Ty Ranks the 2024 NFL Teams: The Better Luck Next Year Bunch

Welcome to day two of my 2024 NFL countdown.

At number 28 I have the Denver Broncos. They are one year behind what should have been the start of a rebuild last year. They reached real hard, in my opinion, for Bo Nix in the draft, and it looks like he will be starting this year. I don't know how that will look, but he is older so maybe he won't hit a rookie wall. I'm also certain he will, but maybe I'll be wrong. They don't have the best backup options either. Zack Wilson is a bust and Jarret Stidham should only ever be an emergency QB. Javonte Williams is a fine running back, but he will get overused. He is all they have on that side of the ball. Jerry Jeudy is gone and all they have to show for it is Courtland Sutton. The other wideouts are not that good, and Sutton is, at best, a third option at receiver. The o line is middle of the road on their best days. The defense is young and inexperienced. They will do their best to keep this team in games, but it won't be enough. The defense and Williams is about all the fans have to be hopeful for, and they will be counted on for way more than they can provide. I have a very bad feeling about Bo Nix, and the fact that Jerry Jeudy couldn't wait to be gone is a bad sign. I think that maybe Sean Payton is too old school to win in the NFL at a high level again. He is building this team in his image, but this is not the early 2010's. He has to adjust or the Broncos will be left behind in a hurry. I'd say 6-8 wins is their best possible outcome. They will most likely miss the playoffs by a wide margin for another season.

At number 27 I have the New York Giants. This team is a mess. They chose Daniel Jones over Saquon Barkley. I get that running backs are more expendable these days, but Barkley is a once in a generation guy. Daniel Jones is one of the worst starting QB's in the league. He used one playoff win, a game that wouldn't have been won without Barkley, and turned it into a big payday. He is over, done, finito. Daniel Jones will be cut or traded by next season. They replaced Barkley with Devin Singleltary. That is akin to going from wagyu steak to on sale ground beef. No disrespect to Singletary, but he is nowhere close to Barkley's level. Malik Nabers was a good pick, but he already looks frustrated playing with Jones. He gets open, but the ball never seems to find him. Wan'Dale Robinson needs to pop now or it will never happen. The o line is fine, but they don't have a back like Barkley to block for anymore, and that has to be frustrating. The defense went out and got Brian Burns, which was a tremendous trade for them. He and Kayvon Thibodeaux form an excellent pass rush. And the secondary is really solid at every position. The Giants defense could make a jump from good to great this season. But, they will be on the field way too much because Daniel Jones is not the type of guy that instills fear in an opponent's defense. This offense is going to be anemic. They picked the wrong dude to sign long term and their wins will suffer due to that. I'd say eight wins is the best outcome, and that is only if the defense becomes absolutely elite. They need to be otherworldly for that to happen.

At number 26 I have the Washington Commanders. The Commanders are coming. I like what they have put together. The only problem is the youth. This team is inexperienced. But, this team is also athletic. I love the Jayden Daniels pick. He was one of my top prospects going into the last draft. He may be a little thin, but he will put on muscle, and if he can keep that speed, watch out. He has a good arm, can throw into tight spaces and he can extend plays. He has all the tools to be awesome. Brian Robinson Jr is a very capable running back. He can grind out yards and make catches out of the backfield. Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson make for a nice receiving duo. They have gotten better each season, and now that they have a competent QB, they could put up big time numbers. The o line is fine. They do enough. The defense is going young as well. They traded their two best pass rushers for picks. I wasn't crazy about it at the time, but I get it. They do have Clelin Ferrel and Johnathan Allen on the d line. They are okay enough. I, of course, love the Mike Sainristil pick. I think he is going to have a very long and very productive career. Jeremy Chinn is solid. Bobby Wagner is a heavy hitter. Benjamin St-Juste is a decent coverage guy. And maybe this is when Dante Fowler Jr figures it all out. The Commanders, much like the Cardinals, are coming, they are just a year or two away. All they need is for these guys to get real game reps, and that should make them a playoff caliber team in 2026 or 27. As for this year, seven wins seems to be the ceiling.

At number 25 I have the New Orleans Saints. This is a pivotal year for this franchise. Derek Carr is not the answer at QB. He is too small, too slow and cannot make the big time throws. This is another case of one good game making people think he was going to catapult into stardom. Both the team and the player need to move on from each other. Alvin Kamara can still do some cool things, but he is old and he wants out. I don't blame him. He has been anything and everything this offense has asked him to be, and they still don't give him all the credit he is due. I'd want out if I were him as well. Chris Olave deserves better. He could be an elite wideout with better QB play. Rashid Shaheed is the burner of all burners, but the QB's miss him too much when he is open. Juwan Johnson is an okay tight end, but they could find better on the open market. The o line is good, they just have a mediocre QB to block for. The defense is old. Cam Jordan was once great. He's still good, but he is double teamed constantly. Marshon Lattimore crushed in his rookie year, but he took a step back last season. I love Tyrann Mathieu, but he was past his prime two years ago. Demario Davis is fine at linebacker, but not as the anchor of a defense. This team needs to make changes, mainly in the back half of their secondary, their QB and head coach. They need a new mind and a new look. Until then, eight wins may be the best to hope for out of this team.

That is it for today. Come back for the next four teams tomorrow. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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The Bears and Broncos are Very Bad Football Teams

We are now three weeks into the NFL season and two teams look very, very bad right now. Anything can happen, things can change, injuries could happen and these teams could go on a winning streak at any moment, but right now, the Broncos and Bears look like the worst teams in the league. I thought the Cardinals and Texans were going to be the bottom of barrel in the NFL. But they have at least been competitive and won a game a piece. The Cardinals have held a lead in all three of their games. The Texans seem to have young pieces that they can build around. But the Bears and Broncos look like they have a long, long time before they are even competitive.

I'll start with the Bears. Look, I'm no fan of them, but it has to be incredibly painful for their fans to watch this team. They look absolutely hopeless on both sides of the ball. The defensive coordinator just resigned. He said it was to spend more time with his family, but more and more stories keep coming out claiming there is much more to this story that we don't know. The offense cannot get it together. Justin Fields looks shell shocked. He had a press conference in which he essentially blamed the coaches for his miscues, only to recant those statements near minutes later. That is wild. They cannot move the ball nor can they stop teams from moving the ball. The Packers beat them yet again in week one in Jordan Love's first start. I understand that the Packers own the Bears, but this seemed like a great opportunity to get a win over their rivals to start the year. They then laid an absolute egg against the Buccaneers in week 2, prompting the comments from Fields. Yesterday the Chiefs demolished them in KC. The final was 41-10, but it was 34-0 at the half. The score did not indicate how much of a blowout this game was on the field. The Bears will have to make some changes if they want to get back to relevancy. Maybe that means the staff, maybe it means the players. Right now I'd lean towards the staff. They seem like a deer caught in the headlights. They seem to have little to no urgency or will to compete when they step on the field. The Bears are a bad football team.

The only team that may be worse is the Denver Broncos. I followed the Broncos offseason coaching search because Jim Harbaugh was considered a prime candidate. I believe he had multiple interviews. I bet he is happy he didn't take that job now. Sean Payton seemed like a homerun hire. He is an offensive and quarterback guru. He had massive success in New Orleans. He seemed like the perfect guy to step in for Nathaniel Hackett. And in weeks 1 and 2 the Broncos looked competent enough. They didn’t win either game, but they were a 2 point conversion away from tying the Commanders and barely got beat by the Raiders, another very bad NFL team right now. But yesterday was incredibly eye opening. This Broncos team is in a very, very bad spot right now. Their defense gave up 70 points to the Dolphins yesterday. I understand that the Dolphins are very good and have a very explosive offense, but 70 points? Are you kidding me? I mean, that is absolutely wild. I went and watched some highlights, I have Raheem Mostert on my fantasy team, and the Broncos defense looked helpless. They were taking awful angles. They couldn't stop a pass at all. Tua was a perfect 16 for 16 in the first half. Yikes. At one point Mostert took a screen pass and basically went untouched for a TD to push the score to 42-13. And on the screen pass plenty of Broncos had a shot at him and missed as poorly as I have ever seen an NFL team miss tackles. Their offense has looked inept in two of their three games as well. They only managed 16 points against the Raiders. And the 20 they scored yesterday was all garbage time. Russell Wilson looks bad. He looks cooked. He doesn't seem to have it anymore. Javonte Williams barely sees the ball. They are usually down so bad that they have to throw. Jerry Jeudy isn't getting passes thrown his way. The o lineman look and sound depressed. Sean Payton looks like a dinosaur in the modern NFL. This team is hurting in a bad way. They need to do something drastic. I don't know if that means to move on from Wilson or to give Payton the hottest seat in all of football. Either way though, the Broncos may be the worst team in the NFL.

The Bears and Broncos are two teams need to make some changes. Something different needs to happen if they want to be relevant again. Time will tell, hell, maybe they will both win the rest of their games and this will all be moot. But at this moment, this early in the season, the Bears and Broncos are far and away the two worst teams in the entire NFL. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Ranks the 2023 NFL Teams: Regional Grocery Store Brand Cola Division

Welcome to day three of my preseason NFL rankings. We are going to be at the playoff teams soon, but not until next week.

At number 24 I have the Carolina Panthers. The Panthers had the number one pick and used it on Bryce Young. Young is one of the better QB prospects to come along in some time. He is a gamer, he has won the most high stakes games, he performs under pressure and he can tuck it and run if need be. He is small, but that doesn't really matter with the heart he plays with. But, he is a rookie and there will be a learning curve for sure. Andy Dalton is not the answer they need at backup QB. They were able to sign Miles Sanders away from Philadelphia, and they also got Adam Thielen. Both of them are due for a setback, and may be past their prime. DJ Chark is okay enough, but not a true threat. The o line is still a work in progress and will need time to mold. They weren't the best, or even close to it, last season. The defense leaves a ton to be desired. Brian Burns is very good, elite perhaps, but will be double and tripled teamed all season. Jaycee Horn is an okay corner, but not upper tier yet. One of their d ends, Henry Anderson, is already fighting injuries. This defense is not even close to the level they were when they were in the Super Bowl. Neither is the offense. And while I do think they got the best QB prospect in the draft, it is going to take a few years before Bryce Young is playing in critical games again.

At number 23 I have the Tennessee Titans. I feel awful for Derrick Henry. He deserves so much better than this franchise. He is far too good to be wasted playing for a team with no real hope for contention. Ryan Tannehill is still the starter. Why? Malik Willis was not given a real chance and then they drafted Will Levis. He has looked rough in camp, they are unwilling to play Willis, so they are settling for Tannehill. That is a problem. I was excited for a second when they signed Deandre Hopkins, but then I sat back and thought about it. What will he bring? How is Tannehill going to get him the ball? Is he going to really make defenses forget about Derrick Henry to focus on him? I don't think he moves the needle too much. Treylon Burks got hurt the other day. The o line is okay. If they were a little better Derrick Henry would be obliterating rushing records though. The defense is pretty new and unknown. Jeffrey Simmons is middle of the road now. Same for Harold Landry. Kevin Byard is a step slower. There is too much uncertainty with this group. Also, they are going to have to overuse Derrick Henry yet again to try and control the clock. The Titans had a moment, but that moment has passed. They need to rebuild.

At number 22 I have the Washington Commanders. Sam Howell was just named their starting QB. Yikes. He is not the answer. I would have gone with Jacoby Brissett. He has at least played and won at this level. Brian Robinson is a quality starting running back. He can do some things. Terry McLaurin is one of the better wideouts in the league. Jahan Dotson has his rookie year under his belt and I think he will have a good year. Logan Thomas is a fine tight end. The o line is okay. The defense should be better than they actually are though. Chase Young cannot stay healthy and he has not produced like I thought he would. Kendall Fuller should be better. Montex Sweat was a draft steal, but he hasn't hit his true potential yet. David Mayo is blah at linebacker. The defense just isn't at a playoff level. That and Sam Howell will keep this team at 7 or 8 wins.

The final team for the day, at number 21 I have the Denver Broncos. They have Sean Payton, a legit head coach. Russell Wilson should rebound from a very bad season. Javonte Williams is a serviceable back. Jerry Jeudy has all the tools to be a number 1 wideout. The o line is very good. But this offense was horrendous last year. Russell Wilson was not the answer they needed at QB. They don't treat the running backs well. The wideouts never got real looks. Will that change with Sean Payton at the helm and Russell Wilson looking to bounce back? Hopefully, but who knows. The defense went out and signed Frank Clark after the Chiefs let him walk. He is good on the field, but he has off field issues. They also have a very similar guy to Clark in Randy Gregory, except he has been suspended for off field stuff once already by the NFL. Pat Surtain is awesome, but he is the only quality secondary player they have. I just do not know what to expect from this team coming into this season. When I'm in that scenario I tend to be pessimistic. I don't know that Wilson will fully recover from last year. I think Williams will be overused. Jeudy won't get enough looks. The defense will not stop enough dudes and may get into too much off field trouble. The Broncos are too much of a toss up and I'm erring on the side of an average team at best.

That does it for today and this week. Come back Monday for the next four teams. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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Boy Was I Wrong About the 49ers, Broncos, and Packers

The NFL playoffs are set. I will do a preview and prediction, but that will have to wait for tomorrow. Today I want to talk about three teams that I was very, very wrong about in my preseason NFL countdown. I get a good amount of stuff wrong, but I do get some stuff right. I also like to think I know a lot about this sport, but sometimes I am just off. That is the case with these three teams I will discuss today.

First, the San Francisco 49ers. I was way, way too low on this team. I do not like their coach, there are some players I am not very fond of and I thought it would be a big learning curve for Trey Lance. It looked like it may go that way the first couple weeks. The 49ers looked a little lost, they had some offensive woes and Lance went down with a season ending injury early on. They could have folded there but they didn't. They have won ten straight going into the playoffs. Not only did Lance get hurt, so did Jimmy Garroppolo. No worries, Brock Purdy has been very serviceable. But it is this team's defense. They are so, so, so good. They fly all over the field. They hit. They make their opponents feel it. They can stop the run and rush the passer with the best of the best. The 49ers have an offensive minded coach, but this team is led by their defense. And their defense is good enough to drag them to another Super Bowl appearance. I still do not like this team, but I have never been a 49ers fan. Not even when I was a kid. But I was too low on this team. And their defense is very elite. I would be nervous to face them in the playoffs.

