Week 17 - No slacking this week

Indianapolis at Buffalo (Indianapolis)
New Orleans at Carolina (New Orleans)
Jacksonville at Cleveland (Jacksonville)
New England at Houston (New England)
New York Giants at Minnesota (Minnesota)
San Francisco at St Louis (San Francisco)
Atlanta at Tampa Bay (Atlanta)
Pittsburgh at Miami (Pittsburgh)
Chicago at Detroit (Chicago)
Philadelphia at Dallas (Dallas)
Kansas City at Denver (Denver)
Baltimore at Oakland (Baltimore)
Tennessee at Seattle (Tennessee)
Washington at San Diego (San Diego)
Green Bay at Arizona (Arizona)
Cincinnati at New York Jets (Jets)

I slacked last week with being much too busy with the holidays to even watch much football. I did get to watch the embarrassing Monday night game which I wish I hadn't now but oh well. Although it is noteworthy that the Vikings have more players going to the Pro Bowl than any other single team. This week many teams are fighting for their playoff future so it should provide some good football. The NFC is pretty well set as long as the Cowboys off the Eagles we are good. The AFC has some teams scratching at the door including the Texans.

Woohoo, here we go!

What a Finish

Week 16 had a wild finish. The starters for Indianapolis were all benched in the 3rd quarter, thereby allowing the New York Jets to win. The road to perfection for Indianapolis has come to an end, but more importantly for NY it keeps their playoff hopes alive. The week culminated in Minnesota falling in overtime to Chicago, thereby losing their shot at the number 1 seed.

The playoff picture for the AFC cleared up a little bit this week, but not much. Because of all the losses, Jacksonville still has an outside shot, but they're not in control of their own destiny at thsi point. But the important team here is Houston. I was of the thinking that a New York Jets win would eliminate Houston, but I was wrong. Houston still has an outside shot, but they will need to win in Week 17 and will need losses by a couple of other teams in front of them. I forget the scenarios, but they showed them for each team yesterday on Game Day Final. Houston has a real shot at winning this Sunday as New England has not played well on the road all season and may rest their starters as they've clinched the AFC East (thanks to Houston). The playoff teams in the NFC have all been set, the only thing really left to play for at this point is to determine who clinches the NFC East.

As far as the Week 16 picks go, Mardi sent me an email giving me the decision on how to handle it. I've decided that I win this week 1-0. Admittedly I've been slacking on keeping up with the score, but I will have it updated and posted when I make my Week 17 predictions. I know it's close between us, though.

Week 16 So Far

Wow, there are some interesting results from the early games on Sunday. The biggest surprise is Tampa Bay beating New Orleans. This should be welcome news for Mardi (and any other Vikings fans out there) as they still have a shot at the 1st seed in the playoffs. Houston beat Miami, which eliminates Miami but more importantly gives Houston a better shot at the playoffs. And let's just say the New York Giants were embarassed by Carolina today. With Baltimore losing at Pittsburgh today and Jacksonville losing at New England, Houston needs at least a New York Jets loss to stay alive. Since they're playing at Indianapolis today, that is a good possbility. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. The AFC playoff hunt is so confusing that I'm sure I've missed something. I guess I'll just have to watch a lot of NFL Total Access tonight after Dallas beat Washington.

Rick's Week 16

Grr... I was going to pick San Diego to beat Tennessee, but got so caught up in Christmas preparations that posting my prediction completely slipped my mind. Believe it or not, I actually started my predictions on the 23rd, but wasn't able to finish them. Oh well, since Mardi also missed the post, that game is a wash. But here we go with my Week 16 predictions.

Buffalo at Atlanta (Atlanta)
Kansas City at Cincinnati (Cincinnnati)
Oakland at Cleveland (Oakland)
Seattle at Green Bay (Green Bay)
Houston at Miami (Houston)
Jacksonville at New England (New England)
Tampa Bay at New Orleans (New Orleans)
Carolina at New York Giants (New York Giants)
Baltimore at Pittsburgh (Baltimore)
St. Louis at Arizona (Arizona)
Detroit at San Francisco (San Francisco)
New York Jets at Indianapolis (Indianapolis)
Denver at Philadelphia (Philadelphia)
Dallas at Washington (Dallas)

Monday Night:
Minnesota at Chicago (Minnesota 24-14)

Houston is in a must win situation against Miami. Both Miami and Houston are facing complete elimination on Sunday. Houston has an outside, but slim chance of making the playoffs this year. The only way they can stay alive is to win this game. Matt Shaub and Andre Johnson should both have a good day against the suspect pass defense in Miami. Hopefully New England will give us a hand and beat Jacksonville on Sunday as well.

As far as Minnesota goes, they have already clinched the NFC North and are guaranteed a playoff spot. They had a chance to fight for the number 1 seed, but that was dashed in their upset loss to Carolina. Chicago can defend the pass, but is not so good with defending the run. Adrian Peterson will need to have a good day against Chicago for his team to succeed and secure the number 2 seed. It also doesn't hurt that Chicago's offense isn't very good.

Week 15 Final Predictions

Chicago at Baltimore (Baltimore)
New England at Buffalo (New England)
Arizona at Detroit (Arizona)
Houston at St Louis (Houston)
Miami at Tennessee (Tennessee)*
Cleveland at Kansas City (Kansas City)
Atlanta at New York Jets (New York Jets)
San Francisco at Philadelphia (Philadelphia)
Oakland at Denver (Denver)
Cincinnati at San Diego (San Diego)
Green Bay at Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh)*
Tampa Bay at Seattle (Seattle)
Minnesota at Carolina (Minnesota)

Monday:
New York Giants at Washington (Washington 27-13)

Sorry for the last minute post. Let's watch some football!

Week 15 Continued

New Orleans will beat Dallas tonight.

Week 15

Indianapolis beats Hacksonville tonight.

Well well well here we go again, Week 15

You know the closer to Christmas it gets the crazier it gets. Thankfully we have football to keep us grounded. Here we go again with another week of predictions.

Thursday:
Indianapolis at Jacksonville (Indianapolis)
Saturday:
Dallas at New Orleans (New Orleans)
Sunday:
Chicago at Baltimore (Baltimore)
New England at Buffalo (New England)
Arizona at Detroit (Arizona)
Houston at St Louis (Houston)
Miami at Tennessee (Miami)
Cleveland at Kansas City (Kansas City)
Atlanta at New York Jets (New York Jets)
San Francisco at Philadelphia (Philadelphia)
Oakland at Denver (Denver)
Cincinnati at San Diego (San Diego)
Green Bay at Pittsburgh (Green Bay)
Tampa Bay at Seattle (Seattle)
Minnesota at Carolina (Minnesota)
Monday:
New York Giants at Washington (Washington 24-13)

Monday night again

So we come down to the Monday night score again, it took us six weeks to have a tie and now we seem to be stuck in them. I was a little surprised to see Rick pick Cincinnati over the Vikings but I am sure after last weeks performance quite a few people lost faith. The funny thing is, it was typical Vikings fashion, they have an absolutely embarrassing butt kicking and then turn around and play like an elite team once again. Of course having Antoine back helps, and losing EJ is devastating.
And than we come to the Jets and Bucs, ok so that was a long shot but I really thought the Bucs had a chance. I know I should have known better but hey gotta take a chance some time. So anywho, we head into the Monday night game and the tie breaker once again.
Enjoy!

Week 14 Sunday Morning Picks by Rick

New Orleans at Atlanta (New Orleans)
Detroit at Baltimore (Baltimore)
Green Bay at Chicago (Green Bay)
Seattle at Houston (Houston)
Denver at Indianapolis (Indianapolis)
Miami at Jacksonville (Miami)
Buffalo at Kansas City (Kansas City)
Cincinnati at Minnesota (Cincinnati)*
Carolina at New England (New England)
New York Jets at Tampa Bay (New York Jets)*
St. Louis at Tennessee (Tennessee)
Washington at Oakland (Washington)
San Diego at Dallas (San Diego)
Philadelphia at New York Giants (Philadelphia)

Monday:
Arizona at San Francisco (Arizona 28-17)

Enough said.

Wow

I was so close to picking Cleveland. Damn, could have started the week 1-0. Well, I'm posting this on my phone. I will have my picks up on Friday.

Thursday nights are starting to suck. I'm a little torn on this one. Brady Quinn is starting to live up to his billing. Pittsburgh has been in a serious slump. It's definitely not a foregone conclusion, bit I predict a Pittsburgh win tonight.

