JZSports NFL Preseason Primer Podcast

Listen to internet radio with jzsports on Blog Talk Radio

Read More

Hakeem Nicks 2012: What to Expect from the New York Giants' Best Receiver

Hakeem Nicks made us all proud during the Giants' 2012 playoff run. His catch and run against the Falcons, his hail mary grab against the Packers, and just about everything else he did to help New York get the Lombardi Trophy back where it belongs deserves recognition.

After steadily improving through each of his three seasons, Nicks looks poised to have the best year of his career. Want to see how that's even possible? Read on right here:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1245345-ny-giants-2012-what-to-expect-from-hakeem-nicks-this-season


And just because he's awesome, here's a look back at our favorite Hakeem Nicks catch from the 2011 regular season. Enjoy!

Read More

Week 13 Catch of the Week: Hakeem Nicks 1-Handed Grab

Travis Beckum's awesome 64-yard touchdown to open the Giants-Packers game was a pretty phenomenal catch-and-run, and LaRod Stephens-Howling made his case with a game winning screen pass touchdown. However, when you make a catch in the NFL, and Charles Woodson gives you a pound, you deserve a little recognition.

The Giants were scrappy and stayed with the Green Bay Packers to the very end, thanks in part to Nicks' incredible one-armed grab on this corner fade in the endzone from Eli Manning, a signature pass of the Giants' quarterback.

The Giants will look to ride the momentum from their Week 13 loss-but-moral-victory against the division rival Dallas Cowboys in a titanic showdown for the NFC East.

Read More

JZ Sports Week 3 NFL Predictions

Listen to internet radio with jzsports on Blog Talk Radio

Read More

Greg Jennings Reacts to his "Broken Leg" Video

Greg Jennings is our new favorite, enough said.

Read More

Jordy Nelson: The Unsung Hero of SuperBowl XLV

As the bulbs flashed, the crowd roared, and confetti flew, all eyes of the Cowboys stadium crowd and the record-breaking 111 million T.V viewers were on Aaron Rodgers, the clear MVP of Super Bowl XLV.

Off to the side though stood another Packer, one who was instrumental in the historic victory, one who managed to rise from obscurity this year to become a critical piece of the puzzle: wide receiver Jordy Nelson.

Buried on the Green Bay depth chart behind Greg Jennings, Donald Driver and James Jones, Jordy Nelson has never been a top weapon of Aaron Rodgers; having been drafted in the 2nd round of the 2008 draft, he came after the Favre era while Rodgers was still getting his feet under him. He played a minimal if not completely insignificant role in the '08/'09 seasons, recording only 55 catches for 686 yards in 2 full years.

His role in 2010 showed some change. He ended up recording 45 catches for 582 yards and 2 touchdowns, though he did not record the first 100 yard game of his career until he racked up 124 against the Giants in Week 16. Though he picked up his play during the last few regular season games, he was a non factor against the Eagles in the Wild Card round, leading many pundits to leave him out of consideration as a factor player for the postseason.

He worked his way back into the picture against the Falcons and Bears, posting 12 catches for 146 yards and a touchdown. It was in Super Bowl 45 however, that Nelson cemented his place in Packer lore forever.

With just over 3 minutes to go in the 1st quarter, Nelson beat Randall Gay to make a jumping catch of a beautifully thrown 29-yard pass from Rodgers, putting up the first points of the SuperBowl.

Nelson proceeded to be the go-to guy for Rodgers throughout the game, totaling 15 targets and racking up 8 more catches for an astounding 140 yards. Despite his stellar play, Nelson did have 3 critical dropped passes, fully half of the team's drops. Rodgers continued to rely on the young receiver, and one play after his final drop, on 3rd and 10 early in the 4th, Nelson snagged a pass, dodged a few tackles and dashed laterally across the field, going 38 yards and eventually being brought down on the 2 yard line. Greg Jennings caught what would be the game winning touchdown 2 plays later, though Jordy Nelson was the one who put the team in position.

Aaron Rodgers will be the first one to tell you that his teammates deserve all the credit; obviously this is untrue, but his teammates do deserve SOME credit. Rodgers played a historical game, but Jordy Nelson's SuperBowl should never be overlooked. A young and unknown player rising up to help his team win the championship is the stuff of legends. Nelson has his whole career ahead of him, and if he ever ends up in the SuperBowl again, the opposing defense better hope they have a corner that can match him.

