Around the NFL 2013 Offseason (Episode 99)

Just wait until this season man. Him and Griffin won't lose a step, both are great players

That is why toward the end of the season (the last 4 games specifically) Luck didn't finish a game completing more than 50% of his passes. Defenses figured him out. I think everyone is overrating Luck as this once in a lifetime player. I think he will be very good (see Matt Ryan) but will not end up being the elite quarterback of the next 20 years. But you never know. Most quarterbacks that end up being elite usually end up taking one giant, unexpected step at some time in their career.

I don't know of anyone who is calling Luck a once-in-a-lifetime player, but plenty of people think he is going to have a great career, and rightfully so. He set the rookie record for passing yards, unquestionably has a smart football mind, is an underrated athlete, is a great game manager, has really good arm strength, the list goes on... The 18 INTs isn't a big concern because he's a rookie; in addition he was throwing the ball quite a few times a game. Heck, Peyton f****** Manning threw ten more INTs his rookie year than Luck did. The other small area of concern is completion percentage. But Manning only had a 56.7 percentage his rookie year, whereas Luck completed 54.1% of his passes. If Manning can improve that much, why can't Luck? Kiper gave Luck a very similar grade to Elway, so obviously he thinks Luck is going to be special.

Let's be clear though. I would take RG3 over Luck every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Both are great quarterbacks, and will have HOF careers.

So I decided to map out and predict each teams win losses record.

Heres what I had the teams of importance finishing

NFC East

Redskins 12-4
Eagles 7-9
Giants 7-9
Cowboys 5-11

Best teams in the NFC

San Fran- 14-2
Atlanta- 13-3
Packers- 12-4
Redskins- 12-4




I think you are to kind to the Giants. I didn't think our Lbers could get worse, I was wrong.

I don't know of anyone who is calling Luck a once-in-a-lifetime player, but plenty of people think he is going to have a great career, and rightfully so. He set the rookie record for passing yards, unquestionably has a smart football mind, is an underrated athlete, is a great game manager, has really good arm strength, the list goes on... The 18 INTs isn't a big concern because he's a rookie; in addition he was throwing the ball quite a few times a game. Heck, Peyton f****** Manning threw ten more INTs his rookie year than Luck did. The other small area of concern is completion percentage. But Manning only had a 56.7 percentage his rookie year, whereas Luck completed 54.1% of his passes. If Manning can improve that much, why can't Luck? Kiper gave Luck a very similar grade to Elway, so obviously he thinks Luck is going to be special.

Let's be clear though. I would take RG3 over Luck every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Both are great quarterbacks, and will have HOF careers.

Almost every scout when he came out labeled him as that.

Matt Miller of NFLDraftscout wants to have Andrew Luck's children, he is obsessed with him.

Almost every scout when he came out labeled him as that.

Matt Miller of NFLDraftscout wants to have Andrew Luck's children, he is obsessed with him.

:laughing-

I don't think he's a once-in-a-lifetime player. But he will be great.

Luck is going to be a good QB. He had a trash offensive line last year and no running game. But he is also mistake prone. Dont forget that even with all of the int's he had, he led the league in int's dropped as well. I believe it was something like 8 would be int's that were dropped by the defenses.

I also expect him to greatly struggle this year. Look at the Saints last year when they lost their HC and the offensive genius of the team. The Colts are losing the offensive guru plus their defacto HC from last year. They are also losing the emotional rallying cry they had last year when they all rallied around their HC in the hospital.

Saints were 7-9 without a head coach. I have a good feeling they will make some noise this season. Easily could see Drew Brees being the league MVP. Sean Payton is still one of, if not the best offensive mind in football.

Unless Tom Brady gets injured, Patriots won't go 6-10. Elite quarterbacks and Elite coaches don't go under .500. I see an 11-5 or 10-6 kind of year for them.

As much as I love the Redskins, I have an extremely hard time seeing the Skins go 12-4. Questionable defense, injury prone receiver, tight end, pass rusher and quarterback. I hope you are right but so many things have to fall into place for that to happen, so I have my doubts.

