November 2011 Archives

Was 6-8 last week. On the season (Weeks 4,6,7,8 & 9 only), 38-31 (0.551). Missed the Chargers-Raiders game last night. Will start doing this on Thursday next week.

Raiders @ Chargers - Off - They played last night.
Saints @ Falcons - Saints - What can I say? Homer.
Titans @ Panthers - Panthers - Just a hunch. No good feeling either way.
Steelers @ Bengals - Bengals - I think they're for real.
Rams @ Browns - Rams - Another hunch.
Bills @ Cowboys - Bills - Cowboys are up and down. This week, they're down.
Jaguars @ Colts - Colts - This is their best chance to win this season. I think they'll take it.
Broncos @ Chiefs - Chiefs - If anyone can figure these two out, they're better than me.
Redskins @ Dolphins - Dolphins - Once upon a time, these two played Super Bowls against each other. Not any more. Taking the home team.
Cards @ Eagles - Eagles - No Kolb, no chance.
Texans @ Bucs - Texans - Texans are a good running team and the Bucs can't stop the run.
Ravens @ Seahawks - Ravens - No problem here.
Lions @ Bears - Bears - Payback.
Giants @ 49ers - 49ers - Game of the Week.
Patriots @ Jets - Jets - They've split every year since Rex Ryan arrived in New York. Pats won the first one ...
Vikings @ Packers - Packers - Certainly not because of their great defense.

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When the Saints are on defense: There's no secret here. The Falcons want to pound the ball with Michael Turner and mix in a few short and medium passes. They'll take a handful of shots downfield but that's not Matt Ryan's game. Very concerned about injuries to Patrick Robinson and Tracy Porter this week. If neither can play, the Saints have a problem. Jabari Greer is playing very well but Leigh Torrence is a liability. The Falcons have more than just Roddy White now. Still, if the Saints can get the Falcons in 3rd down passing situations, they should be able to get them off the field sometimes and that should be enough.

When the Saints are on offense: Take care of the ball. Take care of the ball. Take care of the ball. I expect the Falcons defense to be the opposite of their offense. They will throw a lot of different things at the Saints. They don't have a shutdown defense. Their defense has to take chances. They really don't match up well with the Saints passing game. They can't cover the Saints fast guys downfield without giving a big cushion, can't cover the Saints big guys in the middle without double teaming, and have no one to deal with Darren Sproles. There is no reason why the running game can't contribute this week, too. If the offense is on its game and is playing smart, they'll score a lot of points and put a lot of pressure on the Falcons offense to do the same.

The Saints can really help themselves this week. Get a good win over a division opponent on the road, go into the bye week in decent shape, and start gearing up for the final six games, four of them at home ... and that's what scares me. They were in good position to help themselves before they traveled to Tampa and before they traveled to St Louis and they laid an egg both times. They need to break that bad habit.

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Kinda quiet this week so far. I think that may be because the Saints and Falcons fans are both unsure of what they have. The Falcons have looked good at times, bad at times, and puzzling at times. The same can be said of the Saints. How do you follow a spectacular blowout win of a bad team with a blowout loss to another bad team? Yes, the Saints were blown out of the Rams game. The Saints led wire-to-wire last week against the equally puzzling Bucs but they didn't really ever put the game away. This is not a must win game for the Saints but they can surely help themselves with one.

Offering my disappointing WR, Larry Fitzgerald, up in a trade for disappointing RB, Chris Johnson, this week before our fantasy football trade deadline. Not sure either player will help either team but I have to do something.

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As of this morning, the NFL is being characterized as the Packers and all the rest. That's fair enough, too. They are playing better than anyone else. Aaron Rodgers is playing near perfect football. He has to. Their defense is lousy. Funny no one mentions that about them.

It's still early but it looks like the NFC seems to be taking shape while the AFC is wide open. Game of the week has the 6-2 Giants traveling to San Francisco to take on the 7-1 49ers.

The Dream team is in trouble. They're 3-5 this morning. If you're of the opinion that it will take at least 10-6 to make the playoffs in the NFC, their margin for error is down to one game. They have to go 7-1 the rest of teh way to get to 10-6.

It's Week 9 and I still don't know what to make of the Saints. They are the top offense in the NFL and one of the highest scoring teams but I think the offense is still struggling to figure things out. They can really help themselves this week with a win in Atlanta heading into their bye week. That game figures to be a dogfight. They need Sean Payton back on the sidelines. He thinks he may be back after the bye. I think he's overly optimistic.

My fantasy football team fell to 2-7 and is hopelessly out of contention. My running back selection was horrible this season. DeAngelo Williams and Peyton Hillis turned out to be big-time duds.

