My Week 3 NFL Picks

Week 3 of the NFL Season and I'm going to spotlight the AFC Championship rematch.  Who would have thought the Patriots who had "the easiest schedule in the NFL" would be 0-2 right now?  Many sportscasters  were predicting a 15 win season for them, well I guess we can say that isn't going to happen.  The Ravens missed the chance at a Superbowl appearance last year thanks to a TD catch that couldn't be held on to and a muffed field goal.  Last week the Patriots lost to the, now 2-0, Cardinals thanks to a muffed field goal.  No quite payback, but I'm sure Ravens fans felt good about it.  Tonight the two teams meet again after a both facing tough losses for a prime time Sunday Night Football game.  The Cardinals showed the NFL how to stop Brady, but the Ravens don't care about stopping Brady, they just want to hurt Brady.  The animosity runs deep between these two teams.  I think the Ravens defense will rally around this animosity and around the "what ifs" from last season to make this a very tough game for Tom Brady.  I also think this will come down to the wire.  The Ravens defense will outlast the Patriots offense and the Patriots young defense will be exploited by this new Ravens offense.  Patriots 24 - Ravens 27 for a Ravens win and the Patriots will be under .500 at this point in the season for the first time since the Brady era begun (more than likely, I didn't research this).

Here's the rest of my picks and a quick run down.

Panthers over Giants - I obviously picked this one wrong, but I was leaning on the fact that the Giants had to travel in the short week and they had multiple injuries and a very tough game last Sunday.  The current champs proved me wrong.

Cowboys over Buccaneers - They get the home field advantage, I'd probably pick the Buccs if this was in Tampa.

Colts over Jaguars - Colts look like they are starting to get things moving better and have the home field advantage.  I think they have a young team, but a better team than the Jags.

Dolphins over Jets - I'll just take the home team in this one.  Divisional match ups are always tricky, especial between two teams that lack any real identity.

Lions over Titans - I think the Lions will get it together and the Titans still have some figuring out to do.  High scoring affair but the Lions are much more high powered, so they get the W.

Saints over Chiefs - The Saints have to be the better team in this match up, plus they need to try to save face from the first loss at home this season.

Bears over Rams - Maybe this is the bounce back game the Bears need, they looked confused last week.  As for the Rams, I don't believe that they are who we saw last week.  They have a history of beating the Redskins when they aren't favored to win.  Plus I think that win was written in as part of the RGIII deal.

Bills over Browns - I really don't know here, both teams are iffy.  Ground battle game, but in the end the QB with the better arm will seal the deal.

Redskins over Bengals - I would say this is the toughest defense for Robert Griffin III so far this season, but in his home opener he will shine.  With Garcon out, DC native Josh Morgan will attempt to redeem himself.  Skins defensive line will beat the Bengals o-line to disrupt the passing game.

The San Francisco 49ers over Vikings - I hate games that look this easy on paper, they usually turn out as upsets but I believe the new Niners offense will be too much for a lacking defense and their defense will be too much for the Vikings offense to handle.  Moss returns to his original NFL home and has a big day.

Eagles over Cardinals - The Cardinals defense is a sleeper this year, but I don't think they will last all 4 quarters against the Eagles offense.  The Eagles get the edge.  Plus the Eagles defense is also very good in my opinion and will make the Cardinals offense look as bad as we know it is.

Falcons over Chargers - This is a tough pick, I'm going with the hot team with the new offense.  But this isn't a game I would bet money on, it could go either way.  It should be an entertaining game to watch.

Steelers over Raiders - Why not... The Raiders are still figuring things out, the established Steelers team should walk away looking like a top of line team.

Texans over Broncos - Peyton Manning as his old self could make this go the other way, but with this game I'm going to stick with one of the best defenses in the NFL and say the Texans grind this one out.

Ravens over Patriots - Did you not read the paragraph up top? LOL.

