Surely the league has more pressing issues than cheerleaders. As for actual games, this week seems a bit light on key matchups but there are plenty of interesting games from a wagering standpoint. Miami has its best chance to get in the win column hosting Oakland. They give 4 points, which seems about right, considering LB Zack Thomas got his bell rung and may not be able to play. Baltimore visits Cleveland in a game that could be a blowout or a nailbiter. Look for the latter, as Baltimore doesn't have the offensive firepower to exploit the weak Brown's defense. Payback time for ex-Ravens star RB Jamal Lewis, now carrying the mail for Cleveland. Ravens giving 4. Stay away from it. Houston gives 3 to Atlanta playing at home. Tough day for Atlanta fans and front office as ex-backup QB and fan fave Matt Schaub returns at the helm of the 2-1 Texans. Give the points. Chicago visits Detroit in a game with possible playoff implications, at least for the Bears. They really can't afford to pick up a third loss with streaking GB at 3-0. The Bears are only giving 3, but the Lions do have an offense. Is it an offense that can stand up to the fierce Bears' defense like the Cowboys did? I doubt it. Will the Bears offense unite behind vet signal caller Brian Griese? Probably. This one could come down to coaching. If the Lions play not to lose, they probably will. Their chance is to come out smoking, throwing the ball all over the field to their excellent wideouts and hope they can put up a couple of early scores on chicago and force them to play catchup. I am concerned about the Bears injury situation. Briggs, Harris, Tillman and Vasher on the D missed practice. Stay away from what looks to be a gift from Vegas. The surprising GB Packers face the Vikes in the 'Dome. The vikes get 1 1/2 which seems a little light, considering they've only scored 51 points in three games. GB has put up 82. Vikes also have some injury issues. Go with Farve. Dallas gives 11 at home against St. L. With RB Steven Jackson and QB Marc Bulger both hurting, the 0-3 Rams figure to get blown out. give the points. The Jets are getting 3 1/2 on the road at Buffalo. Who cares? Carolina/Tampa Bay are off the board. Seattle gives 2 at SF. Tough game to figure. Avoid. The Steelers take a trip out west to Arizona and bring 6 points with them. Seems a little high with Hines Ward hurting, but the Cards have injury concerns with anquan Boldin. Steelers probably cover but seems dicey. KC visits SD in an absolute must win game for Norv Turner. Bolts are giving 11 1/2. SD looks on the edge of unraveling, but KC could be just what they need to feel good again. Avoid. Indy gives 10 to visiting Denver. Denver somehow has a 2-1 record and sits atop the AFC West, which isn't saying much. They have been outscored 57-52 so far. I'd be very tempted to give the points here. Philly visits the Giants and is a 3 point favorite. Both teams have sucked, both have clubhouse issues and the loser will face a steep climb back to the playoffs. The Giants defense looked vastly better last week against the Redskins, but this one will be decided by which McNabb shows up. If the one who can't run and can't hit wide open receivers shows up, Giants will even their record at 2-2. Good test for still unproven Giants QB Manning against the blitzing Eagles. I like the Giants here. Tough to win on the road in the NFC East. The Monday night game features NE on the road in Cincy. Bengals get 7, which seems like a lot until we recall that the Browns hung 51 on them. How many will Brady, Moss et al ring up? I want to like NE a lot here, but Bengals can find the endzone as well and a couple of turnovers could be costly either way. Pats.
Great news on Kevin Everett the Bills tight end who broke his neck. http://deadspin.com/sports/uh-oops/there-are-no-words-304799.php I smell local sports Emmy
Damn. WTF is going on with Green Bay? Brett and the Pack are kicking ass. All my teams suck this year.
How about those Browns?!?!?! Beat Baltimore, Beat Cinci - we are 2-1 in the division and EASILY could be 3-1 if we beat Oakland. This ship is turning boys and it finally feels good.
note - and this is without Quinn starting or playing at all!!! I think this is going as planned - they can sit Quinn for as many games as possible this year to give him some learning time. Which I agree 100% with b/c we do not need another Tim Couch mess here. I actually feel bad for Couch b/c he never stood a chance with the team that was here. Back on topic, Anderson has looked sharp most of the time, but there are times when you say 'here we go...' But that did not happen today. He threw one int and there were ZERO sacks. You guys have no idea how much of a change that is for us. It appears Joe Thomas and Steinbach have that left side of our OL shored up. Hopefully they can both stay healthy... If you need a backup QB in your fantasy league, Anderson may be available and is not a bad option in my opinion. We've seen that the Browns so far need to throw - either b/c we want to or we need to.