Week 14 - the Home stretch

We get closer and closer to playoffs and the games seem to be getting closer and closer as well. I expect nothing less this week. So here we go:

Thursday:
Pittsburgh at Cleveland (Pittsburgh)

Sunday:
New Orleans at Atlanta (New Orleans)
Detroit at Baltimore (Baltimore)
Green Bay at Chicago (Green Bay)
Seattle at Houston (Houston)
Denver at Indianapolis (Indianapolis)
Miami at Jacksonville (Miami)
Buffalo at Kansas City (Kansas City)
Cincinnati at Minnesota (Minnesota)
Carolina at New England (New England)
New York Jets at Tampa Bay (Tampa Bay)
St. Louis at Tennessee (Tennessee)
Washington at Oakland (Washington)
San Diego at Dallas (San Diego)
Philadelphia at New York Giants (Philadelphia)

Monday:
Arizona at San Francisco (Arizona 24 San Francisco 17)

So week 13...... yeah the Vikings sucked. Straight up they thought they were better and had an easy win and they got their butts handed to them on a platter. Arizona is not a great team that game was an absolute disgrace. That said I am hoping they pull their stuff together this week and figure out they really do have to play.
I honestly didn't get to see the other games much, it was a busy weekend so I can't comment.
One last note - I hope for a speedy recovery for EJ Henderson - that was a nasty break.

Phew!

The rest of the week:

Philadelphia at Atlanta (Philadelphia)
Tampa Bay at Carolina (Tampa Bay)*
St. Louis at Chicago (Chicago)
Detroit at Cincinnati (Cincinnati)
Tennessee at Indianapolis (Indianapolis)
Houston at Jacksonville (Houston)
Denver at Kansas City (Denver)
Oakland at Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh)
New Orleans at Washington (New Orleans)
San Diego at Cleveland (San Diego)
Dallas at New York Giants (Dallas)
San Francisco at Seattle (San Francisco)
New England at Miami (New England)
Minnesota at Arizona (Minnesota)

Monday:
Baltimore at Green Bay (Green Bay 21-14)

I expect both of our respective teams to have close games today but expect them both to win.

I'm going to say we don't count the Thursday game since Mardi's prediction came in late. What does she think?

Week 13 - Mardi

Sorry its so last minute super swamped lately

Thursday
New York Jets at Buffalo (Jets)
Sunday
Philadelphia at Atlanta (Philadelphia)
Tampa Bay at Carolina (Carolina)
St. Louis at Chicago (Chicago)
Detroit at Cincinnati (Cincinnati)
Tennessee at Indianapolis (Indianapolis)
Houston at Jacksonville (Houston)
Denver at Kansas City (Denver)
New England at Miami (New England)
Oakland at Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh)
New Orleans at Washington (New Orleans)
San Diego at Cleveland (San Diego)
Dallas at New York Giants (Dallas)
San Francisco at Seattle (San Francisco)
Minnesota at Arizona (Minnesota)

Monday
Baltimore at Green Bay (Baltimore 17 Green Bay 24)

Week 13

Little pressed for time. I predict a New York Jets win tonight.

Goodbye Week 12

And with that Week 12 is behind us. This week we saw some good football. Before we get to that let’s look at the scores. If my math is correct I show Rick at 113-63 and me at 113-63. We have had to use the tie breaker 5 times in total with Rick at 3 and me at 2. This does not include any preseason games. All in all I would say we are doing pretty well. We rank right up there with the pros making the calls.

All right now let’s look at the games, Minnesota had a beautiful game on Sunday. They dominated the Bears, with Favre getting 392 yards, Adrian Peterson getting 85 yards rushing and Percy Harvin 101 yards receiving. This leads us to the Cardinals next week who will be hungry but will be sadly disappointed. The Colts and Texans game was a nail-biter. It was so close at times I think I held my breath. The first half was dominated by the Texans, it looked like they were going to upset the Colts. Halftime proved to be their downfall this time. Either the Colts ate their Wheaties or the Texans decided to go on vacation, the ball was turned over three times and they were flat out outplayed.

New England and New Orleans certainly put on a good show. While NE got stomped on, the game was none the less interesting. Of course this helps N.O. get home field advantage which is not good for the Vikes but none the less I think we all knew they were going to win. Denver pounded the Giants in a surprising upset. I didn’t get to watch the game but I saw highlights…. Just not sure what happened there.
We move to Week 13 and closer to playoff’s….. picks coming soon.

Gobble Gobble Here we Go!

Thanksgiving Day:
Green Bay at Detroit (Green Bay)
Oakland at Dallas (Dallas)
New York Giants at Denver (Giants)*

Sunday:
Tampa Bay at Atlanta (Atlanta)
Miami at Buffalo (Miami)
Cleveland at Cincinnati (Cincinnati)
Indianapolis at Houston (Indianapolis)*
Carolina at New York Jets (Carolina)
Washington at Philadelphia (Philadelphia)
Seattle at St. Louis (Seattle)
Kansas City at San Diego (San Diego)
Jacksonville at San Francisco (San Francisco)
Chicago at Minnesota (Minnesota)
Arizona at Tennessee (Arizona)
Pittsburgh at Baltimore (Pittsburgh)

Monday:
New England at New Orleans (New Orleans 28-21)

Try not to eat too much :-)

It's Week 12

It's late... my Week 11 comments will come later. As for now, here is Week 12:

Thanksgiving Day:
Green Bay at Detroit (Green Bay)
Oakland at Dallas (Dallas)
New York Giants at Denver (Denver)

Sunday:
Tampa Bay at Atlanta (Atlanta)
Miami at Buffalo (Miami)
Cleveland at Cincinnati (Cincinnati)
Indianapolis at Houston (Houston)
Carolina at New York Jets (Carolina)
Washington at Philadelphia (Philadelphia)
Seattle at St. Louis (Seattle)
Kansas City at San Diego (San Diego)
Jacksonville at San Francisco (San Francisco)
Chicago at Minnesota (Minnesota)
Arizona at Tennessee (Arizona)
Pittsburgh at Baltimore (Pittsburgh)

Monday:
New England at New Orleans (New Orleans 35-28)

That's that... I want to wish all of you out there a Happy Thanksgiving!

Week 11 - And the train has left the station

Well Rick didn't look at the games very well. We disagreed on the Thursday game which went to Rick, also San Diego at Denver (huh??) which also went to Rick and then there was Chicago at Philadelphia which went to me. So it came down to the Monday night game, which was a darn good game. The Texans are definitely beginning to prove themselves as a contender. Although their Wild Card chances are dashed this year I think we will see greater things as the season progresses. This game came down to simply being outplayed. There wasn't anything either team can brag or whine about I don't think. The Titans just played a bit better.

Other games worth noting, SD at Denver .... what a steam roll. Denver flat out played like they were sleeping. The Minnesota game I have to be honest was a bore. By halftime I was channel surfing. I am not sure if maybe Seattle just gave up or what happened there. Cleveland and Detriot, wow that was quite the game. I enjoyed watching that game more than my own. This is when the season gets more exciting as we get closer to playoffs and fighting for position. Turkey Day football here we come!

P.S. Vince Young is a very good quarterback. Considering they haven't lost a game since he was back, he is versatile and can make a play out of nothing I am not sure how one can disagree.

Week 11 Picks

I won't mention the results of the Thursday game as I don't want to jinx myself. Here are my Week 11 picks for Sunday and Monday:

Indianapolis at Baltimore (Indianapolis)
Washington at Dallas (Dallas)
Cleveland at Detroit (Detroit)
San Francisco at Green Bay (Green Bay)
Buffalo at Jacksonville (Jacksonville)
Pittsburgh at Kansas City (Pittsburgh)
Seattle at Minnesota (Minnesota)
Atlanta at New York Giants (New York Giants)
New Orleans at Tampa Bay (New Orleans)
Arizona at St. Louis (Arizona)
San Diego at Denver (San Diego)
New York Jets at New England (New England)
Cincinnati at Oakland (Cincinnati)
Philadelphia at Chicago (Chicago)

Monday Night:
Tennessee at Houston (Houston 28-17)*

Mardi says Tennessee is a bit better than Houston? Hmmm.... They have been on a hot streak, but that's going to come to an end on Monday night. Vince Young is not a good quarterback and Houston's run defense has improved greatly over the course of the season. Until Tennesse can play a well rounded game, they are not really going anywhere this season. It's fitting that this should come down to the Monday Night game as this is our only other disagreement this week.

Sorry I can't be more verbose than this as it's been a busy week for me. I did have a good time at the concert on Thursday, so that helps. I'm thinking chicken breast cutlets topped with a clementine salsa for Monday night's menu. Enjoy the games, boys and girls!

Starting Week 11

As you may already know, Mardi took this week. It was a close one and it all hinged on that gamble by Bill Belichick that just didn't work out. Oh yeah, and the fact that Baltimore played like crap on Monday night and didn't roll on Cleveland like they should have. But I digress. The weekly score was 7-8 (me) and 8-7 (Mardi).

