Tag: Arian Foster (Page 6 of 7)

      NFL Week 9 MVP power rankings

      November 14, 2010 /

      It’s getting more and more crowded at the top in these power rankings. It seems like each week, someone new steps up and tried to claim a nomination or spot on this list. That’s life in the 2010 NFL season. Here are the MVP rankings for this week….and since there was a game Thursday, we have to take it into account:

      1. Roddy White, Atlanta Falcons—On pace for 125 catches, 1660 yards and 12 TDs

      2. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts—Who is he even throwing to? Yet still on pace for almost 5000 yards

      3. Clay Matthews, Green Bay Packers—11 sacks at mid-point with a shot to break Michael Strahan’s single-season record

      4. Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons—The Falcons are the first 7-win team (thanks to a Thursday nighter) and Ryan helped lead them to victory against Baltimore

      5. Arian Foster, Houston Texans—Exactly where did this dude come from? He’s carried the ball 157 times and is averaging 5.5 yards per attempt.

      6. Philip Rivers, San Diego Chargers—He has even less warm bodies than Manning to throw to, yet keeps putting numbers up.

      7. Michael Vick, Philadelphia Eagles—With all due respect to Kevin Kolb, the Eagles are a playoff team with Vick, spectators without him.

      8. Osi Umenyiora, New York Giants—The sacks leader on a D-line that leads the league in knocking out quarterbacks

      9. Hakeem Nicks, New York Giants—Leads all wide receivers in TDs

      10. Tom Brady, New England Patriots—It’s not so much the numbers, it’s the way this dude leads his team week after week—and they are looking pretty good.

      External Sports, NFL

      NFL Week 6 MVP, COY and ROY Power Rankings

      October 24, 2010 /

      Every week we have different candidates here, because the 2010 NFL season has been wacky. And that’s okay, as it makes ranking MVP, Coach of the Year and Rookie of the Year candidates more fun. Anyway, here we go….

      MVP Power Rankings

      1. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts—Okay, so Philip Rivers and Kyle Orton have more yards per game, but they play for 2-4 teams. Manning’s Colts are 4-2, and check out these numbers through six games—1916 yards, 67.3 completion percentage, 319.3 yards per game, 13 touchdowns (leads NFL) and just 2 interceptions, for a QB rating of 103.4. As usual, Manning sort of defines what the term MVP is all about.

      2. Clay Matthews, Green Bay Packers—I heard someone on NFL Network the other day call Matthews the “best defensive player in the NFL.” Not bad for a linebacker in his second year, who was selected after 25 other players in the 2009 draft. Anyway, Matthews has 9 sacks to lead the NFL, and 21 tackles through five games…and the Packers sorely missed him last Sunday in a loss to Miami when Matthews sat out with a hamstring injury.

      3. Antonio Gates, San Diego Chargers—We’re leaving Antonio on here this week because he left the game against the Rams last Sunday with an ankle injury, leaving Philip Rivers without his favorite target. And then the Chargers lost the game. To the Rams. Gates only had 2 catches for 12 yards in that one, but on the season he still has 31 receptions for 490 yards and 7 TDs (which leads all tight ends and receivers).

      Honorable mention: Michael Vick, Philadelphia Eagles (thanks to Kevin Kolb’s performance last Sunday, Vick got bumped off the list); LaDainian Tomlinson, New York Jets; Brandon Lloyd, Denver Broncos; Kyle Orton, Denver Broncos; Philip Rivers, San Diego Chargers; Osi Umenyiora, New York Giants; Arian Foster, Houston Texans

      Coach of the Year Power Rankings

      1. Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers—If you start the season without your star quarterback for four games, and have the likes of Charlie Batch, Dennis Dixon, and Byron Leftwich at the helm, coming out of that 2-2 would be a huge moral victory. Well, Tomlin came out of that stretch 3-1 and it could have been 4-0 if not for that last-gasp drive by Joe Flacco and the Ravens a few weeks ago. Of course, the D led by a healthy Troy Polamalu and hard-hitting-to-a-fault James Harrison, has helped, but let’s give Tomlin some huge and well-deserved props here.

      2. Steve Spagnuolo, St. Louis Rams—Has anyone noticed that the Rams are 3-3, having already equaled their win total from 2008 and 2009 combined. And they’re giving up less than 19 points per game after allowing 27 per game last year—something that has much to do with the Rams’ defensive whiz of a coach.

      3. Tom Coughlin, New York Giants—How do you go from the scorching hot hot seat to a coach of the year nomination? Ask Tom Coughlin, who the New York media had being replaced by Bill Cowher a few weeks ago when they lost badly to the Colts, and then beat themselves badly in a loss the Titans at home. The Giants rallied around Coughlin and squashed the previously unbeaten Bears, then crushed the upstart Texans in Houston 34-10, before not allowing the dreaded trap game against Detroit ruin his team’s winning streak. So from 1-2 to 4-2, and tied with the Eagles for the division lead. That’s why Tom Coughlin is on here.

      Honorable mention: Pete Carroll, Seattle Seahawks; Raheem Morris, Tampa Bay Bucs; Todd Haley, Kansas City Chiefs; Rex Ryan, New York Jets; Andy Reid, Philadelphia Eagles

      Rookie of the Year Power Rankings

      1. Ndamukong Suh, Detroit Lions—Suh leads all NFL defensive tackles with 5 sacks, and he also has 21 tackles through six games, plus an interception—a pretty rare feat for a DT. Is there any doubt that this young big man is the real deal?

