Tag Archives: Week 9 Review

Ten for Tuesday: Week 9 Fantasy Football Review

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Unfortunately, this is the Wednesday version of 10 for Tuesday, this one took a back seat to some other articles I had to throw up for Tuesday’s publishing, but don’t you worry, like cheese and Barry Bonds, it only got better with time….

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6 to 7 coaches need to watch Peyton Manning and the Colts execute a game plan on any given week. Maybe then guys like John Fox, whomever is calling plays in Buffalo, Jack Del Rio, Tom Coughlin and company, and a couple other team decision makers can see what it’s like to stick to a plan. If anything, the Colts know who they are and they go after it. Watching Peyton break out into a no-huddle, so a linebacker would have to continue guarding Dallas Clark, was awesome. What a smart team….    The Giants use of Brandon Jacobs pissed me off more than anything else. How can you be at the end of a close game and looking at a box score that shows Jacobs has just 11 carries for 67 yards? Who is the tool shed that decided Jacobs’ 6 yards per carry were just too damn efficient to be used 15 more times? I just don’t get it…..   How about the Cowboys forcing the ball to Roy Williams all day in Philly? I wish that had backfired. That kind of middle school, make everybody happy by giving them the ball, get everyone in, type of crap, especially in the freaking NFL, is a joke. Fortunately, Miles Austin didn’t mind one bit and when the game was on the line, Austin did work and won the game for Dallas. It’s still clown work…..

Vince Young is a winner, sorry if you don’t like it. You have to give a guy his credit, and Vince, from the very start, came in and won football games. Sure, he’s had his troubles, he might not be the most mentally tough player in the league, and he might feel as entitled as a spoiled little rich kid, but when it comes to football, VY wins games. Even his accuracy has been solid. He’ll never blow you away with numbers, but he is a threat to run and teams have to be aware of that. That’s one more thing to think about, and so far, it’s one too many things for opponents to think about…. The Green Bay Packers offensive line is good at run-blocking. They are bad at pass blocking. Aaron Rodgers is an accurate missile thrower but he holds the ball too long. What does all that add up to? Run the damn ball. If the Packers ran to set up the pass, or at least ran the ball consistently early in games, Aaron would be able to use the play action pass to his advantage. He could hold the ball long and probably live a long productive life. The way it’s going now, he’s going to be in a cast or two watching Matt Flynn running the show….   That whole Chad Johnson business is ridiculous. That’s right, I’m just going to call him Chad Johnson like I’d call Drew Bledsoe, chump – because it makes me feel better than typing incorrect Spanish mashed together into one awkward name. He probably knew he’d get fined. He definitely didn’t think a dollar was getting him anywhere. He obviously was just having a good time with it. But this is the no fun league. What really gets my taco-loving-goat is that it’s his interview afterward, using the word “BRIBE” that is the main reason why he’s going to be disciplined. Holy shit. What the hell do you call what he was pretending to do? The fact that grown men can be so butt-tossed over the use of a no-no word sounds a little too much like “The Village” to me, or if you’re looking for a good move, “Harry Potter” will do. So if he had said, “I just wanted to hand the official a dollar to see what I could get for a dollar” he’d be okay? The fine would be cut in half? Dumb….

