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Peterson, Vikes notch fifth straight win
Trampled by Adrian Peterson the last time they met, Brian Urlacher and the Chicago Bears figured out how to stop Minnesota’s star rookie for the better part of three quarters. At least until it really counted. Peterson’s 8-yard touchdown run, his second of the night started by a shoulder-shake to fake Urlacher at the line of scrimmage, sent the Vikings past the Bears 20-13 on Monday for their fifth straight victory. “Couldn’t finish,” said Urlacher, who kept his sparse postgame comments to grouchy sentence fragments. The Vikings (8-6) stayed in control of the NFC’s last wild-card spot, despite four turnovers and a missed extra point. Tarvaris Jackson’s career-high 249 yards passing were overshadowed by three interceptions, mistakes that led to a 13-3 Bears advantage until Peterson’s first score early in the third.
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PlayOff Time
The NFL season is winding down and you know what that means: it’s almost playoff time… which also means the Big Game in Phoenix isn’t that far away. Do you have your Super Bowl tickets yet? As of now, the favorites to make it to Arizona in February have to be the New England Patriots from the AFC and the Dallas Cowboys from the NFC. However, just because everyone thinks they are going, doesn’t mean anything. Voters and public opinion have no bearing on who gets to this bowl game. You have to keep winning. As of now, there are a few teams in the AFC who can directly challenge New England’s path to the Super Bowl and they are the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Indianapolis Colts (last year’s Super Bowl winner), the Pittsburgh Steelers and the San Diego Chargers. However, New England’s record gives them home field advantage throughout the playoffs, meaning the road to the Super Bowl will probably go through Gillette Stadium. Don’t wait to get your AFC Playoff tickets, because as the playoff picture takes a clearer shape, they’ll be harder and harder to get. In the NFC, expect the Green Bay Packers to directly challenge the Cowboys. However, if the Cowboys secure home field, Brett Favre and company will have to travel back to Texas Stadium, and Favre isn’t known for having great games there. Of course, you can’t count out the Seattle Seahawks either. Most of their assembled team has already been to one Super Bowl and are desperate to make it back. Whoever going, you can bet NFC Playoff tickets are going to be a tough to find. The 2007 NFL regular season promises a great finish as teams battle it out for a trip to the Super Bowl. Who do you have going?
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Seattle 24, San Francisco 0
Darrell Jackson sat stewing at his locker long after most of his San Francisco teammates left Monday night, the longtime Seattle receiver still wearing his grass-stained 49ers uniform. After a historically bad night for his new team during another steady victory for his old Seahawks, Jackson could be excused for momentarily wishing he had never changed jerseys. While Seattle seems ready for another strong stretch run after dominating on offense and defense in a 24-0 victory, the 49ers can only wonder how low they’ll go in a losing streak that’s already at seven games. “They’re doing what they always do over there, and we’re still trying to get there,” Jackson said, shaking his head. “I don’t know when we’ll get there. The ‘Hawks are already there.”
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An Introduction to the 49ers SF
The San Francisco 49ers, also known as the 49ers SF, the Niners , The Red and Gold or Bay Bombers are a professional American football team based in California. The team is a part of the Western Division of the National Football Conference. The 49ers SF, who started playing as a charter team of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) in 1946, became a member of the NFL with the merging of the AAFC into the NFL.
