Thursday, August 28, 2014

Tennessee Titans


2013 Season: 7-9

Tennessee Titans
  The Titans finished 2nd in a weak AFC South Division.  First round draft pick QB Jake Locker has started only 18 games entering his 4th season.  Was put on injured reserved week 7 of the season then entered Ryan Fitzpatrick.  Chris Johnson had a hard time keeping adjusted to not having a consistent play at QB and even more questions at the wide receiver position.  Nate Washington caught 58 passes for 919 yards but not enough to be a frequent target for either QB.  Defensively they were 10th in stopping the pass at 225 yards per game.  Played mediocre at best against the run allowing the 3rd most rushing touchdowns in the league with 21.  Bernard Pollard in his 1st season with the Titans had 99 tackles 3 interceptions stepped in to make an impression with the absence of Michael Griffin for most of the season.

Key Additions:  Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt, RT Michael Oher, RB Dexter McCluster, LB Shaun Phillips 

Key Losses:  Chris Johnson, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Kenny Britt

Fantasy Players to Watch:  TE Delanie Walker, RB Dexter McCluster

2014 Season Outlook:  Coming into the season with a new head coach and a QB fresh off a season ending surgery, I don't really expect a whole lot.  Bringing over Shaun Phillips from Denver in his 11th season 79.5 career sacks will help this defense with stopping the run better.  Michael Griffin and Bernard Pollard in the secondary if healthy can be a tough team to pass on.  When it's all said and done it depends once again on the health of Jake Locker.  He has yet to prove to be improving because he stays injured.  Delanie Walker had an immediate impact last season with career highs with 60 catches 571 yards and 6 td's.  He will need to bring that again this season.  They bring in RT Michael Oher from Baltimore to beef up protection and experience alongside LT Michael Roos entering his 10th season.  Losing Chris Johnson will be a blow as they look to have Shonn Greene be the feature back.  Bringing in Dexter McCluster gives them a weapon for Special teams.  He had a league best 686 punt return yards with the Chiefs last season.  In Whisenhunt's first season might be difficult and if Locker doesn't succeed the team will spiral to a 4-12 record.

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Detroit Lions


2013 Season:  7-9

Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions were 1-7 in the 2nd half of the season.  They had the upper hand in the NFC North division for much of the season but then hit a downward spiral.  They have the best Wide Receiver in the game in Calvin Johnson who was 3rd in receiving yards.  He had a great season with 84 catches, 1,492 yards 12 td's, and averaged 17.8 yards per catch.  Matthew Stafford who was 3rd in the league in passing yards with 4,650 yards threw 19 interceptions 29 touchdowns.  Reggie Bush's first year with the team turned out to be a great fit for the team.  Bush ran for 1,006 yards 4 td's and 54 catches out the backfield.  Joique Bell was a good spell back for Bush getting 8 rushing td's.  The offensive line allowed the 2nd fewest sacks with 23.  The offense kept the team in some games and lost some.  
The 16th ranked defense played mediocre and undisciplined which was the reason in my mind along with poor coaching decisions during games, is why they didn't make the playoffs.  They were 31st in the league in total tackles.  Suh ended with 5.5 sacks 49 tackles and a lot of penalties.  Deandre Levy lead the team with 6 interceptions while Stephen Tulloch lead the team in tackles with 135, 8th in the league.
Key Additions:  WR Golden Tate, Head Coach Jim Caldwell

Fantasy Players to Watch:  WR Calvin Johnson, QB Matthew Stafford, RB Reggie Bush, RB Joique Bell, WR Golden Tate

2014 Season Outlook:  This can be a sneaky team this season.  They were in a position to make a statement last season but couldn't capitalize.  Bringing in Jim Caldwell to call the shots and adding Super Bowl winner Golden Tate who had 898 yards off 64 catches on last season enters his 5th season partnering with Megatron.  Matthew Stafford shows blurs of eliteness but falls short.  He will have a good front line. The offense returns the 2nd fewest sacks allowed offensive line featuring Dominic Raiola, who has only missed 4 starts since 2002 teams his experience with LG Rob Sims.  This offense will be explosive.  Reggie Bush if stays healthy will be a perfect fit for Caldwell's offense. 
 The defense will have to play better primarily in the secondary.  DB's Rashean Mathis and Deandre Levy will look to slow down pass happy offenses. With all the talent this team have and new coaching staff and philosophy this team will make some noise this season.  Wild card playoff team at 9-7

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Baltimore Ravens


2013 Season:  8-8

Baltimore Ravens
  The 2012 Super Bowl Champs lost a lot of talent with Ed Reed and Ray Lewis exiting the team.  Played mediocre all season but fell to 2-6 on the road.  Typically if you have a good running game, you can win some games on the road.  Super Bowl MVP QB Joe Flacco signed a huge contract in the off season and the team put him into a huge role.  He threw the ball more than he ever has with 614 passing attempts, sacked 48 times (2nd in the league), 22 int's (2nd in the league), but threw for 3,912 yards which is his most ever.  Ray Rice didn't bring it like he did the previous years to help Joe out from the backfield.  Defense was average at best.  Lardarius Webb came in with 74 tackles 22 Pass deflections.  Terrell Suggs trying to fill Ray Lewis place was tough but he came along well with 80 tackles 10 sacks.  The Ravens fail to make the playoffs which seems to be a usual the year after a team wins a Super Bowl.

