Tag Archives: NFL

Football Continuum: Short Predictions for the NFL Wild Card Round (2015)

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Okay, so, it’s time for the NFL playoffs. Some quick thoughts:

  • The Cardinals will beat the Panthers, if there is any justice in the world, since the Panthers shouldn’t even be here, much less at home. Although the fact the Cardinals are on their third QB (as well as the fact the Panthers are at home) does give the Panthers a chance, I don’t see them doing the Seattle thing.
  • The Steelers will beat the Ravens, because they are at home. A cop-out, I know, but sometimes that’s something you have to go with.
  • Indianapolis will beat Cincinnati, because I like Luck more than Dalton.
  • And finally, I think the Cowboys will beat the Lions this weekend. Because if Tony Romo doesn’t go far in the playoffs this year, I don’t think he ever will.

 

Famous for Something Else: Ernie Nevers

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Ernie Nevers is a Hall of Famer in both Pro Football and College Football, a star of the early days of the NFL, and a member of the league’s 50th anniversary and 75th anniversary teams.

But he also had a baseball career, pitching for three seasons for the St. Louis Browns:

Year Age Tm Lg W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB SO HBP BK WP BF ERA+ FIP WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9 SO/W
1926 24 SLB AL 2 4 .333 4.46 11 7 4 4 0 0 74.2 82 41 37 4 24 16 1 1 1 326 96 4.19 1.420 9.9 0.5 2.9 1.9 0.67
1927 25 SLB AL 3 8 .273 4.94 27 5 13 2 0 2 94.2 105 61 52 8 35 22 2 1 5 397 88 4.83 1.479 10.0 0.8 3.3 2.1 0.63
1928 26 SLB AL 1 0 1.000 3.00 6 0 2 0 0 0 9.0 9 4 3 1 2 1 0 0 0 36 146 4.79 1.222 9.0 1.0 2.0 1.0 0.50
3 Yrs 6 12 .333 4.64 44 12 19 6 0 2 178.1 196 106 92 13 61 39 3 2 6 759 93 4.56 1.441 9.9 0.7 3.1 2.0 0.64
162 Game Avg. 7 15 .333 4.64 53 15 23 7 0 2 217 238 129 112 16 74 47 4 2 7 922 93 4.56 1.441 9.9 0.7 3.1 2.0 0.64
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/20/2014.

He also pitched a bit in the Pacific Coast League:

Year Age AgeDif Tm Lg W L W-L% ERA G IP H R ER BB WHIP H9 BB9
1928 26 -3.4 Mission PCL 14 11 .560 4.37 29 206.0 202 108 100 69 1.316 8.8 3.0
1929 27 -1.6 Mission PCL 7 8 .467 4.56 36 148.0 194 92 75 60 1.716 11.8 3.6
2 Seasons 21 19 .525 4.45 65 354.0 396 200 175 129 1.483 10.1 3.3
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/20/2014.

So, that’s the baseball career of Ernie Nevers, another player who is famous for something else.

The Oh-Crud-I-Forgot-To-Write-This-Until-The-Last-Minute Super Bowl Prediction

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By all accounts, the weather in NJ will be fine, so I’m going to go with Manning and the Broncos tonight. Once, in the past, I would have gone with the defensive advantaged team, but the NFL has changed, and that is no longer true. So, advantage Broncos, uhm… 27-24.

For the Super Bowl, here’s George Carlin again with “Baseball and Football”

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This is at least the third time I’ve posted this, but it’s still funny.

Famous For Something Else: Russell Wilson

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As amazing as it seems, I have never had Russell Wilson of the Seahawks as a “Famous For Something Else” entry. Oh, I had a post in which I put up his minor league numbers, but it wasn’t a “Famous for Something Else”. So, without further ado, Russell Wilson’s minor league statistics:

Year Age Tm Lg Lev Aff G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB
2010 21 Tri-City NORW A- COL 32 143 122 18 28 4 4 2 11 4 6 16 36 .230 .336 .377 .713 46 4 4 0 1 0
2011 22 Asheville SALL A COL 61 236 193 40 44 5 4 3 15 15 2 35 82 .228 .366 .342 .708 66 2 7 1 0 0
2 Seasons 93 379 315 58 72 9 8 5 26 19 8 51 118 .229 .354 .356 .710 112 6 11 1 1 0
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/13/2013.

It should be noted that Wilson has not officially retired from baseball. Oh, sure, he probably won’t ever play again (although he has said he might be interested in hanging out with the Rangers next Spring Training to take BP, after they had picked him up in the Rule 5 draft as a publicity stunt), but he still appears on a Major League organization’s depth chart, if only as a “just-in-case” possibility.

Of course, even if he did want to be a two-sport athlete, it’s highly unlikely that he’d be able to pull it off, and not just because of his career .229 BA. The fact is, it’s more-or-less impossible to imagine an NFL quarterback also playing another sport, given both his importance to his team and how involved the QB is to football’s strategies and tactics. Bo Jackson was a running back- important, but not the type of person who needs to know every play in the book. Same goes for Deion Sanders (who, admittedly, always had the NFL as his higher priority except for when his MLB team was in the playoffs), who while an important part of every defense he was in, was hardly as indispensable as a quarterback is to a NFL team.

The only way I could maybe see it happen would be if the QB was a starting pitcher who only worked early in the week. But even that is a bit of a stretch.