Read More

Green Bay Stardom

"As the clock dwindled, the Green Bay Packers only seconds away from a legendary Super Bowl victory, fans began to reminisce, grins and gratification omnipresent... "        click here to read the full article

Congratulations to the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers and their loyal fanbase. The team has come a long way since the Brett Favre days and could not be happier with their franchise quarterback Aaron Rodgers leading the charge. Read why Rodgers will dominate the league for years in my latest Bleacher Report piece. Click Here to Read

Read More

Super Bowl XLV: Keys to Victory

This comical collection detailing the matchup in this year's Superbowl featuring Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers against Big Ben and the Steelers is all thanks to the Onion Sports Network. Read and Enjoy. To see the full article, click here.

Read More

AFC Championship Prediction

JZ Sports welcomes back contributor Bill Eckert back from vacation, with his prediction for Sunday's AFC Championship battle between Gang Green and the Black and Yellow. Read and Enjoy.

Hey there gang! Bill Eckert here to make a few predictions on Sunday’s games. I found myself in a situation last week that didn’t allow me see the Steelers/Ravens game live, but thanks to my trusty DVR I was able to go to work and not worry myself about the game. Fast forwarding through the unneeded flagaphiles we call refs tends to eat up too much play time and I find no more joy zipping past that as I do in any other enjoyable activity (how’s that for vague). Anyhow, as the chef of my kitchen warned me earlier in the shift, I wasn’t getting out of that shift without knowing what happened in the game. With an hour or so left in my shift, Brian, our door guy, strolls back into the kitchen for a cup of coffee; before I knew it, Brian turns to Chef and I, matter-of-factly stating, “So, the Steelers won,” leaving me only to hang my head and nod in acknowledgment to Chef that he was on the money and I was out the results to what I was calling MY Super Bowl, since it was my Steelers facing their greatest rival.

Don’t fret though sports fans, for as any of you that watched the game know, when I arrived home that evening I sat through the game either way and found myself pleasured by the battle between what might be the two hardest hitting teams in the NFL (even though I found myself disappointed at times knowing that I might have been truly hooting and hollering at times had I not already know the outcome).

Now, down to brass tacks, the AFC and NFC Championships! Both of these games are going to rest on the shoulders of the quarterbacks, more so than usual. I’ll get even more specific. These games are going to rest on the shoulders of, in the NFC match up, Jay Cutler, and in the AFC match up, Mark Sanchez. Both these guys can be remarkable when they on their mark; Sanchez showed what he was made of last week when he seemed impervious to the New England defense, and Cutler ran wild, literally, on the Seahawks. But things are going to be very different this week.           

Both Cutler and Sanchez, though they have moments where they shine brightly, they have also been the providers for a rival’s victory through interceptions, and frequently. Their biggest weakness has been their inconsistency and this is a problem that both Green Bay and Pittsburgh lack.

In the NFC Championship the rivalry between Green Bay and Chicago alone will be something that should both turn up the heat in Soldier Field and, in the words of Chef Emeril Lagasse, both teams will “kick it up a notch” when they hit the field. Green Bay is going to bring hell and Cutler isn’t going to be able to gallivant around the field as he did last week. Urlacher and the Bears defense is going to give Aaron Rodgers a work out; however, this isn’t something new to Rodgers and he has always been a team commander who understands the importance of his roll as QB and has the know how to help his team advance to The Big Show in two weeks. If Cutler is smart, he’ll be smart and not try to outrun Clay Matthews and the rest of the Lemon-Limebackers, and if can’t find himself a receiver, don’t give it up as he has been know to do.

Things on the AFC end of the league are a little less cut and dry. For those of you that have read any of my previous posts, you know well that I am a long time fan of The Steel Curtain and JZ’s own Zack Pumerantz is a raging Jets fan (Would raging be a good adjective, Zack?), so hopefully he’ll not want my head for writing such things about Sanchez and the Jets. Let it be said that I like the Jets. Hell, I’m going AFC for the remainder of this stint and if the Jets do beat my Steelers, I want them to take it all. That being said, I don’t see that happening. My personal fandom aside, the Jets has a few things working against them.