Key Additions:  Steve Smith, C.J Mosley
Fantasy players to watch for:  QB Joe Flacco, WR Torrey Smith, WR Steve Smith, K Justin Tucker, BAL D/SPT
2014 Season Outlook:  The Ravens will be a good team this season.  Defensively last season 10th in stopping the run.  DT Haloti NGata at 6'4 340lbs and DE Chris Canty at 6'7 317lbs is a lot of force to have a running game on.  OLB Elvis Dumervil and ILB Daryl Smith both in their 2nd season with the team will be more comfortable with the system.  Daryl Smith ended the season with 123 tackles and 3 picks.  The front 7 will be the best in the league, drafting LB C.J Mosley.  WR Steve Smith enters his 14th season from the Carolina Panthers for all of his years grabbed 64 passes for 745 yards.  Add him to a receiving corps that stepped up and caught a lot of balls.  Torrey Smith 65 catches and 1,128 yards partnered with Marlon Brown who caught 7 td's as a rookie gives Flacco a lot to throw to.  But the off season Ray Rice gate could be a distraction.  Suspended only 2 games for an intolerable act Ray Rice leaves a gap for the running game.  That will be in question along with protecting Flacco.  They have one of the best kickers in the game in Justin Tucker who hit a 61 yarder last season hit 38/41 field goals.  Looks like they can pull off a Wild Card berth losing a first round game 10-6

Monday, August 25, 2014

Dallas Cowboys

Dallas Cowboys
2013 Season:  8-8
In Jason Garrett's 3rd and critical season, the Cowboys had the 6th most TD's scored in the league last season and dead last on defense allowing 415 yards per game.  They dueled with the Broncos and loss 51-48.  This game defined their season last year.
  Tony Romo threw for 506 yards and 5 td's, they ran 14 rushing plays for 52 yards, gave up over 400 passing yards, and 103 rushing yards.  Romo had 31:10 td to int ratio, which is not bad for him, but the defense stunk up the league. They also strayed away from the run in crucial situations for example when they played the Packers having the game all but lost then literally threw the game away instead of running out time on the clock.  They finished 5-1 in a bad division and had a chance to seal up a playoff spot with a win at home against Philly but lost 22-24.  For the 3rd year in a row they lost the last game of the season.

Key Additions:  Rolando Mcclain

Key Losses:  Demarcus Ware, Miles Austin, Sean Lee (ACL)

Fantasy Players to watch for:  Tony Romo, Dez Bryant, Demarco Murray

2014 season outlook:  Things looking really hazy down in Dallas.  Tony Romo had off season back surgery.   His health will be of uncertainty every time he steps on the field.  They went out and signed Brandon Weeden for security of some sorts.  LT Tyron Smith will play a pivotal role by protecting Romo's blind side and RT Doug Free have to be major as well.  Dez Bryant had a pretty good year with 93 catches for 1,233 yards.  After all said and done the Cowboys will need to RUN the BALL!  DeMarco Murray averaged 5.2 yards per carry, 1,121 yards, 9 TD's and 53 receptions in 14 games.  Jason Witten who has missed only 2 games since 2004 grabbed 73 receptions for 8 touchdowns will be key in being a dual threat for blocking and catching.  
Losing the best player on the defensive side doesn't seem to help their cause at all. The defense will be horrible again this season.  Losing Ware and now recently losing Sean Lee for the season spells trouble.  They will need to play lights out on offense to have a chance in this league but defense will lose a lot of games.  5-11

Sunday, August 24, 2014

NY Jets

New York Jets
2013 Season: 8-8
Last season was was deemed the Geno project for Rex Ryan and crew.  Rookie Geno Smith won the starting job from Mark Sanchez at the start of the season with a lot of uncertainty.  After waiting until the final week of preseason to name a starter, Rex Ryan put a lot of faith in his young QB and stuck with him throughout the entire season.  Geno ended up being sacked 43 times.  The team finished tied for 2nd in the AFC East and barely missed the playoffs.  When Geno played bad he played terrible, but when he was just ok the team played well. 

With a 25th ranked offense being inconsistent struggling to score points, the defense was the 3rd best against the rush allowing only 88 yards per game.  The biggest problem, Geno had no one to throw to.  Leading receiver Jeremy Kerley ended the season with only 43 receptions.  With 2,158 rushing yards Chris Ivory and Bilal Powell lead the backfield to 6th in the league for total rushing yards.  They made a name for themselves last season.  But the biggest hole to fill on this team was at receiver.  

