Three N Out 11/9/2012

So the seasons started and Week 1 is done and dusted, there was definitely a few surprises and some very underwhelming performances. The most important thing though is football is back! Here is a quick look at the weeks results in case you missed any.

Week 1

Thursday 5th September

Dallas Cowboys 24 - 17 New York Giants

Sunday 9th September

Chicago Bears              41 - 21 Indianapolis Colts

Philadelphia Eagles       17 - 16 Cleveland Browns

New England Patriots    34 - 13 Tennessee Titans

Atlanta Falcons             40 - 24 Kansas City Chiefs

Minnesota Vikings         26 - 23 Jacksonville Jaguars (Overtime)

Washington Redskins    40 - 32 New Orleans Saints

New York Jets              48 - 28 Buffalo Bills

Detroit Lions                 27 - 23 St Louis Rams

Houston Texans            30 - 10 Miami Dolphins

San Francisco 49ers     30 - 22 Green Bay Packers

Arizona Cardinals          20 - 16 Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneer  16 - 10 Carolina Panthers

Denver Broncos            31 - 19 Pittsburgh Steelers

Monday 10th September

Baltimore Ravens      44 - 13 Cincinnati Bengals 

San Diego Chargers   22 - 14 Oakland Raiders 

What was the biggest upset of the week?

Without doubt it was the Upset in the Superdome, the New Orleans Saints were beaten by the new look Washington Redskins, rookie QB Robert Griffin III dominated the game and will make all the headlines as he threw for 320 yards, 2 touchdowns and no interceptions, putting up 40 points and out scoring the high flying offence of the saints. The Saints might be trying to recover from the hangover of the bounty scandal but this is a game they should of won. its not the start they would of wanted but it is the perfect start for the Redskins who are part of a tough division in the NFC East where after this performance its clear any of the four teams could make the play off's.  

What are the Big Match ups For Week 2?  

The first game of Week 2 is Thursday night between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay at Lambeau Field. The Bears got off to a great start with their new high scoring offence looking in good form against the colts, the Packers lost Week 1 against the 49ers and will need to bounce back quickly with this NFC north divisional match. The Packers cant afford to be two Wins behind the Bears this early in the season so I expect this game to be one of the best of the week. A few more games to look out for will be the Detroit Lions vs the 49ers, as Matthew Stafford will be hoping for a better performance then week 1 as he goes up against one of the best defences in the NFL in San Francisco. The final game to look out for will be the Baltimore Ravens Travelling to Philadelphia. The Eagles Defence looked superb against the Browns with four interceptions and restricting the browns to only 210 yards on offence, on the other side Mike Vick and the Eagles offence had a game to forget and will need to vastly improve if they are to keep up with the scoring power of the Ravens. The Eagles cant expect their defence to keep Joe Flacco and all his offensive weapons at bay for all four quarters like they could against the Browns.

Where Can I Watch the NFL in the UK?

Sky sports last weeks signed a new 3 year deal with the NFL to show 60 Games this season, including Thursday night and Saturday night regular season games. Liver coverage of the Play Off's and the Super Bowl. They also have access to Redzone on the red button during Sundays games. Redzone gives you the opportunity to not miss any scoring play as it shows uninterrupted Live coverage all the games being played between 6PM and Midnight.

Channel 4 have the rights to the Sunday Night late game again this season, kicking off around 1am Sunday Night/Monday morning it gives everyone in the UK to watch the NFL free of charge. you will also get the chance to see highlights from the earlier games during this broadcast.

New for this season the BBC have signed a deal with the NFL to show Monday Night Football. You can go to BBC one for the Monday Night game and press the Red button to watch the game live, or you can watch it on-line through the BBC sport website. 

There is more opportunity then ever to watch American football in the UK and this can only be a good thing to help promote the sport to a new audience.

Three N Out 3/9/2012

So the season starts in 3 days so its time to preview the season and answer a couple of big question about what is in store for us, lets get to it!

Who is going to the Super Bowl?

The two conferences are very different when it comes to trying to predict who will be in the Super Bowl come February. The NFC is stacked with competition and the AFC is a little more top heavy with only a select few candidates. 