As I've been a little busy this week (with a new puppy thrown in the mix) I haven't had time to review the schedule and matchups... but my prediction for tonight's game will be that Miami beats Carolina. Here is our first disagreement this week.

I will have the rest of my predictions up in 24 hours as right now I have to get ready for a concert. I hope Mardi enjoys the game while I'm headbanging.

On to Week 11

In case you were wondering, I won week 10. Not that anyone had any doubts.... ok maybe a couple hehe. Week 10 proved to be a little more exciting then I originally thought. Some surprises as always and some really close games.

Let's move on though shall we?

Thursday
Miami at Carolina (Carolina)

Sunday
Indianapolis at Baltimore (Indianapolis)
Washington at Dallas (Dallas)
Cleveland at Detroit (Detroit)
San Francisco at Green Bay (Green Bay)
Buffalo at Jacksonville (Jacksonville)
Pittsburgh at Kansas City (Pittsburgh)
Seattle at Minnesota (Minnesota)
Atlanta at New York Giants (Giants)
New Orleans at Tampa Bay (New Orleans)
Arizona at St Louis (Arizona)
San Diego at Denver (Denver)
New York Jets at New England (New England)
Cincinnati at Oakland (Cincinnati)
Philadelphia at Chicago (Philadelphia)

Monday
Tennessee at Houston (Tennessee 21 Houston 17)

Ok here we go. I am not sure what games we are disagreeing on thus far but I am sure Monday nights is one of them. This was a close call for me actually. I think the Texans are going to come out swinging after their bye week but I think the Titans are still a bit better. I have been wrong before though.

Let's see what Rick has to say about it.

Week 10 already

Without further ado....

Thursday
Chicago at San Francisco (Chicago*)

Sunday
Atlanta at Carolina (Atlanta)
Tampa Bay at Miami (Miami)
Detroit at Minnesota (Minnesota)
Jacksonville at New York Jets (New York Jets)
Cincinnati at Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh)
New Orleans at St Louis (New Orleans)
Buffalo at Tennessee (Tennessee)
Denver at Washington (Denver)
Kansas City at Oakland (Oakland)
Seattle at Arizona (Arizona*)
Dallas at Green Bay (Dallas*)
Philadelphia at San Diego (San Diego)
New England at Indianapolis (Indianapolis*)

Monday
Baltimore at Cleveland (Baltimore 21 Cleveland 7)


Four disagreements, starting tonight.

All in all its a boring week. NE at Indy will be the highlight of the week. All else - snore.

Week 9 Rolls to Week 10

The 2 of us didn't do so well this past Sunday. Again, the late games killed our predictions, but oh well. I edge out Mardi this week on the Monday Night game via the tiebreaker. The score for the week was 7-6 (me) and 6-7 (Mardi). The updated season score is 82 -47 (me) and 80-49 (Mardi).

Here is the Week 10 schedule:

Chicago at San Francisco (San Francisco)
Atlanta at Carolina (Atlanta)
Tampa Bay at Miami (Miam)
Detroit at Minnesota (Minnesota)
Jacksonville at New York Jets (New York Jets)
Cincinnati at Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh)
New Orleans at St. Louis (New Orleans)
Buffalo at Tennessee (Tennessee)
Denver at Washington (Denver)
Kansas City at Oakland (Oakland)
Seattle at Arizona (Seattle)
Dallas at Green Bay (Green Bay)
Philadelphia at San Diego (San Diego)
New England at Indianapolis (New England)

Monday Night:
Baltimore at Cleveland (Baltimore 35-10)

Bye: Houston, New York Giants

This is the last of the bye weeks and Houston has definitely earned it. They are 5-4 at this point and can definitely go on a roll into the end of the season, with games coming up against Seattle, St. Louis, and Tennessee. Houston getting 10 wins this season isn't out of the question, but they do need to remain focused on the tougher games coming up such as Jacksonville, Miami (both away) and Indianapolis (at home).

Minnesota is welcoming Detroit into the dome this Sunday. Minnesota wins, nothing more needs to be said about that game.

Look for New England to have a big day through the air against the depleted Indianapolis secondary. The only hope for Indianapolis to win will be to disrupt the air attack at the line (which is how they were able to keep Matt Shaub at bay). In the end, though, Indianapolis will suffer it's first loss of the season. I had to give homefield to Oakland. I'm just glad that one is out of market for my television coverage. Homefield also has to go to Pittsburgh. It took a last ditch effort by Cincinnati to beat Pittsburgh last time. This time, however, the defensive pieces are back in place and have shown the ability to disrupt opposing quarterbacks with ease. The Seattle/Arizona game is a coin toss for me as Arizona has just been too inconsistent to call effectively. I would dismiss that loss to Tampa Bay as a fluke for Green Bay as they will beat Dallas this Sunday. Dallas may be on a tear, but somehow I don't think it can last. Tennessee is still a bad team, but Buffalo is worse. Tampa Bay, Cleveland, and Washington earn "Bad Team Losing" honors this week. The defense for San Diego has started to pull things together. While it still needs work, the pass protection for Philadelphia is seriously lacking, which is why San Diego will win.

This week's menu is as of yet undecided. What does Mardi think of this week?

Week 9 predictions ... dang bye weeks

Well this week is not so exciting seeing how the Vikings aren't playing but I suppose the show must go on.

Washington at Atlanta (Atlanta)
Arizona at Chicago (Chicago)
Baltimore at Cincinnati (Baltimore*)
Houston at Indianapolis (Indianapolis*)
Kansas City at Jacksonville (Jacksonville)
Miami at New England (New England)
Green Bay at Tampa Bay (Green Bay)
Carolina at New Orleans (New Orleans)
Detroit at Seattle (Seattle)
San Diego at New York Giants (New York Giants)
Tennessee at San Francisco (San Francisco)
Dallas at Philadelphia (Philadelphia)

Monday:

Pittsburgh at Denver (Pittsburgh 34-17)

Two game difference, will it go to Monday night? Nah I will win again! :-)

NFL Week 9

On to Week 9 we go. It has been interesting so far as he head into the 2nd half of this season. This week provides for some good matchups. Without further ado, let's look at the schedule:

Washington at Atlanta (Atlanta)
Arizona at Chicago (Chicago)
Baltimore at Cincinnati (Cincinnati)
Houston at Indianapolis (Houston)
Kansas City at Jacksonville (Jacksonville)
Miami at New England (New England)
Green Bay at Tampa Bay (Green Bay)
Carolina at New Orleans (New Orleans)
Detroit at Seattle (Seattle)
San Diego at New York Giants (New York Giants)
Tennessee at San Francisco (San Francisco)
Dallas at Philadelphia (Philadelphia)

Monday:

Pittsburgh at Denver (Pittsburgh 24-17)

Bye: Minnesota, Cleveland, Buffalo, New York Jets, St. Louis, Oakland

Houston is facing its toughest test this season when it goes up against undefeated Indianapolis. Payton Manning is having the best season of his career this year. I'm very surprised at how this turned out given their preseason performance. Indianapolis has the 4th ranked offense and the 9th ranked defense (versus 8 and 16 respectively for Houston). Part of the key for Houston to win will be the running game. Indianapolis doesn't have the best run defense where Houston has 2 hungry running backs. If Houston can open up the running game, it should keep the Indianapolis defense off balance. Another key is going to be keeping pressure on Payton Manning. Houston has shown it can get good pressure, even with Mario Williams playing as a one-armed DE right now. This will be a big test for the pass rush and the LB corps. Both teams are in the top 3 for Passing Offense, so I expect this to be a shootout. Owen Daniels was one of Matt Shaub's most dangerous threats, however given that Shaub does know how to spread the ball, the change at TE shouldn't be felt too much. The intangibles are what is going to decide this game. Houston wants to prove that it is no longer among the beat 'em ups in the NFL, and that hunger is going to propel them to victory.

I expect a lot of home team victories this Sunday. A lot of teams are evenly matched (good or bad) and home field advantage is key. Philadelphia, with the exception of the game at Oakland, has been on a tear all season whereas Dallas has been inconsistent. I expect Philadelphia to strengthen their hold on 1st in the NFC East. Miami has been building a more rounded offense as of late, but I expect Tom Brady to take apart their defense this Sunday. The youth movement in Jacksonville is inconsistent, but is still by far better than anything Kansas City has fielded this year. Washington, Carolina, Tampa Bay, and Tennessee earn the "Bad Team Will Lose" honors this week. Detroit at Seattle was a coin toss. The New York Giants are hurting right now but should be able to take apart a San Diego defense that just isn't very good. It's going to be on the NYG D-line to disrupt Philip Rivers. Denver is taking on another top flight offense this week when Pittsburgh comes to town. Although it is difficult to win in Denver, I expect Ben Roethlisberger to pick apart Denver defense. And finally, Joe Flacco has been inconsistent at best this season and unable to put together 2 good games in a row. I have to play the numbers here in predicting Cincinnati winning over Baltimore.

