NFL WEEK 10

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

Thursday Night

DEN @ CLE

 

Sunday, 1:00

NO @ ATL

TEN @ CHI

JAC @ DET

BAL @ HOU

SEA @ MIA

GB @ MIN

BUF @ NE

STL @ NYJ

Afternoon games

CAR @ OAK

IND @ PIT

KC @ SD

NYG @ PHI

 

MNF

SF @ ARI

 

[sfaJack 0]

The odds of Brad Johnson throwing several horrible interceptions are lower this week.

[Perfxion 0]

Thursday Night

DEN @ CLE

Tough call: they both swing from good to suck too often for my blood. Um...DEN by 10.

 

Sunday, 1:00

NO @ ATL

ATL throws all over this Aints team. ATL by 14.

 

TEN @ CHI

TEN has a real test, but if Rex is starting, TEN by 10.

 

JAC @ DET

If JAC was bad enough to lose to CIN then they can give DET their first win and become the laughing stock of the league. DET by 3.

 

BAL @ HOU

Odd seeing a NFL week 2 matchup here...oh yeah, IKE. Doesn't matter HOU by 3.

 

SEA @ MIA

MIA wins because West-coast teams are horrible at 1:00pm starts on the East-coast. MIA by 13.

 

GB @ MIN

GB wins to make everything in the North worth watching. GB by 6.

 

BUF @ NE

NE needs the win, but BUFF will not be a push over....coinflip gives NE by 3.

 

STL @ NYJ

JETS should murder them, but Farve can keep it close by his INTs. But Jets should win by 14.

 

Afternoon games

CAR @ OAK

CAR by 20. Its the Raiders, enough said.

 

IND @ PIT

PIT wins and Indy playoff hopes are DONE. PIT by 7

 

KC @ SD

AFC west sucks, so um, SD by 7 just because they flat out have more talent.

 

NYG @ PHI

I want Philly to win so that the Giants are knocked down a beg, but I am going to say that the Champs by 14 in a shoot out.

 

MNF

SF @ ARI

This game is going to suck big time. This looks like a horrible game for MNF. Still, the Cards win by 21.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

I'm going to go ahead and call it right here. Bears win this week. Here's why:

 

Rex Grossman will be starting. My Chicago Bears nightmare scenario goes like so: Grossman gets the nod because of Orton's ankle injury, and plays well enough to be re-signed at the end of the season, thus guaranteeing three more years of QB stagnation in Chicago.

 

Also, let's face it, Tennessee isn't going 16-0. They're just not. They're not that good. This week is as good as any to drop one. They're on the road, and Chicago HAS to keep it up to maintain their lead in the division. Also, the Packers took the Titans to overtime last week. This can happen, people.

 

I'm going to forego the five question footlong this week in lieu of this discussion topic, aside from the games themselves:

 

Injuries

 

The league right now has more rules in place to protect the health of their million dollar players, quarterbacks especially. How well is this working? Let's break it down by division:

 

Tom Brady suffered a season-ending and career-damaging injury.

Trent Edwards had a concussion this season.

Chad Pennington's career has been defined by nagging injury.

Brett Favre's drive to stay on the field led to a pain pill addiction.

 

Peyton Manning is just now getting comfortable on his own feet 9 weeks into the season after off-season knee surgery.

Matt Schaub's been hurt/out.

Vince Young has been dinged up/out and loony.

David Garrard's been healthy, but has been sacked as many times so far as he was all of last season.

 

Derek Anderson's benched.

Ben Roethlisberger has been torn to pieces.

Joe Flacco's been healthy. (rookie)

Carson Palmer's out.

 

Jay Cutler's ok.

Kansas City has whatever rotation based on injury and sucking.

Phillip Rivers. Someone fill me in here, I'm not on top of the Chargers.

Jamarcus Russell has started every game this season, but he's been sacked a bunch, and is completing less than half of his passes.

 

Tony Romo is out.

Eli is fine.

McNabb's doing great, but has been hurt often.

Jason Cambell is doing great, but was hurt last season.

 

Orton's out.

Kitna's out.

Rodgers has been dinged up.

Jackson got benched for Gus friggin' Frerotte.

 

Delhomme is ok this season, but was torn up last season.

Garcia's been hurt and missed time.

Brees is playing great.

Matt Ryan's fine. (rookie)

 

Kurt Warner's been playing hurt.

Alex Smith is hurt and bad. O'sullivan is O'whatever.

Hasselbeck is out.

Bulger got benched by a retard coach.

 

Look at that shit! This is not the season of the quarterback. The fact that this is happening when, like I said, there are more rules and equipment in place to protect players at this position, is staggering. Every division has a QB out with injury. Explain this.

[Zetterberg is God 0]

After how they've played lately, I will be stunned if the Bills win. Plus the injury parade continues as Whitner is out with a shoulder injury.

[HarleyQuinn 0]

Well, I can think of several reasons...

 

1: Some of the injuries mentioned are leg related (specifically Brady, Manning) and most of the "roughing the passer" calls come to either helmet/helmet collisions or the hits are aimed at the chest/shoulder/head area of the quarterback. If anything, I'd argue the DL shoving the OL to the ground and "rolling" the OL into the back of the QB's knee is a far more dangerous scenario.