      2. Jahvid Best, Detroit Lions—Injury may have slowed Best down, but how about the fact that to go along with 249 rushing yards, Best has 31 catches for a league-high 285 receiving yards among running backs. That’s 534 all-purpose yards through six games.

      3. Sam Bradford, St. Louis Rams—He’s way down the list of quarterbacks stat-wise, but Bradford is averaging 226 yards per game and has 7 TD passes. We’ll let the 8 picks slide for now, because let’s face it—the kid is helping to lead the Rams to respectability.

      Honorable mention: Max Hall, Arizona Cardinals; Rolando McClain, Oakland Raiders; Dez Bryant, Dallas Cowboys; Jermaine Gresham, Cincinnati Bengals

      External Sports, NFL

      NFL Week 4 MVP, COY and ROY power rankings

      October 10, 2010 /

      We are a quarter of the way through the NFL season, and there are lots of wacky things happening. The Chiefs are 3-0 and the only undefeated team. That’s a far cry from last year, when the Colts and Saints were unbeaten almost all the way to the end of the 2009 campaign. There are also some interesting candidates emerging for MVP consideration, as well as for Coach of the Year and Rookie of the Year. And like last year, we’ll start to analyze them in power rankings fashion. For this week and maybe the next few, we’ll put this in one post and give three names for each category. Around the halfway point of the season, more candidates will emerge so we will separate things out. Sound good? Right. Let’s go……..

      MVP Power Rankings

      1. Michael Vick, Philadelphia Eagles—Do we even have to spell this out? He steps in for Kevin Kolb in Week 1 and almost leads the Eagles to victory against the Packers. Then he wins against Detroit and Jacksonville before having his ribs crushed on a meaningless play vs. Washington last Sunday, knocking him out of the game early. Kolb comes back in, and the Eagles lose. Vick is averaging 200 yards passing per game, has 6 TDs and no interceptions, and is also averaging 7.2 yards per rush on 26 carries and one TD on the ground. He has a QB rating of 108.8 while Kolb’s is 71.1. Simply put, this team is dangerous with Vick, and not scaring anyone without him. That’s the very definition of MVP.

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      Texans somehow overcome the greatness that is Zach Miller, hold on to beat Raiders

      October 3, 2010 /
      HOUSTON - SEPTEMBER 12: Quarterback Matt Schaub of the Houston Texans drops back to pass against the Indianapolis Colts during the NFL season opener at Reliant Stadium on September 12, 2010 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

      Zach Miller caught 11 passes for 122 yards and a touchdown on Sunday, but it wasn’t enough as the Texans beat the Raiders, 31-24.

      Like the All-Pro tandem of Mark Sanchez and Dustin Keller, Bruce Gradkowski and Miller are starting to click. In the two games that Gradkowski has started, Miller has 15 catches for 186 yards and two touchdowns. Zach Miller.

      What was even more impressive than Miller’s day was the fact that the Texans still racked up 31 points despite not having Andre Johnson (high ankle sprain) and Arian Foster missing the first quarter because he was being punished. (Apparently he missed a meeting last week and was late for another, so Gary Kubiak sat him.)

      Apparently Foster got the message because when he finally came into the game, he rushed for 131 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. On top of rushing for 8.2 yards a clip, he also broke free on a 74-yard touchdown run to give Houston a 21-14 lead early in the third quarter.

      Schaub was also solid, completing 16-of-29 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns. The key difference between him and Gradkowski was that the Oakland QB threw two interceptions along with his two touchdowns and 278 yards. Still, Gradkowski continues to provide a spark for the Raiders’ offense, which means we won’t see Jason Campbell anytime soon.

      External Sports, NFL

      Texans finally face their demons, defeat Colts on Foster’s monster day

      September 12, 2010 /
      NEW ORLEANS - AUGUST 21: Arian Foster of the Houston Texans celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the New Orleans Saints at the Louisiana Superdome on August 21, 2010 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

      Arian Foster probably got to the Texans’ locker room after Houston’s 34-24 win on Sunday and said, “No seriously, that was the team you guys have been scared of all these years?”

      Entering today’s game, the Texans were just 1-15 against the Colts lifetime. But thanks to Foster’s 231-yard rushing performance (which is the most by a running back in an opening weekend game since O.J. Simpson ran for 250 yards in 1973), Houston finally got the Indianapolis monkey of its back.

      Perhaps what was most impressive about Foster is that he grinded it out for a full four quarters. Don’t forget that this is a highly inexperienced player, one that spent most of 2009 on the practice squad. So with his team up 20-10 midway through the fourth quarter and looking to punch another hole in the Colts’ jugular, Foster rushed for 78 yards on just three carries and scored his second touchdown of the day. He showed his mettle all day, but especially on that drive.

      The win was big for the Texans for two reasons: 1) they proved that they could finally beat a team that has dominated them over the years and 2) they also showed that they could beat a team in the AFC South after going 1-5 a year ago. It’s only Week 1, but this is the type of win that could give a budding postseason contender confidence for the rest of the season.

      Perhaps what was most impressive was that the Texans didn’t beat the Colts through the air, but on the ground. Matt Schaub only completed 9 of 17 passes for 107 yards, so clearly he didn’t have his best day. Thus, for Houston to attack Indy’s greatest weakness (defensive tackle) and execute to perfection will have Gary Kubiak sleeping well tonight.

      The same goes for Arian Foster.

      External Sports, NFL

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