We’ve just about at the mid-point of the 2012 NFL season. With Week 8 kicking off tonight, it’s time to break down the quarterbacks in the league and see where they rank power-wise.
1. Matt Ryan – Atlanta Falcons
As a rule of thumb, until you’ve been beaten, you’re the best. Ryan and the Falcons are 6-0 (the only undefeated team left), coming off a bye-week, and are preparing for the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. in the first six weeks he’s completed 160 passes in 236 attempts for 1,756 yards with a 67.8 completion percentage. He’s thrown 14 touchdowns and ran in a touchdown himself. Ryan is connecting well with Julio Jones and is utilizing his tight end Tony Gonzalez better than ever. Ryan, though, has already been sacked 13 times for a loss of 107 yards and has thrown six interceptions. A little better movement in the pocket, and no one is going to stop this guy. The Falcons are going to eventually lose a game, but it won’t come this week.
2. Eli Manning – New York Giants
Sometimes he has great games and sometimes he has not so great games. However, at the end of the day, Manning finds a way to win. Manning is one of those quarterbacks that will continue to prove that games are never over until the clock reads 00:00 and will set the team up for either a field goal or a touchdown to tie or take the lead. So far this season he is 169-for-265 for 2,109 yards with a 63.8 completion percentage. He’s also been sacked only five times for 40 yards. Manning has a way of staying calm in the pocket and finding his receivers for big yards. He’s coming off a fourth quarter comeback against the Washington Redskins where he threw a 77-yard touchdown pass to Victor Cruz with under two minutes left in the game. There’s no stopping him when there are less than two minutes remaining.
3. Aaron Rodgers – Green Bay Packers
It’s been a season of ups and downs for the Packers, but they are 4-3 and the last two weeks for Rodgers have been powerful ones. He handed the Houston Texans their first loss of the season when he threw six touchdowns on the night. His offensive line does have to get better though as he’s already been sacked 26 times for a loss of 142 yards. He’s been sacked five times in the last two weeks, but still managed to throw nine touchdowns for 680 yards. He is coming off an MVP season and if Packers can protect Rodgers better, he will be one of the most dangerous quarterbacks in the league. Sorry, Rob Parker, but Rodgers is not the best quarterback in the league this year. » Continue reading “2012 Mid-Season Quarterback Power Rankings”
The 0-4 New Orleans Saints host the 3-1 San Diego Chargers on Sunday Night Football this week. Join us right here to discuss all the action – and LOL at Cris Collinsworth and Al Michaels – in the the first Aerys NFL live game thread.
Washington Redskins Quarterback Robert Griffin III
Hello, and welcome to the first edition of the 2012 NFL Rookie of the Week! Every week I will be analyzing the play of all of the rookies around the NFL and spotlight the top performer.
The first rookie to receive the honorary rookie of the week crown is (drumroll) Washington Redskins’ quarterback Robert Griffin III.
The Redskins entered Week 1 to face the New Orleans Saints. The Saints have been dealing with their off the field issues during their offseason with bounty suspensions and not having their head coach Sean Peyton around. However, no one expected them to let the Redskins put 40 points on the board and Washington defeated New Orleans 40-32.
A lot of the great play came from the rookie RG3. He ended his day with 320 passing yards, 42 rushing yards, and two TD’s. He took advantage of a Saints defense that was either very weak or just playing very poorly.
RG3 looked very poised and accurate in his game against the Saints. He moved well in the pocket and didn’t hesitate to run the football when he saw an open area. He was able to read the Saints’ defense with ease and directed his receivers on where their spots should be.
The Redskins’ defense also played superbly agianst Drew Brees’ offense, but anyone that can put 40 points on the board against New Orleans is impressive.
So congratulations to Robert Griffin III, our first Rookie of the Week this 2012 season.
Some rookie honorable mentions from Week 1:
Stephen Hill – New York Jets
The wide receiver made five catches for 89 yards and scored two touchdowns
Coby Fleener – Indianapolis Colts
The tight end caught six passes for 82 yards, but no touchdowns
Andrew Luck – Indianapolis Colts
The quarterback threw for 309 passing yards and had one touchdown, however he did throw three interceptions against the Chicago Bears
NY Giants QB Eli Manning at Super Bowl Media Day (Personal Photo)
Easily the most coveted spots on Giants’ Media Day were the ones parked right in front and around the ELI-te quarterback, Eli Manning.
