Saturday Playoff Extravaganza

Week 17 Predictions heads up: 7-9

Week 17 Predictions against the Spread: 5-11

Record for the season: 125-98

I'm sure hell is awfully cold right now as it's frozen over and a team under .500 has made the NFL playoffs. The Seahawks played a game against the Rams that seemed like two teams that were both struggling to stay above water. Apparently the team with their head below water will be hosting a game against the NFL champs who's record is 5 games better than them.  I think this will definitely put a whole lot of pressure on the NFL competition committee to examine the way playoff seeding works and perhaps make some long overdue changes. On Saturday we have the Saints heading into Seattle to face the 7-9 Seahawks and then Saturday night we have the rematch of last years AFC Championship game with the Jets heading into the dome to play the Colts. I honestly don't think either of these games will be all that close but we'll get into that later in this piece.This morning we'll go into the match ups of the Saturday Games and tonight we'll go through a recap of the action and then talk about the two games on the slate for Sunday.


New York @ Indianapolis


Indianapolis - 2

Theres been a lot of talk from Rex Ryan about this game. More or less that its become a personal thing between the Jets and Peyton Manning, he's the proverbial mongoose to the Jets snake. The Jets are a team that needs to blitz in order to bring pressure and that normally plays right into the hands of Peyton Manning, but at the same time they're  a 3-4 team which normally gives him trouble. Its a bit of a quandary but when you look at Peyton's  record against Rex Ryan defenses you see that he seems to have a mastery over them. Last year the Colts were down 13-17 going into the second half before the Colts rung up 17 consecutive points eventually beating the Jets 30-17 to get to the Super Bowl. Peyton's record against Ryan defenses is 5-1 with Peyton having 12 touchdown passes to go with only 2 interceptions. In order for the Jets to win this game they'll have to take some keys from the Patriots and Chargers wins against the Colts earlier this year. In both games the those teams didn't reveal their looks until right before the snap and were able to create pressure with 4 and 5 man pressure packages. This lead to something we haven't seen from Peyton in a few years and thats multiple turnovers. If the Jets are able to do that they're offense should be able to score a few requisite field goals and perhaps a touchdown or two which would allow them to win a relatively low scoring game. However listening to Rex Ryan talk all week, I doubt he'll bring those 4 and 5 man pressures, when somebody takes things this personally with a player who clearly isn't interested in any sort of rivalry with you things tend to turn out badly. I think Ryan's aggression will get the best of him and we can add another win to the Colts and Peyton's record against the Rex Ryan defenses and send the Jets home back to NYC.

Colts 31


Jets 17


New Orleans @ Seattle


New Orleans - 10

I think he'd just take a win this Saturday

This much can be said of Pete Carroll, he lead the Seahawks to the playoffs despite the fact they only have a 7-9 record. If he were to beat the Saints at home no one would remember the 7-9 record just like no one remembers the fact that the 2009 Cardinals who were a few plays away from winning a Super bowl came into the playoffs 8-8. In no way am I comparing those two teams just stating how short our memories are when teams win when it counts. The weather news this morning is that its going to be quite a rainy game today at Qwest field which I would think would be to the advantage of the Seahawks except for the fact that neither team can run the football effectively. Despite having one of the worst rushing offenses in the entire league the Seahawks managed to rush for 140 yards at 4 yards a carry last week and if they can emulate that performance this week against the Saints they'll have a chance to win this game. The Saints lost two of their best running backs in Pierre Thomas and Chris Ivory last week for the rest of year leaving them with Julius Jones and Reggie Bush to carry the load for them in the backfield, they're both best suited as change of pace backs but the Saints no longer have that luxury. Luckily for them they won't need it, watching the Seahawks vs Rams game last week you could see that the Rams were playing not to make any mistakes with a plethora of short throws for Sam Bradford only taking 2 or 3 deep shots and both of those shots could have been huge gains if not for receiver drops. The Saints know the Seahawks are vulnerable to the deep pass and that's something their offense specializes in. Look for Drew Brees to forget about the running game in rainy Qwest field and go deep a number of times to Devry Henderson, Lance Moore, and Robert Meachem as the Saints do what we all expect them to do and beat the Seahawks.