If Vernon Davis walked up to me and said “Click, Clack” I might pull out my wallet and “See what I could get for a dollar”. The guy is nasty. He takes hits like it’s his job to prove how much bigger and badder he is then the next guy. And you know what, that is his job. And you know what, he is probably bigger and badder than the next guy. It has been refreshing to see his transformation into a big time NFL player. People always gave him a really hard time, but the kid has always been super competitive and a very hard worker, he just needed a little help with directing his attitude. Done and done…. Mike Sellers was the Redskins leading receiver against the Falcons. You heard me. A team that has traded, drafted, and signed receiver after receiver went to Mike Sellers enough to make him the leading receiver. What else, Jason Cambell probably attempted one pass over fifteen yards. The kid has a big arm, they have a speed demon that is known for making big plays down-field in Santana Moss. They have Devin Thomas who is one big, fast, s.o.b. They have Malcom Kelly who can make some plays in single coverage. And Randle El has been known to make a thing or two happen down field. This team has no idea what they are….. I’m pretty sure JaMarcus Russell and Derek Anderson had a QB competition during the bye and Russell lost. Anderson’s reward? He doesn’t have to play in front of people anymore. JaMarcus Russell’s response, “I did pretty good, completed a couple passes, I really can’t ask for more than finishing second, second is pretty solid. You know, it’s hard when you have to look through a tunnel.” True…..  Cedric Benson, I’m sorry for anything bad I ever said about you. You win. Just before the season, some schmuck in my Dynasty Fantasy Football league traded Steve Slaton away to get Cedric Benson. That was it. Benson for Slaton. I was outraged. “How could you be so dumb?” I asked again and again. Well, I think Slaton is a stud, and I’m sorry that Gary Kubiak has gone all Mike “Splinter” Shanahan on the poor kid, but even if Slaton wasn’t being benched for the elite services of Ryan Moats and Chris Brown, I think I would take back the whole, “How stupid can you be?” question. The question I’m asking now is, “How did you know? And what else do you see in that crystal ball?”

NFL Free Picks Review: Week 9 2009

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Not a bad week at all, but it could have rocked! I was 8-3 heading into the last two games of the week, and I definitely liked my Eagles side. That didn’t work out, but the Broncos getting a field goal at home – I liked my chances for 9 wins in week 9, always fun to hit those week number totals when you get past Week 8. Here’s how my winning week 9 went down.

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Kansas City Chiefs (+6.5) @ Jacksonville Jaguars: (WINNER) “First off, I don’t think the Jaguars have showed me enough consistency to be favored by 6.5 points against anybody in the league, even the Chiefs.”
That pretty much clears this one up. Despite being up, and probably getting to a point where they should have covered, the Jaguars just aren’t good enough to trust as touchdown favorites, or anything close to that. Any team can win by a touchdown or two (aside from obvious teams that can’t – you know who I’m talking about JaMarcus) but the chances of Jacksonville actually doing that is way to low to ever bet on. The Chiefs lost and covered, weird.

Washington Redskins @ Atlanta Falcons (-10): (WINNER) I was a little worried about this game because, well, I have no idea, but I was. It just seemed too easy. And when Washington scored early in the 4th to get within a touchdown, I finally realized why I was worried – because of the NFL, where magic covers happen. The Redskins just couldn’t seal the deal, giving up another long touchdown, this time to Michael Turner (whom rushed for over 150 yards against Albert Haynesworth and his crew of merry men) that got Atlanta the cover with is 58 yard touchdown run to basically end it. I had plenty to worry about, but the Falcons did just enough.

Baltimore Ravens (-2.5) @ Cincinnati Bengals: (LOSS) “But here’s the deal, and it’s a situation I take very much to heart when picking games over the second half of any given NFL season; Unless there is some sort of extreme mismatch between two good football teams, the chances of a split are pretty good.”

My uncle was right about this one, blast his old, fragile heart. I like the split between two good teams, but the Bengals were able to run on Baltimore again, and that was the story in this game. Benson went for over 100 yards again, and the Bengals made life tough for super sophomore QB, Joe Flacco.

Miami Dolphins (+11) @ New England Patriots: (WINNER) “Again, I just don’t think you can go against good football teams and double digit points. The Dolphins may be 3-4, but hey, they are a good football team. They can stuff the run, and if anything, they can really run the ball well offensively. They play sound football, get tough yardage, and use that dreaded and famed Wildcat offense to chew up the clock, shorten games, and keep elite offenses off the field. That’s a covering dream right there. Then you give them double digit points? Come on, this is too easy right?”

