Week 6 Picks

Bengals – 3 @ Kansas City – Chiefs

The Bengals should really be able to win this game but I don’t trust them. Their defense is terrible, theres no reason to expect anything but huge games from Larry Johnson, Dwayne Bowe ( who by the way should be owned in every fantasy league weeks ago ) and Tony Gonzalez, and as shocking as it may be to some Kansas City has a really solid defense especially a strong secondary, which could potentially cause Carson and company some problems. On top of all this Rudi Johnson still hasn’t been practicing and the game is in Kansas City where the Chiefs enjoy one of the loudest stadiums and most difficult for opposing teams to play in, and somehow the Bengals are still favored, go with the home underdog here.

Houston + 6 1/2 @  Jacksonville - Jaguars

Now this is starting to look like the defense I expected the Jag’s to have. I was floored by their poor performance against the Titans in week 1 giving up 170 + yards on the ground, I thought they were back to being the classic under achievers, or the Panhers of the AFC as I call them, but it seems like they finally got this figured out, plus now David Garrard is making Jack Del Rio look both genius and stupid ( genius for making the move to Garrard, stupid for waiting so long to make it final ) Dennins Northcutt has been rejuvenated, MJD finally got on track last week and Houston is banged up still missing Andre Johnson and Schaub has to face the toughest secondary he has faced all year, Kris Brown won’t be able to save them this week, Jag’s win this easy.

Miami + 4 1/2 @ Cleveland - Browns ( yeah I said it )

Ok there were a couple teams I was real hard on at the beginning of the year that I turned out to be way wrong about, like the Titans and the Redskins, but I must say the biggest surprise is the Browns. They keep playing decent to good football and I keep brushing it off and ignoring it cause well, they are the Browns. However they have looked pretty good, mostly against bad teams granted but what do they have this week ? Possibly the worst team in the league, and with Cleo Lemon as the starting QB. Listen if you have to bet on a game in which one of the starting QB’s name is Lemon, don’t waste any time go make a bet, a big bet on whoever the hell he is playing. Of course now that I said this on record and with this being the NFL and all, Cleo Lemon will probably throw for 300 + 3 TD’s and the Dolphins get their first win, hey it’s possible I mean they are still playing the Browns.

Minnesota + 5 1/2 @ Chicago -  Bears

I’m tempted to go with the Vikings because I can’t stand the thought of putting money on Brian Griese but that would mean I’d be putting money on Tavaris Jackson or is it Kelly Holcomb this week, or does it matter either way, no thanks. Cedric benson will go nowhere but then again when does he ever get anywhere, however that Vikings secondary is beatable, look for Greg Olsen to run through that secondary for big plays all day Sunday afternoon.

Tennessee + 3 @ Tampa Bay – Titans

Like I said before I was dead wrong about the Titans this year, but I figured that out weeks ago. Tampa Bay is a bit of a mystery still, they had looked real strong so far this year, but the competition wasn’t that good so were they for real ? Well they got pimp slapped back to reality last week by the injury depleted Colts but everyone should of seen that coming especially with Cadillac and Petitguot (sp? ) out. This week probably won’t help us too much either cause the Titans should win the game rather easily, however if Garcia can have a big day against this defense people are really gonna be forced to pay attention to Tampa the rest of the way.

Washington + 3 @ Green Bay – Redskins

Anyone who watched the second half of last Sunday’s night game saw the wheels start to come off of the suddenly over crowded Packers bandwagon. Yeah the biggest problem was James Jones inability to hold onto the ball thanks to Charles Tillman but once things started to go a little bad they quickly got worse and worse. Farve started to unwind making a couple of bad decisions and when he threw that god awful I don’t even know what to call it but I damn sure won’t call it a pass, to Urlacher you knew the game was over. Don’t be surprised if this is the start of a mini slump, the Packers are still one of the better teams in that weak NFC but they are gonna have weeks like last one when they just don’t have it all together and I expect this week to be one of them as the Redskins will continue to surprise people, Jason Campbell is gonna be one hell of a QB the sooner the rest of the league figures this out the better we will all be.

New England – 5 1/2 @ Dallas – Patriots

Do I still have to explain and justify why I’d take the Patriots every week, isn’t the fact that they are have Tom Brady and Randy Moss and o yeah they are the Patriots enough for everyone. No, ok well then how bout this, did you see the Cowboys play the Bills last week ? Yes I believe it was an random act not likely to be duplicated again but the Patriots D is only a couple millions times better than the Bills and o yeah by the way so is there offense, If Romo gives up 6 turnovers this week they lose by 70. Still not convinced, go watch another sport, ok but seriously Dallas biggest weakness is their secondary watch Brady hit Welker underneath all day to set up the long bombs to Moss. Seriously if the Patriots didn’t have to play the Colts I’d say they are going 16-0, but they do play the Colts and probably won’t go 16-0.

New Orleans + 7 @ Seattle - Seahawks

Have people been watching the Saints, cause unfortunately I have and it’s been painful. The Saints are awful it starts with the defense, but continues with the offense and I see no cure in sight. Without Duece it limits Bush’s effectiveness and makes it even harder on Brees. Brees is getting no protection and you can tell it’s bothering him, he keeps dancing his feet running in circles in the pocket looking downright scared, the Saints have a lot to fix and a long time till it gets done, Seahawks win easy.

Vacation Time Is Over

Whats good people ? I know I know I haven’t been around for a minute, but the boy went on a bit of an impromptu vacation. I spent some time out in Cali, then I came back last week and went on Tri-State tour checking my peoples I haven’t gotten up with in awhile, overall it was a great couple of weeks, sports wise though, not so much. Remember I said awhile back I didn’t care what the Yankees did in the playoffs as long as they made it there, well apparently I was lying through my teeth, don’t worry I’ll never make that mistake again as a life long Yankee fan I know championship rings is the only successful way to end a season. However with the Yankees struggling to make through the first half of the year, they looked dead. So at this point you could see the Yankees have finally started to put together some really good young pitching ( Hughes, Chamberlain, Kennedy ) and I was really just excited about the chance to see those 3 guys in a rotation with Wang and Pettite, and I really believed that but once the playoffs came the spoiled Yankee fan came out and I expected another championship. Yeah the bugs cost them game 2 but give the Indians credit they are a great team who looked completely different from the last time the Yankees saw them, when exactly did they find an offense, cause they sure didn’t have one a couple months ago.

Now to make matter worse is my Jets, ouch seriously Pennington what happened to you ? I swear he arm gets weaker with every passing week. I was at the game against the Giant, I almost fought half the damn stadium ( there were some pissed of Giant fans that really didn’t like me just cause I was rooting for my team ) but more importantly every time Pennington went to pass, I felt like I could of jumped the route and picked him off from way back in row 30. I have been Pennington’s biggest supporter but enough is enough. Defenses don’t send anyone more than 20 yards past the line of scrimmage and Pennington can’t make them pay for it. This allows the d’s to load up the box and stop the run and forces the Jets to try short quick screens which only work when teams aren’t ready for them, but since thats all the Jets do defenses are always ready for them. The coaches don’t trust Pennington’s arm to open up the offense and what they are doing now sure isn’t working so bring in the kid with the cannon arm and let’s see if we can open the offense and use the dangerous weapons we have. Coles and Cotchery are 2 great receivers both criminally underrated due to the fact Pennington can’t get them the ball enough. The season isn’t completely over as the schedule does get easier but as long as Pennington is at QB the offense won’t be beating anyone and with the way the Jets allow you to run the ball on them there is just no chance Pennington can get it done anymore, either way it’s obvious with the roster bonus he would be due next March there is no way in hell Chad is on the team next year, so make the move now see what the kid has and let’s find out if he really is the future.

