Senior Bowl

Senior Bowl: Day 1
Getting a glimpse on the first practice of the Senior Bowl (on NFL Network). All players were in Shoulder Pads, a helmet, and shorts. I did not get the chance to see the 1st half of practice but got to see the 2nd half.

Hot Players:

Titus Young WR 5-11/175
Boise State

Titus did a very good job in the first practice. In 11-on-11 drills he took a screen to the house breaking two tackles. I think he is very fast in and out of his cuts and could be a very good Slot Receiver in the NFL.

Ryan Kerrigan DL 6-4/263
Purdue

If you have not seen this man out of Purdue play he is phenomenal. Pass rush wise he has the size to contribute on either side of the line. Although he is a bit stiff in the hips, which doesn't make him a threat to turn the corner. On run defense, he works very hard to work down the line if runner get away from him. He looked very good today in 1-on-1 drills with offensive lineman Nate Solder, getting off the line quick and causing a fumble.

Not So Hot Players:

Jeremy Beal DL 6-3/267
Oklahoma

Jeremy struggled in the first practice today. He was being corrected many times in practice by the defensive line coach. We will see if he has a better day tomorrow for the North Squad.

Jake Locker QB 6-3/230
Washington

One of the big names in this year's draft, struggled a little bit today though. He threw a pic in 7-on-7 drills today ,he didn't look too bad, in my opinion he is in the top 3 of the quarterbacks in this years' draft.

Stay Tuned for my 1st Mock Draft I will be making coming soon. And every day on NFL Network is the North and South team practices, along with the daily recap show of the senior bowl practices every evening.

Posted by Brandt Boren, associate writer for From the Cheap Seats.

A Rising Star

Ok so how many people saw Aaron Rodgers completely torch the Falcons last night? So not a big surprise as this guy is turning more and more into an elite quarterback, and in my opinion he is already there! I've been a Rodgers fan ever since he took over the reigns from Brett Favre and been rooting for him ever since. You can't help but love the way he plays, reminds you alot of his "Mentor" Favre. The guy can make plays both with his feet and with his arms and on any given play their offense can go from one end of the field to the next with James Jones and Greg Jennings as their deep threats. He's one of my favorites to watch on tv just because he makes great throws, big plays in big situations, and has a ton of fun doing it. Last night was one of those nights where everything was clicking right. Rodgers was 31-36 for 366 yards, 3 TDS, ran for one and had a passer rating of 136.8. his 86.1 passing percentage is second all time for a 300 yard passer in a playoff game, behind Kurt Warner. What a performance! this one is going down as one of the greatest playoff performances by a quarterback in NFL history. The Falcons came in as the clear favorite after wrapping up the number one seed in the NFC during the regular season, but Mr. Rodgers proved it takes more than just a number one seed to beat his team. Rodgers said in his post game interview that "It was one of those nights", "I felt like I was in the zone". If this is any indication of things to come for the Packers they must be really excited for the rest of the postseason. They have been in the zone the past four games, executing with precision and leaving those who have stood up to them in the dust. As it sits now it looks like they will play the Bears in the NFC Championship game next week who I believe they will handle with ease and punch their ticket to Dallas. Where I see them playing the New England Patriots barring any upsets. The last time the Packers played the Patriots they were without Rodgers, who was sitting out after a concussion the week before, and lost 31-27. Matt Flynn's inexperience showed at the end of the game when the Packers were driving and he couldn't run the two minute offense as effectively as Rodgers would have. If thats how this season ends up I like the Packers chances up against Brady and co.
Whatever the outcome is I can't say enough about this season and postseason that Aaron Rodgers has had, he's really developing into a stud quarterback and this is only the beginning. This guy is going to win multiple Super Bowls and the first one could be this season.

Divisional Matchups

We're on the eve of another NFL playoff weekend with the divisional playoff games taking place this weekend. It's going to be another exciting weekend in my opinion. In the AFC how much better does it get than the Steelers and the Ravens and the Patriots and the Jets? The Steelers-Ravens matchup is going to be another physical matchup as it always is. I like Big Ben in this one though, the guy is just too good, he's a winner and always finds a way to win, not to mention the solids defense the Steelers have to go along with a solid offense. On the other side you have a solid quarterback in Flacco and a great Ravens defense, but I just can go against the Steelers, everytime there in these type of situations the find a way to win and when you look at this matchup the Steelers have won the last 6 matchups. I like the Steelers in this one 17-14 over the Baltimore Ravens.


