Offseason Almost Over

As many of us take a look out the window we see conditions outside that could make us think that nicer weather will never come. However, for some of us this is a sign that racing season is just around the corner. In fact it has never really ended for some people with indoor races and races contested in Australia and New Zealand, where it is currently summer.
I was lucky enough to attend the Chili Bowl Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma for the second year in a row. For those of you who love racing ,and midget racing in particular, the Chili Bowl is truly a sight to behold as they are able to have a trade show, room for about 290 cars, a quarter-mile dirt track, AND about 15,000 seats under the big roof at the Tulsa Expo Center! It is absolutely a must see event in the world of racing. I was in attendance for the last three nights of the five-night affair and saw Tony Stewart Racing's Tracy Hines take Thursday night action and 2008 USAC Sprint and Silver Crown champion Jerry Coons Jr. was the Friday night winner. After a long day of racing on Saturday afternoon and evening, Sammy Swindell ,in a radical looking car, took his fifth Chili Bowl A-Main in the 23rd running of the event.

Sammy Swindell (1) passes Tracy Hines on the way to victory at the Chili Bowl (photo by Sean Mizell)

It has been a Winter of Discontent for many in North Carolina as the economy has hit NASCAR teams hard. Layoffs have been the common theme down south and no team has been safe from them as even the big teams like Hendrick Motorsports have had to make cuts. The economy has also caused some teams like Bill Davis Racing look like they won't be able to answer the Sprint Cup bell. Now new teams are beginning to pop up like Tommy Baldwin Racing, Nemco Motorsports, and a team spearheaded by former driver and current announcer Phil Parsons in an attempt to fill the fields that could potentially be short this season.
Many questions will be answered next week when things kick off at Daytona International Speedway a week from Saturday night with the Budweiser Shootout. Be sure to check in next week for a preview of the goings on in Florida!

Divisional Week

Russ here with your NFL Recap. And then there were 4. Arizona is proving they belong. In my last blog I stated that turnovers will kill your chances in the playoffs. Carolina proves that. The Panthers allowed 6 turnovers. All can be credited to Jake Delhomme with 5 interceptions and a fumble that accounted to 23 of Arizona's points in their 33-13 win. Kurt Warner had two touch downs in the air connecting to Larry Fitzgerald and Tim Hightower. Hightower led the Cards in rushing with 76 yards on 14 carries with Edgerin James rolling for 57 yards on 20 carries and a touchdown. Neil Rackers managed to make 4 field goals to destroy Carolina. The panthers never got off the ground people scoring the first and last touchdowns in the game. With only 20 minutes of time of possession and only converting 2 third downs the panthers had no chance. 

The other game was set up to be a must see event. The Giants and Eagles didn't disappoint. It was a tale of two quarterbacks with Eli Manning and Donovan McNabb. Numerous opportunites were wasted on New York with the howling wind factoring into Eli's throws as he missed a couple of wide open receivers that could have easily scored. McNabb took matters into his own hands by even rushing for a touchdown. He would later hook up with Brent Celek for a 1 yard touchdown pass to seal it for the Eagles.

Both teams are hot heading into the NFC championship game. Arizona is 6-2 at home with Phily struggling on the road. However this playoffs have proven that home field means nothing. The Eagles are putting away the fact that they destroyed Arizona on Thanksgiving as they believe the Cards have changed so much and they have. Time of possession will be the key for the Eagles so they can keep Kurt Warner and the Cardinals offense on the sidelines. Running back Brian Westbrook will be getting a lot of carries to help with time and to limit any potential interceptions which have been critical to Arizona's success. The Cardinals will be able to add receiver Anquan Boldin after sitting out with a hamstring injury. The Eagles defense will have the twin running back attack of Edgerin James and Tim Hightower to contain. The Cardinals running game will open up their passing game. The Eagles will have to pressure Warner all game, the same goes to the Cards and McNabb. Truly this game will be Arizona's offense vs The Eagles defense.

Over in the AFC Baltimore, Tennessee was as good as I thought it would be. Immovable objects meet early early this year with Tennessee walking away the victor. Both teams swapped touchdowns early with Chris Johnson scampering on a 8 yard touchdown run while Baltimore answered late in the first with a Joe Flacco 48 yard bomb to Derrick Mason. From there it was all about defense as expected. Tennessee shot themselves in the foot turning the ball over 3 times in Ravens territory killing long drives. Matt Stover started off the 4th with a field goal to put Baltimore ahead. Rob Bironas of Tennessee answered with 4:26 left. Baltimore's Matt Stover kicked a 43 yard field goal to win the game. Flacco became the first rookie to win two playoff games with his game managing.

The Chargers simply were out gunned by the Pittsburgh offense. Philip Rivers out threw Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger by almost 200 yards but the Steelers had Willie Parker rushing for 142 yards with two touchdowns. The Steelers now face the Ravens for the third time this year. Much like the Titans Ravens game this will be a low scoring affair with both defenses trying to score. The Steelers will capitalize with their offense as they have more weapons. Ravens are going to pressure Roethliessberger all day to have any success at take away's. 