So as bad as these last week was sports wise at least I know I have a bunch of young talent to watch and grow and hopefully get the Yankees back to their dominating ways and get the Jets to start there own trend of domination, the Jets are closer than most think, they got a great overall team just a couple really big holes that continue to hurt them week in and week out but theres only a couple holes and as soon as the Mangenius figures out those holes are Pennington’s arm, the offense running game ( a deep threat automatically opens up the run a little ) and somehow someway stopping the run, I say abandon this 3-4 system and go with a flexible 4-3, you can switch it up from time to time, but the Jets are playing 3-4 scheme with 4-3 personel, making these moves automatically makes the Jets a better team.

More on all of this tomorrow, Yankees/Jets and my picks for the weeks will be back tomorrow as well. I’ve been slacking on the fantasy tip I know anyone got any question or looking for some help with them just holla at the kid, or wait till next week when I break out the fantasy posts.

Week 4 Gambling Picks

Ok so the first week I did this didn’t go so well, and well last week I was mad lazy and was too busy over the weekend to make the picks, but this week I’m back. I’m still not betting any money this week, next week is when it would start, you know if gambling was allowed and everything of course. So here are the lines and my picks for the week. ( Note every week theres always games I avoid like the plague mostly cause of how the line is set, thats no different this week, however I’m gonna start listing the games I’m not touching and say why at the end of the post.

Baltimore -4 @ Cleveland – Baltimore

Ok so the Ravens haven’t gotten off to the start they were hoping for, but thats only cause they haven’t been lucky enough to play the Browns yet. Who cares who the QB is this week, McGahee will run all over the Browns and your much more likely to see Derek Anderson throw 5 int.’s than to see even 3 Td’s from him.

Oakland + 4 1/2 @ Miami – Oakland

This is a bit risky, why ? Cause I’m betting on the Raiders. I’ve heard lots of people pick the Dolphins with the old no one goes 0-16 so they have to win a game sometime right, why not now routine. I don’t buy it not cause they are wrong about teams not going 0-16 but because the Dolphins still have games against the Browns and the Giants this year. Look for Lamont Jordan to carry the Raiders to a W in Miami, assuming Dante doesn’t self destruct trying to win the game on his own.

Chicago – 3 @ Detroit – Lions

A week or so ago I would of said this was a lock for the Bears, now I’m running away from them as fast as possible. Listen I understand Rex Grosman is bad, but Griese is worse. Griese won’t force as many mistakes but thats the coaches fault for continually trying to open up the offense with Rex, they need to simplify the offense for him and not give him the option to make those long errant passes. The other problem I have is the bears D is in shambles. Once Mike Brown went down again I knew they would struggle in the secondary but now with both their corners out and other key defenders like Tommy Harris out, theres no way Griese will be able to win in a shootout.

Houston – 3 @ Atlanta – Texans

Again here I heard the can’t go 0-16 strategy being applied here, people really must not have watched enough of the Texans so far this year. Ok Andre Johnson is still out so is Ahman Green and while it does go against everything I believe in to bet on a team with Ron Dayne starting at RB, theres just no way the Falcons will move the ball on the Texans Defense which is criminally underrated right now and THE reason they are off to such a good start and are definitely for real.

Green Bay – 2 @ Minn. – Packers

I hate lines like this they make me mad nervous, and normally send me running. Minn. has looked pretty bad so far this year and it doesn’t look like they will turn it around anytime soon, meanwhile the Packers have exceed everyone expectations so far and look to be the far superior tea, so why only 2 point favorites, does Vegas know something we don’t ? Probably they usually do, especially when they set a line begging you to pick one team, which is whats happening here, but you know what ? I’m gonna fall for it at least this week. I understand why the did it in this game just like no team can go 0-16 they can’t go 16-0 ( well maybe the Patriots can but w/e w/e w/e ) and a surprising 3-0 team goes on the road to play a division rival, this one has upset written all over it, next week everyone will be saying ” we knew the Packers weren’t that good ” it all seems so set up for that but I’m bucking the system and I say the Packers at least make it to 4-0.

Jets – 3 1/2 @ Buffalo – Jets

Ok first always take my Jet bets with a grain of salt cause well I am biased. If you see me pick them to lose make the bet cause that must mean I expect them to get spanked, however I also normally stay away from picking the Jets game cause a) I never want to bet against them and b) it’s hard to tell how biased I am sometimes, so if I pick them I really expect them to win. In fantasy if you have Marshawn Lynch play him, same goes with any of the Jets, Lynch will have a big day but Pennington will feast on that secondary and the Jets better snag an important division road victory.

Tampa Bay + 3 @ Carolina - Tampa

I didn’t want to pick this game, in fact I’d almost suggest never betting on this division unless it’s for Atlanta and New Orleans to lose, but see my thing is I HATE the Panthers, there isn’t a more confusing team in the league, and they have been doing it for years. I despise the Panthers and will never bet on them again, which can of course only mean one thing, David Carr will someone get the W for the Panthers.

Pittsburgh – 6 @ Arizona – Steelers

Heres another one where it seems set up for an upset. You got 2 former Assistant Coaches of the road team coaching at home against their former team, road team is 3-0, with 3 cupcake games, seems set up for the home team to steal this game, or at least make it close, problem with all that is Wisenhunt is saying he will be playing a platoon of Leinart and Warner, listen I already wasn’t sold on Leinart before and I’ve had a rule to bet against Kurt Warner for about 3 + years now, no way I can bet against the Steelers here.

Philly – 2 1/2 @ Giants – Eagles

But I admit I’m not THAT confident. It’s the line playing tricks on me again, I know the Eagles have looked bad until they played the Lions so people are skeptical, but this is the Giants, and trust me their secondary is even worse than the Lions, I know some of you Lions fans are shocked right now, but it’s true watch a Giants game sometime. Eagles secondary is banged up too, I expect to see Eli chuck a bunch of terrible passes in the air only to be bailed out by Plex/Toomer/Shockey making leaping catches, which of course will be followed by constant praise of Eli, still Eagles should win this game by at least a field goal.

GAMES I’M NOT TOUCHING

Dallas – 13 @ St. Louis

Dallas will win but no way will I ever bet on an NFL team to lose by more than 13, even if it is the Rams and they will probably lose by 20-30 pts.

Seattle -2 @ San Fran

Neither of these teams are that good, Seattle is more balanced, 49ers got the better defense, I can’t call it, it’s a definite flip em.

Denver + 9 1/2 @ Colts

Again 9 1/2 pts. is too much to take, even with the Colts playing at home against a clearly inferior team, Colts will win, should cover too, I just wouldn’t put any money on it, cause if I did this game would have last second touchdown to cut the lead to 8 written all over it.

New England – 7 @ Cinn.

Only cause the Bengals could be losing by 30 in the last 8 minutes and Palmer could somehow find a way to get them back within 7 in the last second. I will tell you this much though bet the OVER. It’s set at 53 1/2 pts. don’t be shocked to see the Patriots almost bet that themselves.

* edit * 

I forgot the Chargers-Chiefs game, it’s ok cause I’m staying away from that one too, basically anytime you see a 10 + point spread know I’m not touching it.