Okay, so the Dolphins didn’t run the ball that well, but you still can’t give them double digit points. This one was close, but I’m pretty sure everyone on Miami’s side got the win. The Dolphins played closer than the score indicated, but Tom Brady was on target in this one, and Laurence Maroney rushed 20 times for a little over 80 yards. Anytime that happens in New England, the patriots are going to win. But the Dolphins still covered, that’s good enough for me!

Arizona Cardinals (+3) @ Chicago Bears: (WINNER)  “I think Arizona’s the better team, but more-so I think Chicago is at the wrong side of a tough match-up in this one. The Bears struggle against accurate passers, they struggle against teams that stop the run. Now, I think this could be a close game, but Arizona’s chances of winning this thing are pretty good. The Bears don’t really eliminate anything Arizona does, so the Cardinals should dictate the flow of the game. That’s bad news for Bears fans.”

And the Cardinals made the Bears look like a Canadian Football team. Jay Cutler put up big numbers, but the Bears didn’t stand a chance. Basically everything I thought about this game came true. That’s always nice.

Tennessee Titans (+5.5) @ San Francisco 49ers: (WINNER) Now for some reason this game didn’t get published, some deal where it didn’t save and I didn’t pick that up until Monday, but if you got my newsletter, you’ll see that I certainly was on the Titans side in this one, and I’m going to go on ahead and take my credit. Vince Young is a winner, he always has been, and he’s been playing great football over the last couple weeks -using his legs to make some plays, and better yet open up spaces for Chris Johnson to use his wheels. And Vince has been accurate too. This game was close, definitely, either team could have gotten the win – but the value was on Tennessee and they came through.

Green Bay Packers (-9.5) @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers: (LOSS) “I normally don’t even like thinking about Green Bay as a big favorite, they just don’t commit to running the ball enough to be a sure thing as a big favorite -but…”  Who cares about the bu, it obviously didn’t amount to much. I had a flag football game on Sunday, but when I got back to the NFL couch, I had to give a chuckle when I saw Green Bay getting tricked by the salmon uniforms. How gross can the Packers be? As gross as anyone in the league, that’s why “I normally don’t even like thinking about Green Bay as a big favorite”. What can you say, everyone needs to listen to themselves a little more (well, not everyone, JaMarcus Russell needs to ignore himself) and I am no different. Those damned Packers!

Carolina Panthers (+15) @ New Orleans Saints Free Pick: (WINNER) “The value here is with Carolina and it’s because they have an elite rushing attack and any time you give an elite rushing attack 15 points on Sunday, that bet has value. Why it took this long to keep the ball out of Jake Delhomme’s hands is beyond me, but proving to me that they will run the ball to win is good enough for me to take them as a 15 point underdog, even against this year’s “best team in football”.  62% still like the Saints – come on. The Carolina value is good enough for me.”

There you have it, the Panthers led for much of this game, but of course Drew and company came back to get the best of the Panthers. Still, there was too much to like about this one, as you all recognized when the game was all but a sure cover throughout. You can’t give a great rushing attack 15 points no matter who you are.

San Diego Chargers @ New York Giants (-3.5): (LOSS) “When this line came out I was very excited, somehow, somewhere, somebody decided the Chargers were a complete enough football team to compete with even a struggling Giants squad. Nope.”

Yep. Now, the Giants still should have covered. They were up 20-14 with 25 seconds left and the Chargers stuck on the 30 yard line needing a touchdown to win. How often does a team without Brett Favre win that game? 10% would be generous. But the Giants let Vincent Jackson get behind the defense, (or he imposed his mighty will and forced himself behind them without their blessing) and he scores with 20 seconds left to lift the Chargers over the Giants by a point. You cna’t win them all. This game was tight, and despite being up late, I think the Giants weren’t the better team in this one. They had terrible play calling to start with, I mean Brandon Jacobs only gets 11 carries for more than 60 yards in a close game. That’s a joke. And they couldn’t get those big stops that have made them great. Oh well, here it is, PAPA WEIMER had it right! In fact, he should have won all 4 of his underdog picks this week!

