- How did Jason catch me in the season standings already? Well, it's hard to hold a lead when you refuse to win any picks on Sunday after 3 o'clock.
- The day started off fine with an ugly Carolina win over an ugly Jacksonville team. Sloppy weather, sloppy play, sloppy mess all around. But we covered, so it was a beautiful sloppy mess. Not fair to break this one down considering the conditions. Oh, New Orleans visits the Jags next Sunday. Lock of the Century.
- And we had success picking Denver to cover a large number at Tennessee. This game slogged back and forth with neither team showing much offensive prowess, but then Matt Hasselbeck rose from the dead and led the Titans on a drive through the air, resulting in the TD that made the difference in the game. Despite his best receiver, Kenny Britt, destroying his knee, Hasselbeck went over 300 yards anyway, a surprising performance to say the least. I'll have to be more careful picking the Titans to get killed this year because, as long as the Hass stays in one piece, he's veteran enough to always keep his team in the game.
- Here's a game where if either me or Jason would have won, the other could call it lucky because both teams had many chances to put the other away. Houston and New Orleans put on a classic for anyone who bet the over. Scoring back and forth, neither defense willing to give an inch because they were too busy giving miles. I learned that no lead is too big for Drew Brees and the Saints to overcome, and I learned that the Texans better get the ball in the end zone early or risk not having a big enough lead. The reason the Saints could mount a comeback is because Matt Schaub and the Houston offense settled for FGs several times throughout the game when they could have been scoring TDs.
- OK, does someone have a Leslie Frazier voodoo doll that they put to use in the 2nd half of Vikings games? The Minnesota coach has watched halftime leads vaporize in his first 3 games, not a good way to start a career. Those are some awesome athletes Minnesota sends out there--Adrian Peterson, Percy Harvin, Jared Allen, to name a few--and yet, they can't figure out a way to hold leads. This week, it was Calvin "Megatron" Johnson and the Detroit Lions finding their way back into the game in the 2nd half. The best athlete on the field turned out to be Johnson, because every time the Lions needed to move the ball, they threw it to him. The real killer came in overtime, when Minny blitzed, leaving Megatron covered downfield 1-on-1. A long catch later, Detroit kicked a FG and left Donovan McNabb wondering why the Vikings weren't lining up to take the kickoff.
- The New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles played an even game until the 4th quarter, when Michael Vick got knocked out of another game and left things up to Mike Kafka once again. Kafka's now 0-2 trying to win close games for the Eagles after Vick leaves. On the Giants side, someone else had to step up due to injury, and Victor Cruz did just that. Eli Manning was missing a couple of receivers, so he had to trust in a banged-up Hakeem Nicks and Cruz, who had made a name for himself as someone who will drop the big pass at the perfect moment for you. Not this time. Cruz made tacklers whiff in the open field on one TD catch, and jumped up and outfought defenders on another. Don't count on Cruz for consistency, but he was the man for one day.
- Jason's text to me after the Bills shocked the world and the Patriots: "Fucking Buffalo won!" Hey, nobody circles the wagons...but seriously, folks, the Bills have proven not just this year but last season as well that they cannot be counted out of any game. They really do fight until the last whistle. New England jumped on top 21-0 before Buffalo came storming back. The story seems to be Tom Brady's 4 interceptions allowing the comeback, but of course, if you watch the picks, one or maybe two were his fault. Two were tipped, and another was fought for and lost by the receiver. It's just one of those days where everything breaks right for the other team. New England will shake this off and recover. And Buffalo may find a new level of confidence and really make life uncomfortable for AFC playoff contenders who didn't count on the Bills being a tough team.
- That's about the worst offensive line play I've ever seen, what Miami did against Cleveland. The Dolphins couldn't sustain offense because Chad Henne was running for his life all day, and it finally caught up at the end. The Browns got a miracle TD catch from Mohamed Massaquoi, and the Fish couldn't come back down the field. I don't know where Miami will get wins from if they can't beat average teams away from Miami. We already know they can't beat any team in Miami. Maybe when they let go of head coach Tony Sparano, the new coach, Ozzie Guillen, can lend some insight.
- 1st team to score a TD in Cincinnati won the game Sunday, and that team was San Francisco. What a shitty game. Neither offensive line could stop a nosebleed, so Bart Scott would have been happy watching. Both teams are just bad, and the less said about this one, the better.
- Mark "Total Fraud" Sanchez couldn't find any hot dogs to chew on this time in Oakland, so he had to actually play a whole game. Not surprisingly, he lost. Oakland's secondary isn't going to the Hall of Fame, but it's the best secondary Sanchize has played this year, and that's why the Jets lost. Once the Raiders got their destructive running game going and got back into the game, Sanchez had to throw more than dinky swing passes to the running backs, and once he tried to go downfield, the incompletions started racking up. He also got picked off and tried to scramble for a TD on their last possession and got stuffed. The Jets cannot win relying on Sanchez's decision making. He had a Sanchez Classic TD pass early by throwing a screen to RB LaDainian Tomlinson and letting LT do all the work. Sanchize finished with 369 yards in the air, but they were mostly empty yards. As for Oakland's run game, what else can you say? They faced a Jets team that only gave up 3.6 yards per carry last year, and they used their speed on the outside to run right around them, including a TD on a WR reverse. The Raiders can compete in any game because they will not deviate from their mission to pound the snot out of anybody on the ground.
