Forget The House, Let’s Talk Yards!
September 26, 2008
Well, well, well; our boys ARE human after all. As all of Patriot Nation already knows, the Pats looked horrible against Miami last Sunday, losing 38-13. Shortly after the game, a friend of mine said to me “That’s it! I’m not taking the Pats again for the rest of the season. They stink!” Oh Boy! I envisioned echoes of the same scenario being vehemently spoken in watering holes throughout Boston. Although, I don’t agree, I do think that what goes up, must come down or at the very least, level out a bit. Frankly, I think the Pats just stumbled some, they’re human, let’s just give them a break. We are spoiled by the outstanding at home win record, so much so that any loss has become unacceptable. Hey, it was only ONE game. I’m sure our boys will just shake it off and get back to work. The Patriots are on a BYE in week 4, which will give them an opportunity to lick their wounds, re-group, and come up with a good game plan that Cassel can be successful with. Joining the Pats on our first BYE WEEK are the Lions, Colts, Dolphins, Giants and Seahawks.
Buffalo just barely achieved a win last week when Oakland came to town. At half-time, the score was 9-7 Oakland – - and then late into the fourth quarter, the total went from 16-7 Oakland within minutes to an incredible 24-23 Buffalo Squeak Win. Where did THAT Oakland Raider team come from? Oakland’s WR Johnny Lee Higgins had one reception for 84 yards and a touchdown. Imagine having that job? You make one run at 84 yards, carrying a football, as fast as you can, dodging gigantic guys trying to maim you, and you will get paid….hmmm, well, what do you think a regular wide receiver would get paid? At least $10k a game right? 84 yards for ten thousand – that sounds reasonable, and not the least bit crazy. Seriously though, imagine being Oakland? What a horrible loss for them ~ it must have seemed like Buffalo was toying with them right up until the very end, just to keep it interesting. It was almost like an opossum playing dead and then popping up and running away with your bread and butter. Bummer Dudes. This Sunday, Buffalo (-8) goes to St. Louie and Oakland (+7) hosts San Diego as home dogs. How ironic is that?
San Diego looked fabulous on Monday night against the J-J-Jets in a 48-29 victory…oh, that was a beautiful OVER. Cha-Ching. The Chargers appear to be in possession of a very powerful chip on their shoulders that caused some magical confidence to enter into their game plan. I expect them to plow into Oakland and continue to dominate as the talented team they are. I do despise admitting that my favorite football guy, Brett Farve, most definitely looked his age. For me, watching Farve play football the past ten years, was like seeing him in an after school pickup game with his friends (except on TV of course). He was always either tackling wide receivers and twirling them, or laughing and jumping pointing his finger as #1 into the air. Always enjoying the game, having fun, taking chances and mostly succeeding, but mainly, loving what he did. It’s probably the reason why he couldn’t bear to face retirement. Last week, I had read somewhere that Farve was angry with Mangini for running Thomas Jones three times in the red zone when they played the Pats in week one – and then last week, before the game, it was reported that Mangini was allowing Farve carte blanche with the passes. Which means “Watch Out” as it’s usually Farve’s forte….but I guess it wasn’t such a great plan against the angry and hungry Chargers. The Jets (-1.5) host the Cardinals this week and hopefully Mangini is smart enough to let Farve regain his boyish charm and do his thing against an Arizona team who have no trouble moving the chains but do struggle with D.
Speaking of No. 4; my beloved Green Bay Pack got squashed by the ‘Rootin’ Tootin’ Cowboys. Dimpled, smiling country boy, Tony Romo and that super fast Marion Barber, streaked into previously unbeaten Lambaugh Field and opened up a can of whoopash on the Packers, winning 27-16. Rodgers and his team fought gallantly to the very end with their efforts ranging from flips and flops to forward and backward passes, it was admirable, but during some parts they did resemble a bunch of stooges. In the end, the Cowboys just out played them. This week, Dallas (-10.5) hosts the Washington Redskins and the Boys will probably win although I doubt they’ll cover this high spread. Some history between these two teams shows the results of the two games they played against each other last year; November 18th: Dallas 28 Wash 23 and December 30th: Wash 27 Dallas 6 – a Redskin straight up win.
The Packers go to Tampa (-1.5) for a ‘Battle of the Bays’ and I think the Pack will survive here as long as they forget what they need to forget and remember what they need to remember. How’s that for political? Super Cryptic. Tampa is still soaking in the bliss of a close win against the Bears (27-24) in overtime last week and will try to ride the motivation wave at home. John Gruden at this moment probably has his team feverishly scouring game tapes to discover whatever the Cowboys did to tame the Pack’s Young Slinger.
Atlanta squashed Kansas City last week 38-14. Big Woop. Atlanta goes on to Carolina (-7) and we’ll see if Jake Delhomme can pull out a win now that Steve Smith is catching for him again; even though they both sputtered against a tough Minnesota Defense last week losing (20-10).