Saints 33


Seahawks 20

NFL Preview 2011 Edition

Week 16 Predictions heads up: 7-9

Week 16 Predictions against the Spread: 5-11

Record so far: 118-89

Carolina @ Atlanta

Atlanta – 14.5

If Atlanta doesn’t win this game all the great work they’ve done this year will be pretty much lost as they’ll probably be out of the top seed in the NFC. For them to do this they’d have to lose to a Carolina team playing for a coach they know won’t be back next year and with a number of players who know they won’t be back next year on the road. I just can’t see this Falcon team doing that. The Falcons lost a game to the Saints that it seemed the Saints pretty much wanted to give away, they can’t afford that two weeks straight. Luckily for them they won’t.

Falcons 34

Panthers 13

Cincinnati @ Baltimore

Baltimore – 9.5

Its like a fantasy......only its real

The Ravens still have hopes of earning a first round bye and have at least one home game this playoffs with a win by them combined with a Steelers lose. However the reason the Ravens are in this predicament in the first place is because they lost to this very same Bengals team giving them 2 division losses compared to the Steelers 1. Last week the Bengals played another team fighting for their playoff lives in the Chargers however that game was at home against a more flawed team that hadn’t gotten a look at the Bengals before. I can see the orange cats sneaking up on the Ravens once but definitely not twice.

Ravens 24

Bengals 17

Pittsburgh @ Cleveland

Pittsburgh – 5.5

Pittsburgh has a simple formula for their first round bye, beat the Browns on the road and they get it. The Steelers were Colt McCoy’s first pro game and he played them on the road and put up respectable numbers for a rookie against that defense. He’s only gotten better with the game’s he’s played since then. While the Browns have lost 3 straight tough games I think the chance to put a damper in the hearts of a division rival combined with a solid running game and a Steelers team without Troy Polamalu will lead them to victory.

Browns 20

Steelers 17

Minnesota @ Detroit

Detroit – 3.5

Somebody break up the Lions; winners of three straight and two consecutive road games they’ve put together their best stretch of football in quite a long time. A great way to end the season would be to beat a Vikings team that’s been solid under interim head coach Leslie Frazier. To do that they’ll need to corral Joe Webb who’s had the look of a veteran in the first few starts of his young NFL career. As well as the Giants defense has played I just don’t think they have the team speed to contain Webb, Adrian Peterson, and Percy Harvin who are beginning to look the offensive trio of the future if you’re a Vikings fan.

Vikings 27

Lions 20

Oakland @ Kansas City

Kansas City – 3.5

In a game that seemed a lot more exciting 3 weeks ago the Raiders play the Chiefs in a game that could have been for the division title but instead is for absolutely nothing. The Chiefs have little reason to play any of their starters this week but I doubt they’ll rest them the entirety of the game as they’ll want to have some momentum going into wild card weekend and you never want to give a free win to a division rival. I think the Chiefs finish the year as the most surprising 11 win team this NFL season.

Chiefs 23

Raiders 20

Miami @ New England

New England – 5.5

Won't see this guy  for a while

At this point New England has everything wrapped up and if there’s any team that learned to not play any players when they have nothing to gain its New England. After watching Wes Welker go down with a season ending injury last year in a game against the Texans. I would be incredibly surprised if his players played more than a series or 2 if any at all. I think that will open the door for Tony Sporano to get his last win as the coach of the Miami Dolphins.

Dolphins 17

Patriots 14

Tampa Bay @ New Orleans

New Orleans – 7.5

New Orleans pulled off a huge win last week at home against the Saints not only securing their playoff berth but giving them a chance to snatch the division away in the final week of the season. Although the odds of it are slim since the Falcons are playing the worst team in the NFL at home no less they’ll still give themselves a chance with a win over a tough Buccaneers team.

Saints 31

Buccaneers 24

Buffalo @ NY Jets

Pick Em

The Jets while already in the playoffs are looking to create at least a sense of momentum if not any real momentum against the Bills this week. The Jets offense actually played well last week it was their defense that let them down against the Bears. The Jets defense while still ranked 4^th overall in the league has looked like a shell of itself these last few weeks ever since getting obliterated against the Patriots in week. They'll get themselves together this week however.

