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BigDeal NFL NFC Preview 2009
NFC East
In what is traditionally one of the toughest divisions in the league, all four teams are not without a chance, but all four teams are not without their problems. Dallas are a team loaded with talent, but they seem unable to win games in December and January when they are needed most. I lay the blame on the shoulders of offensive coordinator, Jason Garrett, Garrett doesn't seem to be able to make the neccessary adjustments throughout the season, Helen Keller wouldn't have had difficulty seeing some of the third down plays that were coming at the end of last year. Not for the first time Terrell Owens was kicked out of the City and made the scapegoat for the teams failure. That may prove costly, especially as alot of what the opinionated receiver was complaining about last year was true. This season will be a true test for QB Tony Romo, the owner and the fans will not accept failure, especially in their new multi million dollar stadium. While Dallas has been spending a whole lot of money on a new stadium, the Washington Redskins spent a whole lot of money on aquiring the services of DT Albert Haynesworth from Tennessee. This should prove to be money well spent, because it's defenses that win Championships and in Haynesworth the Redskins have got one of the most imposing defensive players out there. Washington have a good running game and a good receiver in Santana Moss, but have somewhat publicly been on the look out for a new QB, which won't have done present QB Jason Campbell's confidence any good.
The Giants have to recover from the loss of defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo to St Louis. But probably the greater loss is that of Plaxico Burress, who quite literally shot himself in the foot. The Giants imploded after the receiver shot himself in the leg in a New York night club mid way through last season.. Giants QB Eli Manning will no longer be able to rely on his favourite target man as he will be serving time in jail for possesion of his unregistered fire arm.. Not that Eli will be overly concerned as he has signed a new $97m contract.. Not bad money for handing off to one of the best running games out there. Philadelphia are probably still smarting at somehow managing to conspire to lose to Arizona in the NFC Championship game.. They have made some interesting signings of their own, none more so than Michael Vick. I can see Vick being used in a limited role, and new guys OT Jason Peters and rookie receiver Jeremy Maclin are likely to make more of an impact. On the downside for the Eagles they lost their defensive coordinator of forever to cancer through the off season, and have suffered some critical defensive injuries as well.
Conclusion:
An extremely tough one to call, I wouldn't be surprised to see all four of these teams finish within a game of each other.. Because of the price I just give the vote to Washington (6/1 Will Hill) and hope that Jason Campbell can perform.
Prediction: 1. WASHINGTON 2. PHILADELPHIA 3. DALLAS 4. NEW YORK
NFC North
For the second year running the NFC North has spent the entire off season dealing with the media circus that follows the old will Brett Favre stay retired or won't he saga?... The man is quite obviously an ego maniac!.. Last year it no doubt hindered the chances of the Green Bay Packers, this year it is yet to be seen what impact it will all have on his new employers the Minnesota Vikings..
Firstly we'll get rid of the Detroit Lions, the first team in NFL history to go 0-16, there is no chance they can improve enough to get any where near the other three teams in this division, expect them to struggle again. So onto the contenders.. Chicago will be happier than anyone with the goings on in Minnesota, because without the whole Brett Favre 'who ha' then the biggest story of the off season would undoubtably have been the aquisition of Jay Cutler to Chicago from Denver. Cutler is the franchise QB that the Bears have craved for years and they got him for a relatively low price. The entire Chicago offense will benefit from Cutler's arrival so expect big years from 2nd year RB Matt Forte, who is very good at catching the ball out of the backfield, and return specialist turned WR Devin Hestor could also put up some impressive numbers. Rather surprisingly it is Chicago's revered defense that is the unit that will most likely let them down. The 'D' that carried this team all the way to the Superbowl three years ago has shown definite signs of slowing down of late.
The Vikings are a very good team, they can lay claim to having both the strongest offensive and defensive lines in football. The news that Kevin and Pat Williams will miss no time for violating the leagues substance abuse policy is a massive boost. And of course this team has the best back in the league in Adrian Petersen.. So what are the negatives?.. Well there aren't many. They are not blessed with the best receiving group but even that was addressed in the draft, picking up Percy Harvin in the first round... So that leaves the QB position. For me, picking up Houston back-up QB Sage Rosenfels had solved that problem.. But the pursuit of Favre through the off season might have caused more problems than it has solved. Apparently since his arrival there has been a definite split in the dressing room, and whether the old man who has never been a perfect passer in his career is an upgrade on Rosefels or Tavaris Jackson is open to debate. That leaves the Green Bay Packers. This team looks ready to win, loaded with young talent. Favre's successor in Green Bay, Aaron Rodgers, going into his second year as starter looks like a prodigious talent. He has already formed a scary partnership with his primary receiver Greg Jennings and the offense looks primed to put points on the board. The Packers lost a lot of close games last year as their defense regularly let them down. But this is where the Pack look to have improved. Dom Capers has been hired to switch the Packers from a 4-3 'D' to a 3-4.. And the early indications through pre season are that this is working fantastically well.. In about 6 quarters of action the first team defense has been on the field they have come up with phenominal 12 turnovers thanks to the pressure they are applying.. Watch Out!