Minnesota goes to Tennessee (-3) and this should be a battle of the Defenses and the battle of the Backup Quarterback in Kerry Collins for Tennessee and Gus Feroute in Minnesota. Weird stuff. In Philadelphia last week, what promised to be a high scoring thrashing, ended up being a defensive struggle and an incredibly low-scoring Philly win (15-6) over Pittsburgh. Roethlisberger was sacked like a rag doll, 8 times by a smash-mouth Philly defense that looked scary good. Philly (-3) goes to Chicago this week and Baltimore comes to Pittsburgh (-5.5) in a couple more tough defensive match-ups. All three of the above games should be low scoring with a lot of running and stuffing. No gravy. Yawn. I like points.
This week, KC hosts Denver (-9), and personally, I think KC will lose by every single point – if not 5 to 10 more. Denver played and won their third game in a row against the N’Ahlin Saints who have a pretty explosive offense themselves. Denver’s D might be questionable though, since it was their second close win with a lot of points on the board for each team. The first coming against San Diego in week two with the infamous “bad call(s)” (39-38) win and then another close win last week against New Orleans (34-32), both awesome OVER games which makes me think that Denver is this year’s OVER team. New discoveries are born each day.
New Orleans (-5) hosts the San Francisco 49ers and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Saints cover that spread and for the total points to go over 48. As we saw, N’Ahlins can sling the ball around the field, and the 49ers can too, although they have a younger team who are still learning how to mesh.
I must admit, I did love watching the Jaguars beat the Colts (23-21). Jacksonville’s RB, Maurice Jones Drew, wow, what an animal runner he is, you just give him the ball and he…could…go…all…the…way. Historically, I always find that the Jags have always played the Colts well. I have to say, Peyton Manning irks me. I went to a couple of Pats/Indy games and want to hear something? During the TV Commercials, at Gillette Stadium, they play the Peyton Manning commercials – I mean really! Are they trying to get Colt fans killed? People are screaming, “Cut that Meat!”. I thought that commercial was so very wrong on many different levels. To me, he portrayed himself as a jerk by basically ridiculing people for being his fans. All he really deserves from his fans is: “Stop your whining”! And then there’s that one where he has the fake mustache and he’s talking about how great he is. ChEEsy. Doesn’t Peyton have a public relations guy watching his back?
Jacksonville (-7) hosts the Houston Texans and I would expect Jacksonville to pull out a win here – maybe even a cover.
Last week, I made some picks that didn’t work out so well for me. Yikes I’m facing a 1-5 mark – not a good start. Good thing it’s early. I now can guess how IM Bettor must have felt last year; exposed, wrong and vulnerable (also broke). It’s one thing to pick games in your living room, another to be out on the INTERNET.
Until next week folks, may your Sunday be filled with high fives, flushed faces yelling “Touch Down”, and a big bucket of five-alarm chili!
Week 4 Picks: Washington +10.5; Denver -9 and Over 48 New Orleans/SanFran.
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5 Responses to “Forget The House, Let’s Talk Yards!”
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My yard has alot off crab grass. I don’t get the whole feed the lawn,weed the lawn,
water the lawn,so you have to mow the lawn concept.Has green tar been invented
yet?I don’t really have lawn problems,I’m just teasing.Not that I think teasing is
a good idea,but bet the house on the Boys and the Chargers this weekend,and
I’ld love to see Farv-er-ra get torched again this week.Great article Kim,keep up
the good work.
Great pick on Washington….I thought Denver would’ve torched KC but parity is king in today’s NFL….NO/SF over was a nice touch too. Your picks the week before had me taking emergency money from the kid’s college fund to keep the “Entertainment Purposes Only” slush fund up and running. It pays to have a short memory and a positivie outlook if you’re going to put some cabbage on the ponies.
Can’t stand Favre but this is going to be one the greatest AFC East battles that I can remember.
Go Sox…if my mommy will let me stay up that late!
Hey Guys,
Hope you had successful, profitable weekends. Thanks for your comments – I wish I saw them yesterday before the games – - you know picking things on a Thusday night is far different than picking on a Sunday morning or even Sunday afternoon for that matter…. For example, Last night I loved Chicago +3.5 and the Over 39.5 and Cha Ching A Ling Ling, whereas last Thurs. it looked like a Philly Under – you see my conundrum? I’ll work on it. Washington was my big pick for the week. I guess Denver’s D is a little more porous than I thought, because KC is still not good. I think Farve may have read my article, it made him mad, he scored 56 points and now I feel bad because he thinks that I think – he’s old. Oh Boy. As far as college goes, the kids need to get jobs anyhow, it builds character. lol. I like Baltimore tonight +5.5; Pittsburgh is hurting…but due to the teams playing – I’m not even really interested in feeding the ponies tonight, especially with that too scary low 3.5 total. Thanks guys! Have a great day.
Kim
I mean, 33.5 total tonight.
HELP!!! I need a new house.