Scott Norwood

Scott Norwood
Wide Right started it all.

Saturday, February 10, 2024

Super Duper Bowl LVIII

The big mystery for two weeks was whether Jay, having the right to pick the Big Game, would be a man of his word and take the Chiefs as he said he would a couple weeks ago. Spoiler: He was (as you can see below). We both see the game playing out slowly but he's trusting the coaching advantage of Andy Reid over Kyle Shanahan. I'm trusting the playmaking advantage of Christian McCaffrey over the lack of weapons on the Chiefs outside of their most trusted target, Travis Kelce. It should be a fascinating game of strategy if not fireworks, and a really good end to a wacky NFL season. Here are our picks officially:


 



All of our thoughts and observations can be heard here:


Super Duper Bowl LVIII: Purdy Love Story

Saturday, January 27, 2024

NFL Conf. Finals '24

After a losing weekend in the Divisional Round, I was left losing to Jay in our handicapping contest, so it was on me to decide if I wanted to go against his picks for Championship Sunday and risk being shut out or if I wanted to just ape his picks and stay within shouting distance for the Super Duper Bowl. I decided to challenge his picks and put it all on the line. He gave his picks live on the podcast and I genuinely had the opposite picks. So I am sticking with my convictions and keeping my picks, which based on how it went last week might be really stupid. But at least I'm going out with my own breakdowns and reasonings. The NFL has four very good teams for their conference title games, not without their flaws but they all are fine representatives of the league. Here are the picks that may spell the end of my nine-year run beating Jay:





All of our thoughts and observations can be heard here:

NFL Conf. Finals 2024: Deebo The Decoy


Saturday, January 20, 2024

NFL Conf. Semis '24

Simply put, it's the best quality football weekend of the season. It's NFL Divisional Round, or as I call it, the Conference Semifinals. Jay and I see the AFC matchups differently but we agree on the NFC. This doesn't need any more hype, let's get to the games. As Bart Scott would say, "Can't wait." Here are our picks for the Divisional Round:




All of our thoughts and observations can be heard here:


NFL Conf. Semis 2024: The Kadarius Toney Bowl

Friday, January 12, 2024

NFL Wild Card '24

The timing of the playoff games for Super Wild Card Weekend is going to make for some compelling winter television. Once the Texans play their traditional Saturday afternoon seal-breaker, there are back-to-back apocalyptic Arctic Bowls, in Kansas City Saturday night and in Orchard Park Sunday at high noon. Then the Cowboys annual gagging, then the Matthew Stafford homecoming, then Monday night the fascinating train wreck that is the Eagles. The league really put together quite the sked. Jay and I have very similar outlooks for some games and wildly different outlooks for others, and hopefully it made for interesting podcasting. Here are our Wild Card picks, which see us heads up on three of the six contests:


 



All of our thoughts and observations can be heard here:


