NFL playoffs prediction: Colts win again

The start of 2010 means New Year’s resolutions and a fresh start for everybody. For us sports fans it means the NFL playoffs and the road to the Super Bowl. It also is time for each fan to give predictions for the Playoffs. Here is my insight.

Wildcard Round

Game: New York Jets at Cincinnati Bengals: Bengals 27, Jets 13

Spin: In my opinion, this is the easiest game to predict in the playoffs. Rookie quarterbacks typically don’t fare well in the playoffs, especially one with 12 touchdowns and 20 interceptions like March Sanchez. The Bengals defense will force Sanchez into at least three interceptions.

Game: Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots: Patriots 24, Ravens 17

Spin: The Patriots are banged up going into this matchup, though I still think they will win. Tom Brady has had numerous small injuries throughout the year, but the loss of Wes Welker is the biggest blow to the Patriots. The Ravens need a big game from their defense and Pro-Bowl running back Ray Rice to win, but I think they will come up short.

Game: Green Bay Packers at Arizona Cardinals: Packers 35, Cardinals 24

Spin: The Packers are hot, winning seven of their last eight to finish the season, including a 33-7 win against the Cardinals in week 17. Both teams flaunt high scoring offenses. The Packers are led by Aaron Rodgers and Donald Driver; the Cardinals have Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald. The Packers solid defense, led a secondary featuring Charles Woodson and Nick Collins, will make the difference.

Game: Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys: Eagles 30, Cowboys 27

Spin: What’s the old saying? Can’t beat a team three times in a season? I think this is the case for the Eagles who have lost twice to the Cowboys this year. Quarterback Donovan McNabb has lots of playoff experience, and he should have a good game. Tony Romo will struggle in the playoffs again for the Cowboys sending Dallas fans into hysteria.

Divisional Playoff Round:

Game: Cincinnati Bengals at San Diego Chargers: Chargers 31, Bengals 13

Spin: If you thought that the Packers were hot, then the Chargers are something else. They’ve won their last eleven games and will continue that streak. The Bengals defense won’t have as much success against Philip Rivers and the Bengals offense will struggle as well.

Game: New England Patriots at Indianapolis Colts: Colts 35, Patriots 34

Spin: How many times will we see Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady in the playoffs? Well, at least one more as Brady and co. will travel to the dome in Indianapolis to take on the Colts. This game will be a shootout as neither team has a great defense. The winner of this game typically wins the Super Bowl; I like the Colts.

Game: Green Bay Packers at Minnesota Vikings: Vikings 31, Packers 27

Spin: Vikings vs. Packers round 3. Remember the old rule that you can’t beat a team three times in a year? Disregard that for this game as I like the Favres to beat the Packers for the third time this year. Both teams have really good defenses, but the offenses are the story of this game. A late touchdown pass from Favre is the difference for Minnesota.

Game: Philadelphia Eagles at New Orleans Saints: Eagles 23, Saints 17

Spin: Many people think the Cowboys are going to take down the Eagles, but I have the Eagles winning two games in the playoffs. The combination of blitzes will have Drew Brees confused and the Eagles will hold the Saints to just 17 points. Out of the top four seeds, the Saints look the weakest as they are losers of three straight.

Conference Championships:

AFC Game: San Diego Chargers at Indianapolis Colts: Colts 38, Chargers 27

Spin: Another shootout in the AFC, but Philips Rivers can’t keep up with Peyton Manning. The Chargers have knocked out the Colts the past two years, but not this year. The Colts are no longer unbeaten, but they have their players healthy. Neither team can run very well, so the quarterback position becomes even more important. Edge: Colts.

NFC Game: Philadelphia Eagles at Minnesota Vikings: Vikings 30, Eagles 17

Spin: The Eagles are trying to repeat what their Pennsylvania friends (the Steelers), have done in the past: win the Super Bowl as a six seed. The Vikings are at home, where the whole team plays better. The Eagles can’t run the football, while the Vikings have Adrian Peterson shoving the ball down their throat. Peterson is the difference as he runs for 150+ yards.