For this Sunday's menu I'm going to have a pan-seared sirloin steak salad with a red-wine and shallot vinaigrette and some parmigiano-reggiano crusted carrots thrown in for good measure. This should be an exciting day of football (for me at least). Now, let's see what Mardi's picks are for this Sunday.

Who doubted the Vikings? Surely not me! Week 8

Let's start with the best game of the week, the Vikings win in Green Bay. I would have to say our offense looked pretty good out there. Favre passed for 244 yards, 4 touchdowns and completed 17 of 28 passes to stump the Packers. The Vikings did good holding it together offensively and defensively in Green Bay. The game was definitely an exciting one as the score remained close pretty much the entire game. Bernard Berrian has proven himself a most valuable asset. He has a chemistry with Favre that makes our offense dangerous. A.P. has seen less and less yardage as most opponents are gunning for him yet he had a decent show on Sunday. Percy Harvin is another player to watch. The Vikings have a bye week coming up this week so they can rest before they host Detroit.... ooooohhhh that should be exciting.

I was a bit surprised by the Giants/Philly game. I expected that to go the other way but Philly is full of surprises I guess. McNabb was certainly on top of his game Sunday. The Jets at Miami was a bit of a surprise to me. Statistically the Jets should have owned this game. Arizona and Carolina well all I have to say is 6 turnovers can kill ya.

Houston at Buffalo well hmmm. I mean I figured they would win but not in the complete fashion they did. I guess miracles do happen... hahaha just kidding. Houston put on a good show when they decided to play.

So week 9 will be boring with no Vikes but I will have my picks up soon.

Week 8 Wrap

Mardi takes this week in a big fashion by winning 3 of the 4 disagreed upon games. The score for the week was 7-6 (me) and 9-4 (Mardi). The gap for the season has narrowed to 1 game with the current tally at 75-41 (me) and 74-42 (Mardi).

Houston got off to a slow start offensively at Buffalo on Sunday. The Buffalo defense held Houston to only 6 points at the half to 10 for Buffalo. Jarius Byrd had another big game on defense, picking off 2 of Matt Shaub's passes. Buffalo's only touchdown came on a very nicely executed end-around to Terrell Owens. Houston lit it up in the 2nd half, however, scoring 25 points to win the game 31-10. Steve Slaton's running woes continued this week. A fumble led to his benching in favor of Ryan Moats. Moats made the most of his opportunity by scoring all three Houston touchdowns on the ground. Moats finished the day with 23 carries for 126 yards, which is the best run performance for any Houston RB this season. Matt Shaub had a decent day throwing the ball going 25 of 34 for 268 yards. Houston suffered a big loss on Sunday as TE Owen Daniels went down for the season with a torn ACL.

Green Bay was starting to show promise after the Week 4 loss in Minnesota. I don't know what happened, but Aaron Rodgers seemed to forget all the lessons he learned that week and repeated the same mistakes. As good as he has been so far, he doesn't quite perform as well under pressure and doesn't seem to be able to get rid of the ball. Minnesota got pressure on him most of the game and came away with 6 sacks. The Minnesota offense didn't have a spectacular day, but they did work in a very efficient manner while picking apart the defense. I honestly thought that by learning the lessons from Week 4 that Green Bay would emerge the winner, but that wasn't to be this week. Congratulations on another Minnesota win this week.

How bad do you have to be to lose to a bad team in your own stadium? I'm talking to you, Detroit and Arizona. Vince Young had no impact on Tennessee beating Jacksonville as it was all done on the ground. Apparently the run defense for Jacksonville decided to take the day off. Eli Manning's foot injury may be lingering as his performance over the past few games has gone way down. I was watching some analysis and they showed that even Manning's stance seems to have changed somewhat since the foot injury. And as for Baltimore beating Denver, Baltimore's defense really seemed to click while Joe Flacco started to find his groove once again.

At any rate, those were my surprises for the week. I'll have my Week 9 predictions up in about 24 hours. I would love to hear Mardi's assessment of this week's action.

Rick's Week 8 Predictions

So after an interesting week of football, we progress to Week 8:

Seattle at Dallas (Dallas)
Houston at Buffalo (Houston)
St. Louis at Detroit (Detroit*)
Denver at Baltimore (Denver)
New York Giants at Philadelphia (New York Giants)
Miami at New York Jets (Miami*)
Cleveland at Chicago (Chicago)
San Francisco at Indianapolis (Indianapolis)
Jacksonville at Tennessee (Jacksonville*)
Oakland at San Diego (San Diego)
Minnesota at Green Bay (Green Bay*)
Carolina at Arizona (Arizona)

Monday Night
Atlanta at New Orleans (New Orleans 35 - 14)

Bye: Cincinnati, Kansas City, New England, Tampa Bay, Washington

Houston is coming off the big win at home against San Francisco. They should be able to take this momentum into Buffalo to go 2 games above .500 for the first time since 2007 (when they started the season 2-0). The question centers around a couple of starters. Andre Johnson suffered a chest contusion and as of today was limited in practice. Brian Cushing has also been limited in practice this week with a foot injury that's been going on for a while. These starters have been key on both sides of the ball so far this season. Buffalo's defense has been on a tear as of late, with 10 interceptions in the last 3 games. Houston's running game will have to step up in order to keep the Buffalo pass defense off balance. The hurry up offense employed by Buffalo helps keep defenses off balance, but is not very effective when you don't have the talent to effectively execute, which Buffalo does not have. Houston should come out with the win this week.

Brett Favre is returning to Lambeau for the first time in an opposing uniform. There has been a lot of hype surrounding this game just because of that. It plays like an old classic, the student facing the master in a battle to see who has the greater power. Green Bay has only allowed 3 points while scoring 57 since the loss at Minnesota in Week 4. It doesn't matter the perceived quality of the opponent... holding 2 teams to 3 points is a hell of an accomplishment for any defense. The Green Bay offense has also really started to click. I expect this to be a close game, but in the end it will be Green Bay as the winner.

It was announced today that Vince Young will start against Jacksonville this week. I'm sorry, but that's only going to make a bad situation worse as Vince Young is not all that. I expect Tennessee to go to 0-7 this week. The New York Giants/Philadelphia game should be an interesting one to watch. The pass protection for Philadelphia is suspect, but then again, the pass defense for the New York Giants is also suspect. I expect the New York Giants to win this in a shootout style game. One disagreement centers around Miami at the New York Jets. Miami won their last meeting by 4 because the Jets did not have an answer for their ground game. I don't expect much to have changed for this meeting. Alex Smith is set to start for San Francisco this week. He threw for 3 touchdowns against Houston (all to Veron Davis). I expect this to be a shootout, but Payton Manning is a better game manager, which is why Indianapolis will win. Bad team honors go to the following projected losers: Carolina (the team has quit on Jake Delhomme again), Cleveland, and Oakland. The St. Louis/Detroit game may be interesting, although that was a coin toss for me.

Since there are 4 games disagreed on, this could come down to the Monday tiebreaker (which I expect to be a little higher scoring). As for the menu this Sunday, I'm thinking grilled turkey kabobs marinated in Spiedie sauce (it's a New York thing). The side dish will probably consist of a spinach salad with a simple red wine vinaigrette.

Let the games begin!

See ya Week 7 Hello Week 8

Ok so I really am not going to go into that BS Vikings/Steelers game except to say, where the heck was the tripping and what the crap is this defensive delay of game stuff? Are you serious?? Had the ref's actually used their eyes the penalty would not have been assessed resulting in a touchdown and not a turnover. Different outcome to the game? I think so. Everyone knew we had to lose one sometime so now we can hear the predictable "Oh the Vikings aren't immortal" crap and move on. Ok glad I didn't get going on that.

So the rest of week 7, I just don't know what happened there. Let's forget it and move on.....

Week 8
Seattle at Dallas (Dallas)
Houston at Buffalo (Houston)
St. Louis at Detroit (St. Louis)
Denver at Baltimore (Denver)
NY Giants at Philadelphia (NY Giants)
Miami at NY Jets (NY Jets)
Cleveland at Chicago (Chicago)
San Francisco at Indianapolis (Indianapolis)
Jacksonville at Tennessee (Tennessee)
Oakland at San Diego (San Diego)
Minnesota at Green Bay (Minnesota)
Carolina at Arizona (Arizona)

Monday Night
Atlanta at New Orleans (New Orleans 28 - 14)


And there it stands, week 8 predictions. Sunday being my daughter's birthday means I get to entertain ten 5-6 year olds for 3 hours, lucky for me the party is over only half hour into the game. Of course I have the TV all ready to play in the party room as well.

Here we go again....

