- Lock of the Century destroyed, crazy upset of the year looked like shit...yep, Week 8 was very fucked-up for me. I'm lucky to have broken even with Jason for the second straight week, cause some of my picks were the drizzling shits.
- What happened to the Saints squooshing the Rams? Hell if I know. Maybe the Cardinals coming through with the World Series trophy poured energy into the Rams and made them invincible. Maybe it's the New Orleans rush defense getting progressively worse--Wk.3, over 100 yards by the Texans; Wk. 4, 84 to MJD of the Jags; Wk. 5, 115 to DeAngelo Williams of the Panthers; Wk. 6, 109 to Earnest Fucking Graham of the Bucs; and they even gave up 155 in Wk. 7 against the Colts before Steven Jackson made the Saints his bitch this past Sunday. Combine that with the St. Louis d-line harassing Drew Brees all day, and there are the ingredients for a big upset. The Saints can't be trusted the rest of the year against a team that can run the ball at all.
- What happened to the Giants killing the Dolphins? Jason can explain it since he called it. I guess the Giants aren't as strong as they looked. Maybe all the magazines touting the Kim Kardashian divorce last week spurred Reggie Bush on Sunday, as he sprinted and cut as well as I've ever seen him in the NFL. Matt Moore was inspired by the running and did some nifty moves as well, but quarterbacks win in this league by throwing, and Eli Manning's arm prevailed in the end, although it didn't cover the number. Was that Miami's best chance for a win? It all depends on whether Bush wants to keep running like that.
- That's twice that Arizona has flown into the Eastern time zone to cover a spread, the first being Week 2 at Washington. I'm still not sold on Ravens QB Joe Flacco. His first half against the Cards was almost as bad as that shitty Monday night game at Jacksonville. He was a different cat in the second half, leading the comeback with crisp throws mostly to his best WR Anquan Boldin, but I think it's a bad sign that all three of Ray Rice's TD runs were set up by long bombs that drew pass interference calls. Either figure out a way to consistently get the ball in your playmaker's hands or stop throwing balls up for grabs. The officials won't be there to bail Flacco out every time, and neither will the atrocious Arizona secondary.
- A litany of blown coverages everywhere were on display in Charlotte, where the Vikings went tooth and nail with the Panthers, and a blown FG put an end to the festivities. Cam Newton would have (depending on the coin flip) had a chance to at least win the game in OT and maybe even cover the number, but Carolina missed an easy FG with seconds left to tie Minnesota. The game was tight and fun, and we may have missed the pick, but nothing unpredictable happened. Adrian Peterson was a beast, Cristian Ponder and Newton showed why they were 1st-round picks, and the Vikings and Panthers have horrible pass defenders.
- How did Tennessee whoop Indianapolis even with Chris Johnson continuing to suffer from Ricky Watters Syndrome? That's how horrible the Colts were. I may have never seen a team play two games in a row that badly. The Colts are horrible at everything! Offense, defense, special teams, you name it, they're really bad at it. I must now name them the FedEx Mail-It-In Team™ because they look like by far the worst team in the league. On two straight punt returns, the Colts called for a fair catch...and promptly got penalized for holding. Let me retype that. Twice in a row, the Colts were flagged for holding during their own punt returns, neither of which they actually returned. Never seen that before, may never see it again. Oh, and Tennessee sucks too. A real team has the Colts down 50 again as bad as Indy played, but the Titans aren't any good either. The funniest part of the game was Curtis Painter in the 4th quarter saying FUCK IT and just running straight ahead on every snap and gaining big yardage while doing it. If nothing else works, I guess the QB can always run straight ahead. Maybe Denver should employ this strategy.
- The Jaguars at least are trying to have fun while stinking. A big d-lineman picked up a Houston fumble and lateraled to someone who lateraled to someone else, and that actually led to Jacksonville leading the Texans early. The fun couldn't continue because, well, Jacksonville sucks, and they coughed up their own turnovers to help Houston get the win and cover by a lousy half-point. Still not impressed with the Texans.