 

2: I read somewhere that the helmets themselves could be part of the reason behind concussions. I think it equated to a car's air bag where it "looks" like it should protect but it inflates so quickly that it's almost as hard as the headrest/dashboard. The padding in the helmet may be designed to protect but may be thin enough that while it protects to an extent, it doesn't completely stop the head from smacking into the hard shell anyway.

 

3: The ground. The hit on Edwards this last week was nasty when he got sacked by Jenkins. Jenkins merely "rolled" him over to the ground but Edwards essentially led with his helmet straight into the ground. That kind of hit probably leads more to concussions or shoulder injuries than the actual contact of the DL/LB/S.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

Can anyone else think of a season where this many QBs got torn up or benched?

[The Niggardly King 0]

Man, the most wide open year in NFL HISTORY! according to the analysts and look at all the QB problems around the league.

[Kinetic 0]

Yeah, I was going to say that for whatever the reasons behind the constant QB benchings/injuries and coach firings, it's led to one of the more wildly unpredictable NFL seasons in recent memory. It's pretty refreshing after last year's inevitable march toward destiny, which was only unpredictable at the end.

[2GOLD 0]

 

You know it is a scary season when Kurt Warner and Kerry Collins are not only starting, but their teams are winning!

[HarleyQuinn 0]

Interesting stats of note...

 

- San Diego is 3-5 but leads the AFC in points scored at 224

- Baltimore leads the AFC North in points scored with 171. The 4-4 Miami Dolphins, last in the AFC East have also scored 171 points.

- The 1-7 Kansas City Chiefs have only allowed 2 more points than the 4-4 Denver Broncos!

- The Oakland Raiders have scored the fewest points in either league (107) but would be tied with San Francisco, Seattle, and St. Louis in the NFC West record wise

- The Carolina Panthers have allowed 2 fewer points than the New York Giants in the NFC

- The AFC East and NFC South are the only divisions where every team has a positive point differential

- The New Orleans Saints have scored the same number of points (216) as the Dallas Cowboys in 1 less game

- The Arizona Cardinals lead the NFC in points scored with 234

- Only 2 teams in the AFC have scored over 200 points. 8 teams have done so in the NFC.

- The 5-3 Philadelphia Eagles have the 3rd highest point differential (76) in the NFL

- The 0-8 Detroit Lions have scored more points than Oakland, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Cincinnati

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

I find it pretty remarkable that, halfway through the season, the only teams that really seem to be running away with their divisions are the Titans and the freaking Cardinals.

[Kinetic 0]

Well, with the Cardinals it has a lot more to do with the overall crappiness of their division than the quality of that team. We should all be so fortunate as to have a team in the NFC West. Or the AFC West, for that matter.

[CanadianChris 0]

The AFC West is just depressing. Every single team is riding a multi-game losing streak. I don't think it's so bad that 8-8 will get you in, because San Diego's remaining schedule is pretty soft, but it's bad nonetheless.

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

I'm going to go ahead and call it right here. Bears win this week. Here's why:

 

Rex Grossman will be starting. My Chicago Bears nightmare scenario goes like so: Grossman gets the nod because of Orton's ankle injury, and plays well enough to be re-signed at the end of the season, thus guaranteeing three more years of QB stagnation in Chicago.

 

Also, let's face it, Tennessee isn't going 16-0. They're just not. They're not that good. This week is as good as any to drop one. They're on the road, and Chicago HAS to keep it up to maintain their lead in the division. Also, the Packers took the Titans to overtime last week. This can happen, people.

Bears could win. I don't think they ultimately will, but I think they can. Titans aren't that good, Bears are at home, might be able to catch them napping. The Titans' receiving corps is arful. Justin Gage was deemed too shitty to play wide receiver for the Bears, and he's their guy? Get outta here. However, as I've made sure to note, the Bears defense can't stop the pass, so Collins could shine here just like every other mediocre quarterback that's faced the Bears. I feel good about their ability to keep the run in check, though, because they were able to stop Michael Turner, for the most part.

 

(How did it get this way, anyway, talking about the awful Bears defense? How did they get this old and this bad so quickly, anyway? Urlacher's invisible. Tommie Harris knocked up a whore and subsequently lost his faith in God, rendering him mentally unfit to compete, or some bullshit. Hillenmeyer has been dogshit all year and uniquely responsible for the Tampa Bay chokejob. Alex Brown is the only guy on the line meeting expectations. Mike Brown is out again. In terms of personnel, it's basically the same core from 2006, minus Ron Rivera at coordinator. Maybe that's the two-part problem right there. I hate to be '85 Bears Guy, but giving total control of the defense to Lovie via his stooge didn't really work out.)