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I considered yesterday's game with the Bucs a must win for the Saints. It was important in my eyes to avoid being swept by a team in the division. They got off to a decent start and I was really pleased to see a running attack but it bothers me somewhat that they seemed to have taken their foot off the gas during the game.

I am not impressed with Josh Freeman at all. When the Saints had players in his face, he threw rainbows that hung in the air or he missed his receiver by a mile. That he completed two of those is a testament not to his ability but to how wide open his receivers were.

It will take a better effort next week to beat the suddenly hot Falcons.

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Decent first half but they can't let up. The Bucs are good enough to get back in the game and win it. Not liking the over-reliance on Jimmy Graham. They're best when everyone is involved. Also not liking Pierre Thomas limping off the field. They need him in the second half.

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Sean Payton style. The purpose of having NFL teams submit injury reports was to remove any gambling advantages someone might gain by knowing about injuries that maybe no one else knew about. How it evolved into a gamesmanship tool and a payback tool is anyone's guess. Mike Shanahan started listing every minor cut on his injury reports after he was chastised for not listing one he thought was nothing. The end result is an injury report that is totally unreliable.

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Was 8-5 last week. On the season (Weeks 4,6,7 & 8 only), 32-23 (0.582).

Jets @ Bills - Bills - Just like the way they're playing.
Seahawks @ Cowboys - Cowboys - Cowboys stunk last week. They'll be back up this week.
Browns @ Texans - Texans - Browns are not very good.
Falcons @ Colts - Falcons - Colts stink.
Dolphins @ Chiefs - Chiefs - Not picking the Dolphins until they win one.
Bucs @ Saints - Saints - Looking for inconsistency this week because I surely don't want to see another performance consistent with last week.
49ers @ Redskins - 49ers - Redskins fading away.
Broncos @ Raiders - Raiders - Facing the best possible team for them this week.
Bengals @ Titans - Bengals - Until they lose, I'm taking them against every non-elite.
Rams @ Cardinals - Rams - Woke up at a bad time but they did wake up.
Giants @ Patriots - Patriots - A bounce back game for Brady and co.
Packers @ Chargers - Chargers - Upset special. Just a hunch.
Ravens @ Steelers - Steelers - Payback.
Bears @ Eagles - Eagles - They woke up, too.

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When the Saints are on defense: They just need to do something. Create some turnovers. Contest a pass. Get off the field. Sack the quarterback, pressure him, or knock him down. Take some of the pressure off of the offense.

When the Saints are on offense: Take care of the ball. Take care of the ball. Take care of the ball. Score some points early. Get ahead. Spread the ball around. Move the chains. Take some of the pressure off of the defense. The first loss against the Packers was mostly on the defense but the last two were mostly on the offense. The offense must be more efficient.

The Bucs won the first game by simply playing smarter. This is really the first must win game of the season. They have to treat it as such. It won't be easy. Tampa knows the Saints.

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How does a team look unbeatable one week and ordinary to bad the next? Every one of Sean Payton's teams has had this problem, even the Super Bowl team. Fans may point to the 13-0 start in 2009 but even that season was up and down. OK against the Lions, great against the Eagles, OK against the Bills, great against the Jets, OK against the bye week, great against the Giants, OK against the Rams, great against the Patriots, OK against the Redskins, and so on into the playoffs. Great against the Cards, OK against the Vikes, great again against the Colts. How do you hold Freeney and Mathis at bay one week and give up all kinds of sacks the next? Consistency is what this team needs. Well, that and a couple of decent linebackers.

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The Tim Tebow experiment continues in Denver for another week. After last week's win over Miami, it was all about Tebow-mania, which I think means "he just wins": The Lions are calling him a joke after he struggled against them this week. He's somewhere in between. I wouldn't know what to do with that guy. Do you spend any time breaking him of his unconventional habits or do you try to develop them into a game that can win in the NFL?

The Packers clearly won the first half of the season. They've established themselves as the team to beat. I don't think anyone is disputing that. They are not as perfect as the pundits claim.

Tip of the cap to the Kansas City Chiefs. They are now 4-3 and I don't think I ever saw a team look worse than they did the first two weeks. They very well might win the AFC West and they're doing it without their very best football player.

Some are calling the Saints loss to the Rams the worst of the week. I think I agree with that. It's not just that they lost. It's that they were completely outplayed from start to finish. It's a concern. This team looks and feels like other Saints teams that have shown a lot of promise only to mysteriously come up short. They can start righting the ship this week with a must win over the Bucs.

My fantasy team is sinking fast. At 2-6, they're just about out of any kind of playoff contention.

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