Packers over Seahawks - If the Packers lose this game then the Aaron Rodgers is cursed and needs to do what he has to do to clear himself of that.  The Seahawks have a nice defense a decent offense and the 12th man tonight, but if everything goes right the Packers offense should be too much and their front line should be able to contain the run on Monday Night Football.

Baseball Music???? [Throwback]

After going to the Nationals Opening Day a couple days ago, its only right that we play some "Baseball Music", and no I'm not talking about the race motivated songs they play before batters step to the plate...lol.

The way Nelly milked the crap out of his first CD was genius! He had songs coming out for over a year, even some like this one were very ESPN friendly and was getting played throughout the baseball season and during highlights and where ever else they could place it.  I think this was one of the last songs off of this album.  You could definitely tell the difference in the quality of the video, the guest stars in the video, and even the dress/jewelry since the first single, Country Grammar. Plus it was smart of him to put his crew on while he was hot to transition to their CD.  Great marketing Nelly.



And here's a bonus track, not necessarily about baseball but the name of the album was Swing Batta Swing and the previous song takes me right into this one for some reason. Crazy enough at one point I've owned both of these albums. I think Kemp Mill Music got the one from below from me when I needed some extra cash...lol.

Peyton Manning... On To The Next One

Ok as of 12:00pm 3/7/2012 Peyton Manning is no longer a Colt.  It seemed like it was going to happen but its still hard to believe that it happened.  The question now is where to go? Can he win a Superbowl with another team or will he just come up short? What's the best fit for him? Does he need star WRs, will he take Reggie Wayne with him? Does he need a warm weather team or a team in dome? Does the money even matter to him?  Can he be the first Elite QB to win a Super Bowl with one team then win another with a new team.  Kurt Warner, who wasn't even elite when he went to another team, came the closest to doing this with the Rams and the Cardinals. But remember he left the Rams as a backup and was a backup with the Cardinals at first as well, so this is a different situation.  You have to compare this Manning situation to Joe Montana (49ers to Chiefs), Joe Namath (Jets to Rams), and Johnny Unitas (Colts to Charger).

According to Adam Shefter at ESPN the "Final Four" teams for Peyton are the Redskins, the Jets, the Cardinals, and the Dolphins.  Out of that crew I'd shoot for the Dolphins.  Here's my least likely to most likely breakdown.

Redskins - Not sure the fans want another Vet QB experiment, plus what would happen to that system that they were always talking about, Kyle would have to let Peyton just run things.  Not to mention Peyton would face Eli twice a year and maybe a 3rd time in the playoffs.  That would be good for TV and sales, but Peyton seems too family oriented to want that type of public rivalry on a constant basis.  If it happens its because Snyder has deep pockets.

Jets - Maybe...but does he want to have that two year battle with Brady, both QBs are accustomed to winning their division this would throw a huge wrench in the game plan. Plus what happens to former 1st rounder Mark Sanchez, do they bench him for a couple years to learn behind Peyton or do they try to trade him, can they get any value from a trade for him?  This could happen though, I think the weather and making NY a two Manning town might influence him to go elsewhere. But this has more chance than the Redskins to me.

Cardinals - First off, I don't want this to happen! My 49ers finally get it together and then we gotta face Peyton twice a year. This could add some struggle to our next 2-3 years.  For Manning this is a great location, its warm, he can run the city, and he has Beanie Wells & Fitzgerald to help him and possibly help the Cards get over that hump.  Downfalls, facing a tough 49ers, sack happy, defense twice a year when everyone says you are "one hit away".  Also this is still the NFC so 2 games against Eli a year is very possible.  I don't think that will effect the decision as much as it would in DC.

Dolphins - Still in Brady's division but you are in a warm beautiful place called Miami.  A team that is in need of a QB and a team that is still fairly new as far as talent and coaches.  Doesn't everyone want to take their talents to South Beach?  Brandon Marshall is good WR that can be great with a great QB, Reggie Bush can catch out of the back field to help prevent Manning from getting sacked as much.  The defenses in the AFC East seemed mediocre at best last year, so it might be a safe place to play.

