Saturday Night Week 13 Preview

New Orleans @ Cincinnati

New Orleans – 7

Early in the year I wasn’t a believer in the Saints, I saw the way their offense looked and I saw the points they put up and they didn’t have any resemblance to the Super Bowl champs of last year. However the Saints have put up 30 points or more in their past 3 games during a 4 game winning streak. The Bengals on the other hand extended their losing steak to 8 games with a loss to the Jets. They always seem to be competitive in games before things eventually fall apart for them. I think they fall apart again as the Saints continue their streak of 30+ point games. 

Saints 34

Bengals 24

Chicago @ Detroit

Chicago – 5

I told you last week that I was a believer in Chicago so I’m going with them in this game over the Lions. Detroit has nothing to play for except spoiler while the Bears are coming off probably their biggest win of the season beating a tough Eagles team at home.  Wait a second…….who does Chicago play next week? Oh will you look at that they play the Patriots next week, this has the classic makings of a trap game, so I’ll just say this Chicago will probably win this game but they’ll have to play all 60 minutes to do so.

Chicago 24

Detroit 23

San Francisco @ Green Bay

Green Bay – 9.5

Green Bay seems to be a one man team at this point with their only reliable source of any offense being Aaron Rodgers. Luckily for them that one man is good enough to beat the 49’ers while they’re at home. They had better use this game to find some other people to get Rodgers some help on offense or they might not make it into the playoffs.

Packers 27

49’ers 20

Denver @ Kansas City

Kansas City – 10

Kansas City showed they were legit by going on the road in one of the toughest environments in the NFL and absolutely handing it to the Seahawks. The Broncos showed who they were by losing at home to St. Louis in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score would have you believe. Chiefs in a big way.

Chiefs 31

Broncos 17

Cleveland @ Miami

Miami – 5

Note enough money on earth for me to block this guy

Miami was finally able to run the football for one last week as they ran over the Raiders to the tune of almost 200 total rushing yards with their combo of Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams. The question is whether that was a one week aberration or a sign of things to come as they close out the season. Cleveland's rush defense is ranked 20th in the league so they're nothing to write home about however I think a guy like Shaun Rogers can make all the difference to a team that isn't a equipped to handle him and the Dolphins lack the size up front to handle him. Combine that with another installment of the Peyton Hillis show and I think the Browns go into Miami and pretty much end the Dolphins season.

Browns 19

Dolphins 17

Buffalo @ Minnesota

Minnesota – 5

With Adrian Peterson being a game time decision this game comes to down to whether you trust Brett Favre with possibly no Adrian Peterson or Percy Harvin to be able to beat the Bills at home. My answer: Just barely.

Vikings 27

Bills 24

Washington @ N.Y. Giants

New York – 7.5

New York beat a tough Jags team at home in a thriller last week now they play one of those games they can’t afford to lose if they want to make it into the playoffs. The Redskins are a team who has beaten a few listless opponents and not much else but division games can bring out the best in NFC east teams.  However I doubt it'll bring out enough to beat a Giants team fighting for their playoff lives.

Giant 17

Redskins 9

Jacksonville @ Tennessee

Tennessee – 3.5

Farewell Rusty Smith we hardly knew ye

Sadly it seems as though the Rusty Smith era has come to an end in Tennessee after a 20-0 drubbing at the hands of the Texans. The Titans couldn’t have played much worse than they did last week however Jacksonville is trying to hold off both them and the Colts for the lead in the AFC South. The Jags will be without Mike Sims Walker however the Titans will be without both Randy Moss and Kenny Britt. Oh what’s that you say?? Randy Moss has been active the past few weeks. Ouch. Jacksonville extends their division lead

Jaguars 17

Titans 13

Oakland @ San Diego

San Diego – 13.5

Oakland headed into the bye week with all the hope and go fortune they could have asked for and since then things have been pretty much all downhill. The Chargers like usual are performing their normal November December undefeated streak. The Raiders were barely able to beat the Chargers at home when they were spotted a 12 point lead by the Chargers dreadful special teams and then needed a questionable fumble call to snatch victory from the clutches of defeat. I don’t see any miracle around the corner for the Raiders this week.

Chargers 31

Raiders 17

Atlanta @ Tampa Bay

Atlanta – 3

The Bucs almost put a kink into my declaration of them as a team that can only beat the teams they’re supposed to beat and no one else, but this week I’m going to do it myself. The Bucs are going to beat the Falcons this Sunday and I’ll tell you why. The Falcons are a mediocre road team at best and all of their home wins against good teams have had a very questionable tinge to them. On top of that you look at how closely the Bucs played them last time and they were literally a goal line stand away from beating the Falcons at home where they seem to be unbeatable. Well the Falcons aren’t unbeatable on the road and the Bucs will show it this week.

Bucs 23

Falcons 20

St. Louis @ Arizona

St. Louis – 3.5

The Rams got their first road win in over a year last week in Denver and they’re looking to follow it up with another road win this week except this time against a divisional opponent. Sam Bradford and crew are currently tied for first place in the division and will need all the division wins they can get in order to hold off the Seahawks. Arizona on the other hand just got blasted by the Chiefs and had their greatest press conference debacle since the Denny Green tirade so that leads me to pick the Rams in this one.

Rams 24

Cardinals 20

Dallas @ Indianapolis

Indianapolis – 5.5

I wrote last week about whether this is the end of the Colts as we know them. They’ve had a run that probably won’t ever be equaled in the salary cap era of football; they’ve been in the playoffs for 10 of the 13 years they’ve had Peyton Manning at QB including this year. So it could end up being 11 for 13 at the end of this year. However this game is pretty much  a must win for the Colts, they’re tied with the Jaguars for the division lead and with the top two teams in both the AFC North and East having better records than the Colts they’ll only make it in as a division winner. I don’t know whether they’ll do that but I think they’ll beat a rejuvenated Cowboys team who won’t be catching a team by surprise on the road like they did the Giants in their first week with Jason Garrett.

Colts 31

Cowboys 24

Carolina @ Seattle

Seattle –4.5

In a battle that nobody outside of Seattle and Panther fans care about the Seahawks will keep their post season hopes alive by beating the worst team in the league at home.

Seahawks 23

Panthers 13

Pittsburgh @ Baltimore

Baltimore – 3

My real reason for picking the Ravens

In what should hopefully be a Sunday night epic the Steelers go on the road to face a team they’ve already lost to at home this season.  However that Steelers team the Ravens faced in week 4 was without Ben Roethlisberger but the Ravens were without Ed Reed and while these aren’t equal they’re both incredibly important changes to both teams. Both of these players are banged up coming into this game but both will undoubtedly play as the games between these two teams always seem to come down to the wire either late in the 4^th quarter or overtime. I think Baltimore makes it 2-0 and makes their claim to a top seed in the AFC playoff bracket.

