Manchester Titans announce new Head Coaches

The Manchester Titans are pleased to announce three new Head Coaches for the 2013 season.
For the Senior (Adult Contact) Team, Britball legend Nigel Dias will be taking charge, bringing with him a wealth of experience. 

One of the best British defensive backs of alltime, his trophy cabinet speaks for itself: two European Championship wins with the GB Lions, a Eurobowl win with Manchester Spartans and three national titles - twice with the Spartans and once with the Birmingham Bulls.  Nigel will not only be able to pass on his knowledge and drive to the playing staff but will also be able to provide mentorship for our coaching staff.

NFL Power Rankings: Week 14

1.       Houston Texans 11-1 (U1)
Another week another win for Houston, this time over the hapless Titans. Their season has been consistently excellent, but this Monday’s stellar game with the Pats is a potential play-off preview, and one that if they lose will place doubts in everyone’s minds as to whether they can launch a real Super Bowl challenge.

2.       Atlanta Falcons 11-1 (U3)
I definitely dropped the Falcons too soon last week, which was an error. They comfortably handled their rival Saints, and at 11-1 they deserve their place in the top two. The play-off concerns will remain until they win there, but I don’t believe they have some inherent post-season weakness. Next they face off with Carolina, which is not one they should be losing even with one foot in the door.

3.       Denver Broncos 9-3 (-)
Another win for Denver but no change (it’s tough at the top). Barring an injury to Peyton they will be a force in the post-season. Next they play Oakland on Thursday in a game where it would be shocking if they squandered the win.

4.       New England Patriots 9-3 (-)
The Pats sail past Miami and really nothing more needs to be said at this stage. No Gronk? No problem when Brady is at the reigns. Hosting Houston next will be as tough as they come at this late stage.

5.       San Francisco 49ers 8-3-1 (D4)

A surprise loss to the Rams, and for a minute there it almost looked like an unprecedented double draw! There’s still a lot of debate who should be starting for SF after Kaep gave up a costly TD to St. Louis late on, but to his credit helped tie the game up with an impressively long run. I don’t think there’s a clear cut answer as both have strengths and weaknesses, but with a play-off spot almost guaranteed at this stage (they could still lose out to Seattle for the NFC West title) they will be happy to give Colin the experience. Next up they have an easy match-up vs the visiting Dolphins.

NFL Predictions: Week 14

A very average week sees me enter the final leg about 65% accurate. Not quite as good as I'd have hoped for, but there are still 3 weeks left (and playoffs) to boost my results.

Week 13:

Outright = 9-7

Outright = 122-71

Thursday Night Football:

Broncos @ Raiders

We would obviously all expect the Broncos to win here and win comfortably. Denver will  be pushing to get a first round bye so every win counts at this stage, whereas Oakland will be firmly focused on building for next year. One pause for thought is that Raiders' HC Dennis Allen has suffered some personal tragedy this week, which as the Chiefs showed last week can often spur an underdog on to victory. In this case though I think the gap in quality is too great even for that.

DBL Coverage Prediction: Broncos by 10

BAFA Uni Football Week Five Power Rankings

Just like the Powerless Rankings, we’ve reached the penultimate top 25 Power Rankings of 2012, but that’s not to say that we won’t do a full, league wide Power Ranking during the Christmas break (100% guarantee that will happen). Now, before you read on with the article, make sure your articles are all sorted, and all of your Christmas presents are purchased. We don’t want to be the reason for you to mess up!

Before we begin the rankings, we want to give a round of applause to the Lincoln Colonials coaching staff who made the team aware that they would be leaving, but remained with the team until their winter break to make sure the team wasn’t in disarray. We wish the team and Coaches Alex Robson and Warwick Grosvenor all the best in the future.

Now, onto the list!

BAFA Uni Football Week Five Powerless Rankings

We've reached the penultimate powerless rankings of the 2012 portion of the season, and all we can say is wow, this season sure has flown by so far. Before we know it, we’ll be at the John Charles not cheering on any of the teams on this list as they’re all but out of the playoff races this season.

Only one person on the dishonorable mentions list this week, and that honour goes to...

Grounds men around the league – When the pitch is flooded, I can understand why that game is called off, but never in my life, have I heard of a game being postponed on an all weather pitch due to it being frozen! The all weather part of the title suggests that the pitch is fine to be used, but no, the grounds men decide to call it off, meaning teams miss out on fixtures this weekend. Grounds men around the league – sort it out!