- Who the hell is Torrey Smith??? Oh, and I HATE Sam Bradford.
- Yes, San Diego was missing maybe their best receiver in TE Antonio Gates, but my gosh, did they look anemic trying to pass against the Chiefs. That's scary how impotent they appear without Gates. They did put together a good rushing attack instead, along with lots of underneath routes thrown by Philip Rivers, but that's not how the Chargers best play on offense. It almost cost them the game. Matt Cassel was driving the Chiefs for the game-winning TD when he panicked under pressure and threw underneath right to a Charger. Well, at least Kansas City competed this week.
- Once again, Atlanta had a chance to send a message that they were a complete team and could handle some road adversity. Once again, they shit the bed. Give Tampa Bay credit for a stout defensive effort, and for Josh Freeman utilizing quick slants to advance the ball and set up the Freeman rush TD and three FGs that the Bucs would need to get the win. But God, when will the Falcons get out of their own heads and beat teams that aren't as good as they are?
- One WR can't beat 5, and that's why the Bears couldn't hang with the Packers. Chicago at the moment has exactly one guy that seems to know how to play WR in the NFL, and that's Johnny Knox. Everyone else is running bad routes, short-arming passes, or getting outfought for footballs by the defense. Jay Cutler had many bad throws for Chicago too, so it was a team effort this time. Green Bay moved up and down the field with Aaron Rodgers slinging the rock to anyone who wanted it, then hitting his freak TE JerMichael Finley in the end zone three times. With all that, a horrible ref call stole this pick away from me, as the Bears should've managed to cover the spread despite being outmanned. Late in the 4th quarter down 10, the Bears received a punt and had all their blockers run to one side of the field to block for the best return man ever, Devin Hester. Green Bay sprinted in that direction thinking the punt was going there, but it actually went all the way on the other side to Johnny Knox, and he ran uncontested into the end zone. This would have made the lead 3 and I would have covered the number. But a ref called the Bears for holding and nullified the return. Fox showed like 5 replays and never once showed a Bear holding. Yes, Jason, another lucky pick for you.
- Larry Fitzgerald's awesomeness was smothered by his kicker and his team's d-line. Seattle's Tarvaris Jackson was able to score a rushing TD to give the Seahawks a lead while Seattle's sickly team rushing attack managed 122 yards on the ground, and Arizona's 2 missed FGs from Jay Feely proved costly at the end. There's just no accounting for Seattle Magic at their home stadium, known now as CenturyLink Field or something like that. They just keep finding ways to get it done.
- Pittsburgh looked like they were having a good ol' time spanking the hapless Indianapolis Colts by 10 in the 1st quarter. Troy Polamalu was flying around making plays, Ben Roethlisberger was throwing the ball around, and all seemed right with the world. Then Ben started holding the ball too fucking long, as he's wont to do, and a couple of strips and a pick later, the Colts had a lead. It was an off night for the Steelers D as a unit, as they allowed plays to the Colts to keep drives alive, including giving up a rush TD to tie the game at 20. The sack-fumble by James Harrison that Polamalu took in for the score should have closed it out for Pittsburgh, but they let Curtis Painter drive the Colts for the tying score. Pittsburgh could have easily lost this game despite clearly being the better team. Give Indy credit for hanging in, but also devalue Pittsburgh for seemingly letting up.
- The Monday Night version of Cowboys & Indians was a sloppy game, but not because of the weather. Dallas and Washington went back and forth making plays to get close to the goal line, then getting knocked backwards by the defense and having to settle for FGs. Dallas could really be 0-3. Dez Bryant couldn't go at WR for the Cowboys last week, so Miles Austin had to fly around and catch TDs to keep Dallas alive in San Francisco. Against Washington, Austin was unavailable, and Jesse Holley couldn't recreate his magic from last game, so it was up to a banged-up Bryant to make plays for Tony Romo, and he did. If Bryant wasn't out there, the Cowboys may not have had any big plays outside of a couple of runs by Felix Jones. Rex Grossman had chances to put the Boys away, but Bad Rex showed up in key situations, throwing a bad pick and losing a fumble. But hey, this is what Mike Shanahan wanted. You anoint Rex as your quarterback, you'll win some games you should lose, and lose some games you should win. As for Dallas, that o-line will get Romo hurt again, and that will be the demise of the Cowboys, much like last year.
YTD Records--Dre & Jay 18-26-4, .409
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