Scott Norwood

Scott Norwood
Wide Right started it all.

Friday, January 17, 2020

Conf. Finals 2020

It is the calm before The Pick, as Jay has opted to punt on picking against me this week on Championship Sunday in order to preserve his four-point deficit and allow me to hang myself by picking the Super Bowl incorrectly.  He was good on the show laying on the pressure by repeatedly reminding me that in our seven-year podcast history neither of us have blown the Super Duper Bowl pick to lose the whole season, so I have three long weeks to think about that.  Hey, no sweat.  It was torturous last year being down one game on the nflpickwatch site and having to wait...and wait...and wait for the leader to make his Super Bowl pick so that I could then pick opposite of him.  Lucky for me, he took the Rams.  Jason is hoping for a similar boner from me, and considering I'm fucking 1-7 ATS in these playoffs, I'd say that's a smart move.  My picks this week came to me in a Moment of Clarity that I had not experienced making my other postseason picks, so maybe just in time, I'm finally developing a sense of these teams.  Or maybe I'm deluding myself, which is a talent of mine.  Here are our Siamese twin picks for the conference title games, although Jay said during the show that these probably would have been his real picks anyway:

Fav Spread Dog Final Dre Jay
KC (13-4) Tenn (11-7) KC KC
SF (14-3) GB (14-3) GB GB
104.4 97.4
Last Week +0 +3
=104.4 =100.4


All of our thoughts and observations (after five minutes of dead air at the start of the show thanks to technical difficulties--aaaarrgh) can be heard here:

NFL Conf. Finals 2020: The Calm Before The Pick

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Conf. Semis 2020

Jason decided to give me the honors to make my picks first this week, and I got choked up at the honor, then I did what I do best: gasbag and suck up all the time.  After going total lockstep with me and going 1-3 in the Wild Card round, he's opposing me on only the first game of the Divisional Round.  Jay sits seven points behind me in our playoff system, so he can cut that lead to four, or get pushed to the brink down ten.  (Or we'll stay seven points apart if the Vikings and Niners push.)  Here are the rest of our picks for the conference semis:

Fav Spread Dog Final Dre Jay
Saturday
SF (13-3) 7    Min (11-6) Min SF
Sat. Nite
BAL (14-2) 10    Tenn (10-7) Bal Bal
Sunday
KC (12-4) 10    Hou (11-6) Hou Hou
GB (13-3) Sea (12-5) Sea Sea
102.4 95.4
Last Week +2 +2
=104.4 =97.4


All of our thoughts and observations can be heard here:

NFL Conf. Semis 2020: Road Warriors Meet Home Gladiators

Friday, January 3, 2020

Wild Card '20

So that was a hot mess of a show we did for Wild Card Weekend. What had happened was, something happened in my area and my house lost power for a few seconds, and since I was hosting the show, that meant I got kicked off and couldn't get back on. After ten minutes of trying to get ourselves re-connected, Jason and I managed to call back in to the show, but we had a brief amount of time to get our picks in, then the aftershow got shitcanned because my internet flashed and disconnected me again. Stuff happens. I'm actually shocked my power hasn't gone down during a show before, because it doesn't take much inclement weather to knock us out. With all that said, apologies for the crappiness of the podcast, which wasn't the fault of the host site or the internet provider but rather my power company. Here are our picks for Wild Card Weekend, and our status as it pertains to our playoff point system for our handicapping championship:

Fav Spread Dog Final Dre Jay Coin
Saturday
HOU (10-6) Buf (10-6) Buf Buf
Sat. Nite
NE (12-4) 5    Tenn (9-7) NE NE
Sunday
NO (13-3) 8    Min (10-6) NO NO
Sea (11-5) 1    PHI (9-7) Sea Sea
Week 17 8-7-1 6-9-1 10-5-1
0.533 0.400 0.667
Season 127-121-8 117-131-8
0.512 0.472
Lock Total 7 9
x200 x200
102.4 94.4
Lock Bonus +0 +1
102.4 95.4
Scoring System
Wild Card 2 pts. each
Conf. Semis 3 pts. each
Conf. Finals 4 pts. each
Super Bowl 5 pts.


All (or most) of our thoughts and observations can be heard here:

NFL Wild Card 2020: So NOW Is The Dynasty Over??