NY Jets 24

Bills 9

Chicago @ Green Bay

Green Bay – 9.5

In a game the Packers have to win and a game that gets the Bears absolutely nothing I don’t see how the Packers can lose this one at home. Combined with the way they’ve played on both sides of the ball recently and I think they could still win this game even if the Bears had something to play for luckily for them they don’t.

Packers 33

Bears 20

Jacksonville @ Houston

Houston – 3

The Jaguars had a terrible loss last week against the Redskins who were lead by Rex Grossman. The Jaguars are still in the playoff hunt somehow but that will probably be over soon if the Colts can handle their business against the Titans. The Jaguars will be without both Mojo and David Garrard for this game which seems to spell doom especially heading out on the road to face a Texans team that could be playing for their coaches job if he hasn’t already been fired. Despite losing back to back tough games  and being without two of their offense stars I think the Jaguars still find a way to have a reason to watch the scoreboard.

Jaguars 23

Houston 20

Tennessee @ Indianapolis

Indianapolis – 9.5

The Colts basically need to win and they’re in. Once again it seems as though Peyton and company will be in the playoffs despite the gloom and doom predictions some of which could be read on this very blog the Colts has continued his career playoff streak. The Titans might have finally pushed Jeff Fisher out the door with their dreadful performance this year. One thing is for sure the Titans will look a lot different next year and the Colts are winning this game.

Colts 27

Titans 17

Dallas @ Philadelphia

Philadelphia – 3

Normally losing a player of Michael Vicks caliber would be an absolutely devastating blow to any team luckily for the Philadelphia Eagles they have Kevin Kolb as their backup quarterback who is more than capable of beating the Cowboys in the final game of the season as another tryout for whatever team he’ll be starting for next year. The Cowboys are also turning to their backup quarterback Stephen McGee who had one game where he managed one touchdown throw in a heartbreaking loss to Arizona. I’ll just say if he couldn’t lead them to a victory over Arizona his chances are even slimmer against the Eagles.

Eagles 27

Cowboys 20

NY Giants @ Washington

NY Giants – 3.5

The Giants need to win this game and get a little help in order to make it into the playoffs. It’s pretty simple actually if the Giants win and the Packers lose the G-men are in. Both of these games start at the same time and while I’m sure all the Giant players will say there won’t be any score board watching I have a hard time believing it. Luckily for them that Packers Bears game will give them a heads up pretty soon that their playoff hopes are dashed. However their still playing a Rex Grossman lead Redskins team, and while he’s been nothing but solid these past two weeks it’s only translated into a win over a hobbled Jacksonville team in overtime.

Giants 27

Redskins 19

San Diego @ Denver

San Diego – 3.5

Better luck next year guys

For the first time in 4 years the Chargers won’t make the playoffs and for some reason their owner Dean Spanos decided to assure both Wade Phillips and A.J. Smith their jobs before the season was even over. Why; I don't know but luckily for them their jobs are safe and they'll be around next year to lead this same group of underachievers to another disappointing season for Charger Fans. It doesn't seem like their window for a super bowl is closing but who knows if its ever really been open.

Chargers 27

Broncos 13

Arizona @ San Francisco

San Francisco – 6

In one of the most bizarre firings I think I’ve ever seen in the NFL the 49’ers fired head coach Mike Singletary with one game left in the season. I don’t know if he was so embarrassing the organization couldn’t handle one more game of him but I don’t know they’ve made themselves an ever bigger embarrassment by firing a head coach a week before the season ends. I think the embarrassment continues this week with a loss to the Cardinals

Cardinals 27

49’ers 23

St. Louis @ Seattle

St. Louis – 3

I understand the fact this is the first real playoff game of the year with true win or go home implications but part of me still can’t believe that a 7-9 team could make the playoffs and the NFL decided to flex that to prime time. With all that being said I still think this game could end up being surprisingly good with two teams that are close in talent but heading in seemingly opposite directions. The young Rams with a young nucleus on both sides of the ball against an aging Seahawks team lead by an offense seemingly on its last legs at most every skill position. It seems that Matt Hasselbecks ailing back will keep him out of this game and that will keep the Seahawks out of the playoffs.

