Sporty Blog - The Sport Blog

Otay, so I’ve been rambling on lately about the Seattle Kings debacle, which truthfully, I’d say many of us local Seattleites aren’t really too enamoured about NBA basketball ever returning to the Emerald City.

As case in point, we’ve moved onto football. NO! Not that football, albeit our Seattle Seahawks were pretty damn good last year, right? Nope, instead this type of football uses a round ball, typically white with numerous black Hexagonal panels adorning it which players dribble upon the pitch and us ‘Yanks tend to call it soccer…

And although the few reports I’ve read about the just concluded World Cup Qualifier at Century Link Field claim it being the first in Seattle since 1976, I believe this is wrong!

As ironically and unbeknownst to me, I was attending the Sounders FC v Vancouver Whitecaps match preceding the US vs. Panama match with the winner of the 2001 US National Men’s Team Chant contest.

And thus Randy told me a very cool story about being invited by the US Soccer Federation to what surely must have been a ‘Qualifier match? Held at Safeco Field on March 2, 2002 - which most likely was the only time natural grass was sodded atop the original Baseball turf surface.

And like the past June 11th match at Century Link field, the U.S. squad was victorious over Honduras 4-0 eleven years ago in front of 38,534 adoring fans. As Randy was invited to be introduced to the crowd at halftime by standing on the field’s center pitch while his chant was played over the loudspeakers, not to mention being played every time after the Men’s team scored! (As Randy’s quick to point out that he only wrote the lyrics and isn’t responsible for the song they made it into…)

Our legs shall never tire,
Our hearts will see us through,
Goals, goals, goals
For the red, white, and blue

VIDEO: Goals-Goals-Goals

Yet back to the match at hand, as I attended a most enjoyable outing with said Chant Master Saturday night, (June 8th) which was the first of four 50,000 expanded seating contests available for the soccer crazy Pacific Northwest - which dually saw an evening’s attendance of 53,679! As Seattle has led Major League Soccer (MLS) in attendance ever since coming into the league in 2009…

The evening prior to the match, ironically it would be Sounders FC Right-back, not to be confused with running Back; Hya! Brad Evans scoring the winning goal in Kingston - where the US Men’s National Team (US MNT) would be victorious 2-1 over Jamaica with Evan’s goal coming in the Ninety-second minute of the match during the extra stoppage time added.

Yet unfortunately Evan’s late call-up along with fellow Sounders FC Striker Eddie Johnson’s inclusion to the National Team meant they’d be forced to watch their MLS teammates from the sidelines Saturday night christening the newly added natural grass for said World Cup Qualifier.

Thus Der ‘Clink, nee Century Link Field was awash with a most raucous, mad ‘Rave Green crowd, with one lone corner of the upper stadium sporting the white of visiting Vancouver, whilst I wore the requisite Sounders green scarf Randy makes all of his guests wear.

As the chorus of Seattle, Sounders, SEA ATTLE - SOUNDERS! Was deafening and the borciforis BOOS were even louder when the Home crowd was appalled over a Referee’s call, especially upon not calling a penalty shot for a clear offense…

As the crowd went mad over the insane sound of cannons? Being fired upon Seattle’s early goal, leading One-Nil just a scant nine minutes into the match off Andy Ross’s goal; but Vancouver retaliated a scant minute later when Seattle broke down on defense, as there was no celebrations over the game first being tied and then the minority owned Steve Nash Whitecaps going ahead 2-1 for the remainder of the first half, with the entire stadium standing for the entire 45-plus minutes.

Listening to the game via transistor radio courtesy of Randy, so I can attempt following the game without asking him constantly what’s going on? Albeit it’s really hard to H-E-A-R I-T over the crowd’s booing! I could hear Sounders FC Colour Commentator Kasey Keller going Bonkers over the porous defense of the Whitecaps zone in the second half, incredulously saying that nobody plays with a sweeper anymore, yet Vancouver’s five backs has four sweepers and none of them are attacking the ball!

And although I couldn’t see it, I most definitely felt the entire emotion of the game switch over to Seattle’s favour as their relentless attacking simply swelled in anticipation of an equalizer… With Servando Carrasco being chosen to take a penalty shot awarded in the game’s seventieth minute for a foul upon Seattle’s Lamar Neagle, to which Randy loudly proclaimed was a make-up call! With Carrasco striking true into the back of the net, the game became knotted at 2-2.

