ILL looks at the #NFL Conference Championship

Posted on January 15, 2013 by ILL_McKenzie

So I went 1-3 last week, but each match up I was wrong about except one came down to a last min score. So this week the match ups go as follows

Atlanta Falcons vs San Francisco 49ers

Baltimore Ravens vs New England Patriots

At the start of the season I said that the 49ers would make the NFC championship, and they did. The only surprise in the championship would be the Falcons, who I still do not believe in. The Seahawks put up a good fight as they came back after being down and just missed out on their trip to the NFC Championship and providing us with 49ers vs Seahawks 3. I will once again say that the Falcons lucked up and sneaked another victory.

So what can we expect when they go up against the 9ers in the NFC Championship game, well two things can determine that outcome, as mention in earlier blog, What 49ers team will step on the field? One min they are a dominate team that look unstoppable, then you look at games when they played the Giants and the Seahawks and wonder who stepped on the field. Looking at the Falcons which is a team that has to play the game close to come out victorious, so if the dominate 49ers Defense steps on the field and stops Ryan for 3 drives, the 9ers new offense ran by Kap will be able to take control of this game and put the game out of reach. So we are going just look at this as the 9ers realize where they are and remember how close they were last year. Or maybe they will have a big smile on their face realizing that the last couple years the team that beaten the Falcons was the same team that victorious at the Super Bowl.

With that said I predict 49ers WIn

Now on the AFC side of the ball, the Ravens allow Ray Lewis to suit up for another game after a great chess match with Payton Manning. Now he goes to war with another great QB by the name of Tom Brady. After seeing the game between the Ravens and Broncos, it is clear that the Ravens are will not go down the count mode.

On the other side you look at the Patriots and they look more balance than ever, which means things will not just be in the hands of Lewis but also Flacco. Can Flacco take on a slightly tweaked Patriots’ defense? Most might think that Brady is more reliable to defeat the Ravens Defense and Flacco is going to eventually screw up and cause the Ravens their opportunity at the Super Bowl.

So how do I see this game’s outcome, well I think Ray will motivate his team to the point they will feel they are stepping on the field against a High School team, and they will show no mercy.

Game outcome Ravens.

Super Bowl

Ravens vs 49ers

2013 NFL Conference Championship: The Picks of Destiny (Not Really)…

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Caeroc

After a weekend of some of the most emotional football ever, we still have to see who is going to New Orleans. The Baltimore Ravens overtook the Denver Broncos in what is arguably consider as the greatest, and also highly rated, divisional round battle. The New England Patriots handled a Houston Texans team that was longing for payback for a late season thrashing. On the NFC side, the Atlanta Falcons may have some of the faithful of the Rise Up Nation to Grady Memorial Hospital for heart related problems. But with the foot of Matt Bryant, A.K.A. Matty Ice 2.0, the Falcons made sure the hopes and dreams of their season did not go to waste. Last but not least, The San Fransisco Forty Niners prove that they are not push overs. The prowess of Aaron Rodgers was not a match for the stout defense that seen Rodgers throw multiple interceptions.

And now, the moment of truth. The picks that will prove I hope I know what I am talking about. Lets say after this week, I will look like Ric Flair coming of a major pay per view win with the right picks. Or, I will make breakfast with amount of egg that is on my face. With that being said, let’s begin.

AFC Championship: New England Patriots vs. Baltimore Ravens

These two teams are no strangers, nor are they friends. At least on the field. The Ravens led by an inspired Ray Lewis will give New England everything they can handle. But to no a vale, Baltimore will pull out a nail biter.

Ravens win 30-27 OT

Atlanta Falcons vs. San Fransisco Forty Niners

If you were in the Georgia Dome this past Sunday, your after party may have been at the emergency room recovering from a heart scare. The Falcons sent their fans home not only with a win, but with a heart condition. Nevertheless, this season, the Falcons are very experienced in closing the deal. San Fran will put up a fight, but the Dirty Birds will head to New Orleans.

Falcons win 27-20

Now my Super Bowl picks will be…you really thought I was going to do that. Stay tuned for that.

ILL’s Look on the 2nd Round of the #NFL Playoffs

Posted on January 8, 2013 by ILL_McKenzie

So I went 2-2 last week in the wildcard round of the playoffs, which left us this week with

Seahawks vs Falcons

Packers vs 49ers

Ravens vs Broncos

Texans vs Patriots

With all of this said I am going break down my predictions for this up coming week, starting with the Falcons and Seahawks

All season I have not believed in the Falcons, to me they just been one of the luckiest team in the world. So many games they should have lost but in the end they were playing teams that could not finish. Their 3 loses came against divisional rivals who all ended the season under .500.

