Sunday Night Football between the Arizona Cardinals and Carolina Panthers was a tough one to watch, if one was a Cardinal fan. Which I am, and still a die hard Cardinal fan. As embarrassing it was to watch my Cards get their asses handed to them by the Panthers, I still love my team. Even with the sour ending, thank you Arizona for a great season. Through thick and think, till death do us part, I’ll always bleed red.
For those of you that don’t know, I’m a huge NFL fan. I’m the guy that watches the NFL Network every day and reads the latest rumors that are going on in the NFL. Why am I talking football in the offseason? Because in the NFL there is never an off season, just a non playing season.
People may not be surprised that I love the NFL but they sure are when I tell them that I am a huge Arizona Cardinals fan. I love the Cardinals through the good and bad. For as long as I have been a fan of the Cardinals (since the advent of Tecmo Super Bowl in 1991), they have been for the most part mediocre. The Cardinals had their ups and downs and I’ll stick by their side through the good and bad no matter what.
However the ‘what’ has me curious for now with rumors of Arizona and Bruce Arians picking up Carson Palmer, who currently is an Oakland Raider. Oakland wants Palmer to take a pay cut and Palmer doesn’t want to, who is expected $13M for this season. However rumors say that Palmer doesn’t mind taking a pay cut for a team that can win. If Oakland does cut Palmer lose, Arizona may be a nice landing spot for Palmer. I’m sure that Palmer wont mind throwing the ball to Larry Fitzgerald and a rising Michael Floyd, plus Arizona has a pretty good defense. Arizona started 4-0 then had some QB issues that led them to a long losing streak. With the right guy under center, Arizona can compete in a very tough NFC West division.
Here’s a quick update on the QB situation in Arizona:
Carson Palmer doesn’t look to bad compared to what the Cardinals currently have. Palmer started more games last season (15) than what Skelton, Lindley, Hoywer, and Stanton has combined (11). Palmer was able to actually stayed healthy with a pretty good offensive line in Oakland that just allowed 27 sacks, less than half of Arizona’s 58 allowed sacks. Will Palmer be able to succeed in Arizona without any protection? Only time will tell but the offensive line of Arizona is where the attention should be going. But no, quarterbacks get all the attention whether it’s good or bad. I’m just hoping Arians and his staff will get the O-Line running on all cylinders by the time the season starts.
Lately it’s been Geno Smith and Tyler Wilson that are potential QB’s that Arizona could draft. Even Matt Scott is on Arizona’s radar as a late QB draft. Hopefully Arizona will be smart and invest in their line with this year’s draft. But until April 25th, I’ll be back watching highlights of Carson Palmer in Silver and Black and in Cincinnati, I gotta sell myself the idea that Palmer can actually succeed in the desert with a porous O-Line.
Last Sunday I went to the San Francisco’s 49er home opener against the Detroit Lions for Sunday Night Football. The energy of the stadium was great. I even though I am not a San Francisco 49er fan, I did enjoy the game and cheered on the Niners. Hanged out with friends, tail gated, eat good, drank good, my fantasy football team (s) won, Arizona beat the Patriots, and the home team won. What more can I ask for?
So here are the players that I have for my team in the league Beast Mode. I had the 11th pick out of a 12 man league which meant that I had the 2nd (14th) pick the following round and so on.
| Uncut Tip | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1. | (11) | Rob Gronkowski(NE – TE) |
| 2. | (14) | Cam Newton(Car – QB) |
| 3. | (35) | Frank Gore(SF – RB) |
| 4. | (38) | Steve Smith(Car – WR) |
| 5. | (59) | Antonio Brown(Pit – WR) |
| 6. | (62) | Stevie Johnson(Buf – WR) |
| 7. | (83) | Rashard Mendenhall(Pit – RB) |
| 8. | (86) | Beanie Wells(Ari – RB) |
| 9. | (107) | Justin Blackmon(Jac – WR) |
| 10. | (110) | Mike Williams(TB – WR) |
| 11. | (131) | LeGarrette Blount(TB – RB) |
| 12. | (134) | Ryan Williams(Ari – RB) |
| 13. | (155) | Denver(Den – DEF) |
| 14. | (158) | Michael Floyd(Ari – WR) |
| 15. | (179) | Olindo Mare(Car – K) |
In a 12 league team, you can’t really go wrong with a kicker. But I did. I messed up w/ my last pick by picking a kicker that didn’t make the cut. Now I have to pick up a kicker of the waivers… I know it’s not smart to pick players out of love, hope, loyalty, and hype but I still did by picking both Ryan Williams and Michael Floyd from Arizona. I couldn’t help that I’m a hopeless Cardinals fan.
