Tag Archives: Week 2 Review

NFL Week 2 Expert Picks Review: Football Handicapping

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It would be easy to say that I should have won 11 for my Week 2 football picks for week too, because, honestly, I have to feel I picked that Monday Night game right on the button. But that’s just looking at what went wrong. If I was doing the what if business, or the should have business, I would have to admit the Giants probably shouldn’t have won on Sunday Night either… But I won 10 more games this week, starting out with double digit douzies in each of the first two weeks. Can’t ask for much more than that. This is how the cookie crumbled…

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Carolina Panthers (+6) @ Atlanta Falcons: (LOSS) This game was very close. I’m not saying I should have won, but I’m not saying I look like a dope for making this pick either. The Panthers had their chances, that’s for sure, and were driving the ball late in this game, going for a tie. Two times in the red-zone with no points ended things for Carolina, a team that I think should be a nice underdog going forward.

St. Louis Rams @ Washington Redskins (-9.5): (LOSS)  “At first glance this one is tough for me to stomach. Take the Rams, a team I have claimed to be the worst in football, or the Redskins, a team favored by 10 that has shown very little ability to put the ball in the end zone with Jason Campbell at the point.” I followed this by saying some things that I wish I wouldn’t have. Things I may never say again like, “I believe in the Redskins’ offense”. Washington won, sure, but they didn’t even score enough to cover if they had shut out the Rams. The play calling in Washington is very dull, lacks any sort of creativity, and basically gives Jason Campbell no chance to succeed. I don’t know why coaches insist on doing this for quarterbacks that are struggling. Making a QB easier to defend is no way to help him out, to help him improve. Both of these teams were pathetic on Sunday, but the Rams are still the worst team in football.

Houston Texans (+8) @ Tennessee Titans: (WINNER) “From what I saw from the Titans last week, they have a very good run defense. But they have holes in that secondary if the offensive line withstands that immediate surge. I think the Texans were terrible last week, but not a terrible football team. So things have to even out. The Titans should have won against Pittsburgh, but some missed field goals kept the Steelers in the game. The Titans are solid, and should run the ball well against Houston, but the Texans are closer to the Titans than 8 points. This is a divisional game, and both teams should come in with a lot to prove. That usually keeps the outcome closer, I’ll take the points.” I’m glad I got this one. Lots of points early, and Chris Johnson’s very own highlight film had me on the ropes. But just like I expected, Houston’s offense came to play, and this game was tied late. With a certain cover in the cards, I loved seeing Houston come out and upset Tennessee at home. I think Houston has this kind of offense, and will continue to give good teams trouble all season long.

New Orleans Saints @ Philadelphia Eagles (-1): (LOSS) “I don’t think this is a safe bet, but I’m taking the Eagles.” Hopefully you took my warning to heart, unlike myself, and didn’t wager on this game. I liked the Eagles, thought they’d be tougher defensively for Drew, but the 6 foot wonder kid torched his second straight opponent. It’s going to take a down game from Brees for his Saints to lose, and I’m not sure how easy that’s going to be to predict. The Eagles secondary is pretty solid, but Brees made them look like junior varsity most improved players… The Eagles put up lots of yards, but the Saints D made some big plays putting this one on the top shelf early.

New England Patriots @ New York Jets (+5): (WINNER)  “I don’t like taking a team that played poorly, should have lost, and won last week. So I’m not going to do it. The Jets do lots of little things right, and their defense is stout. I’m not sure the Patriots will be able to stop the run with Seymour stuffing the line of scrimmage in Oakland and Jarrod Mayo out for a few weeks. The Jets have a very solid offensive line, and I think they’ll be coming into this game with a chip on their shoulder.” You could see the chip on the Jets’ shoulders all game long. New York is too good defensively to be a 5 point dog, and their offensive line is too good for that as well. They do the little things right, they should have won this game, and they did.

Oakland Raiders (+4) @ Kansas City Chiefs: (WINNER) Well, JaMarcus Russell was brutal, the Raiders didn’t run all that well, but KC’s offense couldn’t put up points either, and the Raiders pulled out a win in KC. I liked the Raiders to win this one, and they did just enough to make that happen. I wouldn’t say the beat up on the Chiefs, but as a four point dog against a bad offense, you don’t need to kill to be an easy cover. I thought the Raiders were exactly that.

Arizona Cardinals @ Jacksonville Jaguars (-3): (LOSS)  Kurt Warner was amazingly accurate, and the Cardinals, never a good team playing on the East Coast, got to 1-1 on the season by smashing a Jaguars team that doesn’t look that good. Jacksonville needs something, and I’m not sure it’s players… Just saying.

