2018 Week #8

Jason and I got our picks in very early for Week 8 in the NFL, so that Jason can take his family away this weekend.  So we made our picks Thursday night while the Dolphins got spanked by the Texans, starting the week off bad for me.  We're having a Lock-Off this week, as Monday night sees us locking in opposite teams, so ultimate bragging rights are on the line there.  I usually dislike making picks so early because guys haven't been declared out by their teams yet, last-minute practice injuries can still mess up a team's plans, etc.  At least there weren't any question marks about quarterbacks.  One time, we made picks on Thursday and a couple of QBs were legit hit-or-miss if they would play at the time we picked, to the point where there was no point spread available for those games.  That's the worst.  But we have a spread for all the games this weekend, so here are our picks, as Jay and I duel on seven games, not counting the beatdown Thursday night:

Fav	Spread	Dog	Final		Dre	Jay
	Thu. Nite
HOU (4-3)	7½	Mia (4-3)	Hou 42-23		Mia	Hou
	Sun. Morn
Phi (3-4)	3	Jack (3-4)		London	Jack	Jack
	Sunday
DET (3-3)	3	Sea (3-3)			Det	Det
PIT (3-2-1)	8	Cle (2-4-1)			Pit	Cle
CHI (3-3)	7½	NYJ (3-4)			Chi	Chi
CIN (4-3)	4	TB (3-3)			TB	Cin
Bal (4-3)	2	CAR (4-2)			Car	Bal
NYG (1-6)	1	Wash (4-2)			NY	Wash
KC (6-1)	10	Den (3-4)			Den	Den
Ind (2-5)	3	OAK (1-5)			Ind	Oak
LAR (7-0)	9½	GB (3-2-1)			GB	LA
SF (1-6)	1	ARIZ (1-6)			SF	SF
	Sun. Nite
MIN (4-2-1)	1	NO (5-1)			NO	NO
	Mon. Nite
NE (5-2)	13½	BUF (2-5)			Buf	NE
Atlanta, Dallas, the Los Angeles Chargers, and Tennessee are off.
				Week 7	8-6	6-8
					0.571	0.429
				Season	58-46-3	47-57-3
					0.558	0.452
				Lock Total	5	4

All of our thoughts and observations can be heard here:

NFL 2018 Week #8

2018 Week #7

A spirited discussion of this week's games centered around #stylesclashsunday, which features several NFL games where high-powered offenses take on strong defenses.  Jason and I had hearty disagreements about those games, but seemed to agree on just about all the others, setting up a Sunday where we go head-to-head on only five contests yet had as much banter as any show this season.  Sometimes we get our antlers aimed even harder at each other when there's only so many points of conflict.  I busted out some new numbers to help break down the games as well, and they will be one-and-done if they don't get results.  Here now, our Week 7 picks ATS:

Fav	Spread	Dog	Final		Dre	Jay
	Thu. Nite
Den (2-4)	1	ARIZ (1-5)	Den 45-10		Den	Ariz
	Sun. Morn
LAC (4-2)	6½	Tenn (3-3)		London	Tenn	LA
	Sunday
Min (3-2-1)	3½	NYJ (3-3)			NY	NY
TB (2-3)	3½	Cle (2-3-1)			Cle	Cle
JACK (3-3)	4	Hou (3-3)			Jack	Jack
PHI (3-3)	5	Car (3-2)			Phi	Phi
IND (1-5)	7	Buf (2-4)			Ind	Ind
NE (4-2)	1½	CHI (3-2)			Chi	NE
Det (2-3)	3	MIA (4-2)			Mia	Mia
BAL (4-2)	2½	NO (4-1)			NO	Bal
LAR (6-0)	8½	SF (1-5)			LA	SF
Dal (3-3)	1	WASH (3-2)			Dal	Wash
	Sun. Nite
KC (5-1)	6	Cin (4-2)			KC	KC
	Mon. Nite
ATL (2-4)	4	NYG (1-5)			NY	NY
Green Bay, Oakland, Pittsburgh, and Seattle are off.
				Week 6	9-6	5-10
					0.600	0.333
				Season	50-40-3	41-49-3
					0.556	0.456
				Lock Total	4	4

All of our thoughts and observations can be heard here:

NFL 2018 Week #7

2018 Week #6

Apologies for getting our picks up the morning of the games instead of the night before.  I had internet issues all last night, as you know if you listened to the podcast.  Can't blame Blogtalk Radio for this one, it was Comcast providing the drama.  But I'm up and running now, so I can post our picks for Week 6 in the NFL, which has a little bit of everything--a surprise Lock by me, a contingency pick by Jason, and some hearty debate over the games.  We'll do battle on nine of the 14 games, so it should be a doozy:

Fav	Spread	Dog	Final		Dre	Jay
	Thu. Nite
Phi (2-3)	3	NYG (1-4)	Phi 34-13		NY	NY
	Sunday
Sea (2-3)	2½	Oak (1-4)		London	Sea	Oak
ATL (1-4)	3	TB (2-2)			Atl	Atl
MIN (2-2-1)	10½	Ariz (1-4)			Ariz	Min
CLE (2-2-1)	1½	LAC (3-2)			Cle	LA
CIN (4-1)	1½	Pit (2-2-1)			Pit	Pit
NYJ (2-3)	2	Ind (1-4)			NY	Ind
HOU (2-3)	10	Buf (2-3)			Hou	Buf
Chi (3-1)	4	MIA (3-2)			Chi	Mia*
Car (3-1)	1	WASH (2-2)			Car	Car
LAR (5-0)	7	DEN (2-3)			Den	Den
Jack (3-2)	3	DAL (2-3)			Dal	Jack
Bal (3-2)	2½	TENN (3-2)			Bal	Tenn
	Sun. Nite
NE (3-2)	3½	KC (5-0)			NE	NE
	Mon. Nite
GB (2-2-1)	10	SF (1-4)			SF	GB
Detroit and New Orleans are off.
				Week 5	8-7	6-9
					0.533	0.400
				Season	41-34-3	36-39-3
					0.547	0.480
				Lock Total	3	3

All of our thoughts and observations can be heard here:

NFL 2018 Week #6

2018 Week #5

Jay and I disagreed on six games this week, which doesn't sound like a whole lot.  But we really had dialogue about those games.  It made for what I hope was fun radio, because we both feel so passionate about our opinions but one of us will be wrong and have to feel the shame next show.  All I can say is, I really hope Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll have some championship pride left.  On to our NFL Week 5 picks:

Fav	Spread	Dog	Final		Dre	Jay
	Thu. Nite
NE (2-2)	10½	Ind (1-3)	NE 38-24		NE	NE
	Sunday
DET (1-3)	1	GB (2-1-1)			Det	Det
PIT (1-2-1)	3	Atl (1-3)			Atl	Pit
Bal (3-1)	3	CLE (1-2-1)			Bal	Bal
KC (4-0)	3	Jack (3-1)			Jack	Jack
Den (2-2)	1	NYJ (1-3)			Den	Den
CIN (3-1)	6	Mia (3-1)			Cin	Mia
Tenn (3-1)	5½	BUF (1-3)			Buf	Buf
CAR (2-1)	6½	NYG (1-3)			Car	Car
LAC (2-2)	5	Oak (1-3)			LA	Oak
LAR (4-0)	7½	SEA (2-2)			Sea	LA
PHI (2-2)	3	Min (1-2-1)			Phi	Phi
SF (1-3)	3½	Ariz (0-4)			SF	Ariz
	Sun. Nite
HOU (1-3)	3½	Dal (2-2)			Dal	Hou
	Mon. Nite
NO (3-1)	6	Wash (2-1)			NO	NO
Chicago and Tampa Bay are off.
				Week 4	6-7-2	7-6-2
					0.462	0.538
				Season	33-27-3	30-30-3
					0.550	0.500
				Lock Total	2	2

All of our thoughts and observations can be heard here:

NFL 2018 Week #5

2018 Week #4

The opinions of Jason and myself seem to be converging slightly as the season moves into Week 4.  Not only do we disagree on only five picks, but we chose the exact same pick as our Lock, and it's the game with the biggest point spread, so we're really all in on the Chargers.  Actually, it's more about we're all out on CJ Beathard, the new 49ers QB.  If he succeeds in place of Jimmy Garoppolo, we'll both be shocked.  Sure seems like Elvis sang about this game when he said "We're caught in a trap."  Here are the picks for NFL Week 4:

Fav	Spread	Dog	Final		Dre	Jay
	Thu. Nite
LAR (3-0)	7½	Min (1-1-1)	LA 38-31		LA	LA
	Sunday
GB (1-1-1)	9½	Buf (1-2)			Buf	GB
ATL (1-2)	4	Cin (2-1)			Atl	Atl
JACK (2-1)	7½	NYJ (2-1)			NY	Jack
Phi (2-1)	3½	TENN (2-1)			Phi	Phi
CHI (2-1)	3	TB (2-1)			Chi	TB
IND (1-2)	1	Hou (0-3)			Hou	Hou
NE (1-2)	6½	Mia (3-0)			NE	NE
DAL (1-2)	3	Det (1-2)			Dal	Det
Sea (1-2)	3	ARIZ (0-3)			Sea	Sea
OAK (0-3)	3	Cle (1-1-1)			Oak	Oak
NO (2-1)	3½	NYG (1-2)			NO	NO
LAC (1-2)	10½	SF (1-2)		Elvis	LA	LA
	Sun. Nite
PIT (1-1-1)	3	Bal (2-1)			Bal	Pit
	Mon. Nite
KC (3-0)	4½	DEN (2-1)			Den	Den
Carolina and Washington are off.
				Week 3	8-8	9-7
					0.500	0.563
				Season	27-20-1	23-24-1
					0.574	0.489
				Lock Total	2	2