 

Turner will reign in the Rexcoaster to some degree, so I don't anticipate a late-'06 redux of numerous interceptions, 0.0 QB ratings, and complete ineptitude. It'll be a mostly run-based day, maybe a few long attempts to Booker, but not really. (Bold prediction: he fumbles the first snap of the game. He didn't do it last week, so he has to now. It's not a Rex Grossman season without failing at the most basic fundamental action that we're all taught how to do when we're eight years old.) However, the Titans defense is really good, so the efficacy of this attack is questionable. As for Grossman's return after this year, I really don't see it happening. Hanie will move up to #2, and Grossman will be a backup in Kansas City or Carolina for the rest of his days. Did you hear him after the game, by the way? "I pretty much knew I'd play at some point this season, that's how it is in Chicago." Pipe down, fuckface. Go practice your snaps.

 

I'll say Titans 31, Bears 16.

[The Niggardly King 0]

Sorry Bear fans, but your defense is going to make Kerry Collins look like an MVP caliber player.

 

Titans 38 Bears 10.

 

Grossman ain't gonna play the whole game either.

 

It's so terrible that Phillip Rivers is having a great year this year. As a Charger fan people might question what I'm saying, but there is a reason why we have so many FUCKING BIG RECEIVERS. A good Rivers pass has the velocity of a Dan McGwire pass on Tecmo Football. He might have good accuracy, but I've seen too many times where our fucking receivers have to get killed thanks to that laser arm. I wish we would of kept Brees and tried to ship Rivers out for something back when we had the chance.

[Guest Vitamin X]

A Titans thrashing of Chicago and a Packer win over Minnesota would make up for the disappointing finishes of the Chicago and Green Bay games last week. I expect both things to happen and seeing as how the game last week against the only undefeated team in the NFL went, I am really, really looking forward to seeing Green Bay really turn it up from here on out. There's the remaining division games (one game against the Vikes, one against Detroit, and both Chicago games) and the weaker teams in the AFC South and NFC South divisions, with the exception of Carolina.

 

Chicago has homefield advantage in their favor, though, but I fear Czech might be right in his assertion that Rex will have his one great game of the year here which leads Chicago to re-sign him and piss off all the fans.

[devo 0]

Jets have a nasty habit this year of playing down to their competition, so here's hoping for sharp play and a conservative gameplan with a minimum of Pick Sixes.

[Open the Muggy Gate 0]

I'm a Titan fan that is going to watch the game in a Bears household.

 

Name the weapons I should bring with me.

[The Niggardly King 0]

Chicago has homefield advantage in their favor, though, but I fear Czech might be right in his assertion that Rex will have his one great game of the year here which leads Chicago to re-sign him and piss off all the fans.

 

He doesn't even have that in him anymore. Next year he's backing up for the Chiefs, Raiders, or Cowboys.

[devo 0]

I'm a Titan fan that is going to watch the game in a Bears household.

 

Name the weapons I should bring with me.

 

Bratwurst.

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

I'd leave the house entirely if I were you. These guys are Bears fans and Hoosiers; you're gonna get hurled across a living room.

[NoCalMike 0]

Also, isn't there some type of rule against a defender lifting the QB off of his feet and driving him to the ground? Kind of like a suplex? Jason Campbell got Belly-to-Back suplexed last night.

 

Redskins get some much needed rest this week with the bye. Springs & Jason Taylor will be back and finally healthy when they host the Cowboys.

[Kinetic 0]

Bears fans are almost invariably the loudest non-local group in any sports bar. There was a bunch of them at Buffalo's on Sunday and they were YELLING the WHOLE TIME. I'd keep turning around to see what was happening in that game, and it was almost always something mundane like a six yard gain. They had a fucking fit when Orton got hurt. Tears all around.

[Skywarp! 0]

Must be. Because Justin Tuck got a flag last weekend for a textbook tackle when Dallas' QB left his feet.

 

 

[Guest Vitamin X]

Bears fans are almost invariably the loudest non-local group in any sports bar. There was a bunch of them at Buffalo's on Sunday and they were YELLING the WHOLE TIME. I'd keep turning around to see what was happening in that game, and it was almost always something mundane like a six yard gain. They had a fucking fit when Orton got hurt. Tears all around.

 

Cowboys fans are pretty awful in this regard as well, although I'm not much better as a Packers fan in person. Kind of fun to spaz out on that one day of the week, though.

[The Niggardly King 0]

Also, isn't there some type of rule against a defender lifting the QB off of his feet and driving him to the ground? Kind of like a suplex? Jason Campbell got Belly-to-Back suplexed last night.

 

Yeah, it's to prevent anyone from getting spinebustered like Romonawoski (?) did against Flutie, though it didn't even hurt Flutie.

[HarleyQuinn 0]

NFL Network and Adam Schefter are reporting that the Raiders are going to waive DeAngelo Hall... oof.

[The Niggardly King 0]

Uh... hasn't he been kind of... you know... producing for them this year?

[jimmy no nose 0]

ESPN's article made it sound even better than just releasing DeAngelo Hall

Angered by the Oakland Raiders' 2-6 start, team owner Al Davis asked his front office staff to explore the possibility of releasing several players, including cornerback DeAngelo Hall, according to multiple sources.

Hopefully this means he's going on a rampage. It should be fun to watch.