Cincinnati Bengals (+9) @ Green Bay Packers: (WINNER)  “I hate to do this, because I think the Packers are a lot better than they played last week, but I can’t take a team that played poorly last week, pulled out a win anyway, and is now favored by 9 over a defense that looks much improved. I think the Bengals offense will improve every week, and from Week 1 to Week 2 will be no difference. People will look at this game and say, the Bengals suck, they lost to the terrible Broncos, but I don’t see it that way. I don’t think the Broncos are bad, they just aren’t great. And it took a pretty big fluke for the Bengals to get ousted in Week 1. Nine is a lot of points, and an improved Bengals defense should keep it closer than that. A couple big plays from Palmer and Chad, and this could be a big upset in Week 1. Survivor players, steer clear!” Please tell me you listened up and didn’t go with the Packers in your survivor games… I know I stayed away, and for good reason. That first part of what I said, never take a team that played poorly and just slipped by and is now a big favorite – write that down, put it in a safe, and look in that safe every week before making your picks.

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Minnesota Vikings (-10) @ Detroit Lions: (WINNER) Like everyone else, I liked the Vikings here. For all the obvious reasons that made them one of the more popular picks in Week 2 – so I don’t need to go into much detail. All I know is that Stafford still isn’t ready as his two more interceptions in Week 2 show. If the Lions want to win, Culpepper is their guy.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+5) @ Buffalo Bills: (LOSS) This was a tough one. Buffalo jumped out early, and honestly if it weren’t for some big dropped passes by TO, this game would have been an even bigger blowout. I really expected good things from the Bucs run game in this one, but like many running teams, if you start off way behind it’s tough to get the run game started. A swing and a miss no doubt.

Seattle Seahawks @ San Francisco 49ers (-1.5): (WINNER)  “I think the 49ers just play a tougher brand of football that makes a tough match-up for the Hawks. Frank Gore’s running style seems to eat up the smallish Hawks front 7, and especially with Leroy Hill out, Seattle should have trouble preventing Gore from averaging less than 5 yards a carry. I think San Fran will feed the man the ball, and that should be enough to pull a home win in Week 2.” My buddy, and fantasy writer on my site, Red Red Ryan, told me that I was nuts for taking the 49ers here, and when I told him that Frank Gore would dominate the Hawks, he asked me when the last time he had 100 yards against the Hawks was…. Well, needless to say, when I got a text midway through the 1st quarter, I was happy to see a reply saying: “Well that didn’t take long.” Sometimes you’re right, sometimes you’re right and your friend is wrong. Like my buddy Josh says, anything worth playing is worth beating your friends at.

Cleveland Browns @ Denver Broncos (-3) : (WINNER) I liked the Broncos at home, but I didn’t expect them to blow Cleveland out. Now it was just 13-6 going into the 4th quarter, but Denver really ran this game. I liked them a lot more than most people did, coming into the season, but their defensive prowess has been even better than I expected.

Baltimore Ravens (+4) @ San Diego Chargers: (WINNER) This game was pretty interesting. A couple huge plays defensively got Baltimore the win, but contrary to what I expected, it was offense that dominated this box score, but it wasn’t the offensive numbers that won the game. Phillip Rivers put up 436 passing yards against the Ravens, that’s nuts. But SD couldn’t run the ball at all, and the Ravens ended up eating up the clock and being more physical up front. Willis McGahee had a big day, but it was Ray Lewis that shut the Chargers down on 4th down in the 4th quarter, ending the game. The Ravens were going to cover either way, but the win felt nice.

Pittsburgh Steelers @ Chicago Bears (+3): (WINNER) “The Steelers’ offensive line is pretty bad, just ask Willie Parker and his 19 yards on 13 carries last week… They played a poor game and should have lost last week against the Titans, but Tennessee kept pooping the bed every time they got into the red-zone area. …Cutler also has the ability to make some big plays too, and a couple big plays could be enough points to beat the Steel City. There’s no doubt in my mind that Cutler will be better in his second outing, and while the Steelers are very tough defensively, their offense isn’t strong enough to blow a solid team out. Chicago is a good team. I think this one is close, but I’m going against the defending champs here.” There you go. The Steelers’ O-line wasn’t good enough to beat up the Bears defense as Pitt’s run game never got on track. Ben threw the ball all over the field again, but like I said, that’s no way to get a sure win. Chicago took advantage, hung in, and used some big throws to get the win in a game nobody thought they had a chance in. I like to win, don’t get me wrong, but I love to win when I have readers writing in and telling me how wrong I am about said pick. Guys, I’m not mailing you back and telling you I told you so, because you know what’s up.

