NFL Week Four

[bob_barron 0]

Jamar Nesbit got suspended for four games. Come on, football gods.

[NoCalMike 0]

Well even being a diehard Skins isn't enough to pick them this week.

 

I think the Skins could make a closer game then people think, the game in Dallas last season they had two chances for game winning drives in the fourth quarter. Their defense had no answer for Owens though but that was also right when Sean Taylor went down to an injury, Landry was a rookie and wasn't trusted enough by coaches to be put at FS(which he is now playing) and they used Reed Daughty at FS. I also thinK Springs was hurt but I can't be sure.

 

The Skins have been pretty successful shutting down Marion Barber everytime they play, but that just means he is due for a breakout game against the Skins eventually, and this could be THE GAME for that seeing that it is an NFC East showdown early in the season.

 

If this game was a few more weeks into the season in which I could more accurately judge the Redskins as a team, I might have had the nerve to predict an upset, but I will go with my head this time and predict...

 

Dallas 31

Redskins 21

[Kinetic 0]

Dallas is easily the best team in the league. That said, division games against good teams are always tough. The Skins could shock them here. I wouldn't put money on it or anything, but I guess it could happen.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

1. Regardless of who wins the game, who is the worst team in Ohio and why? Despite the 'regardless' stipulation, Cincy. The Browns lost to a division leader and, for my money, the best team in football. Cincy, as eluded to earlier, is a circus. Directly involving the 'regardless' stipulation, Cleveland proves me right convincingly on Sunday.

 

2. Can Houston get anything going this season with the rest of their division riddled with injuries? It's tough to say. I mentioned this in my Week 3 picks, but I haven't quite got a gauge on Houston. Pittsburgh should be better (to the point that I didn't include it in my Browns assessment for fear of being redundant), to the point that even though I expected a better-than-.500 Houston this year, maybe Week One against Steeltown was a pretty strong indicator. This doesn't go for Indy or Jacksonville, but I'll go so far as to say the lineup changes in the rest of the division are a hinder to Houston (i.e, Kerry Collins playing like he's 21 years old).

 

3. Based on their play so far, do you think Atlanta will be dangerous this year? Surprising, yes. Dangerous? No. They beat two pretty bad teams in Detroit and KC. I expect them to be entertaining and fun to watch, but I don't know about dangerous, certainly not in their division.

 

4. Baltimore is 2-0 against teams with a combined 0-6 record. Will the Pittsburgh offense wake up and put the crapass Ravens in their place? Yes. See post two. Baltimore isn't divison-leader good, even in the NFC North.

 

5. How will the coaching situation in Oakland affect their chances this week at home against the divisional favorite Chargers? It won't. While not playoff-calibre, the Raiders are a better team than last year, hands-down. I attribute that to better defence and not necessarily coaching (If my math is correct, they're on pace to be about four points better a game than last year). The players seem to like Kiffin, but I don't know how much that will affect a seemingly San Diego-of-old squad. What I do see, and this is a big if, effecting the Raiders chances against SD is the Chargers' Monday Nighter last week. I'm not selling a surprisingly competitive team short, but if an extra day's rest is probably the best building block you have, you need options.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

1:00 Games

ATL @ CAR

CLE @ CIN - Scored 51 against 'em last year. Fifty one! That's good enough for me.

HOU @ JAC - Touched on this, but while I expect Houston to be better, Jacksonville should get it back to .500

DEN @ KC - It's not unfair to say Denver's defence is as bad as their offence is good. That won't matter here. This should be ugly.

SF @ NO - This'll be close, but I like San Fran here.

ARI @ NYJ - Maybe the toughest pick of the week. Just a gut feeling.

GB @ TB - See above.

MIN @ TEN - I'm astonished Minny beat Carolina last week. That won't carry over.

 

4:00 Games

SD @ OAK

BUF @ STL - Growing up near Buffalo and still living fairly close, I get a sense of Zetterberg's curbed optimism. Still, it's St. Louis. Buffalo wins by possibly 30.

WAS @ DAL - Closer than expected, but Dallas.

 

Night game

PHI @ CHI - The rivalry probably isn't as intense as say, Flyers-Pens, but Philly's gotta be riding high after a win over Steeltown. They also scored 37 against the best team in the league. Furthermore, remember in Week 2 when I complained about only getting one game wrong on a six-figure ProLine? That happened to my Dad last year. The game he got wrong was Philly vs. Chicago. Philly won. That's an omen.