Yet as I mentioned, with the tide of the game swinging totally into Seattle’s favour, the crowd went delirious when Neagle slammed home Seattle’s third goal in the eighty-first minute of the match, which after the euphoria subsided, Seattle and its Rave Green crowd would need to endure another nine minutes of regular time plus some five minutes of stoppage time before finally being able to savor the victory!

And according to another Seattle Times recent article, Men’s Team Captain Clint Dempsey was most pleased to notice how ‘Bonkers Seattle is over soccer upon having gone out to dinner Saturday night only to discover that televisions everywhere were tuned to the Sounders-Whitecaps game.

And although many comments were made about the natural sod being less than ideal, especially after having been churned up by the previous MLS match, nevertheless, this didn’t stop Jozy Altidore from scoring the first goal upon Panama in the game’s thirty-sixth minute, which was capped by home team player Eddie Johnson’s scoring a second goal in the fifty-third minute to the magnanimous delight of the 40,847 partisan crowd (seventh largest ever crowd for a Qualifier) which stood upon its feet the whole match!

And in a further twist of irony, as I must admit that I’m not a serious student of the game a la Randy, who’s gone so far as to even bought shares in a minor division English squad! Alas, I was totally unaware at the time that future Sounders FC goalkeeper Kasey Keller was in the net that fateful day in ‘Twenty-oh-Two when I heard a large eruption of applause over the adjoining Nurburgring racing track’s PA System in Der Fatherland upon Germany defeating the USA One-Nil (1-0) in the ’02 World Cup.

While the current US Men’s Team Two-Nil (2-0) victory over Panama vaulted them into first place in their group standings for nations attempting to qualify for the fast approaching 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the win for the Sounders FC was even sweeter - since after all the Whitecaps and Portland Timbers form what Seattle minority owner Drew “The Price’s Right!” Carrey coined the “Triangle of Death,” Hya!

As not only does this triumperant’s return to Major League Soccer resurrect their fierce rivalries of the original NASL, but also contest the Cascadia Cup yearly for bragging rights of best Pacific Northwest team…

Sitting down for a late lunch, I found myself listening to the Dan Patrick show, as I use it as my reference guide these days for what’s the pulse of Stick ‘N Ball sports?

Happened to catch the segment (repackaged Wednesday short version which originally aired Tuesday) with NBA All Star Steve Nash who was somewhat Chillin’ in Vancouver - to which Nash was quick to point out was British Columbia, albeit Nash said it was nice & “toasty” Up North eh! Right now, which is a good thing when the suns out in the city.

Prattled on ‘bout sometimes being recognized in ‘KanaDuh, as apparently he owns some Health Clubs there which I wasn’t aware of, along with being part owner of the MLS Vancouver Whitecaps which karmically I had just accepted the same morning Randy’s fantastic offer to attend their match against the Seattle Sounders FC Saturday night, which is the first of four expanded audience games - morphing to 50,000-seats available…

As I’m guessing they’ll all go, although I haven’t been to a game in over one year now and our beloved Sounders have gotten off to a slow start this year, while Brad Evans won’t be playing since he’s been called up to National Team duty instead which plays a World Cup qualifier Friday in Jamaica before another qualifier vs. Panama at ‘Der Clink, nee Century Link Field with the Sounders-Whitecaps match sandwiched in-between.

Dan Patrick asked Nash how he felt about Grant Hill and Jason Kidd’s retirements and if it made him feel old? Chuckling, Nash said, yeah it’s a low blow, as it was sudden and are we all suppose to go? As Hill and Kidd both retired at the age of 40 while Nash is currently 39 and will turn the B-I-G 4-Oh next February 7th.

Patrick also asked when he felt the Lakers weren’t going to be contenders this year in Nash’s mind?, who said he knew it was going to be an uphill battle ever after he broke his leg in game two, along with the coaching changes and struggling to get all of the pieces (players) to match up, as he felt like they just never got their rhythm sinqed.

Yeah, absolutely I plan to reach out to Dwight Howard, as I’m sure he’ll do the circuit this summer to see what his best offer is, as there could be lots of roster changes this summer - and I just need to get healthy and assimilate to whatever the new roster is, as I feel healthy now and hopefully we can build the team around Howard for the future.

Patrick said before you get out of here, when I had “The Mailman,” aka Carl Malone on the show awhile ago and asked him for his all-time Top-5 NBA players, Malone had not selected Michael Jordan and instead, substituted Scotty Pippen over his Airness!