Houston Texans (+10) @ Indianapolis Colts: (WINNER) “10 points is too much for me, mainly because good teams shouldn’t get double digits, and Houston is a good team. I know, it sounds as weird to say out loud as it does to write it, as I’m sure it’s just as odd to read. But it’s true. Another thing, Houston seems to always play Indy tough. Indy’s won 9 of the last 10, but this game has been decided by a touchdown or less in 4 of the last 5 contests. The Texans might not be getting over the hump, but they’ve been pretty damn close. 10 points for a good team is just good value-betting.”

The value was there. Houston had chances to win this game. And a 40 yard field goal to send it into overtime missed just wide left. Just the Colts luck. But this one was an easy cover, you just can’t give a good team 10 points – the value is with the dog!

Detroit Lions @ Seattle Seahawks (-9.5): (WINNER) “Ugh. This is a tough one for me. If you tune in weekly, you know I generally have some trouble picking Seahawk games, I think it’s because they are so erratic and I know so much about their team. Players wise, this team is very talented, offensively and defensively. They just have no confidence against good teams, and they can really stink it up. On the other hand, they can play awesome against terrible teams. The Lions are terrible, I mean, they just lost to the worst team in football, err Steven Jackson. The Hawks can throw the ball well, and the offensive line shouldn’t have as many problems this week when the Lions defensive front comes to Seattle. Still, this is tough because how can you take the Hawks as nearly a double digit favorite? The value isn’t there.”

One can see how I had trouble with this game. If you were unfortunate enough to be watching this game instead of, say, The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross, then you were privy to how dumbfounding the Hawks entire attack is. Down 17-0 to the Lions early, they fought back and took control of the game, but only to a certain point, then it was, “Slow down, stop being aggressive, stop doing what you did well to actually get back on top in this game, see if you can’t give the Lions another chance.” Well, the Hawks pulled that off, and it looked like a sure ATS loss until my lady says, “watch, they’ll throw an interception and the Hawks will take it back to the house.” It’s hot when she gets football lingo spot on, and this time she was right, not  4 plays later the Hawks, Josh Wilson took it back to the house. Spread covered, game over. Amazing. Tough to pick the Hawks as a double digit dog indeed, but as luck would have it, they got the W.

Dallas Cowboys @ Philadelphia Eagles (-2): (LOSS) This rivalry never seizes to amaze me. I still think the Eagles are a great -2 bet at home against Dallas, but this one just didn’t work out for me. Philly had a dropped 1st down pass turn into an interception. They had an arrant throw late in the game that could have changed the game if it had more air under it. They also had a 4th and short first down that was one of the worst spots of the weekend, and then upheld in the replay booth because of a lack of evidence. Please.  But the bottom line is, Dallas played better football and probably should have won. The Eagles didn’t run the ball enough, weird, and Donovan had some big drops and a couple poor throws. Close game, but Dallas got me!

Pittsburgh Steelers @ Denver Broncos (+3): The Broncos looked good early, absolutely shutting down the Steelers offense. But the final 20 minutes or so belonged to the Broncos. The big score will tell people that Pittsburgh killed Denver, but that wasn’t the case, a couple things late inflated the score – but the bottom line is, that Pittsburgh defense is explosive. Big plays galore. This may have shown that same little crack in the Broncos saddle that Baltimore exposed – without the deep pass to keep tough defenses honest, Denver might have a real tough time moving the ball consistently. We shall see. This loss brought me to 8-5, a great start, a tough finish, a decent record for the week.

Week 9 NCAA Football Picks Review

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7-6: Just like my NFL record this week. Hopefully next week I can rocks some high winning percentages but a couple winners on a tough weekend, can’t be too upset about that. Here’s the review for how my Week 9 College Football Picks went down.

