NFL: Week15 & Playoffs---Projections // NBA: Early-On Best.
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Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.
Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.
NFL --- WHEN highlighting 2012’s NFL teams that are already playoff-bound and possible Super Bowl competitors, like the 10-3 Denver Broncos (1st place, American Conference West), the 10-3 New England Patriots (1st pl., AC East), the 11-2 Houston Texans (1st pl., AC South) and the 11-2 Atlanta Falcons (1st pl., National Conference South), “seen clearly is the end of a beginning.”
In other words, for the above-cited football franchises a 16-game season is over and gone---history! For them, NFL Weeks 15 and 16/17 would consist of only exhibition games were it not that the contests that they will participate in could impact where and when either will be seeded during the post-season, that is, Weeks 15 and 16/17 will uncover which teams will be playing in the post-season early on, and which will have home advantage soonest.
Let’s review---
Week 15 (this Sunday, December 16), the Broncos will be facing the 9-4 Baltimore Ravens (1st pl., AC North), and the Patriots will challenge the 9-3 San Francisco
For the Denver Denver with an early Bye Week during the post-season, allowing Denver Denver
Still, this page believes that the Broncos Manning/WR and RB hook-ups (Eric Decker, Demaryius Thomas and Kowshon Moreno) will outmaneuver the Ravens defense as long as Manning’s pass protection prevails against the Ravens fast and powerful pass rush (Manning has been sacked more than 15 times during the 2012 NFL season). What’s a fair take on the final score? Broncos ahead by seven, possibly by 10.
The Patriots can beat the 49ers---maybe! Both teams contain formidable defense squads, and both are quick to exploit noted vulnerabilities of opposing teams, sometimes focusing entirely on a single opposition weakness, such as an opposition’s hesitant pass protection or opposition cornerbacks being slow to get between wideouts and the football. Then again, as pointed out to this page by an informed and wise fan, the Patriots head coach, Bill Belichick, could have his team concentrate on weakening the enemy where that enemy is most powerful, most skillful, e.g., the 49ers QB being adept at the rush, therefore there could be New England linemen all over 49ers QB, Colin Kaepernick. And, if Patriots QB, Tom Brady, is as good as he was last week vs. the Texans, we’ll see the Patriots finishing ahead by around 14, possibly 17 points.
Yes, the Texans were loopy last week, losing to the Patriots, 42-14. Assuming that the loss was a fluke, the Texans defense will stay ahead on Sunday mostly from attempts to close against the Colts prior to the Colts QB, Andrew Luck, ever exploiting third downs past Colts territory, forcing punts and allowing the Texans enough ball possession to prevail. A likely finish will be Texans by 10, maybe 17.
The Falcons could lose to the Giants. Hey, they lost to the 4-9/below .400 Carolina Panthers last week, 30-20: mistakes happen, even when a team is leading its conference and the entire NFL. But---it’s more likely that the Falcons will defeat the Giants, though not by much. The win for the Falcons will have to come from its offense outsmarting one of the best defenses in the NFL.
Helping a Giants over Falcons finish will be tight pass protection for Giants QB, Eli Manning, allowing him to identify pass and rush options swiftly and freely, his deep WR’s and close-in RB’s free, as well. Both Eli Manning and 49ers QB, Matt Ryan, purchase first downs effectively, while Manning bests Ryan when it comes to third downs, 10 and goal. Nevertheless, this page’s take on a final score remains Falcons ahead by seven.
Other franchises could fit into a beginning of the end category, in that they may not achieve post-season status but they are still close, such as the 9-4 Green Bay Packers and the 8-5 Chicago Bears, a game apart within the NFL’s NC North, ready to face each other on Sunday. The Packers are favored to win, but not by a huge difference in points. The Bears have lost four of their last five games, and Bears QB Jay Cutler’s usual above-the-margin efficiency could be absent due to a neck injury, which lessens the possibility of deep yardage per possession from any QB Cutler/WR Brandon Marshal teaming. Both franchises have rough parity when it comes to defense posturing. The possible finish is Packers ahead by three.