On the other side you have the Seahawks that have a dangerous defense as mention last week and an on the rise star QB with a beast at RB, this all spells trouble for the Falcons if they cannot come out strong against the Seahawks. One thing I can say about the Falcons is the have custom schemes against each opponent each week, but their offense is a weakness and against a defense like the Seattle has, this could be a tight game and I do not see the Falcons luck up this week.

In the end I give this victory to the Seahawks

The next NFC game is Packers vs 49ers

One of the biggest weakness that the packers have is their defense, their offense remains high power and is the reason at times they overcome that weakness. Last week they stepped up and was able to contain AP and the Vikings, but the 49ers are a different monster altogether.

I am not that sold on Kap, but he is a very versatile QB and keeps a lot of defenses honest. With that being said and looking at the Packers Defense, Kap could have a field day against that defense. Then you look at the 49ers defense and I predict all they need is to shut down the Packers Offense for at least 3 drives and put the rest in Kap hand to win this game.

In the end I give this game to the 49ers

On the AFC Side of the brackets, first we have The Ravens vs The Broncos

At the start of the season we all wonder what form would Manning be in, at first he started ff very slow but by the second half of the year showed us that he still had it. Along with a very impressive defense, the broncos is a force to be recon with.

On the other side of the ball you have the Ravens who most are saying that their defense is aging and is losing it’s step. Then they are dealing with Ray Lewis making it official that he will not be returning for another season. So most are saying they need to win this one for Ray. When this is brought up I think of Bettis last year with the Steelers and how the Steelers won the super bowl for him. So can the Ravens doing the same thing for him> In this situation that can be a very hard task as the Raveb;s defense play a chess match with Manning. Not to many teams can win a chess match with Manning, and in this case I do not think the Ravens can do that.

In this game I predict the Broncos come out this game as the winners.

Next game up is Texans vs Patriots

Now this game is a very interesting game, just because the Texans have been a team that people have said are the most balance team in the NFL, and then some times they come on the field looking like they don’t have a clue about the fundamentals of football. With the Patriots, they always come on the field as the same team every time and never miss a step most the time. So who will come out this game as the victor?

Well in this game it all depends on the Texans, but if the Texans come out as the balance team, they will win.

So winner of this game I predict the Texans.

Next Round will be as follows

Texans vs Broncos

Seahawks vs 49ers

ILL look at the #NFL #WildCard Weekend

Posted on January 4, 2013 by ILL_McKenzie

So alright we had made it to the post season, some teams that I predicted to make it the playoffs made it, and some did not. Some teams shocked me and made it as well, but the question you may be asking is how do I see everything playing out? Well at the start of the season I said it would be the 49ers vs Texans and they both made it in, so do I feel like they will still overcome?

On the NFC side we have Atlanta, San Fran, Washington, Seattle, Minnesota, and Green Bay

On the AFC side we have New England, Denver, Indy, Baltimore, Cincinnati, and Houston

Now the wild card picture goes as follows

Cincy vs Houston

Other than the last couple weeks the Texans have been a very strong team, especially on defense. Their defense is the main reason at the start of the season I picked them to surpass everyone in the AFC into the Super Bowl. The Bengals on the other hand have been a very strong team as well, also one can say a surprise team. I know that Andy Dalton and AJ Green came in together last year together and made a nice impact, but I personally did not see them duplicating that success. I obviously was wrong about that, but just like last year I do not see this team making it past the first round just like last year. In the end the Texans Defense will show up and show that they are too much for the Bengals.

Game goes to Houston.

Next on deck we have

The Colts Vs The Ravens

Just looking at the match up, one would be surprise that the Colts even are in the picture after how they ended the season last year. Just knowing that they had the #1 pick in the draft this year lets you know they were the worst team last year. Seems with a stroke of Luck they were able to reinvent their whole structure if their team. What seem like a rebuilding stage turned out to be an immediate impact. Now the question is how far will that luck last the Colts? Can that help them get past the Ravens? I am going say yes. that right the Colts will get past the Ravens in the first round of the playoffs and guess what, we will see Luck vs Manning in the second round.