Closing Week 7

This week has officially come to a close. Everything looked good in the early games on Sunday, it was the late game surprises that brought our scores down this week. The score for the week was 8-5 (me) and 7-6 (Mardi). The current tally is 68-35 (me) and 65-38 (Mardi).

Houston got right down to business on Sunday following the Military Appreciation Day festivities. On San Francisco's opening play from scrimmage Mario Williams was able to get a sack on Shaun Hill. This helped to set the tone for the first half in which Houston limited San Francisco to 50 yards of total offense, the fewest ever allowed by a Houston Texans team in a half. Marr Shaub led another passing attack, throwing for 2 touchdowns in the first half. Alex Smith was put in the game to replace Shaun Hill to start the second half and got San Francisco on a roll. Smith led a passing attack, throwing for 3 touchdowns to Vernon Davis. San Francisco also made some defensive adjustments and allowed only 3 points in the second half. The defense for Houston made plays when they counted, however, and stopped a last stand drive by San Francisco by intercepting the ball with less than 1 minute to play. San Francisco is a good team this year, and I knew this was going to be a challenge, I just didn't think it would be that exciting in the second half. The run defense for Houston came up big again this week, limiting the rushing attack to 48 yards. Houston now moves to 4-3 and moves into 2nd place in the AFC South behind the undefeated Indianapolis Colts.

Since Mardi was able to watch the Minnesota game and I was unable to even follow it on ESPN Gametrax, I will let her comment on that one.

What a wild finish in Miami. New Orleans was on the verge of being blown out but managed to put together a 2nd straight 40+ point game to come from behind and win. I honestly thought it was going to be Miami getting blown out of this one. Another surprise was the way Cincinnati came out and just manhandled Chicago. The loss of Cincinnati's leading pass rusher should have given Jay Cutler room to work, but apparently the loss to Houston was a wake up call for Cincinnati. They built a huge lead and never looked back. The New York Giants are struggling a little bit as they couldn't seem to mount any consistent attacks against Arizona. Tony Romo and company surprised a lot of people by leading Dallas to a big win against an Atlanta team that sports tough play on both sides of the ball.

Just a quick thought on Monday's game, well, Washington in particular. It was good to see Washington finally score an offensive touchdown, but the playcalling had nothing to do with it. It doesn't matter how good the playcalling is, you still need players to execute the play. Missed assignments, poor route running, and dropped passes are how an offense loses a game for a team. I didn't see anything special in the plays run last night, I just saw better execution on key plays. Washington's management was wrong to publicly humiliate the coach the way they did, but unfortunately the result from last night's game is only going to make their actions look rosy.

Anyway, I'm interested to hear Mardi's thoughts on this week's football action and I'm looking forward to an exciting Week 8.

Week 7

Green Bay at Cleveland (Green Bay)
San Francisco at Houston (Houston)
San Diego at Kansas City (San Diego)
Indianapolis at St. Louis (Indianapolis)
New England at Tampa Bay (New England)
Minnesota at Pittsburgh (Minnesota)
Buffalo at Carolina (Carolina)
New York Jets at Oakland (New York Jets)
Chicago at Cincinnati (Chicago)
Atlanta at Dallas (Atlanta)
New Orleans at Miami (New Orleans)
Arizona at New York Giants (New York Giants)

Monday Night:
Philadelphia at Washington (*Philadelphia 21-14*)

I expect Green Bay to take an easy win over Cleveland. The Browns have a slightly higher rushing yards per game average but the Packers passing yards per game average clearly stomps them. Houston should be able to hold off the 49er's as long as they come to the game the same as they did last week. Of course if history is to stand they would be up for a loss after coming home with a win last week. Let's hope Matt Schaub can continue his amazing streak. The Chargers need to pull this game off to keep their division title hopes alive. Both teams in this match up are pretty equally set in my opinion. I look for a low scoring good game. Indianapolis at St. Louis..... really? There is nothing to say. New England in Tampa Bay quite simply the Pats offense is going to stomp the Bucs. Tom Brady is having a very good season and with the Bucs giving up the third most passing touchdowns I don't see a lot of struggle here.

The Vikes in Pittsburgh, this should be interesting. I truly believe my Vikes are going to pull this one off but it will not be an easy game. The Vikings are going to have to make sure that their defense does not go on vacation as they seemed to do in the fourth quarter last week. Brett Favre is quickly earning his purple jersey and as much as I hate to admit it I may have to cheer for him this week. Ben Roethlisberger has slightly higher stats than Favre but the fact remains Favre has more TD's and that's what counts right? Looking at hard stats the Steelers seem to be above the Vikings however The deciding factor in this game will be the Vikings defense. I can't wait!

Buffalo at Carolina, with six interceptions given up last week the Bills are going to need a lot of help if they hope to beat the Panthers. Carolina is hungry for a win to even up their record. Jets at Oakland, this one I had to think about. Statistically speaking the Jets should be able to pull this one off. However Oakland is going to be hungry for the win, this could be a good game. Chicago in Cincinnatti... see Rick's comment. Atlanta at Dallas, it hurts me to go against the Cowboys but I just don't see them pulling it off against the Falcons. New Orleans in Miami should be another good show as they even each other out with the Saints taking the edge in passing yards and the Dolphins taking it in rushing yards. Look for the Giants to hand Arizona their third loss.

And this week will come down to the Monday night score. I don't see this as a high scoring game as both teams seem to have their troubles. We will have to see if Sherm Lewis can add any worth to the Redskins offense. Look for a low scoring, non-exciting game this Monday.

With that let the games begin....

On to Week 7

That was a heck of a game on Monday night. I knew it was going to be a high scoring affair, it's just too bad the wrong team won. At any rate, the score for the week was 9-5 (me) and 8-6 (Mardi). This brings our season totals to 60-30 (me) and 58-32 (Mardi). It's still a close one almost halfway into the season. Let's see how things go.

Presenting - the schedule and my predictions for Week 7

Chicago at Cincinnati (Chicago)
Green Bay at Cleveland (Green Bay)
San Francisco at Houston (Houston)
San Diego at Kansas City (San Diego)
Minnesota at Pittsburgh (Minnesota)
Indianapolis at St. Louis (Indianapolis)
New England at Tampa Bay (New England)
Buffalo at Carolina (Carolina)
New York Jets at Oakland (New York Jets)
Atlanta at Dallas (Atlanta)
New Orleans at Miami (New Orleans)
Arizona at New York Giants (New York Giants)

Monday Night:
Philadelphia at Washington (Philadelphia 28-14)

Bye: Jacksonville, Tennessee, Baltimore, Seattle, Denver, Detroit

Houston is coming off a big win in Cincinnati where the defense put the clamps down on Cedric Benson. This week they are going up against another feature back in Frank Gore. Even though Gore is returning from an injury and may not be 100%, he is still a very potent runner and the interior run defense is going to need to continue their good play. Since the poor showing in Week 1, the Houston air attack has been on a tear, only once since that week has Matt Shaub not reached the 300 yard mark in passing (and that was due to the clock eating strategy against Oakland in the 2nd half). San Francisco is currently ranked 20th in pass defense going up against a Houston team that is ranked 3rd in passing. Shaun Hill has no go-to man at wide receiver, where Houston has also stepped up defensively. Diva rookie Michael Crabtree is making his debut at Houston, but I don't expect him to be much a factor as he is starting from square one. Houston is facing a tough challenge in San Francisco this week, but I expect them to pull out this win and move into 2nd place in the AFC South.

Minnesota is taking their game on the road to Pittsburgh on Sunday. This one is honestly a little tougher to call. Of course home field belongs to Pittsburgh, where they have always been tough to beat. Troy Polamalu is back and will be thorn in Brett Favre's side, but the loss of Aaron Smith is definitely going to be felt in this game. Pittsburgh is sporting the number 2 rushing defense so far this season, only allowing 74.5 yards per game, but they have yet to face a player the likes of Adrian Peterson, who torched Baltimore for 143 yards. Where they suffer is in their pass defense, and this week they're going up against a fast receiving corps with a quarterback who is still on top of his game. This is going to be another close one, but I think Minnesota is once again going to find a way to win this game.