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

2019 What I Learned About Each Team In One Sentence

Cowboys--Dak Prescott's contract year ballin' out couldn't mask the stench of the team's overall lack of direction and leadership.
Giants--They're in desperate need of a defensive talent infusion in order to compete and make it easier for Daniel Jones to develop as franchise QB.
Eagles--A biblical loss of manpower and an abominable bout of WR dropsies made life a living hell for Philly all year, but since they're in the NFC East, congratulations.
Redskins--It's not a good sign for their offense that the 34-year-old RB proved to be the steadiest presence.
Bears--A massive variance in quality of play by Mitch Trubisky appears to have the franchise in limbo.
Lions--They have a competitive streak that kept them in every game even after it was clear that it wasn't gonna be their year.
Packers--They should strike fear in whoever finds themselves in Lambeau Field in the playoffs just because Aaron Rodgers can still play as well as any QB.
Vikings--Such a stark difference between how their offense functions with a healthy Dalvin Cook at RB and when he's out or not healthy.
Falcons--Another season where they show their potential in the second half and make you wonder how good they could have been.
Panthers--Truly a franchise in transition as they trashed coach Ron Rivera midseason and seem prepared to move on from franchise QB Cam Newton.
Saints--They slowly jelled on offense and seem to be peaking at the perfect time as Alvin Kamara's explosiveness and Drew Brees's command of the offense return to prominence.
Buccaneers--Jameis Winston's never-before-seen 30 TD/30 INT season spiced up a moribund TB campaign.
Cardinals--Very optimistic rookie effort by Kyler Murray may foreshadow a high-flying future in Arizona.
Rams--Couldn't figure out how to get that futuristic offense in sync outside of a game or two.
49ers--A complete effort all year from San Fran which saw equal contributions from Kyle Shanahan's relentless offense and Robert Saleh's suffocating defense.
Seahawks--Infusion of youth on defense helped push Seattle back near the top of the NFC, and they have a chance for more with Russell Wilson making all the right moves.
Bills--Steady growth from Josh Allen at QB paired with a stifling secondary to make Buffalo a very tough task every week.
Dolphins--They appeared to be on the road to Tank City after their first few games, but fought much harder than expected and won many more games than even they could have imagined.
Patriots--Really looked washed most of the season as lack of WR talent caught up to their precise but weak-armed HOF QB Tom Brady, and defense benefited from weak opposition.
Jets--Glimmer of positivity for the future as Sam Darnold showed signs of life when he wasn't seeing the paranormal.
Ravens--Mesmerizing offense constructed by Greg Roman positioned Baltimore as the class of the NFL led by a QB in Lamar Jackson who was indefensible.
Bengals--When the season was lost, they decided to bench the QB in Andy Dalton to see what else they have and found out that they ain't got nothin'.
Browns--The most cartoonish, circus-like franchise in the league, they actually produced a record that wasn't outrageous but seemed like it was because of expectations.
Steelers--Through all the injuries at the skill positions, Pittsburgh kept clawing at a playoff spot thanks to an improved defense.
Texans--Secondary showed flaws once J.J. Watt got hurt and the pass rush faltered, but the offense flashed and led the way once DeShaun Watson stopped dancing himself into peril.
Colts--Overcame sudden retirement of Andrew Luck to fight and compete all year behind a high-achieving run attack.
Jaguars--Lack of focus on defense and disaster surrounding the high-priced free agent QB Nick Foles congealed into a garbage season and what feels like another franchise reset.
Titans--Inevitable call to try Ryan Tannehill at QB over Marcus Mariota worked for coach Mike Vrabel as well as could have hoped, and sprung RB Derrick Henry for a career year too.
Broncos--Defense took a while to jell under Vic Fangio, and QB Drew Lock stumbled early but looks to be the Joe Flacco replacement.
Chiefs--Pat Mahomes getting beat up put the brakes on a repeat of the MVP season from last year, but a much better back end of the D gives KC hope in the playoffs.
Chargers--The DNA from last season's 12-win squad seemed to still be there, but not the execution, certainly not from mistake-prone Philip Rivers.
Raiders--Rookie RB Josh Jacobs and talented QB Derek Carr gave Oakland a playoff window in their last season in Cali, but they didn't have the consistency to hold it together.