My  predictions are The Eagles over the Cardinals and Steelers over Ravens

Image courtesy of Kevin C. Cox

Wild Card Week

Russ here with your recap of the Wild Card weekend. 

After just barely getting into the playoffs the Chargers weren't expected to deliver much. Playing like a team with nothing to lose the Chargers managed to pull out a win in Overtime. The Bolts can hang their win on the play of Darren Sproles. In a story fitting a playoff game, the Chargers had to do without one of their marque players in Ladainian Tomlinison. The lingering injury sidelined the running back at about half way in the third leaving only 5 carries for 25 yards and a touchdown. Sproles was unstoppable. Rushing for 105 yards on 22 carries for 2 touchdowns including the game winner in OT. Not only did he hurt them running the ball but also returning the ball for 178 yards on punts and kick offs. The Colts entered the game on a 9 win streak but couldn't answer with a run game of their own. Joseph Addai and Dominic Rhodes combined for just 56 yards. Thus the offense was left up to AP MVP Peyton Manning. Manning threw the ball 310 yards on 25 out of 42 passes with a touchdown to Reggie Wayne. The TD to Wayne seemed like it would lock it up for the Colts but Philip Rivers led his team down the field to allow Nate Kaeding to kick the 26 yard field goal to send it into extra. Credit could also go to Chargers punter Mike Scifres whose punts averaged 52.7 yards kept Manning pinned deep in his own territory most of the game. San Diego has won five straight and now heads on the road to Pittsburgh where they will be without Ladainian Tomlinson. 

After proving early in the season that they were a contender Baltimore hit a skid into the playoffs. The Ravens shrugged it off by easily handling the Dolphins 27-9. The story here was Defense and it was all over. Ravens safety Ed Reed made it seem like Baltimore had 13 men out on the field. The Defense forced 5 turnovers and sacked QB Chad Pennington 3 times and was in his face all day. Reed had 2 picks including one for a touchdown to put Miami in their mirror. Rookie QB Joe Flacco wasn't stellar throwing just 9 of 23 for 135 yards but made no errors. And in the playoffs error free+ capitalizing on the other guys mistakes= victory and with it he becomes only the third rookie to win his first playoff game. Like Indianapolis, Miami was plagued by poor field positioning starting their first few possessions on their 20 yard line and converted on 2 of 11 on third downs. Baltimore visits Tennessee this week in what has shaped up as the highlight of this weekend. It will be a low scoring affair to be sure as it was earlier this year. The winner is gonna be the one who can take advantage of miscues first.

I'll admit I was wrong picking against Arizona. Arizona was struggling heading into the playoffs but managed to rally in the second half. The defense picked off rookie Matt Ryan twice and limited running back Michael Turner to just 42 yards. 14 of the Cards 30 points came off of Atlanta turnovers. Arizona's win is their first home playoff victory since 1949. Back then they were still the Chicago Cardinals. It has been a fun ride but Kurt Warner and company will probably run out of steam as they visit Carolina this week.

The Eagles Vikings game was a sloppy one. Both defenses stopped the rushing attacks of each other. Truly the game could be broke up into a few plays that mattered. The key play came from Eagles running back Brian Westbrook who broke a screen pass run for a 71 yard touchdown and they never looked back. This Sunday marks the rubber match between New York and Phily who split the season a game a piece.

This week I'll pick New York to beat the Eagles

Carolina to end the story book year in Arizona

The Steelers over San Diego

And my game of the week Baltimore over the Titans

image courtesy of Jeff Gross

Season Recap

With the playoffs in full swing its always fun to look back and see how we got here. I'll go ahead and kick off my season recap with my first award to Best up and coming team. 

Runner up Tampa Bay- The Bucs just missed the playoffs and held a respectable 9-7 record. However they lost all 4 games in the month of December and allowed the Falcons to sweep in to the wild card. Yet the Bucs started the season 6-3 by the bye week and included a 27-3 romp over eventual number 2 seed Carolina. Really what didn't help the Bucs was nagging injuries all year to QBs and both Starting running backs. Tampa Bay will be force next year I predict a playoff appearance for them.

Runner up- New England. Heading into this season New England fans couldn't realistically expected another perfect season. However the gasps filled Gillette stadium once the crowd saw future hall of famer Tom Brady on the ground clutching his knee. Immediately it became a question of what now. Matt Cassel showed the potential that this team has with out Brady. Just missing the playoffs despite winning their last 4. I predict them to win the division next year.

Winner- New Orleans finished 8-8 and did so without Reggie Bush most of the season. Drew Brees showed his stuff and won himself the offensive player of the year award. Factor in the Saints were the most scoring offense in the league and led in most total yards. The only hang up with them is their defense and they'll be shopping for a new coordinator soon. 