Cincinnati's loss of Antwan Odem will be felt against Chicago this week. Without his presence to provide pressure on Jay Cutler, Chicago will have a good day through the air. Another interesting matchup this week is New Orleans at Miami. After the pounding New Orleans gave the New York Giants, this could be a potential letdown situation. The key, as always, is how New Orleans handles Miami's rushing attack. All told, however, the New Orleans offense should be more than Miami's defense can handle. Dallas has been very subpar this season, thanks in no small part to the talent let go over the summer. Atlanta had an off-day offensively against Chicago, but the defense stepped up. Dallas may be rested, but momentum lies with Atlanta. Carolina has seemed to find a groove and it needs this win against Buffalo to have any sort of shot this season. Kansas City got their first win, but they're going against a San Diego team that scored 23 points against Denver. Look for San Diego to pull this one out. St. Louis, Cleveland, and Tampa Bay all earn 'bad team' honors this week as the reason why they will lose. Mark Sanchez has been looking more rookie like the past few games, but the New York Jets running attack is still potent and they sport a disruptive defense, which is why Oakland will lose this Sunday. If you had told me that Philadelphia and Washington were playing on Monday night last season, I would have been glued to the set as both teams were ascendent. This year, however, it should be a snoozer as Washington seems to have come undone. With Coach Jim Zorn no longer calling the offensive plays the level may pick up on the offensive side of the ball. The key to Washington pulling this out will be to take advantage of Philadelphia's questionable pass protection and hope they don't start showing how good Michael Westbrook is when given the ball.

All in all, this is shaping up to be a good week. The season has taken some interesting turns so far along with the fact that Mardi and I are very close in the prediction competition. As for this Sunday's menu, it will consist of whatever catches my fancy at the stadium as yours truly will be in attendance when San Francisco comes to town.

Now, let's see what Mardi has to say.

A Week 6 so Far Update

Through the miracle of poor reading comprehension, it appears that I missed a disagreement on one of the games on Sunday. For the Kansas City at Washington matchup, I picked Kansas City and Mardi picked Washington, which results in a loss for her. The score ending for Sunday night comes out to be 9-4 (me) and 8-5 (Mardi), which gives me the win this week. This discovery came about during a discussion on how to handle the Monday tiebreaker.

Speaking of the tiebreaker, we decided to go with a system I found on a sports book site. At the end of the Monday game we will add up, seperately, the total of the actual score along with the total of the predicted final score. Whichever total predicted is closest to total actual will be the winner.

Example: For the 19 Oct game I predicted the final score to be 28-21, Mardi predicted the score to be 21-14. The game is played and the final score comes to 30-10. Adding these up, we get 40 (actual score), 49 (my prediction), and 35 (Mardi's prediction). In this example Mardi is the winner as she was closer to the actual total score of the game.

This method will be used when there is a tie at the end of the Sunday night and we are both in agreement as to the predicted winner of the Monday game. If there is a disagreement on who will win Monday, then the predicted winner will be used. If the predicted winner is agreed, then that prediction will be disregarded and the only criteria used will be the score.

At any rate, her and I are glad we got this out of the way since neither of us has ever had to deal with it before. Now, let's get some popcorn ready for Monday Night Football!

Week 6 so Far

It took 6 weeks, but we finally have to use the tie-breaker on Monday night. We both split the disagreed games this week, which definitely makes life interesting. For Sunday we both finished with scores of 9-4. The winner will be revealed at the conclusion of Monday's game, along with a final weekly score and updated season score.

Houston won the game in convincing fashion against an ascendent Cincinnati Bengals. Both halves of the game saw Houston's offense light things up. The Houston defense played well in the first half, but in the second half all but shut Cincinnati down. Cedric Benson was limited to 44 yards on 16 carries, indicating the run defense for Houston showed up today. Matt Shaub had a phenomenal game going 28 of 40 for 392 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 1 interception. Steve Slaton started strong on the running game during the first half, but in the second half the Cincinnati defense keyed in on him. He did, however, have 6 catches for 102 yards and 1 touchdown. The Houston running game remains a problem. Chris Brown had some decent runs in the second half. Perhaps it's time to try something different at the running back position on the Houston offense. Cincinnati did provide some nice drama by scoring 10 points at the end of the first half, but after that it was all Houston.

I caught the bonus coverage of the last 2 minutes of the Minnesota game. I must say that was a pretty exciting finish. Brett Favre was able to lead the team down the field to score the final go ahead field goal to hold off Batlimore's rally. Joe Flacco was able to respond by marching his team down the field to get within field goal range to make the final attempt at a score. Unfortunately for Baltimore, the cosmic coin toss went in Minnesota's favor as Steven Hauschka's kick went wide. Adrian Peterson helped carry this team with 22 carries for 143 yards. Minnesota may not have the highest ranking in the categories tracked, they are playing as a team and are proving themselves a force with which to be reckoned.

The early games for the most part went in favor for both of us. I didn't expect the New York Giants to get rolled like they did at the hands of New Orleans. Carolina has the weapons, but for most of the season so far has not been able to execute. Even though I declared this game a coin toss, I figured the Tampa Bay defense led by Ronde Barber would at least hold Carolina at bay. The late games were where we both fell short. The offense for the New York Jets still seems out of synch as a bad Buffalo team was able to win in overtime. And what is up with Oakland beating a tough Philadelphia team? That one's going to have me scratching my head for some time. I'm guessing the exciting over Matt Hasselback's return to Seattle was very short-lived as they got pounded by a shaky-at-best Arizona team. The poor Tennessee Titans got beat 59-0 in New England. Nothing I can say could make them feel any worse than I'm sure they already do. Here in Houston that game was on our regional coverage. CBS turned the game off in the middle of the 3rd due to the lopsided nature of the game and showed us Buffalo at New York. I'm wondering if they turned it off in Tennessee's market as well.

Houston remains in 3rd place in the AFC South behind Jacksonville due to division play. Minnesota is one of the 4 undefeated teams left in the NFL and is on top of the NFC North.

All in all, it was a good day for football. I can't wait for Week 7 as their are some interesting mathcups. What do you think, my dear Mardi?

On to Week 6!

Are you ready for some Football.....

Houston at Cincinnati (Cincinnati*)
Detroit at Green Bay (Green Bay)
St. Louis at Jacksonville (Jacksonville)
Baltimore at Minnesota (Minnesota)
New York Giants at New Orleans (New Orleans)
Cleveland at Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh)
Carolina at Tampa Bay (Carolina*)
Kansas City at Washington (Washington)
Philadelphia at Oakland (Philadelphia)
Arizona at Seattle (Seattle)
Tennessee at New England (New England)
Buffalo at New York Jets (New York Jets)
Chicago at Atlanta (Atlanta)

Monday Night:
Denver at San Diego (San Diego 21-14)


With 2 games disagreed on we may need the Monday night game so let's take a look at that one first. Had this game been in Denver I would have had to pick the Broncos. The Broncos have pulled off a decent record somehow this season so far. I think the Chargers are going to put the Broncos feet back on the ground. There are two games this week that I think are going to be key match ups, Chicago at Atlanta is one of them. Chicago is coming back well rested and hungry while the Falcons had quite an impressive game last week. Tennessee at New England, well really what can I say here? The Titans don't have a chance. Matt Hasselbeck had a decent week last week and I look for him to repeat that in his win against Arizona in Seattle this week. Another game that I think will be less than exciting is Philly and Oakland. I look for this game to be over in the second quarter.


This week I had to go with Cincinnati to pull out the rug from Houston. I think it is going to be a close game as both teams are hungry but the Bengals have an edge that will challenge the Houston defense. Of course if Houston can come out the way they did the second half of last week's game this could go a completely different way. Cedric Benson is the NFL's leading rusher, meaning the Texans defense cannot slip up. Can we count on this? History has shown this would be negative. This game could be an interesting one. The Texans have the edge on passing, the Bengals blow them away in rushing and they are about even in receiving. I look for a good challenge in this game.


Minnesota and Baltimore, the game of the week. This week could prove to be a challenge for Minnesota, one in which they truly have to step it up. With that said I still fully expect the Vikings to pull this off. Favre is earning his place and the Vikings are starting to look like a championship team. Baltimore is going to be hungry for a win, a loss this week would make this 3 in a row. The Vikings have home field advantage going for them this week as well. Not to mention Favre is ranked 4th in the NFL for passing efficiency. Joe Flacco on the other hand is not pulling it together yet. I look for this to be a good game yet tilted to the Vikings.

Now Calling Week 6

As we get closer to the halfway point things are starting to look interesting in the NFL. There are some interesting matchups this week. Without further ado, here is this week's schedule and predictions:

Houston at Cincinnati (Houston)
Detroit at Green Bay (Green Bay)
St. Louis at Jacksonville (Jacksonville)
Baltimore at Minnesota (Minnesota)
New York Giants at New Orleans (New Orleans)
Cleveland at Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh)
Carolina at Tampa Bay (Tampa Bay)
Kansas City at Washington (Kansas City)
Philadelphia at Oakland (Philadelphia)
Arizona at Seattle (Seattle)
Tennessee at New England (New England)
Buffalo at New York Jets (New York Jets)
Chicago at Atlanta (Atlanta)

Monday Night:
Denver at San Diego (San Diego 28-21)

I'm really hoping that half-time at Arizona last week was the turning point for the Houston defense. They helped to nearly pull the game away from an Arizona team that was looking to run away with it early. We're going to need more of that 2nd half defense this week as Cincinnati has been showing a flair for the dramatic. Both teams feature a passing attack that rivals any of the league's elite teams, but here Houston has a better ranked pass defense. The front 4 should get good pressure on Carson Palmer. Houston has had 2 good games at run defense. Houston has even lifted themselves from the 32nd ranked run defense to the 26th ranked run defense. If Houston can slow Cedric Benson and force them to attack through the air, they should be able to pull out this win.

