Alex Smith’s stats, John Beck’s lack there of, St. Louis’ playoff drought and the worst trade of the decade? It’s a fascinating look at the numbers, the history, and the moves in the NFC as we get you set for the 2011 NFL season

SCOTT JACOBS

In 1920 a group of ambitious men gathered in Canton, Ohio to form an 11 team league called the American Football Association. The roaring Twenties were underway but American football had a lot of catching up to do, before it could reach the stature of baseball, boxing, or even horse racing.

91 years later, the nation’s most popular sports league begins another highly anticipated season.  And we’re not talking about baseball, boxing, or horse racing.  We’re talking about football.  In 1922, the AFA changed its name to the National Football League, where needless to say it stuck.  Over 12,000 games later, the NFL is the hottest sports league in North America and not even a long tedious lockout could slow it down.  In fact, being deprived of our traditional football off-season only made us want it more, which means that CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN, and NFL Network are looking at even larger than usual ratings in 2011.  Given that the NFL’s TV rights are the most lucrative and expensive sports broadcasting rights in the U.S. it’s safe to say they’ll get the bang for their buck.

With Fantasy Football more popular than ever, and Social Media connecting players to fans like never before, football’s popularity has never been higher.  As for horse racing, well not so much.

The goal this year is to get to The Circle City, or for those of you not familiar with the nickname, Indianapolis.  Tabbed the Amateur Sports Capital of the World, this year the Crossroads of America will be where the NFL’s top 2 teams cross paths on their final hurdle to that elusive Super Bowl championship.

The NFC

The road to Indianapolis begins tonight in TitleTown, where the Packers will begin defending their ‘out of nowhere’ Super Bowl title against the media darling New Orleans Saints.  Despite losing in the Wild Card round to the 7-9 Seahawks, everyone seems to be in love with New Orleans for 2011.  While Drew Brees orchestrating team workouts to the delight of ESPN was a nice story, does it really overcome the fact that they have a lot of new pieces and play in a very strong division?

The Falcons had the NFC’s best record before being blasted by Green Bay in the Division Round. They responded by throwing all their picks at Julio Jones. Meanwhile the Bucs believe that year 3 of the Josh Freeman Experiment will result in a playoff berth.

At the bottom of that division is the Carolina Panthers, who selected Cam Newton to be their franchise savior.  We’ve discussed ad nausea whether Newton was a one year wonder or if he’s the real deal. Beginning this week against the Cardinals we begin to find out the truth.  Speaking of Arizona, they finally have a shiny new franchise quarterback in Kevin Kolb. Cost them a lot, but they had to do it after a disastrous 2010 QB Carousel that brought new meaning to the word dysfunctional. Joining them out west is a trifecta of teams all considered equal (equally mediocre that is).  Sam Bradford is expected to take the next step after a really strong rookie season, but the Rams haven’t had a winning season since 2003.  That year was Kurt Warner’s final year with St. Louis, and the Rams haven’t been the same team since.

Also out west are the 49ers who have a new coach but the same QB.  Jim Harbaugh appears to be a good hire, but keeping Alex Smith is something even Smith admitted to being surprising.  Since being drafted #1 out of Utah in 2005 (in what amounts to be the ‘how did so many teams skip Aaron Rodgers Draft’) Smith has been succinctly mediocre.  The 49ers have 0 playoff appearances with him at the helm. Harbaugh will be his third head coach, and if you include Jim Tomsula in 2010, Smith has had 4 different head bosses since entering the league.  His stats are about as lifeless as his career:

54 games / 864 completions / 57.1 % completion / 51 TD, 53 INTs

Going the other way are the Seattle Seahawks, who pulled a division crown out of their behinds despite a losing season.  They followed that oddly successful year by knocking out the Saints in the playoffs and then cutting ties with Matt Hasselbeck in the offseason.  In his place they signed Tavaris Jackson, a guy they apparently thought was so valuable that they had to lock him up on day one of free agency. They also brought over his former Viking teammate, Sidney Rice, who proved to be rather normal without Brett Favre delivering him the ball. I don’t know whose going to win that division, but I’m safely assuming the one who does will be at least .500 (fingers crossed).