Who and How To Target RB’s In Fantasy ( Waiver Wire/ Trades )

This is gonna be a buy low/sell high column with a twist. Normally you read fantasy articles and they all tell you the same things, buy low on L.T. or L.J. right now, gee thanks for that advice, problem is each article is written to be as broad as possible, which is great and all cause you know it includes everyone, but does it really help anyone ? Shouldn’t weather or not you wanna buy low or sell high depend on your record, how the other teams are built in your league and what you need help with the most ? Of course so how can one tell you, that you must go get RB a) and be willing to part with WR b), well first problem is what if you don’t have receiver B or anything close to him ? What if your set at RB’s and you wanna know which ones to trade for a receiver, what if your 3-0 your team is looking stacked no real weak points at first glance, but then you peep the schedule and notice some of your studs have very tough match-ups at the end of the season, hell some might just be starting a vicious stretch that could kill their value and possibly your team if you don’t trade them soon enough. Having what looks like the best team after week 3 doesn’t mean a damn thing, in fact it’s quite possible you could go undefeated all year with a stacked line-up and then you get crushed in the finals because you have Peyton Manning and Joesph Addai and they aren’t getting full PT cause they already clinched their playoff spot, or maybe your convinced Steven Jackson turns it around, ok say he does are you still gonna wanna play him those last 2 weeks of the fantasy season when he is matched up against Green Bay and Pittsburgh. So here I’m gonna tell you what RB’s to grab expecting them to outplay expectations and who to trade or avoid due to bad match-ups and people who will under perform their expectations. Also again since I’m speaking to an audience and not you indivually some of my suggestions might not work for you, so I suggest you look at your team and your schedule the rest of the way, examine your bye weeks, what weeks you have real bad match-up and don’t feel comfortable starting anyone you have, check those last 2 weeks schedule and start planning for the playoffs if you can afford to, check what weeks you need help the most and check who can help you the most those weeks and go after them. After each player I will list what weeks I have marked as big weeks for said RB, with playoff weeks in BOLD.

GET NOW BEFORE EVERYONE ELSE CATCHES ON

~ Willie Parker – Granted he shouldn’t be on this list, cause everyone should have him and no one should be thinking he is anything less than a top 5 back, but I say this cause honestly I think he is the best back to have the rest of the year, so if you have L.T. and can’t wait for him to turn around anymore ( I suggest waiting until after the Chiefs though, their schedule gets much easier ) so more realistically let’s say you have Larry Johnson or Steven Jackson and you can’t wait it out, see if you can convince the guy to trade you Parker, hell in fact if you have anyone besides L.T. I suggest you take a shot and see if you can get Willie Parker. If you have to give up one of them Rb’s and a decent receiver do it, take a look at Parkers’s schedule the rest of the way, this guy is on his way to a monster year 2,000 + yards. These Steelers still love to run the ball and no one except possibly L.T. will outperform him the rest of the way. As for those last 2 weeks of the fantasy season ( keep in mind thats weeks 15 and 16 in real football ) Parker is a great play both weeks as he has Jacksonville in week 15 and St. Louis in week 16, so if you have Parker feel good you most likely got this years best RB don’t trade him, but if you can pry him away from someone somehow just do it. ( weeks 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15 and 16 )

~ L.T. – I know I know again he shouldn’t be on here either, last one I promise. However I do know of some people who have L.T. and are 0-3 and there for are panicking. It’s understandable really, if you took L.T. you took him with the first pick leaving you most likely with not a great # 2 back, which was ok at the time because you got L.T. and he would make up the difference, problem is he hasn’t and your team has suffered, I get it but unless you got holes everywhere and someone is gonna give you an upgrade everywhere and one of these other RB’s on this list, relax and do not trade L.T. he has played against 3 of the best defenses in football so far, they are adjusting to a whole new coaching staff he will be fine and that turn around starts this week in Kansas City and should continue over the next 2 weeks with Denver and Oakland. Now again if you started out 0-3 you can’t afford to worry about the last 2 weeks right now, you have to try and get yourself there, but if you still can make it there without trading him do so, cause those last 2 weeks L.T. is lucky enough to play the Broncos and Lions, 2 teams no one would have trouble running through let alone L.T. ( weeks 4, 5, 6, 11, 13, 15 and 16 )

~ Edge – So this isn’t last year, people that drafted Edge are actually happy they drafted him as opposed to wishing him harm ( to put it nicely ) as everyone who drafted him last year felt. Unless your in a league with complete idiots mostly everyone realizes this ( if you are in one of those idiot leagues you probably got it won all ready so relax ) but I don’t think most people realize just how good he will be the rest of the way. Only problem is the Cardinals figure to be behind a lot so they will have to throw but at least they can run the ball and run it well this year. Lucky for Edge owners and future Edge owners he still has games against St. Louis, Detroit, Cinn. , San Fran, and Cleve, with New Orleans and Atlanta in the final 2 weeks, that means he has 7 games left against teams that combined allowed an avg. of 143 yards per game, which means there are plenty of fantasy points to be had by the Edge. ( weeks 5,10,11,12,13,14,15 and 16 )

~ Larry Johnson – Ok some of you probably are wondering why he is here, well for much the same reasons as L.T. if you have him I assume you took him high and he is probably killing your team. I hated LJ at the beginning of the year because of his horrible o-line, mess of a QB situation and overall just being on a bad team, and while all of this still holds true his schedule starts to get drastically easier after this week. However like I said these problems are still there so unless you can afford to sit him on the bench for the next couple weeks and hope for a turn around avoid him, but if you 3-0 and sitting pretty and stacked with RB’s take a shot, cause like I said after this week LJ has 7 weeks against teams that have been allowing at least 125 yards a game, one of them against Detroit in the final week. Keep in mind LJ missed almost all of training camp too and while that normally isn’t a big deal for RB’s be ready for him to turn his season around as soon the Chiefs start to play the Jacksonville’s and Cinn.’s. ( Weeks 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 14, 16 )

~ Marshawn Lynch – I wasn’t as high on this guy as a lot of people were at the beginning of the year. I thought he would get crushed coming from the soft Pac-10 to the NFL, but this boy has proved himself to be worthy. He hasn’t been amazing or unstoppable by any means but he is still being underrated by everyone I’ve talked to, don’t make the same mistake. See if you can get him cheap he will help you especially those last 2 weeks of the year against the Browns and the Giants. Besides that he still has 2 games against the Jets ( and trust me anyone can run on the Jets ask Ronnie Brown ) Cinn, 2 games against Miami and a game against Jacksonville, all teams that give up at least 120 rushing yards a game. If you started off great and are already thinking bout playoff like I am make a move for Lynch before someone else catches on. ( Weeks 4, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15 and 16 )

~ Deshaun Foster – This guy defines underrated right now. He is THE RB in Carolina, they aren’t sold on Williams and Foster has been running the ball well. True he has had an easy schedule but it’s gonna stay that way. Foster is criminally undervalued in most leagues right now and I’m sure he can be had cheap. He has 2 games against New Orleans, a game against the Falcons, Cardinals, 49ers, Seahawks and Jags all left and he should have big games against all of them, while only one of them ( Seattle ) is in the playoffs most of them are down the stretch run if your looking for help during those last weeks. ( Weeks 5, 6, 10, 12, 13, 14 )

~ Willis McGahee – I expected things to be going better for Willis here in B-more, I mean he seems built for the Ravens, problem is the rest of the offense is a mess. Good news is most McGahee owners are panicking and trying to pawn him off now, my suggestion of course is to take advantage of this. 2 games against Cleve. a game against St. Louis, Buffalo, Cinn,, Miami and Seattle all are still on the schedule and all are more than winnable games for the Ravens. In all of these games the Ravens D should shut down the other offense and allow McGahee plenty of carries to pick up plenty of yards and TD’s. Miami and Seattle are the playoff weeks and you shouldn’t have any problem playing him then. ( Weeks 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 15 )

~ Rudi Johnson – This really depends on who has him, but I saw some people panic after last week, scared he would disappear and scared he would be hurt. If the injury scares you, theres not much I can say other than I doubt it will effect him for more than a week or 2 at most. So if your in a league where the Rudi owner is thinking like then steal him, as he still has games against the Chiefs, Jets, Bills, Rams, and in the playoff weeks the 49ers and Browns. The Bengals offense is a machine designed to score points and as long as Rudi stays healthy he will do the same and if you want help for those final weeks theres not too many with better playoff week match-ups ( Weeks 6, 7, 9, 11, 14, 15 and 16 )