Media from all over the world swarmed New York Giants quarterback on Tuesday asking all sorts of questions from the obvious to the WTH head scratchers. There were the required “What do you think about the Patriots and Tom Brady?” Many about his fantastic young wide receivers Victor Cruz, Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham, and of course those about his big brother Peyton Manning.
I could tell he was starting to get tired of answering questions about Peyton’s neck, sibling rivalry, and an old bunk bed. (Yes, a reporter actually asked him whether they still had a bunk bed at home.) So I decided to change it up a bit.
Being the patient person that I am (Okay, not really … ), I waited for the right opportunity. This basically meant waiting for Rick Reilly and his sweater to move out of my way. Once he did I jumped right in.
Eli, speaking of family, what has it been like for you to have your own daughter this season?
(Eli and his wife, Abby, welcome their first child Ava Frances on March 21st, 2011. Peyton and Ashley had their twins Marshall Williams and Mosley Thompson on March 31st, 2011)
Eli’s expression changed for the brighter as he said with a smile:
You know it’s been a lot of fun. Ava’s been able to make a few Giants games. She enjoys the crowd and when everyone starts cheering she really doesn’t really know why or what’s going on but my wife does. She starts smiling.
It’s been fun to come home to her after games or after practices and kind of forget about everything that’s going on for a little bit.
Whether it’s watching her crawl for the first time or her first words are all new excitements and new things to be proud of and to be excited about.
So if you win the Super Bowl will you hoist her up like Drew Brees did?
Oh, I don’t know. My focus is on figuring out a way to win the Super Bowl not what I’m going to do after.
Indianapolis Colts fans would rather forget Super Bowl XLII. In fact, I have forgotten all the spectacular plays from two years ago. You watch enough games they start to blend together.
The only image I vividly remember is watching New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees holding his son, Baylen, as they were showered with confetti after the team’s Super Bowl victory.
I can see Eli Manning making his own first-time father memories with his daughter, Ava, come Sunday night.
Vicks released their NFL Super Bowl XLVI fan survey today with some pretty interesting results.
My absolute favorite result, you ask?
Who do you want to bring you chicken soup when you are sick? Survey says… Tim Tebow with 28%. I might agree with that result. Just a little bit! Drew Brees trailed Tim by seven percentage points and was followed up by Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady and Eli Manning.
According to the survey, nearly half – 45%- of all football fans surveyed hope New York Giants Eli Manning doesn’t catch a cold or flu before Super Bowl Sunday, compared to only 35% voting for New England Patriots Tom Brady.
Results showed that a quarter – 25% – of fans agree that New England Patriots Rob Gronkowski best represents the statement, “In the NFL, there are no sick days.”
And absolutely no surprise here, but Green Bay Packers Clay Matthews is believed to be the NFL player least phased by the cold weather.
Here’s the complete results of the survey:
Let us know what you think of these results! Do you agree? Disagree? Who do you want well Sunday and Who do you want bringing you some chicken soup when you aren’t feeling so hot? Comment below!
Miranda Remaklus is senior reporter for Aerys Offsides. She’s also a contributor at Aaron Miles’ Fastball in the MLB section. Follow her on Twitter, @missmiranda.
The Smith’s (Alex, Justin, Reggie, and Aldon) from San Francisco beat the Saints 32-36 and the NFC West becomes the new power house of the NFC. Okay, I’m getting ahead of myself but it was a very impressive win by the 49ers.
The biggest questions of the day:
Can the Saints finally get the “can’t win playoff games on the road” monkey off their backs? Will 49ers’ QB Alex Smith shake the “game manager” label? Who will win the turnover battle?
Quick answers: No, yes, and the 49ers.
Saints still have the road playoff game jinx on them. Yes, Alex Smith is the MAN. 49ers get their +4 turnover differential.
I love it when my game preview goes just as planned. Hahaha.
What I liked about the game:
1) 49ers suffocating defense causing two first quarter turnovers and completely throwing the Saints’ offense out of whack. SS Donte Whitner forces RB Pierre Thomas to lose the ball (suffers injury) and LB Patrick Willis recovers for San Francisco. Then their other safety (FS) Dashon Goldson intercepts Brees at the NO 45 and ran it back all the way to the NO 4 yard line. QB Alex Smith passes a 4-yard TD pass to WR Michael Crabtree. And just like that the 49ers are blanking the Saints 0-14. » Continue reading “49ers’ Stun The Saints: 32-36″
Saturday, January 14, 2012 – 1:30 p.m. – Candlestick Park
If you had told me this would be one of the two divisional match ups for this weekend I would have asked, “Are you kidding me?” Or something along those lines with harsher undertones.
