2011 NFL Schedule Thoughts For The SnoTap Favorites

We have a wide fanbase here on Snotap ranging from the Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, Oakland Raiders, and Indianapolis Colts. It might be pointless to do all of this because they might take away a couple of the games, I figure if I can provide a one-stop location for some fans than why not. I will leave my thoughts after each schedule



Green Bay: 
9/8- vs. New Orleans (NBC)              9/18- at Carolina (FOX)            9/25- at Chicago (FOX)
10/2- vs. Denver (CBS)                      10/9- at Atlanta (NBC)           10/16- vs. St. Louis (FOX)
10/23- at Minnesota (FOX)                10/30- BYE                            11/6- at San Diego (FOX)
11/14- vs. Minnesota (ESPN)            11/20- vs. Tampa Bay (FOX)  11/24- at Detroit (FOX)
12/4- at New York Giants (FOX)      12/11- vs. Oakland (CBS)       12/18- at Kansas City (CBS)
12/25- vs. Chicago (NBC)                     1/1- vs. Detroit (FOX)

Thoughts: Personally, I love this schedule.  I mean I don' t like road games in Atlanta and Kansas City, but other than that?  I really feel if the Pack have a season they can be 13-3 for sure.

Chicago Bears:
9/11- vs. Atlanta (FOX)                   9/18- at New Orleans (FOX)       9/25- vs. Green Bay (FOX)
10/2- vs. Carolina (FOX)                10/10- at Detroit (ESPN)             10/16- vs. Minnesota (NBC)
10/23- at Tampa Bay (FOX)           10/30- BYE                                 11/7- at Philadelphia (ESPN)
11/13- vs. Detroit (FOX)                 11/20- vs. San Diego (CBS)        11/27- at Oakland (FOX)
12/4-   vs. Kansas City (CBS)          12/11- at Denver (FOX)             12/18- vs. Seattle (FOX)
12/25- at Green Bay (FOX)                1/1- at Minnesota (FOX)

Thoughts: The Bears start off with three straight playoff teams, they have a Jay Cutler Reunion in the Mile High, which is exciting.  They also head to London to play Tampa, and Philly on Monday Night isn't fun.

Minnesota Vikings:
9/11- at San Diego (FOX)                 9/18- vs. Tampa Bay (FOX)      9/25- vs. Detroit (FOX)
10/2- at Kansas City (FOX)              10/9- vs. Arizona (FOX)           10/16- at Chicago (NBC)
10/23- vs. Green Bay (FOX)            10/30- at Carolina (FOX)          11/6- BYE
11/14- at Green Bay (ESPN)            11/20- vs. Oakland (CBS)         11/27- at Atlanta (FOX)
12/4- vs. Denver (CBS)                    12/11- at Detroit  (FOX)            12/18- vs. New Orleans (FOX)
12/24-at Washington (FOX)                1/1- vs. Chicago (FOX)

Thoughts: If the Vikings can find a quarterback (see not Donovan McNabb), I like their chances to be successful. This isn't a brutal schedule by any shape of the imagination. The only tough road games are Atlanta and Kansas City

Oakland Raiders: 
9/12- at Denver (ESPN)                   9/18- at Buffalo (CBS)                  9/25- vs. New York Jets (CBS)
10/2- vs. New England (CBS)          10/9- at Houston (CBS)               10/16- vs. Cleveland (CBS)
10/23- vs. Kansas City (CBS)          10/30- BYE                                 11/6- vs. Denver (CBS)
11/10- at San Diego (NFLN)           11/20- at Minnesota (CBS)         11/27- vs. Chicago (FOX)
12/4- at Miami (CBS)                      12/11- at Green Bay (CBS)         12/18- vs. Detroit (FOX)
12/24- at Kansas City (CBS)               1/1- vs. San Diego (CBS)

Thoughts: The Raiders have a weird schedule with most of their home games in the front part of their schedule therefore they need to win early. If they want to be successful, it's a must for them to beat either the Jets or the Patriots because they aren't winning in Green Bay/Kansas City in December.  

Indianapolis Colts:
9/11- at Houston (CBS)                   9/18- vs. Cleveland (CBS)             9/25- vs. Pittsburgh (NBC)
10/3- at Tampa Bay (ESPN)            10/9- vs. Kansas City (CBS)        10/16- at Cincinnati (CBS)
10/23- at New Orleans (NBC)        10/30- at Tennessee (CBS)           11/6-  vs. Atlanta (FOX)
11/13- vs. Jacksonville (CBS)         11/20- BYE                                  11/27- vs. Carolina (FOX)
12/4-   at New England (NBC)       12/11- at Baltimore (CBS)            12/18- vs. Tennessee (CBS)
12/22- vs. Houston (NFLN)             1/1-   at Jacksonville (CBS)

Thoughts: Peyton Manning hopes for a healthy team this year with road trips to the Big Easy and Foxboro plus home games against Pittsburgh and Atlanta. It always seems they have a tough schedule, and a primetime game against Houston to make the Texans relevant.

-Charlie.

Bob Sanders Now An Ex-Colt

Indianapolis Colts owner Tom Isray has decided to part ways with former Pro Bowl safety Bob Sanders. He could not stay healthy enough in his six years in the NFL for the Colts to justify keeping him.

The former Colts safety is a two time Pro Bowler and won the 2007 AP Defensive Player of the Year award and was big help in their Super Bowl XLI victory back in the 2006. That was a season where he missed the majority of the year but returned just in time for the playoffs.