The team, which has had some of the best runs in football history, specially in the 1980s and 90s , has been going through a bad patch in its history since the year 2002, losing against weaker teams, having poor playing spells and being dogged by controversies both within and outside the club. However, the team still has a major fan following, owing to its past successes which include five Super Bowl victories, five NFC championships and seventeen Division championships wins. The San Francisco 49ers are the only NFL team, apart from the Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburgh Steelers to have won the Super Bowl a record five times. On top of this, the Niners have also been responsible for giving American football some of its greatest heroes like Steve Young, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and Ronnie Lott. Ever since their inception in 1946, the San Francisco 49ers have been based in San Francisco, playing all their home matches in San Francisco while having their club and practice sessions in Santa Clara. Unlike most football teams, the team has retained its first and only name, which is reminiscent of the California gold rush of 1849. The 49ers had always been a mediocre team from the 40s till the end of the 70s, winning some matches while losing even more and their exploits were nothing much to either inspire a great fan following or to write home about. However, all this changed in the 1980s, when the team managed to win four Super Balls in one decade. Not only this, they missed the playoffs only twice during these ten years. It was during these golden years that the team also threw up a number of superbly talented players like receiver and quarterback Joe Montana, receiver Dwight Clark and running back Earl Cooper. As of late, apart from being mired in a number of controversies ranging from long drawn out battles over ownership to leaking out of non public training videos, the team also has not been making any great waves in the championships arena. The last and most recent brick in the wall has been the team’s proposed move to Santa Clara for playing their games also. Around the end of the year 2006, negotiations that were on between the 49ers SF and the city of San Francisco regarding the building of a privately funded stadium came to an end with the 49ers management pulling out of the deal due to undisclosed reasons and deciding to move to Santa Clara for good. Last heard, plans were afoot to build a state of the art playing facility in Santa Clara, to be completed by the year 2012. This decision of the team management has delivered a further blow to 49ers SF fans in San Francisco. Football Game TicketsThe Seattle Seahawks ticket is one of high demand ticket sales with its great playoff in 2006 and a history of sold out sales. 2007 is even a more exciting season with QB Matt Hasselbeck and with outstanding additions like DT Brandon Mebane, DB Josh Wilson, DE Patrick Kerney and SS Brian Russel. Another of the high selling tickets is the Indianapolis Colts. The team is based in Indianapolis, Indiana and founded in 1953. In 1958, the Colts (coached by Weeb Ewbank, a Hall of Famer) defeated the New York Giants in the NFL championship game and became the “Greatest Game Ever Played”. And off course not to mention, they were the glorious champion of the 2006 season. The Steel City’s Pittsburgh Steelers failed to reach the playoff last season with their quarterback Ben Roethlisberger suffering from injuries. But the Steel City is more than ready and the Pittsburgh Steelers tickets are getting more and more sales. It is well known that the wait list for Steelers season tickets will take you 10 years to reach the top of the list, unbelievable but true. The NFL playoff schedules can be easily found on the Internet. Just go to google and search for NFL schedule and you will find season-by-season schedules. Here is a snapshot of the January to February 2008 playoffs.
Sat Jan5: AFC/NFC Wild Card Game (NBC) Sun Jan 6: AFC/NFC Wild Card Game (CBS/FOX)
Sat Jan 12: AFC/NFC (CBS/Fox) Sun Jan 13: AFC/NFC (CBS/Fox)
Sun Jan 20: AFC/NFC (CBS/Fox)
Sun Feb3: University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Arizona AFC vs NFC championship (Fox)
Sun Feb10: Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, Hawaii AFC vs NFC (Fox) The College Football schedules are also readily available in the Internet. A lot of websites feature the schedule for viewer’s reference. Here is the snapshot of the January 2008 schedule. Jan 1 11am: Outback Bowl (Tampa) – Southeastern vs Big Ten Wisconsin vs Tennessee Jan 1 11:30am: Cotton Bowl (Dallas) – Big 12 vs Southeastern Missouri vs Arkansas Jan 1 1pm: Capital One Bowl (Orlando) – Big Ten vs Southeastern Michigan vs Florida Jan 1 1pm: Gator Bowl (Jacksonville) – Big 12 vs Atlantic Coast Texax Tech vs Virginia Jan 1 4:30pm: Rose Bowl (Pasadena) – Big Ten vs Pacific-10 Illinois vs USC Jan 1 8:30pm: Sugar Bowl (New Orleans) – Western Athletic vs Southeastern Hawaii vs Georgia Jan 2 8pm: Fiesta Bowl (Glendale) – Big East vs Big 12 Oklahoma vs West Virginia Jan 3 8pm: Orange Bowl (Miami) – Big 12 vs Atlantic Coast Virginia Tech vs Kansas Jan 5 12pm: International Bowl (Toronto) – Big East vs Mid-American Rutgers vs Ball State Jan 6 8pm: GMAC Bowl (Mobile) – Mid American vs Conference USA Bowling Green vs Tulsa Jan 7 8pm: BCS Championship (New Orleans) – Southeastern vs Big Ten LSU vs Ohio State Again you can easily get the schedules at ESPN and other sports websites. If you want to read more on the college football teams, well there are many forums and blogs for you to join and chat with the college football fanatics. .College Football’s Heart-Stoppers
When it’s bad, college football can really suck. But when it’s good…oh boy.Last weekend, it was very, very good. I have two TVs in my living room, side-by-side, and in the span of about 15 minutes, Wisconsin won their ridiculous game over Minnesota thanks primarily to a blocked punt, Michigan topped Penn State’s gutsy drive with one of their own (aided by two phantom seconds added to the Big House clock) and Matt Leinart somehow got the clock stopped when he fumbled out of bounds (it’s not supposed to do that) and made his QB sneak into history, helping Southern Cal overcome a nation’s worth of Irish rooters in the best football game I remember seeing this century.
