos fans. Instant feedback of the game was that the officiating cost them the game... I could not disagree more. While there was some definite questionable officiating in the game, it was questionable for both teams, not just Denver. In fact the penalties were almost even in the game with Denver having 10 and Baltimore having 9. Some have referenced the reviews as also terrible calls. I was watching the game, the Manning fumble was a fumble. The Boldin catch, was a catch. There was a questionable holding call that extended a late drive for Baltimore that resulted in a touchdown... But to say the officials cost you a game when you had a safety and a cornerback allow a receiver to run right by both of them for a 70 yard touchdown bomb at the end of the game... you didn't deserve to win. A safety's job in that situation is to be the last man back, and just stood there and watched Jacoby Jones run right by. Besides that, you had every opportunity in overtime after the game had been extended. Blame your pathetic pass defense against a not very potent passing game! 

With all that being said, the officiating experiment of "All-Star" crews seems to be a bust. Breaking up the chemistry of the regular crews is a mistake in my opinion. The inexperience with each other has caused some confusion, and downright unreasonable calls. They need to address this before the next round of games begin on Sunday.

+Green Bay Packers vs. +San Francisco 49ers-

This game was a high scoring, action-packed barn burner that kind of surprised me. While I did pick San Francisco to win the game, I thought it would be a lot closer of a game. I expected the 49ers defense to contain the potent Green Bay offense, and Frank Gore and Colin Kaepernick to run the 49ers to a close win. While Frank Gore did do his part, this was pretty much a one man show. Kaepernick was able to brush away my concerns with him being a rookie in a playoff situation that may be bigger than he was ready for. He made the Packers defense as vulnerable as I thought they truly were. 

When Green Bay can't get pressure on the quarterback via Clay Matthews, it is very apparent that they are not a very good defense. Colin was able to read when they were in man coverage, and he tucked the ball and ran seemingly every time they were. When they needed a big third down conversion, he picked it up with his legs if they weren't blitzing. If they were, he used his cannon of an arm to hit one of his receivers down field. 

Speaking of receivers down field, Michael Crabtree finally proved to me he was worth the pick that he was drafted with. He tore up a tired defense, and had what was his best performance as a pro, under the brightest of lights. 

San Francisco went from me thinking they were going to lose in the NFC Championship game, to now my Super Bowl favorite. Yes, I just said they are my Super Bowl favorites to beat the AFC representative  even before I know who that will be (most likely New England.)

+Seattle Seahawks vs. +Atlanta Falcons-

This was a tale of two halves. Atlanta just took it to this Seattle team in the first half, and made what looked like the hottest team coming into this contest look like a non-playoff team. The Falcons led this game 20-0 at the half due to some costly errors from the Seattle offense and coaching staff. While I thought that Seattle would stifle the great passing and rushing game that the Falcons possess, it took them until the second half to start playing great football. 

After picking off Matt Ryan in the first quarter, three plays later, Marshawn Lynch coughed up the ball and gave it right back to Atlanta. They proceeded to score and gave themselves an even more controlling lead. Seattle decided to go for a fourth down conversion once they were already down 13-0 rather than just kicking the easy field goal. Rather than giving their beast in the backfield the ball, they handed the ball off to the fullback that ran into a brick wall that was the Falcons defense and even lost a yard. Atlanta proceeded to put up 7 more points to give them a 20 point lead with only limited time left for Seattle to score right before the half. 

Seattle finally put together a great drive on offense and ended up on Atlanta's 10 yard line with one timeout left. On first down they gained four yards and rather than running up to the line and spiking the ball, they used their last timeout with under 30 seconds left. The next play resulted in a false start moving the offense back to the 11 yard line from the 6. On 2nd and 11, Russell Wilson threw an incomplete pass leaving approximately 16 seconds on the clock. On 3rd and 11, he was sacked by a blitz coming from the middle of the formation. Because Pete Carroll had already used their last timeout, they were unable to call it and bring out the field goal unit, and they also didn't have time to line up for another play before time expired. At the half, Pete Carroll had cost his team 6 points, and those points were crucial. 

