Football Thoughts:
Non-football Thoughts:
Pick 'Ems:
Cowboys at Panthers: The angst in Big D is off to an early start. The September champions are sitting at 2-3 midway through October, and Tony Romo is getting his weekly firing on talk radio every week. The Cowboys' 18.8 points per game only slightly edges out the 18.4 that the Panthers have averaged to date. Carolina's offense, ranked #7 last year, has slid to #23 in 2012, and is no longer outpacing their defense (which has improved slightly this year). One thing that speaks well for Dallas: their offensive line has been improving over the past couple of weeks, and put up a very strong performance against Baltimore last week - enough so to keep the team in the game and a Dez Bryant 2-point conversion drop away from overtime. Cowboys this week.
Jets at Patriots: The Jets are the unlikely #1 team in the AFC East, in a four-way 3-3 tie. A closer look, however, reveals the lie: only the Patriots and Dolphins are actually scoring more points than they yield, and it's by 55 points in New England. Last week, though, the Jets beat up on the Colts and looked like a real NFL team, while the Patriots blew a 4th quarter lead to the Seahawks. There's no way Shonn Greene can run like that for two weeks straight, right? I wonder if the gameplan going forward will be to try and keep Mark Sanchez to 82 passing yards. Somehow, I don't think it will fly this week against the Patriots.
Steelers at Bengals: One by one, Steeler players went down to injury against the Titans on Thursday night - but the remaining players weren't exactly putting on a clinic either. The Bengals have gone from a decent season start to giving the Browns their first win last week. Both teams are watching their margin of error erode, as the 5-1 Ravens begin to run away with the division. One of these teams needs to step up ASAP if the AFC North is going to have a wildcard team. I'm picking the Steelers but I'm not sure they can get it in gear enough to keep from falling behind in the playoff race in these next few weeks.
Cardinals at Vikings: Things looked better for both of these teams a week ago. Then, the Cardinals lost 19-16 at home to the Bills, and the Vikings couldn't keep up with RG3 and the Redskins. Now both teams are 4-2, and one of them is destined to be 4-3 after this week. It's really remarkable what the Cardinals have been able to do considering how out-of-control awful their offensive line has been. Not surprisingly, Kolb got knocked out of the game last week. Ponder continues to look better each week, which just grinds my gears considering how much I wanted him last year. I am all Vikings for this one.
And the die roll pick says the game with the smallest point spread:
Saints at Buccaneers: Tampa showed their first signs of life in weeks against the Chiefs, as Josh Freeman uncorked the ball downfield, passing for 328 yards on only 15 completions. Brady Quinn wasn't up to the task of exploiting the Bucs' 25th ranked defense, but they'll find a well-rested Saints offense to be a much tougher challenge. Question is, will Tampa's offense continue to look like last week? The Saints and their dead-last defense gives Tampa all of the opportunity they can ask for. If they're going to continue to right the ship, this is their chance. I have more faith with the Saints offense, so they're my pick.
Last week's results:
Jayhawker: 4-1
sheared: 4-1
ukickmydog: 4-1
*Legion*: 3-2
Atras: 3-2
Elliottx: 3-2
fangblackbone: 3-2
garion333: 3-2
Gumbie: 3-2
iaintgotnopants: 3-2
Jolly Bill: 3-2
Kush15: 3-2
LeapingGnome: 3-2
McFinn: 3-2
MilkmanDanimal: 3-2
peedmyself: 3-2
tboon: 3-2
willhouse4078: 3-2
Zaque: 3-2
bighoppa: 2-3
boogle: 2-3
Certis: 2-3 (only two!)