Most fully expected the Saints to be there but the Niners? It’s a testament to what a great job the coaches in San Francisco have done this season. And it’s another reason why you actually play the game.
The Saints are coming into this game with the number one ranking total offense with 7474 yards this season and scoring 34.2 points per game. On the other hand, the 49ers have the fourth ranked total defense giving up 4930 yards and ranked second by only giving up 14.3 points per game. » Continue reading “NFC Divisional Preview: New Orleans Saints at San Francisco 49ers”
The New Orleans Saints used an explosive second half to defeat the Detroit Lions, 45-28.
Let’s go ahead and break this game down in good, bad and ugly fashion.
Good
* Drew Brees threw for 466 yards and three touchdowns. After a rough first half, Drew really turned it on and became the quarterback he’s been all season.
* The Detroit Lions defense in the first half. They held the Saints to 10 points in the first half.
* The Matthew Stafford – to- Calvin Johnson duo is going to be awesome for years to come. Amazing to watch! Johnson had 12 receptions for 211 yards and two touchdowns. Stafford was 28 of 43 for 380 yards and three touchdowns.
* The end of the game handshake between Ndamukong Suh and Drew Brees. Nice moment … considering Drew was probably shaking in terror in fear of being Suh’s mid-game snack! I kid Lions fans!
Let’s move on to the Bad!
* The Saints offense in the first half. Just 10 points? With San Francisco next up, the Saints may have some things to work on!
* Detroit’s defense in the second half just didn’t seem to come back to the field after halftime. The Saints scored 35 points in the second half. That’s not good! Robert Meachem’s 56-yard wide open catch and run from Brees? Yeah…
Ugly
I only have one ugly…
*Cris Collinsworth. The NBC announcer just couldn’t shut up tonight, could he! Sometimes, it’s ok to just talk about a play for a little bit. It happened. OK. Let’s move on. But this isn’t the case with Cris. He just goes on and on … and on and on. I found myself tuning him out as if he was an adult character in a Peanuts cartoon. It might be time to find someone else to do football with Al Michaels NBC! Just something for you guys to think about. Mmmkay!
Now for a little surprise. I want to include an Awesome!
Kyle Vanden Bosch. And his red contacts, my friends.
Miranda Remaklus is senior reporter for Aerys Offsides. She’s also a contributor to Aaron Miles’ Fastball in the MLB section. Follow her on Twitter, @missmiranda.
It will be a Wild Card match-up that adds up to a fun time for fans as the Detroit Lions take on the New Orleans Saints at 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. Central Time tonight on NBC.
Drew Brees and Matt Stafford hug it out
The battle has two amazing quarterbacks going head to head. New Orleans’ Drew Brees and Detroit’s Matt Stafford both threw for over 5,000 yards this season.
And, both the New Orleans Saints and Detroit Lions have what you’d call good offenses.
I would venture it a safe bet that tonight’s Wild Card matchup between the teams will be a high scoring affair for sure.
And why not… the Detroit Lions certainly got a little motivation when they came to town! … That is if you can believe this pic:
Pretty awesome, right! … Well, this is actually fake! But, great nonetheless! A nice way to taunt the team coming to town this weekend via social media!
Here’s a story on tonight’s game from Fox. The article breaks down the Lions and Saints on all sides of the ball. Very interesting read for sure!
Here’s a story from the Detroit Free Press about how tonight’s battle may come down to the performance of the Detroit D-Line and the New Orleans O-line.
Here’s a little Q&A between Halftime Voodoo’s Krissy and Barry Sanders Memorial Blog’s Melissa. And here is Melissa’s interview with Krissy.
And here is Melissa’s preview of the game tonight!
Miranda Remaklus is senior reporter for Aerys Offsides. She’s also a contributor at Aaron Miles’ Fastball in the MLB section. Follow her on Twitter, @missmiranda.
The New Orleans Saints used an explosive second half to defeat the Detroit Lions, 45-28.