 

MNF

BAL @ PIT - Baltimore is probably slightly better than their who-they-beat list, but a sleeping giant in Pittsburgh should wake up here (a la San Diego last week).

[AlaskanHero 0]

As one of the few (only?) Bengal fans to occasionally post in these weekly threads, I am curious as to how Cincy is perceived to be a "circus". I mean, I'm not saying any of you are wrong, I mostly ask because there's a fair bit of optimism about the team from what I can see, at least concerning this week. Our young defense held up very well against the defending Super Bowl champs, holding Brandon Jacobs to a 2.5 yard rushing average and our offense showed a bit of life with Carson Palmer throwing for nearly 300 yards behind an o-line that hasn't been playing very well.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

1. Regardless of who wins the game, who is the worst team in Ohio and why?

 

This has to be the Bengals. I think back to last season when Cleveland was the worst team in the league in weeks 1 and 2 and went on to come very close to making the playoffs. They have more talent on their squad, too. Cincinatti just blows my mind; everything on paper states that this offense should've been really really good for years now, and they stink! They've put up 40 points this season and allowed 67. I'd love to be a glass-half-full kinda guy and say they haven't played a team that's lost a game yet, but history looks like it's going to repeat itself again. If they lose this game, I think what's left of the team's confidence is going to completely disintegrate. Oh yeah, they have Dallas next week, too. Ouch.

 

That said, this is probably going to be an entertaining ballgame, because neither defense is good and both teams are going to be clawing at eyesockets out of desperation for a win.

 

2. Can Houston get anything going this season with the rest of their division riddled with injuries?

 

Sad to say, I doubt it. I don't have a "boner" for them this season, I just think the situation is right for them to take a step forward. They're not. They're underacheiving badly. If they don't get the ball rolling this week, they're in deep shit.

 

3. Based on their play so far, do you think Atlanta will be dangerous this year?

 

Nah, probably not. They'll spoil somebody's playoffs, though, while not contending themselves.

 

4. Baltimore is 2-0 against teams with a combined 0-6 record. Will the Pittsburgh offense wake up and put the crapass Ravens in their place?

 

God I hope so.

 

5. How will the coaching situation in Oakland affect their chances this week at home against the divisional favorite Chargers?

 

Assssssssssssssssswhoopin'.

[Kinetic 0]

The Giants have suspended Plaxico Burress for next Sunday's game against Seattle.

[Kinetic 0]

Aaaaand Matt Millen's reign of terror in Detroit is finally over.

[CanadianChris 0]

About three years too late. He couldn't stay after that statement by the owner's son.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

Warrants its own thread.

[Guest C*Z*E*C*H]

remember in Week 2 when I complained about only getting one game wrong on a six-figure ProLine? That happened to my Dad last year. The game he got wrong was Philly vs. Chicago. Philly won. That's an omen.

You sure about that one?

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Why not? With the Bears' "bend too much that you can score TDs on us, but we won't give up that big play break!" defensive philosophy, McNabb can easily shred them for a blowout victory.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Im trying to figure out how people are thinking Pittsburgh has a chance with a banged up QB, their starting RB out and replaced with a rookie who fumbled twice in his last preseason game and an awful offensive line that let their banged up QB get sacked 8 times last week. All of this feeds right into the Ravens gameplan of getting after Big Ben and shutting down their running game.

 

It will be an ugly defensive game, but the Ravens are built for that type of game just as well. Flacco's not gonna throw for 400 yards and 5 TDs but he wont need to..its more of the same Ravens QB style of managing the football and not making dumb mistakes. The Ravens offensive line has protected him well so far as well, only having been sacked once against admittedly inferior defenses than Pittsburgh, but I think they'll hold up well.

 

The only thing Im worried about is that it doesnt rain and turn Heinz Field into a muck bowl like the last couple of times. That and the Ravens knocking Roethisberger out and Leftwich coming in.

 

 

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Im trying to figure out how people are thinking Pittsburgh has a chance...

People think the Steelers have a chance because they are the better football team.

[Guest]

The game is in Pittsburgh too.

 

 

MAYBE THAT

[Guest C*Z*E*C*H]

Why not? With the Bears' "bend too much that you can score TDs on us, but we won't give up that big play break!" defensive philosophy, McNabb can easily shred them for a blowout victory.

I meant that Chicago won last year, not Philadelphia, unless there's something I'm not getting.

