The NFL season is in full gear and here we go again with some picks. Bring on the comments folks, as we are ready to do some battle in the next day before the games kickoff. Good times. STEELERS (-5) over Viqueens: honestly I think this spread is absurd. The steelers are 1-5 against the spread on the season and they’re favored by more than 3 against an undefeated team. The steelers have been horrible this season, they’re without question the worst 4-2 team in the league and… I mean… I’m very shocked. All the same, they have a good run defense and the viqueens have a terrible pass defense and that’s what the steelers do. I’d expect a relatively high scoring affair (unfortunately the O/U is prohibitively high at 46) and the steelers look like the kind of team that beats the viqueens (which is really “anything other than a terrible team†since the ravens and 49ers both beat the viqueens in MN). Patriots (-15) over TBAY: I mean, the Bucs have had a good pass defense for years, and even this year they’re 11th. Just, their coaching and everything is so bad that I kind of think the spread will get hit for the pats around the 4th quarter or so. I don’t expect another game like last week and I DO think the patriots are a bad football team, but the bucs are just so badly coached and everything that I can’t really pick them to cover anything at this point. CHIEFS (+5) over Chargers: Ugh, these are two bad football teams. The Chargers can typically pass the ball but this is in arrowhead and both of these teams are terrible. The Chiefs actually have a better record ATS than the chargers (2-4 vs. 1-5) but… I mean… I’m staying away from this game, I just think both teams are bad and the home team is getting 5 points. TEXANS (-3) over 49ers: I really wanted the Bears West to be good this year. But their pass defense isn’t very good and that’s a really bad thing to have when you’re playing the Texans who only can do one thing reasonably well. The same two divisions that were awful last year are awful again this year, that’s pretty rare I think, usually there’s a bit more change year to year in the NFL I feel like. Either way, Hopefully Houston can convert their 1st and goals this week… Packers (-9) over BROWNS: wow, the browns have the worst qb rating (combined) in the NFL. That’s right, in the entire NFL, the league that includes the Oakland raiders. That’s ridiculous, they’re just a terrible football team, I really really want them to win this week but I can’t see it happening. They’re awful. Colts (-13) over RAMS: wow, I’m picking a lot of favorites to cover large spreads. But then again, there are a lot of really terrible football teams in the NFL right now. The rams might be the worst. Jets (-7) over OAKLAND: Ha, well like every week with the Jets you have to assume they’ll be able to overcome their qb. They’ve an incredible run game (318 yards last week!!!!!) with arguably the best offensive line in football but there is one player on their team that is prone to losing football games. It’s pretty funny that that’s the reason they’ve lost games because I know a lot of people who think he’s incredible. The raiders have a good pass defense, will Sanchez do the same thing he did last week? Bills (+7) over PANTHERS: Ha, wow what a bad game. Both of these teams are the same. Both can stop the pass (2nd and 4th) and can’t stop the run (29th and 32nd) and both teams run the ball reasonably well (8th and 12th) and can’t pass for shit (29th and 25th). It’s in Carolina so that would make me think that the home team is more likely to win, but is Carolina really a home game for a qb that will throw a few picks against a good pass defense? I dunno, both of these teams are so bad the 7 point spread just seems too high to me. Falcons (+4) over COWBOYS: Ha, how in God’s name are the cowboys favored in this game? They’re awful and the falcons aren’t. This is the easiest pick of the week, I think. Bears (PK) over Bengals: Wow, that spread is REALLY low. People believe almost universally in the bears this week, it opened at -1.5 for the Bengals (which was already way lower than I thought it’d be given the teams’ records) and then dropped even more. I mean, the Bengals’ wins have even been good, I don’t think they deserve to not be favored in this game. Either way, I am pretty sure the Bengals offense won’t do anything in this game and if the bears can find ways to not fuck up they’ll win this one. Their losses against the falcons and packers were both very winnable games if they had avoided ridiculous mistakes. Hopefully that trend doesn’t continue. Saints (-7) over DOLPHINS: The dolphins are a pretty trendy pick in this game, for some reason nobody really wants to believe the saints. I think it’s pretty disgusting what sort of press they’re getting really. I mean, if the Patriots had opened the season up like this is there ANY question that espn would be comparing them to the greatest teams of all time? ANY?!?! Take a quick look at their schedule and honestly the saints have a decent shot at going 16-0 this season (in that division). Thus far in the season the saints have been basically good at everything in football. That wins you quite a few games when every other team is terrible. GIANTS (-7) over Cardinals: This is fun, the Cardinals have the best run defense in the NFL (and the giants run the ball all the time) and the giants have the best pass defense in the nfl (and obviously the cards do nothing but pass). So that’s fun. But the Giants actually are more balanced than the cards and they’re at home and so I have to pick them to win. The spread isn’t prohibitively high, I’d guess they’d win by about a touchdown so hopefully they add on a fg at the end. The Cardinals might decide to not show up too, and it’s west to east coast and everything. Eagles (-7) over REDSKINS: When you have someone who was literally working at bingo two weeks ago as your offensive coordinator in week 7 of the season, I will not be picking you to cover a 1 score spread. Period. BM
