2010 NFL Preview: NFC North

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Chicago Bears- People have finally cooled off on Jay Cutler and his emo haircut. Maybe it's the 24-29 career record as a starter. Or maybe it was the 26 interceptions he threw last year. 26! Or maybe it's the fact that his QB rating has gone down every year he's been in the league. Or maybe it was the fact that I tried to hit on his little sister's former best friend in Colorado this summer, while she informed me that it was in fact Josh McDaniels' infatuation with Matt Cassel that ultimately sent him packing from Denver (I think that's something to be proud of). Anyhow, Mike Martz joins him this year, which most assume to be a good thing. But, Martz's offense relies on route development, which is dependent on good protection from the line, which is not a strength of the Bears. They did bring in Julius Peppers who even agreed to terms on trying his hardest for three games this year.

Detroit Lions- Should still be some growing pains for Matthew Stafford (is he living in biblical times? who still goes by Matthew?). But, the man I'm interested in seeing, or beast I should say, is the undisputed Heisman winner, Ndamukong Suh. Combined with fellow Husker, Kyle Vanden Bosch (making them my second favorite team for the year), there is at least somewhat of a chance that he is ndominant right from the get go (currently the Vegas favorite to win Defensive Rookie of the Year!). Pretty good nucleus of skill positions in Calvin Johnson, Jahvid Best, Kevin Smith, Tony Scheffler, and Brandon Pettigrew might finally lead them out of the cellar of the NFC.

Green Bay Packers- Finally, Aaron Rodgers can live Favre-free up in Green Bay. Oh, he's still there. I think it'll prove significant if they can win one of their brawls with the Vikings this year, with so much weight was placed on those games, it seemed to take the wind out of their sails last year. Rodgers can join the elite company of quarterbacks in the league by leading the Packers to the playoffs once again, and do so with similar stats to the tune of last year's 30-7 TD/Int ratio. Rodgers is the key, and the key to Rodgers might be the improvement of the line, as everything else stays the same up in Cheese Country.

Minnesota Vikings- Brett Favre returns but will the magic? There was definitely something going on last year. In the midst of all the hoopla, it's easy to forget just how good Favre was last year. Funny how that can be easy to forget, yet I've learned Favre's pooping schedule in its entirety from watching ESPN (he's a morning guy). Expectations should be big enough this year to satisfy even Visanthe Shiancoe's (pictured eloquently) lady friends. I say there is still a small chance of a team-wide backlash against Favre if they start slow, which is very possible with six of the first seven against the likes of NO, Mia, NYJ, Dal, GB, and NE (all to be played without number one wideout, Sidney Dean Rice--who gets the reference there??).

Top 25 Favorite Athletes of My Time

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We have reached the dead zone of the sports season, with no big sports currently in season (Huh? Base what?). I thought I'd throw together a list that might interest my adoring fans (all two of them). There isn't much of a defined criteria to the list, other than how they stand in my mind, and that I must have been cognizant of them while the player was in their prime. You might notice that the list is littered with Chiefs, Huskers, and Jayhawks. Well...yea, they are my favorite teams. If you don't like it, make your own list. Accompanying each player will be a one word (and only one word) description that I deem to be most appropriate. I'm bound to forget somebody in the process, so I leave the list open to future editing. For now, here's the list...

Dirkness' Top 25 Favorite Players:

1. Priest Holmes- Stoic
2. Tommie Frazier- Electrifying
3. Dirk Nowitzki- HisNicness.blogspot.com
4. Ndamukong Suh- Ndominant
5. Scott Frost- Toughness
6. Trent Green- Polished
7. Darnell Jackson- Radiant
8. Will Shields- Admirable
9. Mario Chalmers- Clutch
10. Brandon Rush- Bong
11. Tony Richardson- Selfless
12. James Hasty- Unforgiving
13. Barry Sanders- Jawdropping
14. Rich Gannon- Determined
15. Donnie Edwards- Arrowhead
16. Tony Gonzalez- Touchdunk
17. Nick Collison- Handy
18. Seneca Wallace- Mancrush
19. Paul Pierce- Perseverant
20. Mike Brown- Lurking
21. Kevin Durant- Icey
22. Ricky Williams- Fascinating
23. Willie Roaf- Gargantuan
24. Zinedine Zidane- Heady
25. Latrell Sprewell- Ghetto

Near Misses (they don't earn the effervescent describing word):
Zac Taylor, Steve Nash, Russell Robinson, Charlie Ward, Jason Dunn, Ben Wallace, Brian Waters, Joakim Noah

OMISSION LIST (where I'd rank them):

Derrick Thomas- #10
Kimble Anders- #21
Scott Hall- #23
Pat White- #25

I hereby declare after this last that it is indeed football season, which I will be attacking from multiple angles this year. If anybody has any ideas or suggestions for possible weekly write-ups on the Chiefs, Huskers, Big 12, NFL, or all of College Football let me know. I got a few ideas in the works already, with plans on expanding the empire to new mediums. Check back later this week for Chiefs preview action as they head into training camp, which begins Friday. I could not be more excited.