Last season, in this same league, I had the most pts for in the league and the one of the lowest pts against in the league.
| Rank | Team | W-L-T | Pct | Pts For | Pts Against | Streak | Waiver | Moves |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *1. | YoCTowN CiCHlidS | 10-4-0 | .714 | 1534.98 | 1460.36 | L-1 | 9 | 22 |
| *2. | imma blast ya | 10-4-0 | .714 | 1528.34 | 1400.06 | W-2 | 10 | 11 |
| *3. | BRYSONS BRAWLERS | 8-6-0 | .571 | 1467.84 | 1430.44 | W-1 | 4 | 12 |
| *4. | Long Hard Johnson | 8-6-0 | .571 | 1476.78 | 1395.12 | W-2 | 5 | 22 |
| 5. | Uncut Tip | 7-7-0 | .500 | 1622.00 | 1378.52 | L-2 | 7 | 21 |
| 6. | Im On My Level | 7-7-0 | .500 | 1363.92 | 1356.34 | W-2 | 3 | 3 |
| 7. | Son’s of Anarchy | 7-7-0 | .500 | 1512.54 | 1527.42 | L-1 | 2 | 10 |
| 8. | Big D | 6-8-0 | .429 | 1312.90 | 1352.50 | W-1 | 6 | 25 |
| 9. | Sofa King Bueno | 4-10-0 | .286 | 1263.82 | 1441.88 | L-4 | 1 | 7 |
| 10. | Left Handed Jackers | 3-11-0 | .214 | 1325.04 | 1665.52 | L-4 | 8 | 13 |
But pts doesn’t mean shit in this game. Wins are the only thing that matter. In the last 2 weeks of the season my team choked leaving me out of the playoffs. As you can see, I play with an active group of competitive folks that keep this game fun. Cause it’s never fun when one person just dominates over the league with inactive members.
My final thoughts for my draft. My team looks sexy good that they can make it to the playoffs and win it all but I’m going to focus on the present and take it week by week.
Let me know what you think about my picks and if you have an open spot in your league that needs to be filled, PM me. Here’s my player profile here, not that great or bad 🙂
If you’re interested on how my competition looks, I listed the league’s draft result here.
Football is back this Sunday with the NFL Hall of Fame game where the Saints beat the Cardinals 17-10. Even though the game was just a preseason game, these games are important to the 32 NFL teams as they weed out their roster and fine tune their play books. Preaseson games are important to me because they remind me that the NFL regular season is just right around the corner! I just can’t wait for fantasy football, Sunday night games, Monday Night Football, bbq’s, tailgating, thrash talking, and big hits!!
Besides football being back on the national spotlight (I’m a huge football fan and football has never left my eyes thanks to the NFL Network), it’s Sunday which means a new episodes of Breaking Bad!
With Game of Thrones ending their season weeks ago, I am excited to have the final season of Breaking Bad on AMC. I can’t wait to get home and see what Jessie and Walt are into.
And if any of you are looking for a good show to watch, check out Newsroom on HBO. Newsroom is about a news anchor that has decided to do the news right by reporting legitimate news, not lying, having reputable guest, and staying away from pop news segments. Newsroom also premieres new episodes on Sundays but if you have HBO Go, you can catch up on episodes you miss anytime. If not you can find Newsroom and almost any show on ch131.so but you did not get that information from me.
Happy Sunday and have a wonderful night.
I am shocked that the Arizona Cardinals were able to pick up Michael Floyd (Pick 13) in this years NFL Draft. What an amazing pick up and great addition to the team! I thought that Arizona was going to end up with Melvin Ingram (Pick 18) to help with the defense. Or that Arizona would had bolstered up their O-Line with a pick up of Riley Reiff (Pick 23) or David DeCastro (Pick 24). But instead Arizona took the advice of Larry Fitzgerald and picked up a weapon, Floyd.
With Floyd, both he and Fitzgerald will be able to stretch the field and at least help take some attention away from Fitzgerald. Floyd will also free up defenders from Early Doucet (669.8 yds, 5 TD), allowing him to make big time plays. As for Andre Roberts, his future is unknown. Arizona may have as many as 5 receivers on their team or they may trade Roberts for a low draft next year or for a veteran tackle/guard that is past their prime.
I am so stoked that Floyd will be a part of the Arizona organization. Arizona had a lot of close games that they just couldn’t close out last season. They also have a decent list of opponents for this year. I am predicting, with great possibility, that Arizona will be making it into the post season and their chances for the Super Bowl looks probable.
Watch out Niners, the Cardinals are back to take the NFC West Title!