Ravens 20

Steelers 17

NY Jets @ New England

New England – 3.5

In the game of the week the Pats and Jets face off for the crown of best team in the AFC East and the AFC as a whole. Rex Ryan added a little fire to the flames with some jabs at Tom Brady in his press conference this week and we all know how much the Pats love to take that bulletin board material and make examples out of people. Rex Ryan is 2-1 in his short Jets head coaching career against the Patriots but the Jets lost a key piece to their defense in practice this week in Jim Leonhard who was one of their starting safety and more importantly the signal caller for their back 7. They will replace Leonhard with Eric Smith who is a solid player but lacks the range of Leonhard and also the ability to return punts where he was solid and somewhat explosive with 4 returns for over 20 yards. Tom Brady hasn’t thrown an interception in 6 weeks and last week against the Lions he put up 341 yards and 4 touchdowns. The best possible news he could get is that the signal caller of the Jets defense will be out of this game and the rest of the year.

Patriots 27

Jets 20

Just when you thought it was safe: Week 12 Preview

I'm truly a mad man, two articles in one day. Enjoy the Sunday picks on Saturday night, or read them and laugh as my predictions fail miserably during Sunday's game. Either way enjoy.

Green Bay @ Atlanta

Atlanta – 2

Expect some of this on Sunday

This game is a battle between the top of the 2^nd tier QB’s. Aaron Rodgers and Matt Ryan are trying to step up into the top tier of NFL quarterbacks, but for them to do that they’ll not only have to generate success during the NFL season but get their first post season wins. However this isn’t the post season, its week 12 and both of these teams are still fighting for playoff positioning in an incredibly competitive NFC. The Packers are trying to establish themselves as a team to be reckoned with and a win against a Falcons team who’s undefeated at the Georgia Dome would do it. Looking at this game and as well as the Falcons have played at home I honestly can’t give a reason why they’d lose this game. The thing is Aaron Rodgers finally slayed the Brett Favre Dragon last week in a coach killing season crushing 31-3 beat down, and I think a win like that could catapult Aaron Rodgers into the stratosphere and I think he wins here on his accent into the Brady, Manning, Vick tier.

Packers 31

Falcons 27

Pittsburgh @ Buffalo

Pittsburgh – 6

Pittsburgh did what an elite team is supposed to do and that’s handle business at home as they absolutely blasted what I thought would be a game Oakland team. Now they face Buffalo this week before a huge AFC North showdown on the road against the Ravens next week. This has the feeling of a classic trap game, a good team goes on the road against a team that isn’t very good but can take advantage of the good team’s weakness while the good team is looking ahead to a big game it has the next week. I think the Steelers are good, but I don’t think they’re good enough to avoid getting caught looking ahead to the Ravens especially while facing a very solid passing game lead by Ryan Fitzpatrick and Steve Johnson. I think the Steelers win, by on a last second field goal by their recently signed kicker.

Steelers 23

Buffalo 20

Carolina @ Cleveland

Cleveland – 9.5

He's like an even worse Carson Palmer

The fact that the spread is this high leads me to believe I’ve been given some bad information. The depth chart I’m looking at shows that Jake Delhomme is going to start this game, and that guy is terrible. He’s like Carson Palmer without any of the talent that Carson Palmer still has. He’s almost bad enough to make me pick the Panthers except the Browns still have Peyton Hillis and that guy is an absolute stud. So hopefully they can just hand the ball off to him 30 or 40 times to avoid the eventual Jake Delhomme interception onslaught. Browns in an ugly one.

Browns 17

Panthers 10

Tennessee @ Houston

Texans – 6

The Titans seem to be absolutely falling apart at the seams. Vince Young is going on injured reserve and more than likely has played his last game as a Tennessee Titan. Randy Moss is an absolute cadaver on the field and he has 1 catch in two games as a Titan and 2 catches over his last 3 games.  With all of that happening I still had to think a good bit about who to pick in this game because the Texans pass defense is just so unbelievably bad that I could be tempted to pick Rusty Smith against them. However I can’t despite how bad they’ve been and the back to back heartbreaking losses they’ve suffered I have to think the Texans will score too much for Rusty Smith to keep up.

Texans 24

Titans 17

Jacksonville @ NY Giants

NY Giants – 7

Earlier in the year I had the feeling that the Giants were an elite team and now they sit here at 6-4 and looking at the teams they’ve beaten I don’t know if you can count an elite team among them. The closet to an elite team they’ve beaten is a 7-3 Bears team and despite that record I still just can’t quite believe in that team. The Jaguars are a lot more comparable to the Giants than would appear, and at least they have a victory against an elite team beating the Colts at home in week 4. The question it all comes down to is which David Garrard shows up. He’s been absolutely lights out in victories and not even an NFL quality quarterback in their losses. I think Mike Sims Walker comes back and David Garrard has another outstanding performance.

Jaguars 27

Giants 24

Minnesota @ Washington

Minnesota -1

The first game of the Leslie Frazier era and after watching the Cowboys come out and play hard for Jason Garrett these past few weeks I can’t help but expect the same from the Vikings especially since most of their players apparently like Frazier. I still don’t like much of what you get from the Redskins; their win over a listless Tennessee team didn't really tell me anything I didn’t know about them, they can beat teams that are in even more disarray than them. I think the firing of Childress took some of the madness out of the Minnesota locker room and hopefully they can translate that to a solid performance on the field.

Minnesota 24

Washington 20

Miami @ Oakland

Oakland – 2.5

Oakland got absolutely hammered last week in Pittsburgh and after it Tom Cable confirmed that the QB for the Miami game would be Jason Campbell. Now for the past few days all the news has been that Bruce Gradkowski will actually be the starter. It seems like the move a desperate team and that’s never a good sign. However as desperate as that move appears you would think the Dolphins would have to be even more desperate after that Thursday night disaster of a shut out at home against the Bears. I hope they try to at least run the football this week because if their game plan is to put it in the hands of Tyler Thigpen they can expect another loss, I sure do.

Raiders 17

Dolphins 10

Kansas City @ Seattle

Kansas City –2.5

Matt Hassleback as Brad Childress in Mustache: The Brad Childress Story

Seattle is the only team in the NFC West that’s at least at .500 and they play the AFC West leading Chiefs who just pasted the Cardinals at home. However this game is on the road and that’s where the Chiefs have struggled this year they've only managed to go 1-5 on the road with their only win coming against the Browns. Seattle on the other hand is 4-1 at home with their only loss being an absolute blow out to the Giants when they started Charlie Whitehurst. I think as long as they start the Bald Bomber known as Matt Hasselback the Seahawks will have a chance at Qwest field, I don’t know what it is but almost everyone struggles when they play there. Count the Chiefs in that category.

