Kelson sent me a nice message on Tuesday. He wished me congratulations for my first week finishing better than .500 for my picks. Either he can't count, or he can't read. I finished 6-7 in another poor showing, bringing my overall record to 49-63-4.
Maybe Kelson was just trying to encourage me. Maybe he was being a butt-head. Maybe both.
The worst part about Week 8 was that I felt really good about my picks until around the fourth quarter of the early games. Then Washington, Denver and Kansas City choked away their leads and I continued my run of mediocrity. I feel like the San Francisco 49ers. I entered the season with high hopes and expectations, even though there was no justification for it. At least the 49ers could look at their division and think it was ripe for the taking. I just came into the NFL season thinking I was going to redeem myself for my bad picks last year. Instead, things are going worse than before.
As for Week 8, how boring were the early games? The Pittsburgh market had the Miami-Cincinnati and the Green Bay-New York Jets contests. There was a whole lot of nothing going on in those games, especially the first halves. At least Pittsburgh didn't have to deal with Denver-San Francisco. That appeared to be a real snooze. Glad we send our best overseas.
My big miss for Week 8 was taking the Steelers in New Orleans. Not so much taking the Steelers, but saying Ben Roethlisberger would keep pace with Drew Brees. Yeah, that didn't come close to fruition.
Week 9's picks are below. The home team is in all caps.
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| Rivers' reaction after dunking on a 6-year-old girl. What a tool. |
HOUSTON (+3) over San Diego: The Chargers have lost road games to the Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Rams already this year. Until they actually beat a team on the road (0-4 so far) I'm staying away from the Chargers. By the way, I love the fall of Shawn Merriman. It's great to see cheaters turn to suck after they get caught.
New Orleans (-6.5) over CAROLINA: If you haven't noticed, I'm terrible at predicting what the Saints are going to do every week. Really terrible. They have to beat Matt Moore by more than a touchdown, right?
MINNESOTA (-9) over Arizona: That's a lot of points to give to a 2-5 team, but Arizona has Derek Anderson.
New York Jets at DETROIT: The Jets are so annoying. I hate it when they win, because I don't like the people showering them with praise and i think Rex Ryan is a tool. But even when they lose it's annoying because the games are so damn boring! It must suck to be a fan of this team (I'm looking right at you, RJ).
Miami (+5.5) over BALTIMORE: The Dolphins don't lose on the road. It doesn't make sense, but they don't.
New England (-4.5) over CLEVELAND: Belichick returns to his old stomping grounds where he was a lousy coach. You know, when he didn't have a guy named Tom Brady lighting up secondaries. This is one of the game where there are no winners. Whoever wins, most of America will be sad.
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| That dog looks terrified to be there. |
ATLANTA (-8.5) over Tampa Bay: The NFC South is such a fun conference to follow. Seriously. There is no consistently bad team. Usually the last place team from the previous season wins the division the next year. The NFC East is like this too, but those teams get a lot more attention than the NFC South. Anyway, I like Tampa Bay this year. It's fun to watch a young team succeed when most (including me) thought they would be one of the worst teams in the league. But Matt Ryan is really good at home. I mean really good.
New York Giants (-6.5) over SEATTLE: The Seahawks are banged up. That's all I know because I haven't been able to watch a single Seattle game this season. Somehow I doubt I'm missing much.
Kansas City (+2.5) over OAKLAND: The Raiders have almost scored 100 points in the past two games combined. That's nuts for a team that starts Jason Campbell at quarterback. So why am I picking against them? Honestly, I'm just guessing at this point.
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| Manning is also confused as to why he is the underdog. |
GREEN BAY (+8) over Dallas: So it turns out Jon Kitna is not the answer in Dallas. Who saw that coming? Jesus probably did. Suck on that, Jon.
Piitsburgh (-5) over CINCINNATI: Practically half the teams in a league have a single player on their team that has more sacks than the whole Bengals roster. If you give Roethlisberger time, he is going to kill you. Kill you with fire.
Better Than Ezra - Desperately Wanting
It doesn't suck Jeff. Because Ryan may be cocky but he at least entertaining and runs a defense that comes after people, something Mangini never understood.
ReplyDeleteI do hate Mark Sanchez though. He looks like a deer in the headlights late in a close game. If it wasn't for a bailout call in Denver, we would be 4-3 and two games behind New England.
I actually didnt have the same conspiracy theory about Moss only because the Pats are 3-0 without him, and Bellichick doesn't mess with success like that. Now, if they had dropped a game in there, yes, I would have agreed. I thought he was going to the Redskins. Perfect distraction from the QB controversy, the Shanahans created and they need another WR. Tennessee is his last chance, if bombs out a Fisher team, no one will touch him next year.
As for your picks, I agree except
I like Tampa getting the points. The Falcons defense is bad. This one should stay close.
I like Seattle getting points. I think the Giants win, but Seattle plays really well at home. Although, a Giants blowout on the road in a tough place would be statement of sorts to the rest of the NFC.
I'll take Oakland at home. if a passing game has to make plays, I trust Jason Campbell more than Matt Cassel which is sad.
Green Bay should be -8. I think the two primetime games are going to be ugly. Packers should roll over a dead Cowboys team and the Steelers are going to beat up a Bengals team that can't do anything right lately.