Rams 24

Seahawks 16

Week 14 Preview: Sleepless in Screen and Roll Out

Cleveland @ Buffalo

Buffalo – 1

Cleveland enters this game on a 2 game win streak and with 5-7 record that doesn’t tell the story of how competitive a team they’ve been this year with victories over both the Patriots and Saints. Buffalo followed a heartbreaking loss to the Steelers at home by getting creamed by a Tavaris Jackson lead Minnesota Vikings team.  I don’t know if the Vikings have been inspired by Leslie Frazier, but that Vikings team hasn’t been good enough to blow out anybody this year. For the Bills to follow up such a tough outing against the Steelers with that egg tells me they’re not ready to play a team as tough as the Browns even at home.

Browns 23

Bills 20

Atlanta @ Carolina

Atlanta – 9

Atlanta just keeps winning. They may seem to get quite a few lucky breaks throughout the wins but at the end of the game the dirty birds are on top of the scoreboard. There’s absolutely no reason why that shouldn’t be the case against a dreadful Panthers team.

Falcons 31

Panthers 13

Green Bay @ Detroit

Green Bay – 7

Dear Aaron, See you soon. Love Ndamukong

The Packers put a hurt on the 49’ers last week with pretty much just Aaron Rodgers and nothing else. The Falcons exposed the Packers as a one dimensional team and the 49’ers lacked the talent to do the same. I think the Lions are in the same boat. While they have a borderline fantastic D line lead by Ndamukong Suh and Kyle Vanden Bosch I don’t think their offense will be able to sustain enough drives to keep Rodgers off the field. The Packers win this one but only because they have one of the top 5 Qb’s in football right now.

Aaron Rodgers 31

Lions 27

Oakland @ Jacksonville

Jacksonville – 4

Being a Raider fan has been a significantly better experience this year than it has been for the past 8 years of my life, and while I’m very happy that we’re at 6 wins for the first time in 8 years I’m incredibly frustrated by the Raiders lack of consistency. If the good Raiders show up they might be able to slow down Mojo while running over the Jaguars with their two headed running attack of D-Mac and Michael Bush. If the bad Raiders show up the Jaguars will run all over them and dominate the game. I hate to say this but looking at their last two east coast games I think the bad Raiders will show up.

Jaguars 24

Raiders 13

New York Giants @ Minnesota

New York Giants - 3

Well this game has been reschedule to Monday because of the insane snow storm in Minneapolis, and that could have an effect on both teams but honestly I have no idea what that might be. This game is more or less the Giants playoff hopes. They’re 8-4 with games against Green Bay and Philadelphia left. This game is basically a must win with those two coming up. As good as the Vikings looked last week I think they bring Brett Favre back to preserve his starting record and it ends up costing them the game.

Giants 26

Vikings 17

Cincinnati @ Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh – 9

Pittsburgh vs. Baltimore was an absolutely fantastic game Sunday Night. Watching that game in comparison to the games from earlier Sunday it seemed like the Steelers and Ravens were playing at a different speed than the rest of the NFL. A lot of people think this will be a letdown game but I don’t think the Steelers can afford to let up knowing the Ravens are still right on their tail and the 2^nd seed isn’t guaranteed.

Steelers 31

Bengals 20

Tampa Bay @ Washington

Tampa Bay – 2

It sucks but I think the Buccaneers season ended last week against the Falcons. As good as the NFC is I think the two wildcard teams will probably be two of the following 3: New Orleans, New York, and Green Bay. I just don’t think Tampa Bay will elbow its way into that conversation but they can keep their hopes alive with a win this week over a listless Washington team that has seemingly given up on their season. 

Bucs 20

Redskins 13

St. Louis @ New Orleans

New Orleans – 10

The offensive rookie of the year trophy will be going to a Qb for the 2^nd time in history and the first time since Big Ben won it while leading the Steelers to the playoffs, can Sam Bradford pull of a similar feat? Hmmm I’ll say this somebody has to make it out of the NFC West and at this point I have to ask myself why not the Rams? Are they any more flawed than the Seahawks…….enh not really. This line seems a bit high when looking at the early year home performances of the Saints except for the fact that current Saints are on a 5 game winning streak putting up 30 in 4 of them. Well make it 6 straight with 30 in 5 of them.