Predictions for tomorrow’s AFC and NFC championship games

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Well, here are my predictions for tomorrow’s NFL games. Who will go to the Super Bowl?

  • In the latest super-epic-deathmatch between Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, I think Manning will win. However this isn’t a game between Manning and Brady, it’s a game between the Broncos and Patriots. And that, ultimately, leads to Manning’s problem and tragedy: He could do great, even spectacular, and it still might not be enough if the Patriots just play better. So if the Patriots use their momentum and suddenly-amazing running game to beat the Broncos, don’t be surprised. However, that said, I still like the Broncos in a close one, since the Broncos are a better defensive team than, say, the Colts.
  • Meanwhile, I think the Seahawks will beat the 49ers, because, well, i still don’t see anybody beating the Seahawks at home. I know, that’s a cop-out answer, but when you are this late in the playoffs, sometimes cop-out answers are necessary, since it can be so hard to predict who could win a single random sporting event.

So, there you go, the Seahawks and Broncos will meet in the Super Bowl.

Unless I’m wrong.

Which I probably am.

The Alex Rodriguez Suspension/NFL Prediction Awkward Combination Post

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Okay, so, I was going to make my picks for the NFL playoffs this weekend, but then Alex Rodriguez finally received his steroid suspension from the arbitrator, a one-year ban, which is lower than the 211-game ban MLB had originally given him but still the longest suspension in the history of MLB’s drug program.

So, here are my thoughts on that:

  • Not many people win in this. MLB and Bud Selig have now been shown to have overreached with the 211-game suspension, and also will get bad publicity even as the Hall of Fame vote stuff just starts to settle (on the bright side, Alex Rodriguez won’t see a MLB field in 2014). Rodriguez, of course, misses the entire next season. The MLBPA, although many of it’s members would probably be fine with letting A-Rod burn, has been dealt a defeat, with one of their members being suspended despite a lack of a positive test.
  • Interestingly, the only people who really benefit (besides lawyers) are the New York Yankees themselves. Without having to pay A-Rod next year, they have more money to possibly use in the Masahiro Tanaka sweepstakes.
  • This isn’t over. It’s unlikely the federal courts are going to side with Rodriguez, but it still will keep this story in the public eye. And even after the suspension, Rodriguez will likely try to make a comeback in 2015… wherever he plays. It’s hard to see the Yankees wanting him back.
  • Oh, and guess what? Due to a loophole, Alex Rodriguez will be able to come to spring training. Yankees’ position players must be in camp by February 19! Boy, oh boy!

And now, my thoughts on this weekend’s  NFL playoff games:

  • I’m not going to go against the Seahawks at home, where the stadium has, in the past, caused small earthquakes and gotten to dangerously high levels of noise.
  • I will, however, go against the Patriots and go with the Colts. Maybe it’s the team of destiny the Colts gave last week, or maybe that’s just me.
  • I’m going with the 49ers over the Panthers. After going through Lambeau, Charlotte is probably a cakewalk.
  • I’m going with the Broncos over the Chargers. They just are the better team.

Okay, so, let’s see how well it all turns out to be!

Football Continuum: Short Predictions for the NFL Wild Card Round (2014)

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Okay, so, it’s time for the NFL playoffs. Some quick thoughts:

  • I like the Chiefs over the Colts today. I’m not 100% sure why. Maybe it’s just my gut.
  • I like the Eagles over the Saints. This time, though, I have reasons. For one, it’ll be really cold in Philly, and the Saints don’t do well on the road, so the Eagles definitely have the elements and the crowd on their side.
  • Bengals over the Chargers. I feel like Andy Dalton is going to come into his own as an elite QB during this postseason.
  • I have no idea what might happen in Green Bay on Sunday. It’ll be so cold that weird things could happen, and who knows if Aaron Rodgers is truly “back” yet. So, for lack of a better prediction, I’m just going to say that the 49ers are the better team but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Packers win.

The “Slate” tool to find out the connections between Athletes is WRONG!

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You’ve probably seen this page pop up on your Twitter feed today. It’s a cool thing from Slate in which you can find how sports players are connected. For example, they use the example that Tom Brady and Kevin Garnett are within six degrees of each other, due to playing with people who had played with multi-sport athletes.

However, it is far from perfect. For example, it treats Jim Thorpe as two people (a baseball player and a football player), a grave error considering that he is one of the greatest athletes of all time. For another, there is an outright false statement that is seemingly also built into the tool. And I quote:

Hockey is the opposite, as there has never been a pro hockey player who also played top-level basketball, football, or baseball. As a result, hockey is a closed system. But once you get off the ice, it’s possible to link every pro baseball, basketball, and football star.

This is, of course, completely wrong, as there has actually been one player who played both baseball and hockey on the highest level. In fact, I wrote about him at one point: his name was Jim Riley.

Sadly, as of this writing, author Ben Blatt and Slate have yet to fix this. But, I can’t blame them, can I? I mean, Jim Riley is very obscure, and if not for the fact that he is the one person to play in both MLB and NHL, he would have been completely forgotten.

Still, I hope that they fix it. After all, I want to see how all of the ProStars connect together.

George Carlin: Baseball and Football

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I’ve posted this before, but it’s still a classic, and in honor of the start of the NFL season, I’m posting it again: George Carlin on the differences between baseball and football.