New York Giants (+3) @ Dallas Cowboys: (WINNER) So, when I pick a game wrong I admit it. And I’ve always been one to tell you if I pick a game wrong, win or lose. This is one of those cases. If I had to do it again, I’d probably go with the Cowboys in this situation. They played better. They were the better team, and they smashed the Giants around. New York needed some freak stuff to happen and a terrible game from Mr. Romo to win this game – and that’s what they got. In most instances, Tony doesn’t throw the ball around like Ryan Leaf, but thank goodness for me, and all those other Giant backers, that’s exactly what he did on Sunday Night. Don’t worry though, I took some Karma on Monday Night.

Indianapolis Colts @ Miami Dolphins (+3): (LOSS) “I think they’ll run the ball very effectively, and upset Indy. The Colts had a lot of big numbers last week, but just barely snuck by the Jaguars. Now, that’s what the Colts do from time to time, but I think it’s because Indy just isn’t as powerful as they once were. Basically, I expect the same Colts I saw last week and a much better Dolphins team than the one that lost a pushover to the Falcons.” What more can I say? Did I or did I not have this game right on the freaking button? The Dolphins ran the show on Monday Night, and all signs point to them winning the game. However, some pretty poor coaching, some terrible calls on their last field goal drive and on the final drive of the game, Ted Ginn Jr. dropping the game winner in the end zone, and this guy name Peyton Manning and his Colts barely sneaking by just happened to do me in by a single point. You win most of these, you lose some. That’s just the way it goes.

When all is edited and rephrased, I took ten this week. I’ll take 10 Wins every week for the rest of my life and smile from ear to ear. Until next week!

Free NFL Pick Week 2 Review: 2004

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Like last week, the second week of the NFL season brought both good news and well… other news. While I came down from the 10-5-1 high of week one and found a much more average week two at 7-8-1, leaving me at 17-13-2 for the season, Lucky enough I guess. This week was tough; let me tell ya! The odds makers were leaving me looking for ins and outs in places I’d never thought of. I actually found myself believing that Jeff Garcia was going to play well two weeks in a row… what was I thinking? So, many of the games were up in the air, but a few looked sure enough to wager some big cash on. I called these my week 2 super picks. Every week I pick four games that I’d surely bet on. The previous week I was 0-4 making me wonder if I actually knew what I was talking about while I was looking for a place for my wife’s grandma to sleep. I figured hey… everyone has an off week and surely I was part of that everyone, so I took four games and bet a bundle. As it turns out, I came up with a little extra spending cash and a 3-1 record that afforded me some optimism that Grandma may soon get her own place once again! For a closer view take a look at my Super Pick recap.
Short Super Pick Recap: 3-1

Redskins-Giants: I had a feeling this bet was too good to be true. Those tricky Redskins, they had me up in praise after week one, imagining Joe Gibbs return from retirement to be nothing short of magnificent. There’s a chance that still might happen, but if week two is any indicator of the rest of the Redskin’s season, there’s no way the Skins will even touch the top of their division. The Skins looked bad when Mark Brunell was running the show against the Giants, but I couldn’t imagine seeing anything worse than Patrick Ramsey’s attempt to produce a victory. When Brunell went off the field in a crippled limp, I thought, maybe this is a blessing in disguise. Unfortunately for me, the only thing in disguise was Ramsey, who before this weekend, had disguised himself to be an NFL quarterback. Tricked me! And tricked me into betting money on the Skins. At -3, I thought they were as safe as bets get, now I wouldn’t take them at +3.

Jets-Chargers: I knew this bet was money in the bank, which I am now very grateful for because I actually have some money in the bank. The Jets were a steal being only 3-point favorites against the Chargers. I must admit the Chargers put up a closer number than I had imagined, but they were truly never in the game after halftime. Brees, as I had predicted, played a mistake-ridden game and was anything but the flawless leader that he was in week one. Flutie came in at the end and did what Doug Flutie does best and made something out of nothing. The Jets won by 6 and gave me my first Super Pick win of the season.

Seahawks-Buccaneers: Leave it to the Seahawks to make me worry. That high-powered offense that I thought would run and pass all over the Bucs was anything but high-powered. Luckily for me the Tampa Bay offense is as bad as any other team in the NFL. This truth, teamed up with the fact that the Seahawks improved defense is stingy, had me smiling when the game finally ended with the Hawks on top 10-6 and covering my spread by a tiny 1.5. The Seahawks have covered both times this year, and both were wins on the road, a big change from a season ago. We’ll see if Seattle can get their offense going next week against the winless 49ers. For now, I’ll just take my money and run.