Saints 34

Rams 20

Seattle @ San Francisco

San Francisco – 5.5

This is how bad the NFC west is. The 49’ers lost by 18 points in a game that wasn’t even that close last week and are 5 ½ point favorites over the Seahawks who won by 17. The reason being pretty much everyone knows that the Seahawks are a team that will just no show on the road.  Yes the Seahawks have been bad on the road this year but their road record is 2-3 which is just mediocre and they’ve beaten a tough Saints team in the superdome. I don’t think the Hawks have been given enough credit for the mediocre quality of road team they are. Mediocre will be enough to beat the 49’ers.

Seahawks 23

49’ers 20

New England @ Chicago

New England – 2.5

Solemn American Heads

I can’t pick against the Pats after that performance on Monday night football last week. At the same time I spent a quick hit last week finally admitting that the Bears were for real. The truth is I still believe both of those things I just think that the Pats are on a different level than the Bears. I think the Pats are at this point are the easy super bowl favorite while the Bears are a strong contender to make it to the NFC championship game at best. I think Tom Brady makes an example of the Bears cover 2 defense using short and intermediate passes as he leads the solemn american heads to victory.

Patriots 27

Bears 20

Denver @ Arizona

Denver – 4.5

In the 3^rd debut of a new head coach this NFL season we begin the 4 game season for Eric Studesville who prior to becoming the interim head coach had been a running backs coach his entire NFL coaching career. I doubt he’ll make much of an impression with this 4 game stint but so far the two interim coaches we’ve had this year have more or less knocked it out of the park in the 5 games they’ve coached.  The thing that was most confusing about the McDaniel’s firing is that the Broncos played hard for their coach in the loss against the Chiefs last week; if they can put together another effort like that they’ll beat a much worse Cardinals team starting John Skelton a rookie QB from Fordham.

Broncos 17

Cardinals 9

Miami @ New York Jets

New York Jets – 5

Wow just wow did New York get smashed last week. The Patriots absolutely went 1990’s Mike Tyson on them beating them relentlessly and not stopping until the bell rung. If the Jets are half the team we thought they were before that game last week they’ll beat this Dolphins team. They’re lead by an incredibly turnover prone QB in Chad Henne who should be just what the Dr. ordered to begin to rebuild the confidence of a Jets defense that has to be questioning itself after Tom Brady just dissected them. However what was more troubling than their defense was the absolute egg their offense laid. I don’t know if that’s as fixable as the defense however.

Jets 19

Dolphins 10

Kansas City @ San Diego

Pick Em

I have two words for you. Brodie Croyle. If San Diego doesn’t absolutely cream the Chiefs in this one they have no one to blame but themselves.

Chargers 23

Chiefs 10

I expect to see this next year with a 12 on it

Philadelphia @ Dallas

Philadelphia – 3.5

It just came down from the king of the NFL scoop Adam Schefter that both Winston Justice and Asante Samuel won’t be playing in the game against the Cowboys. As well as the Cowboys are playing I think that changes this game from a blowout to a close one. The Eagles with Michael Vick are too dynamic for a Cowboys team without Dez Bryant to keep up.

Eagles 34

Cowboys 27

Baltimore @ Houston

Baltimore – 2.5

Baltimore lost a game to the Steelers that will probably come back to bite them in the ass at the end of the year when it’s time for playoff seeding. That game could be the difference between the 2^nd seed and the 5^th or 6^th seed. Houston on the other hand probably had their season ended last week with that loss to the Eagles, doesn’t take a brain surgeon to see who I’m gonna pick here. Expect Joe Flacco to get back on track against that dreadful Texans pass defense.

Ravens 27

Texans 20

Week 12 Thanksgiving Spectacular.

Week 11 Predictions heads up: 13-3

Week 11 Predictions against the Spread: 7-8

Record so far: 70-57

Week 12 started out pretty ugly with a Bears 16-0 win over Miami and it didn’t get much prettier throughout as most of the games during the week were blowouts. The Raiders showed they’re not ready to make the next step quite yet getting blown out by the Steelers, Aaron Rodgers finally put a stake in the heart of the zombie that is Brett Favre, and Tom Terrific finally turned the tables and beat Peyton for the first time in years. I’m writing this from my desk at work so let’s try to get into the quick hits faster than usual this week. Also since we have a few games even earlier than Thursday this week I'm going to put these Thanksgiving day games up tonight and get to the rest of the picks on Friday after a jazzy new NBA piece. 