San Fran is the only team I was down on that I should have been higher on for this piece today. The next two teams are teams I was way too high on, and in hindsight I should have seen this coming.

The first team that I was too up on is the Denver Broncos. I assumed they were ready to make a leap. They fired a defensive minded coach and hired Nathaniel Hackett, Green Bay's offensive coordinator. They also went out and traded for Russell Wilson. I am not a fan of his, but he is a very good quarterback and has one Super Bowl ring already. The defense is also very good and not too old. The Broncos had the makings of a last to first place team, and to be a threat in the AFC to go to the Super Bowl. Well, Nathaniel Hackett was fired before the season ended. Russell Wilson is having his worst season as a pro and looks like he aged overnight. And the defense spends far too much time on the field and they got exhausted from being overworked. The Broncos were very, very bad. I see that they are interviewing a ton of head coaches, Jim Harbaugh included, who they think can work with Wilson. They have a ton to work on. They have a few pieces, like Jerry Jeudy and Bradley Chubb, but not much else. The Broncos are in need of a big rebuild. I don't know where they're drafting, but they should take a young QB. They need a solid running back. They could use some o line help. The Broncos need a good amount of work. They also happen to play in a very tough division. I could not have been more wrong on this team. I have not watched a ton of NFL this year, but I found a game of theirs last week and watched for a bit. Man were they bad. It was a tough watch. The Broncos are a ways away from being competent again.

Finally, I have my team, the Green Bay Packers. I assumed they would win the NFC North with ease. I did not, and still don't, believe in the Vikings. The Bears ended up having the worst record in the NFL. And I was high on Detroit, but I thought it was going to be a year off before they became a real threat. I just figured the Packers would walk. They had pretty much everyone back and they were a good team last year. This team never gelled. They never meshed. They were never good on either side of the ball. Aaron Rodgers, who I loathe more than anyone in the NFL, was flat out bad this year. He looked disinterested, he blamed everyone but himself and he is an idiot. I found it hard to root for this team this season because I despise Rodgers so very much. He had a bad year. I hope he is gone after this season. I'm done with him as the Packers QB. The offense also seemed to abandon the run far too early. You have two guys in Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon, but the Packers just did not use them enough. It was head scratching. The wideouts have potential, but when Rodgers doesn't work with them and help them out, that is a problem. The defense is a mess. They cannot stop the run, they give up too many big pass plays and they come and go as they please. Jaire Alexander is great, but he needs help. Rashan Gary is a good rush end, but he cannot stay healthy. They have dudes, but they don't have much help. And Matt LaFleur is very blah as a head coach. He is milquetoast. I have no real faith in his play calling ability. And the teams in this division are coming for them. Minnesota is a QB away from being a true contender. Kirk Cousins stinks. For real. The Bears have a great young QB in Justin Fields. They also have the number one pick. They will be back soon. And the Lions are coming. They finished 9-8. They beat Green Bay in Green Bay when they had nothing to play for. They have great pieces on offense. They need a true QB. They also have the makings of a very good defense. The Lions are on a good path. The Packers, on the other hand, stink. They should move on from Rodgers. They should build the offense around Jones and Dillon. Let's move on to the Jordan Love era. The defense has a few guys, they now need some more to help out. The Packers should be bad for a few years, build in the draft and in free agency and wait for 2026 or 2027 to be a threat again. But man was I wrong about them. I feel like I was the most wrong on them.

I was wrong on all three of these teams. They all did the exact opposite of what I thought they would do. It happens sometimes, but this year was so egregious on my end that I had to address it. So, there it is. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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Ty's 2022 NFL Preview - Trying the New Locally Brewed Beer Division

Welcome back to my 2022 NFL countdown. Hope you all enjoyed your weekend.

Starting the countdown today, at number 12 I have the Denver Broncos. The Broncos probably made the biggest move of the offseason when they acquired Russell Wilson. I have never been a fan, but he is a very good QB. He knows what to do and he does it very well. Wilson is the type of QB that can turn the fate of a franchise around right away. This team is going to go from a non playoff threat to an actual playoff team. They also got Melving Gordon III on a cheap deal to backup Javonte Williams, who has potential to be a solid back. Jerry Jeudy is a solid receiver. KJ Hamler is a perfect third wideout. He is going to be the Broncos version of Tyler Lockett. Courtland Sutton is good enough. Their O line is very good and is getting better. Russell Wilson will enjoy not running for his life all the time. The Broncos defense may not have Von Miller anymore, but they still have Bradley Chubb. He is very, very good at football. They have a decent secondary. The D line is not full of names, but they are good. The Broncos D has not been the problem, it has always been the QB. Now they have a legit top five QB in the NFL. They will win 10 or 11 games and be in the hunt for the playoffs all season long.

At number 11 I have the Las Vegas Raiders. I almost called them the Oakland Raiders. Las Vegas is still odd to me. I do not trust Derek Carr at all. He is not a winning QB. He is a game manager at his very best. He is not worth the humongous contract they gave him. They got Davante Adams, and that is very, very big. He is the best receiver in the NFL. He will elevate Carr's game, and the familiarity with Carr is solid. But why are they trying to trade Josh Jacobs? He is a very good back. Why is Hunter Renfrow the number two wideout? He is, at best, a slot receiver. Darren Waller is good, but he keeps getting hurt. The O line is okay enough. The D had a big year. It was why they got into the playoffs last year. Maxx Crosby is legit. Chandler Jones is a great linebacker. So is Denzel Perryman. Rock Ya Sin is a good corner and he has a cool ass name. The Raiders D can play. I just keep going back to Derek Carr at QB. He is a liability and could halt any momentum they had from last season. With all that though, the Raiders are a 10 win team and a likely playoff contender.

At number 10 I have the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles made some very good moves this offseason. AJ Brown was a great addition. Devonta Smith had a monster rookie year. He will build on that. If Miles Sanders can stay healthy he is an upper tier running back. This will all benefit Jalen Hurts, who I like a whole lot. He has a cannon for an arm. He is a great runner. He is so good at the read option game. And this is year three for him. Time to show up. The O line is very good at run blocking as well. The Eagles D got Hasson Reddick this offseason. This is a great reclamation project for them. Darius Slay is very good. Josh Sweat should have a big season. Anthony Harris is a solid safety. Brandon Graham is back. Fletcher Cox is one of the best D lineman in the league. The Eagles are in a put up or shut up year. I think they will show up. I believe they can win 11 games and their division.

At number 9 I have the Dallas Cowboys. I do not like the Cowboys. I have never liked the Cowboys. I feel that the Cowboys are the most overrated team in the NFL. They consistently fall flat on their faces every season. They are irrelevant. That being said, I do like Dak Prescott. He is pretty awesome. He is one hell of a QB. The dude can sling the ball. I do believe that Ezekial Elliot is fully overrated. He got his big deal and has gotten worse every season since. He is not feared. He is not an every down back. He may get passed by Tony Pollard this season, who I like a lot. There is no more Amari Cooper. Ceedee Lamb, who is very solid, will step into his place. He and Prescott will make for a lethal duo. Michael Gallup is okay. I have no idea who Jalen Tolbert is. The Cowboys O line was their best unit. While still very good. they aren't as dominant as previous seasons. I have zero faith in the Cowboys defense. The defense is not very good, and that is why the offense needs to sling the ball so much. Leighton Vander Esch is wildly overrated. DeMarcus Lawrence's best days are behind him. Anthony Barr is a headcase. Jayron Kearse is very blah. But they do have two rising stars on D. Micah Parsons is going to be a force in the league. And Trevon Diggs is an intercepting machine. These dudes are wonderful. The Cowboys are like Gonzaga. On paper they look great. But when it gets to the nitty gritty they fold up. They will win double digit games and be in a dogfight with the Eagles all season. But come playoff time, who knows which Cowboys team will show up.

That is it for today. Come back tomorrow for the next four teams.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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Let's Talk About Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson

Two big time QB's made big decisions on their future yesterday. It is time to discuss.

First I want to talk about that punk Aaron Rodgers. He completely fleeced the Packers. He acted like a malcontent, a whiner, he played awful in their playoff game and he moaned and groaned about "cancel culture" and "the woke media" all season long. He openly lied to the media, he used meaningless words prior to the year, and when he got caught, he went on defense. He never directly answered any questions about his blatant lying, he yelled at anyone that disagreed with him and he acted like a spoiled child. But the Packers gave into his childish behavior and awarded him a humongous extension.

Rodgers is going to sign a four year 200 million dollar deal. This is asinine to me. He is too old, on the wrong side of his prime, not the reason why the Packers are in contention anymore and has handcuffed the future of the team. This is akin to when the Lakers gave Kobe Bryant a big extension when he was old and coming off a torn ACL. While I do not think the Packers will fade as fast as that Lakers team, I do not have a good feeling about this deal for the future of the Packers. But the people who make the decisions in Green Bay gave that malcontent exactly what he wanted in the end.

This is a classic example of a spoiled rotten kid getting his way. I would never buy one of my kids a toy if they acted like Rodgers did at all last season. They would be grounded and told what they did was selfish and wrong. They would have to own up to their mistakes. But Green Bay just rewarded his bad behavior because they are afraid of being a basement dweller for a few seasons.

I really despise this deal. I wish the Packers would have just moved on. I would really like to say I am going to switch allegiances, but I am so far in the bag for this team, so I honestly do not know who I will root for this upcoming NFL season. At least I still have the Wolverines to root for in college football.

Not to be outdone, the Seahawks made a tremendously big trade later in the day after the Packers gave Rodgers his new deal. Seattle traded Russell Wilson to the Broncos for Drew Lock, Noah Fant, Shelby Harris and five draft picks. The Broncos get Wilson and a fourth round pick. Wow.

It was no secret that the Broncos were in the market for an upgrade at the QB position. They were hot on Aaron Rodgers. I heard they were going to trade up in the draft to take a QB. I heard they were going to get involved with some backups on other teams. In the end though, they ended up with Wilson, which is a homerun.

I have made no bones about my dislike for Wilson, but he is a damn good QB. The only reason the Seahawks were relevant after their couple of Super Bowl appearances was the play of Wilson. He was the engine that ran that offense. He had no o line help, and not a very good run game behind him, yet he put up incredible stats, and until last season, had the Seahawks in, or in the hunt for the playoffs every season. He is the type of QB that can truly make a team better by simply being on the roster. He has more than earned his spot among the top five QB's in the NFL. He is very, very good. And I do think he will help the Broncos mightily on the offensive side of the ball. He has some good young weapons on the outside, and a solid running back by committee group in the backfield. The Broncos o line is far superior to anything the Seahawks ever had while Wilson was there. The Broncos also hired Nathinel Hackett, who was the Packers offensive coordinator, and he has a good mind for running a modern NFL offense. Where the trade doesn't help is the Broncos defense. They need to get better on that side of the ball, but their offense is in very capable hands now.

The Seahawks were able to get a fortune for Wilson, and that should help their rebuild go much faster. I was never a believer in Drew Lock, so if I were the Seahawks, I'd use one of those picks on a QB to build around. I do really like the addition of Fant. He is a great pass catching tight end, and putting him next to DK Metcalf will cause matchup nightmares for opponents. I know nothing of the other guy in the trade. But that amount of picks, that is how to rebuild fast in the NFL. The Seahawks have an OKC Thunder amount of picks. They will be able to take a lot of swings, and a good amount of those will mostly hit.

I feel like both teams got a very solid deal in this trade. I think the Broncos immediately become a playoff contender and the Seahawks will be able to keep some continuity and rebuild much faster than other teams. So while I loathe the Rodgers extension, I like the trade between the Seahawks and Broncos.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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Ty Ranks the 2021 NFL Teams - Better Luck Next Year Division

Welcome to day 2 of my NFL countdown. Let's get right to it.

At number 28 I have the New York Jets. This team has not seemed to figure it out yet. They continue to make bad decisions in the front office and at the draft. They let guys go or guys ask to leave. They do not want to stay there too long. I do like the hiring of Robert Saleh, and if given the time, I think he can turn it around. Just not this year. The issues at QB have not been addressed, even with them taking Zach Wilson second overall. I do like that they are going to let him play through the rough stuff, but there is going to be a lot of rough stuff this year. He is not ready, but he will get the playing time. Tevin Coleman was good about three years ago, but with the Jets, he is their best option at running back. They let their best receiver walk, and now they are left with guys that have not shown they can be consistent. The O line is very blah, but it will not matter much because this team doesn't have the skill guys to do much with the ball. I do think the defense will be better because that is Salah's calling card. They do not have many guys, but they do have CJ Mosley, Byrce Hall and Quinnen Williams. Those are solid building blocks at all three levels of the defense. The rest of the guys are so so, but Saleh will coach them the hell up. They will be better on that side of the ball than they have been in awhile. In the end, the Jets have no offense, but a defense that will help them hang around and maybe even win three or four games. Give Saleh time though and the Jets could be a playoff team in three years.

At number 27 I have the Chicago Bears. The Bears finally moved on from Trubisky, and I love the Justin Fields pick, they just do not have much else. The Bears have needed to rebuild for years now, and they look like they may be on their way to doing just that. Also, Fields should be the starter. This whole Nick Foles and Andy Dalton dance is the dumbest thing I have seen. They need to give the keys to Fields and let him ride. He is the future at QB. Running back is not great with Tarik Cohen being hurt and having David Montgomery as their starter. He's fine, he ran for 1,000 yards last season, but I do not see a repeat of that this year. They were able to re-sign Allen Robinson, which will help Fields, but the rest of the receivers are not great. They also need better tight ends, especially if they are going to be a play action team. The O line is fine, but not great. The defense is not what it was two years ago, but they do still have Khalil Mack. That dude is awesome. He is probably the best linebacker in the NFL. He just doesn't have much help. Danny Trevathan is always hurt. Akiem Hicks hasn't really panned out. Roquan Smith needs to stay healthy. Tashaun Gipson is not great. They just are not at that elite level anymore. They seem to have fallen off a bit. The Bears are not the playoff contender they were two and three years ago, but they have done the right thing moving on from Trubisky. Now they have to let Fields run the damn thing. It won't equate to many wins, but it would be a step in the right direction.