Game Winner Colts

On the NFC side we start with two rookies that made an impact right off the starting blocks

Seattle vs Washington

This game feature two of the most talked about uprising QBs in the league. Robert Griffin the 3rd and Russel Wilson. Neither one of these teams were expected to even get into the playoffs at the start of the season. Not only that, only one of these QBs were thought to even be the starting QB of their team before the season was even started. Overall this will be a great match up, Seattle has a lot of advantages on their side of the ball. Their defense is one of the best in the league and of coarse they have a special QB on their side. On the Redskin side, they have a great up and coming duo on the offensive side of the ball which features RGIII and Rookie RB Morris. In the end I predict that the Redskins will overcome a very close battle and defeat the Seahawks at home.

Game Winner Washington Redskin

Last game on the WildCard Weekend we have

Vikings vs Packers PT 3

This season AP has shocked the world and came out the gates after his injury, he also have given a lot of trouble to the Packers defense as well this year. So the biggest question that everyone is asking is in round 3, will the Packers finally have that answer for AP? The answer to that question is NO, but in the end AP will not help the Viking get to the second round of the playoffs. In this game Arron Roger will do just enough to overcome the impact that AP will have in this game just to sneak the packers into the second round of the Playoffs.

Winner will be Packers

With these outcomes second round of the playoff will go as follows

Colts vs Broncos

Texans vs Patriots

Redskins vs Falcons

Packers vs 49ers

The Year of the Rookie #NFL

Posted on December 31, 2012 by ILL_McKenzie

At the start of the year there was two Rookies that everyone was looking at, by the end of the year one of my prediction came true about a Rookie that 31 teams looked over and landed on a team that most felt he would be just the back up. Even though in the win/lose shows that only 3 rookie QBs made an impact, if you actually watched the games, you would see that two more improved struggling teams. So the Question is, in 10 years will we look at this class the same way we look at the 1983 QB draft class?

At the start of the season I mention that if the Seattle Seahawks wanted to make an impact, they would ignore how much they paid Flint and start Russell Wilson. Not saying Pete Carroll came across my blog, but it is good he chose talent over money. One of the biggest downfall most critics saw in Wilson was his size. The average QB has to be tall for a couple of reasons, but the main reason is to see down the field over those tall lineman that are in front of him blocking. Only few QBs have been able to get pass that one obstacle and make an impact. We can now say that Wilson has been able to do that, not only did he make the Seahawks a better team, but like I said they did contend or that top spot of the NFC West and even defeated the top team in that division in a dominate form. Now Wilson in his first year sees the playoffs with a team no one thought at the start of the season would even sniff a playoff berth.

When you come into the league, with a team the previous year only won 2 games and also sitting in a seat that was previous being warmed by a QB as good as Peyton Manning, the upside of your first year looks very slim. Not to mention you in the same division as a team with a dominate Defense that is predicted to be Super Bowl Bound. Andrew Luck took on these challenges and surpassed everyone expectations of him. Not only did he turn this franchise around in one year, he lead them into the playoffs. This is another team that was not even expected to even sniff the playoffs, but wait that is not even the half of the challenge he had to face. Let not forget that the Head Coach was diagnosed with cancer. So your on a team that only one 2 games, taking the place of one of the greatest QBs in the league, and now your coach is basically going be out for the season.

Not to stir up anything but there was another team that coach was out for the season, and you see how their season ended. One must look at how Luck was able to keep his composure through all this and be as effective as he was, but that was not the only big turn around this year.

RGIII Stepped into one of the NFL’s most historic franchise as well as one of the toughest divisions in the league, the NFC East. At the start of the year I felt that RGIII would surpass Luck, one also has to look at the fact that he was also in a tougher division than Luck. Will that factor come into play when speaking of rookie of the year? Both QBs put up numbers this year and was able to sneak their teams into the back door of the playoffs, even though Griffins back door was via Division Champions, they had to win their last game to obtain that spot.

On the NFC side of this situation, both the rookie QBs face-off in first round of the playoffs, as the Redskins and Seahawks face off. On the AFC side Luck has to go toe to toe with the Baltimore Ravens. The next question on everyone mind has to be, what are the chances one of these QBs will make the Super Bowl. Does any of these QBs have what it takes to shock the world? Lets look at the scenarios of the playoff picture, whoever wins on the NFC side will play either the Falcons or The 49ers, in my opinion that team wants to play the Falcons for a better chance to advance the second round. But eventually that team will have to see the 49ers in the NFC Championship. The second half of the season the 49ers have turned into the Giants where no one knows which team will show up, the dominate 49ers or the push over team.

