Archive for September, 2009
Week 2 NFL Picks
Solid 4-1 start in week one. Let’s keep the wins coming – here are this weekend’s picks, winners are in italics.
1. Carolina @ Atlanta (-6). Jake Delhomme is a mess, 9 interceptions and 2 fumbles in his last two games. The Falcon’s defense really surprised me last weak against the Dolphins, and Matty Ice and the offense looked really efficient. Falcons win this one big.
2. Cincinnati @ Green Bay (-7). The Bungles looked awful last week against the Broncos. Aaron Rodgers had his moments last week against a stingy Bears defense. Look for the Packers to play a lot better offensively this week and put up a lot of points.
3. Houston @ Tennessee (-7). The Texans looked awful last week against a rookie quarterback, and the Titans played the Steelers tough in Pittsburgh. The Titans D will force several turnovers and Kerry Collins will continue his consistent play. Titans win this by at least 2 scores
4. Indianapolis (-3) @ Miami. Like I said last week, the Dolphins will not be as good as they were last year. The Dolphins had too many turnovers last week against a supposedly bad Falcons D. The Colts will be able to move the ball with ease and win easily.
5. Minnesota (-10) @ Detroit. The Lions were able to put some points up against the Saints last week, but the Viking’s D will be a different story. Stafford has a tough game, and Brett Favre and Adrian Peterson rack up a ton of yards and points on the Lions.
6. Oakland (+3) @ Kansas City. The Raiders looked good on Monday night and should have won that game against the Chargers. Matt Cassel is questionable for the game, and I am not sold on him as quarterback outside the Patriots system. The Raider’s D plays tough, and Darren McFadden has a big game.
7. Baltimore (+3) @ San Diego. The Charger’s defense looked suspect last week against the Raiders, and took a big hit when they placed NT Jamal Williams on IR. LT hasn’t been the same since his record breaking season, and the Raven’s D can focus on Philip Rivers. Joe Flacco will make some big plays in this game, and the Ravens go out west and steal a game from the Chargers.
8. New York Giants (+3) @ Dallas. The Cowboys are expecting 100,000 people in the first regular season NFL game in their ridiculous new stadium and will be fired up. But the Giants have a solid defense and their passing game surprised me last week. The Cowboys defense looked really suspect last week against the Bucs. Tony Romo will have some costly interceptions and the Giants ruin the debut of the new Cowboy Stadium.
New Vitamin Water Spot Featuring Steve Nash
Vitamin Water is awesome and Steve Nash is awesome – so of course it made perfect sense to pair the two in a commercial. All Nash needs to do now are ads for Jimmy Johns – those are some freaky good subs. Oh – does anyone else think Steve Nash reminds them of Frank T.J. Mackey – Tom Cruise’s character from Magnolia?
Week 3 College Football Picks
Another .500 week last week in the college ranks – leaves me at 7-7-1 for the season. Need to step up my game and not make as many risky gambles – picks are in italics
1. Ga Tech @ Miami (-4). Seriously, Miami is favored in this game after they got run all over on last year? I was expecting Tech to be a touchdown favorite, but this will be a tough call. Since I can’t stand Ga. Tech – I’m picking the U.
2. USC @ Washington (+19.5). USC is going to have a bit of a hangover in this game after the game in Columbus last week. They are also a little banged up, so we’ll see how they followup last week’s big win. The Trojans are also know to randomly lose a game when everyone least expects them. Washington is much improved and expect Steve Sarkisian have the team ready to play.
3. Tennessee @ Florida (-30). Did you ever expect to see the Vols as a 30 point underdog in conference??? Florida has had this game circled during the off-season after Lane Kiffin started opening his mouth in Knoxville. Remember the last time they played in the swamp, Florida won by 39 – and that was a UT team that went the the SEC championship game. Florida wins this one huge.
4. Nebraska @ Va Tech (-5.5). Nebraska finally plays some real competition and will realize that they are not quite back to their level of before. The Hokie D stops the Cornhuskers, and Tyrod Taylor has a big game running and throwing. Va Tech wins this game comfortably.
5. UGA (+2.5) @ Arkansas. Again, another game that I was surprised who the favorite was. Arkansas is going to be a really good team this year, and they had 2 weeks to prepare for this game. But I think having the layoff after playing Missouri State is going to have the Razorbacks rusty – and it will take some time for them to get things flowing on both sides of the ball. Georgia wins this one, but it will be close.
6. Mississippi State @ Vanderbilt (-8.5). The Bulldogs ended Vanderbilt’s undefeated start last year, so the Commodores are looking for some payback. Vandy has been notorious about playing to their competition level in the past, so if they want to prove that they are ready to take the next step – they need to elevate their game, and this is the perfect game to prove it. The MSU defense is horrible, they will be shuffling two quarterbacks in and out, and they have a first year coach – which are all remedies to get them back on the winning track. The loss of Hamilton and Williams are huge, but there can’t be a hangover after the LSU game if they want to win this game. A televised night game at home – Vandy will be ready for this one and win big.
7. Florida St. @ BYU (-8). The Seminoles looked bad last week in an ugly win over Jacksonville State. This game is in Utah and BYU has gotten off to a fast start this year and looks real good. BYU wins this big.
8. California (-13.5) @ Minnesota. This game is going to be a shootout if the Golden Bears can wake up for it – note: remember the last time they had to play a game at 12:00 EST last year at Maryland. I don’t think Minnesota’s offense can keep up with Cal’s – the Golden Bears win this one by atleast 2 touchdowns.