NFL Wild Card 2024: MASH Units And The Deep Freeze

Thursday, January 11, 2024

2023 What I Learned About Each Team In One Sentence

Cowboys--What a sparkling home highlight reel, but what a mostly sorry group of outings on the road, sometimes against much inferior teams.
Giants--The major indictment was the grade-school level game plan of "genius" Brian Daboll after spending a week prepping 3rd-string QB Tommy DeVito.
Eagles--Half-season of pixie dust, half-season of cow pies leaves the fans perplexed and the organization flustered, and it started with demoting the defensive coordinator mid-season.
Commanders--One of the worst pass defenses in history spelled doom for defensive-minded coach Ron Rivera and obscured OC Eric Bieniemy's job coaching Sam Howell to almost 4,000 passing yds.
Bears--They are so tantalizingly close to QB relevance with the gains made by Justin Fields and yet game to game it seemed like his career hung in the balance.
Lions--They play for their Neanderthal coach Dan Campbell, they took the division as predicted, and with Ben Johnson calling the shots for the offense, they're just a damn fun watch.
Packers--Jordan Love became a leader and top-15 QB within the last month of the season, and they head into the playoffs with a devil-may-care attitude.
Vikings--They'll never know what kind of career year Kirk Cousins would have turned in at QB, leaving them in limbo as they decide how to move forward.
Falcons--Insane choice of game plans and personnel usage doomed Arthur Smith, leaving a coaching opening for a damn good group of talent.
Panthers--Are now in the lead for Worst Org In The NFL after the owner showed his complete ass in multiple ways while the #1 draft pick Bryce Young seemed to regress with experience.
Saints--Fought as much as they could to that 9-8 record and yet still left onlookers wondering if there could have been more.
Buccaneers--Good story providing a cushion for Baker Mayfield to land and resurrect his QB career.
Cardinals--The 4-13 record was well-earned but new coach Jonathan Gannon has a ground game to build upon at least.
Rams--They showed quality all around as a team and rode the youth injection from Puka Nacua and Kobie Turner to a very good year.
49ers--Top shelf, elite play on offense solidified the rep of coach Kyle Shanahan and made Brock Purdy an MVP-level signal caller.
Seahawks--Falling just short of the playoffs spelled the end of champion coach Pete Carroll's run, but they always gave a fight every contest.
Bills--No team brings the pressure upon itself like Buffalo, and they showed all of their flaws and gifts in overcoming 6-6 to grab the 2 seed.
Dolphins--They will always have that 70-point game to tell their grandkids, but Mike McDaniel's crew suffered greatly when the conditions weren't just right.
Patriots--Being the GOAT coach has its limitations when he's also the SHIT general manager with a bad offensive coordinator, and Bill Belichick couldn't survive a ghastly season.
Jets--The choice to bring AA-Ron as the savior QB was going to cast a shadow one way or the other, and after four plays, it was as a "what could have been" ghost hovering over a disaster.
Ravens--Todd Monken was the answer to show Lamar Jackson consistency at the QB level, and the result was the top team in the AFC and a very tough test for any squad.
Bengals--Suffering through the star QB's obvious calf injury was a tough beginning to the season, and watching Joe Burrow heal up only to mess up his wrist was a gut punch.
Browns--Through the myriad QB injuries and ineffectiveness, not to mention the loss of RB Nick Chubb, Kevin Stefanski's club displayed toughness and grit that make them battle-tested.
Steelers--Whodini coach Mike Tomlin conjures another winning record and playoff bid after a lot of player question marks and soft quitting.
Texans--They hit the QB Lotto with C.J. Stroud and rode his arm to an unlikely division title, showing the kind of surprising cohesion that may nab DeMeco Ryans a Coach of the Year award.
Colts--Too much missed time by franchise QB Anthony Richardson and franchise RB Jonathan Taylor resulted in an incomplete feel to coach Shane Steichen's first season.
Jaguars--The laughingstock of the league, they let an 8-3 record with a soft sked ahead of them evaporate and fell out of the playoffs, leaving egg on Trevor Lawrence and Doug Pederson's faces.
Titans--Just couldn't produce enough gritty efforts in the image of coach Mike Vrabel to overcome the mediocre QBs and lack of explosive offensive plays.
Broncos--With every oddity that should have been expected under a Sean Payton regime, there's no doubt that Denver was a better team than they were under Nate Hackett.
Chiefs--Celeb TE Travis Kelce fell off as the year wore on, and with no high-quality weapons, the KC offense struggled mightily.
Raiders--They learned, like Denver, that Josh McDaniels is a poor imitation of Bill Belichick, and rallied around interim coach Antonio Pierce to a respectable 8-9.
Chargers--Yet another "coulda been" year for a team that lost its franchise QB early, the risk-taking style of Brandon Staley proved a bad fit for a young squad.

Saturday, January 6, 2024

2023 Week #18

It's finally time for the last week of the regular season. It's also finally time for our podcast website to work again. Jay and I were thrilled to do our NFL show at the time we intended instead of having to try to connect for minutes and minutes or the next day. We had some outlandish takes on Week 18 as well. With so many games having playoff implications yet so many missing players, we had some hot takes and some surprising picks and Locks. And this time you can actually listen to our reasoning! Here are the Week 18 picks, where Jay and I battle on eight games:


 



All of our thoughts and observations can be heard here:


NFL 2023 Week #18: Load Management

Saturday, December 30, 2023

2023 Week #17

We tried and tried and tried to connect for our podcast, but the host has had connection issues for weeks now and finally we could not get in at all. No NFL Week 17 preview show, no Week 16 awards show. Jay and I apologize to anyone who wanted to listen. We both tried as hosts and guests to get on the show, but it just would not allow us. Here are our no context picks in absolutely no detail: