Tuesday Morning Week 5 Recap.

Week 4 Predicitions Heads up 5-9

Week 4 Predictions against the spread 5-9

Record so far 32-27

This was an absolutely putrid week for me picks wise, but hey that’s why I don’t gamble…………………as much as I used to. A week of ginormous upsets this week, Oakland ending a 7 year skid of not being able to beat the bolts and the Cards beating the champs with an undrafted rookie. Brett Favre puts together some second half magic with 3 touchdowns that reminds us he’s still Brett Favre, and then throws a pick 6 to lose the game which reminds us he’s still Brett Favre. The Falcons have begun to emerge as the favorites of the NFC, their only loss being a very close 15-9 game against a Steelers defense we didn’t know was that good at the time. They probably should have lost to Frisco had Nate Clements not fumbled away a game sealing int, but as the saying goes “good teams find a way to win games” and they have. But enough about the Dirty Birds let’s get into the quick hits

Oakland finally scratches their 7 year itch.

The Raiders had lost 13 consecutive games to the Chargers. Some were deceptively close and some were absolute spankings but one thing remained clear throughout, Oakland would always find a way to lose. No matter how good they looked, or how close it seemed they would lose, the Chargers counted on it, and at times it seemed like the Raiders expected it. This Sunday seemed like the perfect recipe. Let me give you a little peek into my Sunday watching the game. There’s 12:04 left in the 4^th quarter my brother calls me because he’s at a birthday party and can’t watch the game so I’m doing color commentary for him. “The Chargers just kicked a field goal, now they’re up 5 with 12 to go, and I’ll tell you what’s gonna happen, we’re going to go down the field and score and we’re going to lose the game on a last second field goal or touchdown mark it down” I’ve hit the point as a Raider fan where I always expect the worst, I’m sure most of us know the feeling. Where your team disappoints you so often that you almost don’t get upset anymore, because you know it’s coming. That’s where I was (and still am) with the Raiders. So when Jason Campbell drove them down 73 yards to score the go ahead touchdown I wasn’t the least bit surprised. This is what I thought would happen. Phillip Rivers still had enough time to go down the field on a defense that hadn’t stopped him all day and would win the game.  San Diego drives 14 yards, 13 yards, 5, 6, and then a 11 yard pass interference call put them in field goal range. At this point I told my brother the game was over they were in field goal range. He hung up. So they run at the 24, and get a holding penalty. Now they’re at the edge of field goal range so they’ll probably pass the ball. More yards for Rivers I thought.  On this final drive the Raiders had finally thrown away their vanilla bump and run 4 man rush and began blitzing. It hadn’t worked. They got pressure but Rivers got the ball away in the nick of time. They didn’t stop, they kept bringing the house and on first down they pressured him into an incompletion. Then it happened. Second down they bring the house again and this time Michael huff gets a hand on Phillip. *Quick side note here. That looked like a forward pass to me, his hand seemed to be moving forward with the ball, but it was so close and the refs didn’t want to stop play while under two minutes so they let it go. Essentially meaning they had to have overwhelming evidence to overturn their ruling on the field which they didn’t have. *End side note. Tyvon Branch picks up the ball and jets down the side line. Touchdown Raiders. Tyvon Branch breaks into a stirring rendition of “cooking” which would make any Bay Area native proud. End Scene.

All praise be to the cooking ability of Tyvon Branch

 I frantically call my brother back 4 times before he answers the phone. After explaining what happened the only thing he wants to know is if we’ve kicked the extra point to go up 8. Even after a play like that as a Raider fan you don’t celebrate because you know they could still give it away. I have to say I’m still a bit stunned.  It had classic Raider loss written all over it, Raiders manage to get several insane breaks early, back to back blocked punts, and 2 red zone turnovers but don’t really capitalize only leading by 12. San Diego finally gets itself going and goes up and down the field to the tune of 500 yards. Phillip Rivers has the ball in the final minutes but it wasn’t meant to be this time. Maybe the Raiders will string together some wins this year, maybe the Chargers are just an inconsistent team with a lot of talent, I honestly can’t tell you I’m just happy to finally scratch this itch.

Brett Favre can throw the ball when things aren’t going well.

Peter King put up an interesting table in his Monday Morning QB article today. Below is neat little chart of Brett Favre’s two most “emotionally draining” games. One being a Monday night thrashing of my aforementioned Oakland Raiders after his father had died the previous day, and the other being his return to Green Bay in the Purple Horns after 15 years of cheese head service.  

Looking at the numbers it seems that the old dude absolutely balls out when things in his life might seem to be a bit too much, and tonight seemed like a night like that. So of course he ends up with 264 and 3 touchdowns except he got all 3 touchdowns and 230 yards of it in the second half. After throwing an absolute rainbow that dropped perfectly over Randy Mosses shoulder he gets two more to Percy Harvin who had an absolute monster of a game: 97 yards receiving, 2 catches for touchdowns, and 175 yards in the return game. However he caps it all off not with a 2 minute touchdown drive to win the game, but a last minute pick 6 to seal the Vikings fate. However this is probably the most encouraging Vikings game I’ve seen all year, that second half offense looked absolutely dynamic and this was a against a solid albeit not great Jets defense. You add healthy Sydney Rice to that offense in 3 or 4 weeks and they seem absolutely scary, the Vikings could end up being a wild card team nobody wants to see.

The San Francisco 49’ers are snake bitten

Fun Fact. Mike Singletary hates Alex Smith more than you

It seems it’s impossible for the 49’ers to win a game. I said last week this was my last time picking them if they didn’t win and they lost so just know I’m picking the Raiders in the battle of the bay, and just know that means the niner’s will probably get their first win next week.  Looking at their game against the Eagles there are a lot of things to take from it. Alex Smith is the classic QB who will tantalize you with a few moments of talent but isn’t good enough to actually get you anywhere, and at this point doesn’t seem like he can win you a game. I mean you know things are bad when people are chanting for DAVID CARR?? Seriously David Carr? Don’t you know who that guy is? The 49’ers could only make themselves worse at the QB position if they added Jamarcus Russell, then they could have the trifecta of recent #1 overall QB busts. Frank Gore ran tentatively the entire game, there were very few holes for him to hit even if he had ran hard, but his constant tiptoeing and slipping didn’t help their offense any. Michael Crabtree and Vernon Davis looked like a legit top tier one two punch at WR and TE. They both have excellent hands and seem tough enough to take a big hit and hold onto the ball. Plus if they can look this good with Alex Smith throwing them the ball they must be legit.  I don’t want to just pile on Alex Smith here because he was so close to actually redeeming himself in the 4^th quarter after leading two touchdowns drives and was on his way towards the winning one. However he did what he always seems to do and that’s make a mistake at the most critical point in the game. This time throwing a deep interception after being hit on 3^rd and 10 for his 3^rd turnover of the game. That combined with the fact one of those turnovers was an atrocious fumble that gave the Eagles 7 points ultimately paints him as the scapegoat for this game. Sadly I don’t think the 49’ers have anyone better to turn to. I guess they’re just looking forward to……Andrew Luck or Jake Locker in next year’s draft?? Yikes looks like they’ll get their 3 #1 QB busts after all.