2010 Week #8

Here are the picks for a ghoulish Week 8.

Fav

Spread

Dog

Dre

Jay

SF (1-6)	1	Den (2-5)		London, ENG	Den	Den
KC (4-2)	7	Buf (0-6)			Buf	KC
DAL (1-5)	6½	Jack (3-4)			Dal	Dal
STL (3-4)	2½	Car (1-5)			Car	StL
CIN (2-4)	1	Mia (3-3)			Mia	Mia
DET (1-5)	2½	Wash (4-3)			Wash	Det
NYJ (5-1)	6	GB (4-3)			GB	NY
SD (2-5)	4	Tenn (5-2)			Tenn	Tenn
ARIZ(3-3)	3	TB (4-2)			TB	TB
NE (5-1)	5½	Min (2-4)			NE	NE
OAK(3-4)	2½	Sea (4-2)			Oak	Sea
	Sun. Nite
NO (4-3)	1	Pit (5-1)			Pit	NO
	Mon. Nite
IND (4-2)	5½	Hou (4-2)			Hou	Ind

Some of our thoughts and observations included:

• Looking forward to seeing which league-wide trends continue this week.  Will it be the Year of the Ref Screw-Job, where officials find ways to rip victories out of the hands of deserving teams?  Or will it be the Year of the Stats Victory, where teams point to outgaining their opponents in yardage by a wide margin and try to take pride in winning the yardage game while losing the actual contest?
• How about Niners-Broncos for a great representation of the National Football League on an international scale?  Yuck.  Jason believes that the packaging of explosives meant to be sent from Yemen to America this week wasn't a terrorist attempt, but rather an effort to shut down air travel so that San Francisco and Denver couldn't make the trip to England and play this shitty game.  But it didn't work, unfortunately, as both planes made it to the U.K.  We'll take the Broncos to knock off Coach Psycho.
• I'm staying with the successful formula from last week of taking Buffalo to cover a big spread but not win the game, although they could have beaten Baltimore if not for a lucky bounce or two.  Jason has Kansas City steamrolling the Bills.
• As much as we hate the Cowboys, we'll give up the points and take Dallas to stomp Jacksonville, because that's how bad the Jaguars are, and because we're betting on a bounce for the Boys as they pick up the slack for a fallen teammate and rally around injured QB Tony Romo.  If they can't run the ball this week, with the flaccid Jags D and a desire to protect new QB Jon Kitna, then they may not win another game.
• I think I'm taking Carolina again only because I'm feeling prettay prettay prettay good about my upset pick last week of Panthers over 49ers.  Not a lot of folks with me on that pick I'm guessing.  I also like Matt Moore finding different people to throw to than Steve Smith, so I'll pick him to do it again versus a not-so-impressive Rams defense.  Jason is less than impressed with the Panthers.
• One of these days, I'm going to take the Cincinnati Bengals to beat someone.  I don't think they're one of the worst teams in the league, but I do think they're highly overrated, so I find myself picking against them every game because I believe that their opponent is a better team.  It applies this week too.  I believe Miami is a better overall team, and I have Jason on my side for this pick.  The Dolphins should win this one handily because they can dominate time of possession running the ball down the Bengals' throats and back it up with good pass play when needed.
• I similarly feel like Washington can dominate the Detroit Lions on the road by taking the air out of the ball with a solid running game.  From the first time I saw Ryan Torain run for the Redskins, I figured that he would be most effective rushing against not just a statistically weak run defense, but a physically weak team that would specifically wear down against a physical runner like Torain.  Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Detroit Lions, 27th in the league against the run, getting gashed at 4.9 yards per carry, and ripe for an anal raping at the hands of Torain and the Skins.  Jason will hold true to his statement last week of Washington being the luckiest team in the league, and he will take Detroit off a bye.
• The New York Jets are also coming off a bye, and they continue a trend of being high-caliber opponents for the Green Bay Packers, who have had the Vikings, the Dolphins, and the Redskins the last three weeks.  Combine that with the Jets being at home, and Jason really likes New York for this tilt.  I foresee a huge game for Aaron Rodgers passing against the much ballyhooed Jets secondary, and a late high-scoring Packers victory.  Darrelle Revis may not be healthy just because his hamstring had two weeks to heal.  The hamstring doesn't know that it's supposed to be healed just because it had two weeks of rest.
• Jason loves the Titans over the Chargers, who are beat up and reeling and wondering how they can dominate stats in most of their games (SD is #1 in pass offense and pass defense) and still be only 2-5.  I say they will find a way to win this one just because they're due.  But I don't have confidence that they can find a way to win by more than a FG.
• We'll both take Radio Raheem Morris, the coach of the "best team in the NFC," the one and only Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  They're playing Arizona, who may be unpickable as long as they insist on sending out Max Hall as their QB.  Jason would like royalty pay from Josh Freeman, who's been getting free pub from Jason ever since the beginning of last year, when he opened the Josh Freeman Fan Club, which still has only one member.  Jason did indeed say that of all the QBs from last year's draft, he liked Freeman the best.  Turns out he was only a year ahead.
• And we'll both go with the Patriots to beat Brett Favre and his ankle fractures and fragments.  Whatever inside info Randy Moss could provide the Vikings on his old team, it won't help them actually stop New England from going up and down the field.
• Two teams playing way above their heads, coming off big wins last week...I'll take Oakland after they savaged the Broncos in Denver, and Jason will go with Seattle, who smothered Arizona.
• On Halloween Night, Jason will pick the Saints to wake up the ghosts and bounce back from that embarrassing beating Cleveland handed them last week.  (That punter run the Browns pulled off is the Play of the Year so far, though.)  I'll take the Steelers in a very close, fun matchup.  Their running game should provide enough of a cushion to ward off any late New Orleans black magic.
• I'll walk the tightrope on Monday night and take the Houston Texans, with their beast of a RB Arian Foster, to keep it close against the Indianapolis Colts and cover 5½.  Feels like a huge score with lots of back-and-forth scoring.  I'll call it 41-37.  Jason thinks the Colts will get spooked at the thought of starting 0-3 in their division and two games in back of the Texans, and will put on a prime time show to win by at least a TD.