Seahawks 20

Chiefs 14

Tampa Bay @ Baltimore

Baltimore – 8

As said on a previous installment of Screen and Roll Out the Buccaneers are a team that beats the teams they’re supposed to beat and no one else. Well they’re not supposed to beat the Ravens.

Ravens 31

Bucs 24

Philadelphia @ Chicago

Philadelphia – 3

I’m sorry but week after week Chicago wins but I still feel the same way about them. I just can’t trust a team lead by Jay Cutler to be a legitimate threat for anything. If the Bears make the playoffs I can easily see Jay Cutler putting up a Jake Delhomme type 4 interception game in wild card weekend to the dismay of all the Chicago fans. The Chicago defense has been carrying this team all year, but I don’t think they’re good enough to carry them through the playoffs, however if they were able to shut down this Eagles attack I suppose I’d have to change my tune. I don’t count on having to do that though.

Eagles 23

Bears 13

St. Louis @ Denver

Denver - 4

"Josh this is why I cut my sleeves, so people know i don't have anything up them"

I think Denver coach Josh McDaniel just put the last nail in his coffin with his transfer of the New England spy gate methods over to Denver. After getting blown out last week the last thing Denver needed was some news like this. St. Louis is fighting for their playoff lives and they desperately need a road win to keep themselves afloat in the mediocre NFC West. I think they beat a Broncos team I think will quit on their lame duck coach pretty soon if not this week.

Rams 17

Broncos 16

San Diego @ Indianapolis

Indianapolis – 3

A great Sunday night game between the Colts and Chargers and with the Chargers on a roll and the Colts coming in struggling with not only injuries but with their play in general this seems like another win as the Chargers charge into the playoffs. Then you look on the sideline and Peyton Manning is still there and he’s still great and it’s going to be at night so it would violate a rule that I stole from Bill Simmons. Never bet against Peyton Manning at night. As much as I’d like to break that rule I just can’t do it, I don’t think Peyton is going to have back to back bad games no matter who he’s throwing to. After that 3 interception travesty last week he’ll rebound against a team that for the most part has owned him throughout his career.

Colts 31

Chargers 27

San Francisco @ Arizona

Pick em

In one of the worst Monday night games we’ve had in a while it’s a battle to decide which NFC West team’s playoff hope’s remain on life support. If either of these teams makes it into the playoffs they’ll be a one and done and it won’t even be a competitive one, but hey ya never know what could happen right?  After running off two straight under Troy Smith the niners were brought back down to earth hard by the Bucs last week, but somehow at 3-7 they’re still alive in their division race.  The Cardinals have lost 5 straight after a 3-2 start. The winner of this game will be the team that makes fewer mistakes and while both have terrible turnover ratios the 49’ers have been better about in the past few games

49’ers 17

Cardinals 13

week 11 preview: Saturday Night Fever

There's been a lot going on with Screen and Roll Out in the past week or so. We're back working full time so the posts will be just as frequent but not quite as timely. As such I couldn't update before that dreadful Thursday night game but I don't think I missed all that much. However Look out for a NBA commentary in the season after the 1st month or so which should be happening the next week. Now with that bit of book keeping out of the way lets get into the Week 11 picks. 

Baltimore @ Carolina

Baltimore -10.5

The early games this week aren't very inspiring to say the least. Baltimore @ Carolina should be an easy bounce back game for Baltimore after their disappointing loss to the Falcons last week. Carolina just got waxed by the Bucs and things don’t get any easier against this Ravens team. It looks like another loss in what will probably be John Fox’s last year in Carolina.

Ravens 27

Carolina 10

Buffalo @ Cincinnati

Cincinnati -6

I doubt they're still this happy

A game between two teams whose season’s are already over. Buffalo can try to hang their hat on the fact they’ve been a competitive team but at the end of the day they’re still 1-8 with 1 win over the Lions. The Bengals came into this year with high expectations after the playoffs last year and seemingly improving in the offseason. All those expectations have come crashing down with 6 consecutive losses after a 2-1 start to the season. At this point I can see this Cincinnati team beginning to implode especially with the personalities of Ocho and T.O. in the fold. Carson Palmer continues his spiral to irrelevance with a loss to the Bills at home.

Buffalo 17

Cincinnati 13

Detroit @ Dallas

Dallas -6.5

*Gasp* Could the Dallas Cowboys not be the worst team in the NFL anymore? After finally showing signs of life after ditching Wade Phillips with a win over the Giants on the road they might have finally escaped NFL purgatory. In their place might be the Detroit Lions, they seemed to be finally putting it together with young emerging pieces on both offense and defense however with the reinjury of Matthew Stafford their franchise QB seems to be of the glass variety. Not only is this his 3^rd major injury in two NFL seasons it’s his second separation of his shoulder which seems like a bad omen for the future especially at the QB position. I think both back up QB’s are mediocre guys surrounded by a solid nucleus of talent however I like the Dallas defense I saw last week against the Giants; since they were actually there against the Giants for the first time in weeks.

Dallas 24

Detroit 20

Cleveland @ Jacksonville

Jacksonville -1.5

The battle of the two surprisingly competitive teams, every year it seems Jacksonville ends up being 9-7 10-6ish and makes it into the playoffs to everyone’s chagrin. They’re a team that nobody really wants to watch yet they manage to be competitive more often than not.  Quick question, who has the second highest QB rating in the NFL? That’s right David Garrard. On the other side of the field you have Colt McCoy who is 2-2 as a starter with his only losses being to the Jets and the Steelers. He’s definitely more of a legit NFL quarterback than I thought he would be, but despite those two wins his game hasn’t traveled all that well.

Jaguars 17

Browns 13

Arizona @ Kansas City

Kansas City -8

Todd Haley might still be a little steamed about the blowout loss last week to the Broncos but he has to move on in a hurry because the Chiefs can’t afford to lose a game like this in a tight division race. This is a Haley’s first game against his previous team the Cardinals since he’s became a head coach. However this Cardinals team is without Kurt Warner or Matt Leinhart instead being lead by Derek Anderson. Arizona got handled fairly easily at home last week against the Seahawks, but I think they match up much better with the Chiefs than they did the Seahawks. The problem is the Cardinals passing game isn’t quite good enough to expose the Chiefs, especially on the road.

Chiefs 24

Cardinals 17

Green Bay @ Minnesota

Green Bay -3.5

This is what ESPN does to you when you're 3-6

Perhaps the final meeting between Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers, sadly it won’t be the big game we expected prior to the season as the Vikings are pretty much out of the playoff race at this point with a 3-6 record. The Packers had their bye last week and come into this game needing a win to keep pace with the still surprising Bears who pushed themselves to 7-3 with a win in an absolutely terrible Thursday night football game. I see Aaron Rodgers going 2-0 against Favre this year and officially putting the stake through the heart of the Vikings season and hopefully the tenure of Brad Childress.