Oh Wow said Steve, and with Nash still in disbelief over Malone’s snubbing of Air Jordan said G-O figure? As he quickly said Majic, Jordan, Bird and LeBron before waffling awhile over center, saying his sentimental pick would be Tim Duncan since he’d knocked him out of so many finals to which Patrick laughed, then reeled off Russell, Kareem and Shaq (and perhaps Chamberlain?) before ultimately settling upon Bill Rustle since he’d won so many championships in different fashion.

All of which leads me to the poll I’d just read in the Seattle Times claiming that 51% of Seattleites simply shrugged over the Seattle Supersonics being denied an NBA Franchise returning to their Emerald City, with the poll being solely conducted in King County, where Seattle resides.

Report: Poll Says Most Locals Don’t Care that Sonics aren’t Returning Yet

As basically, in a nutshell, it seemingly all boils down to Chris Hansen following the rules instead of LYING about his intentions, purchasing the Kings, promising to leave them in Sacramento and then saying OOPSADAISY! I’m moving them to Seattle instead because the SleepTrain arena isn’t new enough, the bathrooms are too crowded, the water-downed beer is overpriced and they’re charging us large beer prices for the small cup! Vendors have been recycling left over hot dogs and there’s not enough luxury boxes for me to cash-in upon…

Ro-ro guess I slipped into my Clay ‘Benedick Awnold Bennett alter ego there for a moment; CRIKEYS! Although the beer cup and hot dog issues actually occurred in Seattle. Yet I still say Good Riddance Dr. Stern!

While in another nod to the past, Hall of Famer NBA Coach and player Lenny Wilkens who led the Supersonics to their only NBA crown in 1979 was honoured at King County’s First Citizens banquet Wednesday night in recognition of his outstanding civic leadership, volunteerism and public service, with ex-Sonics great “Downtown” Freddy Brown in attendance, as there was NO word on whether or not Brown would be trying to sink any three-pointers into Century Link Field from the event’s Seattle Aquarium, which is probably within his range!

Wilkens to receive First Citizens award

By now Y’all have heard the news that the NBA has rejected Seattle’s tender offer to relocate the Sacramento Kings to the Pacific Northwest by a vote of 22-8 rejecting the bid, which is only the second time since a failed Minnesota bid in 1994 which was scuttled for lack of finances.

And I won’t try recapping all of the twists ‘N turns over the tumultuous affair of whether or not the Kings were going to stay in Sacramento, instead let’s just take a brief look at the biased views of current National Basketball Association ‘Czar; Err Commissioner David Stern, who I’ll now forever refer to as Doctor Stern, as in Dr. Jeckell & Mr. Hyde, with Stern’s alter ego being the ruthless Mr. Benedict, aka Clay ‘Benedick Arnold Benet!

As notice the swipe Dr. Stern took towards the Emerald City in this quote upon learning of the relocation committee’s recommendation on April 29th.

Dr. Stern told a reporter at a playoff game in Atlanta upon hearing the Relocation Board’s announcement that he was surprised the vote was unanimous, but added,

“They decided as strong as the Seattle bid was, and it was very strong, there’s some benefit that should be given to a city that has supported us for so long and has stepped up to contribute to build a new building as well.”

And piling on even further, the esteemed Dr. Stern quipped from Dallas May 15th the following.

“This is going to be short for me. I have a game to get to in Oklahoma City.”

As really Dr. Stern; WTF? What would you call the city of Seattle and its citizen’s 41-year allegiance to their beloved Supersonics…? Hmm? My ryth-muh-tickin’ sez that’s thirteen years longer than Sacramento’s support of its Franchise, and I for one believe Seattle was used in order to get the Kings to build a new stadium, ‘cause we just can’t play in some old dreary building, right?

And where was David Stern’s allegiance to saving the storied Supersonics Franchise from moving when Clay Bennett threw his hissy-fit before ultimately admitting he’d LIED about his intentions to move the team away from Seattle, as I suppose the league’s defense was the lack of a new state of the art facility - which you have to understand how us Seattleite’s who’d voted NO against Safeco Field should understandably be upset over paying for an outsider’s stadium, when after all the taxpayers were still paying off the Kingdome years after it had been imploded to make way for Century Link Field…

Thus, if Y’all cannot tell, I for one hope Seattle will resoundingly say FUCK YOU to the NBA if it ever decides to pull its collective heads out of you-know-where and do the obvious thing, by granting Seattle and another city expansion franchises in order to bump the league up to 32 Franchises, which is the current and ‘Uber successful NFL model. Since after all wasn’t it fabled promoter PT Barnum who said “There’s a Sucker born every Minute!” As Seattle’s bid was overtly strong with having some crazed 44,000-plus basketball fans having committed to season tickets before we’d even gotten our team back…

Yet even better yet, why wasn’t Oklahoma City simply granted an expansion franchise all those years ago, as really? Does California need four NBA teams while Seattle, which is a much larger television market has zero?