San Diego SUPER CHARGERS

This year like every year under Norv Turner the Chargers got off to a slow start and like usual they’ve strung off a few wins to get themselves back into contention for a division title. They’re now sitting at 5-5 after starting this year 2-5. With two tough wins over the Titans and the Texans combined with a blowout of a divisional foe in the Broncos they’re sitting exactly where they want to be. The Chargers not only control their own destiny in the AFC West they have the easiest remaining schedule of the remaining AFC West teams with the remaining teams on their schedule having a 25-35 record. The only above .500 teams they still have to play are the Colts and Chiefs and the Chargers are 4-1 over their past 5 games against the Colts so that match up isn’t as daunting for them as it would be for other teams. Phillip Rivers is continually building his MVP resume with game after game of fantastic performances with an undermanned squad. Once again he was without his top 3 receivers and still sliced and diced a team to the tune of 233 yards and 4 touchdowns. You combine that with a defense that has been playing at a high level pretty much the entire year and these Chargers are starting to look as dangerous as they always do. Oh yeah but what about those special teams? Those same special teams that have cost the Chargers at least two games if not more this year. Well they’ve held up surprisingly well in kick coverage and punt protection ever since Norv made the declaration that anther punt wouldn’t get blocked for the rest of the year. Although something like that isn’t a crazy prediction in the NFL; if you saw the Chargers special teams of the first few weeks you’d realize how big a leap Norv was making with that. However it looks like things are paying off for him as the Chargers seem once again poised for a solid playoff run.

Is this the return of the early 2000 Pats?

The only respectable cut offs of any kind

37 seconds left the Colts are down by 3, Peyton Manning in the shotgun and............he throws in an interception to end the game. That sounds like a script from the early 2000’s Patriot Colt rivalry because for the past 2 or 3 years Manning has owned the Patriots to the tune of a 4-1 record in the past five meetings.  The Patriots were the team that changed their formula to success building a modern day super team that ran roughshod through the NFL for 18 games before losing in the most important one of the year in their Super Bowl loss to the New York Giants. However they seem to be reverting to form now, the Patriots of all were a team that revolved around Tom Brady with a group of quick undersized receivers and a running back by committee approach and this Patriots team uses that exact blueprint on offense to a solid amount of success. On defense they’re a lot younger than those Patriot championship teams of lore, but their bread and butter are still turnovers and without them they struggle to keep great offenses at bay. They’re not a dominant defense by any means, but they try to employ a bend but don’t break strategy and outside of their week 9 loss to the Browns where they were broken by Peyton Hillis they've managed to implement it rather well. However games like that happen to the best teams, and that’s what the Patriots are shaping up to be one of the best teams in the league.

Chilly Willy finally gets the axe

In the second most overdue coach firing of the year, the Vikings finally let the hammer fall on everyone’s least favorite mustache aficionado. Brad Childress had alienated his team, alienated his fan base, and alienated the owner I don’t know how he had survived for so long up to that point. When a report comes out the week before the game with several players both talking about how they absolutely hate you and hate playing for you and the other half talking about how they’ve essentially stopped playing for you and things don’t seem to be going your way. The best part of this if you’re a Vikings fan is that you’re replacing him with someone who was one of the hottest head coaching candidates for the past few years in Leslie Frazier. If he can string together a series of respectable performances along with some wins the Vikings may have found their coach of the future. Despite all of the turmoil the Vikings still present one of the most if not the most attractive available coaching position going into next year. As many jobs as Frazier has interviewed for in the past 2 years or so I doubt he ever thought his first shot at head coaching would be coming at week 11

New England @ Detroit

New England – 7

So I just got done talking about the current Patriots resembling the actual championship variety Patriots, so clearly this is a game those team’s won. Indeed it is, and the Pats will beat this overmatched Lions team, but something that might get some attention because of the audience of this game is the excellent defensive line play of the Lions. Ndamukong Suh has been an absolute man on a mission and has bucked the trend of shoddy play by first year defensive lineman. If he wasn’t a rookie I’m sure he’d be getting more attention for the defensive player of the year category but even so he’s having an absolutely brilliant year so expect to see him flash a few times during this game despite the fact he’s matched up with All-Pro Logan Mankins. However him flashing won’t be enough to deter Tom Brady, who hasn’t practiced this week but won’t need to as his last game was a mere four days ago. Patriots give the Lions what they tend to get every year for Thanksgiving, a loss at home.