At number 26 I have the Denver Broncos. This is another team that had an elite defense, a Super Bowl winning defense, but the offense is really, really bad. They should be starting Teddy Bridgewater. He more than deserves that role. He has come back from a gruesome injury and seems to be as good as he looked at times with Minnesota. Starting Drew Lock would be a major mistake. They need to move on from him now. He is not the answer, clearly. They let Phillip Lindsay walk and they are going with Melvin Gordon. Gordon was great at times with the Chargers, but he has not been the same with Denver. He bet on himself, which I have mad respect for, but it has not paid off. I like Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler as a wideout duo, but Hamler has yet to put it together and Jeudy is a rookie. Courtland Sutton seems to be a one season wonder too. The O line is fine, but again, not elite. They should let Bridgewater start, but we will see where they go from here. The defense is solid, but as we saw last season, when they spend all game on the field, it is rough for them. Von Miller is awesome, an all timer, a hall of fame player. He is legit. I also really like Bradley Chubb. He has more than lived up to the hype. Kyle Fuller is a solid defensive back. And Ronald Darby can play. But they spend way, way too much time on the field. They cannot win many games that way. I saw that with Michigan football two of the past four seasons. It is not a recipe for success. The Broncos could win five or six games with Bridgewater, but if they go with Drew Lock, it is more like three or four wins.

The final team for today, coming in at number 25, I have the Atlanta Falcons. First things first, my hat goes off to the Falcons for being the first team to be 100 percent vaccinated. That rules. I think that is great. They did the right thing as an organization, and they will reap the rewards. This is a big win for them. For the on field play, that is going to suffer. Matt Ryan is still the QB. He was good, an MVP a few years back, but he has been on a downward trajectory for the past three seasons. He just hasn't found the magic from his MVP year. I thought they were going to draft a QB, but they didn't, and now they have Ryan, AJ Mccarron and Feliepe Franks. That is not great. Todd Gurley did not have a great year, and they let him walk. That bums me out. I thought he could turn it around. They now have Mike Davis, and while he is a great fantasy player because he bowls guys over the TD's on the goal line, I do not know if he has the ability to be a full time starter. He is good though. They traded Julio Jones and that is a big blow to their offense. He was that guy that could go and make something out of nothing. Calvin Ridley is fast, and that is it. Their other receivers, I have never heard of. They drafted Kyle Pitts number six overall, and if you go back to my draft preview, I think he was very overhyped. He is very tall and physical, but he is also a rookie. There will be a big time learning curve. The O line is fine. The Falcons have struggled mightily on defense ever since their Super Bowl run. There is no one that stands out. Maybe Dante Fowler will find his groove, but he hasn't yet. Maybe he is what he is as an NFL player already. The secondary is filled with questions, the linebackers are blah and the D line looks like it will give up tons of big running plays. The Falcons had the chance to be a perennial playoff power, but since blowing that lead to the Patriots, they have never recovered. The team is past its prime. Again, I love love love that they are all fully vaccinated, and they should be rewarded for that. But this team will not win more than five games this season.

Come back tomorrow for the next four teams. We are getting to the better teams soon.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Ranks the 2019 NFL Teams: Green Olive Pizza Division

Day 3 of my 2019 NFL countdown begins with my number 24 team, the team from Washington.

Look, Dan Snyder is a moron, and he has been running this team into the dirt since he took over. This team, when I was a kid, was a powerhouse, now they are more well known for not paying Kirk Cousins, and playing an injured Robert Griffin in the playoffs his rookie year. As far back as I can remember, they have only been in the playoffs twice in the last decade and a half, and they left in round one with a whimper. They also didn't get much better in the offseason. Jay Gruden is somehow still the coach. Derius Guice is injured once again. Josh Norman jumped over a bull in Pamplona this summer, and that is the best thing he has done since signing there. They did draft Dwayne Haskins, and I think his "slide" might motivate him. But, he was a one year starter, and save for his performance in the Michigan game last year, he was just okay. I don't know if I would build around him. Washington is a team stuck in the past, and they sit there and think because they were once good that they should still be good. The problem, they are just an average, at best, NFL team. They don't really have much of anyone outside of Haskins now too. As I said, Guice is hurt, they don't have the best wide outs in the league, and Vernon Davis was their dude last year, and he is older than me I think. The defense is very blah in my opinion as well. And Jay Gruden, while not as insane as his brother, is just not a very good NFL coach. He has done nothing that positive since he took over awhile back. I could see them eeking out 7, maybe 8 wins, but that is their absolute ceiling. If I were a betting man, and if Vegas put the odds at 6.5 wins for them, I would take the under. Washington is just not a solid football team right now.

At number 23 I have the San Francisco 49ers. Everyone needs to pump the brakes on the 49ers. I'm sick and tired of hearing how they are finally going to turn a corner this year and be a contender. Who do they have that makes them a contender? Seriously, I want to know. Is it Jimmy Garroppollo? I don't think so. He had a few good games in New England, then Tom Brady demanded they trade him. The Patriots sufficed, and then he went to San Francisco, didn't start right away, but came in in mop up duty at the end of the year and won some games against teams that had nothing to play for. He got a ridiculous contract for that, and proceeded to shred his knee early last season. To me, he is a little bit better version of Matt Flynn. I want to see him put together an 8 or 9 game stretch, I'm not even asking for a full season, before I anoint him the next great NFL QB. They lost Jerick McKinnon. They have no receivers worth note. Their best pass catcher is a tight end who will now face double teams every week. And their defense stinks. I loathe Nick Bosa by the way. And it has nothing to do with the fact that he went to the University of Ohio State. He is a punk, a racist, a douchebag and will flop almost as hard as Daniel Jones. He is nowhere near as good as his brother, who I find a little overrated too, and not even close to top of the line d lineman in last year's draft. He is a dip shit. Richard Sherman is also a million years old, and I was wrong about the Soloman kid they took from Stanford a few years back. He has not panned out. Also, when will Kyle Shanahan start to take some kind of blame. This team has been awful since he was hired. Some of that is injury, but some of that is his piss poor coaching. I'm sure I will have to hear again how this is the year they turn it around. But, when Garroppollo shreds his other knee, and Bosa is too busy retweeting Bretbart articles and Richard Sherman is the only decent person on your team, you are a 6 win team at best. The 49ers stink.

At number 22 I have the Denver Broncos. This team is wasting one of the best defenses of the 21st century because John Elway does not know how to pick QB's. He got extremely lucky with Peyton Manning, although I think they won because of their defense. And since Manning, it has been a shit show. Guys like Trevor Siemian, Brock Osweiler, Paxton Lynch and Case Keenum have been the QB. Those teams have stunk. Now, they have Joe Flacco and they drafted Dew Lock. Oof. Flacco is another guy that got paid because of an excellent defense that made his old team a Super Bowl champ. He has never been that good, and lately, he looks totally disinterested in football, but also thinks he is a Hall of Famer. He is not. Then with Lock, my dad told me that their staff said "he is a fast ball pitcher that can't find the plate". That is not a compliment. That is an indictment of how far away that kid is from being even a competent backup in the NFL. I saw him play live, and while he has impressive arm strength, he is too prone to run and overthrow guys by ten yards. He has zero accuracy. They do have a solid back in Phillip Lindsay, and the o line is okay. But, their best receiver is Emmanuel Sanders, and while he is explosive, he is small and he gets blasted way too much. Where the Broncos thrive is on defense, and they are led by one of the best ever, Von Miller. Miller is awesome and a true Hall of Fame player and just goes after it. They have a solid line, the corners are serviceable and the secondary can hit. But, they are being wasted by this below average offense. The defense will keep them in games, it may even win a few for them, but they are no better than a 7 win team to me. That is a shame because that defense is so very good.

The final team for today, a team I was so very wrong on last year, coming in at number 21, I have the Jacksonville Jaguars. I picked them to win the Super Bowl last year. Now I have them this low on my list. They totally stumbled last year, and I don't think they can make a quick recovery. They did get rid of Blake Bortles finally, but replaced him with Nick Foles. Yes, he won a Super Bowl for Philly, and he held that team afloat last year after Carson Wentz went down with yet another injury. But, now Foles is being looked at as the franchise guy, and I think he will revert to his Saint Louis days, where he was the full time starter for the year, and wasn't that effective. They also have some solid wide outs, but Allen Hurns and the other guys just aren't being used right. They are actively rude to Leonard Fournette and TJ Yeldon at every turn. These guys should be the basis of what they do on offense, but when the coach and Tom Coughlin rip them at every turn, that has to be tough for them. Add on the fact that they hired John De Fillipo to be the new offensive coordinator, Yeldon and Fournette will be lucky to touch the ball a combined 20 times a game now. The defense completely fell apart last season as well. I love Jalen Ramsey, but man did he not back up his trash talk last year. The whole "Sacksonville" thing was clearly a one year deal as they got out sacked by everyone they played. They traded Dante Fowler midway through the year to the LA Rams for peanuts. Their linebackers weren't that good in run or pass defense. It was a total mess, much like this team is now. And I am not going to let the Foles signing fool me into thinking this team will be a contender all of the sudden. Jacksonville seems like they are back to being a mid tier, to bad, NFL team. They are going to probably win 6 or 7 games this year, but the days, or one year that is, of them being a contender are long gone. I cannot believe I thought this team was going to win the Super Bowl last year. I am a dummy.

That's it for today, come back tomorrow for my next 4 teams.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Do not be too hard on Ty about Jacksonville. How many of us are picking Cleveland to win it all this year. Now that is dumb.

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Ty Ranks the 2018 NFL Teams: The Bottom of the Coffee Pot Edition

Day 2 of my NFL preview, and I will be counting down teams 28-25. I will say before I get started, one of the teams may be a surprise to some. But, with what they did this offseason, it really shouldn't be.

Okay, here it goes.

At number 28 I have the New York Jets. Now, I thought the Jets were going to be, hands down, the worst team last year, and they won 5 games, with Josh McCown as their starting QB. That doesn't seem like a lot, but when you look at this roster, that is an achievement. Dare I say, Todd Bowles is a solid head coach. Well, I should say, he can coach defense. That defense kept them in more games than they should have been in. Jamal Adams is a burgeoning star. He is a hard hitting safety, and when his coverage skills catch up, he will be an all time great. They have a solid D line, linebackers and an okay secondary. What holds this team back is their offense. They only won 5 games last year, and they were not shoot outs. This a team that wants to control the ball. They want to run and they are happy to win 17-13 or 10-7. Unfortunately, they don't really have much of a run game, especially since Matt Forte called it quits. They also don't really have good enough receivers. They also don't have much of a tight end. Their O line is suspect. They went out and drafted Sam Darnold and signed Teddy Bridgewater, but that feels like a reach and a last chance. Darnold could be good, but he was a turnover machine in college. Bridgewater looked like the Vikings QB of the future, and then he almost lost his leg. They do still have McCown, but I feel like 5 wins is his ceiling. So, while the Jets have a solid defense, and a solid head coach, their offense is horrendous, and that will keep them from getting anymore than 5 wins this year. They will not be in any Super Bowl any time soon. Also, Sam Darnold might be the next Mark Sanchez.

At number 27 I have the Denver Broncos. This needs to be said, I loathe the Broncos, and I despise John Elway. The fact that he got Peyton Manning near the end, and won a ring with him disgusts me. That Super Bowl was won by their phenomenal defense that year. Speaking of which, what happened there? They do still have Von Miller, and he rules, but where is everyone else? Did they all get snapped by Thanos and disappear into the ether? They have no one else on that side of the ball, and that makes me feel bad for Miller. He deserves so much better. He is a once in a generation talent. He is the Derrick Thomas, or even Bruce Smith, of this generation. The Broncos offense is just as bad as the Jets, but no one says so because they are the Broncos and John Elway is their GM. They started Trevor Siemian for most of last year. He is horrible. I watched him play college football live once and knew he wasn't that good. The fact that they thought they could win with him was hilarious. When they finally realized he was garbage, they turned to Paxton Lynch. Well, he was worse, and there is video evidence of him crying on the sideline of a meaningless late season game to prove how bad he is. People say that shows his competitive edge, I think it shows that he now hates the game of football. They also brought back Brock Osweiler for some unknown reason, and he was terrible of course. The Broncos also have no run game. They lost CJ Anderson, and now they have a platoon with some guy I don't know, and Devontae Booker. I took Booker with the second to last pick in my fantasy draft, and I was mad at myself for doing so. He is so poised to gain 200 yards and score zero touchdowns this year. But don't worry, you still have 5 foot tall Emmaunel Sanders, who is bound to get concussed, and Demayrius Thomas, who I think I am faster than. The Broncos stink. They are going nowhere fast, and it is because Elway has no idea what he is doing.

At number 26 I have the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins are riddled with injuries, bad players and a bad coach. This is the same team that did give Jay Cutler 10 million dollars last year to be a doofus for them. But now they have Ryan Tannehill back, for maybe a month. He is going to get injured, that is what he does. He will never live up to this potential. They have no run game. They let their best receiver go to the Browns for nothing. Their O line is trash. The defense isn't much better. They did get off of Suh's enormous contract, but hell, he was the only halfway decent guy they had on that side of the ball. I guess Cameron Wake is okay too. But other than that, they have nobody that can stop anybody. Sure, they will get their one glorious win in the regular season over the Patriots like they do every year, but other than that, who cares. This team is not very good, and they need an entire new staff. Adam Gase is not a head coach. I'm just waiting for a story about him where he overworks someone. He seems like that type of dude. The Dolphins are not going to any Super Bowl now, and possibly never in my lifetime.

My final team for the day, my surprise team I teased at the beginning, at number 25, I have the Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks have thudded like no other the past 2 seasons. They crapped out early in the playoffs 2 years ago, and last year, they missed out entirely. Now, this team has put all their eggs into the Russell Wilson basket. While he is solid, I would not build my team around him. Also, he is going to get hurt at some point because the O line is so atrocious. They might be the worst one in the league. They also have no run game, partly because of the line, but also, they haven't had anybody that good since Marshawn Lynch was let go. They have trotted guys out there, but none have been worth their salt. The receivers, minus Doug Baldwin, who I'm not even that high on are no better than third or fourth, or slot options. They have no tight end either. They also couldn't figure out how to use Jimmy Graham, one of the better tight ends in the league, so they just must not care about that position. I think last year proved how far this team could go with Wilson as "the guy". The defense, what they used to be built around, is gone. Michael Bennett, Richard Sherman and basically Earl Thomas, he wants out of there so bad, are gone. Sure, they might be passed their prime, but now, they have to replace all of them. I'm also sure Kam Chancellor will get hurt, and Bruce Irvin already played his best football. This team's defense is a total shell of its former self, and they are not the unit they once were. They cannot really stop anyone. They don't strike fear in anyone anymore. The Seahawks had a solid run, hell, they even won a Super Bowl, but they are done as a dominant franchise. The offense may put up numbers, but the defense will not be able to stop anyone. They are on the downswing.

