A cross-conference matchup between two teams sitting atop their respective divisions, the Seattle Seahawks travel to Orchard Park to battle the Bills this Sunday.
The Seahawks and Falcons are two NFC teams with a decent amount of question marks surrounding them this year. Andersen Pickard previews their Week 1 battle, which is sure to be quite exciting.
The NFL season is a wild roller-coaster ride filled with surprises. Last year, we saw Patrick Mahomes throw for 50 touchdowns and win NFL MVP in his first season. We witnessed star running back Le’ Veon Bell sat out the entire year. We also were surprised to see the Chicago Bears breakthrough in their first season with head coach Matt Nagy, going on to win the NFC North. This year, like every other season, we’ll see another assortment of unexpected events. Here are three bold predictions for the 2019 NFL season.
After taking the New England Patriots to the wire, in the AFC title game two seasons ago expectations were high going into last season, however, after an encouraging 3-1 start it would all end up going completely south. Losing seven straight games, it wasn’t until December that they were able to win another one. Inevitably they would finish 5-11 and in the basement of the division.
In those final 5 games, they were kept under 20 points. Things do seem to be trending in the right direction, however. It began in January when they hired John De Filippo as offensive coordinator, and only two months later Blake Bortles was sent packing after 5 seasons in Jacksonville.
The Buccaneers 2018 season was a roller coaster, to say the least. Jameis Winston started the season suspended so Ryan Fitzpatrick opened the season as the starter. Then, “fitzmagic” happened. They opened the season 2-0 after wins against New Orleans and the then Super Bowl champion Eagles. Once Winston returned, he and Fitzpatrick each traded off the starting role multiple times. After the impressive start, the team stumbled its way to a 5-11 finish, missing the playoffs for the tenth straight year, resulting in the firing of coach Dirk Koetter. Koetter’s replacement is former Cardinals coach Bruce Arians, who has the difficult task of taking this team from the NFC cellar to super bowl contenders.
2018 was a better year than most Seahawks fans probably anticipated. The team set out to run the ball more, and that was exactly what they did by leading the NFL in rushing yards per game with an average of 160 yards. With a much-improved run game, the team didn’t have to rely on Russell Wilson trying to make a play every down behind one of the worst offensive lines in the league. The Seahawks finished the season 10-6, making it their seventh straight winning season and their sixth playoff appearance in that same time frame. While they lost a heart-breaker against the Dallas Cowboys 24-22 in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs, it’s hard to be upset when your team overperforms during the regular season.
The 2018 season was a substantial disappointment in Jon Gruden’s return to the Silver & Black. They stumbled to a 4-12 mark with a few brights spots in an otherwise dismal campaign. Now the calendar has turned and 2019 is a chance to make up for all the wrongs made at the beginning of Gruden’s second tenure as the head man. It also appears to be the final goodbye in Oakland with the move to Las Vegas looming in 2020.
Coming off a mediocre 7-9 record, where they missed out on the playoffs. The injuries hit the Falcons defense hard in 2018, names that included Keanu Neal, Grady Jarrett, and Ricardo Allen. In all Eight players would finish on the IR by seasons end. The team made some big shakeups on the coaching side of things. Letting go of three members of their coaching staff, among them offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian.
Sarkisian never ended up paying off as the replacement to Kyle Shannahan. The Falcons brought back a familiar face in Dirk Koetter to fill the role, Koetter should adapt well into an offense he helped lead to the NFC Championship Game in 2012. Devonta Freeman was a rookie starting behind Steven Jackson the last season, he was in Atlanta. How will they jell together?
The Denver Broncos are coming off a second consecutive losing season, going 6-10, the first time that’s happened to the franchise since 1971-72. The key to their failures over the last two years: coaching. It has been atrocious at best. Bad schemes that consistently misuse players talent, as well as terrible game management, were the ultimate problems that sunk the Broncos last year. After missing the playoffs for the third straight year, under a brand-new coaching regime led by Vic Fangio, the Broncos are looking to right the ship and go back to being a perennial playoff team.
All this off-season I’ve heard about many teams getting into Super Bowl form. The Cleveland Browns, Green Bay Packers, and many others. But one team that had a good offseason and roster that I haven’t seen much of is the San Francisco 49ers. With a good original group that consists of Pro Bowl players like George Kittle, Joe Staley, DeForest Buckner, and the aging but still talented Richard Sherman and other talents like Marquise Goodwin, Matt Breida, Jerick McKinnon, Solomon Thomas, and a solid O-line, the 49ers seem poised for success. Let’s also not forget their franchise quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, their crown jewel. The 49ers added to this impressive group by bringing in Kwon Alexander, Tevin Coleman, and Jason Verrett and trading for defensive end, Dee Ford. The 49ers have, probably, one of the most well-rounded groups and it would be a shock to me if they missed the playoffs.
With a flurry of offseason moves, multiple first-round picks and a move to Las Vegas on the horizon, the one familiar staple within the Oakland Raider organization will be it’s starting quarterback. Going into his 6th season as starting quarterback for the Raiders will be Derek Carr.
With the Steelers trading Antonio Brown in the off-season to the Oakland Raiders for a 3rd and 5th round pick it left fans questioning who will step up?
