Paper Pigskin Point Potential 2014 - New England Patriots

This is a series on my 2014 outlook of players you would want to have on your Paper Pigskin team (fantasy football).  What you'll find here are my views based on years of playing experience and countless hours of geeking out researching stats, trends, and film.  I'll advise where to reach and whose hype not to believe.

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS - Passing 255 ypg     Rushing 129 ypg

The talk around the league last season was about the tempo of Philadelphia's offense, when it was actually New England that began the trend (in the NFL) of lining up quick and snapping the ball before the defense gets set.  They ran the second most plays in the league last season, behind the Broncos, which equates to many opportunities for your Paper Pigskin team to acquire points. The injury bug struck this team harshly, forcing Bill Belichick to alter the game plan on a weekly basis; this made it hard to trust any of their players, even Tom Brady, in your lineup.

NFL Week 17 Power Rankings

One week left in the season, let's see how they stack up.

1.  Seattle  No longer invincible at home but still belongs on top. They're going to need to figure out how to loosen up defenses for their run game.

2.  Denver  There shouldn't be a question about who the best regular season quarterback of All-Time is. The defense is hurting for certain, with no signs of improvement.

NFL Brain Dump - Playoff Race of Disgrace

So many teams had a chance to make a statement in week 15 and strengthen their playoff position but failed to capitalize on their opportunities. The top three seeds in the AFC all lost and gave other teams hopes of getting either a playoff bye or home game. Outside of the West division, the top teams in the NFC are falling by the wayside. Now there are teams whose life lines were weak just a week ago, are now revitalized.

NFL Week 16 Power Rankings

Just one new team sneaks in this week. We're heading for an exciting close to the NFL season as teams fight for playoff seeding but in these power rankings, Seattle is back at the top.

1.  Seattle  All we talk about is Seattle's defense but Russell Wilson is a special player. He has yet to lose while playing on his home field. I expect to see him at Met Life Stadium in February.

2.  Denver  No problem scoring points but this defense is just flat out horrible. The winterization of their offense will take away the biggest advantage they have over opponents.

NFL Brain Dump - Injured Feelings

I feel like I should say something about the situation going in Washington regarding their coach and the quarterback that loves to take off and scramble. After all he’s a coach that made a ballsy decision to go with a quarterback at the beginning of a season when nobody had any real idea as to how he would perform. Even after losing this past week, there’s no doubt that the coach chose a leader of men whom in which all of his teammates will go to battle for. This week, his team is on the road in a city that they’ll most likely visit in February. Of course, I'm speaking of the team that plays in Seattle, Washington.

NFL Week 15 Power Rankings

1.  Denver  400 yards and 4 touchdowns versus one of the better pass defenses in the league answered questions about Peyton's play in the cold.

2.  Seattle  Played a gritty game; this is what they do. Barely finished on the wrong side.

NFL Week 14 Power Rankings

Barring a meltdown, NFC championship contenders will have to deal with the 12th Man.

1.  Seattle  Dominant performance. With a 2 game gap, the NFC road to the Super Bowl officially runs through Seattle.

NFL Week 13 Power Rankings

1.  Seattle  The league’s most consistent team up until this point. We’ll see what they’re made of this upcoming week against a team that has an explosive offense as well as good D.

2.  New Orleans  Extremely shaky win at Atlanta, now Drew Brees faces the best secondary in the league.  They’ve had trouble stopping the run all season long. Seattle will give them a heavy dose.

3.  New England  The hard part of their schedule is now out of the way.  Look for them to run the rest of the regular season table. Road to the Super Bowl might have to pass through Foxboro.

NFL Brain Dump - Lights, Cam, Action!

The Carolina Panthers are now seen by many as legit Super Bowl contenders. If you've been reading this column regularly, you know that I was high on them when they were a 1-3 team; they just caught some really bad breaks early in the season. Pat on my back out of the way, most of America just witnessed last Monday night why I was so high on them.

NFL Week 12 Power Rankings

1.  Denver  Reclaimed top dog status in the AFC with huge win over division rivals. Peyton Manning is probably the best at salting games away with a lead.

2.  Seattle  They’ve just ran through competition without a real challenge since the Indy game. They get one after the bye.

3.  New Orleans  Came up big under pressure. They really need to find a run game or else defenses will just tee off on Brees. That balance is needed.