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Texans Longhorns (-8.5) @ Oklahoma State Cowboys: (WINNER) “I like the Cowboys, like their confidence and numbers, I just don’t think it’s real. Not against good teams anyway. The Cowboys are 6-1 but they’ve had to fight a very easy schedule for wins, Baylor, Texas A&M, Rice, and Grambling don’t strike fear into my heart, and you should consider that when you’re looking at those 6 wins. 6 wins, sure, looks nice, but against who? The Cowboys’ best win? I’d say a marginal Missouri team. Texas, on the other hand, they haven’t looked like a Top team in the nation this year either, but they have won, and they’ve had to go through Oklahoma, Texas Tech,  at Missouri, and a decent Colorado team. They are the better team here, no doubt in my mind, and with Dez Bryant suspended for the season, and more importantly this game, that game breaking presence isn’t going to help bail the Cowboys out. This game could be over quick, or it could take a little while, either way there will be a time when Oklahoma State has their spirits broken, and that’s a good sign for a Texas cover.”

As it turns out, this one was over quick, so option one. The Longhorns jumped all over the Cowboys, and it seemed like OK State’s spirits were broken earlier rather than later. It wasn’t much of a contest, the 41-14 score at the end doesn’t really do it justice. Up 41-7 in the 3rd, the Longhorns didn’t bring out the billy-club in the 4th and the Cowboys finally won a quarter. A little too late, indeed. Perfect for me, and the Longhorns for that matter.

West Virginia Mountaineers (-3) @ South Florida: (LOSS) The crazy Big East, South Florida came out and fed it to the Mountaineers from the get go. After going up with a field goal late in the first quarter, the Bulls never relinquished the lead. It was very close throughout, 20-19 in the 3rd quarter, but South Florida never folded, kept coming after the Mounties rushing attack and got the home win. And they needed it bad!

South Carolina Gamecocks (+6.5) @ Tennessee Volunteers: (LOSS)  “I know that I always take the unranked favorite over the ranked dog, but this one is going to be different.” Famous last words and I don’t know why in the nuts I go against my number one rule ever. I guess I don’t believe in absolutes, but apparently it can get you in a crushing vice if you know what I mean. The Gamecocks got kicked around by the unranked home favorites. Stupid me!

Washington State Cougars @ Notre Dame Fighting Irish (-27.5): (LOSS) A 26-point win by the Irish? I hate Notre Dame.

UCLA Bruins (+10.5) @ Oregon State Beavers: (WINNER) “I think these two teams are awfully close talent-wise, and despite losing 4 straight games (also 0-4 ATS in those games), the Bruins aren’t out of it. They have some solid players, and defensively they should be a little bit of a challenge for Oregon State’s run-game. I know the Beavers have played well lately, even going to the wire with USC, but the Bruins have had some tough luck and I feel like that’s about to change. Football karma definitely goes around. As a 10.5 point underdog, the value is pretty good. The Bruins have played pretty solid teams in their 4 straight Pac-10 losses, and I think they’ll be ready for this game because of those. The Beavers are solid, no doubt, but UCLA is being underrated here, the value is with them.”

It was a value bet for sure. I still like Oregon State going forward, and a win here should help them keep their confidence going into next week. These two teams were very even on Saturday, and I still think they are. Both could do some more damage in the Pac-10.

Kansas Jayhawks @ Texas Tech Red Raiders (-6): (WINNER) First of all, rarely do Texas Tech Red Raider games come down to 6 points, so if you think the Raiders are going to win, a 6 point spread shouldn’t worry you at all. And it doesn’t worry me. I know Kansas had a nice run to start the season, but you saw how out-matched they were last week when Oklahoma absolutely blew them out of the water. Texas Tech isn’t Oklahoma, but they do have the offensive ability to crush the Jayhawks. What makes me like the Red Raiders even more are the words from Mike Leach’s mouth about how the Raiders are playing like piss because of their fat little girl friends. Awesome. If that doesn’t get their attention, nothing will. After beating up on Nebraska, the Red Raiders fell to Texas A&M, and they fell hard. I think Leach’s antics and just being a better football team gets them back on track this week at home, then Jayhawks just happen to be the team in the way. Texas Tech has taken each of the last 3 meetings with Kansas, and 6 out of the last 7. Last year the Red Raiders smoked the Jayhawks, 63-21. They can put up some points, and since Kansas has yet to slow down any reasonable offense whatsoever, I can’t see them doing anything to slow one of the most dynamic offenses in college football.