Key Additions:  Chris Johnson, Eric Decker, Mike Vick

Key Losses:  Santonio Holmes

Fantasy Players to watch for:  Chris Johnson, Eric Decker, Jets Defense

2014 Season Outlook:  Last season was nothing short of a confidence builder for Geno.  He threw 12 td's and 21 interceptions.  Not a good ratio.  With 1,288 yards and 11 touchdowns Eric Decker will need to step his game up to be the number 1 receiver.  Adding Chris Johnson puts a lot of speed on the offensive side of the ball, look for him to have a breakout year in receptions not so much rushing.  Nick Mangold and D'Brickashw Ferguson both entering their 9th season will bring their experience and size to help protect Geno so he can read defenses better.  This season Geno enters with Mike Vick breathing down his neck for the starting job.  With added weapons around him, Geno will be a little bit better and make smarter decisions.  
   Rex Ryan keeps a good strong defense with his teams.  This linebacker combo probably one of the tops in the league this season.  David Harris and Calvin Pace lead the way.  Calvin Pace entering his 12th season had 10 sacks last season, while David Harris lead the team with 124 tackles.  Dee Milliner enters his 2nd season leading the way in the secondary.  He has already claimed to be the best Corner coming into this season, we will see.  If he is I think this team will make a run.  Out of the first 6 weeks of the season, 4 of them are home.  At this point I think they will be a 9-7 team and barely miss the playoffs again.  

Thursday, August 21, 2014

New York Giants



New York Giants
2013 Season:  7-9
  In the NFC Least division this New York team started the season very rocky but ended on a particularly high note.  The Giants started the season losing their first 6 games.  Eli struggled mightily throwing 18 td's and 27 interceptions getting sacked 39 times.  The 28th ranked offense was 3rd in the NFC east division.  Not having a decent consistent running game ending up being the biggest hurt to the team.  Victor Cruz with 998 yards 4td's partnered with Rueben Randle who had 41 catches for 6td's.  
  Defensively, Mathias Kiwanuka with 41 tackles and 6 sacks with Antrell Rolle who had 98 tackles and 6 interceptions were the anchors of the defense.  Justin Tuck with 63 tackles and 11 sacks didn't get a lot of help from Jason Pierre-Paul who was pretty much absent all last season.  Overall, if Eli would've played a little bit better, this team maybe should have been in the playoffs.  But with a new back in the backfield each week the wheels never got rolling for the Giants.

Key Additions:  Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Quintin Demps, Mario Manningham
Key Losses:  Justin Tuck

Fantasy Players to watch:  Rashad Jennings, Victor Cruz, Eli Manning
2014 Outlook:  New offensive coordinator may spell some miscommunications and confusion for the offense.  Signing running back Rashad Jennings helps things a little bit for this offense that had a bad backfield.  It will be important to keep him healthy for them to succeed.  Last season Jennings rushed for 733 yards 6td's along with 36 receptions.  Catching out of the backfield will be a good bailout so Eli can bail himself out of the sacks he may face.  LT Will Beatty and RT Justin Pugh started all 16 games last season will need to bring their experience and more to this offensive line.  Receiving corp added Mario Manningham back to the mix from the 49er's.  Eli will have the weapons and the defense will struggle.  
  Adding Quintin Demps from the Chiefs and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie from Denver gives a big helping hand to a empty defense.  MLB Jon Beason hopes to be back for the season opener, but has been facing lots of injuries in the past seasons.  I expect another struggling season for Eli and the gang.  5-11

St. Louis Rams

St. Louis Rams
2013 Season: 7-9
The Rams in the same tough division as the Super Bowl champions NFC West and QB out for the season after 7 weeks still had a chance to get into the playoffs up until the end of the season.  The 30th passing offense in the league struggled in their division going 1-5.  
They were good on defense with Robert Quinn, Jake Long, and James Laurinaitis stopping offenses.  They ranked 3rd in the league in team sacks with 53.  Robert Quinn with 19 sack was a half a sack behind the league leader. 
 The departure of Stevan Jackson left big shoes to fill, but Zac Stacy stepped up with 973 yards rushing 26 receptions.  Speedy Tavon Austin made some plays in his rookie season playing in 13 games grabbing 40 catches for 4 touchdowns. 
 The team had the 4th most penalty yards.  That and a hurt QB early in the season doesn't help your team win football games.

Key Additions:  Kenny Britt, Greg Robinson, Tre Mason
Key Losses:  Daryl Richardson

Fantasy Players to watch for:  Zac Stacy, Tavon Austin

2014 Season Outlook:  The Rams have the 3rd toughest schedule this season.  The uncertainty of Sam Bradford while being in as tough as a division as they are in makes the season outlook really cloudy.  Adding Greg Robinson from Auburn will help to keep the QB protected combining his youth with LT Jake Long's experience.  Tre Mason was my favorite RB last season in college and he joins his teammate.  The offense adds Kenny Britt to the receiving corps.  It's the defensive side of the ball that I think will be the strength of the team.  
Chris Long off one end and Robert Quinn coming off the other is a force.  MLB James Laurinaitis has started every game of his career now entering his 6th season, last season had 116 tackles.  Not to be outdone LOLB Alec Ogletree ended up with 117 tackles.  Youth in the secondary and Sam Bradford has me thinking not to highly of this team.  I think this will be a 6-10 team.