Some other teams that I would keep on the radar are the Seahawks, Titans, Texans, Jaguars, Chiefs, Broncos, 49ers, Rams, and pretty much anyone else who isn't the Patriots, Saints, Chargers, Giants, Eagles, Steelers, or the Packers have a slight chance at surprising people with a big on Peyton.

Seahawks - Need a QB.  They have decent WRs with potential plus the beast Marshawn Lynch.

Titans - Hasselbeck is nice, but Peyton would be a better vet QB to teach their rookie.

Texans - They are almost there, Schaub has been good but injury's slowed him down, if the Texans can trade him to say...the Redskins to link him back up with Kyle Shanahan and "the system", the Texans would open a spot at QB for Peyton and would be immediate Superbowl Contenders. Adarin Foster, Andre Johnson, Peyton Manning...whoa.

Jaguars - They need a QB. Peyton and MJD plus maybe a tag along from Reggie Wayne to go a long with some of the decent WRs that have potential on their team.  They could be a force to be reckoned with.  Plus it would give him a chance to save a franchise, almost Drew Brees like.

Chiefs - Yeah they got a couple good QBs, but they have a lot of weapons in place that a QB like Peyton Manning could easily assist them in winning their division next year, and not an 8-8 division winning record either.  Healthy Jamaal Charles plus Dwayne Bowe, Steve Breston, and emerging star Jonathon Baldwin.  Thats  4000 yard season easily each year in his contract in a very weak division.

Broncos - How do you shut fans up about Tebow Mania you bring in Peyton Manning. Tebow who?  Why wouldn't John Elway want a QB that is more of a traditional style QB to lead his team.  Tim Tebow took them to the second round of the playoffs, WWPD? 

49ers - The team seems to be coming together the defense and special teams can win games, Alex Smith had a decent year with less errors, an elite QB could take the team to the Super Bowl without a problem.  Well wait there is one problem, no WRs to throw to. Josh Morgan might be back, Ted Ginn should be back, Crabtree will be there.  You got some speed, but none of these guys are #1 WRs.  Peyton would need to bring Reggie Wayne with him or the 49ers would have to make a huge play at a Free Agent WR to make this appealing for Manning.  The other thing, Jim Harbaugh was a QB, he lost his job because the Colts drafted Peyton and even though Peyton stunk his first year, he went on to be the greatest Colt of all time.  That being said it would make for a good "full circle" story but who knows if these guys even get a long. Not to mention that Jim Harbaugh as a former QB likes to puppeteer his offense and has claimed that Alex Smith is his guy.  I think this situation is least likely but it has to be brought up due to the lack of a concrete QB.  But as a fan I think that if the Cardinals or Seahawks go after him, then the 49ers need to be active in that bidding process as well.

Rams - Why not? Sam Bradford has potential but we haven't seen it all yet.  He's has rocky moments and injuries.  He has great potential, but didn't they say that about Alex Smith the frist few seasons?  If you can get an elite Hall of Fame QB to take your team over the top or continute an experiement that hasn't gotten you to the playoff yet, then that might be the way to go.  But I also don't think this is that likely, I also don't think they will draft a QB, probably trade their pick to get more 1st rounders.

Ok I'm done, my favorites are the Chiefs, Jaguars, Dolphins, and Texans in that order.  It would be smart to make some Vegas bets on division winners before he goes to his next team and hope you pick the team that he goes to. 

At 4pm Peyton Manning is official a free agent, let the bidding begin!

Week 7 NFL Picks: USC Bowl & Superbowl Rematches

The USC BOWL - If newly aquired Raider Carson Palmer starts on Sunday he will be facing his former backup Mat Cassel, who is pictures on the right as the back up of Matt Leinart.  Carson was at one point mentioned as a top 3 QB in the league, has never seem to fully recovered from his season ending injury a few years back.  Leinart has been to the Superbowl but only as a backup, he has failed to establish himself as a starter.  Cassel on the other hand got the opportunity to shine when Tom Brady missed an entire season and was able to lead the Patriots to a 10 win season, I believe that they missed the playoffs that year.  But that year earned him faith from other teams and the Chiefs made the move to make him their starter and paid him a pretty penny. As a starter for the Chiefs Cassel won his division and took the team to the playoffs.

