Tag: panel

NFL.com panel gives Saints a slim shot at the playoffs in 2021

A panel of 29 voters from NFL.com gave the New Orleans Saints a slim shot at making the 2021 playoffs, picking the Buccaneers as unanimous NFC South champs:

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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn’t win the NFC South last year, or at any point in the last 14 years, but NFL.com’s 29-voter panel made them a unanimous choice to unseat the New Orleans Saints on top of the division this season. Winning the Super Bowl must have helped raise their profile.

Read that again: 29 different analysts including Brian Baldinger, Judy Battista, Jeremy Bergman, Ali Bhanpuri, Tom Blair, Gil Brandt, David Carr, Brooke Cersosimo, Jeffri Chadiha, Gennaro Filice, Chase Goodbread, Marcas Grant, DeAngelo Hall, Dan Hanzus, Maurice Jones-Drew, Shaun O’Hara, Dan Parr, Kevin Patra, Scott Pioli, Adam Rank, Chad Reuter, Gregg Rosenthal, Marc Ross, Adam Schein, Marc Sessler, Nick Shook, Matt Smith, Joe Thomas and Lance Zierlein each took a look at the NFC South and put the Bucs down as shoo-in, unchallenged division champs.

These writers, analysts, and experts didn’t pencil it down — they wrote it in permanent ink. It makes sense to be down on the Saints after all of their losses this offseason, including Drew Brees and multiple starters on defense. But the burial of the Saints didn’t stop here.

After casting votes on the various division winners, the panel then turned its attention to the wild-card teams. I’ll quote from NFL.com’s explainer, which reads: “We asked voters to pick the three wild-card teams from each conference, ranking their picks from 1 to 3 based on where they project the squads to land in the pecking order.”

So how did that work out for the Saints? With three wild-card seeds available, they ended up ranking fourth behind three NFC West teams: the Seattle Seahawks, the Los Angeles Rams, and the San Francisco 49ers. The good news is that the Rams are also projected to win the division, freeing up a spot at the bottom for the Saints.

But everyone seems to be down on New Orleans this year. Just three of the voters — Baldinger, Goodbread, and Parr — picked the Saints as the fifth seed. Six of them selected the Saints as the sixth seed, and four linked the Saints to the seventh seed. Add those together and you’ll see that fewer panelists had the Saints in the playoff picture at all (13) than those who left the Saints out of the playoffs altogether (16). That’s less than ideal.

It’s also not impossible. There’s a lot riding on Jameis Winston to lead the Saints to success this year. All of the losses the team has taken up and down its depth chart (and in the coaching staff) might make this the most daunting challenge Sean Payton has faced since his first year on the job. New Orleans will be working with a very thin margin for error all season long, and there’s a very real chance they miss the playoffs, much less win the division, after stringing an unprecedented four-year streak of NFC South titles together.

So will these panels be proven right? We’ll be sure to check back in a few months.

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Cowboys’ Jones among those tapped by Trump to help guide economy rebound

The sports world going on hiatus was the signal for many that the coronavirus pandemic that is spreading SARS-Covid 19 had to be taken seriously. When the Utah Jazz’ Rudy Gobert fell ill and tested positive prior to a game, it led to the first …

The sports world going on hiatus was the signal for many that the coronavirus pandemic that is spreading SARS-Covid 19 had to be taken seriously. When the Utah Jazz’ Rudy Gobert fell ill and tested positive prior to a game, it led to the first cancellation in the NBA and hit home for people who had dismissed the possible severity in the United States. Video of Gobert making light of the danger when he maliciously made sure to touch every microphone placed in front of him at a press conference before he tested positive will be the lasting image of the lack of concern and understanding the country had while the disease ravaged parts of Europe and Asia.

Soon after, the NBA shut their season down, followed by the NHL. MLB halted spring training and delayed the coming season and the NFL had to curtail their offseason process of player and prospect visits ahead of free agency and the NFL draft, which has remained on schedule for Thursday April 23 but has gone completely virtual. Now, president Donald Trump, in his forever focus on the American economy has tapped several sports power brokers from the leagues to help shape the federal response to the economic downturn. That group includes Dallas Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones.

Jones, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Patriots owner Robert Kraft and other high-profile entities including the commissioners of the four major sports, will be part of an advisory panel. The sports panel (one of several) show how integral the live-sports world is to the nation’s well-being, as all leagues are billion-dollar entities.

“We want to get our sports back,” Trump said at the White House during his daily coronavirus press conference. “I’m tired of watching baseball games that are 14 years old.”

Trump plans to talk to the group on Wednesday.

The president has previously been critical of the NFL during the early months of his presidency, when he called NFL players who were peacefully protesting social injustice and police brutality “sons of [expletive]” and called for owners to fire players who knelt during the national anthem. He has also been complimentary of Jones and Kraft in various instances.

Now, Trump has reached out for the league’s help as the country looks to find a path out of the shutdown of all but essential services. By official count, the virus has infected over half a million people in just over a month, killing over 20,000. Some feel the official count is lower than reality due to issues with difficulty in gaining access to tests for many across the country.  There is still no agreed upon cure for the infection and a vaccine is projected by some to possibly be a year out. Leagues are looking to find a way to play their seasons, including MLB considering having all 30 teams play in front of empty stadiums in Arizona.

Other leagues have also proposed playing games at some point in empty arenas, which would allow for them to be broadcast. While that will entertain the millions of Americans who are obeying stay-at-home orders, the eventual re-opening of stadiums will likely be the goal of the panel, as that will have a wider ranging impact on the economy in major cities across the country.

In recent polls, many sports fans said they will not attend sporting events until a vaccine is made available to the public.

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