Yet I cannot fault Kevin Johnson and his herculean efforts as the mayor of Sacramento to keep his floundering team there and now looks set to renovate a sagging, decaying Downtown corridor - which ironically I just saw the headline that an Oklahoma City study claimed that the Thunder provided $64-million dollars of revenue the past year, and thus its obvious why ‘KJ was so desperate to keep his Kings.

And the only silver lining I can see in all of this, was that after Dr. Stern had left the Board of Governor’s meeting in Dallas to run off and high-five his henchman Mr. Benedict, ironically the Memphis Grizzlies, who started life as the expansion Vancouver (BC) Grizzlies defeated the Thunder and knocked Clay ‘BA Bennett’s team out of this year’s playoffs…

As all I can say is Good Riddance and hopefully the door will smack Stern’s ASS when he finally retires next February…

Former Sonics star Shawn Kemp not surprised by NBA’s decision

Okay, I know that the “Powers-to-Be” would put it down entirely to not wanting to run up against the three-day Gorge-uh-Thon of this year’s NFL Draft, but isn’t it somewhat ironic that upon the day that should have solely been reserved for Jason Collins news about being Gay, instead the National Basketball Association decided to trump this most positive development towards the breaking of a major barrier by smothering it instead with the ridiculous news that their mini Board of Governors had unanimously voted 7-0 to reject Seattle’s bid to purchase the Sacramento Kings and move them to the Pacific Northwest instead.

And in case you’ve been living under a rock somewhere or haven’t heard yet, 34-year old Washington Wizards seven foot Center Jason Collins announced to the sporting world on Monday, April 29th that he’s Gay, becoming the first current male athlete to openly announce his sexual preference vs. the small smattering of retired Pro-sports athletes to do so.

Even more impressive than Collins Sports Illustrated piece was the immediate positive response from ex-President Bill Clinton, while Collins also received personal calls from the lady simply called ‘O, as in Oprah Whim Frey and some guy named Barack, as in current “Commander-in-chief” President Barack Obama both supporting his decision to publicly come out.

Yet instead of this important story garnering the deserved national media attention, Dr. Stern and his Henchman Mr. Benedict were busy crashing the boards and instead bruising their way to the top of the heap with the announcement that the Clay Bennett led NBA Relocation committee had said ‘Nyet to Chris Hansen’s tender offer to relocate the woeful Sacramento Kings to Seattle…

And I just caught the tail end of I-T, thus missing the actual segment when the irrepressible “Round Mound of Rebound,” aka Sir Charles, nee Charles Barkley in his iconic straight to the point style told NBC Sports Network’s Dan Patrick on the Dan Patrick Show that EVERYBODY in the NBA has played with a Gay athlete.

Even better yet, I thought Barkley’s comment on Collins was oh so succinct, when pointing out how Collins has played on six teams during his NBA career and thus SIX NBA Teams have had a Gay player on its roster…

Charles Barkley: “Everyone Has Had Gay Teammates” in NBA

Yet in one article I’ve perused - and only one article so far that I’ve come across, it rightly points out that Collins isn’t the first active major league sports athlete to come out, as that honour actually belongs to Glenn Burke, who I’ve previously written about on Sportyblog; as Burke, then a budding Major League Baseball star had the audacity of coming out in 1976 before being promptly ran out of the league…

Ousted MLB Soul finally recognized 16 years later…

Thus, its overly sad and pathetic that its taken a further 37-years for a second active player in one of the Big Four sporting leagues, i.e.; NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL to come out, which seemingly speaks volumes over how Homophobic these bastions of Professional Sports are, or at least the leaders of said leagues…

Yet supposedly controversial Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has stated he’d be perfectly willing to employ a Gay player upon his NBA Franchise, and thus Mr. Cuban, here’s your chance to put your money where your mouth is by signing Collins to a Free Agent contract for next season, as previously Cuban made headlines by saying he’d have liked to have taken the WNBA’s Number One Draft Pick Brittney Griner to become the first female to play in the NBA.