Wow. Add to that Alabama’s clutch drive against Ole Miss leading to a game-winning field goal with no time left, West Virginia’s tackling of Louisville QB Brian Brohm just outside the goal line, stopping what would’ve been a tying two-point conversion in that game’s third overtime, and UCLA’s outrageous comeback on Washington State, including a third-and-three from the Wazzou nine with precious little time on the clock, whereupon the Bruins scored the tying TD and sent the game into OT. No, my crummy cable company didn’t let me see all those games (though I did get the Tide and some of the Mountaineers), but all I can tell you is this: whenever your know-it-all brainiac friend with the pocket protector and mounds of statistics about how big-time intercollegiate athletics are leeches on the forehead of American universities, think back to last Saturday, remember play after play of pulse-pounding excitement that only sports can consistently give, and offer your friend a winsome smile. He just wouldn’t understand. The White Sox are in their first World Series in 46 years. How does that play in the handicapping world? Are a lot of bettors (including you) on that bandwagon? What were the odds on them winning the AL before the season started? Do you find them to be an appealing team to root for? Rob Gillespie, BoDog.ws: Not really. I think bettors were shocked to see the Yankees and Red Sox out so fast and were playing wait and see. On the year, the White Sox got no love from bettors. They opened at 35/1 last fall and moved as high as 50/1 in the offseason. Their fast start drew a couple of large bets but bettors never really showed support in any numbers. I don’t find the team itself particularly appealing, but its tough not to like Ozzie Guillen and the way he has his team play. Assuming the Astros win one of the next three NLCS games, who do you like between them and the White Sox in the World Series? Do you expect the world to care, or will this be one of those Series that no one watches? RG, BoDog.ws: Pujols hits a clutch monster Home Run Monday night, the Colts come back from 17 down early to destroy the hapless looking Rams and all anyone is talking about at the water cooler today is USC/Notre Dame. I think this will be the World Series time forgot if you live outside of Texas or Illinois. I’ll take the White Sox starters and rested bullpen and say Chicago in 5. Just guessing here of course! How about that USC/Notre Dame game? Boy, was that an Instant Classic, or what? How did Vegas do on that one, and what were your impressions of the Trojans. Are they going to win the national championship? RG, BoDog.ws: Action was so balanced on that one that we got to be true fans for a game, and what a game. I stood in front of my TV and applauded at the end. I wonder how the Houston Texans would fare against either team right now? That was an instant classic for sure. I would worry about a letdown next week if wasn’t Washington up next on their sched. USC has not played championship caliber ball in the first half of their last three games and they will give Cal and UCLA shots to beat them if they don’t get that sorted out quickly. In the NFL, is New England in serious, serious trouble, or do you expect them to get healthy and make another run? RG, BoDog.ws: I put my back out once. The most surprising thing was how much other muscles hurt from having to compensate. I think the same is true of the Pats right now. The more that bench gets stretched, the more guys are going to get banged up. They have the mental make-up to recover quickly but there may not be enough time left in the season to physically recover given how good the AFC looks this year. Bruschi’s return is likely to give a small emotional lift, but I don’t think he will make enough physical difference to stop the bleeding. The bye week will help as well. Buff/Ind/@Mia the next three games: winning two is a must if they want to get back to the Super Bowl; winning all three would show they are still the team to beat; losing two or more of those and it’s time to build for next year. Teach Your Football Wide Receivers to Get Open and Score Points In Bunches
Your passing game starts with the ability of your football wide receivers to get separation from their defenders. It doesn’t matter if you have the greatest quarterback in the world if his receivers can’t give him a window to throw to.