 Super Bowl XLIV

Game: Minnesota vs. Indianapolis Colts (in Miami): Colts 34, Vikings 28

Spin: Brett Favre decided to come back for another year and it was a good decision. He made it to the Super Bowl, but will come up short. Favre throws for three touchdowns in his final game, but Peyton Manning and the Colts are able to overcome this and win. The Vikings run the ball better than the Colts, but the Vikings can’t cover Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark. Colts win a close won to capture a second Super Bowl in four years.

Lovie, Bears are underachieving

It seems like just yesterday that the Chicago Bears got Jay Cutler and seemed poised to make a playoff run. It is now week 14 in the NFL and the Bears are 5-8, third in the NFC North because the dreadful Lions are still in their division. Cutler has not even been close to what Bears fans expected when they traded Kyle Orton and first round draft picks in the 2009 and 2010 drafts. Instead, the Bears got a gunslinger who has a laser arm, but takes too many chances with the football. This is why Cutler leads the NFL with 22 interceptions.

After the Bears beat the Steelers in week two for the first win and won the next two games, it appeared as if the Bears were in good shape. Then they went on to lose seven of their next nine games. They lost big (45-10 to the Bengals and 41-21 to the Cardinals), they lost close (21-14 to the Falcons and 10-6 to the 49ers), and they lost to their division rivals in the Packers and Vikings. The two wins during this span came against teams just as bad or worse as the Lions: Rams (1-12) and Browns (2-11).

When a team is struggling and has as much talent as the Bears do, the head coach is always going to be on the hot seat. For the Bears, that coach is Lovie Smith. After this stretch of poor plays by the Bears, fans have begun calling for his job.

Like all head coaches, he has had his share of ups and downs. In 2006, he led the Bears to their first Super Bowl since they won it in 1985. After that, it has not been so pleasant for Smith and the Bears. They finished 7-9 and 9-7 since the Super Bowl lost to the Colts, though they were expected to do a lot better with the dominant defense they had. After another year in which they underachieved, there is a good chance that Smith will not be back for another year.

Since Jay Cutler was the big signing during the offseason, most of the blame has been centered towards him for the Bears. Though he has not played well, the defense is also a big reason why the Bears are just 5-8. No longer the menacing defense that they were in the past, the Bears have been hurting since the loss of Brian Urlacher for the year. Three times this year Chicago has given up over 35 points and they have given up 291 points already this year. Consider the dominant defense the Bears had during their Super bowl year when they allowed 209 points the entire season.

The Bears have tried to change their identity as a team this year. Rather than rely on running and defense as they had in the past, they put their squad in the hands of a gun-slinger-Jay Cutler. This has not worked well at all and maybe next year they will go back to their past identity.

Bulldogs season falls short

Riverside Brookfield varsity football season came to an end on Friday night, facing of against playoff rival Hubbard in the opening round of Class 6A playoffs.

During the first drive of the night, the bulldogs marched down the field with a powerful drive until being stopped by a turnover of downs at the inside of the greyhounds’ 25 yard line.

With a momentum boost from the big fourth down stop, Hubbard went on to score 14 unrivaled points and took control of the game until the second quarter when quarterback Billy Vandemerkt scored on a quarterback draw to cut the lead to 14-6. However Hubbard came right back with a field goal before the half to make it 17-6.

In the start of the second half Hubbard took off on the run game. With a couple of touchdowns the greyhounds strengthened their commanding lead by making it even bigger at 30-6. The bulldogs’ power defense could not stop the power house run game of the greyhounds having let up over 400 yards.

The dogs couldn’t get anything going on the offensive side of the game with a season low of 115 yards in the air; it just wasn’t enough to spark the offense.

The dogs finished the season at 6-4 overall and 5-1 in conference, sharing the conference title with Fenton.