That does it for today, come back tomorrow for the next 4 teams.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is very happy to get the hate out of the way for the Broncos and Seahawks. The next few posts should be filled with hapiness, that is until Washington DC.

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Ty Ranks the 2017 NFL Teams: The Anticipation for "The Last Jedi" Edition

New week, same 2017 NFL countdown here at SeedSing. This week we will finally get to the cream of the crop. The teams I will talk about this week all have a legit shot to make the playoffs, and about 60 to 70 percent of them could make a real case for going to, and winning, the Super Bowl. Lets go.

At number 16 I have Washington. I will not say or write the team name because it is offensive, so henceforth they will only be known as Washington. Washington has a QB problem. They cannot decide what to do with Kirk Cousins. Cousins is not a bad QB, but a 20 million plus a year QB? No way. He is not nearly that good. Off the top of my head there are many other QB's I'd want before Cousins name would even come up. Give me Brady, Rodgers, Newton, Wilson, Matt Ryan, hell, I'd even take Ryan Tannehill before Cousins. But, Washington is, by mistake I believe, doing the smart thing in franchising him. Make him continue to prove himself, then let someone like the Browns or 49ers throw way, way too much money at him when he has already played his best football for you. They have done it ass backwards, but it has been the "smart" move. The skill players are fine, but they did lose Desean Jackson this offseason. That is going to hurt, and hurt a lot. He was their deep threat. They do have Jordan Reed, and when he is healthy, he is good. They signed Terelle Pryor, and if last season is any indication, he is becoming a legit NFL wide out, just not a number one receiver. I like Josh Doctson, but he was seemingly injured all last season. Jamison Crowder is okay. That is the best way to describe the receivers, okay. Matt Jones was a revelation for the first half of last year, but then the NFL figured him out. Same thing can be said of Robert Kelly. Big runner, but can't really separate, and even though he is big, he gets tackled fairly easily. Their O-Line is rarely talked about, but that is good. That means they are doing their jobs. Washington's defense is, quietly, kind of good. Ryan Kerrigan is a very good pass rusher. Josh Norman, who kind of took a step back last year, is still a very good corner. He guarded the best receiver on the opposition every game last year, expect for the Giants games. That was very much publicized. Trent Williams is a very good defensive tackle. Su'a Cravens seems to be coming along nice. And Junior Gallette is still producing. Washington has a pretty decent defense that can stop teams. Their offense is what keeps them back I feel. They rely on Cousins, and he just isn't elite. He is more Joe Flacco than Aaron Rodgers, and he will continue to take them to the first round of the playoffs, and get beaten like a drum.

Coming in at number 15 I have the Houston Texans. Okay, Houston has the best defense in the NFL right now. Better than Denver, Seattle, anyone, in my opinion. They are so good on that side of the ball. JJ Watt, even though he never gets any criticism for some weird reason, is great. He is awesome, when he is healthy. I just wished he got the same judgement for his celebrations like Cam Newton gets. Jadeveon Clowney is awesome, but he is another guy that cannot stay healthy. But, when he is out there, he is great. Brian Cushing, who loves his steroids, is a tackling machine. As long as he isn't suspended for violating the NFL's drug policy, he produces. They lost AJ Bouye, but they have guys that can step in. Johnathan Joseph immediately comes to mind. Oh, I forgot about Whitney Mercilus on the D-Line. He is inconsistent, but when he is on he is dominant. This defense is awesome. Now, we must address the offense. First thing, I love that they moved up to take Deshaun Watson. I think he is going to be great and I think he can be the franchise guy they are looking for. I also love how they fleeced both Brock Osweiler and the Browns. Both brilliant moves by their front office. I also really like DeAndre Hopkins. He may be the most underrated receiver in the NFL. He is a legit number one. After that though, the Texans offense kind of falls off. Will Fuller, Braxton Miller and Jaelen Strong are not top level guys. At running back they have Lamar Miller and Alfred Blue. Miller was supposed to be Arian Foster's replacement, but he never really played out last year. And when Blue got his shot, he wasn't much better. The O-Line is okay, but not great. The tight ends are old school tight ends, and that doesn't work in the modern NFL. Houston is helped out by their atrocious division and their incredible defense. If Watson is the player I think he can be, this team could be a real threat. But that means counting on a rookie in the NFL. That is a scary proposition. The Texans will be in the playoffs, but the development of Watson throughout the year will be the factor in how far they go.

At number 14 I have the Philadelphia Eagles. Some may think this is too high, but I think the Eagles will surprise a lot of people this year. They could beat out both the Cowboys and the Giants in their division this year. I think a lot of people are sleeping on this offense. I think Carson Wentz is a decent QB. He is a hell of a lot better than Jared Goff, the guy taken before him last year. He performed much better than I expected last year. Add the fact that he has a legit receiver now in Alshon Jeffrey, and I think he will make the leap this year. Nelson Agholor is also an underrated, decent receiver. Don't sleep on the Torrey Smith signing either. He may have looked bad last year, but the 49ers offense was a mess. He will look much better this year. Zach Ertz is like a poor man's Greg Olsen or Martellus Bennett. He's a decent blocker but a much better pass catcher. He is reliable. I know they cut Ryan Matthews, but they still have Darren Sproles, and this is his last season. He has said he is done after this year. I feel like he is going to completely ball out. They also signed Legarette Blount. This backfield is filled with experience and winning. I like this backfield. Also, I forgot to mention the signing of Chris Long on defense. He has been great everywhere he has played. And Brandon Graham, a Michigan man, has gotten better every year. The Eagles are a good football team. They can, and probably will, surprise a lot of people. I know most people are penciling in the Cowboys in that division, but do not sleep on the Eagles. I like this team.

The final team for today, number 13, is the Denver Broncos. Last year many people thought was an aberration. I do not agree with that. The Broncos still have an incredible defense. Von Miller may be the best linebacker since LT. I'm not kidding. This guy is amazing. He recently said that he thinks 30 sacks in one season is attainable, and I bought it. He is the one guy that can do it. Aqib Talib, even with all the headaches he brings, is one of the better corners in the league, and if he gets his hands on the ball, he is housing it. Brandon Marshall is an incredible linebacker. One of the best in the league. Chris Harris Jr is lockdown as the other corner. Bradley Robey and TJ Ward are amazing safeties. Their D-Line is very good too. The defense is not the problem. The problem is the offense, and more importantly, it is the QB. Trevor Siemian is not a starting NFL QB. He was barely a Big Ten starting caliber QB in college. Paxton Lynch looks scared and slow out there. He may be a career backup. Those are guys they are counting on to run the offense. That is unsettling. Demayrius Thomas may have already played his best football. He is still good, but he hasn't been the same the past 2 years. He drops way too many easy passes too. I like Thomas, but I feel like he may not be an elite receiver anymore. Emmanuel Sanders is a great receiver that will go over the middle of the field, but that looks to be taking its toll on him. He is still a legit deep threat, but with Siemian and Lynch throwing the ball to him, does his downfield speed really matter? I don't think so. The Broncos do have a lot of options at running back, but none of them are great. CJ Anderson was supposed to take a big step last year, he did not. He barely got 3 yards a carry. Devontae Booker may be the future, but he doesn't get enough touches. They signed Jamaal Charles, but can he stay healthy and will he even be on the team when the season starts? Both are reasonable questions. The Broncos have an incredible defense, but the offense is very far behind due to the lack of a quality QB. They also play in a very, very good division. Wins will be hard to come by, but the defense will keep them in every single game.

That's it for today. Come back tomorrow for the next 4 teams.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He enjoyed being on the path of totality for the great eclipse of 2017. He thought his regular sunglasses would be sufficient to see the show. He is now unable to read this sick burn. (Just kidding, he watched it all through his homemade space toy).

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Ty's 2016 Midseason NFL Redo

As we approach week 8 of the NFL season, I need to do my annual mid season revision. I did a 3 day preseason NFL preview, and like last year, I have some stuff that I got right and some stuff that I got wrong. Today, I want to pat myself on the back a little bit, but also eat some crow, especially with my Super Bowl and MVP pick.

Before I get started, I know that RD is putting up a big piece about this soon, but the NFL has been absolutely atrocious this season. I'll let RD do the majority of expounding on that, but I have eyeballs, and what they have seen has been terrible. The game is watered down and the teams are not that good. This first half of the season has been abysmal. Thank goodness for college football, which I will touch on tomorrow, at least that has been fun this year. Anyway, let's get to my mid season NFL review.

So, as you all know by now, I had the Panthers as the Super Bowl winners. I thought that they would come out and slay pretty much everyone in front of them. I thought that they would be pissed at how they performed in last year's Super Bowl, and want to make up for that. I thought Cam Newton would trash any defense that came his way. Well, I couldn't have been more wrong. The Panthers have been terrible this season. They are 1-5 as we speak. Their defense is dreadful. They cannot get off the field, and teams are putting up 30 plus points on them with ease. I did not think that they'd miss Josh Norman as much as they do. Luke Kuechly has been very, very average this year. Their D line is getting little to no pressure. They stink. The offense isn't much better. Cam Newton looks miserable out there. He is not playing with the joy that turned me into a fan. He is getting head hunted, and the NFL is doing nothing about it. But, he also seems more concerned with what kind of celebration he is going to do when he scores instead of just getting in the end zone. They have no running game. Their passing game, which added Kelvin Benjamin, has been pretty porous. The Panthers have been the biggest, by far, disappointment in the NFL this year.

Outside of the Panthers, the NFC is not really great. The Vikings are probably the best team in the NFC, but they just got absolutely shut down by the Eagles last week. They have an other worldly defense, but their offense is very bad. The Cowboys, very surprisingly, have been right near the top of the NFC this year. Ezekial Elliot is currently leading the NFL in rushing. The receivers, minus Dez Bryant, have been very good. Dak Prescott has been exceptional. He is doing the best job of managing the game. He makes no mistakes, hardly ever, and dinks and dunks all the way down the field. I'm not a Cowboys fan, but I hope that when Tony Romo and Dez Bryant come back totally healthy, they stay on the bench because you should not rock the boat. This team is 5-1 for a reason. Who knows what Jerry Jones will do, but he needs to keep Prescott in there, as long as this team keeps winning.

As far as some other NFC teams, the Cardinals have been very disappointing. Carson Palmer looks like a shell of himself. Larry Fitzgerald is still good, but getting older. Michael Floyd drops more than he catches. David Johnson and their defense has been their saving grace, but they are 3-3-1. The Seahawks are probably the most underwhelming 4-1-1 team in the NFL. Their offense is mediocre, but their defense, who gets away with penalty after penalty, week after week, is still good. They are dirty, but still elite. The Packers are mediocre. Their defense is average and their offense has been mind numbingly frustrating to watch. The Lions, Saints, Eagles, Buccaneers and Falcons are at, or near .500, but they will make no difference in the long run.

As much as I hate to write this, I think the Cowboys, if they stick with Prescott and the running game, will become the team to beat in the NFC. They could very well make the Super Bowl this year, that is how bad this season has been.

The AFC, while not much better, does have the very best team in the NFL. The Patriots are leaps and bounds above all 31 other teams, and they are filled with holes. Their defense is very mediocre. they do give up some big plays a bit too often. After his ridiculous 4 game suspension, Tom Brady has looked like a man possessed. He is the front runner for the MVP right now, after only 3 games. He has lit up the 3 teams he's faced. He is on pace, in 12 games, to surpass 4,000 passing yards. That's crazy. Gronk is fully healthy, and he is just as unstoppable as ever. Martellus Bennett is a great addition, and takes pressure off Gronk. The slot receivers that fill the rest of this offense are perfect for the Patriots system. LeGarette Blount has been a great runner for them this year too. He's on pace for 1,300 plus rushing yards and 15 plus touchdowns. They also have James White, great out of the back field and Dion Lewis will be back soon. The Patriots, even with their holes, are the cream of the crop in the NFL. Eat it Roger Goodell.

 As for the teams not playing at Gillette, the Broncos have a great defense, but their offense is very much below average. They can't sustain drives, and unless their defense gives the offense primo field position, they usually punt. That should rule out a return trip to the Super Bowl. The Steelers, who I was very high on before the season, are minus their QB for another 3-5 weeks. Try as he might, LeVeon Bell can only do so much. Without Roesthilberger, this team will not go very far. But, 9-7 could win that division, so who knows. The Raiders, another team I was very high on, have been great offensively so far, but terrible defensively. The still hold a 5-2 record, and I'd love to see them in the playoffs, but I worry that their defense will make it unlikely. The Chiefs, who I was not so high on, have been pretty good so far. Sure, they got thumped by the Steelers a few weeks ago, but other than that, they have played pretty well. The Bills are well on their way to another 8-8 or 9-7 season. The entire AFC South stinks. The Texans are the worst division leader in all of football. The Colts and Jaguars are bottom feeders and the Titans are so bad on offense, that will hold them back. The Harambes, AKA Bengals, have been very mediocre, and I'm sure RD will agree. The Chargers are bad, but actually kind of fun to watch either blow games late or win games late. The Dolphins and Ravens are destined to be .500, and the Browns may not win a game all year long. The Patriots are, not only the best team in the AFC, but the best team in football. They are 100 percent going to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl this season, barring any major injury.

That means I have the Cowboys playing the Patriots in Super Bowl 51. Yikes. The Patriots should win it going away, if this turns out to be the matchup. I have the Patriots as my new Super Bowl champs. I also have Tom Brady as the MVP. David Johnson might be more deserving, or Julio Jones may put up unprecedented numbers, or Ezekial Elliot may rush for 1,800 yards, but what Brady has done over 3 games, and will continue to do, just to twist the knife in Goodell, will win him the MVP. He is the greatest QB ever, and this season will prove that even further. As far as rookie of the year, I was way, way off on LaQuon Treadwell. This is clearly Elliot's to lose. He has been as good as advertised, and as much as I may dislike his demeanor and the way he carries himself, he has been great this year. I still have Jack Del Rio as my coach of the year. He has the Raiders at 5-2, as I already stated, and they are relevant again. But, I would not count out Bill Belichek. He won 3 of 4 without Brady, and now, they want to crush everyone in their path, as they should. And defensive player of the year should, and probably will be Von Miller. He is incredible and playing incredible. He should own this award for many years to come.