The first step is to teach your wide receivers how to get off the line. If the defenders are pressing and bumping at the line, the receiver must know how to beat the pressure. Begin by teaching fakes. The most basic is the “head bob”. This is where the football wide receiver moves his head to one side while getting his body moving straight or to the other side. A good shoulder fake can spice this move up. Since defensive backs will eventually pick up on a repeated fake, teach your receivers to mix things up with double-fakes (fake one way, then the other, then move beyond the defensive back). Football wide receivers must also be taught how to use their hands to gain separation. Teach the “rip” and “swim” techniques. If cutting left, teach them to use the right arm to “rip” up through the cornerback’s arms. For the “swim” technique, teach your wide receivers to bring the inside arm up and over the corner’s arms to knock the arms downward. Once off the line, good route running is obviously an important skill to develop. One way to help your football wide receivers get open is to have them run hard to a specific spot, get control (possibly use a fake here) and make the cut. Plant the foot away from the direction of the cut, make the cut and then accelerate into the cut. Teach your players the importance of getting the defensive back moving backwards and then cutting away from them. Besides the straight line charge, you can also have your football receivers use an S-shape weave to get open. Have them run quickly at the defensive back to get close, then “curve” around him to gain separation. Against man-to-man coverage, learning the art of good cuts and making those cuts at the right time will be extremely important to the success of your wide receivers. Against zone coverage, it’s a bit different. Since the defensive backs are defending an area, the football receivers won’t need to use their fakes quite as much since they just need to find the holes in the zone. One often over-looked area where you can give your players an advantage is in your scouting of the opposition. Don’t underestimate the importance of exploiting how your players match up to the other guys. Figure out how you can game-plan how to get your best or fastest receiver matched up against the opposition’s weakest or slowest defensive back. Teach your football wide receivers the correct fundamentals for getting open, game-plan your match ups effectively, then sit back and feel the satisfaction of watching a beautifully executed big play win the game for your players. Matt & Dave run http://www.football-plays-and-drills.com/get-open and enjoy teaching football players and coaches more about the football plays, drills, fundamentals and tips that result in individual and team success. For our free report, “5 Keys to Discovering the Successful Coach Inside You”, plus an additional free report, send a blank email to mailto:footballtips@aweber.com. We give full permission for you to use this article in your newsletter or on your site as long as you include our Resource Box with our website link and email link included.
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Super Bowl Tickets
Super Bowl Tickets Arizona. Ask any football sports enthusiast and you won’t miss to hear about Super Bowl, the championship game of the National Football League (NFL). In US, the Super Bowl is the most watched event of the year. Based on the Nielsen TV ratings, an average of 40% of all US households and 60% of all homes are tuned in to watch Super Bowl. Approximately 100 million US viewers watch Super Bowl. Super Bowl XVI for example ranked #4 in the Nielsen’s top-rated programs. Other Super Bowl events like XII and XVII also made it to the top 10. Believe it or not but its also the 2nd largest food consumption day in the US, next to Thanksgiving Day. Looks like football is the most popular past time in US. It’s common to see famous artists and musicians perform on the pre-games. To talk a bit of history, Super Bowl first played in 1967 where the AFL-NFL face off for the World Championship game. Both leagues merged in 1970 and that’s where the Super Bowl became the NFL championship game. You must have noticed that Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to indicate each game. The Indianapolis colts won the Super Bowl XLI, which is considered the champion of the 2006 season (although the championship game ended in Feb 2007). The location of the Super Bowl event is chosen 3-5 years in advance. The cities bid for the event and they are evaluated in terms of status of the stadium, renovations and the ability to host such a big event. The sites for future Super Bowl events up to Super Bowl XLV in 2011 have already been decided. The top 3 cities that host the events are New Orleans, Louisiana, Greater Miami and Greater Los Angeles area. Followed by Tampa, Florida and San Diego. Super Bowl XLIV in 2010 will be held in Miami Gardens and Missouri for Super Bowl XLIX in 2015. The upcoming Super Bowl XLII on Feb 3, 2008 will be held at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The UoP stadium has a retractable roof so there is no need to worry incase of rains. It has state of the art facility that includes a rollout grass field and holds around 73,000 people. Thousand’s of fanatics are heavily getting tickets, may it be the New England Patriots or the Indianapolis Colts for AFC champions, or the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers for NFC champions. The NFL AFC playoff teams include Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers and San Diego Chargers. The NFL NFC playoff teams are Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In the 2006-07 AFC play-offs, the Indianapolis won over Baltimore Ravens, New England Patriots that made them the champion. It