Green Bay 23

Vikings 17

Houston @ NY Jets

NY Jets -7

Houston can’t stop anybody through the air; they're the worst pass defense in the NFL by almost 20 yards giving up over 300 per game. Combine that with a Jets defense that hasn’t given up more than 23 points all season and I don’t think Houston will be able to keep up with the amount of points their defense will give up. I think this is the week that Shonn Green overtakes L.T. as their starting running back and Dustin Keller gets back into his early season form.

Jets 27

Texans 17

Oakland @ Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh -7

The Raiders are 4-1 in their past 5 games shaking off a 2-4 start to their year to get to 5-4 and into first place in the AFC West with the Chiefs loss last week. However in order to maintain that first place spot their going to have to win some tough games in their last 6 with games against the Steelers, Colts, and Chargers still remaining. The Steelers were seemingly exposed last week by the Patriots as a team that’s extremely vulnerable to the short passing game, and as a team whose offensive line is in shambles. While the Raiders lack the personnel to attack with the short passing game, their defense is 2^nd in the league in sacks which should bode well for them against a banged up Steelers O-line. Where this game will be decided is in the secondary of both teams, if Oakland can slow down the Pittsburgh passing attack with their pass rush and back 7 they’ll have a chance on the road, but if Mike Wallace gets behind them the Steelers will pull out a close one. Right now the Raiders give up the second fewest passing yards per game, and the second lowest completion percentage and I don’t see Big Ben getting enough time to get the deep ball off in this one. Raiders win a close one.

Raiders 17

Steelers 13

Washington @ Tennessee

Tennessee -7

After the debacle that was the Monday night game for Washington I don’t know what to say about this Redskins team. I do know what to say about Randy Moss however, I think he’s done. After watching him play Miami at half speed pretty much the entire way I think he’s finally decided to stop playing hard period. Even with no Laron Landry I still don’t think he makes the big plays we used to expect from him. Tennessee will win this game but it will be on the legs of Chris Johnson and by the other players in the passing game who get more room because of the space Randy Moss opens up.

Titans 20

Redskins 17

Seattle @ New Orleans

New Orleans -12

"Don't worry Reggie your game checks will be even bigger in the pros"

Seattle finally got back on the winning track after consecutive blow out losses handing the Cardinals a rare home loss. Matt Hasselbeck and Mike Williams are probably the best QB/WR tandem in the NFC West which says a lot about the state of the NFC West but also a lot about how far Mike Williams has come. However they still haven’t come far enough to beat the Saints at home coming off a bye week. Especially when they’ll get back arguably their second most important offensive player back this week in Reggie Bush.

Saints 27

Seahawks 17

Tampa Bay @ San Francisco

Tampa Bay -3.5

Troy Smith has reinvigorated the 49’ers offense with his ability to throw the deep ball combined with his general competence at the position. The 49’ers have put together back to back wins and if they were to win this week they’d be seemingly back in the NFC West race. Josh Freeman doesn't think thats going to happen. Tampa Bay is the classic team who beats the teams you expect them to beat and pretty much no one else, and at this point in the season I expect them to beat the 49'ers and I don't think they'll disappoint. 

Bucs 13

49'ers 10

Atlanta @ St. Louis

Atlanta -3.5

After a sterling performance on Thursday night against the Ravens at home the dirty birds hit the road to face the Rams. The Rams lost a disappointing game to the 49’ers in overtime but would be right back at .500 if they were to beat this Falcons team. Unfortunately for them it’s not going to happen, even though the Falcons are a better home team than road team, they’re only road losses were to the Eagles and the Steelers. The Falcons have been on fire offensively having scored over 30 points in their past 3 games, I think that streak ends but I think they keep on winning. 

Falcons 20

Rams 13

Indianapolis @ New England

New England -3.5

Outside of Michael Vick there aren’t any QB’s I love watching more than Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. Both of these guys are absolute masters of the craft and orchestrate their offense no matter who they have lining up next to them. Tom Brady took Jabar Gaffney and a number of castoffs to the AFC Championship a few years back while Peyton is turning Jacob Tamme and Mike Hart into household names this year. These guys show you how important the position of QB is in football, if you  have a great QB you can piecemeal a lot of other things around them and still be a good team. However I think that’s exactly the problem for the Colts, they’re just a good team. They’re too banged up on offense and their defense has a lot of trouble stopping any real potent scoring threat. I think Tom Brady puts a stop to the recent trend of Peyton dominating this matchup. Also as jacked up as Brady seemed last week I can’t imagine him being any less amped for this game.

Pats 31

Colts 27

NY Giants @ Philadelphia

Philadelphia -3

The Sunday Night platter this weekend is absolutely fantastic with this NFC East showdown between the Philadelphia Vicks and the Giants. Michael Vick put up the performance of a lifetime last week while the Giants had a performance I’m sure they’d rather forget against the Cowboys. I honestly don’t know who’s going to stop Michael Vick at this point, part of me thinks he has to come up short sometime but I don’t think it will be this week at home against a Giants defense that was exposed by Jon Kitna. The Michael Vick experience continues its rapid ascension towards the MVP summit.

Eagles 27

Giants 20

Denver @ San Diego

San Diego -10

Denver not only upset Kansas City on Sunday they Oakland Raider’d them going off for some 49 points getting redemption on the wrong team for their home blow out a few weeks ago. They also created a little more AFC West rivalry with the Chiefs by not easing up at all in the 4^th and being a little too jovial on the sidelines for the taste of Todd Haley. San Diego seems to be doing what they do every year have everyone write them off before they get on a 6 or 7 game winning streak that puts them right back in the playoffs and right back on everyone’s list of teams they don’t want to play. I hate to say it but I see it happening again this year. In a QB dual between Phillip Rivers and Kyle Orton I take Phillip Rivers and I don’t even think about it.

Chargers 31

Broncos 24

Week 10 preview. Thursday Edition

The Weekly previews are going to be coming out a little earlier now because of Thursday night football. So enjoy a little weekly preview action Thursday as opposed to our normal Friday affair. 

Baltimore @ Atlanta

Pick EM

How this game goes to me depends on the health of Roddy White, it comes out this morning that he’ll probably play but how well he plays will determine how the Falcons do. Without him putting forth something comparable to his normal effort I don’t see how the Falcons can beat a really balanced Ravens team, however with him putting up his regular Roddy White numbers I think Matt Ryan extends his ridiculous home record to 18-1. Roddy White could either have a soft tissue bruise or a bone bruise, a bone bruise obviously being the more serious of the two, I honestly just don’t like betting on guys with knee injuries who aren’t Kobe Bryant so I’ve got the Ravens going into the Georgia Dome and heating up Matty Ice.