I'll start with the AFC, out of the 16 teams in the conference I believe there's only 3 teams in with a chance. those are New England, Baltimore Ravens and the Houston Texans. the Patriots are probably the favourites with all bookmakers for the AFC but I'm not sure the defence will be good enough to go all the way. there is no doubt it has improved from last year but I am not convinced it has improved enough to keep out the top offences in the AFC, and their offensive line is under performing with so many new faces, protecting Brady maybe a big issue for them this season. The Ravens are solid all around and Joe Flacco is a very underrated QB in the NFL. they also have one of the best running backs in the league and a fast scoring offence when they are on form. everyone knows about the ravens D and how effective there game plans are and I can see them pushing deep into the play offs. The Houston Texans are very close to being a great team. They have a great run game complemented by Matt Schaub at QB and Andre Johnson at WR who make one of the top pairings in the NFL, but its their defence which has improved immensely in the last few seasons and with Peyton Manning leaving the Colts, the Texans should win their division and make the play offs as a number 2/3 seed this will mean the AFC championship game will be New England vs The Houston Texans or the Ravens. In that scenario it would be down to whoever is the healthiest team.

The NFC is far more open, any team that makes the play offs could potentially make the Super Bowl. the strongest teams are the Green Bay Packers, San Francisco and the Chicago Bears. The next tear of teams is stacked with the current champions the New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Atlanta, New Orleans and Detroit. and of these 8 teams can stake a claim for Super Bowl spot this season and that is why I believe this season will the best for a long time. All 8 teams have elite level players but all have flaws. the strongest team in my opinion is San Francisco. Alex Smith isn't the flashiest QB in the league and is probably underrated, They have a great Run game with Frank Gore at RB and that opens up the passing game giving them a very solid and balanced offence making them very difficult to predict. not only do they have a good offence but they probably have the best defence in the league. its quick, athletic and powerful and they are stacked with play makers. its very difficult in a one on one match up to bet against the 49ers. If they make the play offs which they should, I can't see many teams beating them.   

My Prediction for the 2013 Super Bowl is: Houston Texans vs San Francisco 49ers

Who will be the surprise team of the season?

There could be a number of teams who punch above their weight this season. any of the 4 teams in the AFC West are close to breaking out and making the play offs as it is such a close division, The Colts with their rookie QB Andrew Luck could really surprise a few teams this season after their off season overhaul. Tampa Bay have made so many changes they could a team to watch later on in the season as the team begins to gel together but my team to watch will be the Seattle Seahawks. They have one of the best run games in the NFL spear headed by Marshawn Lynch, if he can stay healthy he may have the biggest year of his career. They have also chosen to go with Russell Wilson at QB. he is a very athletic QB with a big arm. if he continues his pre season from into the regular season then watch out. With Sidney Rice, Golden Tate and Braylon Edwards to aim for Wilson also has some talented receivers which make this team very dangerous on offence. There defence has less well known names on it but as a unit they are very solid and make big plays and plenty of turnovers to get the ball back in the hands of their offence. yes they have to play San Fran twice a year and probably wont win their division but if they can rack up 10 wins this season they may scrape in to the play offs, and if they do i wouldn't like to be the team who has to play them in a knock out game.  

 Why Is no one backing the Saints? 

The New Orleans saints have had a pretty bad off season. It all started with 'Bounty Gate' where the whole organisation was put under the media spotlight and taken to court for offering bounties, or bonuses to their defensive players if they could injure specific players on the opposing team, resulting in them leaving the game and giving the Saints an advantage. 4 players have been suspended, the biggest suspension went to Jonathon Vilma who is the Saints starting Linebacker. Vilma was given the whole season to sit out by commissioner Roger Goodell. The Coaches took the brunt of the suspensions, the defencive coordinator Gregg Williams was banned indefinitely as it was his scheme that was brought in to question. Sean Payton the head coach of the saints was suspended for the whole 2012 season, its believed he knew about the bounty program and did nothing about it, so was seen as a guilty party due it being his team. They were also punished by having future draft picks taken away from them.

The whole off season has caused disrupt within the ranks at New Orleans, add to that their star quarterback Drew Brees had on going contract issue and very nearly became a free agent. If they had lost Brees the franchise could of been in even bigger trouble, but in mid July he signed a 5 year $100 million contract and vowed to not let the bounty gate effect the team. With Brees still at the helm of the team its difficult to see why the Saints can't go far this season.

Drew Brees and Sean Payton are almost the same person, they have created an amazing chemistry in New Orleans and every player there has bought into the idea. With Payton suspended for the season Drew Brees will step in and manage the team like the leader that he is and its hard to believe much will of changed from last season. Brees will still throw up massive numbers each week and the defence will still be flying around the field, if anything Bounty gate will motivate this team for the whole season. They will be playing with a purpose, out to prove a point that they are still the Saints from last year if not better.