is a major discussion right now on whether the Colts will repeat its glory in the Super Bowl XLII in Arizona or will a new team emerge from the pack. As the Super Bowl event is very popular, the NFL playoff tickets are equally hard to get, even harder to get than the World Series Tickets. Everyone wants to get the tickets to watch the teams who fought their way to be at the championship game. The New England Tickets have shown a stronger demand after the frustrating defeat on the last season. The Green Bay Packers was one win behind from the post 2006 season. The Packer’s ticket holders continuously pin their hopes on Favre to deliver a playoff berth. If everything goes well, the Packer’s tickets have a chance to get a shot at the NFL. The Premium Dallas Cowboy tickets are also hard to find. The Texas Stadium houses the cowboy teams that include the Dallas Hall of Famer’s such as Tom Landry, Tony Dorsett, Roger Staubach and many more. As the saying goes, you celebrate a tradition of pride and excellence when you cheer for silver and blue. Make sure to reserve your tickets early. There are many online Super Bowl websites that sells the playoff tickets. The season ticket holders able to purchase the Super Bowl XLII tickets were lottery based. Infact, the 1st season tickets were sold out in early 2006. There is a waiting list for cancellations and unpaid accounts so many are still hoping to get a chance. If you don’t have season tickets, you can also purchase through ticket brokers. Do note that it is advisable to purchase from legal ticket brokers. NFL Coaches on the Hot Seat (Who Goes, Who Stays)
Mike Martz St. Louis: Martz is already speaking as though he’s finished with the Rams. After it was announced Martz was done for the rest of the 2005 season due to his heart problems, he wasted no time in his criticism for the current hierarchy. His comments have angered team President John Shaw, and it’s obvious that Martz doesn’t really care who he pisses off. Mike Tice Minnesota: Many wanted him gone each of the last two years, defeating the Packers in Green Bay may have saved him for a moment, but his ticket scalping scandal put him right back on the edge of the plank. Being the lowest paid coach in the NFL doesn’t help with his “lack of authority”, either. Getting run out of Minnesota may be the best thing that has ever happened to him. Dom Capers Houston: While the talent simply isn’t there to win, quarterback David Carr and the rest of the younger players have regressed and management for this “expansion” team knows after you while you get labeled a laughing stock if you continue to lose for just so long. The team is awful on both sides of the football, and after firing the offensive coordinator early in the season, the writing was on the wall for Capers. LIKELY GONE Mike Sherman Green Bay: This is the same organization (different GM I know) that ran Ray Rhodes was run out of Green Bay in 1999 after one 8-8 season. Many have said If he survives, it may be because of Brett Favre, but I doubt if the QB decides to retire because if Sherman isn’t there. None of Favre’s recent setbacks have pulled the uniform off him. The best coach on the staff is actually DC Jim Bates, though they’ll probably go for a bigger name. In fairness, the team has been ravaged by injuries, but past failures bite Sherm you know where. Jim Haslett New Orleans: This team has been fighting the odds all year and I give them credit for not going in the tank (yet), but Haslett should have been gone at least a year ago. That 4-0 finish at the end of 2004 saved him, even though the first 12 games were U-G-L-Y. Only way he survives is if Benson is too busy trying to move the team, that he doesn’t want to waste time with a coaching change. Norv Turner Oakland: Suffers from Dave Wannstedt syndrome, great coordinator, bad coach. Wasn’t impressed with him in Washington, not impressed now in Oakland. Al Davis isn’t a patient man either, even though he’s off season moves are usually pitiful. He somehow thinks they make the Raiders Super Bowl contenders every year, too bad the fans can’t fire him. 50-50 CHANCE Brian Billick Baltimore: Very likely this team gets dismantled and they take a different approach that Billick either isn’t, or doesn’t want to be part of. He still has plenty of respect because he brought a Super Bowl to Baltimore, but this offense has NEVER been good, because of both the personnel and lack of developing players. Offensive genius in Minnesota?? “Throw the ball deep to Randy!!” doesn’t make you a genius, sorry. Herm Edwards NY Jets: Another coach, like Sherman, whose team has been ravaged by injuries, and one a bigger stage (NY). But he’s made quite a few blunders in games, from running backs “throwing” interceptions to clock management errors. Much better at press conferences that coaching football games. I’ll give him credit for being a good motivator, but so was Ditka and Glanville. The Rest: Steve Mariucci: Not going anywhere this year, it’s all Joey’s fault remember. Won’t have him to blame if things don’t go well in 2006. Jeff Fisher: Thought he was a horrible coach ten years ago when he was all about the D. Grab a 7-0 lead early, try to sit on the ball for 55 minutes. But he started to let the OC show some imagination, and feel he’s top notch at managing a game now. It’s his call if he wants to pursue other opportunities. Dick Vermeil: Classiest coach in the NFL, probably any sport. Probably ready to retire, but would love to see him make a strong playoff run before he hangs it up. John Onan is sports moderator/writer at the online players union http://www.onlineplayersunion.com/forum/index.php Stop by for great sports and gambling talk, and participate in our contests and poker tournaments!!! |
 
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