Sporty Blog - The Sport Blog

So we’re down to the Final four, as we await the outcomes of this weekend’s games to see who will advance to this year’s Superbowl XLIV in Miami.

Last weekend’s games saw the Home Team prevail, as they took three of the four pigskin games, along with both of the Number One seeds advancing, and if they defeat their opponents this weekend, then it’ll be the first time since 1993 that two No. 1 seeds have made it all the way to the Superbowl.

Yet there will be no return to the big game for the Arizona Cardinals who were soundly routed in the Superdome, as apparently The Saints came a Marching in… As Drew Brees & Co. put a veritable ARSE-Whooping on the defending NFC Division Champs by shellacking Arizona 45-14 in what can only be described an Ugly win. Adding insult to injury was the devastating hit Kurt Warner received upon trying to tackle an opponent after throwing another interception.

Payton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts continued on their quest to return to the Superbowl with another workman-like performance over Ray Lewis and the Baltimore Ravens with a modest 20-3 victory, as the Colts confused, harassed and harried Joe Flacko and the Ravens Offense all game long.

Sunday mornings game in the Metrodome seemed to be all vintage Brett Favre, as the Minnesota Vikings clobbered Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys 34-3. Apparently some controversy occurred in the games final moments when the Vikings were accused of running up the score, but as no less than ex-Cowboys Superbowl winning coach Jimmy Johnson said on the Post-game show; the game is for 60 minutes and if you don’t like it then do something about it!

Last but not least were the New York Jets continuing to confound the experts and surprise everybody, as the Schottenheimer curse was invoked upon the red hot San Diego Chargers in a startling 17-14 loss to the visiting Jets. Recall that the Chargers fired the elder Schottenheimer, Marty from his head coaching gig after going 14-2 in the regular season, thus Jets Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer came back to San Diego and helped work his magic against his fathers ex-Team.

First up this Sunday, the NY Jets return to the Lucas Oil Dome in a rematch from the Team’s earlier skirmish, which saw the Jets knock off the previously undefeated colts after pulling its starters in the third quarter. But rest assured, Payton and the boys will most definitely play all four quarters this time.

The day’s second game will see the Minnesota Vikings travel to the Superdome to face off against the New Orleans Saints in what should be an epic barn burner between the respective Gunslingers Drew Brees and Brett Favre…

So the NFL Wildcard Playoffs featured a flurry of action, most notably the blazing Gun slinging battle held in the Valley of the Sun, where Kurt Warner led the Arizona Cardinals to an amazing 51-45 victory over Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers in a dramatic OT win, with the two Quarterbacks throwing a combined 9 touchdowns in the record setting Playoff game.

And the NY Jets, led by Rookie QB Mark Sanchez, traveled to Cincinnati to defeat the Bengals for the second week in a row 24-14, while unexpectedly, Place Kicker Jay Feely was forced to take over the Punting duties for the very first time in his 9yr Pro career when Steve Weatherford experienced an elevated Heart rate problem,  which has since been diagnosed and taken care of.

The Dallas Cowboys and Tony Romo finally won their first Playoff Game in 13yrs, as they definitely had the Philadelphia Eagles number this season, upon defeating them 34-14 in front of some 91,000 Fans at the new Mega Cowboy Stadium in Texas, beating Philly for the third time this year

And the Baltimore Ravens seemingly had little difficulty shutting down Randy Moss, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots on the road, cruising to a 33-14 victory in Fox borough, Mass.

Thus two Teams won on the road and the other half won at Home, while all four of the Wildcard winners will now travel to face their respective Divisional foes, who had a first week bye while awaiting the outcome of these games.

This Saturday’s games features Arizona vs. New Orleans, as the Cardinals will travel to the Superdome to play the Saints, in what could be another Barnburner between Kurt Warner and Drew Brees.

Baltimore will travel to Indy for the late game in the Lucas Oil Dome against Payton Manning and the Colts, which will hope to beat up on Baltimore’s QB Joe Flacko.

Sunday’s matchups will see Dallas travel to the frigid state of Minnesota to take on the Vikings inside the Metrodome, in an epic battle of the Cowboys Tony Romo vs. future Hall of Famer Brett Favre. While the late game will see the NY Jets fly to the West Coast to take on the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium, as the Chargers have been resting after winning an amazing 11 games in a row.

So who will be victorious in this weekend’s first round of the NFL Playoffs? As Saturday’s match-ups features the NY Jets vs. Cincinnati Bengals and the Dallas Cowboys vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Sunday’s contests feature the Baltimore Ravens vs. New England Patriots and the Arizona Cardinals vs. Green Bay Packers.

Interestingly, three of these games are rematches of the prior weeks NFL Regular Season Finale, when the Jets shellacked the Bengals 33-7 at New York in what figures to be Giants Stadiums very last hurrah… While Dallas blanked Philly 24-0 and Green Bay thumped Arizona 44-7, albeit they pretty much played their reserves.

Thus after shooting his trap off the week prior, perhaps Chad Ochocinco will instead focus upon trying to help Cincinnati win its first Playoff game since 2005 this weekend when the Jets travel to Cincy, as both teams aren’t noted for their recent Playoff prowess.