Colts-Titans: The Colts got going on the ground in the second half, and then they began to roll. Indianapolis looked good running Edgerrin James for over a hundred yards against a very good Titan defense. Peyton and his crew really wanted this game and it showed as they took over late and never gave Steve McNair a chance, as they didn’t allow him to throw for a touchdown. The banged up secondary stepped up big for a Colts team that now finds themselves at 1-1. This game marked the end of a week that brought my overall Super Picks record from 0-4 to 3-5. Not too shabby.

Other News!

Now that the good news is over and done with, here comes the “other news” as I like to call it. So if I finished my Super Picks at 3-1, and the entire week left me at 7-8-1, easy math would tell you that I didn’t do all that well on my the not-so-super-picks in week two. As if you didn’t know, 4-7-1 isn’t as exciting as last weeks 10-1-1, but you’ve gotta take some punches from time to time.

The Broncos(+3) looked more like donkeys as they failed to score a touchdown against a Jaguars team that obviously finds barely winning exciting. Jake Plummer didn’t bail me out this week.

The Ravens(-3) took it to the Steelers who looked better when rookie Ben Roethlisberger came in for the injured Tommy Maddox, but couldn’t get close to the 30 points Baltimore put up. I knew Ray wouldn’t let the ravens start 0-2.

The Texans(+3), who disappointed me in week one, pulled off more of the same in week two. The defense allowed points like they were free and the Lions took their second win of the season.

The Bears beat the Packers(-8.5), I repeat; the Bears beat the Packers… in Green Bay no less. I almost bet on this game but the spread was just too high. Boy am I thankful I left this one alone. Favre looked old and the Bears, well they looked young. Lovie Smith finally tricked Thomas Jones into playing like the first round draft pick that he was, and yes, the Bears won.

The Saints(-7.5) defense allowed Ken Dorsey to drive down the field for scores. San Francisco score 27 points, a number I thought they’d have trouble accumulating all season. They won, those lucky Saints, but they didn’t cover for me.

I took the Falcons(-2.5) against the Rams after St. Louis barely squeaked passed the Cardinals in week one. Looks like that was one of the good decisions I made this weekend. Vick looked brilliant, rushing for over 100 yards and throwing for nearly 200. The defense looked good, holding Marshal Faulk to under 30 yards and intercepting Marc Bulger twice.

The Chiefs(-6) broke my heart for the second week in a row, losing to a Stephen Davis and Steve Smith-less Panthers team that looked a lot better then they did against the Packers last Monday Night. The ugliest performance of the year goes to Jeff Garcia who made me understand why San Francisco let him go.

The Browns(+4.5) fell one half of a point short of covering against the Cowboys, who also failed to look stellar, but got their first win nonetheless.

The Patriots(-8) took a step backward but beat a feisty Cardinals team and covered in the process. These Patriots are dangerous, often finding a way to play to the level of their opponents.

The Bills(+3) defense was great for the second straight week. Their offense was uglier then last week. Luckily for me, Drew Bledsoe threw a wounded duck into the end zone with 1:20 left in the game and after a couple tips Eric Moulds caught a seemingly meaningless touchdown. Seemingly meaningless for the outcome of the game of course. On the bright side the seven points brought me to a push.

The Dolphins defense played great against the Bengals(-5), but they couldn’t get the win because their offense couldn’t put up points to save their lives. Unfortunately for me, the defense did manage to give up only 16 points, which just wasn’t enough to lose by more than the 5 points I needed them to lose by. Cincinnati got the win, but I got the loss.

In Monday Night’s big showdown between the Eagles(-3) and the Vikings, the Eagles gave me my 7th win of the week. McNabb looked superb and as accurate as I’ve seen him since his career started. Terrell Owens and Randy Moss each caught touchdowns, but the Eagles looked better than the Vikings. Philly took the game by 11, covering the spread by 8 and making me happy for placing that last minute bet. After the game Randy Moss and Terrell Owens hugged and made up. I heard Randy telling TO, “Okay you can compare yourself to me now. You’re worthy!”

I was Lucky enough this weak to escape the injury bug that was everywhere in week two. My amazing record however, wasn’t. But, no need to fret, my Super Picks were 3-1 and my overall record is still soaring high at 17-13-2. Look out week 3 here I come, gonna send the kids to college, or buy me a new Flat Screen TV. Hold it a second… gotta get Grandma back in her own place first!

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