Andrew’s 2012 NFL Projections

2012 NFL Projections

AFC

East

1. New England (1)

2. Buffalo (6)

3. NY Jets

4. Miami

North

1. Baltimore (2)

2. Pittsburgh

3. Cincinnati

4. Cleveland

South

1. Houston (4)

2. Tennessee

3. Indianapolis

4. Jacksonville

West

1. Denver (3)

2. San Diego (5)

3. Kansas City

4. Oakland

NFC

East

1. Philadelphia (3)

2. NY Giants

3. Dallas

4. Washington

North

1. Green Bay (1)

2. Chicago (5)

3. Detroit

4. Minnesota

South

1. Atlanta (4)

2. New Orleans (6)

3. Carolina

4. Tampa Bay

West

1. San Francisco (2)

2. Seattle

3. St. Louis

4. Arizona

Playoffs

AFC Wild Card

(3) Denver 38, (6) Buffalo 17

(5) San Diego 24, (4) Houston 19

NFC Wild Card

(3) Philadelphia 28, (6) New Orleans 20

(5) Chicago 20, (4) Atlanta 17

AFC Divisional Round

(1) New England 32, (5) San Diego 20

(3) Denver 27, (2) Baltimore 16

NFC Divisional Round

(1) Green Bay 38, (5) Chicago 31

(2) San Francisco 20, (3) Philadelphia 10

AFC Championship Game

(1) New England 23, (3) Denver 20

NFC Championship Game

(1) Green Bay 28, (2) San Francisco 24

Super Bowl

Green Bay 31, New England 28

Breaking Down The Mario Deal

A week removed from one of the biggest deals in Buffalo Bills history and I am still just as excited as I was that thursday afternoon. Signing All-Pro Defensive End Mario Williams to a earth shattering six year, $100 million deal with a guaranteed $50 million for a small market, usually conservative team like Buffalo seemed like a laughable dream until the talks about Mario visiting Buffalo started brewing on Tuesday. The longer he stayed in Buffalo, the greater the chance something serious was happening. It may have taken almost three days but the deal eventually got done and Mario Williams became the richest defensive player in NFL history. This deal is huge for Buffalo on and off the field in so many ways wrangling in the prize defensive player on the market and one of the best to ever be on the free agent market.

The Combination Makes Football Sense

Even before the Bills made the move for Mario, defensive coordinator Dave Wannstedt announced that the defense would switch to a 4-3 for the 2012 season. Now after the deal, Dave looks like a genius. Now Mario can fit into his proper position at defensive end unlike in Houston where he would play linebacker in their 3-4 defense and succeed in it. The move to the 4-3 will also move sophomore defensive lineman Marcell Dareus inside to defensive line with Pro Bowler Kyle Williams, both of whom should see spikes in production this year with the addition of Mario on one end. Throw in either Chris Kelsey or another end (Looks like Mark Anderson now) and the Bills now have one of the best looking defensive lines in the NFL. One of the Bills biggest problems was getting pressure on the quarter back and when you are in the same division as Tom Brady playing him twice a year, that is a huge problem. The Bills recorded only 29 sacks which ranked 29th in the NFL, gave up 30 passing touchdowns which ranked 30th in NFL, and opponents passer ratings against the Bills defense on the season was 90.4, ranking 26th. Expect all of those numbers to lean more in the Bills favor with the addition of Mario.

Changing Minds About Buffalo

The Bills for the past 15 plus years have been a afterthought in the NFL by just about everyone. Every year as free agents hit the market the Bills would sit with their hands in their laps and watch as big name players went to other teams and settle on overpaying for backups or washed up former stars. But with this one move, it has started to change the was a lot of people look at Buffalo. With the Bills picking up a big name, all pro type player who can take a shaky defense and make it one of the best in the league and empty their pockets to do so, it tells other free agents who are looking for new teams on the upswing to call home to give Buffalo a look when they in the past would have looked right past the Bills.

Moving Back In The Right Direction

As everyone knows the Bills have not been in the playoffs since 1999 and over time the drought just keeps getting more and more painful. But with the introduction of Mario wearing a Buffalo hat, there is a buzz around the team that normally screams playoff aspirations. And when this type of buzz is surrounding a team, the fans have reacted. Bills Chief Executive Officer Russ Brandon announced that over 1,400 new season tickets were purchased and over 4,000 season tickets were renewed since the signing of Mario Williams. And now if you go onto the Buffalo Bills website you can sign up to receive a email about when Mario’s new Bills jersey will be on sale. According to Russ Brandon, more than 6,000 people have already enquired about the new jerseys. The amount of national attention the Bills have gotten about the deal has been a breath of fresh air for all Bills fans. After not having any real primetime games on Sunday or Monday night, their chances of picking up at least one game on ESPN or NBC seems much more likely. The deal being broken down on ESPN by Adam Schefter and other analyst who normally wouldn’t be talking about Buffalo is always great to see and reinforces the impact of this deal. Adam Schefter even went as far as comparing this deal as close to the Reggie White to Green Bay deal. It makes looking forward to the 2012 season much more exciting for all Bills fans.