Patriots 24

Lions 16

New Orleans @ Dallas

New Orleans -4

Ginger kid definitely, head coach...maybe

If the Cowboys were to win this game it would make it 3 straight under Jason Garrett and you would begin to hear the drumbeat for the interim tag to be removed from his title. Looking at the two Cowboy win’s I think they snuck up on a Giants team that was obviously looking past them, and then beat a deflated Lions team that just lost their starting QB for the year. The Saints won’t be looking past this Cowboys team, and I don’t think the Boys’ will be able to hold up under an elite teams (or at least a good teams) full attention.

Saints 27

Cowboys 20

Cincinnati @ New York Jets

New York Jets – 9

The power of Santonio Holmes can’t be denied, he’s launched the Jets into 3 straight victories with excellent crunch time performances in each game. At the price of a 5^th round pick he seems like the smartest acquisition of an offseason that was filled with team’s trading for wide outs. Also as far as last second drives go, Mark Sanchez put together one of the best I’ve seen over a 40 or 50 second span. Games like that make me wonder whether Sanchez has made it into the second tier of QB’s beneath the top 5 or 6, but right alongside the Matt Ryan’s and Joe Flacco’s of the NFL. I do know one QB who used to be considered a top tier QB who has fallen out of the good graces of pretty much everyone. Of course I’m talking about Screen and Roll out favorite Carson Palmer. Combine his normally erratic play with an actually good defense, and T.O. calling Darrelle Revis an “average corner” and you have a recipe for a Jets blowout. I don’t think the final score will tell the story because the Bengals have done a great job scoring points in garbage time this year.

Jets 31

Bengals 23

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

Tuesday Morning Week 7 Recap.

Week 7 Predictions Heads up 7-7 

Week 7 Predictions against the Spread 6-8 

Record so far: 46-41

Wow. As crazy as this year has been in the NFL week 7 was probably the craziest week we’ve had this year. 9 Interception returns for touchdowns on Sunday which was an NFL record by the way. The Raiders basically drop a 60 bomb on the Broncos. Drew Brees throws 4 picks to the BROWNS at home. Carson Palmer decides he’s heard enough of my mouth and goes off for 412 yards and 3 touchdowns. The Refs absolutely blow their whistles too soon and rob the Dolphins of a win at home, and keep the Steelers on top of the AFC. Seriously there are honestly too many stories for this week’s quick hits I’m pretty excited so let’s get to it.

The Autumn Wind is a Raider

Truly the rims of Future Pro Bowler

So could you please raise your hand if you had the Raiders beating the Broncos? Ok thank you that looks like about half the class. So now could you please raise your hand if you had the Raiders beating the Broncos by 45 points? Yeah….didn‘t think so. So I say Oakland’s gonna lose on Sunday, not only do they win, they score the most points in franchise history. This was probably the most dominating performance I’ve seen on all 3 phases of the game in years. This was like watching college football. It seemed like Boise State vs. Nevada or something. Darren McFadden seems to have finally turned the corner and become the elite back the Raiders thought they drafted with the 4^th overall selection. He’s only 3 yards behind Adrian Peterson in yards per game at a sterling 111.4 and he’s averaging an astounding 5.5 yards per rush. He put on a truly dynamic performance reminiscent of some of his more explosive days back in Arkansas. Defensively they shut down the top 3 passing attack of the Broncos holding Kyle Orton to 165 yards total passing, while sacking him 4 times and taking his first pass to the house for a pick 6. The fans in London can’t be too happy about getting to watch that Broncos v 49’ers matchup now, truly a battle of football elites. The question remains, what do the Raiders turn this victory into? Does this become a sign of things to come for the Raiders or does this become an unbelievable anomaly in another forgettable season in Oakland. Watching this team I’m still not sure, I’m hoping it’s the former rather than the later but only time will tell.