Little Girl Throws Foul Ball Back
The look on his face when she threw the ball over is priceless.
Raiders Get Hosed by Refs on Monday Night
I was catching this game last night and saw Louis Murphy make this touchdown catch right before halftime before I changed the channel. Well at least I, and probably everybody else watching the game, thought it was a touchdown. The Raiders had to settle for a field goal, and eventually lost by that four point differential. Nice job NFL
The Madden Curse Continues
In an eerie trend of atheletes who are on the cover of the Madden game getting injured – Troy Polamalu left last Thursday night’s game with a knee injury that will keep him out at least 3-6 weeks. Fantasy owners are probably hoping Larry Fitzgerald, who shares the Madden 2010 cover with Polamalu, wraps himself in bubble wrap when suits up to play. Here’s a quick rundown of the cover atheletes and their ill-fated seasons following:
2002: Daunte Culpepper – Suffers a knee injury and misses 5 games and produces horrible numbers – Vikings finish the year 5-11.
2004: Mike Vick – Breaks his leg in a preseason game and misses all but last few games of year – Falcons struggle to a 5-11 record.
2005: Ray Lewis – Suffers a season ending hamstting injury in Week 6.
2006: Donovan McNabb – Tears his ACL midway through the season while running out of bounds
2007: Shaun Alexander – Suffers a broken foot and misses 6 games. Ultimately his career is never the same.
2008: Vince Young – Has a mental meltdown and is replaced for the rest of the season and following season in favor of Kerry Collins.
2009: Brett Favre – After a fast start – the Jets miss the playoffs and Favre suffers a torn bicep
Which brings us to Madden 2010 with Polamalu getting injured in Week 1 of the 2009 season. If I were an NFL athelete, I would stay clear of that cover.
CavMan Goes Down
After losing the home opener to William& Mary, it looks like nothing is going right for the UVA football. On the bright side, he didn’t impale himself with his sword.
Ellis Lankster Shows How Not to Conduct an Interview
One of the veterans had to put him up to this right? This is like rookie initiation – seeing how many “like ums” he could drop in the post game interview. I bet it was T.O. who made him do it.
Week 1 NFL Football Picks
I love this time of year – Its such a great feeling to wake up Sunday morning and have another full day of games after enjoying all the football on Saturday. Here are the picks for week 1 – winners are italicized.
1. Miami @ Atlanta (-4). The Falcons defense looked pretty bad this preseason, but I think they’ll make enough stops and the offense will put up plenty of points against the Dolphins. The Dolphins will take a step back this year after a surprise run last year.
2. Minnesota (-4) @ Cleveland. The Vikings greatly improved their offense by bringing in Brett Favre. If he limits his mistakes this year, and plays more of a game manager role – this team will go deep in the playoffs. I just don’t see the Browns getting back to their surprise 11-5 season from 2007 any time soon – Vikings win big.
3. Detroit @ New Orleans (-14). You know a team is bad when they are 14 point underdogs in the NFL. Starting a rookie quarterback after coming off an 0-16 season – this game is going to be ugly. Especially with as explosive as the Saints offense is. With a much improved defense – watch for them to challenge the Falcons in the NFC South.
4. Washington (+6.5) @ NY Giants. I am not sold on the Giants and Eli Manning without Plaxico Burress in the lineup. Jason Campbell finally has an offensive coordinator for two straight years in the NFL, and you will see him make the jump to the next echelon of quarterbacks this year. I like both defenses, but I like Washington’s offense just a little more this year – this will be a close game coming down to the final plays.
5. Chicago (+4) @ Greenbay. The NFC North this year is going to be the best division in football – it wouldn’t surprise me if they send 3 teams to the playoffs. Greenbay is going to be a tough team, but I see Chicago staying close in this game with a shot to win it in the final drive. Plus you can’t go against a team with so many Vanderbilt alumni on its roster.
Week 2 College Football Picks
After a quick 2-0-1 start last Thursday, the weekend ended with a shaky 4-4-1 result. Time to get things back on track – winners are in italics.
1. South Carolina(+7) @ UGA. Both teams’ offenses looked bad last week. This will be a classic SEC defensive battle – UGA will win, but it will be a close game.
2. Notre Dame @ Michigan(+3). The Wolverines looked real good last week, and I am not ready to jump on the Notre Dame band wagon like everyone else after they’ve won two in a row dating back to last season against Hawaii and Nevada.
3. UCLA @ Tennessee (-10). As much as it pains me to pick UT – I just don’t see UCLA’s offense being capable of doing much scoring on the Volunteer’s defense.
4. Syracuse @ Penn St (-28.5). Syracuse looked decent last week with Greg Paulus at quarterback – but he is going to get a wakeup call this week. This game is at Happy Valley, and Penn St. will put up a lot of points and play smothering D. The Nittany Lions win this game huge.
5. USC(-7) @ Ohio State. Ohio State looked bad against Navy last week and will continue its trend of losing to BCS non conference opponents. USC is 5 or 6 deep at running back – Even with a freshman starter at quarterback, UCS wins this one big.
6. Vanderbilt (+14.5) @ LSU. I know this game is in Baton Rouge at night, where LSU has won a ridiculous 30 consecutive Saturday night games. But Vandy looked really good last week and are 3-4 deep at running back even without Jared Hawkins. I think the defense steps up and Larry Smith keeps the defense guessing all night. This will be a closer game than most people think, with the Commodores hanging tough late with a chance to win.