With a highlight season from many players this year including Mark McDonagh’s 165 receptions not only sets a state record but a national record as well. With a season coming to an end wide receiver Mark McDonagh said “It was a fun year and I’m glad I could spend it with my teammates and coaches; it was a year I will remember for the rest of my life.”

Although they are losing many key players due to graduating this year, the bulldogs are already preparing and getting set for next season.

Football lives on in pickup games

On November 7, the second week of Indian Garden’s football kicked off. This group of 11 Bulldogs and one friar engaged in some hardcore football, even drawing blood. The students used the lines from a soccer field as boundaries with goal lines marked off by cones.

The teams were picked by Captains Vince Varbaro and Ted Radek. Team Bag-o-Donuts consisted of Varbaro, Alex Kavouriaris, Christian Hitt, Paul Beckett, Ian Robertson, and Tommy Gilbert. Team Tommy D consisted of Ted Radek, Tommy Doherty, Ben Johnson, Jeremy Fong, Ivan Garcia, and Alex Magdic.

The game kicked off around 2 o’clock with a lot of miscommunication because of two touchdowns in three plays. The Kavouriaris and Hitt connection was seemingly unbeatable with four touchdowns through the air. Hitt was clearly the sleeper in this draft – second to last pick.

Although the defense was rocky at first, Bag-o-Donuts picked up in the end with big tackles out of Robertson and Beckett. Robertson Kavouriaris both had rushing touchdowns as well.

Despite Bag-o-Donuts effort it was no match for Team Doherty’s wildcat offense. With  Doherty taking the snaps, lead blocking by Radek and Johnson, the run game was truly unbeatable. Doherty had a career day with six rushing touchdowns and one passing touchdown.

But the play of the day must be credited to Magdic forcing Beckett to fumble going into the end zone. That takeaway set up the game winning pass-and-catch between Doherty and Garcia for a Team Doherty victory 7-6.

What to be thankful and not thankful for at RB

As Thanksgiving approaches, people begin talking about what they are thankful for. Here is what students and staff should and should not be thankful for at RB in the upcoming weeks:

What to be thankful for:

New facilities and the end of construction. I’m pretty sure everyone in the school is relieved that every hallway is open and the construction is over. This also means there are new facilities that make everything easier. The field house, the new weight room, and the new swimming pool enhance the athletics at RB.

Football. Fans of any football team can agree on one thing: Thanksgiving is for football. The Thanksgiving weekend gives football fans the opportunity to watch the sport all weekend, highlighted by the annual NFL games on Thanksgiving.

Skyward: The new Edline has sure been a hit at RB. This online grade book is more updated and more visual-enhancing. The calendar on Skyward allows students to see what grade they got on each assignment. The gradebook mode shows students what overall grade they are getting in each class, and the message center is also very simple.

Thanksgiving break: This is always one of the best breaks of the year, but then again, what break isn’t great? Thanksgiving break is filled with food and family, and is a great holiday. This four day weekend is always needed for students and teachers alike.

What not to be thankful for:

Finals after winter break. Since we started school later than usual, RB had to change a few things. One of these things included having Finals after winter break rather than before. This makes winter break a little less enjoyable because rather than having no work to do over the break, students have to study for their finals.

Cold weather. When Thanksgiving arrives it brings with it some winter weather. Few people enjoy going outside in freezing weather to shovel paths or to warm up the car.

AP classes: This could go either way, but it lands on the not thankful list. This is the time of year when AP classes tend to start getting to students, and the homework load is very time consuming.

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving: In the past, this was a day students could be thankful, but not this year. Because of the construction, this is a mandatory school day, rather than an extra day off. This is the second year in a row that school has been in session on this day; last year was because of the flood.

Bulldogs hope for upset in first round

With a victory under their belt from a 24-12 win against the Ridgewood rebels, the Bulldogs are going into the playoffs looking to strike again. 