The second half saw Seattle rip off 28 unanswered points to take the lead with 36 seconds left on the clock. A decent return on the ensuing kickoff resulted in the ball being placed at Atlanta's 28 yard line with 31 seconds left and all three timeouts. Two long passes into the middle of the field against prevent coverage and three timeouts later, the Falcons were at Seattle's 31 yard line with 13 seconds left. Atlanta lined up to kick what would be the game winning field goal- but Pete Carroll called a timeout way before the ball was snapped. The Falcons long snapper still snapped the ball to the holder some 3 seconds later and the kicker boomed off his practice kick, which he missed (this is a whole different subject, which I will discuss in a moment.) Sure enough when he lined up after his practice kick, he had made the adjustment and boomed in the game winner. Seattle had one more chance after a terrible kickoff, but the game ended in a Hail Mary heave that ended in Julio Jones' hands. Pete Carroll only has himself to blame for this loss in my opinion, poor decision-making and clock management cost his team 6 points in the first half, and the game was decided by 3. I can't say that the defense would have held Atlanta to no score if they would have gone for the TD for their last possession, but there would have at least been a chance. 

Now on the subject of icing the kicker... Pete Carroll has no fault in the timeout that resulted in the practice kick for Atlanta, he clearly called the timeout way before the snap and the whistle was blown before the snapper hiked the ball (I counted a 3 second delay from the time Carroll called the timeout to the time the ball was snapped.) There has to be a rule change when it comes to this practice. The kicker essentially got a practice run to make adjustments after the timeout had been called and the play was blown dead. This is clearly an unfair advantage. I could understand if the coach called the timeout right before the ball was snapped, but there was a definite delay. I'm not sure what kind of rule should be implemented, but in this case where it wasn't even close to being snapped right after the timeout was called, I believe that should have resulted in a 10 yard penalty. This is a case of protecting the integrity of the game. I would be surprised and appalled if the NFL does not do something about this debacle before the start of next season. 

+Houston Texans vs. +New England Patriots-

This was not much of a game and was quite frankly very disappointing. Houston has a complete roster with talent all over both sides of the ball. In fact, I have called them the most complete team in football more than a few times this year. It was puzzling to me to see them collapse the last 6 games of the year in which they went 2-4 and went from one of the most dynamic and balanced offenses to not being able to get in the endzone. This was no more apparent than in their playoff game against Cincinnati in which they dominated on both sides of the ball, but ended up winning by a margin of 6 points. 

The lackluster performance was followed by another bomb of a performance in New England a week later. I've been saying during this 7 game streak of poor performances that "this is the week they wake up." Well this is the week they wake up in their own homes on an offseason long vacation. While this team has the talent to win it all, I don't know if they can win with the inconsistent quarterback that is Matt Schaub. As I said in my preview for this game, he can play like a top-tier quarterback at times, he can also play like a Raiders quarterback of the last 10 years. I don't know if there is an answer for them in the draft or free agency, but it is apparent that they will have to make some changes to beat the elite teams in the AFC. 

With that being said, the Patriots are looking as good as ever. They seem to have recovered from their late season struggles in which they almost lost a game to a 2 win Jacksonville squad. They are primed to make another Super Bowl run, and all that stands in their way is a scrappy Baltimore team. They did lose Rob Gronkowski for the rest of the playoffs and that may affect their chances, but they still have a very stacked receiving core minus him. I will say, I'm still not sold that this defense is capable of stopping a good offense, and they will face a good offense whoever it may be in the NFC if they can get past Baltimore. 

So from this, my picks will be New England over Baltimore and San Francisco over Atlanta. With all of that being said, I will be less active on the blog for the next few months. The work, school, raising a kid, and homework load is definitely picking up now that school is in the full swing of things. I am leaving the blog in very capable hands with +Kyle Gilmore, Gina, Nat, Ron, and Marsh. I will definitely be uploading some posts, just not in the quantity I have been on break. Thanks for reading my articles and I hope to see some good stuff up on the blog in the near future.

Bill Montoya

NFL Division Round Picks

Kyle: GB, SEA, NE, BAL
Billy: SF, SEA, NE, BAL
Marshal: GB, ATL, NE, DEN
Nathaniel: GB, ATL, NE, DEN

NFL Divisional Round: Saturday Games

Divisional Round: Championship Push

This is always my favorite week of the playoffs. It fuels a debate in my mind every year. Is that first round bye, and home field "advantage" really helpful in the road to the super bowl? I could dive into that topic, however I just want you to think about how the week off affects teams, and whether that wild card win is a momentum builder.

Baltimore Ravens @ Denver Broncos on CBS at 2:30 PM MT (Yes, this game is in the Rockies)

This game is the shining example of my point above. No one can dispute the Broncos amazing 11 game win streak to close out the season. It is truly amazing what Peyton has done this year with a new team. And not to be left out is their defense, which has been solid nearly the entire year. All this culminated in the Broncos taking the first seed and winning home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Also earning them a bye, which I feel is the worst thing that could happen to a team like Denver. Momentum was their biggest ally during the 2012 season. Taking the week off will slow them down, that fire and excitement will not be as intense as it was in throughout the last 3/4s of the season. On the other side of this story, we have the Baltimore Ravens, who struggled, and some doubted their validity as a playoff team. This is where wild card weekend is instrumental in many team's success. The Ravens were able to pick up an emotional win behind their longtime leader Ray Lewis. I feel this momentum carries over into an upset win for the Ravens. Ray Rice will not put the ball on the ground this week, and will have a heavy work load and carry this team to a win. Also, Joe Flacco and that hurry up offense actually had success last week. It will be a taller order against the Broncos D, but I look for Torrey Smith to have an amazing game. Ray Lewis, if given another opportunity to make an interception like the one against the Colts, has to come up with the ball. I feel he will. Then you throw in Ed Reed, whose mission in life is to make quarterbacks, especially top tier ones, miserable for 4+ quarters. This is not a popular pick, but it is mine. This will not be a repeat of their previous meeting this season, mostly due to the fact the Ravens are finally healthy.The Ravens will ride Ray Lewis' inspirational ride for at least one more week.

Baltimore 28, Denver 24

Player of the game:

Ray Rice

Green Bay Packers @ San Francisco 49ers on FOX at 6:00 PM MT (Cause I'm in the Rockies)

Saturday nights game is a battle between two teams that have played already this season. The 49ers were able to defeat the Packers in week 1 30-22. These were two very different teams all those weeks ago. While the Packers have come on strong during wild card weekend, the 49ers have not been playing like the same team, especially on defence. The argument could be made that Kaepernick has added a new dimension to their offense. The 49ers have one of the most consistent running back in Frank Gore. He always seems to fall for at least a few yards, and those are on the bad plays. Their passing game has finally seemed to get going this year after that atrocious showing against the Giants in the playoffs last year. Justin Smith's injury has been huge. Aldon Smith has been without a sack since he went out, only proving that the "Cowboy" is the true star of that line. It is possible that he makes his return this week. Then there is the Green Bay Packers. They had an embarrassing playoff appearance last year, and had a 2012 season filled with ups and downs. Its not the regular season anymore. They picked up speed with their win against Minnesota, the offense is finally healthy and firing on all cylinders. The defense is finally playing to its potential. Look for Charles Woodson to have a huge impact from here on out, much like their Super Bowl run a few years ago. This game is literally the old vs. new mentality in the league. The 49ers play stout defense and power football on offense. The Packers have a high flying, high octane offense and a D that plays well enough to keep the other team from scoring as much as their own offense. It took me some time to come to my conclusion on this game, and since it doesn't really matter, because the winner loses to Seattle next week anyways, Green Bay takes the win. This will setup what will be the most talked about championship game in years, all because of a certain hail mary catch(?) during the regular season.

Green Bay 31, San Francisco 17

Player of the Game:

Charles Woodson

Please let me know your thoughts and picks on these games. Looking forward to another weekend of post-season football.

Phinland Pride,

Kyle Gilmore