Sunday Fundays are BACK

Sunday Night Football was capped by Von Miller
sending a shout out to an ex teammate  with a "Tebow"

If you didn't know, yesterday was a unofficial, "official national holiday".

That can only mean one thing, the NFL season has begun! No disrespect to the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys who played on Wednesday night, with the Boys pulling off the upset on the champs 24-17, but the season REALLY kicks off on a Sunday with a slew of games.

If you weren't at a stadium tailgating, grillin, pounding some brewskis with your friends, then you were probably doing just that at some bar or house.

There's just something about Sundays and Football.

Not to mention if you have the NFL RedZone channel, you're in FOOTBALL HEAVEN. Fantasy Football Heaven that is!

Tim who? Peyton Manning reminded everyone in Denver
 what a real quarterback looks like.

The most anticipated start of this young season took place last night in Denver.

Peyton Manning showed everyone, including the team that cut him, the Indianapolis Colts, he still had something left in the tank. The 36 year old Manning didn't look like a player that missed all of last season, in fact he looked like he hadn't missed a beat. Manning went 19 of 26, 253 yards and 2 touchdowns in win against one of the leagues best defenses. Manning's Broncos beat the Steelers 31-19, capped off by Tracy Porter's 43 yard, pick six of Ben Roethlesberger. Must have been nice for Manning to have Porter on his side on this pick six.

Manning recorded his 400th and 401st touchdowns of his career in the game. He becomes only the third quarterback in NFL history to join the 400 touchdown club, joining the likes of Dan Marino and Brett Favre.

The humble Manning even said in the post-game interview that he doesn't even think he belongs with such greats of the game.

Trust me Peyton when I say this and I'm sure anyone with even a little bit of football knowledge can attest to. 

YOU BELONG IN THAT SENTENCE.

David Akers, shocked that he was able to kick a
NFL record tying field goal of 63 yards

On paper it was pegged as the game of the day.

The San Francisco 49ers came to Lambeau Field to take on the Green Bay Packers with an upset in mind.

The 49ers showed the NFL world that last year was no fluke. They harassed Aaron Rodgers and the rest of the Packers with their relentless defense. Rodgers looked like he had some rust and never played up to his MVP-caliber self. His team took the defeat at the hands of the 49ers, 30-22, snapping a 15 game regular season home winning streak. But if you count the post season, that now 2 losses in a row for the Pack 

Alex Smith looked as if HE was the MVP of the league last year, completing 77% of his passes, throwing 2 touchdowns and had a 125.6 quarterback rating. There was also a Randy Moss sighting, with the veteran receiver catching his first touchdown in almost 2 years. With their defense picking up right where they left off, a lot of new weapons on offense and Smith finally becoming the quarterback he was suppose to be after being drafted first overall in 2005, this team looks poised to get back to the NFC title game and then some.

RGIII celebrating his 1st career touchdown pass in the NFL

There was 5 quarterbacks that started in the NFL yesterday. By far the most ever since the merger. They all came up on the losing sided, except one.

Robert Griffin the 3rd, or as the kids like to call him, RGIII.

In the most unlikely of outcomes, RGIII led his Washington Redskins to a 40-32 victory over the emotional New Orleans Saints in THEIR house. 

RGIII was sensational for the Skins. He completed 73% of his passes for 320 yards, 2 TD's, ZERO picks and amassed a QB rating of 140! That stat line is the first of its kind for a rookie starting his first game. And you thought it couldn't get better than Cam Newton in years opener.

The Saints on the other hand looked like a team missing their Super Bowl winning head coach. 

Drew Brees ended up with his yards and TD's but he finished with a QB rating close to 71 and two 4th quarter INT's. The loss was the first at home for the Saints since the 2010 finale.

Andre Johnson doing what he and the Houston Texans do best:
ABUSE THE MIAMI DOLPHINS. 

As for my 2 Super Bowl favorites, the Houston Texans improved to a lifetime record against the Miami Dolphins of 7-0 after crushing them 30-10. Arian Foster and Andre Johnson had their usual great days at the office.

The Philadelphia Eagles on the other hand needed a late TD from Michael Vick to beat the upset-minded Cleveland Browns 17-16. Luckily for all fantasy owners that drafted Vick, including myself in 2 leagues, he ended up staying HEALTHY.

Michael Vick was picked off 4 times, but kept his cool in
 leading the Eagles back to a win over the Browns

Here's the rest of yesterdays Week 1's scores:

Chicago Bears beat the Indianapolis Colts 41-21 ruining Andrew Lucks debut.

Detroit Lions came back to beat the St. Louis Rams 27-23 to avoid the upset.

Minnesota Vikings won in OT against the Jacksonville Jaguars 26-23 with the help of a healthy Adrian Peterson.

Atlanta Falcons cruised past the Kansas City Chiefs 40-24 behind a monster game from Matt Ryan.

New York Jets crushed the Buffalo Bills 48-28 and woke up their offense in the process.

New England Patriots beat down the Tennessee Titans 34-13 in a workman effort from Tom Brady and the rest of the Pats.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers slowed down the Carolina Panthers and Cam Newton for a 16-10 win.

Arizona Cardinals won a close one 20-16 against the Russel Wilson led Seattle Seahawks.


Monday Night Football double header:

Cincinnati Bengals at the Baltimore Ravens

San Diego Chargers at the Oakland Raiders

NFL Preview & Predictions

The New York Giants start the defense of their title
tonight against the Dallas Cowboys

The Grizz is BACK!!

