Four NFL Teams That Could Elevate Their Status in 2010

The upcoming 2010 season looks to be an exciting year in football. Every year a team or two rises from the levels of mediocrity or atrociousness and surprises the league and the fans by rising to the challenge and showing everyone that their team is better then previously believed. Let's look at a few teams that might surprise us in 2010:

Oakland Raiders

The Raiders went a mediocre 5 - 11 last year, largely in part due to the cancer that was JaMarcus Russell. Looking forward to 2010, Russell is gone, Oakland has a viable QB option in Jason Campbell, and rare promising season looms near. Their passing defense was top ten last year, and with the additions of rookie Rolando McClain and free agent John Henderson among others, the defense might continue taking steps in the right direction. As far as the offense is concerned, it was atrocious last year, though Jason Campbell's addition alone doubles its potential. His ability to properly lead this squad, have team mates trust in him, and actually complete passes put him leagues above his joke of a predecessor. Louis Murphy has emerged as a viable option for Campbell and Chaz Schilens shows flashes of the same talent. The key here is if Heyward-Bey can improve enough to be a part of this offense and help them succeed.

Detroit Lions

As a two win team, it's pretty easy to surpass the expectations of most fans. But now more then ever there is real hope for the Lions, as they are slowly amassing talented players. Matthew Stafford is still young, but he looks he will be a very capable QB once he gets all the odds and ends evened out. He has the fortune of having one of the best wide receivers in the league already on his team, and the addition of Nate Burleson will only add another viable option to the passing game. Also, in the run game, the Lions drafted Jahvid Best, one of the most talented running backs in the draft. Between Best and Kevin Smith, their backfield should look pretty good come start of the season. On the defensive side, the rookie Ndamukong Suh, a ferocious defensive tackle, and off season additions Kyle Vanden Bosch, and Dre Bly could help bolster the defense.

Seattle Seahawks

 Seattle gets on this list partially because they have such a weak division, that their ability to succeed is a little easier then most. As of late, they have not looked very promising. Hasselbeck is getting older, and it seems he will soon pass the torch to quarterback Charlie Whitehurst (if they have as much faith in him as we are led to believe). The offense has potential though with talented wide receiver TJ Houshmandzadeh already on the team and the additions of rookie WR Golden Tate and big offensive tackle Russell Okung to bolster the line. The addition of Safety Earl Thomas is a solid boost to the defensive unit.

Miami Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins have been up and down the past few seasons, but their level of talent remains very real. What will surprise people most is their ability to clash with and possibly win the division over a very good Jets team. The running back corp (when healthy) is one of the best in the league, made up of Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams (they were 4th in the league rushing last year). They have the ability to be a run heavy offense and have great sucess this way. The biggest questions come from their passing game and defense. If Chad Henne can step up, continue to improve, and manage the game as well as Chad Pennington did recently, then this team can do great things. Luckily for Henne, Miami managed to snag one of the best wide receivers in the league in Brandon Marshall. This signing is HUGE for Miami's offense as it presents a go to guy and #1  big play WR for Henne right away. The defense is going to have to support them though (they were 22nd overall last year), and the rookie selection Jared Odrick and signing of Karlos Dansby should help their cause immensely.

Five NFL Teams To Beat In 2010

 The NFL season is right around the corner, and its impossible to know from here how everything is going to turn out, but at this point there are a number of big teams to beat during the upcoming season. lets start the analysis:

1. New Orleans Saints

 Obviously the Super Bowl champs are always the easiest pick for teams to beat in the next season, and surely the saints do not falter from that logic, and should be just as dangerous as they were in 2009. This is a team, with a fantastic offense and opportunistic defense with rare talent for a second trip to the Super Bowl in 2 years. Look for every team on their schedule to want to add them as a trophy victory in 2010.

2. Indianapolis Colts

 The Colts may have lost the Super Bowl last year to a very capable New Orleans team, but the Colts talent has far from diminished going into this new season. Going undefeated through the first fourteen games last season before reverting to their subs in the final games, their talent will only be bolstered by the return of WR Anthony Gonzalez, DB Bob Sanders and Bill Polian's highly respected draft choices.

3. Green Bay Packers

 The Packers fell short of winning the division last year, getting stuck with wild card as Minnesota grabbed the division, but in 2010 the Pack should only improve. Aaron Rodgers continues to improve dramatically all the time, and with a solid WR corp and defense this team will be at the top of the NFC come the end of the season.

4. Minnesota Vikings

Minnesota makes the list primarily if Favre returns for another season with the purple people eaters. Without him, the team is still talented, but lack of any substantial QB depth makes them drop quite a bit. With Favre on the team (and without Peterson fumbles) this is a very Super Bowl capable team. We saw them make the NFC championship last year but fall short to the eventual Champs. If their defense gets the help it needs then the the Vikings will remain one of the NFCs (and NFL's) biggest juggernauts.

5. Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens only went a uninspiring 9 - 7 last season, but it was not a good indication of their level of talent. They're lack of a true passing game hurt them immensely, and kept them from greatness even though they ranked third overall in defense and fifth overall in rushing the ball. With the additions of Dante Stallworth and Anquan Boldin, the Ravens passing attack should look a lot better, and if it rivals their other sides of the game, they will be fearsome.

The Outlook Of Madden 11: Thoughts On The Demo

Drew Brees on cover of Madden 11

It's that time of year once again; fantasy leagues are starting their drafts, rabid fans are searching for sales of rookie jerseys, and the yearly "Favre watch" is in full effect. That's right, the NFL season is just around the corner, and it just wouldn't be the same if the new edition of Madden didn't mosey on up with it.

Coach Ryan ate Mark's last hot-dog and he's pissed

Madden 11 (due out August 10th) is the newest edition to the yearly sports game series. The demo came out a few days ago, so let's dive into how this years release is shaping up:

Online Team Play with Madden 11

One of Madden 11's new editions to the series is the "Online Team Play" option. Many of you may wonder what the difference between this and last year's "Online Co op" feature. In many ways it is just an upgraded version, but the main point is that its better then last year's mode. For starters, the human players per team increases from 2 a piece to 3 (mind blowing I know). Another interesting component is the "squad" aspect, letting players choose from 3 squads (OFF:QB,RB,WR- DEF:DL,LB,CB) so that you control only players in your squad, minimizing confusion and placing importance on each range of skill sets.

Indianapolis Colts Sideline

The graphics have improved and you can vividly tell in every aspect of the game, from the much improved sidelines and more realistic player and coach models, to the replays, in game action. The lighting has improved greatly, being more realistic then ever, and a small but fantastic detail is the clarity of the in stadium game screens.

Chris Johnson, RB of the Titans

The animations in Madden 11 are more fluid and realistic then ever. While they took out the sprint button (yes, no more turbo), they replaced it with a more natural acceleration. Mix that with the implementation of their new "locomotion" system, and running and tackling and everything in between is even more realistic. You see little to no Wide Receivers running being completely aware of the first down or out of bounds like last year, the glitchy "stuck" animations have cleared up and the AI as a whole has improved.

Madden 11 Game Flow

A new method of calling plays and running a game plan has been implemented in Madden 11, called "Game flow", supposedly making the game more immersive while wasting less time calling plays, shortening overall game time. This revolves around setting up a personalized game plan in which you pick plays you would most like to call in a number of situations and then when such a situation comes up the computer analyses the best choice for the moment (I thought Mr Madden did that all ready?). For the casual fan, this sounds like a great idea and something that they will most likely have great sucess with, for the more hardcore fan, they will probably stick to the option of a conventional playbook.

Put your headset on , the coach is talking to you!

Overall, Madden 11 looks amazing, feels great and will most likely be even better when the actual release comes out next month. And one last thing the most important improvement of the game, they took out the chain gang animations.

Bucking Broncos; Can Denver keep their offense steady without Cutler?

A starting off season blunder occurred when new Denver Broncos coach Josh Mcdaniels started doing some moving and shaking with his new roster, supposedly thinking up this fancy scheme that involved sending Jay Cutler to the Buccaneers and getting Patriots backup QB Matt Cassel to come to the Broncos (I suppose McDaniels was lonely, and needed a friend).

Any player would agree that (supposedly) being used as trade bait without your knowledge, would be upsetting to say the least. Cutler, seemingly more sensitive then the normal professional football player and grown man, stayed angry at the coaching staff even after they tried to come and warm back up to him.

Regardless of if Cutler's behavior or McDaniels persona pushed the hands of fate, as we all know Cutler got his "revenge" and was promptly traded to the Bears for QB Kyle Orton and accompanying draft picks. But where does this leave the Broncos offensively?

In 2008, the Broncos offense was 3rd in the league through the air and 2nd in the league in total offense. Jay Cutler was 3rd in total passing yards and yds per game, and 2nd in throws for 20+ yardage.

On the Bears side, they were 21st in passing, 26th in total offense with Orton was 19th in yards, and 21st in yards per game. Although, Orton did not have the set of receivers that Cutler had, having Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal both in the top 10 for receiving. The most player who caught the most balls on the Bears was not even a WR, it was their RB Matt Forte. The toss up is how much of positive/negative stats you can devote to being the fault of one end of the offense or another.

There's no doubt in my mind that the improved talent of Orton's new wide receiver corp should give him some better numbers and more confidence in the passing game. But as far as if will be as successful as it was with Cutler at the helm, I suppose we'd have to wait and see. In my mind it will not, Cutler was just the better (more sensitive) quarterback.

Orton sure is not making progress easy with his rough preseason debut, where he threw 3 interceptions and zero touchdowns, while his counterpart Chris Simms followed behind with 2 touchdowns and zero interceptions.

It is a preseason game, and it is Orton's debut with a new team, learning a new offense and new teammates is not a change that happens overnight by any means, but if asked to make a quick prediction, id say two thirds of the way through the season, Denver fans will be yearning for their old QB.