VIDEO
Week 8 Thoughts
* Sunday Bloody Sunday. Let’s run down the casualty list:
* Steve Smith, Achilles tear, out for season (and, if he holds to his previous statements, the end of his career).
* Le’Veon Bell, “badly torn” MCL, out for season.
* Reggie Bush, runs into wall, torn ACL, out for season.
* Matt Forte, apparent MCL injury, may not be season ending.
* Keenan Allen, lacerated kidney, out for season.
* Khiry Robinson, gruesome looking leg injury. Expected season ending.
* Ricardo Lockette, scary concussion that left him on the ground for 10 minutes. Word is now that on top of the concussion, he suffered a neck injury that will require surgery.
* Larry Donnell, injures neck and is carted off the field.
* Kendall Wright, MCL sprain, will miss multiple weeks.
* FitzMagic, with a torn ligament in his non-throwing thumb, kicking off the 2015 Geno Smith campaign (which caused such concern in the Jets front office that they began calling around the league hunting for QBs while Geno was still on the field.)
* OK, really, the Jets are calling around because they know they will need a QB2 behind Geno, but still, the story’s more fun the other way.
* Not on Sunday, but Thursday, Cameron Wake, Achilles, out for season.
* On top of those long-term injuries, a crap-ton of players left the game early (like Calvin Johnson, Joe Haden, and the entire San Diego Chargers starting defense).
* I’ve accepted the 49ers fate and now am buying tickets to the Jared Goff Sweepstakes. Who will be a nice prize for the next coaching staff.
* Jameis Winston running to the end zone brings back so many Leftwich memories. And like Leftwich, Winston was far more successful than his fat ass had any business being.
* Speaking of QB runs, Matt Cassel taking off on big runs against Seattle’s man coverage was easily one of the most amusing sites of the week.
* Saints/Giants was the PolianBall game of the year so far.
* Those back-to-back INTs for Roethlisberger were a killer.
* This one’s for Gumbie: Ken Whisenhunt is 1-20 as Titans coach when he has less than 8 months to prepare for a game.
* Jaguars were off this week, but that won't stop me from talking about BORTLESMANIA. Bortles has 15 passing TDs this season. The Jaguars franchise has had 20+ passing TDs only 3 times in their 20 seasons. Brunell hit 20 exactly in 1998 and 2000, and Garrard set the franchise record with a whopping 23 in 2010. Barring injury, Bortles seems likely to smash this record, and likely chase after a number of others.
* And just in case I want to contrast and compare Bortles with the previous Jaguars QB, I get to cheer for Blaine Gabbert starting for the 49ers now.
Pick ‘Ems
Oh boy.
You shut the f**k up.
Oakland at Pittsburgh : The 4-3, winning record, Oakland Raiders. The team has already matched/exceeded their win totals from the past 3 seasons. Their Derek Carr powered offense ranks in the top 10 in both points and yardage. And they’re rolling into this game with back-to-back wins over the Chargers and Jets. The Steelers, who no doubt had this game penciled as a “W” back before the season, now find themselves in a challenging matchup, and have to find their offensive rhythm after losing Le’Veon Bell and posting only 10 points on the Bengals. I’m going to take Pittsburgh as I think the Raiders still have a little ways to go before they can do the same kind of damage on the road against good teams, but damn if Del Rio isn’t doing the best job that franchise has seen in years.
St. Louis at Minnesota : Like Star Trek: Generations, this game may be looked at like passing of the torch from Kirk Adrian Peterson to Picard Todd Gurley, the new dominant force in running backs. Is it too early to anoint Gurley like that? Many more hot-shot rookie RBs have ended up following the Ickey Woods career path than have become dominant long-time stars, but Gurley feels a lot different than those guys. His 6.1 yards per carry is astronomical, as his his current rate of 115 yards per game, best since Peterson’s 131 average in his 2012 2000-yard campaign. Somewhat concerning with Minnesota is that, even with Bridgewater, they’re still the 30th ranked passing offense. Efficient, but not picking up big chunks of yardage. Their top 10 defense has kept their 29th ranked offense from being too slow to win. I like St. Louis to put that defense to the test.
Philadelphia at Dallas : Interceptions are the name of the game in Philly. When you watch an Eagles game this year, you can expect to see turnovers in the air. They throw a lot of them, and catch a lot of them too. Indeed, they’re ranked 1st in takeaways, and 29th in giveaways. No trade deadline deals were made, so Sam Bradford will still be there to throw INTs all year long. He still has an edge over Matt Cassel, whose 97 yards of passing against Seattle are making some wonder if Brandon Weeden really was so bad after all. The Cowboys offense now runs through Darren McFadden, which sounds like a recipe to make McFadden end up like the Futurama guy with boneitis. One wonders if, should that happen, Christine Michael would get any work, or if he would get leapfrogged again by someone else. It won’t be Joseph Randle, released this week for leaving too much meat on the bone . For better or worse, this team is dependent on McFadden. He won’t be enough to take down Philadelphia , even after Bradford’s two INTs.