The Bulldogs started the season by packing into the buses and heading down to face the Metamora Redbirds. In the Bulldogs’ first game, they managed to throw up 41 points against the Redbirds who went on to be second in state. Even with the impressive show of offensive force the Bulldogs fell with an end score of 52-41. 

The bulldogs then faced the Nazareth Roadrunners at home. The bulldogs misfired that night and lost in a crushing defeat of 51-7. 

After being routed, the bulldogs went into their third game against Robeson looking to get their first game the season.  The Bulldogs came out firing on all cylinders and crushed the Robeson Raiders 65-26. 

After this victory things were looking up for the Bulldogs as they headed into week four, which was the start of the conference play. In a surprise upset, the bulldogs lost to the Fenton Bison, in an upset of 33-22. 

Since that day, the bulldogs have gone undefeated and ended up with a record of 6-3. The Bulldogs now face the playoffs. Leading the offense is senior Mark McDonagh who has not only broken tackles for touchdowns, but also almost every single receiver record in the state. The Bulldogs will now face their first opponent, Hubbard, this Friday at Gately Stadium in Chicago. 

The Bulldogs are confident for this game, “We got a good draw,” said quarterback Billy VandeMerkt.  Billy has completed 237 passes this season for 2648 yards, and averages 294.2 yards per game. The Bulldogs are looking to strike fast, and score points and then let their stellar defense take the field. 

The Bulldogs are going to be playing Hubbard, a team that has gone through the season as 7-2 and is ranked six while the Bulldogs come in a eleventh with a record of 6-3. 

If the Bulldogs can beat Hubbard, they will either be playing ranked three Chicago Robeson who the Bulldogs beat 65-26 or the Crystal Lake who is ranked tenth. 

The Bulldogs are excited and ready to strike on both sides of the ball. When the bulldogs have won it was due greatly to the defense who in their six wins let up less then ten points per game. “When everyone does their job we play well, which leads to a more aggressive attitude,” said senior defensive tackle Vince Arvis. When the Bulldogs lose however they lose big [averaging about 45 points per game let up]. 

 They key to a Bulldogs Victory is for them to get up early, and get points on the board. When the Bulldogs win they have outscored their opponents 221-55. If the season is going to be any indication of the game expect the bulldogs to up at least 32 points, in what will prove to be a shoot out as Hubbard is averaging a total of 31 points per game. 

The Hubbard Greyhounds are led by quarter back Quincy Skanes and rusher Jerome Laseter. 

Hubbard is by no means the toughest team they have met all year, but it’s not going to be a walkthrough. The Bulldogs are going to have to bring it all together to advance into the next round.

Get that camera out of my face! Why RBTV needs to relax on the sidelines

Nothing can compare the energy you get from running through the huge banner on a cool Friday night onto the football field. All the players are pumped up and ready to play; they’re jumping around and shouting like crazy. Then they make their way to the sidelines, where they experience one of the biggest buzz kills of all time: having a gigantic TV camera shoved into their face right before the opening kickoff.

Football is a sport that requires a great amount of focus and concentration, and it’s infuriating when you’re trying to discus tactics with one of the coaches or cheering on your teammates while some guy is pressing a video camera as close as he can legally get to your face without getting charged for harassment.    

“They come right up into your face and distract you from the game,”said junior football player Zach Sollinger. “They should stay off the field and stand where they belong: with the cheerleaders.”

RBTV has had a fair amount of success at various competitions. In the last eight years, RBTV has won at least one 1^st place trophy for a TV program at the Hometown USA Video Festival. In the 2007 festival, they won a total of seven 1^st place trophies. Needless to say, we have a talented TV station.

“If you’ve ever watched a college or NFL game on TV, you’ll notice that they use sideline cameras,” said TV production teacher Gary Prokes. “In order to completely cover the game, it’s necessary to have cameramen on the sidelines.”

