NFL

NFL Week 6 – Things That Caught My Eye

Oct 15th, 2012

Week 6 proved to have some great games on the schedule. The Lions fought back to save their season, for now. The Jet’s offense from Week 1 returned, Aaron Rodgers was unstoppable and the Cowboys handed the Ravens a win.

New York Jets 35, Indianapolis Colts 9

Let’s start with the Jets because I have been killing them over the last few weeks. I have to congratulate them on a game where everything seemed to go the way it was drawn up. Their running game had a huge day, which opened it up for Sanchez, who looked decent. Andrew Luck received nothing but praise last Monday for the way he beat the Packers but Rex Ryan’s defense made him look very much like a rookie yesterday. The Jets defense is centered around Darrelle Revis but give credit to Antonio Cromartie who is really trying to step up and fill the hole left by Revis.

Atlanta Falcons 23, Oakland Raiders 20

Maybe the Raiders aren’t as bad as I’ve been saying they were. I thought they’d travel to Atlanta and get blown out but they had a chance to win it. Matt Ryan didn’t have a great day for the second week in a row but battled to put them into a position to win it late in the 4^th quarter. McFadden was having some kind of shoulder issue yesterday which is didn’t help the Raiders because 70 yards on 26 carries from your #1 isn’t going to get it done. Carson Palmer had a great day but the only thing people will remember yesterday is a late 4^th quarter pick-six. I guess the one argument for Palmer is that the Falcons defense is tough, tough, tough.

Baltimore Ravens 31, Dallas Cowboys 29

As long as Jerry Jones continues to run the Dallas Cowboys, that team will continue to be a mess. They have talent, they should have won that game but because of Jerry’s constant meddling in the team, I don’t think the Cowboys have the right personnel on the side lines. Look, Garrett is a decent coach but he continues to make mistakes that an NFL coach shouldn’t make, especially when you’re in Year 3. He is terrible when it comes to clock management and that’s not a new thing yet keeps happening. Dez Bryant could have been a hero but he dropped the most important pass of the day, which in the end wouldn’t have mattered if Garrett knew how to manage a clock. I do think I gave Baltimore too much credit though and they aren’t as good as I thought. It will be interesting to see how long Lewis might be out and how much of a hole Webb’s injury creates.

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“Pick Six” for Week 6

by Darren.

Oakland @ Atlanta – Do you think the bye week made the Oakland Raiders any better? Do you think a 1-3 team that must travel west coast to east coast can beat a very good 5-0 Atlanta Falcons team? Matt Ryan showed last week that while his offense can stumble from time to time, he has the team around him that can get things fixed and rolling the right way in order get the W. I look for the Falcons to rebound offensively and put the Raiders away early. Look for the Falcons to keep Richard Seymour & company quiet.

Falcons are favored by 8.5 and should easily cover this at home.

Dallas @ Baltimore – Dallas is coming off a much needed bye week where Romo needed that time to forget about his MNF performance against the Bears. Problem is, the book has been written on Romo and distributed league-wide. If you let him sit in the pocket, he will kill you. If you put pressure on him, he scrambles around and usually will get rid of the ball earlier than he wants to. I used to be a big Romo supporter, thinking he had the goods to succeed in this league but he doesn’t learn from his mistakes. Sure there are times he extends plays and looks brilliant but will usually follow that up with a pick. Baltimore has a tough defense and Ed Reid is not a guy you want on the other side of the ball when you have a tendency to throw int’s.

If Dallas can win this game, it will certainly quiet critics for a few days. If the Ravens get the win, Dallas will go back home 2-3 and all the critics will wonder if this team can ever put it together. With Jerry as a GM, the answer is no to that question. Ravens are coming of a disappointing win in KC so look for them to try and step it up.

Ravens favored by 3.5 and I think the win and cover.

Indianapolis @ NY Jets – Give the Jets credit, they hung with the Texans last week and had a chance to get the W. It’s surprising because the offense that Sanchez has to work with is pitiful. How many balls did the Jets receivers drop? Tebow comes in for a play here and there and it just doesn’t work. The Jets running game isn’t thrilling me either. Indy is coming off an emotional win at home against the Packers. They fought and fought back and in the end they got the win. (Nice goal line awareness by Reggie Wayne)This game basically comes down to Luck v Sanchez. Who can bring it? Can the Colts keep riding the emotional Pagano storyline? I say Indy wins this one because Luck has more to work with.

New England @ Seattle – Even when Seattle isn’t a very good team, playing in Seattle is always a problem for the visitors. Brady and his offense will have to be in sync because the Seahawks have an aggressive front that can disrupt Brady’s rhythm. The Seattle secondary could easily cause problems for Brady as well. It’s no secret how important Wes Welker is to the Patriots offense so Seattle will need to minimize him.

Patriots D also have to be up to the task because if they aren’t Marshawn Lynch could have a big big day.

Patriots are favored by 3.5 and that is a tough one. If New England can win this game, I think it would be REAL close but I think the home field is too much and I take Seattle to sneak out the win.

NY Giants @ San Francisco – Stop me if you’ve heard this before…NFC Championship rematch. San Fran is on a roll but to be fair, they’ve beaten the Jets and then the Bills. That’s not a very tough schedule now is it? The Giants are coming off a win against the Browns, a win where they saw Bradshaw hit the 200 mark. Here is why I see the 49ers winning this game. On the 49ers side you have Brandon Jacobs and Mario Manningham who have probably been counting down to this game since the days the Giants decided they weren’t worth the money. Gore looks MUCH better than he did last year so the Giants will have their hands full there. The Giants have been struggling at getting to the QB so if that continues this week, Alex Smith will have a field day. I know Manning is on the field and he’s excellent in games like this but I thought NY was lucky the last time they came to San Fran and I don’t think they will be as lucky this time.

Niners favored by 5.5 but I think they only win by 3

Green Bay @ Houston – What will the Packers do this week? If Green Bay watched the MNF game closely last week, they will find their key to winning this game The Jets did a great job at shutting down Andre Johnson and the Texans didn’t have much of an answer for that. If Green Bay can shut down any passing threat then they could focus on stopping the run.

As for Houston, with Cushing done for the year, they are forced to play without one of their leaders and best defenders. That’s tough. It could be a rallying point or it could be a long night. The Texans have some adjustments to make and if they let the Packers hang around like they let the Jets hang around on MNF, there will probably be only one undefeated team left come Week 7.

I’ll go Packers in this one because I think the Cushing injury is just too big on a short week.

The New Seahawks Are The Same As The Old Seahawks

Oct 10th, 2012

by RDM.

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I’m hearing a lot of Pete Caroll’s Seahawks this week. This Seattle team is readying themselves for a visit from the New England Patriots this weekend.

Thus far this season, the Seahawks are a mediocre 3-2.

I’ve been watching this Seattle team, really ever since Pete Carroll arrived in the Pacific Northwest. On August 27th, I decided I was not buying in. I took their season win total under. For taking such a risk I was granted massive +255 odds. That means $100 wins $255. Not too shabby. But that shows just how big a risk Seattle is. That means Vegas and/or the public believed Pete Carroll had something brewing in Seattle.

What was the team’s win total number?

The Seahawks win total over/under was set at 6.5.

A 14-12 ~~horseshit~~ victory against the Packers makes the over look to be in play, for sure. However, this team has only scored 20-points one time through 5 games. In today’s NFL, that isn’t going to cut it.

This week, all the Seattle hype has continued to roll on. This after their 16-12 win over Carolina last week. With New England traveling across the country to take on the 12th man and the Seahawks, the Patriots are only 3.5 point favorites.