The 2014 NFL season is nine days from kickoff next Thursday night, when the Seattle Seahawks hoist their Super Bowl banner for the NBC audience against the Green Bay Packers. It’s time then, for the Notebook Nine, the nine key predictions I’m taking into the season. In the NFL’s case, they make doing nine easy—just one pick for each of the eight divisions, and then an overarching Super Bowl pick. Here we go…
Now comes from a column from Skip Bayless on ESPN.com which reports that the Cleveland coaching staff, including offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, was not “all-in” on the decision to get Manziel and that it was Haslam who in fact made the decision to trade up to get him. This is alarming and makes one wonder if Manziel is going to live through a year or two like Robert Griffin III has with the Washington Redskins.
The 2013 NFL season reached what proved to be an anti-climactic ending tonight in New York, as the Seattle Seahawks buried the Denver Broncos 43-8 and won the Super Bowl. In doing this final installment of the Notebook Nine, our nine points to take away from the Seattle-Denver game, I now know how Joe Buck and Troy Aikman felt during the Fox broadcast, trying to fill up space. But while there’s not a ton to analyze from a purely football standpoint, there’s always the history books. So here we go…
One more game to go. The NFL journey that began on a Thursday night in Denver last September comes to its conclusion in the Big Apple on Sunday night, with Peyton Manning and the Broncos again in the spotlight as they face the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl (6:30 PM ET, Fox). Without further ado, and without delving into any of Richard Sherman’s histrionics, here’s the Notebook Nine, our points to take into the Seattle-Denver championship fight…
The Seattle Seahawks are going to the Super Bowl for the second time in franchise history, preserving a 23-17 NFC Championship Game win over the San Francisco 49ers in the closing seconds, as Seattle corner Richard Sherman tipped a pass away from San Francisco receiver Michael Crabtree in the end zone, and created an interception to seal the game. Here’s the Notebook Nine takeways from the San Francisco-Seattle game…
The Denver Broncos are on their way to the Super Bowl for the seventh time in franchise history, and Peyton Manning is going for the third time in his illustrious career. The Broncos dismantled the New England Patriots in a 26-16 win. Here’s the Notebook Nine takeaways from the New England-Denver game for the AFC Championship
The Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers have been in what has seemed like a Cold War-style arms race since the end of last season. Now it’s come to a head when they battle for the NFC Championship on Sunday evening in the Pacific Northwest (6:30 PM ET, Fox). Here’s the Notebook Nine, our key thoughts to take into the San Francisco-Seattle war…
The AFC Championship Game that CBS executives were dreaming of arrives on Sunday afternoon in the Rocky Mountains, as the Denver Broncos and New England Patriots will settle a Super Bowl berth (3 PM ET, CBS). Here’s our Notebook Nine points to take into the much-anticipated New England-Denver battle…
The establishment has prevailed in the world of the NFL. Whomever wins the Super Bowl in New York on February 2 will be one of the consensus preseason favorites, and TheSportsNotebook’s season-long campaign against that establishment crashed and burned in the divisional playoff round this past weekend.
The Denver Broncos are on their way to the AFC Championship Game for the first time since 2005 after a 24-17 win over the San Diego Chargers where the Broncos grabbed an early lead, seemed in command and then survived a couple nervous moments at the end to close it out. Here’s the Notebook Nine points that we take away from the Denver-San Diego game that concluded the divisional round of the NFL playoffs…
It seems we can’t have an NFC Championship Game without the San Francisco 49ers these days. With a 23-10 win in Carolina, San Fran made it for the third straight year under Jim Harbaugh, and for the twelfth time since 1981. This year’s 49er team did it as the only road team to win in the second round. Let’s run through the Notebook Nine points to takeaway from the San Francisco-Carolina game…
The rain pounded New England on Saturday night, just as it had on the opposite coast earlier in the day in the New Orleans-Seattle NFL playoff game. And the Patriots showed they could bring some muscle, running over the Indianapolis Colts and pulling away to a 43-22 win. Here’s the Notebook Nine takeaways on the Indianapolis-New England divisional playoff game…