Thus, perhaps unknowingly Cuban would have killed the proverbial “Two byrds with One Stone” after Griner, drafted by the Woman’s National Basketball Association’s Phoenix Mercury came out announcing that she was a Lesbian which seemingly garnered extremely little fanfare, and was for all practical purposes a Non-story - which begs the question why is a male’s coming out so much more sensational than a female’s? Or better yet why is female Homosexuality tolerated so much better?

Yet kudos to Griner for taking a public stands by not only declaring her Homosexuality but promoting the “It Get’s better” initiative.

And while I applaud the steps some of the major professional leagues are taking, most notably the National Hockey League teaming up with the “You Can Play” project along with both the San Francisco 49ers first, then with the reigning MLB World Champion San Francisco Giants following suit - jumping on the It Get’s Better Bandwagon; you certainly have to wonder what type of message it sends to current active professional athletes when the National football League’s two most outspoken and high profile Pro- GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender) Gay Rights players, the Baltimore Ravens Linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo (36) and Minnesota Vikings Punter Chris Kluwe (31) are both waived from their respective teams this season. Not to mention several NFL Franchises having recently been taken to task for asking potential draftees in this year’s draft if they like women?

Thus, as one article I read noted, the real issue to determine if these multi-billion dollar leagues are making progress will be whether or not any of the current 30-NBA (excluding Seattle) teams will pick up Jason Collins next year? Whilst I also say the NFL could help itself out on this position by two of its Franchises picking up the services of both Ayanbadejo and Kluwe and then ultimately having preferably multiple active players come out this fall, along with recent Gay announcee Robbie Rogers becoming an active MLS player.

As Oh, My, FREAKIN’ Gawd, somebody Gay is playing Professional Sports, really? I mean c’mon, isn’t it time to move past this stupidity…

So now that it’s all over and another year of football has passed us by - with the Baltimore Ravens being victorious in Superbowl XL VII, what will Y’all do now, whilst you’re pining for the National Football League resuming play? As I suppose the next big thing will be the upcoming draft, right? (April 25-27)

And as we all know, what’s now become known as “Black Monday,” this past season’s recipients included eight Head Coaches - a quarter of the league plus five General Managers that I’m aware of being told to hand in their playbooks the day after 2012 regular season play ended.

Thus its somewhat funny to be putting this story to bed as the ‘lil transistor radio I listen to is blaring out an advertisement for the University of Washington Huskies returning to tradition at its newly renovated Husky Stadium on the shores of Lake Washington for the forthcoming fall college pigskin season…

Nevertheless, leading the honour roll of dismissed coaches was Philadelphia Eagles (4-12) Andy Reed with the most surprising firing being the Chicago Bears (10-6) Lovie Smith.

Other floundering NfL Franchises promptly followed suit, loosely in the following order: the Buffalo Bills (6-10) sacked Chan Gailey after three losing seasons. The Kansas City chiefs (2-14) took no pity upon embattled Head Coach Romeo Crennel who surely suffered the most traumatic season with the murder-suicide involving Linebacker Jovan Belcher.

The Jacksonville Jaguars, (2-14) who tied for the worst record in the league, fired first year coach Mike Mularkey, while the Cleveland Browns (5-11) dumped Pat Shurmur.

The Arizona Cardinals (5-11) wasted no time in jettisoning Ken Whisenhunt, the Franchise’s only coach to ever take them to the Superbowl with the San Diego Chargers (7-9) bringing up the rear by tossing Norv Turner after a bumpy few years as its head coach…

Thus, here’s a very quick perusal of the head coaching vacancies, since having been filled and their relative position in this year’s upcoming draft along with the entire first round rankings prior to any trade shenanigans…

No. 1 Overall: Kansas City Chiefs
Longtime Philadelphia Eagles Head Coach Andy Reed landed firmly upon his feet by promptly being hired as the ‘Chefs next savior of its revolving door coaching carousel, as Reed should hopefully be able to improve upon the dismal 2-14 record, as I have NO idea what their draft priority is, since surely the whole team needs improving…

No. 2: Jacksonville Jaguars
Jacksonville lured Seattle Seahawks Defensive Coordinator Gus Bradley to become its new head coach after the Seahawks impressive 11-5 romp with its fierce defense, as Bradley will look to turn around the anemic KittyCatz back into stalking Jaguars.