Enix: 2-3
Fedaykin98: 2-3
Jasonofindy: 2-3
kaostheory: 2-3
karmajay: 2-3
lostlobster: 2-3
mudbunny: 2-3
Stele: 2-3
TheGameguru: 2-3
thejustinbot: 2-3
Xeknos: 2-3
ZellbrigeN26: 2-3
ODDSMAKERS: 2-3
AnimeJ: 1-4
oldmanscene24: 1-4
TempestBlayze: 1-4
billt721: 0-5
cyberdian: 0-5
FSeven: 0-5
josh.barker: 0-5
jowner: 0-5
Minase: 0-5
muraii: 0-5
Paleocon: 0-5
Secret Asian Man: 0-5
sr_malo: 0-5
Season totals:
Jayhawker: 20-8
sheared: 18-10
Jolly Bill: 17-11
LeapingGnome: 17-11
tboon: 17-11
Certis: 17-11
TheGameguru: 17-11
ODDSMAKERS: 17-11
*Legion*: 16-12
Elliottx: 16-12
Kush15: 16-12
Stele: 16-12
Xeknos: 16-12
iaintgotnopants: 15-13
McFinn: 15-13
karmajay: 15-13
ZellbrigeN26: 15-13
AnimeJ: 15-13
fangblackbone: 14-14
garion333: 14-14
Zaque: 14-14
Jasonofindy: 14-14
lostlobster: 14-14
thejustinbot: 14-14
MilkmanDanimal: 13-15
bighoppa: 13-15
boogle: 13-15
kaostheory: 13-15
Gumbie: 12-16
Fedaykin98: 12-16
peedmyself: 11-17
Enix: 11-17
ukickmydog: 10-18
Atras: 10-18
oldmanscene24: 10-18
billt721: 10-18
Paleocon: 10-18
mudbunny: 9-19
TempestBlayze: 9-19
Secret Asian Man: 9-19
willhouse4078: 8-20
Minase: 8-20
muraii: 8-20
FSeven: 4-24
josh.barker: 4-24
cyberdian: 3-25
jowner: 3-25
sr_malo: 1-27
Cowboys at Panthers: Even-numbered week; time for Bad Tony.
Jets at Patriots: Given a choice between angry, motivated Tom Brady or Sanchbow, I'll take what's in column A.
Bengals at Steelers: It's not that I believe in the Steelers anymore, I'm just morally compelled to pick against a team that recently lost to the Browns.
Cardinals at Vikings: Ponder is starting to look a bit shaky, and I can see the Arizona secondary having some fun with that. Also, I need the Vikings to be in full-fledged freefall before I go to the Thursday Night game vs. Tampa next week.
Saints at Buccaneers: Tampa can do one thing really, really well--stop the run. The Saints have pretty much stopped even pretending to run and, as Aqib Talib has stupidified himself yet another suspension, it's not like the pass defense is exactly going to be stellar. I see a big Doug Martin game for Tampa, but I fully expect the Saints to hang about 35 on Tampa this weekend.
Cowboys at Panthers: Extremely close game, but the end of the Jason Garrett/Tony Romo era is nigh.
Jets at Patriots: Not enough TEBOW!
Bengals at Steelers: Too many Steelers out. Plus losing to the Browns was a fluke, the Bengals are a pretty good football team. Plus I think they are at home this week?
Cardinals at Vikings: The Cardinals have come back to reality.
Saints at Buccaneers: Who knew the Saints would be this bad this year? Who knew?
I'm quickly approaching .500 after missing the first 3 weeks and starting week 4 in an 0-14 hole. Let's keep it rollin.
Oh, also it's Steelers at Bengals, not Bengals at Steelers.
Cowboys at Panthers
Jets at Patriots
Steelers at Bengals
Cardinals at Vikings
Saints at Buccaneers
Cowboys at Panthers: Cowboys are better then they are getting credit for.
Jets at Patriots: Angry Patriots alert, they like to bully and they hate the Jets.
Bengals at Steelers: Steelers haven't shown me anything this season.
Cardinals at Vikings: I don't think the Cards are as dangerous with Skelton at the helm but the Vikings are due to regress a bit.
Saints at Buccaneers: I want to like the Bucs, if they don't win this game I'm writing them off for the season.
Cowboys
Patriots
Bengals
Vikings
Saints
Jeez, I'm picking the same teams as Legion this week. Terrible, right?
Panthers
Patriots
Steelers
Vikings
Saints
Hopefully, the Texans' loss was a combo of the Packers returning to form and a let-down game after starting 5-0 and winning on the road on MNF. Although calling a home game on SNF a "letdown game" is straining even my credulity as I write this.
Cocky enough for you, gumbie? No?
TEXANS ANNIHILATE THE LEWIS-LESS RAVENS, VANQUISHING THE GHOSTS OF LAST YEAR'S PLAYOFFS GAME, BREAK JACOBY JONES' LEG IN THREE PLACES AFTER HE MUFFS A PUNT THAT WE RETURN FOR A TD, THEN WIN OUT FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON AS BRIAN CUSHING (NOW ROBOCOP'ED BACK INTO ACTION AS A CYBORG) CHALLENGES JJMFWATT FOR TEAM SACK LEADER.
AND THEN WE'RE GOING TO THE WHITE HOUSE! YEEEEAARRRRGGGHHJJ!!!
