larry fitzgerald Archives - SwartzSports | The Philadelphia Eagles Blog

Power Ranking Top 100 Players in NFL History (Part I: #100-51)

May 29, 2017

Embed from Getty Images It’s no easy task to look at the National Football League’s 97-year history and select the 100 best players to ever wear a uniform. The game has evolved from a run-heavy, pass-resistant environment to one in which the modern rules cater to high-volume passing attacks. Statistics are readily available to today’s fans, but that wasn’t the case 50, 40, even 30 years ago. I can’t…

50 Bold Predictions for 2016 NFL Season

September 7, 2016

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Embed from Getty Images No one could have predicted what the 2015 NFL season had in store for us. Apparently you can win a Super Bowl without a great quarterback – just ask the Denver Broncos, whose historic defense was enough to overcome Peyton Manning’s late-career struggles, to put ‘struggles’ mildly. Cam Newton took that next step and became Supercam, even though he lost Kelvin Benjamin to a preseason…

Predicting Major Award Winners for 2016 NFL Season

September 1, 2016

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Embed from Getty Images The start of the official NFL regular season is just one week away, and already, major injuries are set to play a significant role on the 2016 campaign. The losses of Tony Romo and Teddy Bridgewater make the NFC more wide open. Meanwhile, in the AFC, the New England Patriots are without Tom Brady for four games, the Pittsburgh Steelers are without Le’Veon Bell for…

Previewing Each NFL Team’s 2016 Season

August 31, 2016

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Embed from Getty Images It’s just over a week until the official start of the 2016 NFL season. I’ll be publishing a series of NFL articles. This one will focus on a brief preview of each team, ranked in order of how I think they will finish in the division. An asterisk means a wild-card berth. My playoff predictions are below. Stay tuned for a 50 bold predictions article…

Power Ranking NFL’s 100 Best Players Heading Into 2016 Season

August 6, 2016

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Embed from Getty Images You’ve likely seen the NFL Network top 100 list, a ranking accumulated by fellow players around the National Football League. It’s a passing league dominated by quarterbacks and skill position players, and the rankings reflected that. Forty nine of the 100 players were skill position players, and nearly half the league’s quarterbacks made the cut. In making my list, I tried to put as much…

Power Ranking 50 Active NFL Players With Best Chance at Pro Football Hall of Fame

July 9, 2016

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Embed from Getty Images It’s always difficult to speculate Hall of Fame chances for a professional athlete, especially one in the National Football League. A player can be on track for Canton, Ohio one day and rehabbing a potentially career-ending injury the next. That’s what makes it fun to guess which players will keep up their dominance. I evaluated active players based on the usual criteria – individual positional…

Power Ranking NFL’s 100 Greatest Wide Receivers of All-Time (Part III: #20-1)

May 7, 2016

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Embed from Getty Images A good quarterback can make or break an NFL team, but in many instances, a good wide receiver can make or break a quarterback. The prototypical wide receiver is tall enough that a 5’10” or 5’11” cornerback can’t cover him, he’s fast enough to get open, even in double coverage, and he needs sure hands to be able to secure a catch in traffic. The…

My Predictions for the 2016 Conference Championship Game Matchups

January 23, 2016

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It’s hard to believe that there are just three games remaining in the NFL season, probably the most intense I have ever witnessed in my life. This weekend’s games feature arguably the four best teams in the game. The Denver Broncos came away with home-field advantage late in the season, and after a quarterback change back to Peyton Manning, will host Tom Brady and the New England Patriots for the right…

5 Matchups to Watch for in Philadelphia Eagles’ Sunday Night Game vs. Arizona Cardinals

December 19, 2015

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Embed from Getty Images Two weeks ago, the Philadelphia Eagles were done. Finished. After three consecutive losses to sub-.500 teams, it was apparent Chip Kelly had lost the locker room and this Eagles’ squad was destined to a top-10 slot in the 2016 draft and possible changes at head coach. Since then though, there’s been a miraculous resurgence. A tremendous team effort against the New England Patriots all but…

Power Ranking All 32 NFL Wide Receiver Corps

December 4, 2015

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View image | gettyimages.com It’s a passing league, and big, strong, athletic wide receivers are worth their weight in gold. The Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos were smart to lock up Dez Bryant and Demaryius Thomas to long-term deals this past offseason, and an influx of star pass-catchers from the 2014 draft class only enhances the belief that premier wide receivers are the most exciting players in football. …