Dirkness

2009 Holiday Bowl Reaction: Nebraska-Arizona

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What Could Have Been

The biggest thought going through my head during the game, aside from the excitement of watching Nebraska put the BEATDOWN on Arizona, was a curiosity of what could have been. Nebraska was much much better than what their year end record showed. You have to look not only at the closeness of the losses this year, but the circumstances that surrounded them. O'Hanlon falls asleep and allows an 80 yard pass with under a minute left vs. Virginia Tech. They lose to Iowa St in the most Ndominant loss I've ever seen. Finally, they somehow lose to Texas after leading with no time left in the game. Texas Tech is the only game of the season that the Huskers had no business winning, and I'd still take Nebraska in that game 7 times out of 10. Obviously, this isn't how games get recorded though, so where does blame find itself?

Bo Pelini- I would say that when you lose games you should be winning, you blame coaching. Bo Pelini may have some short-term concerns, but looking at the big picture I am extremely impressed. Not only did he turn one of the worst defenses in the country(2007) into THE best(right now), but you can see dramatic improvements from them throughout the year. The Blackshirts went from a below mediocre defense to a pretty good defense in 2008. In 2009, they started out as a pretty good defense and ended as the most Ndominant in the country. The defense is so good right now that I want to line up the best offenses in the country and give them one drive to try and score a touchdown, similar to a Madden mini game. Aside from the Top 5 coaches in the country (Stoops-dropping, Saban-afraid of commitment, Meyer-afraid of life after Tebow, Carroll-overrated, Tressel-underrated), I cannot think of anyone that I'd replace Pelini with if given the opportunity.

2010- Everyone talks about how the defense next year could be even better than this year. I won't go that far, especially at the beginning of the year, but they will still be a top 20 defense in the country, even without the Man-boy named Suh. Suh even nominated the next version of himself in sophomore Jared Crick. Pair him with 5-star recruit Baker Steinkuhler and the middle of the defense is already set. Find some safeties to play and the defense looks stacked. The offense will return 10 starters and only loses center Jacob Hickman. You have to stick with the Wildman at quarterback and hope that he improves dramatically. Cody Green just hasn't shown enough to be handed the job right now. The offense should have earned back some of the trust in the bowl game that it had lost following the Iowa St game this year, and with playmakers Roy Helu, Rex Burkhead, Niles Paul, and Mike McNeill all returning, it will be much more dynamic and allowed more opportunities to score points. With a schedule where every game is very winnable, I hate to say it, but here it goes, keep an eye on Nebraska running the table next year and earning the honor of getting whooped by the best SEC team in the National Championship.

I just noticed I went the whole post without even really talking about the game that just occurred against Arizona. That was one of the most thorough beatdowns I've seen amongst two supposedly even-matched teams. Their quarterback was from Austin and received texts from his friends all week warning him about Ndamukong Suh, and I think it worked. I've never seen a quarterback so scared going into a game. Thanks Matt Jones' coked out friends. There's not much else to say except that I'd like a shot at a BCS team to see what we could do. I'll just have to take solace in the beating Colt McCoy is about to take in T-minus 5 days.

2009 Holiday Bowl Preview Nebraska vs. Arizona

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I'll start by saying that I love the matchup between Nebraska and Arizona tonight in the Extenze energy drink Holiday Bowl tonight. I've thought Arizona was underrated most of the year and had them ranked higher than any of the major polls throughout the year. I was pretty shocked to see that Arizona started as the favorite(now underdogs), expecting something more along the lines of the 73% of America that picked Nebraska to win via ESPN. Let's take a look at how I see this one playing out.

Arizona- All the talk is about two stingy defenses playing in this game, but I'm not really seeing it. They gave up the following point totals: Iowa(most similar offense to Nebraska-very basic)-27, Oregon St-32, Washington-36, Stanford-38, Oregon-44(2 overtimes at least). I don't see it. The majority of those high scores are running teams similar to Nebraska. They have a better pass defense but who knows if that will even matter much against Nebraska. Their offense is led by their 7 foot quarterback Nick Foles who resembles Matt Jones from Arkansas a few years back (minus the Coke problem hopefully). My biggest fear is running back Nic (finally someone who spells their name right) Grigsby, who is finally healthy after an injury plagued year. Quarterback and overall offense advantage-Arizona. My other biggest worry is the Stoops connection. I'm sure Mike was asking brotha Bob all kinds of questions over Christmas dinner, so lets just hope that Bobby did the honorable thing and refused to gossip.

Nebraska- My first thought is that Ndamukong Suh is under a lot of pressure going into this game. The Big XII Championship is fresh in every one's mind and all eyes will be on him tonight-including Arizona's. I expect him to be as dominant as he has been all year, but to put up paltry stats compared to his last outing. He will go down as the best defensive player in Nebraska history, if not Big XII history(can't think of anyone better), if not NCAA history(too hard to judge).

My next thought is how big a game this is for "The Wildman" Zac Lee. We know he will be amped up for the game for better or worse, lets just hope he hits his peak in the 4th quarter. I think the Wildman is playing for his job going into next year. If he struggles like he did in the Big XII Championship, I think the Cody Green era starts in the first game next year. However, Nebraska has a chance to compete at a very high level next year and might not want to go through the growing pains of a first year starting quarterback. That's why I think if he can play well in this game then he will go into next year as the starter. Green is supposed to see some action tonight as well, but has been unimpressive so far, otherwise the job would probably already be his.

Prediction- I feel very confident about Nebraska winning this game. I think they boast the best defense in the country, and I don't think Arizona will be able to score much unless Grigsby is able to regain his form to the tune of over 300 yards in the first two games this year. I envision Nebraska shutting down the run and then pressuring Matt Jones Lite, who is pretty immobile from what I hear on the streets. I think Zac Lee plays well throwing mostly from playaction along with Helu cracking the 100 yard barrier, and Sexy Rex Burkhead chipping in for 50 yards. Nebraska should be extra motivated after getting screwed against Texas, and I think they take it out on the pretty boys from Arizona.

Nebraska 24, Arizona 9

2009 Heisman Trophy

My Heisman Ballot:
1. Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska
2. Toby Gerhart, RB, Stanford
3. C.J. Spiller, RB, Clemson
4. Tim Tebow, QB, Florida
5. Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama


Predicted Heisman Finish:
1. Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama
2. Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska
3. Toby Gerhart, RB, Stanford
4. Colt McCoy, QB, Texas
5. Tim Tebow, QB, Florida

College Football Championship Weekend

Nebraska-Texas: First off, I'm a huge fan of Nebraska, so this write-up will most likely be very biased. Texas is obviously the better team so Nebraska will need to follow the mold on how to upset a superior team. I believe the necessary ingredients for a upset go like this (I'm avoiding obvious keys such as turnovers, which is big in every game):

1. Get off to a fast start - An early deficit can be daunting for an inferior team to overcome. It's paramount to not be down by more than one score by first quarter's end, and scoring first would increase chances greatly.

2. Red Zone conversions - Taking full advantage of opportunities means holding the other team to field goals instead of touchdowns while doing the opposite yourself. The superior team will most likely have more opportunities, so the inferior must get more out of their's.

3. Rattle their quarterback - The superior team will most likely win if they play up to their standards, so you must find a way to force them out of their rhythm. The easiest way I know of doing that is to hit their quarterback early and often. Think New York Giants over the Patriots in the Super Bowl.

Biggest hope for Nebraska: They will be able to run the ball. Their offense will fail miserably if they cannot run and setup the pass through playaction, the strategy used successfully over the 5 game winning streak. It will be tough against the Big XII's best run defense.

Biggest fear for Nebraska: Colt McCoy running the ball. If Nebraska is to run their stubborn defense play after play, McCoy will run all over them because of a lack of accountance for the quarterback scrambling.

Prediction: I mentioned Nebraska's stubborn defense - think Baltimore Ravens of 2000. They prefer to beat you with the same look on defense and dare you to beat it. They will have to mix things up and bring blitzes from all angles to try and confuse him. Look for a lot of blitzing from the corners. If Nebraska remains stubborn I think Colt will be able to pick them apart. I think Nebraska might need a score out of their defense or special teams to keep up with the scoring of the Longhorns in this one. Unfortunately, I think Texas has too much talent and too much focus (because of last year) for Nebraska to pull off the upset.

Texas 26, Nebraska 14


Florida-Alabama: All year i have believed Bama to be the better team, but have had doubts creep in due to their close games in the last third of the season. I have now become convinced that this will indeed help Alabama in this game. Florida has only had one really close game this year, against Arkansas, a mediocre team and at home. Alabama has had to scrap for victories against Virginia Tech (neutral), Tennessee, LSU (road), and Auburn (road). Therefore, I give the battletested edge to Bama. I expect Alabama's gameplan to revolve completely around physicality. I think they try to wear them down on offense by pounding the ball, and on defense by hitting anybody in site, including Jesus himself. This gives them their best shot. I expect Florida to continue its strategy of just picking up four yards every play, wooing the defense to sleep, and then hitting them with the big play. I think Bama is up for the challenge. I'm more confident in the unders (41) than either team winning.

Alabama 13, Florida 9


Go Big Red,
His dirkness