Ravens 24

Falcons 20

Detroit @ Buffalo

Buffalo -3

A battle of two teams that don’t quite know how to win yet. The Bills were up by 5 in the 4^th quarter before eventually giving the game away because of their inability to hold on to the ball. The Lions loss was even more inexcusable as they were up by 10 on the Jets in the 4^th quarter with a few minutes left. They had a 3^rd down with the Jets having no timeouts and instead of running the ball and taking 40+ seconds off the clock they pass and get an incompletion. This would be partially excusable if their franchise Matthew Stafford was in the game, because you want to show confidence in your young players, however he wasn’t. Decisions like that make me think the Bills will finally get off the schnide this week even with no Stafford.

Bills 23

Lions 19

Minnesota @ Chicago

Minnesota -1

Has Brett Favre finally turned the corner? Did anybody expect 446 yards to be his career high? That completely blew me away, as long and storied as Favre’s career has been I would have expected him to have thrown for 500 yards at least a few times but apparently he’s never even crossed the 450 mark.  The Bears barely beat the Bills with Jay Cutler throwing no interceptions and the Bills turning the ball over 3 times. I have to say they can’t count on luck so good against a Vikings team still fighting for a playoff wildcard berth. Brett Favre strings two wins together for the first time this year.

Vikings 27

Bears 17

NY Jets @ Cleveland

Jets - 3

Fun Fact. Rex Ryan has multiple wigs always at the ready

 In his press conference this week Rex Ryan put on a blonde wig and put a pillow under his shirt to become his brother Rob who’s the defensive coordinator for the Browns. Rob is looking a lot better than Rex would have you think as the Browns are coming off 2 straight wins over the Saints and the Pats lead primarily by Rob Ryan’s defense. The Jets just scrapped out a win against the Lions in a game they had no business winning without the Lions absolutely handing it to them. I think the Browns don’t hand the Jets anything except the upset loss they should have gotten last week.

Browns 17

Jets 13

Cincinnati @ Indianapolis

Indianapolis -7.5

The Bengals showed some life at the end of their loss to the Steelers last week the question to me is whether that was too little too late. I don’t think they have much shoot at the playoffs at anymore so I wonder whether guys like T.O. and Chad Ochocinco can be counted on to still play as hard as they have been, or in Chad’s case complain as much as he has been. Who would have thought T.O. would be the better receiver of the two of these guys be a mile, as much attention as Chad draws he still just isn’t getting it done. Sure T.O. doesn’t have coverage rolling to his side but he soon will the way Chad isn’t producing and I doubt that will slow him as much as it’s slowed Mr. Ochocinco. The Colts just couldn’t stop Michael Vick although nobody has been able to this year so there’s no shame in that, there would be some shame in losing to the Bengals at home, but they won’t do that.

Colts 31

Bengals 23

Houston @ Jacksonville

Jacksonville – 1.5

Looking at this game I don’t really know what to say. The last time the Jaguars played a pass defense as bad as the Texans David Garrard threw 4 touchdown passes, rushed for one more, and then cured world hunger.  The Texans just got obliterated by the angriest QB around Phillip Rivers to the tune of 293 and 4 touchdowns while he was throwing to junior college rec team. Houston is just a middle of the road team now and on the road I don’t think they’re good enough to beat another mediocre team in the Jaguars.

Jaguars 24

Houston 20

Tennessee @ Miami

Tennessee – 2

Randy Moss= Dolphin destroyer

Apparently somebody on the Ravens spit on Channing Crowder which has him rightfully very upset. The NFL is investigating this but we all know nothing is going to come of it because nothing can be proven. I highly doubt Crowder would make something up, and I have a feeling the Ravens don’t feel bad about it especially with all the trash they talked after the game. I tell that story because that’s the only interesting thing I can that comes to my mind when I see the Dolphins. The Titans on the other hand premiere Randy Moss this week against a secondary he obliterated many times during his Patriot days, after watching him lay an absolute egg against said Patriots my confidence in Moss is shaken. However the Titans don’t need him to be anything more than a decoy to beat the Dolphins.

Titans 17

Dolphins 12

Carolina @ Tampa Bay

Tampa Bay -7

Raheem Morris should probably refrain from calling his team the best in the NFC after that horrendous end of game goal line call he made against the Falcons last week. The Panthers just got spanked by the Saints 34-3 last week and I don’t think things are going to get much better this week. Josh Freeman has been pretty good, but even better have been his two rookie receivers.  Arrelious Benn and the other Mike Williams have been revelations for the Bucs combined with the excellent special team’s play of Michael Spurlock have made this Bucs team a serious playoff threat. The Panthers on the other hand are now down not just DeAngelo Williams, but Jonathan Stewart and Tyrell Sutton. So the Panthers are going to be going on the road with Mike Goodson at starting running back and Jimmy Clausen. Yeah Bucs win big

Bucs 27

Panthers 10

Kansas City @ Denver

Kansas City – 1.5

After a disappointing loss in Oakland Kansas City looks to rebound against a poor Broncos team. Last week the Chiefs had an opportunity to create some distance between them and the rest of the AFC West however with the loss now all of the teams in the AFC West are within 1 ½ games of each other. Looking at Denver I don’t know how many weeks Josh McDaniel has left if the Broncos continue to play the way they have, combine that with his trade of Peyton Hillis for Brady Quinn which is looking even worse and worse by the day for the Broncos. As good as Dwayne Bowe can look he still has huge problems with drops dropping what would have been a game sealing catch against the Raiders last week. The once place the Chiefs do struggle is in the passing game and that’s the one place where the Broncos excel. I think the Broncos spring an upset and keep McDaniel’s job safe for another week.

Broncos 24

Chiefs 20

Seattle @ Arizona

Arizona -3.5

After a promising start to the year the Seahawks have lost the past two games by a combined score of 10-74. I think the Seahawks might have seen enough of Charlie Whitehurst to realize he’s not the QB of the future or even the present. Luckily for Seahawk fans they’ll get everyone’s favorite bald QB back against the Cardinals who sport a solid 2-1 home record with their only loss being a very close 35-38 loss to a good Bucs team. Derek Anderson is pretty bad but he’s NFL bad, he belongs in the league except as a backup QB. However against a Seahawks team that can’t stop anybody running or passing I think the Cardinals finally have an explosive day at home.