So, that does it for my mid season review. I got some stuff right, but way more wrong. I'm pissed about my love for the Panthers, but happy about my feelings for the Raiders. The NFL is in a rough place, but I still watch and will continue to watch. Come back tomorrow and I will have my mid season college football review. That will be much more fun to write.  

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He may think the Cowboys ccan make the Super Bowl, but in his heart he knows Jerry Jones will ruin the teams chances. Romo is Jones's guy after all. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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The SeedSing 2016 NFL Predictions and Picks

Time to hand out a few game balls

To round out my NFL preview, today I will pick each division winner and who I think will be the two wild cards from each conference. I will also pick the Super Bowl teams and winner. As well as team picks, I will also pick the offensive and defensive players of the year, the offensive and defensive rookies of the year, the coach of the year and the overall MVP. This blog is going to be short and to the point. One sentence as to why I pick each team is all I'm giving myself. If you want to know other reasons I like these teams, you can read my 8 part preview that I finished yesterday.

Let's start with the AFC. The AFC East will be tricky because of Brady's suspension, but I still think the Patriots will win. Brady will come back on fire, and he will, on his own, will this team to the division title. The rest of the teams are either not ready, or not good enough to dethrone the juggernaut that is the Patriots. The AFC West will, most likely, be the toughest division in all of football, with three of the four teams finishing over .500, but I think the Broncos will win it. Their defense is just too good, and they won't give up a lot of points. If the offense averages 20, that would be absolutely huge for them. But, watch out for the Chiefs and the Raiders, they are both coming to dethrone the Broncos. The AFC North will also be a three team race, maybe 2, the Ravens aren't that good, but the Bengals and Steelers will fight it out all season. I see the Steelers winning because they have one of the best offenses in all of football, and their defense is pretty decent. The AFC South is still a joke, but it is getting better. Tennessee still stinks, but the Jaguars are putting together a competitive team. This all comes down to health and performance, and I think the Colts will rebound and win the division, but the Texans will be tough. As far as the wild cards go, I'm going to have to go with the Bengals and the Raiders. The Raiders are going to be good, and the Bengals have become mainstays, even if they cant get out of the first round.

For the NFC, let's start with the lowly NFC East. As I stated many times in my preview, a team with a losing record, like the Cowboys or Giants, could win this division, but I think Washington has the best players and the talent to easily repeat. They will get bounced after one round, but they will make a second straight playoff appearance. The NFC West is a two team race, between the Cardinals and the Seahawks, but the Cardinals are a much, much better team than the Seahawks. If the Cardinals don't win this division with ease, it should be deemed a disappointment. They have the best offense, and their defense is right there with Seattle. Arizona should cruise. With the NFC North, again, we have a two team race between the Packers and the Vikings. I just don't see, especially if they are at full health, how the Packers do not win this division. They have one of the best QB's in all of football, and they have a pretty good defense. Green Bay should win by 2 games. The NFC South is all about the Panthers. They are my best team in the NFL this year, and a lot of other writers agree with me. The Panthers could win their first 10 games and sew up the division with 6 weeks left. They are the cream of the crop. As far as the wild cards from the NFC, I have Minnesota and Seattle, but this may be a last shot for both teams.

I like the Patriots and the Broncos to meet again in the AFC Championship, this time the Patriots will come out on top. And for the NFC Championship, I like the Cardinals and the Panthers, another rematch, with Carolina winning.

That means Super Bowl 51 will be Carolina-New England. As much as I want to pick the Patriots, just so they can shove it in Goodell's stupid smug, arrogant face, I think the Panthers are too good, and they will learn from last season's disappointing loss in the Super Bowl. Carolina is my pick to win Super Bowl 51.

As far as awards go, I like Cam Newton as both, the offensive player of the year and MVP. His time is now, and he will not back down. He has gotten better every year, and I don't see any regression from him. He is awesome. As far as defensive player of the year, I like Luke Kuechly. He is the star defender of one of the better defenses in the NFL. That makes a clean sweep by Panthers in awards and titles. The offensive rookie of the year will probably be some 6th or 7th round pick that a lot of people are overlooking, or if they had the nerve to give it to a lineman, I'd pick Laremy Tunsil, but I think someone like Derrick Henry, who was a second round pick, and will get every opportunity to play for Tennessee or, more likely, Corey Coleman at Cleveland or Laquon Treadwell in Minnesota. Let's go with Treadwell since Minnesota is so much better than Cleveland. For defensive rookie of the year, it will be tough because there are a lot of good, young defenders, but I think I will go with Jalen Ramsey. He may get beat deep sometimes, but he will be a good corner from day one in the NFL. My coach of the year has got to be Jack Del Rio. I love what he has turned the Raiders into, and he will deservedly win this award this year if the Raiders live up to the hype I have put on them.

So that does it for my 2016 NFL preview. Let me know why I'm right or wrong, and football will be here before we know it, thank goodness. Come back tomorrow when I finish off my football previews with my college football preview.

Ty

Editor's Thoughts - I have no major differences with Ty on the playoff teams. I think Kansas City could be better than the Raiders and I do not believe in Seattle. It pains me to say that Tampa Bay could sneak into the playoff picture. Also, the Cincinnati should be called Harambes will win the AFC North. The Cincinnati squad will (FINALLY) win not one, but two playoff games to face Arizona in the Super Bowl. The Queen city will be overjoyed.

The Cardinals will destroy the Bengals by 30-40 points.

RD

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. RD Kulik is the Head Editor and frequent contributor to the X Millennial Man Podcast. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik and make RD happy by supporting SeedSing with straight cash.

Ty Ranks the 2016 NFL Teams: Perfectly Cooked Porterhouse Edition

Now, for the final four. I legitimately believe, nor would I be surprised, if any one of these teams won the Super Bowl. Hell, two of the final four may end up playing each other. These teams are the best of the best. They have the best players, the best offenses, the best defenses, they have it all. These the elite.

At number 4, I have the defending Super Bowl champs, the Denver Broncos. The Broncos defense is so incredibly good, but since I've started with offense the whole preview, I'm not going to change now. Sure, Peyton Manning retired, and sure, he is a first ballot hall of famer, but he was the not the reason the Broncos won the Super Bowl. He played very, very poorly last year. They won in spite of him. Now that he is gone, they do have a question at QB. They traded for Mark Sanchez, why would anyone do that, and they have Trevor Simien on the roster, but he wasn't even good enough to be the primary QB at Northwestern, but they did draft a QB, Paxton Lynch. I wasn't high on any of the QB's in this draft, but Lynch is one of the taller ones, he has an okay arm, and he can run. But, the Broncos don't need an all world QB, they just need a game manager. I'm sure Sanchez will start the season as QB 1, but I bet by week 4 or 5, Lynch will be in there. The Broncos running game was supposed to be good last year, but it was non existent. CJ Anderson and Ronnie Tillman were supposed to be a great 1-2 punch, but neither of them did much of anything. They were mediocre last year, but I expect some kind of bounce back. The Broncos do have great receivers. Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas are both great, even though Thomas drops a lot of balls, but they don't have a good QB throwing to them. They will get open, but will the QB, whoever it is, get the ball to them. The o line is just fine at pass blocking, but their run blocking needs to get better. Now, where the Broncos shine is defense. They are one of the best defenses in the history of football. They absolutely stifled the Patriots and Panthers on their way to the title last year. Von Miller is probably the best linebacker in football. He is a great pass rusher, run stopper and can cover. He is the total package. They lost Danny Treveathan, but that won't hurt them that much. When Aqib Talib isn't getting into mysterious bar fights, he is a great shut down corner. He plays dirty, but he has found a way to get away with it. Bradley Roby is a ball hawk. If he has a chance at a pick or a fumble recovery, he will get there. He is always in the right place at the right time. DeMarcus Ware is a beast off the edge. He is unblockable, and the best thing for him was getting out of Dallas and going to Denver. And TJ Ward and Chris Harris are exceptional defensive backs. The Broncos defense is loaded, and they will once again carry the to a division title and a deep playoff run. I think they finish 12-4.

At number 3, I have the New England Patriots. I know that Tom Brady is suspended for 4 games, but they won when he got hurt and Matt Cassell was the QB. Jimmy Garrappolo is better than Matt Cassel. He will keep them afloat until Brady gets back, and when he does get back, Brady will be on a mission. Goodell poked the bear, and the rest of the NFL is going to suffer for it. The Patriots don't have much of a running game, which is their Achilles heel. Dion Lewis and Legarrette Blount are fine, but they are not even middle of the field in the NFL. But, the Patriots have receivers all over the field, and they have the best weapon in all of the NFL in Gronk. Yeah, Julian Edelman, Danny Amendola and Chris Hogan are fine. But, Gronk is the man. He catches everything, he is unguardable, he is the best red zone threat in all of the football and he is the biggest and fastest player to ever play his position. They also got Martellus Bennett to pair with him as well. That will be deadly. The Patriots o line needs work, but the speed that Brady gets the ball out of his hand, that neutralizes any deficiencies I think they have. The Patriots defense is serviceable. The can get stops when they need to and they can get pressure. I know Rob Ninkovich just got hurt, but he will be back by October. They did sign Chris Long this offseason. That was a huge, yet very quiet singing. Chris Long is awesome. They still have Malcolm Butler, and he is a very good corner. Jamie Collins and Dont'a Hightower are still roaming the linebacker duties, and they are both good. The Patriots, as they have been the entire 21st century are good. They may not miss Brady all that much for the first four games, and when he comes back, look out, he will be on a mission to destroy. I say they split the first four games, then win 11 of the next 12 and finish at 13-3.

At number 2, I have the Arizona Cardinals. This is the Cardinals last chance with this team to make a deep run, but they have the talent to do just that on both sides of the ball. Carson Palmer is a very good regular season QB. He puts up big numbers and plays very well, during the regular season. He is a perennial pro bowler and even pops up in the MVP conversation from time to time. But, in the post season, he is a different QB. He looks flustered and makes way too many mistakes. they got whipped in the NFC Championship, and I believe he had 6 turnovers in that game himself. Maybe this is the year he rights the ship. David Johnson proved to be a very good running back last year. He is like a bowling ball. He runs low to the ground, carries tacklers and gains the tough yards. They also have a resurgent Chris Johnson. He looked like his old self at times last year, and that should scare their opponents. The run game in Arizona is solid. Then, they have one of the greatest receivers of all time in Larry Fitzgerald. This guy has done everything and then some for this team. He is the consummate teammate and pro. There is not one bad thing I will say about Larry Fitzgerald, he is great. And if Michael Floyd can stay healthy, they have a great 1-2 punch with him and Fitzgerald. Floyd can stretch the defense with his speed and Fitzgerald does the dirty work. The Cardinals o line is very good. They do an excellent job of pass protecting and they open some huge holes for the run game. Arizona's defense is also very good. They have a great d line, led by Calais Campbell. They can stop the run and sack the QB. They have decent linebackers that are much better run stoppers than cover guys. But they have two of the best secondary players in football in Tyrann Mathieu and Patrick Peterson. I personally think Peterson is the best corner in the game. He always guards the other teams best receiver and he usually shuts them down. He is also an excellent return man. Mathieu is a ball hawk and an extremely hard hitter. He loves to tattoo guys, and he will get some pick sixes and fumble returns for TD's. Being a defender, he has a nose for the end zone. I'm a big Tyrann Mathieu fan. Arizona is the cream of the crop in their division, and I say they win it going away with a 13-3 record.

Now for number one. I have the Carolina Panthers as the best team in football this year. They were the best team last year, and they only got better this offseason. They have one of the best QB's and athletes in the NFL in Cam Newton. Newton is huge, he is fast, he is accurate, he has a rocket arm and he makes the right decision always. Cam Newton is rapidly becoming one of the best QB's in the game. He has no flaws, except for his ego, but that is not a big deal. Then, they have good running backs in Jonathan Stewart and Mike Tolbert. they are both similar in the fact that they are bigger running backs and that they crush would be tacklers. They are great compliments to Newton. Then, the way they got better this offseason, Kelvin Benjamin returns from injury. He is so big and so fast and has excellent hands. He gives Newton the threat he needs on the outside. But, let us not forget Ted Ginn Jr and Devin Funchess and Cory Brown. All these guys stepped up last year in Benjamin's absence, and they all played pretty well. Then, they have Greg Olsen at tight end. He is so good, so durable and so reliable. The dude just puts up numbers and I think he is Cam Newton's favorite target. He gets a lot of red zone attention. The Panthers o line is the best in the NFL. They protect Newton, they open holes, they do everything and they do it all exceptional. This team is lethal on offense. Then on defense, they have some damn good players. Luke Kuechly is one of the best linebackers in the game. He is a sack and tackling machine and he is a very good cover guy. They also have Thomas Davis out there at linebacker, and he is right there with Kuechly is talent. The d line is great. Kawann Short, Kony Ealy and Star Lotulelei wreak havoc in the backfield. The secondary did lose Josh Norman, but they have guys that can do the job. The ageless wonder Cortland Finnegan is back there. And Leonard Johnson and Tre Boston are good secondary players. They are not Josh Norman, but I don't think the Panthers will be too hurt without him. The Panthers are exceptional and they should have won the Super Bowl last year, they just got outplayed. This team may flirt with perfection again, but I say they finish 14-2 and they will have a fairly easy road back to the Super Bowl.

That is my countdown of all 32 NFL teams. Come back tomorrow when I will pick my Super Bowl winner and award winners. And come back Friday for my college football preview.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He remembers the days of ESPN arguing for Blaine Gabbert over Cam Newton as Carolina's number one pick. Those guys at ESPN sure are smart. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

It is Time to Talk About What Peyton Manning has Done Wrong

Being a shill for bad pizza is one of many alleged crimes Peyton Manning should answer for.

Around this time last year, one or two weeks after the Super Bowl 49, all I heard about on ESPN and all other sports media shows was "deflategate". These outlets couldn't talk about this non story enough. ESPN itself has multiple channels that have sports programming 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and I'd venture to say that at least 10 to 12 hours, passed around all their channels, ran some kind of story related to "deflategate".