Can the Raiders be a bounce back team for Carson, I believe so.  They are an established running team and they really just need someone to manage plays. Carson can do that and he can get ball down the field to his young and fast WRs.  I'm picking the Carson Palmer Raiders to beat the Matt Cassel Chiefs on Sunday.  But if Carson doesn't start, I'm not as confident in this pick.

Now for the Superbowl Rematches this weekend. We have The Saints vs. The Colts and The Steelers vs. The Cardinals in Superbowl Rematches, the only issue is the teams that lost these particular Superbowls are also losing a lot of games this year and aren't anywhere near a Superbowl or Playoff quality team.

Pittsburgh over Cardinals - Only this time the Steelers defense won't have to contribute as much to win this game.

New Orleans over Indy - No Special Teams trickery needed just an easy stroll in the park should be enough for the Saints to win this one.

Seattle over Cleveland - I really don't want the Seahawks to win, but I think they are a better team than they appear and I really don't think Cleveland has what it takes to win.

Detroit over Atlanta - The Lions are one of the NFL's toughest teams, great defense and dynamic offense, The Falcons have just been OK this year.

Tennessee over Houston - I'm going with the home team in this divisional battle.  The fact that the Texans are missing a few key players makes this decision easier to make.

Miami over Denver - Miami has to get a win at some point, Matt Moore didn't look terrible against a good defense, so I think he will look better against a subpar defense. He was able to get the ball there but the coverage of the Jets was very good against the pass.  Even though its Tebow Day in Miami, I feel that the Dolphins can win this one.

San Diego over NYJ - This was a tough pick but I think a rested Philip Rivers will do better at leading his team to victory than Sanchez. For the Jets to win this game they would need to do it on the ground and on defense, not just one, but both of those and I don't see it happening.

Tampa Bay over Chicago - Eh.... Who knows, I just picked the underdog in this one, if they stick to their formula and run the ball as well as the Lions did against the Bears, the Buccs can control the clock and win this game.

Carolina over Washington - I really want the Skins to win this game, but I'm looking at the close games against tough team that the Panthers have loss.  They have the ability to put up points, I haven't seen that yet from the Skins.  Hopefully they prove me wrong.  The Skins best bet as winning is to just run the damn ball, the Panthers suck against the run. If they get away from that and attempt to make a name for John Beck, then it will be a long ride back to DC.  Skins Please Prove Me Wrong.

Dallas over St. Louis - The Rams are an average team with a lot of injures which makes them a bad team.  They also appear to have the toughest schedule in the west, this game isn't any easier.  The Cowboys can have multiple turnovers and mistakes, but still win this game.

Green Bay over Minnesota - Neither Ponder or McNabb stand a chance against this unreal Packers team. The Packers score at will, the Vikings aren't able to do that.

Baltimore over Jacksonville - The Jaguars are another team that just don't seem to have it together enough to win tough match ups. The Ravens are one of the top 3 or 5 teams in the league this year, wins like this should be easy.

My NFL Week 5 Picks - For the Birds...

I feel like I've used this picture before, but now its completely different. Mentor and Mentee from the Philly Byrd Gang will get a chance to square off and the only thing on the line is their future.  McNabb may think its Kolbs fault he got the boot from Philly, but wouldn't it be justice served if the guy that McNabb co-signed to come to Philly (Vick) is the reason that Kolb got the boot as well.  The bad thing is that none of the Byrd Gang QB's from 2 years ago are off to a good start.  Although Vick is putting up great fantasy numbers, real fans are getting their hearts broken at 1-3.  The Arizona Cardinals are sitting at 1-3 as well, they haven't played bad but they haven't finished games.  Then the Minnesota Vikings, who have become the choke artist team for the first quarter of the season, losing most of their games after having a nice lead at the half, are 0-4.  When teams are 0-4 usually you see coaches get fired or QBs get replaced.  With Christian Ponder already stating that he's excited to learn from a Pro Bowler but he wants that #1 spot, not later but right now, I think McNabb might have the most at stake right now.