Whoops, I forgot I joined. I won't make excuses for my patheticness. It's been a rough season.
Cowboys: The pieces are all there, but they lack cohesion. Should be a good day for Felix Jones.
Patriots: I hope they're mad enough to actually finish a game. That mess in Seattle was unbelieveable.
Bengals: With the Steelers' banged up O-line and running attack, hopefully the Bengals' D will be able to get after Roethlisberger before he's able pick them apart.
Vikings: Love me some Percy!!!
Saints: Please, show me something. Anything. I know they're better than they've been playing.
Paleocon from the week 6 thread wrote:If anything, the latter is really turning out to be his strong suit. The Shannys expressed amazement at how quickly he picked up the entirety of the playbook and even more impressed at how he has internalized new changes to it tailored to his abilities.
Especially after Donovan McNabb. :)
Yeah. DM was the definition of the old dog that couldn't learn new tricks.
Cowboys
Patriots
Steelers
Vikings
Saints
Cowboys at Panthers
Jets at Patriots
Steelers at Bengals
Cardinals at Vikings
Saints at Buccaneers
Cowboys
Patriots
Bengals
Cardinals
Saints
Thank you Kevin Harlan for not calling the Cribbs play a double reverse.
I know he does a lot of football but it's hilarious that a guy known primarily as a basketball play-by-play guy gets that right.
Taylor Swift, is never ever ever, getting any better.
Mute button helps.
Cowboys
Patriots
Steelers
Vikings
Saints
Cowboys at Panthers - Don't trust the Cowboys to win any given game
Jets at Patriots - Jets started strong and have slid a long way.
Steelers at Bengals - Both teams have been mediocre. Coin flip to me.
Cardinals at Vikings - Cardinals are in bad shape.
Saints at Buccaneers - Saints have been taken advantage of all season, I'm not following close but see no reason to choose them this week.
Look at that, all home teams!
Congratz Jayhawker, kicking ass!
Cowboys
Patriots
Bengals
Vikings
Saints
Teams sometimes get overly criticized for clock management, but Dallas deserves every bit of crap they get this week. The team could barely get a call in and a play snapped throughout the 4th quarter, and then wasted so much time in the final minutes.
Oh NFL Live was cruel on Monday. They showed the Ravens getting off 4 plays with 26 seconds and a timeout. 2 passes to the sideline out of bounds, 1 pass up the middle, timeout, kick FG.
Then they showed Dallas blubbering around and only getting 1 play off in the same amount of time. It was hilarious.
Cowboys at Panthers
Jets at Patriots
Steelers at Bengals
Cardinals at Vikings
Saints at Buccaneers
Pfft, you just copy / pasted mine. HAX.
Also, I avoided picking the Giants/Redskins game just for you.
I'm in another pick'em group where we use spreads for every game and I was comfortable picking them as 6 point dogs, but I would have hated to had to pick them straight up.
Panthers
Patriots
Steelers
Vikings
Saints
Panthers
Patriots
Bengals
Vikings
Buccaneers
Cowboys at Panthers
Jets at Patriots
Steelers at Bengals
Cardinals at Vikings
Saints at Buccaneers
Yes that's right, I am losing my mind after all the craziness in the NFL last week. I am picking the Jets. The Pats seem really snake bit and inconsistent from week to week. This would be a crushing defeat and possibly demoralizing enough to ruin the Pats for the rest of the season. I dunno... could happen.
Cowboys
Patriots
Steelers
Vikings
Saints
Panthers
Patriots
Bengals
Vikings
Saints
Cowboys at Panthers
Jets at Patriots
Steelers at Bengals
Cardinals at Vikings
Saints at Buccaneers
Cowboys
Patriots
Steelers
Vikings
Saints
Cowboys
Patriots
Bengals
Vikings
Buccaneers
Cowboys
Patriots
Steelers
Vikings
Saints
I'd be shocked if the Ravens run away with the division. The defense is on life support.
TempestBlayze wrote:Cowboys at Panthers
Jets at Patriots
Steelers at Bengals
Cardinals at Vikings
Saints at Buccaneers
Pfft, you just copy / pasted mine. HAX.
I'm in another pick'em group where we use spreads for every game and I was comfortable picking them as 6 point dogs, but I would have hated to had to pick them straight up.
Lies!!
Also, I avoided picking the Giants/Redskins game just for you.
Thats ok, I naturally would have picked the Giants anyway. They get no respect.
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