Now lets move to the matchup between the trash talking team aka New York Jets and the New England Patriots. This is a highly anticipated game, mainly because all of the trash talking that the Jets think they have to do before every big game they play, especially against the Patriots, since they all hate Tom Brady. They can do all the talking they want thats not going to change the outcome of this game. Dont get me wrong the Jets might give them a good first half but once again it Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and the New England Patriots, one of the hottest teams in the NFL since their lost to the Browns back in October. This team will refuse to lose and they have one of the winningest and the best quarterback in Tom Brady leading them through another battle against the overly confident Jets. I'd love to see the Jets go into Foxborough and take care of the Patriots before they make their run to yet another Super Bowl, but I just don't see that happening. The one team I believe that can beat them is the Pittsburgh Steelers who they are more than likely going to see next week in the AFC Championship game. Sorry New York I think it's going to take one more building year before we can get you into the Super Bowl, I like the Patriots (hard to say) in this one 35-17.


Moving on to the NFC, we have some interesting matchups taking place in this conference as well, also on the verge of a Chicago-Green Bay NFC Championship(which I believe will happen). First off we have Aaron Rodgers and the Packers up against Matty ice and the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons have been the top team all season long in the NFC and they have a well rounded squad. There have been several games though, about 5 or 6 where they have escaped with a win. Don't get me wrong Matt Ryan is turning into a very good quarterback and it's hard to bet against him, they have a solid defense, lead by a solid defensive line, and a good coach in Mike Smith. As much as I want to see them win it's hard to go against my boy Aaron Rodgers. The Packers have been on a roll as of late and have alot of momentum coming off the wildcard win at Philadelphia. Momentum plays a large part in the playoffs and can propel a team passed a tough opponent. Both quarterbacks are turning into some of the best in the league but if i'm looking at who is going to make more big plays i'm going to have to go with Rodgers, he can do it with both his arm and his legs and it's hard to to go against that. Look for their defense to play yet another good game after shutting down Michael Vick for most of last week's game, Clay Matthews and gang will be on their toes against Ryan, Roddy White, and Michael Turner but I believe they will put the ball back in Rodgers' hands and let the offense make the big plays. I like the Packers to win a close one 20-17.

The other matchup in the NFC is the surprising Seattle Seahawks up against the Chicago Bears. No one expected the Seattle Seahawks to be here but after upsetting the Saints behind Matt Hasselbeck and Marshawn Lynch here they are. This is a very scary matchup for the Chicago Bears. The Seahawks are coming off a huge upset win over the New Orleans Saints and have nothing to lose in this one after not even expecting to be here.
I think a big portion of this game lies in Jay Cutler's hands, its up to him to be smart and not turn over the ball, manage the game and they will win. If he forces throws and tries to do too much giving the ball back to Matt Hasselbeck, who is playing in his 11th playoff game, the Bears could be in trouble. There is no doubt the Bears have a huge advantage over the Seahawks, were just going to see if Cutler can manage the game. With Matt Forte emerging late in the season they should look to control the clock behind the run game and let their solid defense control the Seahawks streaky offense. When you have Jay Cutler as your quarterback you can never tell which person is going to show up for the game. I think he's going to realize whats at stake and get his mind right to take care of the hawks. I'm not going to say this is going to be an easy one, Seattle knows they have a chance and beat them once already this season. With that being said i'm taking the Bears to beat the Seahawks 20-13 in a close one to move onto the NFC Championship game to face the Green Bay Packers.

2011 NFL Playoffs: Day 2

On day two of the wildcard weekend in the NFL playoffs we have two pretty good matchups. The early game features the exciting Kansas City Chiefs against the solid Baltimore Ravens. This is an interesting matchup in my mind, when you first look at this matchup on paper it should be an easy game for the Ravens but I really think the Chiefs have a decent chance on pulling this one off. Although the Ravens are playing away at the "loudest" stadium in the NFL, Arrowhead stadium, you have to believe this veteran defense will be ready for anything. The main concern for the Ravens is their up and down offense this season. Joe Flacco is the key to a Baltimore win, as of late he has been putting up sub par numbers and has failed to pass for more than 200 yards the past three games. The running game has been hot and cold all season with Ray Rice not having the type of season he had last season, after ranking in the top 5 in rushing last season the Ravens are 14th in the league. In order for the Ravens to win this game they will have to be able to score, because we know the Chiefs will find a way when they have the ball. The Chiefs lead the league in rushing and average nearly 350 yards a game of offense. They are lead by Jamaal Charles, who is second in the league in rushing, who at any given time can break open a long one. Dwayne Bowe has an NFL best 15 touchdowns and has been Cassel's deep threat all season long. Although the Chiefs defense is young they find a way to make plays, the team is really counting on them to cut down the big plays and get the ball in the offenses hands. It's going to be interesting for sure the Ravens try to control the game when the ball is in their hands and the Chiefs are a score heavy offense. The big battle in this one is between the Chiefs offense and the Ravens defense, you know Ray Lewis and Ed Reed are going to be ready for anything! This is going to be a good one for sure but i'm going with the underdog Chiefs to pull this one out 24-17.