~ Frank Gore – Like Rudi I know some Gore owners who are panicking, not so much cause they don’t believe in Gore but because the 49ers offense looks anemic, and while I can’t very well argue with that I can say the schedule does get easier with a six week stretch where they play the Giants, Saints, Falcons, Seahawks, Rams and Cardinals as well as a week 15 match-up with the Bengals, if people are looking to trade Gore it’s cause they haven’t looked at the schedule ( no Woody Paige ) and like I’ve been saying this whole column, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT. ( Weeks 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15 )

~ Thomas Jones – He was very underrated last year, even more so before the season since he is no longer splitting carries, however the people that were down on him probably feel good about being down on him still and thats fine as long as your willing to realize he is about to turn it around. First 2 weeks they played against 2 of the best defenses in football and to be honest the Jets o-line is a mess but last week in the second half Jones put up 92 yards against the Dolphins, looking like he is finally comfortable in the offense and ready to be the Thomas Jones we all know from last year. I know your saying but that was against the Dolphins, point taken but whats this whole post about, TJ’s schedule is full of good match-ups, ,with 2 games against Buffalo, a game against Cinn, Giants, Miami and Cleveland TJ can definitely be an upgrade to your team on certain weeks. ( Weeks , 5, 7, 8, 13, 14 )

TRADE NOW WHY YOU CAN STILL GET THE BEST VALUE

~ Travis Henry – Ok so I just yesterday noticed this. I got Henry on 2 of my teams and as I was looking at my match-ups the rest of the way I noticed he only has 4 favorable match-ups the rest of the season. Now while normally I wouldn’t be so concerned with the Broncos rushing game but the fact that they can’t stop anyone from running and Jay Cutler just does not instill any confidence in me yet, I see them being behind in too many games and with Shannahan’s games he likes to play stealing TD’s from his starters clutches I think now is as good a time as ever to trade Travis Henry to someone who will give you great value while you can still get it. Right now he has 4 match-ups I like ( Detroit, week 9, K.c., week 10 and 14, and Oakland week 13 ) however he still has 2 games against the Chargers, 1 against the Colts, Packers Tenn. Chicago and Houston, everyone of those teams has held their opponents to under 100 yards rushing a game most under 90, trade Travis Henry before everyone else figures that out as well.

~ Lamont Jordan – I’m a big Lamont fan have been since he was backing up Curtis ( Chris Berman’s favorite ) Martin, Jordan has gotten off to a great year, it is no fluke the guy is for real, the Raiders however are not, and their schedule doesn’t get any easier, he has 4 match-ups I like and a bunch of games I expect the raiders to be out of by the start of the second quarter, meaning lots of passing not so much running, Ronald Curry will benefit greatly from this Lamont however will suffer. Good match-ups the rest of the way are Miami week 4, K.C. week 7 and 12 and Denver week 13 and week 16 against Jacksonville he is a decent play as well) However they also have San Diego, Tenn, Houston, Chicago, Minnesota, Green Bay and Indy on their schedule and I wouldn’t feel comfortable playing him any of those weeks, put him on the block now while he is still hot and get something good while you still can.

~ Steven Jackson – This is another one that depends on who has him, if you have him and can afford to wait it out do it go for it, problem is you won’t get full value for him now especially with him hurt, so theres a couple things you can do, depending on how bad you need help you can settle for your best offer now, if it’s someone I said try and get think about it strongly, probably take it, if not wait it out just a little longer. I wouldn’t play him the next 3 or 4 weeks based on match-ups and his injury but after that he has Cleveland, New Orleans, San Fran, Seattle, Atl. and Cinn. and assuming he is healthy by then he should be back to the Steven Jackson we knew from last year. His last 2 weeks are brutal match-ups no matter how much he looks like last year so maybe you wanna let him play Cleveland and the Saints work his value up and trade him for someone with better playoff match-ups.

Remember you can follow all the advice you want from where ever you want to gather it but whats good for you might not be good for everyone else, so you have to balance the needs and strengths of your team, assess where you need help the most and where you can afford to give up some talent ( if your stacked at WR and need Rb help trade one of your stud receivers or vice versa ) and always, always look at your match-ups and see what weeks you don’t like them and see what can be done about it.

NFL Week 3 In Review

First Off I fully planned on making my picks for this week on Saturday, but my Friday ended up lasting much longer than I expected and took me basically straight into Sunday, so no picks got made and I’d gladly ignore them all again next week if the same situations arise, however I’m just gonna make sure I get this stuff done during the week from now on. So on to week 3 where most things went as expected a few minor surprises and a couple teams at a surprising 3-0 and a few teams who are already dead and buried at 0-3.

~ Lets start this week off with the surprise of the league so far, the Green Bay Packers. Look I expected the Packers to be better than most did ( I had them going 9-7 ) but clearly I was wrong this team is even better than that. I knew the defense was gonna be a problem for teams I just didn’t expect Farve to go all Greg Maddux on us and learn to play QB completely different than he ever has. Thats the key to the Packers starting off so well and if he continues to play this way the Packers will be one of the best teams in the NFC. Farve has learned to look underneath and take what the defense gives him. He knows he can’t make the same throws he used to and he is adjusting accordingly, if he had done this a couple years ago no one would of ever said he should leave. Who said you can’t teach and old dog new tricks ?

~ Again San Diego, Mr A.J. Smith I have to ask, what the hell were you thinking when you decided to fire Schottenheimer (sp?) go and replace your whole coaching staff with Norv Turner leading you ? This team is loaded with talent and Rivers played a hell of a game but once again L.T. is held to only 62 yards rushing. Let me get this straight your an NFL head coach you get paid millions of dollars and you can’t figure out a way to get L.T. at least 1 100 yard game 3 games into the season. Lucky for them they got the hapless Chiefs next week, if they don’t beat them into the ground them and have L.T. run for 150 + at least 2 touchdowns the season is damn near over and Norv needs to be fired now, before this talented team gets wasted anymore.

~ Speaking of the hapless Chiefs, somehow they won a game. I must admit I was in the minority, I figured the Vikings would pull out the W with their D and Peterson running the ball, well Peterson had some success but Kelly Holcomb obviously wasn’t enough to scare anyone on K.C. and somehow the Chiefs escaped with a victory ( I also must admit this game didn’t get too much airtime on any of my TV’s yesterday and there really isn’t a whole lot to say either way, neither of these teams is gonna have a good year )

~ Buffalo got beaten down and had the QB knocked out against the Patriots, if your looking for sympathy Bills fans your looking in the wrong place. However if your looking for an the enemy of my enemy is my friend type of alliance then lets do this, somehow some way we can figure out a way to turn Tom Brady into the NFL’s very own Nancy Kerrigan. Also keep in mind the Patriots owe Mo Lewis and the Jets all there success cause if Mo didn’t knock the life out of Drew Bledsoe, Tom Brady would of never been anything more than a 6th round pick/back-up, so Bills fans maybe Trent Edwards = Tom Brady, ok ok I’m sorry that was mean. Maybe this whole friends with my enemies enemy is gonna be harder than I thought.

~ J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS. I’m convinced the only reason this game was close was cause Fireman Ed wasn’t at the game. Without him the crowd looked lost and confused as to when to start the famous JETS chant ( best in sports it’s not even up for debate ), if Fireman Ed doesn’t come back soon he better lookout and risk losing his spot to AVIATOR ANDY. Ok so it probably had more to do with the fact that we played the Dolphins, and no matter how good either team is the games are always close. This one wasn’t as close as it seemed as the Jets were in control the whole game, only briefly allowing the Dolphins to even think they had a shot, of course not being able to stop anyone from running will always keep teams in the game. Shout out to the real Jets fan in the crowd that held the sign ” REAL JETS FANS SUPPORT CHAD ” don’t think other real Jet fans didn’t notice and agree with it.