NFL Week 11 Power Rankings

1.  Kansas City With a week to prepare for the Broncos, they have a chance to silence the doubters.

2.  Denver They treated the Chargers like the practice squad and shut it down late in the game.

3.  Seattle They control their own destiny, now Harvin adds some explosiveness to the offense.

NFL Week 10 Power Rankings

A few teams caught some unexpected losses last week but much of the top 10 remains the same. The Colts continue to impress while Seattle and Kansas City are barely escaping.

1.  Kansas City- They get a well deserved week off before a showdown with Denver. They'd be wise to figure out O-line protection so that Alex Smith can exploit a shaky Bronco secondary.

2.  Denver- Let’s see if they’ve fixed the defensive woes during the bye week.  The Chargers will surely test them.

NFL Week 9 Power Rankings

Not much has changed from last week.  Although, the Chiefs, Broncos, Patriots, and Seahawks looked shaky in their wins, none of the previous top 10 lost.

1.  Kansas City   They continue to not lose to the teams on their schedule. It's crazy to see the lack of respect this team as a whole gets because nobody believes in their shoddy quarterback.

NFL Brain Dump: All About Luck

If we didn't learn anything from this past weekend of footballing, we were at least reminded that the games aren't decided on paper, the win has to be earned in between the lines.  Place kickers are often mocked for being lesser men or considered unimportant members of the team.  There also comes a point in time where things that we once perceived to be true have to be disregarded once the facts are eventually presented to us.  In this edition I’ll touch on these points but when it’s all said and done, maybe all that is needed is bit of luck.

NFL Week 8 Power Rankings

My friends over at the The OpinioNation blog releases a weekly "The Strength Of Ten" article which is basically a top 10 version of NFL power rankings. I'm on the panel that comes up with the list, I figured I should share my personal choices that factor into it.  Check there rankings and see how it compares to mine.

NFL Week 7 Power Rankings

My friends over at the The OpinioNation blog releases a weekly "The Strength Of Ten" article which is basically a top 10 version of NFL power rankings. I'm on the panel that comes up with the list, I figured I should share my personal choices that factor into it.  Check there rankings and see how it compares to mine.

NFL Brain Dump: XOXO

I love watching football.  It isn't always about what plays are called, because sometimes passion is what ultimately decides the outcome.

The main thing that I took away from the epic Patriots versus Saints showdown is that Bill Belichick is still a better coach than you, me, Sean Payton, Rob Ryan or anyone else that loves football.  For the most part this season, the Saints have been taking what defenses give them, which have lead to Jimmy Graham taking a lot of yardage and dunking the football over crossbars.  In this game, Bill decided to play along and give Brees whatever he wants EXCEPT for passes to the elite tight end.  This was accomplished by having his best coverage defender shadow New Orleans’ best receiver, seems like a simple concept, it’s surprising that up until now no other coordinator employed this basic tactic which worked so well that Jimmy was held without a catch.  As well as “project shutdown Jimmy” worked, it still wasn’t enough to win the game; the game was decided by heart, mind control, and clutch plays.

Paper Pigskin Point Potential AFC East

This is a series on my 2013 outlook of players you would want to have on your Paper Pigskin team (fantasy football). I'll be organizing them by division.  What you'll find here are my views based on years of playing experience and countless hours of geeking out researching stats, trends, and articles. I'll advise where to reach and whose hype not to believe.

New York Jets  181 passing ypg  119 rushing ypg  (posted August 31, 2013)

QB:  There's no purpose in drafting a Jets quarterback if Mark Sanchez is deemed the starter.  The reasons won't be his 4-year career stats of 55% completion or his 68 touchdown to 69 interception ratio or his 3,000 yards per year average.  The reason he shouldn't be drafted is because Marty Mornhinweg, his new offensive coordinator, runs a vanilla West Coast offensive scheme.  Many teams use WC offense with much success but Marty's version is more evenly balanced between pass and run; this can lead to wins for the real football team but not good for your Paper Pigskin team.  In addition the offensive scheme, there's just not enough receiving talent on this team to help Sanchez pad his stats.  On the other hand, if Geno Smith gets the nod, there's plenty of potential for him to score points due to his running ability. If he does get the start, just know that rushing yards add addition value for QBs.  Use a late round flier on Smith because the game is changing.