(No. 3, Oakland Raiders; 4-12)

No. 4: Philadelphia Eagles
As we all know, after Oregon’s Chip “I wanna National title” Kelly will he, won’t he stay as Head Coach of the Pac 12 Ducks ultimately saw the 49-year old college offensive whiz take the Eagles head coaching vacancy. With Philly now having enticed Mikey “Woof-Woof” Vick to restructure his contract and return for a further year’s pay, along with battling for the undecided starting Quarterback position vs. Nick Foles, I’m guessing that the Eagles will look to fill some other glaring hole with its No. 4 pick. As speaking of pick’s, it looks like Kelly picked a good time to pull a Pete Carroll and turn pro as his Alma Mater’s Mighty Ducks appear to be headed for a raft of NCAA sanctions…

(No. 5, Detroit Lions; 4-12)

No. 6: Cleveland Browns
Cleveland took the brash decision of hiring a rookie head coach in selecting previous Carolina Panthers Offensive Coordinator Rob Chudzinski to the veritable revolving door position, as he’s simply hoping to stop the Browns losing tradition.

No. 7: Arizona Cardinals
Arizona has chosen the Indianapolis Colts Offensive Coordinator and temporary Head Coach Bruce Ariansto fill the once mighty shoes of Ken Whisenhunt, as surely the Bidwell’s are banking on arians to continue his winning ways after effectively guiding the Colts back to the playoffs last season, albeit I’m guessing somebody named Andrew Luck played a role in that?

Yet surely All Pro Wide Receiver Larry Fitzgerald must be relieved over the ‘Cards having traded for Oakland Raiders QB Carson Palmer to the starting slot after having attempted to catch passes from four different signal callers last year…

No. 8: Buffalo Bills
Buffalo has hired rookie Head Coach Doug Maroni away from Syracuse University to turn around the woefully underperforming bills, who I recall, getting shellacked by Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks late last season…

(No. 9, New York Jets; 6-10)
(No. 10, Tennessee Titans; 6-10)

No. 11: San Diego Chargers
San Diego is apparently trying to put some spark back into their lightning bolts by having selected Denver Broncos Offensive Coordinator Mike McCoy to become its new head coach - as McCoy was instrumental in Kyle Horton’s turnaround in Denver before some guy named Peyton came to town and thus the Chargers will be hoping he can work his magic in revitalizing Phillip Rivers sagging ship…

(No. 12, Miami Dolphins; 7-9)
(No. 13, Tampa Bay Buccaneers; 7-9)
(No. 14, Carolina Panthers); 7-9
(No. 15, New Orleans Saints; 7-9)
(No. 16, St Louis Rams; 7-8-1)
(No. 17, Pittsburg Steelers; 8-8)
(No. 18, Dallas Cowboys; 8-8)
(No. 19, New York Giants; 9-7)

No. 20: Chicago Bears
Chicago has gone completely outside of the box; Err country when obtaining its new head signal caller from Up North Eh! As the Bears chose Marc Trestman of the Canadian Football League’s Montreal Alouettes, who he led to consecutive Grey Cup titles - as apparently Jay Cutler and Crew weren’t used to having a head coach running up ‘N down the sidelines frantically during Mini-Camp to make his point clear vs. the laid back Lovie Smith style. Hey, may be it has something to do with trying to keep warm on Montreal’s frigid sidelines, eh?

(No. 21, Cincinnati Bengals; 10-6)
(No. 22, St Louis Rams from Washington Redskins; 10-6)
(No. 23, Minnesota Vikings; 10-6)
(No. 24, Indianapolis Colts; 11-5)
(No. 25, Seattle Seahawks; 11-5)
(No. 26, Green Bay Packers; 11-5)
(No. 27, Houston Texans 12-4)
(No. 28, Denver Broncos; 13-3)
(No. 29, New England Patriots; 12-4)
(No. 30, Atlanta Falcons; 13-3)
(No. 31, San Francisco 49ers; 11-4-1)
(No. 32, Baltimore Ravens; 10-6)

NOTE
Rankings are made in descending order of season accomplishments with reigning Superbowl Champions going last, followed by Superbowl loser and corresponding Division Champions and Wildcard playoff teams and then regular season records. In cases of ties, the league reverts to its strength-of-season formula, which can further be decided by division records and ultimately a coin toss…
(First round Draft order source; NFL.com)