Missouri Tigers @ Colorado Buffaloes (+4): (LOSS) It was 33-3 at half time – needless to say I wasn’t stoked about my chances to cover. But it was 33-17 after 3 and I got a glimmer of hope. Maybe it was a glimmer of poop, though, because the Buffs played the rest of the game as if they had Buffalo droppings for a snack prior to the 4th quarter beginning. This was a swing and a miss, and as always, I apologize for that!

California Golden Bears (-6.5) @ Arizona State Sun Devils: (LOSS) Oh Cal. The Bears really haven’t looked good against anybody worthwhile. I didn’t think ASU was, but they impressed me a little bit in this one. Well I don’t know if they impressed me as much as Cal disappointed me. The Bears are in for an interesting end to the season, I can tell you that much – a few more losses will trickle down to Cali.

Georgia Bulldogs @ Florida Gators (-15): (WINNER) “The Bulldogs have played some decent football at times this year, but overall I think they’re overrated. The Gators haven’t really moved the ball well or played mistake free football over the last three weeks, their defense has been winning them football games – so yeah, needless to say, a team that talented is due for a breakout offensive performance. I know the Gators have had a lot of injuries on the defensive side of the ball, and a lot of those guys are still questionable headed into Saturday’s SEC showdown with the 5-2 Bulldogs, I know that. But I also know that the back-ups on defense have been solid, that Georgia’s offense will have one hell of a hard time doing anything against the Gators back-ups, and that Tim Tebow and company shouldn’t find the same frustrations in moving the ball against that very giving Georgia defense. These teams are not equal, don’t get it twisted. Ignore the Gators recent struggles, this is a team that will turn it around soon, better to be ahead of that curve!”

I’m basically going to leave it to my crystal ball preview above. Not much I missed here. The only thing that surprised me was Georgia making it a game early in the 2nd quarter. After that it was “sonturi time”, or Tebow time in this grand country. There was no question which team as better, the Gators slapped it on thick with an interception return late.

North Carolina Tar Heels (+17) @ Virginia Tech Hokies: (WINNER) “I like the match-up problems Carolina’s stout run-defense has against a normally talented rushing game from Virginia Tech. I know UNC isn’t going to throw the ball a lot, they aren’t a passing team, but they have been known to grind out yards on the ground, and any team that can run and stop the run, is a nice value bet at +17. If you look at Virginia Tech’s losses, and games where they struggled – they got out-rushed. If the Heels can commit to stopping that Hokies run game, and put up some yardage on the ground themselves, an upset could happen. Either way, a cover seems likely.”

You bet! I hope you did anyway. The Tar Heels posed the exact problems I talked about in my preview/write up. It may have taken a last second field goal to get the win, but hey, they got 17 points in my book – this one was over early. The Heels out-rushed the Hokies, once again showing the weakness in Tech’s attack. North Carolina looked like the better team throughout. It’s always nice when they win outright!

Cincinnati Bearcats @ Syracuse Orange (-15): (LOSS) Well, it was 7-7 after the first quarter, but from then on out it just got methodically more painful to follow. After two it was 14-7. Still Covering. After three it was 21-7, still covering. But a few minutes into the 4th, the Bearcats got in the end-zone again, and it was a no-cover day for Lucky in Syracuse. The Orange had just 78 yards on 5 drives in the 2nd half – that’s not going to do it. This was very close, though, one big play gets a guy a cover. Shishkabob!

East Carolina Pirates (-4) @ Memphis Tigers Pick: (WINNER) The Panthers kicked the Tigers around to start my week off right. Those mid-week picks continue to help me out. East Carolina did what everyone expected them to do against Memphis, score early and often and generally make this game a blowout early in the 3rd quarter. Thanks for the free money Vegas!!!