 

No, the Bears won't win on Sunday.

[Damaramu 0]

So I'm not a Broncos fan by any stretch of the imagination. I've never cared one way or another about them (i even outright disliked them when jake the snake was the QB), but I have to say I'm kind of intrigued by them this year. I wonder how good they actually are and how much of a playoff threat they are.

How good do you guys think they are?

[CanadianChris 0]

As probably the biggest Broncos fan on the board, I'll say that they're good enough to contend for the division title (especially given the 2-game headstart, which they're incredibly fortunate to have), but not good enough to make any serious noise in the playoffs. As good as the offence has been, the defence really hasn't gotten any better than it was last year -- San Diego and New Orleans, both with very good offences, tore off huge chunks of yardage, especially as the games wore on.

 

I will say that Jay Cutler, although he's still a bit prone to making mistakes at crucial points, seems to have taken a quantum leap forward from last year. He's finally showing the skills we were promised when he was drafted.

 

Now, the AFC seems a lot more wide open this year than in previous years, so they might become a legit Super Bowl contender as the season goes on, but that would be a (pleasant) surprise.

[Just John 0]

The Broncos are giving me the vibe of something like the 03 Chiefs with their explosive offense and pourous defense. So far, they beat up a mediocre Oakland team, got lucky at home against San Diego, and won a shoot out with a similar (yet not as lucky) New Orleans team. I could see them putting up impressive regular season numbers, then being a one-and-done in the playoffs.

 

The good thing, though, is they're fun to watch this year, which is a lot more than can be said for years past where they've gotten a disproportionately large amount of national games given their talent and excitement factor.

[Kinetic 0]

ATL @ CAR

CLE @ CIN

HOU @ JAC

DEN @ KC

SF @ NO

ARI @ NYJ

GB @ TB

MIN @ TEN

SD @ OAK

BUF @ STL

WAS @ DAL

PHI @ CHI

BAL @ PIT

 

[bob_barron 0]

The Joey Harrington era in New Orleans has come to an end.

[snuffbox 0]

I dont think Green Bay can win in Tampa. They're making way too many mistakes and Harris being out wont help.

[Kinetic 0]

Atari Bigby is also still out. The extent to which the Bucs can exploit Green Bay's depleted secondary with Brian Griese remains to be seen, although one way or the other I doubt we'll be seeing another 67 pass performance. The numbers suggest that Green Bay's weakness on defense is against the run (although playing Adrian Peterson and Marion Barber will do that to you) so I'm optimistic that Earnest Graham and Warrick Dunn will be able to bounce back from an abysmal showing against Chicago. I'm probably more worried about the other side of the ball. Our defense has been giving up a lot of big plays so far.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Don't worry, if McCarthy keeps playing the 4 and 5 receiver sets when we only have 3 viable receivers to throw to on every down, that Aaron Rodgers can have a 50% completion percentage again and we won't be much of a threat on offense, either.

 

How is Tampa's run defense? I think that's probably the key for Green Bay to get started again.

[Kinetic 0]

20th in the league through three weeks, although that makes it look worse than it's actually been. Again, more troubling is that the pass defense ranks 27th.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

remember in Week 2 when I complained about only getting one game wrong on a six-figure ProLine? That happened to my Dad last year. The game he got wrong was Philly vs. Chicago. Philly won. That's an omen.

You sure about that one?

 

No, my bad. I remember it being a big deal because he's a Bears fan. It was late when I typed it. Shut up. Double edit: Why couldn't you quote "furthermore"? Now I look indifferent to proper punctuation.

 

Atari Bigby is my new favourite name in sports.

 

Edit: Yes, Plaxico was mentioned.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Holy fuck. I was just taking a look at the Packers' next few games.

@ Tampa this weekend

Atlanta at Lambeau after.

@ Seattle

home against Indy

bye week

@ Tennessee

@ Minnesota

 

That's 5 of the next 6 games against playoff teams from last year. Seattle may be pretty weak (and I'm trying to get tickets so I'll be there live to see them stomp on the Seahawks) but even Atlanta could be a spoiler there. Owch.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Also, an amusing PM I received on January 19th, 2008, the eve of the Packers' eventual loss to the Giants in the NFC Championship game from Kinetic, titled "Go Packers!":

I have a lot of money on Green Bay tomorrow. If they lose, I'll probably kill myself.

[Guest Vitamin X]

This is encouraging.

 

Packers' Harris could be back in 3-4 weeks.