~ So just last week McNabb was getting booed like crazy by his own fans, they were all calling for his head asking for the rookie, I guess you guys either forgot or just don’t care that he has the best winning percentage of any QB this past decade I guess that didn’t mean anything, but a big win over the Lions and all of a sudden they love him again, fickle Philly fans. Last week McNabb looked like that knee was still bothering him and would continue to, well it sure didn’t hurt him yesterday at all, of course the question must be asked, how much of that was just the god awful Lions defense and them crashing back to earth after a 2-0 start.

~ San Fransisco started out 2-0 and had people going crazy and while their D has been much improved they had only played the Cardinals and Rams, they clearly weren’t ready for the Steelers. Thing is everyone is already to anoint the Steelers as the 3rd best team in the league, and while I can’t definitively say theres 3 teams better than them, I need to see them beat someone besides the Bills, Browns and 49ers before I crown they asses (c) Dennis Green

~ St. Louis Rams, where the hell do I start. How bout here their season is over, get used to it just concentrate on how to get Steven Jackson and Marc Bulger back on track fantasy wise, at least be good at something. I know missing 3 o-lineman has killed the offense and well they never had much of a defense but Bulger and SJ are my only weak spots on my squads ( have them split up though thank god ) Now the the question here is just how good and for real are the Bucs. They beat the Ram and the Saints with ease shut their offenses down, and they were 2 of the best last year, but thats just the problem that was last year neither of these teams can get anything going this year, I’d say we should find out next week against Carolina but you can never tell what your getting from them so the test will be 2 weeks when they play the Peyton Manning’s.

~ About the Ravens and Cardinals game, Matt Leinart got benched, for Kurt Warner, * stands up and applauds Jets management for recognizing this guy has waaaay too much work to do to become an NFL QB * I also didn’t watch much of this game I saw the Ravens up 20-3 and thought it was over, who’d of thunk Kurt Warner could of lead them back to make thing interesting, I’m a have to watch this game during the week when it’s replayed on the NFL network just to see how he managed it.

~ The Cleveland Browns played the Raiders yesterday, did anyone notice, does anyone care ( besides 911/barearms ) I actually watched this game for a couple reasons a) I wanted to see how Lamont Jordan would do and how his back would hold up and he did just fine nothing to crazy but still as long as his back holds up he is definitely a solid # 2 fantasy RB in most leagues b) I wanted to laugh at a friend of mine who recently traded away Reggie Bush and Santana Moss for Jamal Lewis and Derek Anderson and I must admit I did have fun doing that. One more thing shout to Lane Kiffin, you really have to love the move, last week they got hurt by a cheap but legal timeout right before a made field goal only to make them try it again and of course fail giving him his first victory as a head coach.

~ I don’t wanna talk about Travis Henry, but how about the homie Bradon Marshall. Before the season no one knew who he was, I was grabbing him in the last or second to last round of every fantasy draft I had. apparently I was the only one who realized this # 2 receiver was due for a breakout year and just a couple weeks away from being a household name ( if he is available in your leagues, and he might be in the less competitive smaller leagues go get him, NOW ) Of course I’m still talking about the losing team as the Jags won the game. They still couldn’t run the ball well every though no one else seems to have that problem against the Broncos, ( see Marshawn Lynch and Lamont Jordan) and Greg Jones just might get a chance to be the feature back in the next couple weeks since no one else can get the job done. Good news is Garrard is playing good ( 45-72 for 609 yards in 3 games ) and the defense seemed to wake up yesterday, problem is the classic were they this good or the Broncos that bad, the Broncos were 2-o but they could of just as easily been 0-2 and against 2 pretty bad teams. We find out just how bad/good the Broncos are as they play the Colts and Chargers in the next 2 weeks.

~ You got to give the Texans credit for hanging in there and making it a game, especially without Andre Johnson, I figured they didn’t have a shot with him out, turns out I was right but they still made it more interesting than I thought. Even though they put up a good fight you never really had the feeling it was possible for the Colts to lose this game, which is so often how it goes with these Colts, but soon they will play a good healthy balanced team, besides the Titans, and then lets see just how for real that Defense is.

~ Well the good news is the Bengals D gave up half the points the did last week, the bad news, so did the offense and just like last week it wasn’t enough. As much fun as I have watching such a good offense it pains me to watch such a terrible defense waste it’s offense away just like it pains me to watch Minnesota’s inept offense waste it’s great defense, and watching Seattle just isn’t close to exciting enough to make up for the lack of Defense by the Bengals.

~ Carolina looked great in week 1, had me thinking maybe they were back and playing to where they should be ( of course looking back they played the Rams and they have just looked pathetic ) then last week they came out and stunk up the joint, this week you figure they get Atlanta no problem getting back on track right ? Well yes and no, yes they won but no they didn’t win near as easy as they should have, Jake Delhomme hurt his shoulder and David Carr had to come in and close it out for the save but still the Panthers have no excuse for letting this be so close.

~ This is the reason I hate Eli Manning and most Giant fans, I had 6 different Giant fans at my house yesterday, everyone of them wanted to personally kill Eli the entire game, watching him make one dumb throw after another, somehow the Redskins revert to what I expected from them at the beginning of the year, they implode and literally hand the game to the Giants. So what happens do the Giant fans celebrate knowing the are lucky to escape with a victory and not be 0-3 ? No of course not they go on to talk about what a great game Eli had and how he has turned the team around and is gonna lead this team to the playoffs, at which point I proceed to do a face plant on the floor and wonder what game they were watching but w/e w/e w/e. They wanna give Eli all the credit, somehow they forgot that Campbell couldn’t complete a simple hand off to Portis when they were trying to run out the clock.

~ Dallas is the favorite to come out of the NFC right now point blank per-i-od (c) phonte. They were in control of the game from the very beginning and never let up. Yeah the Cowboys can still be passed on as much as anyone not named the Giants or Bengals but the offense is too good and they do at least stop the run. I expect their secondary to improve a little bit over time but this team is too good everywhere else for the rest of the conference.

~ Bears fans wake up, and get a grip on reality. You hate Grosman believe me I overstand, I supersize with you (c) dude from Idiocracy, I do but seriously what do you think can be done about it at this point ? I hate to break it to you but Brian Griese isn’t any better than Grosman. The Bears problem is even after the debacle that was last year they didn’t have a back-up plan, you can’t have a team THAT talented get wasted by having quite possibly the 2 worst QB’s in the league on your roster, you could of drafted Brady Quinn, no you take a TE, you could of made a move for Byron Leftwhich, you saw Rex fumbling snaps in pre-season right ? There were plenty of moves to be made but no they decided to stick it out with the 2 worst QB’s in the league and not even consider getting a better back up and for that you get exactly what you deserve another wasted season, hey at least the Cubs look like they will make the playoffs huh ?

My Fellow Jets Fans, Relax and Take a Deep Breath

OR

You have to feel bad for Chad, this guy has done nothing but win football games and continuously sacrifices his body to help the team and what does he get for it ? He gets booed for getting hurt because of a terrible O-line ( still think it was smart to trade Kendall for nothing and turn around and give his awful back up the raise he wanted, good move Jets ) and the crowd of course cheered when Kellen Clemens was brought into the game, if I had been at that game i would of been smacking random Jet fans for booing the one man who has been the difference between playoffs or no playoffs since he was our starting QB, luckily for Chad he came back in and immediately led the Jets to a touchdown, while limping in obvious pain. Chad has done this before time and time again and somehow he has acquired the ” soft ” label, people call him scared and weak, can’t take a beating and when i hear that it makes me wonder what Chad Pennington they are talking about and/or what games they are watching. O.k. so Chad gets hurt a lot, can’t deny that but being tough can’t stop your rotator cuff from tearing, being tough doesn’t mean your indestructible and can’t break your wrist or sprain your ankle, but being tough is playing through all those injuries. A few years ago Chad was having a great year, the Jets were cruising and looked poised to make a serious run in the playoffs, then toward the end of the season, he got sacked and pile drived on his shoulder thus tearing his rotator cuff, an injury that shuts pitches down for the entire year you think that stopped Chad ? No of course not he came back in and played out the last 4 games of the year with a badly torn rotator cuff and played fairly well. Then after the season ended they traveled to San Diego and beat the Chargers and came just 2 missed chip shots of a field goal ( I still hate you Doug Brien ) of beating the Steelers and playing in the AFC championship and Chad’s smart play and ridiculous accuracy is as big a reason as any as why they almost won. This is Chad’s 6th year as the Jets starting QB, of the past 5 years they have made the playoffs 4 times ( in the far superior AFC ) the only year they didn’t make it was the year Chad played 3 measly games. So go ahead tell me what other QB you know who could win that much, put so much on the line, work so hard and still have the fans calling for his head, ok tell me another one besides poor Donovan. ( but thats another story for another day, you Philly fans don’t deserve McNabb and certain Jets fans are making me think we don’t deserve Chad )

