Avert your eyes - I'm off to a much rockier start this season than I was a year ago in the picks. You know what they say about insanity and expecting different results, so thanks for reading anyhow. I'll try to entertain you the best I can and continue to demonstrate why gambling on wildly variant 60 minute football games is a bad thing.
Top Shelf Games: Talent-rich, highly competitive and aged in oak barrels... spiritually speaking
Dallas Cowboys at Detroit Lions (-3) - It's definitely a sub-par week in terms of high-profile games to watch, so I can't in good conscience really call this a Lady Blitz Game of the Week. Still, it has the makings of a wild shootout between two relatively good teams trying to control their divisions. This game could easily go either way, but Dallas has been really bad against the pass and, unfortunately for them, that's Detroit's bread and butter.
Miami Dolphins at New England Patriots (-6.5) - Here's another game that looked a lot more intriguing at the outset than it does now, especially since the Dolphins lost to the Bills at home right off of a bye week. Yech. Given that the Patriots are still plenty miffed about how things ended with the Jets last weekend, I suspect Miami's looking more like a punching bag this week than a contender.
New York Jets at Cincinnati Bengals (-6.5) - This is just the kind of game that the Bengals could inexplicably lose (or that the Jets will come out of nowhere to win), but Cincy has yet to lose at home this year so I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt. The defensive slog could go well into the fourth quarter though.
Washington Redskins at Denver Broncos (-12.5) - Ah, the joys of watching two high-powered offenses go at it against defenses that can't stop anything. The Colts were finally able to bring down the Broncos last week with outstanding defensive effort and steady offensive production without mistakes. It'd be more than a stretch to expect the same thing from the Redskins, but they've suddenly grown a second tier of offensive weapons that may at least make this game a 60-minute highlight reel.
Well Drink Games: They may surprise you from time to time without all the high expectations
Cleveland Browns at Kansas City Chiefs (-7.5) - You know things are dicey when you've got a long-retired Jeff Garcia offering his services in place of Brandon Weeden in Cleveland. The Chiefs are the real deal and while they haven't played any top tier opponents yet this season, they don't beat themselves against lesser competition like the Browns.
Buffalo Bills at New Orleans Saints (-12) -The Bills continue to surprise me with their "next man up" attitude under center. Former Saints OC/Bills coach Doug Marrone has done just about everything he can to set up a productive offensive system with spare parts, and he'll be motivated to pull out all the stops upon his return to the Superdome. Still, Thad Lewis is no Drew Brees and I think the Saints defense will get back on track against a less experienced QB that doesn't have a steady run game to rely on.
Pittsburgh Steelers (-2.5) at Oakland Raiders - I don't know what to do with these Steelers. They suddenly look like their stingy ground-and-pound selves again, which would normally have me picking them in a game like this. But that's just the kind of thing that I always whiff on so I've game theoried myself into thinking somehow the Raiders can do this. So for that reason, Terrelle Pryor is going to be sacked about 7 times and Charles Woodson is going to be shredded by Antonio Brown to make me look dumb.
Green Bay Packers (-9.5) at Minnesota Vikings - I wonder if NBC execs forced the Vikings to start Christian Ponder over suddenly concussed Josh Freeman this week. That substitute just made this game a bit more interesting since the Packers have had trouble stopping Ponder and Peterson in the past and won't have Clay Matthews to help out. Even so, Minnesota's defense is no match for Aaron Rodgers and if Green Bay can get out to a significant early lead, the Vikings are toast.
House Punch Games: Most likely to be lop-sided, sloppy and/or otherwise painful to digest
Carolina Panthers (-6) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Are these 2013 Buccaneers trying to repeat their ancestors' winless season of nearly 40 years ago? Mike Glennon looks like he can eke out a win somewhere on the schedule, especially seeing ex-pat Josh Freeman in all of his glory last week. But this Panthers defense is just too good for Tampa to overcome.
San Francisco 49ers (-16.5) at Jacksonville Jaguars - Poor Jaguars. The hits just keep on coming when the revitalized 49ers come to town this weekend. The question for this fantasy owner is, will Colin Kaepernick have a career day?
New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles (-6) - Despite how rough things were for the Vikings on Monday night, the Giants won't win many more games playing that way. They're just that inexplicably bad. Philly, on the other hand, gets Michael Vick back this week so unless they start Matt Barkley and attempt lots of 56-yard field goals, they won't be shooting themselves in the foot.
Atlanta Falcons at Arizona Cardinals (-2.5) - The last time the Falcons and Cardinals squared off, Matt Ryan was intercepted a whopping 5 times and still somehow managed to pull off the win. Arizona's secondary is probably more thankful to be playing Atlanta without Julio Jones and Roddy White in tow, but they'd also probably much prefer playing against Carson Palmer than Matt Ryan.
Seattle Seahawks (-10.5) at St. Louis Rams - So the Rams ended up being who I thought they would this year (mediocre) and now they've lost Sam Bradford for the season. That actually may make things easier for St. Louis to consider other options at QB at year's end, but Seattle will have no trouble with... BradyQuinnohGodno this weekend.
So How's My Pickin'?
Last Week's Record: 8 - 7
Season Record: 67 - 40
No comments:
Post a Comment