- Detroit is gaining a rep for being a bunch of douchebags, and they seem to enjoy it. There were at least two physical mockings of Broncos RB Tim Tebow's kneeling prayer pose by the Lions, one by a defender after he sacked Tebow, another by TE Tony Scheffler, a former Bronco, after he scored a TD. And I'm sure there were many mocking words said to the Chosen One as they were blasting Denver 45-10. It's almost painful watching how slow Tebow's brain works to process what he's seeing in the pocket. He's getting sacked at a brutal rate because he holds on to the football trying to figure out where to attempt to throw it. I have a question for the braintrust in Denver: Would you like to call some running plays for Mr. Tebow to take advantage of the one thing he knows how to do, or are you purposefully forcing him to play QB the way it's supposed to be played, knowing he will fail miserably?
- Time to make Jason giggle by saying the funniest words in the English language--John Beck! LMAO!! You know what the Redskins need much more than a new QB or new tacklers? A new o-line, stat! Washington continues to not know how to tackle anyone in the open field, but they also allowed Buffalo to rush in and have their way with Beck on Sunday. The combined brainpower of the Shanahan Boyz has now resulted in two losses since the most recent QB change and the first shutout loss in Mike Shanahan's head coaching career. Sure glad Dan Snyder paid all that money for a real coach!
- Another fuck-up by me is saying all-in on a Seattle under the rest of the year. I underestimated how bad the Seahawks defend the pass. Andy Dalton once again looked impressive, making tough throws in traffic and leading Cincinnati to an easy win in Seattle. It was a punt return and defensive TD that bumped the score over the number, but no excuses. You can't fall in love with a Seattle under because their secondary blows.
- Cleveland unders seem safer because they actually have a half-decent defense. It wasn't enough to stop everyone in the stadium from catching passes for San Francisco, and it wasn't enough to cover the spread. Niners QB Alex Smith at one point threw a play-action screen to an eligible offensive lineman for a first down, and if that wasn't crazy enough, he threw a play-action screen to a defensive lineman for another first down. The Browns allowed Coach Insane to do that. A real team will not.
- The AFC should be at least a little frightened at what Pittsburgh did to New England. That game was a film on everything Steeler. The unpredictable pass rush coming from all angles and crushing Tom Brady and the Patriots...the shots downfield by Ben Roethlisberger and the offense, pushing and shoving until they get the big plays they're looking for...the pounding later with Rashard Mendenhall and the rushing attack as they put the game on ice. As good a game as Pittsburgh's played all year. Next up, prime time vs. the Ravens. I need ice just to watch that game. But how can you go against the Steelers in that matchup? If the D is back against Brady, what are they gonna do to Flacco?
- And what the Eagles did to the Cowboys is about the best game I've seen a team play all year. I have to bow to Andy Reid, that was fucking awesome. What Philadelphia did to Dallas was a thorough dismantling of another team, and I dare say, it doesn't happen on that total of a scale without the bye week to get ready mentally and physically. I don't know what Reid has his guys doing during the bye, but Goddamn it, it works. 239 rushing yards?!?
- The Kansas City Chiefs were emotionally and physically spent at the end of regulation on Monday night. They had gone toe-to-toe with the San Diego Chargers, and despite SD QB Philip Rivers continuing his bad play with a couple of horrible INTs, the Chargers were in position to break the tie and kick the game-winning FG with no time left. They snapped the ball one more time to get it lined up towards the middle of the field to make the kick that much easier. But Rivers fumbled the snap, the Chiefs recovered, and they went on to win the game in OT. My wife, who knows almost nothing about football, commented on Rivers after that second pick: "Is he having marital problems or something?" That's how bad he's looked this season. It's almost all his fault that San Diego's 4-3 right now, and if they lose the division and miss the playoffs, coach Norv Turner will probably get shitcanned, but blame Rivers. He's got his passing weapons, he's got RB Ryan Mathews playing well, he's got a decent defense--he just isn't making the throws like he has in the past. I still don't believe in the Chiefs, but I may trust them at this point more than the Chargers.
Week 8 Records--Dre & Jay 6-7, .462
YTD Records--Dre 49-61-6, .445; Jay 55-55-6, .500
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