However, I just can’t stand watching a football game when the only sound coming out of my TV is the announcers. I don’t know much about video cameras, but I do know that the cameras broadcasting the RB football games cannot pick up any sound whatsoever. You can’t hear the crowd shouting, the cheerleaders cheering. You can’t even hear the referee blow his whistle. And when I see a close up (and I mean an extreme close up) of a player on the sidelines, I see his lips moving, but there is hardly any sound.

It is reasonable for the station to want to cover the football game as well as they possibly can, but you seldom see professional cameramen doing close ups of the players to the extent that the RBTV cameramen do. It doesn’t do RBTV justice and it shatters the players’ concentration. It would be more desirable for the cameramen to stand apart from the players and take some sideline shots, but do it in a manner that won’t make the entire team feel like they’re being stalked.

It’s not like player close-ups are a vital part in successfully covering RB football games. Sideline cameras are meant to add a bit of interest for the viewer and impress the TV audience with the numerous camera views. Unfortunately, RBTV sideline cameras accomplish neither of those goals.

Cutler – the man with a plan

3-1. A winning record. Two comeback victories. I would say that Jay Cutler’s performance has been good enough. Yes, the Green Bay game is still fresh in people’s minds. The four interceptions and lone touchdown that night will resonate for a while. But after beating two good teams in comeback fashion (yes, the Seahawks are good), Cutler has justifiably redeemed himself in the public eye of Chicago’s harsh fans.

It’s funny that we all get worked up over the summer for a guy that has yet to reach the postseason in his career, or rank among the top 10 quarterbacks in QB rating. Then we mount all these expectations to go along with his suddenly growing legend, all before he ever puts on a Bears uniform. In the preseason he was, for the most part, impressive. The expectations grew even larger and the Bears were Sports Illustrated’s pick to win the NFC.

Then came the first actual football game of the regular season, one that the Bears were expected to compete in. Cutler was awful, and the same goes for the rest of the team. If you had logged on to Facebook that night you would have seen the choice words that were used ever so “politely” to describe our lovely starting quarterback. With such comments from the common, irate fan as, “We traded Kyle Orton and a first round draft pick for this guy?” and “We want Orton back!” things were not shaping up for Cutler.

But the great thing about Cutler is….he just doesn’t care. Trailing late in the games against Pittsburgh and Seattle, Cutler rounded up his troops and just played football. The shoulder shrug he often sports around the field late in games is what puts a capper on his whole demeanor. The aura that Cutler gives off is something of great interest to most Bears fans.

And even if the Bears (3-1) happen to falter Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons (3-1) and Cutler isn’t quite as good as “Mattie Ice” Matt Ryan, there is no cause for concern among Bears fans. Let us rejoice in the fact that we actually have a Pro Bowl Quarterback that is capable of winning the big game, something that we did not have in the Super Bowl three years ago when Peyton Manning trounced the mighty Bears’ defense. Despite the fact that former Bears QB Kyle Orton is now thriving in Denver where he has the Broncos at 5-0, the Broncos would be undefeated with Cutler under center as well, not to mention that they have gotten some pretty lucky breaks in games against Cincinnati and New England.

On the flip side, if you were to take Orton and put him back in Chicago, the Bears would be 2-2 at best, if not 1-3. Orton would not have orchestrated those comeback drives against Pittsburgh or Seattle, and would have struggled to fare any better against Green Bay. One could make the argument that this is not true, and that the Bears would still be 3-1, if not 4-0 with Orton. Well, then look at Denver’s team as a whole. They’re better than the Bears in every aspect with the exception of the running back position.

So I ask of you fellow Bears fans to just….relax. It is still early, and Cutler is already showing signs of a QB with poise after bouncing back nicely from the worst game of his entire life. Take it easy on the kid, will ya? Of course, he probably couldn’t care less what you think.

So no matter what happens this weekend at the Georgia Dome, Cutler will still be the man with a plan. And through it all, even if the Bears must shrug off a tough loss, at least we’ll know they won’t be the only ones shrugging.