As many teams in the past have told us, winning in the offseason does not always guarantee results on the field but for the Buffalo Bills the signing of Mario Williams isn’t just a step in the right direction, its a giant leap.

by Andrew Isaac

NFL Pro Bowl Predictions

• The game will be utterly meaningless and pointless
• Tim Tebow’s name will be mentioned no less than 15 times
• The Twitter station will be the most exciting part of the game
• The game will break down into a 7 on 7 drill.
• Both teams will top 100 points
• The lineman will not even touch each other
• Aaron Rodgers and the rest of the Packers will slap on a fake smile even though they are dead inside
• Ditto for Ravens and 49ers players
• Matt Forte will score 2 touchdowns and the Bears will let him go
• A old washed up singer no one cares about will perform at halftime
• NBC will promote the hell out of their unwatchable TV shows because this time is cheaper than the Super Bowl
• There will be no Buffalo Bills players playing again.
• Drew Brees will throw for over 700 yards
• The defenses will give up and go lay on the beach after the first half
• NFC will beat the AFC 120 to 107
• I will not watch

Andrew’s 12 Bold Predictions for 2012

12 quick predictions I have for the 2012 year.

1. The Buffalo Bills will draft Heisman trophy winner Robert Griffin III in the 2012 NFL Draft

2. Tim Tebow will struggle and will get benched.

2a. Tim Tebow will file a restraining order against Skip Bayless when Skip gets Tim’s face tattooed on his chest.

3. Lebron James will hit a game winning jumper to win game 7 of the NBA Finals to silence critics.

4. Albert Pujols will struggle in his first year with the Los Angeles Angels.

5. Peyton Manning will start the season as the New York Jets Quarterback after the Jets drop Mark Sanchez.

6. Tiger Woods will win multiple tournaments including a Major.

7. Dale Earnhardt Jr. will win 3 races in Sprint Cup.

8. Sidney Crosby will miss the rest of the 2011-2012 season.

9. A double digit seed will make the Final Four.

10. Dwight Howard will play for the Nets in the 2011-2012 season.

11. The SEC will win their 7th consecutive National Championship in Football

12. The Buffalo Bills will make the playoffs!!! (Hey I can dream right)

Happy New Year!

Another Lost Season

Lost Season.

Words that every Bills fan is sick of.

The countless years of horrible play, bad decisions, and lack of hope has to be wearing on not only the team and the franchise, but the entire city of Buffalo.

I was literally born into the Buffalo Bills. September 4th 1991, right in the middle of the Bills four Super Bowl run that showed some of the best players the franchise has ever seen on the best teams. Kelly, Thomas, Reed, Smith. These names all symbolise a time when a NFL fan would talk about the Bills and not do it while laughing. Actually winning games, making the playoffs and being a all around successful franchise.

Oh how far we are from those days.

As I sit watching the “highlights” from another Buffalo loss this time to the Tennessee Titans, I witness another precious season slip away into the black hole that is a 5-11 or a 6-10 record where the Bills have virtually lived in for more than a decade.

One of the main reasons the Bills have not found any success since the 90’s is the instability at Quarter Back. Todd Collins, Doug Flutie, Rob Johnson, Drew Bledsow, Kelly Holcomb, J.P. Losman, Trent Edwards. Just a few of the names that have been thrown into the Bills Quarter Back mess over the years, none of them having a lot of success.

Being as young as I was when the Bills were in there prime, I can’t remember anything about the seasons and the teams. So my only real memory of the Bills in the playoffs is in the 1999 playoffs against the Tennessee Titans. I don’t remember a lot about the game it starts with a kickoff, a couple laterals, and my dad putting the remote through the wall. How’s that for your only playoff memory of your team.

Watching the Bills attempt to keep up in the NFL for the past 11 years has been painful to say the least. The Bills records over the past 11 seasons have been the most frustrating kind of poor. When a team is not bad enough to break everything down and start rebuilding but not good enough to contend for a playoff birth each year. In 2000 they went 8-8, 2001 3-13, 2002 8-8, 2003 6-10, 2004 9-7, 2005 5-11, the list goes on and on and on for years now with no sign of stopping. This current season looks to be heading in this current trend as well.

What makes this season sting more than a lot of the other ones is how surprisingly well the team started out of the gate playing. They had a confidence and a swagger that I had never seen the Bills have before. They believed they can and should beat the teams that they were playing. They even broke the 15 game losing streak to the hated New England Patriots that spanned 8 years. The offense was flying all over the field, lighting up the scoreboard putting up video game numbers. All while the defense was creating turnovers and doing just enough to keep the team in the game. Coming back from consecutive 18 plus point deficits the Bills got off to a 5-2 start and at one point of the season controlled their own destiny getting back into the playoffs. The Bills and their fans were riding high but everyone involved with the Bills has to have a little voice in their heads warning them to always expect bad things to happen.

One recent season that started like this one was the 2008 season when the Bills started out 5-1 and looked like a actual playoff team. Trent Edwards was playing very good and the defense was playing extremely well. The team has given Bills fans hope again and a reason to really get invested in the team. The teams fast start impressed the head office of the Bills enough to give then head coach Dick Jauron a contract extension. But as quickly as their success came to them is faded just as fast. The Bills went 2-8 in their final 10 games of the season and finished 7-9 for the third consecutive year. But most importantly missed the playoffs again.

So now here we are in 2011. The Bills start the season 5-2 and they look like a possible playoff team. And once again as fast as the success started it faded away. The Bills have lost 5 straight games after the 5-2 start, 4 of the 5 to teams fighting to get into the playoffs, and now own a 5-7 record. Yet again heading towards a 5-11 or 6-10 season.

What is the reason for this teams constant disappointment?

Injurys?

Bad signings?

A curse?

Or could it just be luck?

Each year it seems to be one of these things that is holding the Bills back, keeping them away from returning to the glory days that seem so long ago.

Now I know that the 2011 season is not over for the Bills, they still have a outside chance of making the postseason even if it is a big longshot, but being a fan of this team for 20 years now I have a constant feeling about the Bills.

Hope for the best, but always expect the worst.

by Andrew Isaac