Now don’t get me wrong I’m not hating on Kellen Clemens I know this guy is the future of the Jets, he has a cannon for an arm and can really help the Jets by opening up the offense and making throws Chad can’t but it’s only his second year and he has one of the smartest QB’s in the league playing in front of him for him to learn from. This is a win win, assuming Chad is healthy you start the more experienced and trained QB and have him school the young’n which gives the team the best chance to win now and helps prepare Clemens for the future. Clemens looked confused and a little above his head for the first 3 quarters on Sunday, but he was going up against the best Defense in football, also he bounced back real strong with a great 4th quarter and almost stole a victory or at least overtime if a certain Jet receiver could catch the ball. ( I’m looking at you Justin McCareins. ) The kid showed flashes of brilliance and tons of potential, he showed off the strength of that arm over and over again, but there is something to be said for having the smartest guy playing QB, and right now Chad is that guy. Clemens is gonna be a great QB one day theres nothing to suggest otherwise ( this kid was thought just as highly of as, Matt Leinart and Vince Young when they were all seniors he just broke his knee mid way through the year thus making him a 2nd round pick ) but right now with the way NFL defenses and as bad the Jets O-line is you are gonna need someone with more experience to read blitzes and put his receivers in position to be open and catch the ball, all of these things Kellen can learn from watching Chad and hopefully he can incorporate those things into his game and when it is his turn he will be ready to take over the league.

What Chad lacks in arm strength he makes up for in football IQ and accuracy, throughout his career ( excluding last year, he knows he tried to force too many passes when they were behind in games ) he has always been on the bottom of the list of interceptions throw, Chad’s arm wouldn’t win you many games but they would never lose games for you and his smart decisions and accurate passes sure did win them games. I’m not one of these people who say you can’t lose your job too injury, but you need to have someone with experience and ready to perform to come and play starting QB in this league and right now Chad Pennington is still the best option the Jets have to win them games. If by week 10 you know the playoffs aren’t realistic than go ahead put him in and see what you got but they have only played 2 games ( against 2 of the best Defenses in the league ) theres still plenty of season left and if the Jets plan on doing anything especially with the weak O-line they need the smarts and accuracy of Pennington , not to mention that just cause those fans in the Medowlands for week 1 don’t grasp what Chad has done and meant to this team doesn’t mean the players have, those players rally around Chad and while they know what a cannon Clemens has they still feel more comfortable with Chad leading them, so take note my fellow Jets fans and please for the love of god don’t ever make me think we are as bad as Eagles fans.

Week 2 In Review

I’m just gonna give some quick random thoughts on this past weeks games.

~ When will the Chargers and Eagles figure out that you really do need a good solid # 1 receiver, no matter how much they hated T.O. you need someone to replace his talent.

~ The Chiefs look like they finally figured out that you need a quality receiver, and they might of found him in Dwayne Bowe, too bad they waited until the rest of the offense crumbled. Now they finally have a decent receiver and they have a horrible O-line and QB’s so no matter how good Bowe is he just won;t get enough touches to really help this team.

~ Donovan McNabb is still hurt, like REALLY hurt, and if that knee doesn’t heal miraculously fast the Eagles season is over as is Mcnabb career in Philly, to which I say good, he deserves better than Philly fans.

~ Jacksonville and Atlanta played Sunday afternoon, and there isn’t much to say, except that both these teams are supposed to be good at one thing and thats running the ball and neither of them ran anywhere, truly awful eye gouging game to watch, I feel sorry for anyone in the Jacksonville/Atlanta area who had to suffer through watching this game, if you didn’t have Direct Tv’s Sunday Ticket I bet you do now.

~ Tough to tell how prepared Buffalo was or how much of their minds were still with TE Kevin Everett, but boy did the Steelers put a hurting on those Bills this weekend. The Steelers have had 2 easy games so being 2-0 shouldn’t be a surprise but they have looked real strong. This Mike Tomlin character just might know what he is doing.

~ Almost 100 total points scored, over 1,000 total yards and the Browns won the game ? I guess the Apocalypse is coming, but don’t expect the Browns to look this good every again, and i mean EVER.

~The Giants secondary is by far the worst in football, but you should of already knew that. Ward has looked impressive filling in for Jacobs though and he has had to convince whoever will be the Giants coach, don’t be shocked to see Coughlin fired if they start out 0-4, when Jacobs gets back to at least have Ward split carries with Jacobs as he has proven himself to be effective.

~ Wow this Matt Schaub is for real huh ? Think the Falcons are still salty they made that trade, I’d say so considering they are relying on Joey Harrington and Byron Leftwhich to take over. As good as Schaub has looked, he needs Andre Johnson to stay healthy if that knee doesn’t hold up he won’t have too many places to put the ball.

~ Just last week Carolina shut St.Louis down and I wondered if Carolina could finally live up to it’s Super Bowl potential, but of course in typical Panthers fashion they turn around and get beat down by the Texans.

~ Vince Young might not be the best QB but the kid is clutch, he makes plays when they need to be made if they can give him some serious weapons in the next couple years he will be what we expected Mike Vick to be. Also the Tenn. defense has been impressive, I must admit I was dead wrong about this team they are a real solid team they might actually be the second best team in the division.

~ All off season I wondered out loud if last year was TOO perfect for the Saints and this year seems to be saying yes it was, as they are quickly crashing back down to earth and I don’t expect a quick turn around.

~ Is Tampa even a decent team or just lucky to have played the Saints yesterday, got to love week 2

~ San Fransisco is 2-0 with a really strong defense. Take away Frank Gore and the offense is non existent.

~ With 3 O-linemen already out, and Steven Jackson with nowhere to run, Marc Bulger is in danger of being permenitly planted in the turf.

~ Dallas beats Miami…..no surprises here the Fin’s are awful ( I’m a really regret saying that if they can somehow beat my Jets next week )

~ Tavaris Jackson threw 6 picks, yes in just 1 game, so you think the Vikings are still sold on him, my guess is no since Brooks Bollinger got to see some PT. Take it from someone who knows, if Brooks Bollinger has to be your QB for even part of the year, your team has no shot of doing anything but losing over and over again.

~ Even with Kitna out for part of the game the Lions didn’t miss a beat racking up all types of yards through the air, and after 2 weeks they are 2-0 only 8 wins away from Kitna’s guarantee of 10, problem is there are other teams on their schedule than the Raiders and Vikings.

~ Seattle lost to the Cardinals on a last second field goal, Leinart looked decent, even if it was against a shaky secondary, but his footwork and lack of confidence in standing in the pocket still scares me. Edge has to be loving these new coaches and revamped O-line.

~ This just in. Devin Hester is good at returning punts, do not kick to him. The Chiefs of all people should know this remember when people stopped kicking to Dante Hall, of course they do cause they started losing once people started doing that. So why did the Chiefs keep kicking to him even after he already returned on on them, and would of been 2 if not for a penalty.