Since almost every writer is picking the Broncos vs 49ers, probably won't happen. I really hope the Texans make it this year from the AFC. Broncos are being overrated.

Love the Chiefs, Rams, Bengals and Cardinals. But if they do make the playoffs, they probably will do what those kind of teams always do every year when they make the playoffs. Get destroyed their first game.

Saints changed their whole defense and have no LB's to help them transition/fit that defense. They're secondary got picked on so much last year, sure they got Vaccaro, but he's an unknown to me, and Keenan Lewis, was considered by many to be overrated. They're DL on has one good player that fits the 3-4 and thats Cameron jordan. Jimmy Graham gets injured often, Colston has been missing games more often, and they have a brand new left tackle. I see more negatives than positives, thus a just as bad, if not worse year than last year.

Patriots, they have a tough schedule and I see 2 upsets with the Jets, and Browns. I already said that I see them going 1-5 in their division (although that I'm skeptical about because Miami's LT situation, Buffalo's QB situation, and Jets Sanchez situation) but I look at all those teams and see better defenses (Buffalo hired the Jets D-Coordinator who plays 3-4, 4-3, 46, and 4-2 defense a lot of defenses to throw at Brady), Miami has 3 good to very good DE's that can get to the QB, and the Jets may be bad on offense but their defense can get to and get the best of Brady.

Also you don't just lose one of your star TE's, your best WR, and have a TE whose had 5 surgeries since the season ended and continue right where you left off. I don't care how good Brady is, they'll have growing pains. They've looked good in preseason, but they'll get defenses that are actually playing week 1. Lots of good defenses. And remember, all it takes is one injury, for their season to go down the drain. They're defense should be better though, but they're CBs aside from Talib are questionable.

Luck is going to be a good QB. He had a trash offensive line last year and no running game. But he is also mistake prone. Dont forget that even with all of the int's he had, he led the league in int's dropped as well. I believe it was something like 8 would be int's that were dropped by the defenses.

I also expect him to greatly struggle this year. Look at the Saints last year when they lost their HC and the offensive genius of the team. The Colts are losing the offensive guru plus their defacto HC from last year. They are also losing the emotional rallying cry they had last year when they all rallied around their HC in the hospital.

At the end of the day, I think Luck is a combination of Phillip Rivers and Matt Ryan. Phillip Rivers because he throws the ball weird like he does. Matt Ryan because of his smarts, arm strength and poise.

Colston has missed 3 games the last 4 years. He has only missed significant time one season and that was 4 or 5 years ago. The only player I would be worried about if I was a Saints fan would be Jimmy Graham, because he is the difference maker on that offense. Their defense is bad, but I think they will do what the Redskins did last year, who also had a terrible defensive secondary, and just try to force turnovers, its how they won their only superbowl. But elite quarterback + Elite Coach will get you into the playoffs. They still managed to go 7-9 without their coach, and with one of the worst defenses in NFL history. But this season will show just how valuable a great coach can be to a team.

The patriots will start out slow like they do every year (started 1-2 last year) and then go on a 10 game winning streak and lose a few random games toward the end. 11-5. They will probably win one game in the playoffs then get sent home when they play Houston hopefully. When was the last time an elite quarterback and elite coach went below .500? They have a top 5 offensive line who right now are all healthy, their running game will be better (led the league in rushing touchdowns, 7th in yards), they had a top 10 scoring defense even though they obviously gave up a lot of yards, but yards have never won games, and if Talib is healthy, that defense looks completely different than when he is out.

They will take a step back, from being a 13-3/12-4 team to a 11-5/10-6 team. But to say they will go all the way to 6-10 with arguably the best quarterback and best coach in the game, is a little far-fetched. They will be similar to the '09 team.

But speculation is always fun and you never know who will get injured, all bets are off if Brees or Brady gets hurt.

For anyone who didn't see Luck/RWayne's first TD last night:

http://images.ftw.usatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/TIP-CATCH.gif

Amazing ball-eye-hand coordination by RWayne. CB must have been in disbelief when he heard them say TD.