Moving east we find the ‘Dream Team’ Eagles who made a lot of headlines and a lot of moves this off-season.  Atop that list is the massive contract they gave to Mike Vick, who received a $80 million contract just a few years after being in jail (The sixth year is null and void if he completes more than 35% of the team’s snaps in any year of the deal). Still, it’s $80 million more than I have. Gotta love this country!  In most lines of work Vick would struggle to find something that pays minimum wage.  In the NFL two seasons later he’s one of the league’s highest paid QBs.

You also may have heard that the Eagles brought in a boatload of big name players via free agency (Dominique Rodgers Cromartie was acquired in the Kolb deal):

Jason Babin – 5 yrs
Donald Lee – 1 yr
Vince Young – 1 yr
Nnamdi Asomugha – 5 yrs
Ronnie Brown – 1 yr

Are these the guys to lead Philly to their first Super Bowl title since … actually, that’s a trick question, the Eagles have never won a Super Bowl.  They gave it the ole college try in 1980 and 2005 and lost both times.  Which leads me to wonder: maybe the Curse of William Penn only applies to them?

After a 2010 season obnoxiously dedicated to the Cowboys, the media is asleep on Dallas in 2011.  They got rid of some relatively big names including Marion Barber, Leonard Davis, and Roy Williams.  Now that the book is closed on Williams, who signed with the Bears, can we officially proclaim that one of the worst trades of the decade?  Consummated in October 2008, nearly 3 years later that trade still reeks of desperation:

Dallas received: Roy Williams
Detroit received: 2009 1st rd pick, 2009 3rd rd pick, 2009 6th rd pick, 2010 7th rd. pick

Regardless of who those picks became that trade looks even more ridiculous now.  Even more comical, the Cowboys gave Williams $20 million in guarantees.  In 40 games with the ‘Boys Williams had 1324 yards.  For those of you scoring at home that spans two and a half seasons.  Talk about taking the money before getting cut.  The Giants have sort of faded into the backdrop, and they have had to deal with a host of injuries that threaten to derail their chemistry and their offensive line.  Hard to believe the G-Men won 10 games last year and could have taken Green Bay’s spot in the playoffs, because they don’t look or feel like a second-season kind of team as we open this season.

And then there’s the Redskins, who apparently see something in Rex Grossman and John Beck that none of their other 25 teams did (Okay, that’s an exaggeration).  Beck is so obscure that ProFootball-Reference.com lists his career spanning from 2007-2007.  Yeah.  As for T-Rex, his first 8 seasons produced 40 TDs and 40 picks for 3 different teams.  That’s going to inspire a lot of confidence in Hog nation. But hey, Mike Shanahan is always right.  Even when he’s wrong.  Which, since John Elway retired following a second straight Super Bowl victory, seems to be a lot lately.

The Vikes scooped up Donovan McNabb, who will somehow be their starting QB.  Hard to believe McNabb has fallen so fast.  Word to the wise: I’m not dealing with Philly when it comes to QB trades.  They seem to know the expiration date on their own signal callers pretty well. Arizona, you’ve been warned.  The Bears made the playoffs last year.  They were 11-5, but entering year 3 of the Jay Cutler Experiment, people seem to jumping off the bandwagon faster than they did during the Depression. They also traded one of the few weapons they have in Greg Olsen to the Panthers. But hey, they got Mike Williams! And that’s just… yeah, moving on.  The Lions are everyone’s sleeper pick this year, but once again, when everyone picks the same team to do the same thing, how does that make them a sleeper?

Before everyone gets all high and mighty with the perennially bad Lions, remember that they are, well, the Lions. The pieces seem to be there, but looks can be deceiving.  And can Stafford finally stay healthy?

Photo: AP

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