The later game today features one of my favorites Aaron Rodgers and the Packers up against Michael Vick and the Eagles. Besides the Jets and the Colts this is another highly anticipated games of the weekend. Look for this to be a high scoring game with alot of excitment. On one end you have michael vick and desean jackson leading the way for the eagles up against clay matthews, charles woodson and the rest of the leathal packers defense. On the other side you have Aaron Rodgers and the Packers' aerial attack matched up against a somewhat questionable eagles defense. Should be an exciting one and one i'm looking forward to watching from start to finish! Last year the packers put up 45 points in their playoff loss to the cardinals, look for this one to be the same. I like the Packers in this one to prevail with a 41-35 victory over the eagles.

Yesterday we had great games! and look for today to be the same! I'm short on time so I couldn't go into much detail with the second game, so sit back and enjoy the playoffs!

2011 NFL Playoffs: Day 1

Alright so the weekend we've all been waiting for is finally here!! Wildcard Weekend, the start of the NFL playoffs. It's been awhile since i've even been on here but I'm going to start writing much more frequently, so I encourage you to subscribe and help me out with interesting topics we can talk about and debate on! So to we get to see two decent looking games Seattle vs. New Orleans and New York(Jets) vs. Indianapolis. In the first matchup of the day the big question is the Saints run game. With Pierre Thomas and Chris Ivory both on IR it's up to Reggie Bush to carry the load for the Saints. This makes this matchup much more interesting than just the 7-9 Seahawks up against the defending champ Saints. New Orleans is traveling to Qwest Field which is known to be one of the loudest stadiums in the NFL, although the Saints are used to these kinds of situations it still could play a factor in the game. If the seahawks D is able to keep from giving the saints the deep plays downfield that have a potential shot at this game, atleast keep it close. Matt Hasselbeck is listed as the starter and he has plenty of experience being the underdog in the playoffs and making plays for his team, although his age could get the best of him and we could potentially see Charlie Whitehurst in this one. Drew Brees is one of the top quarterbacks in the league and thrives in the big games, I just don't see him letting the 7-9 Seahawks get in the way of a deep run in the playoffs. Look for the saints offense to throw the ball deep and early in this game to take advantage of the poor Seahawks' secondary and Brees and Payton manage the game even with Bush and Jones carrying the load at running back. At times the game might look close but the Saints pull away with a 24-13 victory over Seattle.




The second matchup of the day is probably one of the more anticipated games of this weekend, the New York Jets vs. the Indianapolis Colts. We both know that last year the Colts ended the Jets run to the super bowl by beating them out in the AFC championship game. This year the the Jets are looking for revenge and it's shaping up to be one of the best games of this playoff season. We know what the Colts are going to bring to the table, PEYTON MANNING and a great passing attack, and Dwight Freeney and a solid pass rush on defesne. The Colts have been hit by a number of injuries on both sides of the ball this season but have still managed to crawl their way into the playoffs. Look for the Colts to use their vertical game with Wayne, Tamme, and possibly Blair White who has emerged due to the injuries to be a reliable target for Manning against the Jets. Their backfield has been depleted due to injuries but will have both Joseph Addai and Donald Brown for this one, both have the ability to come out of the backfield and catch outside passes and screens which could turn into a big asset for the Colts based on the Jets strong secondary. For the Jets it's the same old story, which Mark Sanchez will show up? All season long when Sanchez plays well the Jets win, when he gives a poor performance they lose. He's proven he can win but his inconsistance this season raises questions, he has been playing decent as of late we just wonder how much of this will carry into the playoffs. Him and Santonio Holmes,Braylon Edwards, and Dustin Keller should be watering at the mouth right now, the Colts secondary is depleted and lacks talent. This has been a big problem for their Defense all season long, with the deep threats the Jets have they should have no trouble finding their way into the endzone through the air. Shonne Greene and Ladanian Tomlinson are going to play large rolls in the running game, as well as, the passing game given their ability to makes plays out of the backfield. The X-factor is the Jets special teams, their return game can make plays at any given moment and look for Brad Smith to come up with a big play in this one. We know the Jets will have their hands full with the great Peyton Manning and this game is looking to be a shootout, if the Jets offense can keep up with Peyton Manning and the defense and specail teams can come up with some big plays they win this game. I like the Jets over the Colts in a close one 31-28.

So who do yall got winning today? post and comment! lets debate!! look for another preview and predictions for tomorrows games.