A cross-conference matchup between two teams sitting atop their respective divisions, the Seattle Seahawks travel to Orchard Park to battle the Bills this Sunday.
The Seahawks and Falcons are two NFC teams with a decent amount of question marks surrounding them this year. Andersen Pickard previews their Week 1 battle, which is sure to be quite exciting.
The NFL season is a wild roller-coaster ride filled with surprises. Last year, we saw Patrick Mahomes throw for 50 touchdowns and win NFL MVP in his first season. We witnessed star running back Le’ Veon Bell sat out the entire year. We also were surprised to see the Chicago Bears breakthrough in their first season with head coach Matt Nagy, going on to win the NFC North. This year, like every other season, we’ll see another assortment of unexpected events. Here are three bold predictions for the 2019 NFL season.
After taking the New England Patriots to the wire, in the AFC title game two seasons ago expectations were high going into last season, however, after an encouraging 3-1 start it would all end up going completely south. Losing seven straight games, it wasn’t until December that they were able to win another one. Inevitably they would finish 5-11 and in the basement of the division.
In those final 5 games, they were kept under 20 points. Things do seem to be trending in the right direction, however. It began in January when they hired John De Filippo as offensive coordinator, and only two months later Blake Bortles was sent packing after 5 seasons in Jacksonville.
The Buccaneers 2018 season was a roller coaster, to say the least. Jameis Winston started the season suspended so Ryan Fitzpatrick opened the season as the starter. Then, “fitzmagic” happened. They opened the season 2-0 after wins against New Orleans and the then Super Bowl champion Eagles. Once Winston returned, he and Fitzpatrick each traded off the starting role multiple times. After the impressive start, the team stumbled its way to a 5-11 finish, missing the playoffs for the tenth straight year, resulting in the firing of coach Dirk Koetter. Koetter’s replacement is former Cardinals coach Bruce Arians, who has the difficult task of taking this team from the NFC cellar to super bowl contenders.
2018 was a better year than most Seahawks fans probably anticipated. The team set out to run the ball more, and that was exactly what they did by leading the NFL in rushing yards per game with an average of 160 yards. With a much-improved run game, the team didn’t have to rely on Russell Wilson trying to make a play every down behind one of the worst offensive lines in the league. The Seahawks finished the season 10-6, making it their seventh straight winning season and their sixth playoff appearance in that same time frame. While they lost a heart-breaker against the Dallas Cowboys 24-22 in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs, it’s hard to be upset when your team overperforms during the regular season.
The 2018 season was a substantial disappointment in Jon Gruden’s return to the Silver & Black. They stumbled to a 4-12 mark with a few brights spots in an otherwise dismal campaign. Now the calendar has turned and 2019 is a chance to make up for all the wrongs made at the beginning of Gruden’s second tenure as the head man. It also appears to be the final goodbye in Oakland with the move to Las Vegas looming in 2020.
Coming off a mediocre 7-9 record, where they missed out on the playoffs. The injuries hit the Falcons defense hard in 2018, names that included Keanu Neal, Grady Jarrett, and Ricardo Allen. In all Eight players would finish on the IR by seasons end. The team made some big shakeups on the coaching side of things. Letting go of three members of their coaching staff, among them offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian.
Sarkisian never ended up paying off as the replacement to Kyle Shannahan. The Falcons brought back a familiar face in Dirk Koetter to fill the role, Koetter should adapt well into an offense he helped lead to the NFC Championship Game in 2012. Devonta Freeman was a rookie starting behind Steven Jackson the last season, he was in Atlanta. How will they jell together?
The Denver Broncos are coming off a second consecutive losing season, going 6-10, the first time that’s happened to the franchise since 1971-72. The key to their failures over the last two years: coaching. It has been atrocious at best. Bad schemes that consistently misuse players talent, as well as terrible game management, were the ultimate problems that sunk the Broncos last year. After missing the playoffs for the third straight year, under a brand-new coaching regime led by Vic Fangio, the Broncos are looking to right the ship and go back to being a perennial playoff team.
All this off-season I’ve heard about many teams getting into Super Bowl form. The Cleveland Browns, Green Bay Packers, and many others. But one team that had a good offseason and roster that I haven’t seen much of is the San Francisco 49ers. With a good original group that consists of Pro Bowl players like George Kittle, Joe Staley, DeForest Buckner, and the aging but still talented Richard Sherman and other talents like Marquise Goodwin, Matt Breida, Jerick McKinnon, Solomon Thomas, and a solid O-line, the 49ers seem poised for success. Let’s also not forget their franchise quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, their crown jewel. The 49ers added to this impressive group by bringing in Kwon Alexander, Tevin Coleman, and Jason Verrett and trading for defensive end, Dee Ford. The 49ers have, probably, one of the most well-rounded groups and it would be a shock to me if they missed the playoffs.
With a flurry of offseason moves, multiple first-round picks and a move to Las Vegas on the horizon, the one familiar staple within the Oakland Raider organization will be it’s starting quarterback. Going into his 6th season as starting quarterback for the Raiders will be Derek Carr.
With the Steelers trading Antonio Brown in the off-season to the Oakland Raiders for a 3rd and 5th round pick it left fans questioning who will step up?
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