All of our thoughts and observations can be heard here:

NFL 2018 Week #4

2018 Week #3

Another day, another frustrating connection issue with BlogTalk Radio.  Sigh.  Jay and I have discussed finding a new host for the podcast, but things had seemed better recently so we were riding it out.  We may have to re-open discussions based on tonight, when I just dropped in the middle of the show for no reason.  I made it back and we soldiered on, and had a good chat about the upcoming slate, including the Sunday nighter where he is crapping on my Lock by picking the other team, which had not happened yet this season.  Should make for an entertaining contest.  Here are our NFL Week 4 selections against the spread, which sees us battling each other in six games not counting the Brown Fever coming through for me on Thursday:

Fav	Spread	Dog	Final		Dre	Jay
	Thu. Nite
CLE (0-1-1)	3	NYJ (1-1)	Cle 21-17		Cle	NY
	Sunday
ATL (1-1)	1½	NO (1-1)			Atl	Atl
BAL (1-1)	6	Den (2-0)		Elvis	Den	Den
GB (1-0-1)	2½	WASH (1-1)			GB	Wash
PHI (1-1)	7	Ind (1-1)			Ind	Ind
MIN (1-0-1)	16½	Buf (0-2)			Min	Min
KC (2-0)	6	SF (1-1)			SF	KC
HOU (0-2)	6	NYG (0-2)			Hou	NY
JACK (2-0)	6½	Tenn (1-1)		Pickwatch	Jack	Jack
MIA (2-0)	3	Oak (0-2)			Mia	Mia
CAR (1-1)	3	Cin (2-0)			Car	Cin
LAR (2-0)	7	LAC (1-1)			LAC	LAR
Chi (1-1)	4½	ARIZ (0-2)			Ariz	Ariz
SEA (0-2)	2	Dal (1-1)			Sea	Sea
	Sun. Nite
NE (1-1)	7	DET (0-2)			Det	NE
	Mon. Nite
Pit (0-1-1)	1½	TB (2-0)			Pit	Pit
				Week 2	9-7	7-9
					0.563	0.438
				Season	19-12-1	14-17-1
					0.613	0.452
				Lock Total	1	1

All of our thoughts and observations can be heard here:

NFL 2018 Week #3

2018 Week #2

Overreaction Sunday is here, where media and pundits overreact to the happenings of NFL Week 1 and make sometimes outlandish statements about upcoming games and whole seasons based off of one game.  Stop it.  We're better than this.  We know some teams start slow, others have one bad game, and others play out of their minds for one game.  I shouldn't speak for Jay, but I know there isn't one preseason pick I made that I go back on, and he probably feels the same.  Now, injuries are a different thing, so Jay's Falcons pick for World champions may be wobbly with two defensive starters dead, but outside of that, you can't put stock into one damn game.  We tried to stay calm for our Week 2 picks, where we differed on seven games, not counting Thursday:

Fav	Spread	Dog	Final		Dre	Jay
	Thu. Nite
CIN (1-0)	1	Bal (1-0)	Cin 34-23		Cin	Bal
	Sunday
NO (0-1)	10	Cle (0-0-1)			NO	NO
GB (1-0)	2	Min (1-0)			Min	Min
ATL (0-1)	6	Car (1-0)			Atl	Car
Phi (1-0)	3	TB (1-0)			Phi	Phi
NYJ (1-0)	2½	Mia (1-0)			Mia	NY
PIT (0-0-1)	6	KC (1-0)			KC	KC
WASH (1-0)	5½	Ind (0-1)			Ind	Wash
LAC (0-1)	7½	BUF (0-1)			LA	LA
Hou (0-1)	3	TENN (0-1)			Hou	Tenn
LAR (1-0)	13½	Ariz (0-1)			Ariz	Ariz
SF (0-1)	6	Det (0-1)			Det	SF
NE (1-0)	1½	JACK (1-0)			Jack	Jack
DEN (1-0)	6½	Oak (0-1)			Den	Den
	Sun. Nite
DAL (0-1)	3	NYG (0-1)			NY	Dal
	Mon. Nite
CHI (0-1)	3½	Sea (0-1)			Sea	Chi
				Week 1	10-5-1	7-8-1
					0.667	0.467
				Lock Total	0	1

All of our thoughts and observations can be heard here:

NFL 2018 Week #2