For those of you that forgot, "deflategate" centered around some under inflated footballs in a game that the Patriots won 45-7 over the Colts. I've written a bunch of stuff on this non story. It's stupid and pointless and it gives people another reason to hate on the Patriots. "Deflategate" is the most nonsensical story I've ever heard. Is it morally and ethically wrong? Yes. But, is it cheating? Absolutely not. Not even close. Go ask anyone QB out there and they will all say that they like to have the balls a specific way. When Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon was asked about this, he said he always had the ball boys take a little air out of the ball for an easier grip. When Aaron Rodgers was asked about this, he said he likes the balls to be over inflated to give him a better grip. Basically, any QB will do anything to gain an advantage. "Deflategate" is akin to watering down base paths in baseball, or using a certain basketball in a certain arena. It's morally wrong, but people tend to look the other way. Who really cares and who really thinks that under inflated footballs helped the Patriots win? No one that has some sense and intelligence.

So, I figured that this year, with the recent allegations and new stories coming out involving Peyton Manning and sexual assault and having HGH delivered to his home, that ESPN would be all over this. These are actual real news stories involving another Hall of Fame QB also coming off a Super Bowl win. These allegations are much, much more serious than some under inflated footballs. I mean, we are talking assaulting a female staffer while a student at Tennessee and the HGH thing, that is steroids. With how much time is being dedicated to getting rid of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs, I figured both these stories would be plastered all over all sports media.

Well, that is unfortunately not the case. I turned on ESPN the other day when "NFL Live" was on because I naturally assumed that they would talk about these allegations and nothing else. I was very wrong. Not only did they not talk about it, they didn't even bring it up. Instead, they focused the entire hour long show on potential free agents at the tight end position. That's right, they figured that potential free agent tight ends were more important to talk about than two major stories involving an extremely high profile player. Could ESPN be anymore in the bag for Peyton Manning and the Manning family? They are just as bad as Jim Nantz when it comes to the blinders they put on whenever someone bad mouths "The Sheriff". It is appalling that they refuse to talk about these terrible, sometimes heinous accusations being brought up. When Nantz was asked, prior to the Super Bowl, why he doesn't talk about the HGH allegations, he blew it off and called it a "non story". This coming from the same guy that chastised Tom Brady last year for some under inflated footballs. Talk about a double standard. When ESPN finally did get an interview with Manning himself about the HGH, it was a total puff piece and they did not press him one single time. They basically told him that he was right and sided with him, claiming that the people accusing him where just jealous of his fame and success. This is the same network that ran, and still runs stories on "deflategate". It's sickening that they continue to defend Manning and his family when someone in his home is getting HGH sent to them. That is a performance enhancing drug and those are supposed to be illegal. I guarantee if Tom Brady, or any Patriot for that matter, had been accused of using HGH, ESPN would have been all over it, calling them liars and cheaters. But, they won't do that to the great Peyton Manning. They assumed, how could someone so wholesome cheat? Why would he do that? He would never under inflate footballs.

Well, thanks to the New York Daily News, once again no ESPN involvement, we come to find out that Peyton Manning may not be as wholesome as we portray him to be. A story was released last week claiming that while he was enrolled at Tennessee, he shoved his naked butt, testicles and penis into the face of a female trainer. When she brought this crime, yes that is a crime, to the higher ups at Tennessee, they blew her off, basically telling her that a student athlete was more important than her dignity. Then, after Tennessee paid this lady off and she moved on to do many great things as a trainer, including working with Olympians, the Manning family wrote a book and destroyed this ladies credibility. She couldn't get a job anywhere because everyone believed the "wholesome" Peyton Manning over her. Why would he lie and why would his family and the University of Tennessee lie about this? Well, as I just mentioned, what he supposedly did is a crime. You cannot force your genitalia in someone's face. What the New York Daily News story reported was, he shoved his genitalia into her face when she was occupied helping someone else. This is a very vile, very disgusting thing for a person to do. I know the Manning defenders will say that he was a kid and kids do stupid things, but this goes beyond stupid, this is disturbing. I was a kid once too, and I never thought to jam my business into anyone's face. Not ever. That takes a special kind of disturbed person. Then, to trash this lady in a book, how classless and guilty does that make one look? If I believed him before, I definitely don't believe him or his dad now. To publicly go after someone like that, that is an admission of guilt. Trying to make someone else look bad for your past childish and abusive behavior, another admission of guilt in my opinion. 

I have not heard anyone at ESPN once talk about this. The only hint of anyone talking about it was on "PTI" and all Wilbon and Kornheiser said is, "he has to speak about these allegations". They didn't attack him the way they attacked the "deflategate" stuff last year. The only people I've heard talk about these allegations are, the aforementioned New York Daily News, a great twitter follow @SportsTalkVM and the wonderful Deadspin. They are the only people that have come out and chastised this childish, abusive and criminal behavior that Peyton Manning showed while at Tennessee and while in the NFL. ESPN won't touch this story with a ten foot pole because they are afraid that they may piss off a powerful football family, but it is in their business to talk about these heinous crimes because that's what good sports journalists do. They don't hide from major stories involving major stars. They sure as hell didn't hold back from attacking Tom Brady, Bill Belichek and the entire New England Patriots franchise when they may or may not have under inflated footballs. So, why do they just stand on the sidelines and give the Manning family a free pass? Are they in bed with Papa John's too? If they are, get out of that relationship because Papa John is a monster and his pizza stinks. Are they afraid of Roger Goodell and the NFL? Yes, they one hundred percent are afraid of that and that sucks because it is really cheapening their own product.

That brings me to what I really think is the problem, and that is the fact that ESPN is hiring unqualified yes men and women to be their anchors and broadcasters. Their bosses, the NFL included, tells them to jump and they ask, how high. They are brain washed people that are terrible at their jobs. These crimes that Manning is being accused of should be talked about a whole hell of a lot more, but until ESPN hires some competent people, I will continue to go to much better news sources like the New York Daily News, @SportsTalkVM and Deadspin. At least they have the guts and the know how to attack this cheater and sexual assaulter.

Screw you Peyton Manning, you are the Bill Cosby of the NFL.

Ty 

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.

Denver's Defense Would not Allow Peyton Manning to Lose the Super Bowl

It was better to shut your eyes than to watch the offense in Super Bowl 50

Last night Super Bowl 50 was played and once again, my prediction was wrong. 

Sorry Carolina Panthers fans for jinxing your team.

I, along with almost every other sports prognosticators, was certain that Carolina would win. I thought it was going to be close, but I thought Carolina, and more importantly Cam Newton, would be able to pull through in the clutch. Carolina has the better athletes and the better team, at least that's what I thought.

I did not think that Denver's defense would live up to the moment once again. They harassed Tom Brady all game during the AFC title game and they did the same thing to Cam Newton last night in the Super Bowl. This is what took me by surprise. Constantly getting pressure on Tom Brady seemed easy. New England's offensive line was atrocious all season, Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola weren't 100 percent and Tom Brady is a very immobile QB. I assumed Cam Newton would be able to evade pressure pretty easily last night. I was extremely wrong. Newton's line gave him plenty of time, but all his receivers were blanketed all game and he held the ball much to long. Also, Damarcus Ware and Von Miller were getting to him fairly regularly.

This just wasn't the game that I thought it would be. It was one of the worst offensive performances by two teams, in any football game, let alone the Super Bowl, that I have ever witnessed. I assumed the Broncos would stall on offense most of the game. Peyton Manning is past his prime, their run game has been hit or miss all season and their receivers routinely drop passes. Carolina though, they have been running rough shot through good defenses in the regular season and the playoffs. They seemed to score at least 30 points every game. They don't have the best receivers in the NFL, not by a long shot and their running game is sub par, but they have the best QB in the NFL. Cam Newton won the MVP. I just figured he would will this team to a victory, like he has all season long. But, as I mentioned before, the Broncos defense made his life miserable all game. They constantly hit him. On designed QB runs, Denver always had two or three guys gang tackling Newton. They didn't give Newton's favorite target and safety blanket, Greg Olsen, any space. I think he only had two catches the entire game. What it all boils down to, Carolina laid an egg on offense, but I think it was due to how great of a defense Denver had this year. Everyone, myself included, kind of thought that Denver's defense was okay, but if they had to face a mobile QB like Newton, they'd be exposed. My belief in Cam Newton was so strong, I just assumed he would find a way to win this game for his team. But, that Denver defense just wouldn't allow it.

This brings me to my main point today, this 2015-2016 Denver defense is the greatest defense that I've ever watched. I know Seattle had a great defense, that destroyed pretty much the same Broncos team in Super Bowl 48, but they don't even come close to how great this Denver defense was this year, especially in the playoffs. The Ravens had a really good defense the year they won the title, but I feel like their numbers were inflated by playing a much inferior Giants team in their Super Bowl win. Some other teams in recent history have had good defenses, the Ravens again when they beat the 49ers, The Colts team that beat the Bears, hell, even the Packers defense when they beat the Steelers was in the top 10 of the league, but none of them compare to Denver. Now, I was only 3 years old and I only know them from stories and old NFL Films shows on ESPN, but I feel like this Denver defense is right up there with the 1985 Bears defense. You know the one I'm talking about, the one with William "The Refrigerator" Perry, Ron Rivera, coach of the Panthers last night, Richard Dent and Mike Singletary, among many others. They are the supposed "greatest defense" of all time. Now, this may be blasphemy, or just my age, but I feel like this Broncos defense is a better defense than the 85 Bears.

Hear me out Generation Xers and Baby Boomers.

The 85 Bears were dominant, but they had a very competent offense to go along with their legendary defense. Sure, Jim McMahon is not the best QB to play in the NFL, but at that time, he was better than Peyton Manning was last night. They also had Walter Payton. No way are CJ Anderson and Ronnie Hillman even close to being on Walter Payton's planet. They had good receivers and tight ends that weren't used a lot, but they didn't need to be because they had Walter god damn Payton. This Broncos defense had to win games for them this year. Sure, if the 85 Bears offense gave their defense 14, it was a done deal, but for this Broncos team to win, they needed scores from their defense, because their offense sure as hell wasn't performing at any level. Peyton Manning is an all time great, but near the end of that game, while it was still a one score game at 16-10, Gary Kubiak and the offensive staff of the Broncos did not trust him to throw the ball. They would rather run it three times, gain 6 or 7 yards and punt it away and let their defense do their magnificent work. And that defense delivered with flying colors.

Anytime Carolina looked like they may grab some kind of moment, Denver would come up with a sack, a fumble of a tipped pass on third down to force a punt. They did this all throughout the playoffs. When the Steelers had the ball, driving to salt the game away, boom, fumble recovered by Denver that leads to a game winning field goal. Two weeks ago against the Patriots, they made Brady look like a mediocre QB and shut all their weapons down. Sure, Gronk had over 100 yards receiving, but 90 of that came on two plays. Denver won that game because of their shut down defense. And then last night, against the best offense, by a wide margin, in the NFL, they held them to 10 points and just barely over 200 yards total offense. They even scored a TD for the team on a strip sack. Von Miller and Damarcus Ware looked like the future Hall of Famers that they will be all game last night, especially Miller. Miller had 6 tackles, 2.5 sacks and 2 forced fumbles, the first leading to a TD. He was a man amongst boys last night. He's a free agent going onto this off season and his performance last night is going to make him a very, very rich man. I was so glad that they gave him the Super Bowl MVP too.

I was petrified, literally, that they'd give it to Peyton Manning because that's what jackasses like Phil Simms and especially Jim Nantz and the majority of the people watching last night wanted to happen. They so badly wanted Manning to be the guy to will this team to the win, but he did next to nothing in the game. He was under 50 percent completion, he passes looked slow and downright bad, he had happy feet all night and he looked scared. His team didn't even have faith in him to throw in the 4th quarter, as I said before. The run game wasn't really there either, so CJ Anderson and Ronnie Hillman were out of the MVP talk quick. But, the deserving player got it. Von Miller and the Broncos defense won that Super Bowl, no ifs ands or buts about it.

This game will go down as one of the most ugly offensive performances of all time, but that Broncos defense is legit. To me, they are the greatest defense of all time. But, the unfortunate thing, no one will remember them because this was probably Peyton Manning's last game. That's all the sports media will remember and that is a travesty. We just witnessed the greatest defensive playoff run of all time, but the casual fan will only remember it being Peyton's last game. That is a shame. The true football fan will realize we just witnessed greatness, but that's only about 25 percent of the population.

So yeah, good for you Peyton, you were part of the team that may go down as having the best defense of all time, but no one will remember how truly remarkable this defense was because you were on that team and you are the "star" player. But, I say congrats to the Denver defense. You guys were the ones that made this Super Bowl win possible and I will remember this game for your dominating performance. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He wants to welcome Peyton Manning to the club of bad quarterbacks on winning Super Bowl teams. Trent Dilfer and Jeff Hostetler will pour you a drink. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Millennial Memories From a Decade Plus Worth of Super Bowls

Many of our memories are of the food being better than the game.

With Super Bowl 50 just around the corner, I want to look back at some Super Bowl memories that I have had over the past decade plus. I've watched a lot of football in that period of time and I have some good and not so good memories of Super Bowl's past. I know that I wouldn't get the exact Super Bowl number, so I will just describe some teams and some of the games that I remember and I'm sure that most people would be able to pick the game I'm talking about. First, I want to go back to the early to mid nineties. Those Super Bowl's are some of my very first memories of realizing that this is a big game. I don't so much remember the games, but I remember moments and, more importantly, teams.

First of all, I was a big time band wagon fan when I was a child. Whichever team won the Super Bowl, that was my favorite team and the team I remember being on the bandwagon for the Dallas Cowboys of the mid 90's. Looking back on it now, I despise this team, but when I was a kid, they were the champs, so I rooted for the champs. If I could go back in time, I'd yell at the young me for being a fan of this team. They were so arrogant and so flamboyant, and as I've gotten older, I'm all about "acting like you've been there before". I don't need flash, just score a TD, give the ball to the ref and go to the sideline. That's why I like Barry Sanders so much. That Cowboys team though, save for Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith, were all about flash. I loved it as a kid, but as an adult, I don't care for it. But, that Cowboys team, for a young football fan, was so easy to like and say you were a fan.

The team I should have stuck up for back then was the Buffalo Bills. They played the game the way it was supposed to be played, but added that up tempo, no huddle offense. They were a ton of fun to watch and I liked Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas just as much, if not more, than Aikman and Smith. The Bills also had one of my all time favorite players, Bruce Smith. But, they couldn't get over the hump, especially against the Cowboys. The Bills were the only team to make four straight Super Bowls, and they lost all four of them, three via blowouts. Everyone remembers Scott Norwood and wide right, but what I remember most about those Bills-Cowboys Super Bowls, was Don Beebe chasing down Leon Lett and striping the ball out of his hands. That game was an absolute blow out, but Beebe still wouldn't throw in the towel and after chasing Lett down and stripping the ball, John Madden said something that I will never forget, "Don Beebee is the fastest white guy in the NFL". At the time, I thought it was weird and if a commentator said something like that now, it would be a huge deal all over the internets.