It's been two & half months since my last post. You remember that one right? MIAMI HEAT WORLD CHAMPS. Just in case you guys forgot, doubt that you would OR could. Then it was off to hibernation for this grizzly bear. Most bears usually hibernate during the cold, long winters. Summer baseball does the trick for me. But alas, fall is almost here and the smell of pigskin is in the air.

FOOTBALL has returned!!!

If Ryan Tannehill can score ON the field as good as he does OFF it,
the Dolphins might have just found their franchise QB

***DISCLAIMER***  I'm a Miami Dolphins fan

Before I get into what I think will happen this year in the NFL, I must talk about my team. My Dolphins. 

Where do I start???

A first time head coach. Trading away a former first round corner. Releasing a once great receiver who's turned in to a caricature of himself. A locker room split on said receiver getting cut. A general manger who is on the hot seat, especially with the die hard fans in the 305. The whole country watching this fiasco on HBO's Hard Knocks.

All decent starting points, but I'll go with the obvious one to me. Ryan Tannehill. 

This organization has had 16 quarterbacks start at least one game in the 13 years since Dan Marino retired. Let that marinate for a second. 16 quarterbacks! That is just pathetic. So the Dolphins drafted Ryan Tannehill with the number 8 pick in this years draft to try and change that stat. The only positive in this scenario as of right now is that Marino and Bob Griese were the only other quarterbacks selected by the Dolphins in the first round and they had HOF careers. Not going to make that stretch with Tannehill, but if his decision making is as good calling plays as it is with the selection of his wife, we're off to a good start in his young career.

Seriously though I wanna see what the new coach has planned out for this terrible offense. Joe Philbin is suppose to be one of the gurus behind Aaron Rodger and Green Bay's prolific offense. With the lack of talent, beside Reggie Bush, I don't see how this team is going to win consistently this year. The offensive line is sub-par, the receivers are probably the worst in the league and you got a rookie under center. Oh and you start your season on the road against the Houston Texans. Good Luck.

Peyton Manning makes his return Sunday night
 at home against the Pittsburgh Steelers

The biggest story of this off season was Peyton Manning being released by the Indianapolis Colts and then signing with the Denver Broncos. Which subsequently Mr. Tim Tebow was traded to the New York Jets. I'll get into that next. 

The Broncos are betting heavily on a healthy Manning to come back to his 4 time MVP form. I think if he's at 80% of that, it's still good enough for a division win and long playoff run. He has more talent on offense than he did the last couple of years in Indy. With Von Miler and the rest of that solid defense, Manning has a chance to come back better than ever.

Tim Tebow & Mark Sanchez. The circus is in town.

Now on to the show that is the New York Jets. What a band of misfits. Darrelle Revis is the only guy you take off that team without blinking an eye. You can have the rest thank you very much. The fact that I can't stand the Jets because my allegiance to the Dolphins doesn't change how I feel about this team. It could be the Minnesota Vikings and I would still kill them. But since it is the Jets, it will be even sweeter(insert happy face). 

The hype that Tebow gets is amazing to me. To think ESPN had people camped out for a week to follow the dynamic of these two quarterbacks when they opened up training camp. You got the defending SuperBowl champs raining from the same city and they go completely under the radar because of the Tebow. It's laughable to me. I have a whole lot I got to say about him but i'll leave that for down the road in another post.

The best of all is Rex Ryan. This guy is a class act. I do like him as a defensive minded coach and he has excellent schemes but dude SHUT UP. Just yesterday he's speech about being a great coach and going on to coach another ten plus years, it gets old and FAST. If you keep having 8-8 seasons and your team unravels at the end of them, you can take the zero off that ten and you can do the math.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=8339524

Who's going to be playing here in Super Bowl 47?

My predictions for the season:

AFC EAST                                          NFC EAST

New England Patriots   13-3          Philadelphia Eagles         11-5

Buffalo Bills                  9-7          New York Giants            10-6

Miami Dolphins            6-10          Dallas Cowboys              7-9

New York Jets            5-11          Washington Redskins       6-10

AFC NORTH                                     NFC NORTH

Pittsburgh Steelers      12-4          Green Bay Packers         12-4

Cincinnati Bengals       11-5          Chicago Bears                10-6

Baltimore Ravens        8-8            Detroit Lions                   8-8

Cleveland Browns        5-11           Minnesota Vikings           2-14

AFC SOUTH                                     NFC SOUTH

Houston Texans          12-4          New Orleans Saints         11-5

Tennessee Titans          9-7         Carolina Panthers             9-7

Indianapolis Colts        6-10          Atlanta Falcons              8-8

Jacksonville Jaguars     3-13         Tampa Bay Buccaneers    2-14

AFC WEST                                       NFC WEST

Denver Broncos          10-6         San Francisco 49ers         11-5

San Diego Chargers     9-7          Seattle Seahawks              10-6

Oakland Raiders          8-8          Arizona Cardinals              5-11

Kansas City Chiefs      4-12         St. Louis Rams                 4-12

PLAYOFFS

WILD CARDS

Texans over Bills

Bengals over Broncos 

49ers over Giants

Saints over Bears

DIVISIONAL

Texans over Steelers

Patriots over Bengals
Eagles over 49ers
Packers over Saints


AFC CHAMPIONSHIP

Texans over Patriots


NFC CHAMPIONSHIP

Eagles over Packers


SUPERBOWL XLVII

Eagles over Texans