~ Kellen Clemens bounced back after a real tough 3 quarters and if Justin McCareins could catch a pass they might of stole this game. Pennington deserves to keep his job as well as he has played his entire career here but this kid isn’t gonna make it easy for him to hold on to it.

~Denver wins for the second straight week on a last second field goal against 2 teams they should of easily beat, either way it counts the same and they are 2-0 but they need to fix their rush defense. The secondary might be the best in football but I could run for 100 + yards against them right now and I wasn’t no AL Bundy in high school either, no 4 touchdowns in 1 game for me, that is unless I played Denver.

~The Patriots beat up the Chargers and beat them bad. As impressive as the Pats were the real story here is what the hell happened to San Diego ? The obvious answer is Norv Turner. Listen I was all for firing Marty I get it but you can’t fire him for the one guy with a worse track record than him. Norv is a great QB coach or coordinator that is it. When you have a team as talented as this Chargers team you can’t afford to lose your head coach and both your coordinators so the players can be somewhat familiar with what they are doing and you know you will be doing the same things that worked last year. Now Norv has to figure out what works and what doesn’t all over again, a team as good as last years Chargers should never have to stop and start all over again.

NFL Week 2 Gambling Picks

( home team in CAPS )

LOCKS – Bet Big

Bengals over BROWNS + 6 1/2 pts.

Did anyone watch the Browns game last week ? I hope not for your sake, I saw it and man it was painful to watch. There is no way the Browns will be able to keep up with Palmer, Chad and Housh.

PANTHERS over Texans + 6 1/2 pts.

Last week the Panthers finally started playing like they should of been the last 2 years, what I saw from them last week has me thinking this Panthers team is for real, however they need to keep it up and stay consistent. Yeah the Texans looked good last week but that was against the Chiefs, Panthers will prove much tougher.

Saints over BUCS + 3 pts.

I’d expect the Saints to bounce back from last week’s horrific performance against anyone, but against the Bucs don’t be surprised to see them pushing 50 this week.

Cowboys over MIAMI + 3 pts.

Cowboys will have no problem running ( Miami gave up 190 + yards rushing to Washington last week ) and throwing ( you watched what they did to the Giants last week right ? ) all over the field in Miami, Miami will struggle to move the ball at all.

SOLID PICKS

Colts over TITANS + 7 pts.

The Titans looked real good last week running the ball up and down the field, I don’t expect that to change, so go ahead and play Chris Brown in your fantasy leagues this week, but all the Titans can do is run. They will not be able to stay in a shoot out with the Colts.

Vikings over LIONS – 3

Ok I realize the Lions are the home team, I saw how good the offense at times looked last week, but they almost blew it against Oakland. Minnesota defense is too good, expect a couple interceptions/fumbles from Kitna and Minnesota to run the ball all day.

BRONCOS over Oakland + 10

Normally I hate picking games with a double digit spread but the Broncos are for real and the Raiders are well the Raiders. Dre Bly and Champ Bailey shut down Lee Evans last week, they will do the same to Ronald Curry, Travis Henry, Javon Walker and Brandon Marshall should all have big games in the Broncos home opener.

BEARS over Chiefs + 12

See above. Also here the Chiefs are a mess only thing they got going for them is Grand ma-ma and you saw how the Bears shut down L.T. last week until the touchdown pass, unless L.J. is a sneaky good QB as well the Chiefs have no chance in the Bears opener, even expect Rex Grosman to have a big day, and this is the week we find out about Benson, if he can’t run the ball and put up big numbers vs. the Chiefs what good is he ?

Chargers over Patriots – 3 1/2 pts.

Everyone seems to be handing this game to the Patriots already. This doesn’t make sense too me, forget about the Patriot Games that took place last week the Chargers are by far the most talented team in the NFL and this is just the regular season so I look for them to go into New England and steal this game, now when they meet in the playoffs my money will be against Norv turner as much as it is on the Patriots.

Packers over GIANTS Pick Em’

With or without Eli this Giants team has no chance. They won’t be running the ball well and they will blitz the hell out of whatever QB is back there. Then on offense it out to be fun to watch Donald Driver and Brett Farve tear through that poor excuse of a secondary.

Eagles over Washington + 7 pts.

Washington looked alright against a bad Miami team, the Eagles looked bad against a good Packers team, look for the roles to be reversed here and the Eagles win their home opener on Monday night. This of course is all based on hoping Mcnabb is at least 80 %, we shall find out by the end of Monday night what kind of season it’s gonna be for these Eagles, if Donovan doesn’t start out strong be ready for those Philadelphia Boo’s to start pouring all over the field.

Belichek, Bill Belichek….Football’s genius James Bond

So last Sunday afternoon the Jets and the Patriots played the first game of the year and while it seemed the Patriots embarassed the Jets, it is now Bilichek who has the egg of his face. During the game a Jets official noticed a Patriots employee illegally videotaping the Jets defensive coaches and when he went to confiscate the tape a ruckus broke out. Security, NFL officials and state troopers were all on hand to try and defuse the situtaion and figure out exactly what was going on.

It is very simply and plainly laid out in the rules that teams are not allowed to videotape other teams coaches. The Patriots are well aware of this rule as this is not the first time they have been accused of this ( plenty of people have spoken up and said they felt the Patriots have done it to them in the years past, Shaun Alexander, Heins Ward, L.T., Farve, the Jets, the Lions and Vikings ) Now people think watching the signals and play calls can’t help you that much cause theres not enough time but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. What the Patriots would do is wait to they see the defensive call, then they radio the play the Jets just called to the Patriots offense which gets trasmitted straight to Brady’s headset, so if the Jets are emptying the left side with a blitz Brady has just been made aware of this so he calls a audible to counter the blitz which leads to a wide open receiver and some easy points for the Pats. Tell me thats not a gi-normous advantage of epic proportions. It’s hard enough to play defense and react while going in reverse imagine how hard it would be if the QB knows where each defender is ( realize the QB is the only one on the offense who needs to know what the D is doing to take advantage of the situation, so he calls an audible to best fit the situation. ) Anyone in here every play someone in a game of Madden and either accuse someone or be accused of peeping someones play ? How pissed do people get when they think your peeping plays in Madden and thats just a video game, imagine how hard it would be to stop in real life.

Also don’t give me any of this it doesn’t really help them that much excuse thats bull. If it didn’t help them that much why do it ? Why would someone widely regarded as the smartest mind in football risk his reputation to cheat when it doesn’t even benefit him. Again this isn’t the first time they have been called out on it before, so how many of their wins have come because of this advantage. It’s like when Sammy Sosa corked his bat, ok so he probably hasn’t been using it his whole career and you still have to make contact with the ball, not an easy thing to do, but how many of his home runs might of fallen short without a corked bat ? So your telling me that he knew people were starting to catch on to this a little bit and you think he still went through with breaking the rules ( after being called during the off season and told specifically you can not do this anymore you will be punished, this happened this past off season ) for something that doesn’t give him a competitive advantage. Why ? What can he gain from that then ? That would be like if A-rod never did steroids and waits till he breaks Barry Bond’s home run record to start taking them, then gets caught. He accomplished something amazing, naturally and fairly and then he decides to taint it all after the fact by cheating after his greatness is already cemented in history, no sorry story doesn’t check out, plus there is no way you can convince me that it’s not a huge advantage if a QB knows what the D is doing.

This is exactly how I think this situation played out. The Patriots have been doing this for some time and while I don’t think the Titles should be striped or anything crazy like that I do say they are slightly tainted, if only because the Patriots were always thought to not be the most talented or skilled team but the smartest. They didn’t beat you with their skills but their brain, and now we find out they are cheating, so how much of their success is due to the cheating ? It’s a fair question to ask no doubt and there is no way for us to know. My guess would be they didn’t use this spy moves in the Super Bowl, probably much more likely to get caught, but the moves sure help them win some games that got them there.