I’ve already mentioned that Sanchez has been known to turn the ball over through rushed passing, but he showed last week, against the Patriots, that he can handle the pressure when it is poured on, so though he played well last week and is still capable to choke, I’ll dispel said weakness and trade it for these other potential issues. The Steelers defense IS NOT the New England Patriots defense, and what they have working for them that the Pats didn’t have last week is that the Jets beat Big Ben and the gang in Pittsburgh the last time they met, James Harrison and the rest of The Curtain will not want to lose at home against the Jets twice and this time they brought Troy to play.

I believe I mentioned this in the past, but for the sake of continuity I would like to mention (maybe again) that I don’t like the idea of placing a teams victory or loss on one player, though here I am clearly saying that Cutler and Sanchez are very likely the deciding factors for their teams, I am now going to add in what I like to call the “Troy Factor.” When the Jets came to Pittsburgh last they faced a team without their Pro-Bowl safety Troy Polamalu. The Jets won by five points that day, but it was a very hard fought five points and they played very well. Sunday’s game is going to have to be harder fought on New York’s end. Troy is back, and that will certainly beef up the Steelers D but to wind down and wrap up, I’ll just say that there is a threat on the Jets end as well.

Big Ben is a force to be reckoned with and defensive opponents have to often work very hard to strike fear into him, nevertheless bring him to the ground, but in a press conference Ben sang the praises of the Jets defense and all that they are capable of. It was their art of confusion that Ben sang about most. He went on about their raw talent and the hug fest between Antonio Cromartie and Big Ben and their comments about loving one another and what they do was all well and good; however, I found myself only slightly stirred, as a Steelers fan, when I heard Ben say that after watching the Jets defeat the two best quarterbacks in the league at home that he didn’t know how he was going to beat them. I’m sure Ben will continue to do as he has done all season long and help to press his team forward.

These Championship games are going to be featuring a lot of hardcore defense and by looking back at them, Roethlisberger and Rodgers have been consistently solid when it came to handling the pressure. Having said that, my buddy Sweet Jimmy B. reminded me that when it comes to the Playoffs, statistics and everything else we think we know can go out the window, but pressure, well she can be a bitch and hopefully neither Cutler or Sanchez buckle at the crack of her whip. 

Read More

Pigskin at its Best

"Three of the four NFL playoff games this weekend figure to be played in arctic conditions and the results could lead to the ultimate showdown — Green Bay at Chicago."                                 

                                                                               ~ Chris Erskine, LA Times

As football fanatics salivate in preparation of the second week of playoff football, Chris Erskine of the LA Times presents the possibility of the NFC championship game out-doing the Superbowl. He predicts the Packers to beat the Falcons and the Bears to beat the Seahawks, giving fans the chance to witness another January rivalry game in the tundra that will be nothing short of hard-hitting with a plethora of blood stained jerseys walking off the field in the end. Personally I do see the Packers overcoming the highly-touted Falcons but the Seahawks defeating the Bears, not allowing Erskine's duel to occur. To read the full article, click here.

Baltimore @ Pittsburgh... A hard-nosed rivalry, this one will be fought  hard on both sides, with plenty of blood and bone-breaking. Watch for hard hits by Harrison and Reed, two hungry veterans who know what it takes to win. Ray Lewis will be his usual self, riling his teammates and letting loose on blind-sighted tight ends, while Roethlisberger will find gaps in their vulnerable secondary and will take this one with a 20-17 win.

Green Bay @ Atlanta... With the week off Atlanta loses momentum. The Packers resemble the 2008 Giants who surged through the playoffs as the underdogs with a 10-6 record to beat the undefeated Patriots. The Packers are hungry, humble and ready to make noise. Aaron Rodgers will get routine pressure from John Abraham and the Atlanta defense but will elude it by scrambling as he does so well and finding Jennings consistently. Packers win by 10.

Seattle @ Chicago... Seahawks are on a roll and Chicago has a streaky offense and an overrated quarterback in Cutler. This picture resembles the face Mike Martz will have after seeing his quarterback face constant pressure and throw consistently wild chucks to his receivers. Seahawks win in their second upset of the playoffs, finally reaching .500 at 9-9. Win by 7.

New York @ New England... Jets have a chance to make a statement and Rex Ryan has them believeing, albeit talking too much (Cromartie). In the game of the week, there will be hard hits and emotions flying high. Jets win by 3 and propel themselves into the AFC Championship, having to face yet another elite team in the Steelers.

Read More