Pigskin World

1. Everyone is sayin the Pack-Cards game was a classic. I only kind of agree. I dont know about you, but it was almost painful watching the defenses get blated like they did. I was more annoyed about it than anthing else. Dramatic, of course. A classic and top ten playoff game of all-time, as some writers are saying? I dont know about that.

2. Were you really that surprised by the beatdown the Ravens gave the Pats? The Pats were mediocre all season, having a worse record than last year with Matt Cassel at the helm. They also got beat by some mediocre teams. I’m surprised, yes, but not totally shocked. The Ravens defense plus their stacked backfield make them a very dangerous playoff opponent. In the end though, you’ll need to pass at least a little bit, and I’m not sure I want to trust Joe Flacco to do that.

3. Carson Palmer looked very pedestrian. I thoroughly expected more out of him. Persoanlly, I thought he was a top-5 NFL quarterback, and now I’m not so sure.

4. Running backs had some HUGE days. Ray Rice, Felix Jones, Cedric Benson, Shonn Greene…All of them put up over 150. And with the exception of Benson, they’re second-years or younger. Wowza. I look forward to watchin these guys in the future.

5. Quick predictions for next weekend: Ravens, Colts, Saints, Vikings. Had to pick one upset, right?

I’m relaunching this blog here for the new year. I really like writing about football, but trying to cover college and professional is simply too much to keep up with. I’ll be focusing on NFL news, with posts hopefully coming every day, and usually more than that.

If there are particular things you’d like to see, let me know. I’m not claiming to be a news breaker, simply a dude who likes football and has opinions about it. Chime in and make it a discussion!

ESPN is reporting that Jim Mora has been fired as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks after just one season. This move comes as a huge surprise, even though Mora went just 5-11. Injuries marred the Seahawks all season, and seemed poised to be back in the playoffs if they could simply get all the pieces lined up at the same time.

What’s even more surprising is that Chris Mortensen is reporting that Pete Carroll is a near lock to become the new coach. Word on the street is that he’s been itchin for a chance to get back in the NFL, and the timing does seem right. As I said, Seattle has a lot of key pieces, they just need to be healthy. Also, with USC struggling and in the midst of some allegations of academic violations and such, now would seem a good time to ditch out.

Gut reaction: I’m still stunned by this. For Mora to be given only one injury-riddled year is a little mind-boggling. It makes me think there’s more behind the scenes to this story. Maybe there’s tension between Mora and the front office. Maybe Carroll called up and said he wanted the job. I’m not sure, but it just feels fishy. Also, Carroll would be dumb to leave USC. He has a perfect situation down there in SoCal. His team struggled this year, but still had a winning season. He certainly doesnt believe his best years with that program were behind him, does he? What do you think?