As a cheesehead and life-long-Packer-fan* I can offer only one possible explanation; divine intervention. Brett has never credited god in public, but it's safe to assume he is pointing to the sky when he gets home at night. Brett Favre's Packers are part of a fundamental good. (*ok my first five years were spent in Chicago, ... but even then I knew the Bears sucked. ....Regional joke.) That or the Pack's got one of the best QB's in history who is in the zone and has found new motivation, enough talent at wide-receiver, good coaching, a defense that can stop the run on a dime and excellent D-Backs, in addition, an O-Line that refuses to allow a sack. Pus ... a HOF worthy start from their field-goal kicker, and excellent over-all special teams play! Conclusion? Pack Wins It All! (Or at least gives their very best effort against the Patriots or Colts, which is enough for any Packer fan)
The Patriots real dirty secret - their pathetic division. Imagine if your team was guaranteed to win half its games this year. Jets/Buffalo game - no score for 3 quarters. Sad.
isn't life a bitch...one day they escort daunte off the practice field..without so much as a goodbye ( literally escort him off with security guards ) and the next he is running in for 2 td's and rubbing it in the fans faces...cam cameron what say you now??...we need freakin answers...
Interesting games yesterday. Must be a great day to be a Browns' fan. They have put humiliating defeats on their two hated rivals, the Bengals and the Ravens. I'll admit I totally misjudged this club, although my comments on this game last week warned bettors to avoid it. The Ravens' offense is so pathetic it makes them a dicey bet against any team with the potential to put it in the end zone. While the sun shines on Cleveland, things are not so nice in several NFL cities. Take San Diego for instance. Hint: If you wake up one morning and you are the GM of a team that just went 14-2, it's probably not a great idea to fire the coach and replace him with a guy who failed in previous head coaching stints at two storied franchises. SD blew a lead yesterday to KC at home, then heard it from the fans. Mar-tee, Mar-tee, Mar-tee. Look on the bright side. There are 12 games left and the Bolts could win all of them. Color me skeptical. At least Chargers fans were somewhat prepared for disaster. They lost at home in the playoffs last year. The Bears by contrast made the Super Bowl, a feat they will be hard-pressed to repeat this year. At this rate, making the playoffs will be a challenge. I warned last week to stay away from what looked like an inviting spread against the Lions because the Bears defense had injury problems and the Lions had a quick-strike attack. The Bears certainly can attest to that, as they watched in horror as the Lions put up an NFL record 34 points on them in a wild fourth quarter that saw each team run a kickoff back for a TD. I guess if you give a team enough high first round picks, a mad genius offensive coordinator and a half-way decent veteran QB, they can embarrass any defense. Looks like the Lions are not a joke any more. The Steelers came back to earth against a much improved Arizona Cardinals squad. In fairness, the Cardinals staff of embittered ex-Steelers coaches probably knows the Steelers better than their rookie coach. There was clearly a pay-back element to this game. Maybe a one game aberration for the Steelers, maybe they're not quite as good as advertised. Other games went pretty much to form, with Dallas, Indy and GB getting solid wins and covering the spread, as recommended. Houston fell flat against Atlanta, giving me my only loss in recommended games. Last night, the NY Giants thoroughly demolished the erratic Eagles and not only covered but won the game getting one point. Call it 4-1 for last week's rec's, going into tonight. The Cincy-NE Monday night game raises an obvious question: should you allow the children to watch? Under coach Marvin Harrison, who formerly oversaw Ray Lewis and crew at Baltimore, the Bengals have led the league in arrests and obnoxious behavior. NE went from being the league's most admired franchise with a string of Super Bowl wins, the consensus best coach and too perfect QB Tom Brady to an embarrassing team with a Barry Bond-sized question mark over its accomplishments. Coach Bellichek went from being charmingly eccentric to downright weird, Brady looked like a jerk in abandoning his pregnant actress GF in favor of a new super model of the month and there are mutters around the league that the team got off too easy for the cheating scandal and that it was merely the tip of the iceberg. Whatever. Cincy RB Rudi Johnson is out and I look for the Pats to cover.