Ok we can finally say it………the Cowboys are finished

Even if getting blasted by the Giants on Monday night doesn’t seal it. Tony Romo breaking his Clavicle does. The normal recovery time on an injury like that is 8-10 weeks. So yeah I’m going to go ahead and put a fork in the Cowboys season. I was watching the Monday night game with my brother and I’ll tell you the exact moment I knew the Cowboys were going to lose. They get two interceptions on the first two Giant's possessions, both on tipped passes and they didn’t turn them both into touchdowns. They got the ball on the 6 and punched that one in, but then they got it on the 14 or so and settled for a field goal. That was it for me, you have to put your foot on the gas early and the cowboys don’t know how to do it. Even after the Dez Bryant punt return the feeling still remained the same. They can’t stop the Giants, once the Giants stop killing themselves they’re gonna paste em. All of sudden the Giant receivers stop tipping passes and catch them and its 21-20 at halftime and the game is essentially over. If you get 3 first half turnovers from a team and end up behind at the half you’re not the better team. The Giants proceeded to crush them in the 3^rd quarter before letting off the gas in the 4^th for a 41-35 victory that wasn’t that close. Now here’s the question I have, does this injury save Wade Phillips job? Can he really be blamed for a Tony Romoless team not making the playoffs? I think he should have been gone around week 4 but he wasn’t and now he’s without their most important offensive player for most likely the rest of the season.  I don’t know what Jerry Jones does but I do know that his daughter is absolutely terrifying. Seriously shes like Jerry Jones with a wig. I'm gonna have nightmares.(Google her, I'm not putting a picture in the blog. I have to check this thing once a day)

Well Better luck next year guys.

I knew they were fake just not this fake

Whenever I’m writing my weekend preview I’m always pretty worried about how wrong I’m going to be on stuff and I never fail to be really wrong on things. Observe last week’s Broncos over Raiders pick. However when I picked the Saints over the Browns it was with the caveat that I thought they’d win but I thought they’d scrape it out because something was still wrong with the Saints. I was wrong about them scraping out a win against the Browns. There was a blow out to be seen in the Superdome, the Saints getting blown out by a Cleveland Browns team that absolutely owned Drew Brees. I thought that the Saints hadn’t solved all of their offensive or defensive problems, but Sunday was mostly about offense. The Saints offense couldn’t do anything right. Drew Brees was under pressure constantly, he looked like a shorter Brett Favre out there throwing passes he had absolutely no business throwing. His first interception to David Bowens was a truly Favrian effort. He was wrapped up essentially, but instead of taking the sack and living to see another day he tries to throw the ball away and throws it towards the line; of course it bounces off of David Bowens hands then off of Jahri Evans leg and finally back into Bowens hands for a pick 6. He throws 4 picks total in this game and already this season has a grand total of 10 interceptions, he only had 11 all of last year. On the defensive side of the ball the Saints had trouble stopping a Browns offense lead by Colt Mccoy. I'll give the Browns credit in this, they played to win this game from the outset. They used all the trickeration they had in the books and kudos to them for that. However its week 8 and the Saints just got spanked 30-17 at home by the Browns. That truly doesn’t bode well for New Orleans and their chances of throwing another big bash in the bayou.  

Is this the week that the streak finally ends?

Every great streak in sports eventually ends. The Connecticut womyn’s basketball team will eventually lose a game. Cal Ripken eventually had to hang em up and let his streak go. The all time great UCLA teams of the early 70’s eventually lost to Notre Dame after compiling to me the most impressive team streak: 88 straight victories. The Los Angeles Lakers strung together 33 straight wins before their NBA all time steak ended. It seems that this might be the week that the greatest record in Pro sports finally gets its final number as Brett Favre might have to sit out this week and end his consecutive games streak at 291.  It comes out to an even more amazing 314 if you include the playoffs. Brett Favre has not one but two stress fractures in his ankle. I write this article knowing full and well Brett Favre could easily still decide that he’s Brett Favre and play anyway and be great. I just don’t know how a 40 year old guy with all that punishment on his body goes out there on what amounts to one ankle. To amass a streak like this in the most violent of sports is truly amazing; I think it makes it the most amazing individual streak in all of pro sports. This streak started all the way back in 1992, which comes out to 18 long years. Brett Favre hasn’t stopped playing football since I was 4 years old. As much as we go after Brett Favre here at Screen and Roll Out, if this is the week this streak ends he gets a salute from me because that is truly the work of an iron man. Also I’d like to salute him because Peyton Manning is probably going to break 8 years from now. Sorry I couldn’t help it, I can’t write about Favre without getting a dig in there somewhere.