Moving on to more modern Super Bowl memories, I remember when the Rams won their Super Bowl while in Saint Louis. They had one of the best offenses in the history of the NFL and I thought that they were going to crush the Tennessee Titans, but that didn't happen. Now, the Rams won, but it was a low scoring slug fest type of game with Mike Jones tackling Kevin Dyson at the one yard line to preserve the win for the Rams. It was their defense, not their historically great offense, that won that game for them. Then, when they played the New England Patriots, led by backup QB Tom Brady, the next year, it was a foregone conclusion that the Rams would win again. They had the much better team and much better players. Then, the game happened and the Patriots won on a last second field goal. People will look back at that game and say that the Patriots only won because of "spygate", but Bill Belichek outcoached Mike Martz and no matter how much "spygate" may have helped them, the Patriots played a much better game and Martz sorely underused his best offensive weapon, Marshall Faulk. That Super Bowl was a great example of one coach being prepared and the other coach being very under prepared. That 's why the Patriots won.

And thus, began the dominating run of the Patriots. Sure, teams like Pittsburgh and my Green Bay Packers and the Seahawks and the Colts have won Super Bowls in this time, but the one consistent team has been the Patriots. They have played in 11 of the last 15 AFC championship games and they've been to 6 Super Bowls, winning four of them. I already talked about them beating the Rams. They've also beaten the Eagles in a Super Bowl. That Eagles team had Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owens, but that wasn't enough to beat the Patriots. What I remember most about that Super Bowl was McNabb barfing in the huddle and Owens making great catches and then excuses for why it wasn't his, but everyone else's fault, that the Eagles got beat. I remember their Super Bowl win over the Carolina Panthers. The Patriots should have won that game going away, but Tom Brady threw one of the worst interceptions I've ever seen with a 14 point lead and the Panthers came all the way back to tie the game. Then, their kicker kicks the ball out of bounds, gives the Patriots excellent field position, and they win by a field goal once again. Then, their two losses to the Giants. One, they were undefeated and favored by 10 plus points. There was no way they were losing that game. But, the Giants constantly harassed Brady and they couldn't get their offense rolling. They still had a chance to win, but Eli Manning chucked the ball up in the air, after evading multiple sack attempts, and David Tyree made the best, and his last, catch I've ever seen. He pinned that ball to his helmet and the Giants went on to win by a field goal. Their second loss to the Giants also came down to one team dropping a pass, the Patriots and Wes Welker, and the other team making a miraculous catch, the Giants and Mario Manningham. That drop that Welker had was crushing. Had he caught that ball, the Patriots could have easily salted the clock away. But, that catch by Manningham, on a terrible throw from Eli Manning, was humongous and that kept the game winning drive alive. The Patriots played in last years Super Bowl, and they should have lost, until Pete Carroll and his offensive staff made the worst play call of all time. Why on earth they did not give that ball to Marshawn Lynch on the one yard line is still extremely baffling. But, Brady did pick apart the "legion of boom" and put his team in position to win, as he always does.

Now, I'm by no means a Patriots fan. I'm indifferent when it comes to them, but they have been the one team that has always been there at the end. Like I said, they've been in 11 AFC title games in 15 years, and they've won more tan half of them. This is why they're so prevalent in my recent Super Bowl memories, I will never forget the Packers win over the Steelers, but I can't help but notice how the Patriots are always in it until the very end. They're the most dominating team I've watched and that is why they are the team and they've played in the Super Bowls games that I remember most.

With all that being said, I hope we get a good, memorable game on Sunday so I can start making new memories about a new team, be it Carolina or Denver.

I think it will be Carolina.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. Do you love reading about his memories, well tomorrow you can hear him tell the stories on the X Millennial Man podcast. Read more from Ty by following him on twitter @tykulik.

Green Bay Repeats as Heart Breakers in the Playoffs

How can a little lake town in Wisconsin make me so sad?

So, we had divisional playoff NFL football this past weekend. All the games went chalk, as expected. Carolina used 31 first half points and thwarted Seattle's comeback in the second half, much to my delight. Denver eeked out a win over the extremely short handed Steelers and New England pretty much dominated Kansas City from start to finish in their game. Then, we had Arizona and Green Bay Saturday night.

Now, I picked Arizona to win the Super Bowl on a recent podcast and blog post. I expected them to throttle the Packers. I'm a Packer fan, as everyone know by now, but I didn't think they stood much of a chance in this game. I didn't think their "offensive outburst" against Washington was a sign that they were turning things around. They beat up on an inferior opponent, that's all that game showed me. And now, they had to face, what I consider to be the best team in the NFL, in Arizona. It was a done deal. Nice season Green Bay, let's get ready for next year.

Then the game happened.

Arizona came out flat. They couldn't do much on offense. Much of that was due to mental mistakes by Carson Palmer, but Green Bay's defense played an almost perfect game. They forced Palmer into bad throws, they shut down Arizona's run game and the secondary had their receivers blanketed, helped tremendously by Sam Shields coming back from a concussion. Now, Green Bay's offense wasn't doing much of anything either, scoring only 6 first half points. But, in the second half, Green Bay finally scored a touchdown and gave themselves a 6 point lead. Arizona would cut it to 3 points later in the third quarter, but Green Bay looked poised to pull off the upset. As I said, Palmer was shaky all game and when Green Bay intercepted him in the end zone for the third time early in the fourth quarter, I started to think they'd get the win. They were doing almost everything right.

Then, Arizona got the ball back with about 7 minutes left and drove down the field and scored an extremely lucky tipped pass touchdown with about 3 minutes to go in the game. I was crushed. What made it worse, Green Bay went for a fourth and five the very next drive, missed it and Arizona converted a field goal to push their lead to 7. There was about 2 minutes left in the game when Green Bay got the ball back, but any hope I had was gone. They'd blown it again I figured.

But, on a fourth and twenty, Jeff Janis, a wide out that had 2 catches all season, hauled in a 60 yard pass play to give the Packers new hope. Then they wasted a whole bunch of time trying to get a play off and they were left with 12 seconds at the 40 yard line. They wasted two plays and now there was 5 seconds left. Hope was gone again. They already converted one hail mary this year, no way were they going to get a second conversion, but then it happened again. Jeff Janis out jumped two Arizona defenders and hauled in a 40 yard touch down to tie the game.

A wave of emotions over took me.

I went from upset to elated in less than 10 seconds. They still had a chance to pull off the upset. They were still alive. Then we had the coin flip that wasn't really a flip and after all that ridiculousness, Arizona won the toss and got the ball. On their first play from scrimmage, the very immobile Carson Palmer eluded three sack attempts and found a wide open Larry Fitzgerald for a 75 yard gain, all the way down to the five yard line. Two plays later, Arizona punched it in and the game was over. Green Bay, once again, lost on the first possession of overtime without even getting a chance on offense.

Two years in a row, Aaron Rodgers, arguably one of the best quarterbacks all time in football, doesn't get a chance to tie or win the game. It happened in Seattle last year and now Arizona this year. The NFL's overtime rules are an absolute joke. It's appalling that, if the first teams scores a touchdown, the other team gets no chance. It's downright idiotic, but that's Roger Goodell for you. They need to completely overhaul their overtime to either mimic the NCAA's overtime, or make it so each team gets a chance on offense with the ball. This sudden death, first touchdown wins thing is total nonsense.

Green Bay also should have never put themselves in these situations either year. They dominated and controlled the entire game in Seattle last year, except for the last 10 minutes and overtime. Green Bay had that game won and they blew it, they flat out lost that game. Seattle didn't win, Green Bay lost. But, they never got a shot in overtime and that sucks too. Same thing Saturday night. Arizona should have never been in that position to push the game to overtime. Green Bay dominated the entire game, for the most part. They shut Arizona down all night. But, when they had a chance to really end it in regulation, Sam Shields dropped a for sure pick 6. The ball went right through his hands. A couple of plays later was the tipped pass touchdown that gave Arizona the lead. Green Bay had the miracle hail mary, but their offense was forced to watch as the Cardinals scored in three short plays in overtime. Their season was over with Rodgers, Janis, Starks, Lacy and Jones sitting on the bench. They never got their shot.

The past two years as a Packers fan have been brutal. They've lost their playoff games in spectacular fashion. It sucks that their offense didn't get a chance, like I said before, the NFL's overtime rules are moronic, but they have also completely blown these games. In a word, being a Packers fan these past couple of years has been heartbreaking. They blow these games that they have in their control and then they don't get a chance in overtime because they give up a quick score and the rules are stupid. It's a shame. I hope they get right this off season because they are still a very talented team and they get Jordy Nelson back next year. I think they need to look at a coaching change, be it their head coach or their coordinators. Sure, Mike McCarthy has won a Super Bowl, but so did Mike Holmgren and when his Packer coached teams started to blow leads and games, they were quick to let him go. I still have high hopes because they still have Aaron Rodgers, Eddie Lacy, James Jones and Jordy Nelson and a decent, young defense, but these blown playoff games are starting to wear on me and give me gray hair.

I love you Green Bay, but I wish you'd stop breaking my heart. Come back strong next year, get big enough leads so you don't have to worry about overtime and win that Super Bowl I predicted you to win this year. Make it fun to be a Packers fan again.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He is looking forward to replacing his Packer and Wolverine heartbreak with a double championship party in 2017. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Ty's (first) Annual NFL Playoff Predicitions

Playoff football and chili. Must be January

The NFL playoffs start this weekend and I have given a preseason (NFC, AFC, and postseason) and a mid season report, now I want to give a playoff preview and prediction. Both my preseason and mid season picks were way off the mark, I'm looking at you Indianapolis and Green Bay. But, with the playoffs now set, I'd like to give it one more crack, maybe this time I'll do better.

This upcoming Saturday we get the AFC first round playoff matchups between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Houston Texans and the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals. Both these games should be decent, but I think it's pretty obvious who the winners will be. In the Chiefs-Texans game you have one team, the Chiefs, riding a 10 game winning streak. The Texans were in the AFC South, so 9 wins easily made them the division winners. The AFC South is a joke of a division and while the Texans have a pretty good defense, they have zero offense. They've used way too many quarterbacks this year that are all below average NFL starters. They have had no running game since Arian Foster went down for the season and save for Deandre Hopkins, they have no threats in the passing game. Hopkins is great, but if you can hold him to a 6 or 7 catch game, you can pretty easily beat Houston. The Chiefs aren't much better on offense, but they have way better playmakers. Alex Smith is a much better QB than anyone Houston will throw out there. They have struck gold with their backup running backs, Charcandarick West and Spencer Ware, after losing Jamaal Charles to a torn ACL. They also have a receiver that's almost as big a threat as Hopkins in Jeremy Maclin and they have a much better tight end in Travis Kelce. Oh, and there defense is just as good, if not better than the Texans. Sure, JJ Watt may get a couple of sacks, but what will Houston do with the ball on offense and will they be able to totally shut down the Chiefs? I don't think so. The only thing they have as an advantage is, they're playing at home, but that won't matter. Chiefs win by 10, with the final being 20-10. Pittsburgh and Cincinnati could have been a game, if not for the Andy Dalton injury. Cincinnati gets short changed every season. Sometimes it's their fault, other times, injuries derail this team. They have an okey running game with Giovanni Bernard and Jeremy Hill and they have one of the best receivers in the game in AJ Green, but that won't matter with AJ McCarron throwing and handing the ball off. The Bengals defense is top notch, but they have no one that will be able to slow Antonio Brown even a little bit. The Bengals line may stuff the run and even pressure Roethlisberger a bit, but he will still find Brown. Pittsburgh, on the other hand, has an elite offense clicking at the perfect time. They don't have their typical stout defense, but they can and will outscore opponents. I may not like the person, but Ben Roethlisberger is playing elite football right now. And, as I've mentioned before, he has Antonio Brown to throw the ball to. He also has Markus Wheaton, Heath Miller and Martavis Bryant to throw too as well. They lost LeVeon Bell earlier this year and DeAngelo Williams appears to have gotten injured in their finale, so that leaves the running game to Fitz Toussaint, former Michigan running back, but the Steelers don't need to run to win, In fact, I bet they run only 10 to 15 times the whole game. Steelers win in Cincy, crushing the Bengals playoff dreams in the first round once again, final score of 28-14. 

This Sunday we get the NFC first round matchups of Green Bay and Washington and Seattle and Minnesota. Both should be good, hard fought, close games. Green Bay travels to Washington to face the DC team on a roll right now. Whoever thought Kirk Cousins would be this good is a god damn liar. They have an okay run game, but they like to throw and they play some solid defense. Green Bay is a total enigma. They can never seem to get it going until it's too late, or they play to their ability and they blow out inferior opponents. Green Bay cannot protect Rodgers, their run game is non existent at times, but can also be great and their receivers can't get open, or if they do it's too late because Rodgers got sacked. Rodgers deserves a lot of the blame too for those sacks. Sometimes, when he does get good protection, he just holds on to the ball for way too long. Green Bay's defense is sub par at best. One week they totally shut a team down, the next, they give up big plays This is a total toss up, but I'll take Green Bay because of experience in big games. Washington's players haven't really been in big time playoff games and Green Bay and Aaron Rodgers have. Maybe I'm blinded by my fandom, but so be it. Green Bay wins 17-14. In the other game we get Minnesota and Seattle. Everyone and their mother is back on Seattle's bandwagon, but not me. I have to give credit to Bill Simmons for this, I was listening to his podcast this morning, and reminded me that the Seahawks just lost, only scoring 10 points at home to the Rams 2 weeks ago. Everyone wants to forget that because Russell Wilson has been putting up big numbers and their defense is playing better, but the Rams went to Seattle and owned them. The Vikings are a better version of the Rams. They have a better QB, receivers and a better, albeit a child abuser, running back. Their defense isn't as good as the Rams, but it's still good. The game is in Minnesota at noon as well. That means in Seattle, it's 10am. I know that doesn't sound like an advantage, but it is. I truly believe that Minnesota can replicate what the Rams did even better and I think they win this game. That would be great so everyone, including Chris Collinsworth, can shut the hell up about how great the Seahawks are. I'll take the Vikings in a very low scoring game, 14-10.