I'm really surprised that the bookmakers have Baltimore over Minnesota at +3. The Baltimore defense has been better than their record indicates. The unfortunate thing for Baltimore is that Minnesota has been expert in picking apart defenses. And when Minnesota has been faced with a worthy challenger, they found a way to win. Joe Flacco appears to be in a sophomore slump as his stats aren't quite as impressive as they were last year. They say defense wins games, but the potent offense still scores more points, and that's how the winner is determined. Adrian Peterson has not been running up to his billing, but he is still the explosive threat. Brett Favre is playing well beyond any expectations many had for him this season. Let's not forget about the Minnesota defensive line, which has been spectacular in disrupting offenses this season. Look for Minnesota to pull out the win and go to 6-0.

New Orleans is hosting the New York Giants this week at the Superdome. Both teams sport offenses that are just amazing. The question mark for New York will be their pass rush against Drew Brees, who is a very smart player. If anything, home field advantage goes to New Orleans. Detroit, whatever strides have been made, remains the NFC North whipping boy and goes up against a rested and hungry Green Bay that wants to blank that loss against Minnesota 2 weeks ago. Jacksonville will capitalize on home-field advantage against St. Louis. The loss of Aaron Smith shouldn't affect the Pittsburgh against Cleveland. Troy Polamalu participated fully in practice today, which is a welcome sign for Pittsburgh. Tennessee is imploding and chances are the players are starting to give up on 2009. I look for New England to pick apart a defense in total disarray. Kansas City at Washington and Carolina at Tampa Bay were coin tosses. Atlanta's offense is going to keep Chicago's defense busy all night on Sunday night. Philadelphia at Oakland - nothing more can be said about that one. I look for a rested and regrouped San Diego offense to hold off Denver, but given the injuries and weaknesses on the San Diego defense, I look for this to be a high scoring affair.

Bye weeks continue this week. Dallas, San Francisco, Miami, and the New York Jets are all resting after playing some hard football so far this season.

For Sunday's menu I'm looking at grilled New York Strip steaks marinated in rosemary-infused olive oil along with poblano roasted potatoes and a salad that remains as yet undecided.

What does Mardi think of all this football goodness?

And Week 5 of 2009 Closes

What a wild finish to the Monday Night game. Who would have thought Miami had it in them to pull out the victory against the New York Jets? The week finishes with a score of 8-6 (me) and 9-5 (Mardi). The season tally stands at 51-25 (me) and 50-26 (Mardi). Sorry, Mardi, still not yet tied.

The Houston/Arizona game was a tale of two halves. In the first half it looked like Arizona was going to run away with this game, going up 21-0 at the half. Kurt Warner was on fire with over 200 yards passing at the half. At the opening of the third, however, Houston came back with a vengeance on both sides of the football. The Houston defense allowed just over 50 total yards in the second half. This was the defense that was needed in the first half to win the game. Matt Shaub also lit it up offensively in the second half, leading to 3 touchdown drives. In the end, it was a poor decision to throw that allowed an interception return for a touchdown that put Arizona over the top. Short yardage situations have been a problem so far for Houston, but they've found other ways to overcome it. This time, however, when they needed to push the ball less than a yard, they came up short and were unable to tie the game with 40 seconds left. I see this game as possibly a turning point for Houston. It's true they let the first half get away (failure to convert a 4th down and a blocked field goal attempt were big against Houston). But the way I see it, they were able to shake off the problems and get their collective heads into the game. Let's hope this momentum rolls into next week against a very confident Cincinnati team.

Again Minnesota rolls another opponent. I expected it to be a little more competitive than it was, at least defensively. In no way did I expect the score to be so lopsided as St. Louis, with a decent defense, just couldn't get things to click. Adrian Peterson had another subpar week this week, but Brett Favre and the Minnesota defense both did their jobs as the blowout was taking shape before half time.

I thought San Francisco would be able to handle Atlanta. Instead, it was Atlanta who thoroughly embarassed San Francisco with a final score of 45-10. Derek Anderson has to be the official worst Quarterback ever to win a football game. He went 2-17 for 23 yards to lead Cleveland to their first win of the season. Mardi pretty much covered the other surprises for the week.

This wasn't a particularly good week for either of us, but she did get the win. Check back on Wednesday evening when my Week 6 picks will be available.

5-0 Baby! Week 5 is all but in the books

Since we had a 3 game disagreement we do not need the tie breaker game. I do beleive we should now be tied on the season. Let's take a look at this week's Sunday games.

Cleveland at Buffalo was a disappointing game. A 6-3 ending score pretty much sums up the game. It was a close one with the Browns scoring a field goal with 26 seconds to go. Two lost fumbles on Parrish was the kicker to the game. Had he held on, I think this one would have went the other way. Then we have the Jags at the Seahawks, who saw this coming? A 41-0 shutout is crazy. Of course, you have to note they had Matt Hasslebeck back in the game which made all the difference in the world. Throwing 4 TD passes with 18/31 completions for 241 yards left the Jags shaking their heads. On the flipside, Jags QB David Garrard was sacked five time and gave up two fumbles. The Jags defensive line must have been sleeping.

The other surprise to Sunday was Denver over New England. I really thought the Pats had this one. Of course when you rely on Randy Moss and he is having an "off" day.... well why do you think Minnesota gave him up :-). Bottom line on this game, though it was close, Denver flat out outplayed the Pats. Houston in Arizona was a close game. The game started out with the Cardinals stomping on the Texans' 21-0 but the Cardinal's defense had to hold it together. The Texans' must have eaten their Wheaties at halftime because they came back out with a vengance quickly tying up the game. Both QB's in this game shined this week topping 300 yards passing. The kicker was Schaub's one turn over. With the Cardinal's holding the Texans' at the one yard line the game was over.

And then of course we come to Minnesota in St. Louis. I have to admit I was actually bored with this game. The Rams killed themselves by allowing three turnovers in the first half. Minnesota simply walked all over St. Louis. Jared Allen had an amazing 52 yard fumble recovery returned for a touchdown. The Vikings moving to 5-0 for the first time since 1993 may be a sign. I think this year we are going far. Favre earns more and more respect each week. I think he has now earned a purple stripe. Maybe by the end of the season he will have earned the purple jersey he proudly wears. With that I must say "Happy Birthday" as he turned a ripe 40 on Saturday becoming the 12th QB since 1966 to start a game at the age of 40.

Can't wait until next week!

Week 5.... I know I'm a slacker

Cincinnati at Baltimore (Baltimore)
Cleveland at Buffalo (Buffalo*)
Washington at Carolina (Carolina)
Pittsburgh at Detroit (Pittsburgh)
Dallas at Kansas City (Dallas)
Oakland at New York Giants (New York Giants)
Tampa Bay at Philadelphia (Philadelphia)
Minnesota at St. Louis (Minnesota)
Atlanta at San Francisco (Atlanta*)
Houston at Arizona (Arizona*)
New England at Denver (New England)
Jacksonville at Seattle (Jacksonville)
Indianapolis at Tennessee (Indianapolis)

Monday:
New York Jets at Miami (New York Jets 24-14)


Enough said :-)

Week 5

The final score for Week 5 was 11-3 (me) and 10-4 (Mardi). The updated season score is 43-19 (me) and 41-21 (Mardi). I'm proud to say that we're both keeping pretty close with the experts on Showtime's "Inside the NFL".

Now, without much in the way of fanfare, I present to you Week 5 of the NFL schedule:

Cincinnati at Baltimore (Baltimore)
Cleveland at Buffalo (Cleveland)
Washington at Carolina (Carolina)
Pittsburgh at Detroit (Pittsburgh)
Dallas at Kansas City (Dallas)
Oakland at New York Giants (New York Giants)
Tampa Bay at Philadelphia (Philadelphia)
Minnesota at St. Louis (Minnesota)
Atlanta at San Francisco (San Francisco)
Houston at Arizona (Houston)
New England at Denver (New England)
Jacksonville at Seattle (Jacksonville)
Indianapolis at Tennessee (Indianapolis)

Monday:
New York Jets at Miami (New York Jets 21-10)

This just in - Cleveland has traded away Braylon Edwards to the New York Jets and diva rookie Michael Crabtree has finally signed with San Francisco. The trade may benefit New York (provided he stays out of trouble off the field), but Crabtree's holdout has done nothing but waste his rookie season. From what I've heard, Michael Crabtree actually gained nothing more from the latest negotiations. As San Francisco started winning games without him, he lost his leverage. I'm glad this is over and hopefully it will help discourage some of this diva-like behavior we've been seeing over the past few seasons from these unproven rookies.

