Week 6 ATS Recap: We Did It Live

I was on the road this week for Dre's wedding, which meant that IMLD was making our first live picks since the Pats/Giants Super Bowl in 2008. So while Dre enjoys time with his wife, I'm back home and back on schedule.

• Falcons 31, Panthers 17 - Dre winner, Jason loser - Dre nailed this one, citing that the Falcons missing Julio Jones would help them more than hurt. Indeed, the Falcons got back to what made them successful last season: Micheal Turner. Turner turned out an impressive performance and the Falcons erased a 17-14 deficit going into the 4th quarter and piled on the young Panthers. Cam Newton shows flashes, but give him time and he'll make some rookie mistakes. Atlanta capitalized on that in their 17 point final quarter and pulled within a game of Tampa and New Orleans.


• Niners 25, Lions 19 - Jason winner, Dre loser - I'm sensing some of the shine will rub off of the Lions from here on out. They didn't have that second half magic this time around, and who'd have thought that the Lions and 49ers would combine for 10 wins through 6 weeks? Barring a disaster, I'd say San Fran has the NFC West locked up. Yeah, I just called it.


• Bengals 27, Colts 17 - Both losers - The Bengals are so confident in Andy Dalton that they shipped off Carson Palmer to Oakland on Tuesday. Cincy got some nice picks in return. As for the Colts? They're toast.


• Eagles 20, Redskins 13 - Dre winner, Jason loser - Rex Grossman was bound to have some days like this. Rather than live with Bad Rex/Good Rex, Mike Shanahan saw enough after a 4 pick performance to name John Beck the new Skins starter. Sadly for Shanahan, there is no Good Beck to counter the Bad Beck. John Elway isn't walking through that door.


• Packers 24, Rams 3 - Both winners - The Packers jumped out fast and coasted through a scoreless second half. The Rams moved the ball pretty easily on the Pack but fell apart in the red zone. Sad stat: St. Louis is averaging less than 10 points per game. Many people (including me) had the Rams to win the West. Ouch.


• Steelers 17, Jaguars 13 - Dre winner, Jason loser - Speaking of coasting, Pitt got up 17-3 at the half and went to sleep, probably safe in knowing that the Jags offense simply could not mount a comeback on the now #1 defense in the league. They were right.


• Giants 27, Bills 24 - PUSH - The Bills were driving for the go-ahead score before Ryan Fitzpatrick threw his second pick of the contest, allowing NY to drive for their own game winning field goal. The Giants go into their bye atop the East, while the Bills seem to losing a little of their Detroit shine.


• Raiders 24, Browns 17 - Both winners - Even losing Jason Campbell, the Raiders didn't miss a beat. As long as Carson Palmer can handle the snap from center, he should be just fine as long as has McFadden and Bush to turn around and hand the ball to.


• Ravens 29, Texans 14 - Both winners - The Packers are the only unbeaten team, but Baltimore looks to be the most complete team in the NFL. The Ravens put it on Houston in every phase of the game, and a Texans team that looked like it was going to cruise to the AFC South title now has a fight on its hands from Tennessee.


• Bucs 26, Saints 20 - Jason winner, Dre loser - Teams that feature a one dimensional passing attack will put up games like this. New Orleans is superior to Tampa on paper, and has played much better football to this point, but 4 turnovers and no rushing game will not win you many games. Tampa, by virtue of winning this game, now leads the NFC South, a division that might be improving to where I thought they should be after some early hiccups.


• Patriots 20, Cowboys 16 - Jason winner, Dre loser - This was my highlight of the week. The Cowboys might be chokers, but they do compete, as I told Dre in our pick discussion. Coming down to the 4th quarter, when quarterback play and play calling are so vital, the Cowboys called a bone headed shovel pass to end a drive resulting in a field goal. The Pats answered with a methodical touchdown drive to win the game late. It wasn't pretty, but the better team walked away with a win. How's that Jason Garrett job security looking?


• Bears 39, Vikings 10 - Jason winner, Dre loser - It wasn't even as close as the score indicated. The Vikings made a change at QB heading into a matchup against the Packers this week, moving Donovan McNabb to the bench in favor of first rounder Christian Ponder. Yeah, McNabb blew this season, but the blame should not all be on him. There's some vital things the Vikings didn't do against the Bears that weren't McNabb's fault. Like run block, pass block, and defend on special teams. Other than that, totally all on McNabb.


• Jets 24, Dolphins 6 - Both winners - I'm not all that high on the Jets, but with Matt Moore getting the start for Miami, we knew things were not going to go well for the Fins. Total Fraud managed the game well enough, but Matt Moore sealed his own fate early, firing a 100 yard pick-6 to Revis Island while Miami was in position to score after getting an early field goal and forcing the Jets into 3 straights 3-and-outs in the first quarter. Miami's defense FINALLY showed up, just to be let down by their inept offense. So much for parity this year, there's some really awful teams out there.

Dre managed a 7-5-1 this week while I pulled out an 8-4-1, meaning that after suffering through a 2 win week earlier in the year that I've weaseled my way over .500 . This means another 2 win week is sure to follow.

Congrats on the wedding again, Dre. You earned it.