Remaining Picks: 3-80, 4-112, 5-151, 6-177, 6-185, 7-221
Today Peyton Manning is officially a Denver Bronco. Yes many knew of the news yesterday but the announcement made today made it official. Manning watch is over and now the future NFL Hall of Famer will start a new chapter in the Mile High Stadium. There are still questions that need to be answered in Denver but as well as around in the NFL.
WWTP (Where Will Tebow Play) was trending for a second as the Tim Tebow nation pondered the question. What will happen to Alex Smith and the 49ers since they failed to court Manning? Who will control the AFC East now that Manning is the go to guy in Denver? Who else from the Colts are coming to Denver?
There is still a lot of free agency talks and rumors going around the nation. Plus we have the highly anticipated NFL draft next month. Then OTA’s, preseason, then finally the NFL regular season. I just love the NFL talk year round!
But let’s put the NFL talk on pause because last night an NBA legend and Hall of Famer, Chris Mullin #17, had his jersey retired in Oakland. The Warriors organization did a great job honoring Mullin by creating #17 signs for fans to hold up, gave away Chris Mullin bobble head dolls, and dedicated almost half an hour half time ceremony to honor Mullin.
The ceremony was going great until the end when Warriors owner Joe Lacob took the mic to adress the crowd. Once Lacob had the mic the Warrior fans let him know their displeasure on how he has handled the organization with a roar of boos. There are sport analysts that say that the Warriors fans did a disservice to Mullin by tainting his ceremony with boos, even though they were not directed at him. Some analyst argue that last night was the only time that fans could express themselves how they felt about Lacob.
I’m going to have to agree with the beforehand than the later. The way the Warrior fans acted last night was just classless and Mullin did not deserved to hear the boos even though they were not directed at him. The fans should be ashamed for booing while wearing blue and yellow at a time when honoring one of their own.
Closing notes: the Arizona Cardinals locked down their #2 receiver, Early Doucet, with a 2 year contract. And we’ll see if the Niners can close their 3yr $24M contract with Alex Smith tonight.
So… Dwight Howard is staying in Orlando but did not sign an extension which leaves many people what will the Magic organization and Howard do when the season ends. Until then Howard is “loyal” to the Magic.
The clutch man, Derek Fisher, is gone from the Lakers and onto Houston where he will end his season as a Rocket. Growing up in the SF Bay Area, I’m not a huge LA Laker fan, especially since there are a ton of Laker fans up here in the Bay. However watching a number of NBA Playoffs throughout the years, you could almost always guarantee that you would at least see one Lakers game every season. I remember watching Fisher just come through when ever needed in a playoff game. It was uncanny seeing Fisher make shot after shot to keep the Lakers in the games when needed. Then the famous 0.4 Buzzer Beater by Fisher to beat the Spurs in Game 5 in San Antonio. Wow. What fond memories of watching the Lakers play, and I’m far from a Laker fan.
Last thing that I’d like to mention that happened in the NBA is that the Warriors traded Stephen Jackson just after a day receiving him in a trade from Milwaukee. Yesterday the Bucs gave the Warriors Andrew Bogut and Jackson for Monta Ellis and now the Warriors are sending Jackson packing to the San Antonie Spurs for Richard Jefferson and a conditional first draft. This is great news for Warrior fans! We are finally building towards the future!
From the Ellis trade the Warriors cleared some cap room, finally have a center (once Bogut is healthy), and playing time to the rookies. With the Jackson trade the Warriors got a decent small forward with Jefferson and a conditional first round draft. Even though the first round draft pick will be low, this year draft line up is deep so the Warriors should still get a great player out of the draft. Also the Warriors purchased a second round pick from Atlanta. The future is looking bright in the Golden State!
Not a lot of big news in the NFL today, many folks are still on the Manning Watch. However there is a lot of noise going down in the desert. Tomorrow the Arizona Cardinals organization, who courted Peyton Manning on Sunday, needs to find out what to do with Kevin Kolb before 1PM when the dead line hits for his roster bonus. This is a tough choice for the Cardinals because Manning hasn’t made a decision on where he is going to play next season. Do the Cardinals want to keep 3 QB’s and have to pay Kolb his bonus ($7M) while he sits on the bench? Or let Kolb go and hope that Manning rolls the dice with the Cardinals? Or not have either Kolb or Manning and have John Skelton as the starting QB in Arizona?
As an Arizona Cardinal fan these are tough times in the dessert and I believe that the Cardinals need to play it safe by keeping Kolb. Hopefully Kolb can stay healthy next season and have a break out season. And if Manning does decide to sign with the Cardinals, both Kolb and Skelton can learn from Manning. To me that would be a win win situation.
johnydecali 