Where did they go?- Teams that got off to a great start but disappeared in the end

Runner up- Washington- Redskins started 6-3 by week 10 and were poised to challenge New York but an injury to top running back Clinton Portis really hurt the Redskins down the stretch.

Runner up- Tampa Bay just like Washington it looked as though the Bucs were a sure thing for January. But being bit by the injury bug limited their offense.

Winner- Buffalo- The Bills had their best start in over ten years winning their first 6 games. The Bills were turning as much heads as the Titans early on but going winless in the division killed them.

Most Disappointing team- Teams with the great seasons last year that couldn't repeat the same result this year.

Runner up- Jacksonville-Last year The Jags won a playoff game and gave the Patriots a good game in the next post season game. This year they went 5-11 and looked nothing like last years team. 

Runner up- Green Bay- Following Brett Favre is a hard act but he took the team to the NFC championship last season and the Pack followed it up with a 6 win season this year. 

Winner Dallas- This was the Cowboys year to make it back to the super bowl. After a decent finish last year they were poised as the favorite for the NFC to win. But internal bickering and injuries turned Americas team into a mediocre 9-7 team.

My MVP- Adrian Peterson. All Day had a great year. He rushed for over 1700 yards and had averaged 4.8 yards per carry. Without a decent passing game Peterson helped carried the Vikings into the postseason.

My Rookie of the year- Matt Ryan. In a town that first went threw Michael Vick last year. Then in the middle of the night their coach splits for Arkansas U after promising to stay. Matt Ryan seemed like he came from above. He actually came from Boston College. Ryan helped the town get over all of their trouble with Vick and their runaway coach. Sure Joe Flacco has had similar success but Matt Ryan had to start with nothing.

My Coach of the year- Dolphins coach Tony Sparano. It would be easy to factor in Jeff Fisher for taking his team undefeated for half a season but his team stumbled a bit in the end. Atlanta coach Mike Smith inherited a mess in Atlanta and brought them to the post season but Sparano took a team that had only 1 win last season to the division title. 

Image courtesy of Donald Miralle 

Week 17 Final Week

Happy New Year and here's your final week recap. What was supposed to be an epic end of the season game turned into a one sided affair. Despite Jay Cutler out throwing San Diego QB Philip Rivers by over hundred yards, the Chargers out scored Denver 52-21. San Diego was an offensive machine scoring on 6 of their first 7 drives and only punting once, with 57 seconds left in the third. The story of the game was Ladamian Tomlinson. LT had 3 touchdowns on 14 carries for 96 yards. A total of 3 Chargers rushers had touchdowns totaling 5 on the ground. Rivers connected with Tight End Brandon Manumaleuna and running back Darren Sproles for touch downs. The result is a few firsts; The Chargers become the first team to make the playoffs with an 8-8 record since the 1985 Browns, Denver becomes the first team since division play began in 67 to blow a 3 game lead with 3 weeks left in the season. And as a result coach Mike Shanahan got the ax. San Diego won the division which means they will host the Colts tomorrow night and LT might not be there. Tomlinson suffered a strained abdominal during the game and is questionable. The Chargers fought hard and Denver's blundering allowed them to turn around an almost disastrous season but it will probably end against Indy.

As impressive Matt Cassel has been he still is not Tom Brady. For the first time in 5 consecutive seasons the Patriots will miss the playoffs. It was a windy game that saw the goal post actually get blown off into an angle prompting an in game adjustment. The Pats have won 16 of their last 17 against Buffalo including the past 11 straight games but it wasn't enough to reach postseason. New England needed either a loss from Baltimore or Miami and a win to reach the playoffs but the Ravens and Dolphins both were victorious. Miami clinches the division creating the greatest one year turn around in what I think is ever. Last year they had just one win! Now they host Baltimore who stumbled into the playoffs after seemingly challenging Pittsburgh for their division. 

In the NFC Drama filled Dallas may finally have some relief to their problems. Dallas missed the playoffs in dismal fashion by being destroyed by the Eagles 44-6. The Eagles forced 5 Dallas turnovers and scored back to back on two of them. All of the turnovers led to Philadelphia points. The Eagles make an unexpected rally to the playoffs thanks in part to Houston beating Chicago, and Oakland upsetting Tampa Bay. Tampa missing the playoffs is a bit of a disappointment as they were considered a preseason favorite. Chicago on the other hand over achieved since they were predicted to be a 5 win team and in the end won 9 games. The Eagles will visit Minnesota on Sunday. 

Many question if Arizona deserved their playoff spot. They've won only two of their last 5 games and all their losses were seemingly blowouts. There is even a threat to black out the home TV market from their first home playoff game in 60 years.

For my last regular season picks I went 1-3 making my grand total 25-27

My playoff picks will be Atlanta over the Cardinals

The Ravens over Miami

The Colts over San Diego

And The Vikings over the Eagles 

Check back as I'll have a year in review along with my awards

photo courtesy of Jeff Gross