The Dallas Cowboys have swept the first two games against Division rival Philly, who’ll once again travel to the Lone Star state, in search of their first W against the Cowboys, while Dallas Owner Jerry Jones hopes to get his first Playoff win in some 13yrs in his brand new multi-million dollar stadium.

First-up Sunday morning, the Baltimore Ravens will travel to Foxborough, Mass. to face off against the revitalized New England Patriots, whose Quarterback Tom Brady was just voted Comeback Player of the Year. Yet, the Pat’s will truly be tested against the Ravens, having lost standout Wide Receiver Wes Welker, who was placed on IR last weekend after suffering a season ending knee injury. Thus look for the Ravens to double-team New England WR Randy Moss the entire game and force Brady to throw elsewhere.

Meanwhile, I’m guessing that all of Arizona is wondering which Cardinals team will show up this weekend? Will it be the NFC West Division Champions or the same team that lost to the San Francisco 49’ers? As fortunately Green Bay has to travel to Glendale, AZ instead of the Cardinals traveling to Lambeau Field, where I’d expect a whole different outcome…

Meanwhile, in the NFC, the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints wait in the wings, while over in the AFC the Indianapolis Colts and San Diego Chargers also await the outcome of this week’s matches…

So how did your Fantasy Football picks pan out? And did any of the Sleepers step up to the plate?

And with the closing of the just concluded Twenty-Oh-Nine Regular season, not surprisingly, some of the NFL’s Underachievers have wasted little time in attempting to right their floundering ships for the forthcoming 2010 Football season.

Thus, within moments of the Team’s touchdown at Ronald Regan Airport, the Washington Redskins set the Dominoes a falling by the long anticipated firing of Head Coach Jim Zorn, whose future seemed sealed ever since the Redskins squandered the chance to score a shocking victory over the then undefeated New Orleans Saints, who took a miraculous win in overtime with a winning field goal, after Washington had squandered its chances by blowing its 4^th Quarter lead.

Meanwhile, the Seattle Seahawks, who’ve just endured their second in-a-row losing season, under new Head Coach Jim Mora, that saw the Seahawks go out in a whimper upon letting the Tennessee Titans Running Back Chris Johnson become the sixth player in league history to rush for over 2,000 yards along with breaking Marshall Faulk’s 1999 All-purpose yards record of 2,429 in a 17-13 Home game loss.

Coupled along with the Resignation of whimsical General Manager Tim Ruskell, former Coaching disciple Fuzzy Zellar, Err Mike Holmgren, spurn his former Employer in his yearning to return to the Sport and will instead try resurrecting the lowly Cleveland Browns Franchise as its new President.

Hmm? Wonder if Holmgren will bring in his ex-Quarterbacks Coach Jim Zorn to run the Browns Offense? Of course I’m only speculating here, but it would give Holmgren a Go-Too Guy inside the locker room, eh? Although I’m not sure if current Head Coach Eric Mangini will be continuing his Majik-act next season or not?

Then there’s the Buffalo Bills who’ve reportedly just Fired their entire Coaching staff, with multiple sources gesticulating that CBS NFL Show host and former Pittsburg Steelers Coach Bill Cowher has been contacted about possibly taking the vacant position, while Cowher gave CBS NFL Show host Ringleader James Brown a big NO Comment when asked directly upon Sunday’s show.

And reputedly ex-Denver Broncos Coach Mike Shanahan has flown to Washington, DC to discuss taking over for the duly departed Zorn, while the NFL’s laughing stock St. Louis Rams Steve Spagnuolo would seem secure in his Head coaching role, after their 1-15 season which will seem the Rams given the number one Overall Draft choice. While I’m guessing that the Detroit Lions Jim Schwartz is also immune from firing for the upcoming season, as they actually finished ahead of the Rams at 2-14, while you should always be careful around Oakland Raiders tom ” Cable, otherwise he might be inclined to punch you!

And we ain’t even begun this year’s Playoffs…

Here are a few under the radar fantasy football sleepers that are most likely available on the waiver wire.    High upside potential.

WR (Wide Receiver)

Nate Burleson  (Seattle) - Nate is an explosive receiver playing with a rejuvinated Matt Hasselbeck and a new possesion receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh who should draw alot if not most of the coverage away from Nate. He has speed and ability to score touchdowns and is owned in almost NO leagues.

Hakeem Nicks (NY Giants) - Hakeem nicks is getting to be more well known, but he is hardly owned in any leagues and he has huge upside potential. He is a rookie that tore it up in the preseason against 2nd and 3rd string defenses. QB Matt Shaub has compared him to Andre Johnson.

RB

James Davis (Cleveland) - Davis is getting more fantasy love than the above guys but still available in many leagues. He is playing 2nd fiddle to Old Man Jamal Lewis on the Browns. The Browns are not a good team, but he has shown flashes of brilliance in the preseason.

Julius Jones (Seattle) - This is someone you need to draft but is available very late in almost all drafts. He is a STARTING running back on an NFL team. He has the EDGE as his backup, but if you look at how he did early last season before Holmgren yanked him out, he was killing it. Maybe he will again.

Mike Bell (Saints) - This is a guy that is most likely going to start in place of Pierre Thomas in week one for the explosive Saints offense. The coach has hinted that he wants to use all 3 backs this season in a time share format. If Pierre Thomas continues to have injury problems such as his sprained knee and mysterious open wound from a fence, Mike Bell might be the MAN.