Now Mangini knew about this before hand, why ? Well because he was on the Patriots coaching staff he knows how Bond, I mean Belichek works. Remember what happened last year, the Patriots got beaten and beaten soundly by the Jets in their second game, next time they meet, in the playoffs, the Patriots go on to destroy the Jets, my guess is this is when Mangini said I can’t allow them to do this to my team and made up his mind that their next game he was gonna pull their card mid game, have them caught red handed for the world to see. If Mangini says anything after the game last year no one believes him he just seems like a sore loser, he waits till they get caught in the act and now they world sees the truth, a rather genius move by Mangini if you ask me.

This is way worse than steroids in my opinion, this is a coaching staff knowingly playing by their own rules and getting away with it for far too long. The ironic part is that it’s the Patriots, because of their fans. I know a bunch of them who swear A-rod is a cheater cause he screamed during a pop fly, and he tried to knock the ball out of someone glove in plain sight in front of everyone, all Red Sox fans called him a cheater but they are all defending their Patriots. As if somehow someway yelling during a pop fly is = to stealing your play calls. Rodger Goodell has taken a hard stance on getting in trouble off the field, this is way more serious this calls into question the integrity of the game, and makes you question some outcomes. Listen I will be the first to say without the cheating the Patriots probably still would of won ( can’t know that for sure though maybe Brady is just a 6th round QB who just happens to know where every defender will be at all times ) but there is no way it would of looked as bad, and if we can enforce rules in Madden to make players look away from the screen there damn sure should be enough respect honor and integrity to do the same in a real football game.

AFC Previews/Predictions

AFC EAST

1) New England Patriots – Yeah they cheated and got caught, yeah the cheating helped them I don’t care what people said, if it didn’t why would Bellicheck risk his reputation. So he is just gonna break the rules risk and get called a cheater for something that that doesn’t help him. ( more on this later ) I don’t buy it, my guess is this has been helping them for awhile but they still have way too much talent not to at least be in the conference finals, if I have to tell you why this team is good then I really have to question if you have watched any football the past 5 years or so.

Prediction – 11 -5

2) New York Jets – They looked pretty bad last week but now all things considered maybe it wasn’t so bad. With or without the cheating they still probably would of lost just not as bad. This team surprised everyone but me and them last year this year the surprise no one. They are a better team than last year but have a much harder schedule. 9 or 10 wins is the max for them this year and while I hope they can sneak into the playoffs I wouldn’t be surprised to see them be the odd man out just missing that final spot.

Prediction – 9-7 good chance at 10-6

3) Buffalo Bills – Losman needs to step it up if the Bills wanna make a move in this division. The D also lost a lot of key players in the off season and it will show all year. Lynch looked good running against Denver last week and that o-line has improved so they will put up points, especially as long as Lee Evans is there. The D will be their biggest problem and o yeah being in a division with the Patriots that always hurts.

Prediction – 7-9

4) Miami Dolphins – Poor Cam Cameron, for 2 reasons who names there kid Cam Cameron, and if only San Diego fired Marty when they should of, he would be the head coach there in San Diego instead of Norv Turner, something everyone in San Diego would of loved, but nope instead he jumped ship and is stuck in Miami with a 73 year old geriatric QB, no receivers or dangerous RB’s and aging D, passing on Brady Quinn for the next Troy Williamson, what exactly about this job made Cam think he could succeed.

Prediction – 5-11

AFC NORTH

1) Baltimore Ravens – The offense looked awful Monday night, and i don’t expect it to get that much better, they will run the ball better McGahee will be more dangerous and that Defense will stay keeping them in games no matter how many times the offense turns it over, it’s not a lock that they win the division I expect a strong fight from both the Steelers and the Bengals but this league defense is everything and they have the best.

Prediction – 11-5

2) Cincinnati Bengals – Offense is gonna be next to unstoppable. Palmer’s knee is healthy Chad says he has his ” sexy back ” and 15 more touchdown celebrations scripted, I can’t wait to see what he does when he scores twice in one game, is he gonna reach into next week’s game plan and then think of a replacement later or does he not do much, only time will tell it shouldn’t take too long. The defense is the problem here but Marvin lewis does a great job of making them force turnovers , so they will give up lots of yards but make a couple plays a game and with that offense thats all they need.

Prediction – 11-5

3) Pittsburgh Steelers – Yeah they looked great the other day but the were playing the Browns, the pee-wee flag football team down the street from me could put up a good fight against the Browns. The D will still be good but will miss Joey Porter’s play making ability, the offense looks like it will be better and open up more making them harder to stop, this of course could lead to shoot outs something the Steelers aren’t used to, I’m not sure either side is built for shoot outs, they could sneak in as the last wild card but they are just in too tough a division to be placed higher until they prove otherwise.

Prediction – 9-7

4) Cleveland Browns - why 4th you ask ? Cause they are the Cleveland Browns. Easily one of if not THE worst team in football. D is a mess offense is a joke, they just traded away their week 1 starting QB away and it’s only a matter of time to Quinn feels like he is right back at Notre Dame behind one of the worst lines in the country.

Prediction – 4 – 12….if they are lucky

AFC SOUTH

1) Indianapolis Colts – Peyton Manning, Joesph Addai, Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark …….nuff said……next.

Prediction – 12-4

2) Jacksonville Jaguars – Assuming the D doesn’t play anything like it did against the Titans, i think they just got caught still sleeping and just weren’t ready, they still aren’t ready for the playoffs but this D has too much talent to not finish second in this division.

Prediction - 9-7

3) Tennessee Titans – If Vince Young had a receiver or 2 to throw it to I would of put them second but he doesn’t. The Titans are the new Falcons they will be very effective running the ball not so much passing, time will change that Young will develop to a solid passing qb but right now he has no one to pass it too. A great o-line will create open holes to run though all day but this D lost their playmaker in Pac-man Jones so expect to see them get abused again and again.

Prediction – 8-8

4) Houston Texans – The D looks like it’s finally becoming respectable, Schaub looked good in the opener ( of course that was against the Chiefs ) Andre Johnson is as dangerous a receiver as anyone, but boy do they wish they had Reggie Bush because Ahman Green isn’t gonna cut it anymore. The team is defintely improving but it’s got too many holes still.

Prediction – 6-10

AFC WEST

1) Chargers – L.T. is on the team….that is all i need to know, but it also can;t hurt to mention, Phillip rivers gates, Vincent Jackson, and very dangerous hard hitting defense.

Prediction – 13-3

2) Denver Broncos – Finally it looks like they have their main RB. Travis Henry was built to play for the Broncos, Cutler is in his second year and will definitely show he is grasping how to be an effective pro QB. Javon Walker should have a huge year and be ready for Brandon Marshall to become a household name by years end. The real key to this team is that it has without a doubt the best corner pairing in the league, with Dre Bly on the other side of Champ Bailey teams passing attacks are gonna get shut down, losing Al Wilson will hurt them though cause if teams can’t throw it to the outside the will be running and passing over the middle all day.

Prediction – 11-5

3) Oakland Raiders – Whenever I tell someone the Raiders won’t finish last in their division people laugh at me, that is until i remind them the Chiefs are in their division and the Chiefs might just be the worst team in football. Everyone knows Oakland had a great D problem was the offense, if Culpepper is healthy this team could be really scary and shock the hell out of people, I’m just not convinced he can stay health, but if he can him and Ronald Curry will be putting up some points.

Prediction – 6-10

4) Kansas City Chiefs – Horrible o-line and that was the strength of this team just a coupe years ago. Without an o-line it doesn’t matter who your back is the won’t get anywhere. Damon Huard at QB ? no thanks and Brodie Croyle doesn’t make me anymore excited to watch a Chiefs game, not to mention they still haven;t figured out you need receivers and a good defense, so they haven’t improved anywhere in the last couple years they are just steadily getting worse.

Prediction – 4-12…also if they are lucky