Cardinals 31

Seahawks 24

Dallas @ NY Giants

Composite drawing of every Cowboys fan

NY Giants -14

Seriously I don’t know if they could make a line high enough for me to not bet on the Giants in this game. The Giants won their last game 41-7 while the Cowboys lost their last game 45-7. I do think the firing of Wade Phillips will make some difference with the Cowboys, but the fact remains they’re just an awful awful team.

Giants 34

Cowboys 14

St. Louis @ San Francisco

San Francisco -6

Frisco finally got their second win of the year over an even more inept Broncos team in England. As  much as Roger Goodell wants to expand the league giving them games like 49’ers vs. Broncos won’t have them begging for more NFL action. St. Louis’ last game was a tough last second loss to the Bucs, but now they’ve had a bye week to get Steven Jackson healthy or at least healthier which should be huge against the 49’ers. However Troy Smith did inject some life into the niners like I thought he would and I think this is the beginning of his run to get them back into the NFC West division race.

49ers 20

Rams 17

New England @ Pittsburgh

Steelers -5

It seemed like a classic trap game for the Pats last week and it was as the Browns demolished them by 20 points on the road. Pittsburgh barely held off a more than game Cincinnati team stopping a last second drive on the goal line to hold on to a slim victory. Both of these teams are trying to stake their claim as the best in the AFC and possibly the league. Big Ben will be without his starting left tackle Max Starks not just for this game but for the rest of the season as was placed on IR. Big Ben is probably  one of the few QB’s who could take a blow like that and still manage to be as good if not better, Roethlisberger has the best QB rating after contact in the NFL and he’ll have plenty of opportunities to improve starting this week against the Pats. Looking at this Steelers team I think while they may not be as tough running the football as we give them credit for their tough enough to pound a Pats team that struggles against the run.

Steelers 24

Pats 20

Philadelphia @ Washington

Philadelphia -3

Vick vs. Mcnabb II this time it’s for blood. The last time these two teams faced off against each other Michael Vick was knocked early in the game with a rib injury that allowed the Redskins to come away with the victory. I don’t think the skins will be as lucky this week with Vick not missing a beat last week dismantling the Colts I think he’ll want revenge on the team that knocked him out these past weeks. Looking at Washington it’s a team in disarray, people talk about the coaching issues in Minnesota but their seem to be just as many in Washington and when your starting QB and your head coach don’t trust each other it spells doom for your franchise. I think the Redskins get 4 full quarters of the Michael Vick experience.

Eagles 31

Redskins 23

Week 9 Preview

If you had Randy Moss being picked up by the Titans in your office pool please take a bow. If you had Shawne Merriman being picked up by the Bills in your office pool you should probably seek counseling because you have a gambling problem. A few big games this week for the AFC West and NFC South, and a couple of premieres of once elite players with new teams. I have to be honest with you, they're are only 3 or 4 games this week that I'm really looking forward to. The good thing about sports is that a good game can always sneak up on you and I'm sure a few will this week just like they do every other week.

Randy Moss is a Titan

The first thing I thought when Randy Moss joined the Titans was this, can Vince Young transform into a Daunte Culpepper circa 2003/2004? I don’t think he has the arm strength or accuracy to replicate the ridiculous numbers that Culpepper put up but I think you get my point. The Titans have already shown they’re not opposed to throwing a ball up for grabs multiple times in a game as shown by Kenny Britt’s performance a few weeks ago. You pair Randy Moss with Chris Johnson and you have yourself a pretty dynamic set of players that are a threat to score every snap, every snap Randy Moss feels like playing I mean. So perhaps this will be a good fit for Randy or perhaps he’ll be looking for another team in 4 weeks…….nah that couldn’t happen again could it?

Roid rage personified

Shawne Merriman is a Bill

In a significantly less glamorous story Shawne “Lights Out” Merriman joined the Buffalo Bills. This pretty much tells the entirety of the story, Merriman was once the most feared defensive player in the NFL destroying any team that dared to single block him and exploding through numerous double teams. Now I don’t know if calling him a shell of his former self would be too much praise. He’s recorded 4 sacks in the past 3 years, after having 17 in a 12 game season some 5 years ago. He was clearly never the same after the knee injury, and it’s truly sad because despite the steroid use during at least the 2004 season if not more I still think he was a great player. However it looks like we’re about to turn the lights out on the career of Shawne Merriman.

Tampa Bay @ Atlanta

Atlanta -9

The two big divisional games this week are Bucs vs. Falcons and Raiders vs. Chiefs. I doubt many if anybody saw these two games being for the division lead in week 9. Atlanta is a team that has won all their games at home and stole a few on the road. Outside of the San Francisco game the Falcons won their previous two home games handily. Everyone is criticizing the Bucs because they haven’t beaten an elite opponent but they can only play who’s on the schedule. The more troubling thing about the Bucs is the one time they played an elite team they got absolutely blasted by the Steelers 38-7. That same Steelers team struggled against the Falcons at home squeaking out a 15-9 victory. The common opponent theory never really holds up that well so while that seems to say a lot it could end up counting for nothing. However you go to their next game against an elite team and they got blew out by the Saints, that’s enough for me to say they’ll lose once again to a team trying to establish themselves as elite.

Falcons 21

Bucs 13

Miami @ Baltimore

Baltimore -5

The Dolphins remain the true road warriors of the NFL having not lost a game on the road this year; they play a fresh Ravens team coming off their bye week looking to rebound after a disappointing performance against Buffalo. The Ravens didn’t lose the game, but had to eke out a win against a winless team on a questionable Ray Lewis strip in overtime. Looking at Miami you begin to wonder how they’ve won 4 games. They don’t stand out in any one area, they’re normally a dominant running team but this year they’re mediocre being ranked 16^th. Miami is average in pretty much every aspect of the game and I don’t see that being enough to beat a pretty game Baltimore trying to respond after a poor performance.

Baltimore 17

Miami 10

Chicago @ Buffalo

Chicago -3

Looking at the way Da Bears have played these past few weeks I would say that Buffalo is coming into this game looking like the better team. It’s never a good sign when you’re playing an 0-7 team and people like me think you’re not as good as they are. With all that said and as “feisty” as the Bills have been they still haven’t won a game. Chicago’s had a bye week to try to regain some of their early season offensive Mojo, try to get Matt Forte back involved in their offense and teach Jay Cutler that he wants to not throw it to the guys on the other team.  The thing that sucks about this game for the Bills is that it counts as a home game but it’s played in Toronto Canada yet counts as a home game for them. I think the Bears win this game just based on the fact I don’t think Jay Cutler can once again throw 4 interceptions……or at least not throw them all to the same guy. Wait what I'm saying its Jay Cutler. Bills get their first win.