The Colts have a guy named Melvin Bullitt that is more than capable of replacing Sanders. Bullitt has been the main replacement for the oft-injured Sanders in he came into the league as an undrafted free agent in 2007 and has done a stand-up job.

Where does Bob Sanders go from here? I'd imagine he'll catch on with someone who needs help in the secondary. Carolina, Seattle, Miami and Cincinnati come to mind right away. Carolina needs help everywhere. Seattle's Lawyer Milloy is ageless. Yeremiah Bell is nothing special and the Bengals will take a chance on anyone. 

Sanders just needs to stay healthy and he could be a Hall of Famer some time down the road.

-Mitch

My Thoughts on the Weekend that Was.....

It started off so great. Sitting in a box suite, enjoying the Heat's overtime win in Milwaukee, I felt that it was a sign of good things to come. Granted the Big 3 shot a combined total of just under 35%.

The Seattle Seahawks defeated the defending champion Saints. Awesome. This weekend will be great. Now hopefully the NFL will take off all those Tracy Porter Saints fans commercials which suddenly gives me an urge to slap a small baby. Nobody predicted the rout that would ensue on Saturday afternoon, but I think the one telling statistic I heard before the playoff game was the New Orleans Saints have never won a road playoff game. Ah well.....



On to the tragedy that was the demise of the Indianapolis Colts. Let me begin with stating that Jason Whitlock of Fox Sports may be the biggest African-American homer of all-time. If you want to laugh whilest reading an absurd piece from somebody who is supposed to be an unbiased professional sports writer please feel free. Michael Vick, the dog-killing, middle-finger-pointing, gambling-ring-backing, EX-CONVICT!, is more mature and grown up than Peyton Manning. Good Lord.

Now to the game. The Jets simply outplayed the Colts at every position except quarterback. Their offensive scheme of setting up the run with the pass was pure brilliance mixed with absurdity. The Colts' maligned defense had no answer for the Jets in the second half, and the ignorance of Special Teams by the Colts once again rears its ugly head in the form of a 44 yard kick off return with under two minutes to go. I give all the credit in the world to Rex Ryan. He rushed with four the entire game, sat back with 8 in the defensive backfield and forced Manning to check to a run. The lack of any run game killed the Colts in the regular season, and its 2 for 6 on third and 1 will serve as the most important key statistic when I look back on the day that I wish to forget.

Peyton Manning is no 9-10 in the playoffs. He has 1 super bowl title and better statistical playoff numbers than his nemesis, Tom Brady, except for record. My argument has been made perfectly clear in previous posts. The Colts lack of coaching prowess, special teams blunders, and no running game or defense of the running game are the sole reasons why they lost this game. Once again, Manning is under scrutiny for losing against a team that, besides his position, is extremely better. It's unfortunate, but hey, c'est la vie.

I did not watch the Chiefs Ravens game because I couldn't figure out who would want to.

All of the people across the USA. I love my Green Bay Packers. Let's first put it out there. The Philadelphia Eagles were not the better team. The Packers exploited their lack of depth in the defensive secondary, and their lack of a significant pass rush. Aaron Rodgers has a 121.83 quarterback passer rating in two playoff games. I would use my Peyton Manning argument in defense of Rodgers as well. It certainly was not his fault for the loss in Arizona or the close game in Philadelphia. His greatness will be something to behold in future years. To be fair, I did say he would prove to be a better quarterback all-time than Brett Favre, and I stand by that prediction.

The Packers over 100 yard rushing performance is a little over-hyped however. James Starks had a great game on Sunday; however, there were consistent 7 man fronts with sometimes 3 safeties back deep. Do not expect this to occur in Atlanta. The Falcons are an experienced, fast, and strong defense. Rodgers and the defense will need to try and win this one again. I think they will pull off the slight upset.

I was torn between a good weekend bad weekend situation with the Colts losing, and the Packers winning. The clincher for a good weekend came with Lebron's first forty point performance of the season and a consecutive overtime win for the Miami Heat. Uh oh, Charlie. I think I'm getting ready to order my six pack of Spotted Cow.

Bring The Bling

In a special ceremony Wednesday night the Indianapolis Colts were given their Super Bowl rings. Even though team owner noted the rings' "simplicity", it seems as if the rings feature more symbolism than a T.S. Eliot poem:

There's the word "Faith'' on one shank, or side, of the ring. Faith "gives you the strength to have the perseverance to move forward even after many disappointments,'' Irsay explained.

On the opposite shank is the phrase "Our time.'' That was the Colts' theme as they headed into the playoffs...

OK, that sounds pretty simple to me. A couple of phrases, a motto, that's normal. But...

Much less conspicuous, but just as meaningful, is a dot of red enamel found on each of the players' rings, forming one rivet in a small horseshoe. The red symbolizes a drop of blood, emblematic of players "leaving it all on the field,''...

"There's obviously some bling,'' Irsay said Tuesday at his house in Carmel, gazing at the 50 diamonds that adorn the face and edges of the ring. "But we wanted it to have some beautiful simplicity and we wanted to feature the horseshoe. The symbol of the horseshoe is so universal, so powerful.''

In discussing the ring at length, Irsay kept returning to that word: symbol.

"That's the powerful thing about it,'' he said. "In life we use symbols . . . the art of symbols and reminders are part of our culture.''

Man, who ever knew that Robert Irsay was so big into symbolism. Bloody rivets? Yeesh. And is it just me, or when I am thinking of "universal" and "powerful" symbols the horseshoe doesn't quite pop into my mind. Anyway though, the rings do actually look pretty cool, even if they aren't as simple as advertised.