Bears and Dolphin Start Season With Big Games
Two years ago you couldn’t have given away tickets to see the Miami Dolphins and the Atlanta Falcons. Now, it’s one of the marquee games of the NFL’s 2009 Kickoff Weekend.
In 2007, the Dolphins went 1-15. The Falcons, reeling from Michael Vick indiscretions, finished 4-12.
That offseason the Dolphins hired Bill Parcells to run the franchise and Tony Sparano to coach the team while the Falcons drafted quarterback Matt Ryan. Before you knew it, both teams were in the 2008 playoffs.
The Falcons look poised to return to the post season. Matt Ryan is approaching Brady-Manning-Roethlisberger status and his rise to stardom will more than likely be accelerated by the acquisition of future hall of fame tight end Tony Gonzales.
Oh, and by the way, Falcons running back Michael Turner averaged 6.9 yards a carry in the preseason. Yes it was the preseason, but exhibition or not those are video game numbers.
The Dolphins have a harder road back to the playoffs. Not that they haven’t improved but the New England Patriots have their Golden Boy back. Last year, without Tom Brady, the Patriots equaled the Dolphins in wins but missed the playoffs due to Miami’s better conference record.
To win the AFC East the Dolphins will have to hold off a Brady-led Patriots team that many pundits think will reach the Super Bowl.
Winning the division last year means the Fish won’t get that easy last place schedule they had in 2008. For the upcoming campaign the Dolphins play six playoff teams (that’s not including the two against the Pats): Falcons, Colts, Chargers, Panthers, Titans and Pittsburgh.
For the Fish to return to the playoffs they will more than likely have to go the wildcard route which means beating out either the Ravens or the Colts, or some other upstart team that’s currently not on anyone’s radar.
Another example of the fluidity of the NFL, Al Michaels was promoting NBC’s Sunday Night Football and said he expects to see more scoring (relative to the Steelers 13-10 overtime victory against the Titans).
The Sunday night matchup is the Chicago Bears at the Green Bay Packers.
Those two teams have met 176 times and you could probably count on one finger the number of games fans expected an abundance of scoring.
The Chicago Bears believe their ticket to the Super Bowl is their new franchise quarterback Jay Cutler. Meanwhile, the Packers own star-QB, Aaron Rodgers, has a full year under his belt and a preseason without distractions from you-know-who.
By the way, despite all the hubbub surrounding Cutler, last season Rodgers threw for more completions, yards, and touchdowns and had fewer interceptions than the former Broncos’ gunslinger.
Of course if you compare Cutler’s numbers to the numbers the Bears got from former quarterback Kyle Orton you can see why Chicago fans are ecstatic about having his rocket arm on the roster.
But who is he going to throw to?
Right now, Cutler’s starting receivers are Devin Hester and Earl Bennett.
Those two young and inexperienced receivers should have “fun” going up against the Packers All-Pro defensive backs, Charles Woodson and Al Harris. Between the two corners they have 24 years of NFL experience and a penchant for shutting down Pro Bowl wide outs much less inexperienced ones.
Meanwhile, Rodgers has one of the top three receiving tandems in the league with Donald Driver and Greg Jennings. Last year both had over 70 catches and both had over a thousand yards receiving.
The Bears real advantage, and a player both underrated and overlooked, is running back Matt Forte.
As a rookie, Forte rushed for 1,238 yards and 8 touchdowns. He average just 3.9 yards per carry but that should increase with Cutler under center—safeties won’t be so willing to crowd the line of scrimmage.
The real test for Cutler, besides this Sunday night, will come when he has a three-inception day. Cutler is a gunslinger and gunslingers have three-interception games—just ask Brett Favre.
When it happens Bears fans will definitely express their displeasure and if the game is in Chicago they may even boo.
Will the thin-skin Cutler find some fortitude and persevere or will the criticism cause him to demand a trade… again?
Starting the season in Green Bay, against two of the best DB’s in the league, Cutler might answer the question of how he will respond to adversity sooner rather than later.