Bills 23

Bears 17

New Orleans @ Carolina

New Orleans -6.5

"All Madden" Get it?? Geez I'm clever

Every time I think New Orleans will finally be exposed they come out with an impressive victory, this time Drew Brees went All Madden in the second half against the Steelers completing 20 of 22 passes to lead the Saints to victory. Carolina finally got their first win against San Francisco 2 weeks ago only to lose against a pretty good Rams team last week. The Panthers however played the Saints really close in a game in the superdome in week 4 only losing 14-16, so the question is can they build on that close game for a win in week 9. I have to say no, the Panthers are about to            re-replace their starting QB with their backup QB in week 10. That’s not the mark of a team searching for answers that’s the mark of a team blindly flailing trying to hit anything in the dark. Combine that with another game missed by DeAngelo Williams and the Saints get two wins straight.

Saints 27

Panthers 13

New England @ Cleveland

New England -4 ½

Just admire those locks in silence

Is this the best team in the AFC? The pats stand above everyone else as the only one loss team left in the NFL. The Pats only loss being to a pretty good Jets team on the road in week 2, and now they head out on the road once again to play a Browns team that gives everyone a battle. Cleveland just had their bye week following their upset of the Champs in New Orleans. The Patriots really seem to have reclaimed the identity of the championship years with Tom Brady at the center surrounded by a number of unsung players who he will get the most from. One of those players is Danny Woodhead a guy who you would think belongs in the stands upon first look. He has been a Swiss army knife for the Patriots doing pretty much everything they could ask of him and sort of replacing the very important Kevin Faulk. Even though the Browns make me nervous, especially with Eric Mangini having 2 weeks to prepare for a Patriots team he absolutely hates I’m still taking Tom Brady and his beautiful hair.

Patriots 20

Browns 13

New York Jets @ Detroit

Jets -4

Boy o boy did the Jets lay an egg last week on the offensive end. If you’re the Jets defense and you hold the Packers to 9 points you have to think that you’re going to win that game.  Mark Sanchez seems to have lost all of the good will that he built up in the first 5 or 6 weeks of the year with his past 3 performances, where’s he combined for 4 interceptions and only 1 touchdown. The Lions have had 3 straight solid performances, a 44-6 win against the Rams, a close 28-20 loss to the giants, and a 37-25 win against Washington. Ndamukong Suh has been playing like a man possessed, and leading a good Lions defensive line along with Kyle Vanden Bosch. You combine that with Matthew Stafford coming back and looking great throwing for 4 touchdown passes and I like the Lions in an upset at home.

Lions 17

Jets 14

San Diego @ Houston

San Diego -3

The Chargers are like Frankenstein or Dracula or perhaps even Blackula, they just refuse to die. Every time you think they’re going to finally die they win a game you don’t think they’ll win and you look at the schedule and realize they could still end up 10-6. Houston on the other hand is officially back in the middle of the road. Early in the year it looked like they’d finally taken the next step from the perennial 8-8 team to a playoff contender, and while looks can be deceiving the sure look like an 8-8 team now. Now is around the time when the Chargers string off 6 or 7 wins straight and get the whole league scared of all their talent again, and I thought this year wouldn’t be the time they do it but then I look at the schedule after this Houston game its Denver at home, Colts on the road, Oakland, Kansas City, and San Francisco at home, followed by Cincinnati and Denver on the road. I could easily see them winning 6 of those 7 games. First things first though they need to beat the Texans on the road where they have continually looked terrible all year. I’ll just leave it at this, Phillip Rivers vs. the 31^st ranked pass defense in the NFL. I’ll take Rivers

Chargers 38

Texans 27

Arizona @ Minnesota

Minnesota -8

This is a battle of really bad teams; the Cardinals at least have played well at home in a few games while the Vikings have been bad pretty much everywhere. Brett Favre plays on basically a broken ankle and ends up leaving not because of the ankle but because he busts his chin open on a hard hit late in the game.  I still can’t get over the fact I ever thought the Cowboys or the Vikings could make it to the super bowl, their coach are Brad “to catch a predator” Childress and Wade “Teddy Bear” Phillips.  But this week isn’t about making the super bowl it’s about beating a Cardinals team that’s terrible on the road and I think the Vikings are good enough to do that.

Vikings 20

Cardinals 9

N.Y. Giants @ Seattle

N.Y. Giants -7

Seattle was the latest victim of the runaway Oakland Raiders freight train to the tune of 33-3. That seems to be par the course for the Seahawks; once you get them away from Quest field they seem to be easy pickings for pretty much any competent team. However this week they’re not away from Quest field they’re back home, but they’re playing more than a competent team, they’re playing the best team in the NFC the Giants. I think the Seahawks run defense was exposed last week against the Raiders and I think the Giants continue the trend pounding them on the ground with a combination of Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs.

Giants 24

Seahawks 17

Kansas City @ Oakland

Oakland -1

When we look back at this season will this be the game when the west was won….. The AFC west that is. I don’t know that but I do know that both of these teams can run the football against pretty much anyone when healthy. You combine that with a rainy day and it seems the perfect formula for a tough grind it out game between AFC west rivals. The Chiefs are 5-2 with the number one rushing offense in the league and the most explosive running back this side of Chris Johnson in Jamal Charles. If there’s one thing the Raiders love to do it's give up big runs they’ve given up the most 20+ and 40+ runs this season. On the other side of the ball Kansas City struggles defending the Air and Jason Campbell has put up 500 yards 4 touchdowns and no interceptions in the past week. However the Raiders will be without their top wide out In Louis Murphy and might be without their best pass catcher in Zach Miller. That combined with a gimpy Nnamdi Asomugha probably sitting on the bench make it a much tougher matchup for the Raiders. But I just can’t pick against a team at home with their first sellout in over a year, especially after they won the past two games 92-17.

Raiders 20

Kansas City 17

Indianapolis @ Philadelphia

Eagles -3

Laser Rocket Arm

This just in, Peyton Manning doesn’t care who he plays with they will play well because he’s Peyton Manning damn it. No excuses. I have a 5’8 Mike Hart at running back that has 70 yards coming into this year? He’ll get 84 in the game. I lose arguably the best tight end in the game Dallas Clark? I replace him with Jacob Tamme who has 6 career catches and get him 6 in the game.  It doesn’t matter who Peyton Manning plays with he’s still Peyton Manning. He may already have 4 MVP’s but he’s just as deserving to win it again this year. The Eagles finally get Michael Vick back after 3 games and a bye week a middle of the road colt’s defense that struggles against the run. However the one thing the Colts can do is rush the passer and Michael Vick seems to get hit more than any other QB. The difference is with the Colts those sacks just aren’t sacks, they’re sack fumbles and I think the Colts ultimately use those to win the turnover battle and the game.