If you have not notice the 49ers have turned into a Jackle and Hyde team, so in my opinion no team should be intimidated when stepping onto the field until half time when they know who stepped on the field. So when you are asking me if a Rookie can take their NFC team to the championship, I say there is a 75% chance that can happen. So the question who will win between RGIII and Wilson? This is a very hard choice, Redskins have home field advantage. The Seahawks defiantly would have had a big advantage, but I have to pick the Redskins to advance in this round and take on the Atlanta Falcons and beat the Falcons like they should of done in the regular season, and then meet the 49ers in the championship.

Now with Luck’s scenario, I do see him defeating the Ravens and perhaps see Luck Vs Manning in the second round. But I just do not see the Colts going past the second round of the Playoffs.

In the end this was a great season to be a Rookie, even though I have only mention the QBs, other positions made an impact for the change of their team’s atmosphere as well. Will the next class or any class or rookies be able to make an immediate impact on their team like this one?

The #NFL, The job where taking a Sick day will hurt you more than not taking one

Posted on November 30, 2012 by ILL_McKenzie

Most of us growing up watched sports and dreamed about being on TV one day, being able to live the life, being able to wear your favorite teams’ uniform. Question is, is it all that it is cracked up to be? Even though some of these players are making millions of dollars to play a game that we had fun playing as a kid, are they truly the lucky ones? You might go to work every day and get chewed out by your boss and just wish you could be as lucky as the athletes on the TV. Is it truly luck, do they truly have it better than you, do they not work for billionaires that are as well trying to be profitable?

This year Curtis Martin was inducted into the hall of fame, and there was one line that stood out of the speech more than anything else he said to me. When he spoke about his former coach Bill Parcells, He said that he was told after informing his coach about being injured that he should take care of his self, but he never knows who going to be replacing him the huddle. Which is something that most players have to take into consideration every time they feel a sharp pain in their body, is it worth taking the risk of taking a play off to see what the problem is? There is always someone behind you that been waiting for their opportunity to step on the field to prove they belong in their uniform, that their contract should have more zeros in it. A couple of people in the past made their mark by replacing a starter after an injury. Byron Leftwich replaced Mark Burnel in 2003 after an elbow injury and one of the injuries that jumps start the career of one of the NFL Elite QB’s Tom Brady, was Drew Bledsoe who sheared a blood vessel in his chest in 2001. Never been in this situation, but when you are making millions of dollars one day and because of an injury, one’s stock and future of being one of the eleven people on the field or even being allowed to stand on the sideline is in jeopardy.

It is seen every year, coach’s jobs are always on the line. If you ever played a sport and been in practice, at times how you play in the game and how your perform in practice is totally different. The coach’s job is to always have the best players on the field to be successful. If one guy comes off the field and another person goes on the field, at times the one going in will basically go all out, and if they make a game changing play, that one play will translate in a coach’s mind as a comparison of the player that just left the huddle and the one that just entered the huddle. The other thing that appears in their mind is their family and convince the importance of their worth to their boss. Same thing the regular every day joe wants to do, they want to impress their boss. One can say it is a domino effect, player coming off the bench wants to impress coach, coach wants to impress team owner.

This year the one injury that cannot be hidden has spread and hit 3 star QBs in one week. One QB’s back up showed that the starter was more important to the team then most realize, one showed that the team was who they originally thought they were, and the last one even though he was winning, so was his back up. In that situation, one might not think it is fair, but the harsh reality is even in the NFL or millionaire’s life, the term life is not fair does apply.

So the main question now is, after seeing a good starting QB lose his job, how many players will risk their health just to keep their job and paycheck. When we look back to this season, and see a Charger’s game in which the Chargers could of had a potential come back, but an injured lineman refused to take himself out the game, and his missed block killed that possibility. Just like the average person kills them self to keep a minimal wage job, is the same as these players trying keep theirs, but at times these player’s risk have worst repercussions of trying to keep their jobs.

Sometimes it is good to stress to these players back up plans, having an idea of what they can do if they can never play the game again. Some of these player have nothing after football, and it mainly because most people do not realize the behind the scenes situation. All most people see is the smoke and mirrors, education on the whole business is key to stopping most players from having their back against the wall when it comes to, should I take care of this injury or should I play through this injury.