The following week we'd get the second round games in each conference. The four teams that had byes will all be in play and the big time games start happening. In the AFC the matchups will be Chiefs-Broncos and Steelers-Patriots. The Broncos will lose this game if they start Peyton Manning. Sure, he came in relief last week and they won, but it was their run game and their number one ranked defense that won, not Peyton Manning. Brock Osweiler deserves his shot. The Chiefs are good, as I mentioned above, but I cannot trust Andy Reid to win a big time playoff game on the road, I just can't. The Broncos have a stable of running backs, they have DeMaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders to throw to and they have the best defense in all of football. I don't see how they lose this game, unless they rely on Peyton Manning to make plays. He's a Hall of Famer, but he's done. Let your young QB start, rely on the run game and let your top of the line defense send you to the AFC title game. Broncos win 20-13. The Patriots-Steelers game will be interesting. Pittsburgh is elite offensively, but so is New England, if healthy. They have Gronk, Julian Edelman, Danny Amendola and a rejuvenated Steven Jackson on offense. But, their O line is very bad and are Gronk, Edelman and Amendola really healthy. Also, Brady took a hit in the Miami game, so who knows if he'll be one hundred percent. Neither of these teams are great on defense, but the Patriots are better. That won't matter because no one can guard Antonio Brown. Sorry New England, but the Steelers will steal this game in Foxborough and head to the AFC title game. Final score, 35-30.

The NFC will feature Green Bay-Carolina and Minnesota-Arizona. Carolina is on fire right now. They're 15-1, they have the MVP in Cam Newton, they have decent and very tall receivers and they have a pretty great defense. They also control the clock with their elite run game. Green Bay is a sitting duck. They've already been beaten once by Carolina this year, one of two teams with a winning record that Carolina has beaten, and they have not learned a thing from that game. Green Bay's season will end and it won't be pretty. Cam Newton is playing fantastic football and they will grind this game out and walk away with an easy victory. Carolina wins 20-7. Arizona and Minnesota will also be a blow out. Arizona has a better defense, a better QB, an equally as good run game and much, much better receivers. Carson Palmer in the runner up MVP and playing some of the best football of his career. Larry Fitzgerald has morphed into the best blocking receiver and best slot guy in all of football. David Johnson has filled in quite nicely for Chris Johnson and Andre Ellington and their offensive line is the best in the NFL. Minnesota had a good run, but it ends in resounding fashion in Arizona. Cardinals win 35-10.

Now we are down to four teams. In the AFC championship we have Denver-Pittsburgh. One relies on offese, the other on defense. Denver has some great corners capable of shutting down Antonio Brown, but I feel like typical Broncos will show up and blow this game. They should win easily. They can rely on their run game to chew clock and keep Pittsburgh offense off the field, but John Elway, Gary Kubiak and Peyton Manning will try to win with Manning being the hero and it will back fire. This game will be close, but Pittsburgh will pull it out and win 27-20. Arizona and Carolina could be a close game, but it won't. Carolina will finally see up close and personal what a real NFL team looks like, with a real offense and a legit defense. They will shut Newton down, they will force them to pass and that will cause turnovers. On offense, Arizona will do whatever it wants. This will be a runaway for the Cardinals. Arizona wins 38-14.

So that leaves us with a Pittsburgh-Arizona rematch in Super Bowl 50. Arizona has the one corner, Patrick Peterson, that can actually give Brown some trouble. They also have an offense that will light up a weak Pittsburgh defense. This game also has the makings of a blowout. I think it will be close until midway through the third quarter and Arizona will run away with the game. Carson Palmer and Larry Fitzgerald will finally get their rings and Bruce Arians will be recognized as one of the best coaches in the NFL. Cardinals roll to a Super Bowl win, final score 35-20.

I feel good about this one.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He is working on a fifth alarm for his big game four alarm chili. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Charles Woodson is the greatest player to come out of the Peyton Manning draft

We all know a wolverine could tear a volunteer in half

I was watching Sports Center or NFL Network or something where they were talking about football. They were previewing the upcoming Broncos-Raiders game and they kept showing pictures of Peyton Manning and Brock Osweiler, comparing the two quarterbacks. My wife was watching with me and, the longer we've been together, the more she knows about football. She asked me, during the preview of the game, "why are they only talking about Peyton Manning? Why aren't they talking about Charles Woodson more, he's had a better overall career than Peyton Manning, right?".

Now, Charles Woodson is my all time favorite football player, and yes, he is a University of Michigan alum and yes, I'm a diehard Michigan fan, so naturally, I agreed with my wife. Then, I looked much, much further into her statement and yes, I do believe, with no bias, that Charles Woodson has had a better overall career than Peyton Manning. Let's look even further into it though. Sure, Peyton Manning is the more famous player. He is a quarterback, he has way more endorsements, he has hosted SNL multiple times and he's won a Super Bowl. But, Charles Woodson won the Heisman over Peyton Manning in 1997, he too has won a Super Bowl and been to a second one and he's stayed healthy and productive his entire career. He's still producing at an All Pro level and he's the captain and leader of the resurgent Raiders defense. Peyton Manning was recently just benched, some will say due to injury, for a back up QB from Arizona State. But, was the injury the only reason Manning was benched? I've written about Manning before on the website and I think that blog speaks many truths on his benching. His ball has no more zip. He throws multiple interceptions per game. He cannot move in the pocket anymore. He's a Hall of Famer, but I think his time is done. Charles Woodson on the other hand, he's still picking off passes and making open field passes. In fact, when the Raiders and Broncos met earlier this year, when Manning was still the starter, Woodson picked him off twice in that game. No praise was heaped on Woodson and how well he's still playing for a 39 year old in the NFL. The announcers only talked about how Manning will always be a great pro and these interceptions were just a flash in the pan, he'd bounce back for sure. But, as we all know now, he didn't bounce back. Woodson has produced every week for the 6-7 Raiders. That doesn't sound so great, but when was the last time the Raiders sniffed a .500 or even a winning record? They have a legitimate shot, albeit an outside one, to make the playoffs this year. The Broncos are a lock, but it's not because of Manning, it's their defense. Sure, the Raiders have a good young QB in Derek Carr and a great young receiver in Amari Cooper, but they are led in their defensive backfield by Charles Woodson. Their defense is middle of the road in the NFL, but I say again, when was the last time the Raiders were relevant? I truly believe that Charles Woodson has a real chance to win NFL Defensive Player of the Year. He's been lockdown all season playing out of position as a safety.

Lets go back and look at their Super Bowl wins. I will give you the fact that Woodson didn't play in the Packer Super Bowl win, he had a separated shoulder. But, he was the anchor of that defense all season, leading them to the Super Bowl. If I remember correctly, he hurt his shoulder making an important tackle or even interception in the NFC Championship game. He laid it all on the line for that Packer team and he definitely helped them win that Super Bowl. Sure, Peyton Manning was playing when the Colts won, but they played a sorry Bears team led by Rex Grossman in their Super Bowl win. Also, the game was a sloppy mess and Manning didn't win the game for them, their defense and running game was the determining factor. The two of them also lost a Super Bowl. The Manning loss was solely on him. The Colts had a chance late against the Saints, but we all know about the game sealing pick six that he threw to secure the win for the Saints. When the Raiders, that's right, this is Woodson's second go around with the Raiders, lost to the Buccaneers, it wasn't their defenses fault, Rich Gannon threw multiple picks and took multiple sacks in that game. But, Peyton Manning will go down as the more remembered player. He is a QB and they're stars. That's the way it is in the NFL. Woodson has been solid for 18 seasons now, but he plays defense and, what's worse, he plays cornerback and safety. And, if you don't constantly run your mouth like any secondary player on the Seahawks, you don't get noticed. But, I think that's the way Woodson wants it. He won a title in college. He beat out Manning for the Heisman. He was the best and most important player on one of the all time great Michigan teams and he's done it with little to no fanfare.

Manning has been great, as I said before, he is a sure fire Hall of Famer, but it big moments, he's choked more than he's succeeded. In college, his Tennessee Volunteers could never beat Florida and got trounced by Nebraska when they had a shot at a national title. In the pros, he's won a Super Bowl, but it wasn't because he had a great game. Peyton Manning will go down as one of the all time greatest QB's in NFL and college football history, but will he be remembered as the greatest QB of all time? I don't think so. He's not even the best QB in his draft class, that title is firmly in Tom Brady's hands. But, Charles Woodson may very well be the greatest defensive back of all time in the NFL or college football. He's had a stellar career and he continues to produce. I 100 percent agree with my wife's assumption that Charles Woodson has had the better overall career than Peyton Manning. Look at all the reasons that I mentioned above. It's not just my love for Woodson, the facts can't be ignored. Tell me why I'm wrong in the comment section. 

I will go to my grave thinking Charles Woodson is not only better than Peyton Manning, but he is the best defensive back to ever play football.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He once benched Rex Grossman on his fantasy team for Drew Henson. Not because Henson went to Michigan, but because Grossman stinks. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Stink of the Packers is Getting Worse

Current home to the Packers offense

I'm going to end my week on a sour note.

I've been giving love and skepticism to two different teams this week. I love the Warriors and I'm very suspicious of the Panthers. Today, it's straight up hate for my favorite NFL team, the Packers.

They have looked incredibly lost four of the past five weeks. First, Denver, with an injured, old and past his prime Peyton Manning, absolutely crushed them. This was the lone game of the season thus far where Manning looked like himself. He shredded Green Bay's secondary, and Denver's running game looked the best it has all season in that game. Aaron Rodgers was rushed, pressured and beaten into submission. His throws were off target and he was missing wide open receivers. The run game wasn't much better. They couldn't hit the holes or there were no holes for them to hit. Denver is a better team than Green Bay and that game proved it. I thought this was going to be a one time thing. They were playing a very good team, on the road, so the loss didn't bother me as much. It was a bump in the road, or so I thought.

The next week, they went to Carolina to play the undefeated Panthers. I had a bad feeling about this game, but I thought the Packers could win. Then, the Panthers pulled out to a huge lead in the second quarter, scoring 24 points. The Packers defense, for the second straight week looked absolutely abysmal. They couldn't stop the run or the pass. Cam Newton and Jonathan Stewart ran and passed all over them. And, all the way until the fourth quarter, Green Bay's offense was non existent. They, once again, couldn't run or pass. In the fourth quarter, they finally put together some offense, pulling to within 8 with about 2 and a half minutes left. They drove all the way down to the red zone, but Aaron Rodgers missed a wide open receiver, instead flushing out of the pocket and throwing a stupid interception to a linebacker. It was yet another frustrating loss.

But, the silver lining was still around. They lost two straight, but they were both on the road to two undefeated teams. Something like this happens to every team at some point during the season. Also, they had the Lions upcoming at Lambeau. The Lions hadn't won there since 1991 and they looked bad. Their offense was just as inept as Green Bay's, and their defense, not that much better. Surely, they'd right the ship. I figured it would be a blow out and the Packers would be back. Then, the game happened. Once again, Green Bay couldn't move the ball on offense. The run game was nowhere to be found. Rodgers was getting pressured constantly and he was, once again, missing open receivers. The defense played better, but it was the Lions. Everyone was shutting them down. The game was boring too. At halftime Green Bay was winning, but the score was 10-6. One touchdown and four field goals. Terrible. Then, the Lions scored an early second half touchdown due to a Packers turnover. No big deal I kept telling myself. They'll figure it out I kept telling myself. The Lions even missed the extra point, so the Packers were only down three. But, they just couldn't move the ball. No run game and Rodgers running for his life and throwing errant pass after errant pass. The Lions scored later in the half, but missed the extra point again. So, that left the score at 18-10 with about 4 minutes left. They still had a shot. And, wouldn't you know it, they put together a drive and scored a touchdown. It only took them three and a half quarters to score a second touchdown against a mediocre defense. They cut the lead to 18-16. They had a chance to tie with a two point conversion. They had a great play call, but the pass was late, and the defender batted it away. I thought the game was over there, but they recovered an onside kick and had a chance to win with a field goal. But, they missed the kick and lost the game. It was inevitable. They lost this game early in the third quarter. So, the Lions snapped a 23 year losing streak in Lambeau. The Packers were a mess.

The Vikings continued to win, and actually took over first place from them leading up to their showdown the following week in Minnesota. Everyone, including me, thought that this was going to be a beat down from the Vikings. Green Bay was reeling and Minnesota was on a win streak, shutting down every opponent and chewing up the clock with long drives. But, the Packers actually came out with a fire and a passion. They completely shut down child abuser Adrian Peterson. They rushed and hurried and hit Teddy Bridgewater all game. Their corners were lock down. It was a great effort from the defense. The offense showed up too. Eddie Lacy ran for over 100 yards. Rodgers hit open receivers and had time in the pocket. They cruised back into first place with an easy 30-13 win. Now, everything seemed to be back on track.

They were back in first place and had an upcoming Thanksgiving home game against the sorry Bears. Surely they'd win. They were retiring Brett Favre's jersey, they were at home, they came off a big road win and they were playing the Bears, another team they own at Lambeau. But, they crapped away an easy win last night. They looked great in the first quarter, Eddie Lacy capping it off with a 25 screen pass for a touchdown. But, they couldn't do anything after that. And, the Bears found enough offense to take a 14-13 lead into halftime. In the second half, Green Bay did zero with the ball on offense. At one point, Rodgers took a sack after a botched shotgun snap, and he came up holding his left wrist. Now, I'm sure the wrist hurt, but I also think his pride was hurt too. He's looked pretty bad at times these past five weeks. He's not the same QB I picked to win the MVP. He definitely misses Jordy Nelson and the run game is non existent, but that doesn't explain his drop off in accuracy. He's dancing around too much in the pocket. He's not getting a lot of time from his line, but he's getting enough. He's either hurt, or he is struggling, maybe both, but he's not the same QB he was in weeks one through six.

Something is wrong in Green Bay and it may be too late to fix it. I picked them to win the Super Bowl, but I have no faith in them anymore. They can't sustain drives and they can't stop anyone. They look really bad right now and the blame goes to everyone. The players, the coaches and the organization all deserve equal blame. They better fix what ails them quick, or they won't make the playoffs, much less the Super Bowl. They are maybe the fifth or sixth best team in the NFC. They aren't on Carolina or Arizona or even Minnesota's level right now.

The Packers stink and it hurts my soul to say it.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. If the Packers continue their losing ways Ty will have to deal with the Head Editors gloating. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.