Like the Bears, the 7-6 Pittsburgh Steelers, the 8-5 Seattle Seahawks, the 7-6 Washington Redskins and the 7-6 Dallas Cowboys can still see post-season play on the horizon, the Steelers being two games behind the Ravens, the Seahawks a game back of the 49ers, the Redskins and the Cowboys now tied at one game behind the Giants. If the Ravens lose to the Broncos on Sunday, and the Steelers can win vs. the Cowboys (doubtful), then Pittsburgh
If the Redskins can lord it over the 5-8 Cleveland Browns on Sunday, and the Giants lose, they will still be tied with the Cowboys. If the Seahawks can beat the 5-8 Buffalo Bills this Sunday, the Seattle
So, for Week 15 there’s lots of uncertainty along with sufficient certainty regarding how the 2012 NFL post-season will be at its start. NFL Weeks 16/17 will surely reveal more details about the playoffs, the which, the when and the where. Thirty-two teams will have played for a total of more than 200 games, completing one story, enabling another.
NBA --- Presently, the teams leading their divisions within the NBA by several games have a similar characteristic, a style of teamwork negating necessity for one or two star players to have to break through and win games solo or as a pair. Yet these teams also have one or two star players who can push forward surprisingly in the clutch, plus floor leadership that other teams cannot match, e.g., that which former Maverick and point guard, Jason Kidd, has been able to bring to the New York Knicks, signaling when forward Carmelo Anthony should accelerate and net basketballs at the glass, when J.R. Smith should turn on his three-pointer skills, when Kidd himself should sink a three-pointer and defeat the Brooklyn Nets by breaking a tie and forcing a win with less than 30 seconds left in a fourth period.
We can easily see that there’s a proper teamwork/star player mix within the Oklahoma City Thunder, with Kevin Durant shifting forward for repeated successful field goals after a high number of assists + defense rebounds passed to teammates for their field goal attempts. And, going from five-on-the-floor equality to dominance by two is certainly evident within the Miami Heat, with LeBron James not always the dominator and then suddenly it’s but one other Heat player being Robin to LeBron’s Batman.
Another characteristic among the year’s current leading teams seems to be the broad flexibility provided by head coaches who are convinced that basketball is a player’s game and there should be minimum supervision. Even so, these same coaches seem to have an edge over others at recreating match-ups during crucial moments of a game, replacing a player with another the way baseball managers change a line-up to better defend against left-handed relievers or closers, as if to say, “Guys, you’re on your own, until . . . ”
The Knicks, the Thunder and the Heat are ahead within their divisions today, and each has a third characteristic, “Consistency over being mercurial.” Winning streaks, though not long, have been more common among the three teams, than with most other division leading franchises.
But today only the Thunder can be said to have a commanding lead compared with the Knicks and the Heat. The Oklahomans are up by six games, the Knicks by four, the Heat by one.
If there’s a middle of the pack NBA team today that almost carries characteristics similar to those of the Thunder, Knicks and Heat, it’s the Denver Nuggets, now in fourth place within the Western Conference’s Northwest Division, at 11-12, seven games behind the Thunder but only one behind third place team, the Minnesota Timberwolves.
As pointed out by Denver Post sportswriter, Benjamin Hochman, the Nuggets have the teamwork, plus near-equivalence regarding star player momentum, and the right head coach in George Karl, but they haven’t mastered the three-pointer for the current season. Rather, breakthrough point guard, Ty Lawson, hasn’t been a consistent shooter outside the key.
Obvious is that the Nuggets include an offense that can move into position at the right time in the right way, doing the right thing, except far too often the rocketed ball fails to plunge through the net; the shots are off to the side, or they hit the rim. When it comes to three-point completions, the Nuggets exist within the bottom half of the NBA.
Or, the Nuggets have focused more on layups than on sinking FG’s. Teamwork, coaching brilliance, they matter greatly if an NBA team is to rise above others and maintain, but for today’s NBA game a team also needs multiple three-point completions to keep bringing in the W.
END/ml
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