Most people first thought is, I am not going feel sorry for these millionaires. So are these millionaires not humans as well? Losing your starting job is the same as being laid off and going home with no income. In a blink of an eye, an athlete can turn into the average Joe sitting at home with no job and bills piling up if they have no back up plan.

The Week Of the Back Ups and Week 11 preview #NFL

Posted on November 14, 2012 by ILL_McKenzie

Another week down in the NFL, so lets look at week 10 for a moment. The game of the week was the game that could be a Super Bowl preview

Bears vs Texans. This game was as good as previewed with two dominate defenses just showing out.The game had a total of 6 turnovers, 2 credited to the Texans and 4 credited to the Bears. Even though the bears won the turnover battle, the Texans came out with the win 13 -6. Only 1 touchdown was scored all game, that should basically give you a an idea of how both defenses did. Matter fact let me break down 3rd down efficiency of both teams. The bears were successful on 3rd down only 2 times out of 13 and the Texans ended the game being 3 out of 14.

The only bad thing about this was that Jay Cutler left the game with an injury, The irony of this situation will be discussed later on in this blog. Matter fact let me go ahead and discuss it now.

This week the NFL had a game that ended in a TIE.

That right people, a regular season game can end in a tie. There is only 1 quarter of overtime in the NFL, if neither team scores, the NFL officially ends the game. Scores are the same, guess what? that is a TIE. Obviously one of the players from this game decided two years ago he enjoyed the game of football, because it obvious he was not watching 3 years ago when McNabb made the mistake of saying he did not know a game could end in a Tie.

Did not watch this game, but one of the outcomes of this game was the injury to 49ers QB Alex Smith. Yes that is the other half of the Jay Cutler injury.

Going into week 11 you have 3 key NFC QB injured and leaves NFL fans relying on their backup to pull out a victory. Now the Irony of this situation is 2 out of the 3 teams are playing each other this week. Both the Bears and 49ers are going have to rely on their back ups Jason Campbell (Bears) and Colin Kaepernick (49ers). The only problem with this scenario is that this could very well be a preview of the NFC Championship game. Instead of that preview, we basically seeing which teams back up QB can stand the pressure of literally being thrown to the wolves? Both teams have dominate Defenses, and one team has mastered scoring on their side of the ball.

The question has to be when deciding who will win is, which defense properly welcome the opposing sides QB into this season? One can not deny that both team have talented back up QBs. Jason Campbell is the only one that has the experience being a starting QB and has had his ups and downs as a starter. Colin shows great potential of being QB 1 in the future of some NFL franchise that might can steal him away from the 9ers. So there is no easy win or this defense is going have a feeding frenzy next Monday, but it will be very interesting match up.

The other QB that went down was one that was fighting for his future job and his coaches. Vick went down in his match up against the Cowboys. Before this game I said the key to victory would be the Dallas Defense, which is a dominate force and Romo mind frame. Do not get me wrong, I think Romo is a great QB who is in a bad situation. Just looking at the game one play comes to mind, the Cowboys coaching staff calls a draw play and after the failure of the play, one could see the displeasure on Romo face that they ran that play. Wait I think I am confusing my games but anyways, Romo is not happy with the play calling and that transition into a player not playing well at times. Like any job, if you do not 100% want to be there it will show into your work performance.

As for the Eagles, since that was the original reason for this section of the post, It seems that both Vick and Reids days in Philly are a distant memory by next year. In my opinion could be a good thing for both of them. Vick’s problem is the Eagles line and Reid needs at least a year away from football in my opinion after the death of his son, especially the way that he left the world.

One of the Black and Blue division of the NFL has a Key match up, Steelers Vs Ravens. In this match up the Steelers have a couple of key players missing and of course the Ravens are missing their biggest piece Ray Lewis. Back up QB Byron Leftwich

is not a back up that does not know how to be QB 1, but the thing is since leaving the Jacksonville Jaguars, he has not found much success. Now he is about to go up against a defense with a very strong rep that they make sure they live up to. Even though they been struggle as of late, they are still not one to sleep on. This has one to believe that the Ravens now own the AFC North if they are able to win this week match up.

With all of that said my picks and upsets for this week

Dolphins over the Bills

Falcons over the Cards

Browns over Cowboys (Upset)

Packers over the Lions

Bengals over Chiefs

Redskins over Eagles

Buccaneers over Panthers (close game)

Texans over Jags

Saints over Raiders

Broncos over Chargers

Colts over Pats (Upset)