Green Bay at Carolina : Riverboat Ron asked about the Packers passing for 77 yards in Denver: “That must have been a heck of a drive.” Damn, dude. Fresh off having their offense dismantled by Denver, Green Bay goes on the road to Carolina, and are actually favored to win. Carolina survived the Indianapolis trap, albeit just barely. With a good chunk of the offensive line questionable to play, protecting Newton will be no small task. Hell, it looks like half the Panthers roster is questionable for this game. Unfortunately for Green Bay, Josh Norman, shutdown cornerback, isn’t among them. Norman’s 15.0 pass coverage grade ranks #1 on PFF, and his 25.5 passer rating against and 45.7% catch rate against are best among full-time starters. So I guess things will be bad for Randall Cobb, leaving the Packers dependent on Fresno State’s own Davante Adams. Which means Green Bay for the trap game win against the Carolina All-Questionables!
Chicago at San Diego : Philip Rivers is going to throw for 6000 yards. OK, he might not hit 6000, but it’s going to be some ridiculous, record chasing (or breaking) total. It’s like breakup sex between the Chargers and the city of San Diego. One last thrill for the fans before they move on to a more exciting California city. Bringing back all those memories of Air Coryell days gone past, before resigning themselves to boring baseball fandom forever. The Padres are still there, right? Old people like baseball, and San Diego is the West Palm Beach of California, so they’ll be alright. Anyway, Chicago’s 4th ranked pass defense may slow Rivers’ yard totals somewhat. Neither of these teams are going anywhere, but Rivers and Cutler launching the ball downfield and not giving a f*ck who catches it is always a good time. San Diego .
Make your Week 9 picks now!
Week 8 Results
Torq: 5-0
Jayhawker: 4-1
Infyrnos: 4-1
thejustinbot: 4-1
MilkmanDanimal: 4-1
Stele: 4-1
garion333: 4-1
LeapingGnome: 4-1
Certis: 4-1
Rat Boy: 4-1
Jowner: 4-1
Gumbie: 4-1
UpToIsomorphism: 4-1
Abu5217: 4-1
Bighoppa: 4-1
Top_Shelf: 3-2
PorkSmoothie89: 3-2
Bubs14: 3-2
jonfentyler: 3-2
GioClark: 3-2
oldmanscene24: 3-2
karmajay: 3-2
cube: 3-2Oddsmakers: 3-2
iaintgotnopants: 2-3
Zaque: 2-3
EvilDead: 2-3
TheGameGuru: 2-3
Vector: 2-3
*Legion*: 2-3
Elliottx: 2-3
Peedmyself: 2-3
tboon: 2-3
Cobble: 0-0
Atras: 0-0
onewild: 0-0
Minase: 0-0
sr_malo: 0-0
Flintheart Glomgold: 0-0
Kush15: 0-0
Paleocon: 0-0
troubleshot: 0-0
Mr E.B. Slugworth: 0-0
kaostheory: 0-0
Nomad: 0-0
Psych: 0-0
AnimeJ: 0-0
Grumpicus: 0-0
Neozilla: 0-0
whispa: 0-0
BEPNewt: 0-0
Tempest Blayze: 0-0
Season to Date
PorkSmoothie89: 28-12
garion333: 28-12
karmajay: 27-13
Stele: 27-13
MilkmanDanimal: 26-14
jonfentyler: 26-14
tboon: 25-15
thejustinbot: 25-15
oldmanscene24: 25-15
LeapingGnome: 25-10
Infyrnos: 25-15Oddsmakers: 25-15
Jowner: 24-11
Certis: 24-16
Peedmyself: 24-16
Zaque: 24-16
Rat Boy: 23-17
TheGameGuru: 22-18
iaintgotnopants: 22-18
*Legion*: 22-18
Torq: 22-13
UpToIsomorphism: 22-18
Mr E.B. Slugworth: 21-14
Elliottx: 21-19
Vector: 21-19
Abu5217: 20-20
Bighoppa: 19-21
Bubs14: 19-21
onewild: 19-16
EvilDead: 19-21
Atras: 18-12
Jayhawker: 18-17
GioClark: 18-17
Gumbie: 17-18
sr_malo: 16-14
Cobble: 16-14
Top_Shelf: 16-19
cube: 15-10
Tempest Blayze: 10-5
BEPNewt: 10-15
Minase: 10-10
kaostheory: 8-7
Psych: 8-7
Nomad: 6-9
AnimeJ: 6-9
Flintheart Glomgold: 6-4
Kush15: 5-5
Paleocon: 4-6
Neozilla: 4-1
Grumpicus: 3-7
whispa: 3-2
troubleshot: 0-0
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