Therefore in the battle of the former Eagles I'm picking Minnesota over Arizona

Here's my quick run down for the rest of the games:

Philly over Bills - I think the emotions and anger from last weeks game that was theirs for the taking that they ended up losing will fuel the Eagles to come together as a team and win this pivotal game on the road.

Carolina over  New Orleans - This is one of my underdog picks, I'd just like to see Cam win this divisional match up, plus its a home game, so I'll use that as my reason for giving them the advantage on this one.  On paper its seems like Carolina has the better pass defense thus far.  Not that they can stop Brees, but maybe they can make them rely on the run more than usual.  The bad thing is that I have both QBs on one of my Fantasy Teams, I haven't started Cam yet, but I'm considering it.

Houston over Oakland -  this might be the first time I picked against the Raiders, but the Texans have their running game back and even with out Andre Johnson I think they will have enough of a passing game to make the difference.  Plus their pass rush is pretty good, Campbell will be under pressure.

Indy over  KC - Honestly even though Indy lost on Monday, they looked like a better team than the Kerry Collins lead team.  I'm going with them for the win at home.

Cincy over Jacksonville - Just don't believe that the Jags can win games and Cincy has a nice defense.

NYG over Seattle - The Seahawks appeared to develop a passing game with Sidney Rice healthy, but the Giants have a much better passing game, as long as they don't leave this win up to chance and actually play like the team that they are, this should be an easy win.

Pittsburgh over Tennessee - this won't be an easy win, I'm giving Pitt the home field advantage on this one.  The Titans seem like a great improvement over last year, while the Steelers seem to still be on their Superbowl hangover.  Hopefully for them this home game can help them shake it off.

San Francisco 49ers over Tampa Bay - My reasons are this. I'm a 49ers fan. The Buccs had a short week. Last year Tampa came to town and held the 49ers scoreless at home for the first time since the 70s, which also lead to the firing of Singleterry.  Not that Harbaugh is anywhere near a hot seat of any sort, but this will be big redemption game for him at home for 1 the overtime loss against the Cowboys at home and for 2 to show that he's here to clean up the mess of the past 7 years.  Last reason is that Tampa is better when their run game is thriving, the 49ers have one of the toughest Run Defenses in the league, if McCoy had a bad game imagine how Blount will do.

San Diego over Denver - The Chargers are just a better all around team, I would be shocked if the Broncos win, even though they are at home.

New England over NYJ - I can't see Brady and the gang getting beat at home by the No Offense Jets.  Not to mention the Jets defense doesn't look as well put together as it did last year.

Green Bay over Atlanta - Sure the Falcons have home field advantage, but this isn't last years Falcons or the Matty Ice that we've seen in the past, furthermore Aaron Rodgers has become unreal this year, this is a career year.  On top of that they know that in order to win their division this year that have to be flawless.  The Packers have 5 more games that could be tough, including this one (ATL, SD, DET, NYG, DET) but at the rate they are going this looks like undefeated team that might do what the Patriots could do against the Giants in the Superbowl a few years ago. Yeah I Said It, someone alert the '72 Dolphins. LOL.

Detroit over Chicago - This hasn't really been an exciting match up in awhile but I think the Lions won't need to make any comebacks to win this game.  I think it will be close but I'll give Detroit the advantage for being at home and for having a better Passing Game.

Update: ESPN decided to highlight the Eagles QBs in an article as well, I guess great minds think a like. All three are having a tough year.  But the season is far from over for either of them, well at least not yet.