Colts 27

Eagles 20

Dallas @ Green Bay

Green Bay -7

Aaron Rodgers finally gave Brett Favre his come uppins on behalf of the Packers and the city of Green Bay. Now that’s he’s slayed one proverbial Dragon it’s time for a rest as the packers go into the bye week…..oh what’s that it’s not their bye week? Oh sorry they’re playing the Cowboys; I tend to confuse that and a bye week. So How bout them cowboys? Worst team in the league? Perhaps, especially after getting pounded by a mediocre at best Jaguars team. Since Tony Romo went down a team I didn’t think could play much worse has absolutely called it quits on this season on defense. Doing that against Aaron Rodgers is a recipe for disaster.

Packers 27

Dallas 10

Pittsburgh @ Cincinnati

Pittsburgh – 4 ½

This game is Cincinnati’s season more or less; they’re currently 2-5 and 4^th in the division.  A win here would put them at 3-5, but 2-1 in their division so there would still be hope but a loss puts them at 2-6 with a game against the Steelers on the road looming. As far as the Steelers go they lost last week to a surprisingly game Saints team lead by a rejuvenated Drew Brees. I think there’s not a lot to garner from that game, sometimes good teams lose and I still think the Steelers are a good team. However if you get the ball on the 1 inch line and can’t punch it in with 3 tries perhaps you’re not playing the tough hardnosed Steeler brand football that we’ve come to expect. That won’t hurt them this week however.

Steelers 23

Cincinnati 13

Tuesday Morning Week 8 Recap.

Week 8 Predictions Heads up: 8-5

Week 8 Predictions against the Spread: 8-5

Record so far: 54-46

Week 8 had a rough beginning with the early games on Sunday being absolutely terrible. The Jacksonville Jaguars blowing out the Cowboys, Denver and San Francisco being themselves in England, and Green Bay and New York playing an incredibly sloppy game in the meadowlands.  However the 2^nd half of Sunday held up much better with a very exciting Arizona Tampa Bay game, the Saints playing like their old selves against the Steelers and San Diego keeping themselves on life support with a win against the Titans.  Then it was closed out with a masterful performance by Peyton Manning on Monday night reminding us that he could probably win a few games surrounded by a rec team. On to the quick hits.

Doesn't Brad Childress look like he belongs on “To Catch a Predator”

Chris Hanson is onto you Childress

That’s more of a side note to the ridiculousness that is going on right now in Minnesota. So it’s written into Brad Childress’ contract that he has complete control over all personal decisions without having to consult with anyone. So of course since his authority and decision making had been questioned it’s ok to jettison a player they traded a 3^rd round pick for 4 weeks after picking him up, and possibly having to pay his salary for the rest of  the year. This move sort of shows the absolute ineptitude of the Minnesota Vikings decision making process. You go out during the summer multiple times to convince a player who doesn’t want to play to come back. You then trade a 3^rd round pick for Randy Moss and are surprised when he says something controversial in a press conference or when he doesn’t play as hard as you would like him to? This is what Randy Moss does, this is what he’s been doing since he came into the league to trade for him and act surprised when this happens shows a complete lack of foresight on the part of the Minnesota Vikings. Sure nobody liked what he did on that play with pass interference he clearly didn’t even try to make a stab at that ball, but that’s what you get when you sign Randy Moss. To give up a 3^rd round pick for him for a 4 week stay is an inexcusable lack of judgment by what we thought was a super bowl team before the season. It just goes to show how truly important coaching is, a good coach can combine personalities, and can handle the disparate ones, and bad coaches cannot. Brad Childress ladies and gentleman is not just a bad coach, he's an awful one.

Speaking of questionable coaching moves……

The 5th sign of the Apocalypse.

So Mike Shanahan decides to bench Donovan Mcnabb for the final drive of the game, this is a bit problematic if he’s playing bad since you’ve already invested in him with a big trade in the offseason and you want to give him every chance to succeed. However this becomes even more insane when he’s replaced by Rex Grossman of all people, who then proceeds to do what he always does and gives up a sack/fumble on his first play. Ballgame lions win get Ndamaka Suh his defensive rookie of the year trophy. Donovan Mcnabb hadn’t been playing all that terrible going into that drive, 210 yards 1 touchdown and 1 pick, nothing spectacular but nothing bench worthy either. After the game Shanahan comes out and says that Mcnabb doesn’t have the knowledge of the 2 minute offense that Rex Grossman does. Really? That’s the best excuse you could come up with? It’s not like Mcnabb got there late, he was there all offseason from OTA’s on and participated in everything imaginable if he didn’t have the offense down by then he shouldn’t have been the starter. Then a few days later he says that the problem was his hamstring injury and that he’s not in the kind of shape they want him to be to run the 2 minute drill. Mcnabb has run the 2 minute drill 4 times for the Redskins you would assume that if he wasn't in the shape to run it you would have said something after the first one. Mike Shanahan has already alienated one member of the Redskins in Albert Hanyseworth and it didn't bite him in the ass, I don't know if he can do it with their starting QB and expect this season to end any better the previous Redskin seasons. Maybe Shanahan looks at Grossman and see's all of what he saw in Jay Cutler a strong arm that can throw an interception with the best of em, and maintain an insane amount of confidence after 1........2........3........hell even 4 interceptions. I mean honestly how could he resist. The question becomes can Shanahan put his Cutler urges aside and try to guide the Redskins with a competent QB or will his itch get the best of them. Oh whats that.....the Redskins just worked out Jamarcus Russell......may god have mercy upon Shanahans soul.

An Old Fashioned AFC West Battle

If somebody would have told you the week 9 game between the Chiefs and Raiders would have been for the lead in the AFC West would you have believed them? Both teams are run first teams with an explosive playmaker in the run game and an adequate QB behind center. Both teams count on their front four to create pressure for their better than expected secondary to capitalize. The Chiefs have Brandon Flowers coming into his own as a shutdown cornerback and their young draft pick Eric Berry turning into the ball hawking safety they hoped when they drafted him 5th overall. The Raiders have mainstay Nnamdi Asomugha finally getting some help on the other side from Stanford Routt who is finally becoming the player the Raiders thought they drafted in the 2^nd round. Up front the Chiefs count on Tamba Hali to create havoc on the edge and he’s doing it with 7 sacks which puts him in the top 5 of the league. The Raiders go with a pass rush by committee approach with Richard Seymour, Matt Shaughnessy, and Kamerion Wimbley all having more than 4.5 sacks. It will be a battle of the #1 rushing offense vs the #2 rushing offense. A battle of a Raider team that has beat its past two opponents by a combined score of 92-17 and chiefs team on its own 2 game winning streak. Now they face off in Oakland in front of presumably half full Oakland Coliseum for the division lead, whoever stays true to their identity of running the football and getting after the quarterback will come out the victor.