Ryan Ward's Blog
Posted by Ryan Ward
The Dallas Cowboys would be a dream job for most coaches, with a young Pro Bowl quarterback like Tony Romo to work with and develop, a Pro Bowl tight end in Jason Witten and a defense with a lot of promise, not to mention only a score away from the first a playoff victory since 1996. Then you have the down sides like pressure to win from an owner that roams the sidelines constantly, a big mouth receiver with tons of talent, but is never happy and always critizing someone in Terrell Owens or TO as he has been called. Pro and cons, with these pros and cons most would take the job, but not the Big Tuna, he said he is done and is retiring from coaching.
With the Hall of Fame in the near future for Parcells, his career was pretty solid. In the four years with Dallas he only had a record of 34-32 and no playoff wins, but for a 65 year old man I would say he did a nice job of turning a losing franchise into a contender. Like he feels lack of accomplishment wearing two Super Bowl rings from his New York Giant days. Bill Parcells will be sorely missed in the NFL and is probably one of the last of a dying breed of coaches that are not afraid to open their mouth or take crap from any player, he was coach that demanded respect and got it. The NFL need more like him with state of the NFL and it's out of control players. Farewell Big Tuna!
Posted by Ryan Ward
Two of the best quarterbacks in the NFL are going to face off yet again in an AFC Championship game for the ages. This will be a battle of the best, with a lot at stake, not only will the winner go to the Super Bowl, but if the Colts manage to knock off Patriots it just might be a passing of the torch of AFC dominance.
It's no secret that the Tom Brady's Patriots are probably the best playoff team in NFL history, with Brady at quarterback the Patriots are an amazing 12-1 in the playoffs and Super Bowls. That is just a crazy stat and would scare any opposing team, especially the Colts who have had no success against New England in the playoffs, or the regular season, for that matter.
Will Peyton finally get the best of Belichick and Brady? It's definitely going to be an entertaining game and will pretty much be the Super Bowl, since whoever wins the NFC (Chicago or New Orleans) will probably be no match for the winner in the AFC, although, like I have said before, you never know in the NFL. I do believe it is Manning's time to shine though.
Posted by Ryan Ward
Wow! That all that can be said about this kid out of Texas, he just keeps winning and winning. With a win on Christmas Eve against Buffalo, Vince Young and the Titans have extended their win streak to six straight. Vinsanity was excellent once again passing for 183 yards, two touchdowns and rushing for 61 yards, one touchdown. Tennessee took another step closer to the post season pulling out yet another close victory, 30-29 over the Bills.
No one ever expected Vince Young to have this kind of impact this quick with a team like the Titans. Coming into the 2006 season, the league had a talented draft class of Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, Jay Culter and Vince Young, the NFL and it's fans have kept their eye on Bush and the newly high powered offense of the New Orleans Saints, but the Titans and Young have made a quiet surge as of late, from the worst team in the league into a potential playoff contender.
Vince Young has been nothing short of spectacular as a starter for Tennessee Titans this season, with a 0-5 start and what seemed to be a rookie learning process, Vince has completely turned his team around with a new found confidence, comeback victorys and solid play on a weekly basis. Becoming a consistent performer, Vince is dangerous with his feet as well as his arm, which was proven a couple of weeks ago with a 39 yard touchdown run in overtime to beat Houston.
With wins over the Colts(ending their undefeated season), Jacksonville, New York Giants, Eagles and one point losses to Baltimore and Indianapolis early in the season, Young has proved he can play with the big boys and is only getting better with every game. The way Tennessee is playing right now anything can happen and the Titans just might end up in the playoffs shaking things up.
Posted by Ryan Ward
Weak running game, inconsistent passing game and bad defense. That is all talk that has been coming out of Arizona, but things are starting to look different for the Cardinals lately, especially with the last two games against St. Louis and Seattle ending in a victory and the team looking very good offensively.
Matt Leinart had a good day against Seatlle going 21 for 34, throwing for two touchdowns and one interception. But the big story has been Edgerrin James. As most football fans (well at least fantasy football fans) know, Edge has not done anything that has been expected of him this year. James has only rushed for over 100 yards twice this season (which have come in the last two games) with only four touchdowns to his credit, but hopefully for all the Cardinals fans out there this a sign of things to come. Seeing 115 yards out of Egde in two consecutive games is nothing but a good thing for Arizona.
The Cardinals have the potential to be playoff team and an offensive juggernaut, but they just need some chemistry and time to develop as a team. Just to look at their roster there are a lot of bright spots, especially on an offense that includes Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Edgerrin James, Matt Leinart and Kurt Warner. All of these players are top athletes and have Pro Bowl written all over them. I would look for Arizona be a contender to come out on top of the NFC West next year with an offense similar to Kurt Warner's old team in St. Louis.
Posted by Ryan Ward
Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Jim Brown, Gale Sayers, and OJ Simpson(if anyone even remembers him as a football player anymore). These five running backs are arguably in the top ten list of greatest RBs ever to play the game and not many people will disagree with that statement. Is LT next to be mentioned with the immortal backs?
Since the early retirement of Barry Sanders, there has not been much talk about "the best running back all time". At least until LaDainian Tomlinson from the San Diego Chargers exploded onto the scene about six years ago. Number 21 has been nothing short of unstoppable in his short career with the Chargers. This kid has been so good this season that in the twelve games LT has played, only two of them(against Baltimore and Pittsburgh), has he failed to reach the endzone.
In the ten games where LT has reached the endzone, Tomlinson has rushed for twenty-three touchdowns and has three receiving touchdowns. Not to mention a couple a passing TDs to go along with his soon to be record breaking stats. With a grand total of twenty-six touchdowns(not including the passing TDs) Tomlinson is three TDs away from breaking Shaun Alexander's record of twenty-eight from last year. Only four games to go and Tomlinson is projected to reach thirty-one TDs and shatter Alexander's short lived record. So the question is "Is he one of the greats?" Only time will tell, but he has my vote!