Conclusion:
This will be an exceptionally difficult division to win with three of the sides expected to go well (Bet365 offer 17/2 this division to provide the Superbowl winner). Because this division will be tight there is little value in siding with any of the teams to lift the divisional honours, but at the same time who ever does come out on top of this division will be in good order to win the NFC. So the 14/1 available for Green Bay to make the Superbowl makes much more appeal than the 9/4 for them to top the division. Whatever happens in this division the two Green Bay-Minnesota match ups will be well worth watching!
Prediction: 1. GREEN BAY 2. MINNESOTA 3. CHICAGO 4. DETROIT
NFC South
Last years NFC South winner, Carolina Panthers, suffered a humiliating defeat to eventual Superbowl Finalists Arizona in the play offs. Quaterback Jake Delhomme turned the ball over an embarrassing six times in the match, including 5 interceptions, if the Carolinans are to return to the play offs Delhomme knows he must protect the ball better than that. The Panthers possess one of the best running attacks in the NFL led by Deangelo Williams and to complement that outstanding wide receiver Steve Smith is back for another year.. The Panthers though have had some early injury set backs on both sides of the ball throughout training camp and look likely fall a little short.
Atlanta surprised many last year to finish with an 11-5 record. Mainly down to the excellence of rookie QB Matt Ryan, Ryan threw a touchdown pass on his very first pass in week one and from that point on never looked back. Ryan's dedication, attitude and undoubted talent suggest he will have a big future in the league and become one of the elite band of QB's. The addition of veteran TE Tony Gonzalez from Kansas City is an excellent pick up, that will only strengthen the already impressive passing attack that includes the formidable receiver Roddy White. If RB Michael Turner and the solid defense can keep up their production then this can be a very good team.
Tampa Bay got rid of John Gruden, their most succesful coach ever, at the end of last season as they threw away a place in the play offs by being surprisingly beaten at home in the final week of the regular season. Raheem Morris, a young DB's coach with little experience is the man trusted with the job of replacing Gruden. Tampa, a team renowned for stockpiling QB's under John Gruden took the unusual step of drafting another QB Josh Freeman with their No.1 pick in this years draft.. There are just too many question marks for me with this team and I will surprised if Tampa finish any where other than the basement. New Orleans look like world beaters offensively, Drew Brees should again pick up a shed load of yards with the arsenal of offensive weaponary at his disposal. But again the question will be 'Will the defense be able to make they key stops when required?'...
Conclusion:
The key to finding the winner of this division is the answer to the last question.. If the Saints could defend, then it would be them who would take all the beating.. But consistently over the last few years they have not been able to, and sometimes you feel their offense doen't help them. They're not the sort of group that churn out the yards giving their 'D' a good rest on the sidelines. So for me the most complete group are the Atlanta Falcons (11/4 Extrabet), who look perfectly balanced in all departments.. Also Tampa look very backable to finish bottom of what should be quite a tough division at 13/8.
Prediction: 1. ATLANTA 2. NEW ORLEANS 3. CAROLINA 4.TAMPA BAY
NFC West
Arizona came so close to winning the Superbowl last year, only two exceptional touchdowns at the very end of each half foiled them. The Cards have managed to keep together the group that went so close, so expect them to be in the mix up in this division again. Seattle look the team most likely to improve this season as they were crippled with injuries last year. A fully fit Matt Hasselbeck (QB), will undoubtably benefit for having new acquistion WR T.J Houshmanzadeh from Cincinnati to throw to.
Mike Singletary, in his first full year as San Francisco's head coach looks like he wants to win games 'Old School'.. Strong defense and a power running game.. Which is as well considering their QB battle has been between Shaun Hill and Alex Smith, neither of which set the pulses racing! To make matters worse, their No.1 draft pick WR Michael Crabtree has still to put pen to paper and sign his contract, meaning he is very unlikely to make any sort of impact for the team until at least the second half of the season. By which time the Niners might just be playing for pride.
St Louis aquired Giants Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo who successfully stifled the near unstoppable New England Patriot juggernaught in Superbowl XLII as their new head coach. He has little to work with though and I'm sure the Rams will be looking just to show signs of improvement.
Conclusion:
Much the same as in the AFC, the West seems to be the weak link in the NFC. Arizona look most likely to win the division for a second consequetive year, but their dodgy defense and lack of a running game still provide cause for concern.
Prediction: 1. ARIZONA 2. SEATTLE 3. SAN FRANCISCO 4. ST LOUIS
PREDICTED NFC SEEDINGS.
1. GREEN BAY
2. ATLANTA
3. WASHINGTON
4. ARIZONA
5. MINNESOTA
6. PHILADELPHIA
Posted: Thursday, September 10th, 2009 @ 03:09 pm by Bigtips admin
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