This week Houston goes to Phoenix to take on the NFC Champion Arizona Cardinals. Arizona is coming off their bye week, so they should be rested and relatively healed up for the match. Houston is coming off a win against Oakland where the defense played very well. Houston is going to need more of the same this week against one of the elite quarterbacks in the game. Tim Hightower is a good solid rusher who leads the team in rushing and receptions. Houston will need to stop him and not give up the big plays. Houston should also try to build on their modest rushing success over the last 2 games to keep the Arizona defense honest. Arizona is a pass heavy offense going up against a relatively even ranked pass defense in Houston. If Houston can get good pressure on Warner and force him into bad decisions, Houston should come away with this victory, although I predict this could be close. I just pray there isn't an emotional letdown after last week's win.

What is there to say about Minnesota's matchup with St. Louis? If anyone had any questions, let's just say that St. Louis is a bad team this year. Brett Favre, whatever may be left of his skills, is still a seasoned leader, and should lift Minnesota past this brewing letdown scenario. Adrian Peterson's last 2 games also have not been all that impressive, but now he's going up against the 24th ranked run defense. I would look for him to have a big day against St. Louis. I don't expect this to be a blowout by any means by Minnesota. After last week's pounding at the mercy of San Francisco, St. Louis is going to be hungry to prove themselves. With their weak offense, however, I don't think it's going to come against Minnesota.

Speaking of last week, that was some impressive football played by Minnesota against Green Bay. Everything seemed to click on defense and on the passing game on Monday night. Congratulations to Jared Allen for earning a Monday Night record 4.5 sacks. What I can't figure out is why Green Bay all of a sudden abandoned the run, when it was having some early success? I think if they had stuck with the run later in the game, the outcome would have been much different. I know a couple days ago I said I didn't see any boneheaded plays this week, but now I'm recanting that statement. It was either late 3rd or early 4th quarter and Minnesota had the ball. Green Bay rushed 4 players on Brett Favre. The Minnesota line did not let anyone through and kept the pocket intact for over 7 seconds! No one got through at all as Favre threw the ball down the field for a big gain. The boneheaded play of the week goes to the Green Bay pass rush for getting pushed around the way they did on that play

Bye weeks continue this week, with Chicago, Green Bay, New Orleans, and San Diego earning some much needed rest. Washington at Carolina is a coin toss, with this decision going to Carolina. Invesco Field is a tough place for any visiting team, but Denver has at this point not faced an offense the likes of New England. I'm looking for New England to hand Denver their first loss of the season. Tennessee seems to be in full meltdown mode at this point while Payton Manning is on his way to a career year. Bringing Vince Young in as the starter (as some are suggesting) is only going to make a bad situation worse. Look for Indianapolis to pull out the win to remain undefeated. Baltimore is going to be hungry after the close loss to New England. Cincinnati's offense is clicking, but I don't think they're quite ready to handle the Baltimore defense. Atlanta is going to San Francisco after a bye week. San Francisco's big win over St. Louis provides another letdown scenario for the week, but I'm looking for the San Francisco defense to keep the high-powered Atlanta offense at bay at Candlestick park. Matthew Stafford has shown improvement every week with Detroit, but at this point is listed as day-to-day. Even if he can play against Pittsburgh on Sunday, he will not be 100%, which is a big reason why I look for Pittsburgh to win. I'm sure the overtime loss to Cincinnati was heartbreaking for Cleveland, but Buffalo is also playing bad football over the past couple of games. Cleveland should be the first of the 0-fer teams to pull out a win this week. Kansas City and Oakland will continue their losing ways this week as they both go up against tough defenses. As for the Monday game, fundamental football is going to win more often than not. Miami is going up against a phenomenal defense this week along with an offense that is growing as a team.

What do you think, Mardi?

Week 4 is over and Vikings are 4-0!!

All I can say is WOW! What a week of football. I must say, there were a couple I was surprised on but we will get to that in a moment. First, let's focus on Monday Night Football which pitted Green Bay at Minnesota.....

Brett Favre has now officially earned his #4, we will see about the purple in another week or two. He put on a good show tonight going against his former team and is now the only quarterback in history to say he has beaten every NFL team, not to mention he is going to be 40 this week. Favre went 24 of 31 passes for 271 yards, 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. Let's also not forget there were 0 sacks on Favre. Aaron Rodgers was simply pulverized this game, though he still managed to put up some decent numbers. Rodgers went 26 of 37 for 384 yards and 2 touchdowns. Rodgers had 2 interceptions and was sacked a whopping 8 times, 4.5 of those going to Mr. Jared Allen. The other thing that nailed the Packers were there penalties, they managed 7 for 57 yards while Minnesota held it at 2 for 10 yards. As for the rest of the stats and technicals I will let you read that on your own if you so desire. I think Minnesota really shined and was able to show why they are a top contender this year.

Dallas was an upset this week though it was a close game. I thought for sure they had it yet Denver pulled it off at the end. Of course the five sacks on Romo didn't help much. It seemed Denver's defense was able to keep the Cowboys scrambling for the majority of the game. Tennessee at Jacksonville was a surprise as well, I really thought I would see the Titans pull this one off and surely not get stuffed the way they did. David Garrard had a nice connection with Marcedes Lewis for 33 yards and a touchdown. Then there is the Ravens, well all I can say about that is if Clayton hadn't dropped the ball... well you know.

There are in's and out's to all the games that everyone can here on the Sport's Wraps and read on sports sites. This week was a good week for football and I think it is only going to get better. I congratulate Rick for leading the challenge at this time, but we have a lot of football to go..... Can't wait to see what happens next!

Week 4 has 1 Game Left

The score at the end of the Sunday games is 10-3 for me and 9-4 for Mardi. As there was only one disagreement this week, it all came down to that one game. And what an exciting finish that was. The full week score and season score will be posted when I make my predictions for Week 5.

Houston had a nice game at home against a weak (on offense at least) Oakland team. From the start Houston dominated the game defensively. Oakland was limited to 165 yards of total offense. Of that, Houston allowed only 45 yards rushing. JeMarcus Russell had another bad day going 12-33 for 120 yards. Oakland did managed to sack Matt Shaub (11/22 with 224 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) a total 4 times. Houston also put together another 100+ yard rushing day between Steve Slaton (21 carries for 65 yards) and Ryan Moats (15 carries for 56 yards). While it didn't exactly build on last week, I'll take it. Defensively Houston keyed on the running game, holding Darren McFadden to -3 yards on 6 carries. It's been a long time since we saw Houston play with this much intensity on defense. This is going to be needed when Houston visits Arizona next week. Kudos this week go to the starting Linebackers for Houston, who were key in shutting down the Oakland running game. The Houston offense dominated the Oakland defense in the first half. In the 2nd half, however, Coach Gary Kubiak was more concerned with chewing up clock in the 2nd half than he was with scoring. Since Houston won, this line of thinking probably won't face too much scrutiny, but Houston may have been better off sticking with the first half game-plan for at least the entire 3rd quarter in order to give the offensive starters a rest for next Sunday.

Jacksonville just dominated Tennesse, winning 37-17. I honestly thought Tennessee would at least make this competitive. New England and Baltimore took it down to the wire, with New England coming out winning 27-21. Cleveland almost pulled out the upset in their loss to Cincinnati 23-20 in overtime (Cincinnati scored with only 4 seconds left in OT). Who would've thought that Miami would pull out the win on trick plays? The Dallas/Denver game came down to the wire. I know that Mardi wasn't the only one who was heartbroken over the final incomplete pass that sealed the game for Denver. Pittsburgh got off to an explosive start but San Diego kept it interesting in the 2nd half by getting within 1 touchdown late in the game. With their backs to the wall Pittsburgh was able to pull out the victory.

Houston remains in the 3rd place in the AFC South behind Jacksonville due to division play. Minnesota remains Number 1 in the NFC North pending the outcome of the Monday game (although I have picked them to win). The play of the day goes to New Orleans Safety Darren Sharper for the interception and 99-yard touchdown return against the New York Jets. I didn't see anything really boneheaded in today's highlights or any of the other games I watched.

I'll make my comments on the Minnesota game when my predictions are made for Week 5. What does Mardi think about Week 4 action?

And so..... Week 4 here we go!

Detroit @ Chicago (Chicago)
Cincinnati @ Cleveland (Cincinnati)
Oakland @ Houston (Houston)
Seattle @ Indianapolis (Indianapolis)
Tennessee @ Jacksonville (Tennessee)
New York Giants @ Kansas City (New York Giants)
Baltimore @ New England (Baltimore)
Tampa Bay @ Washington (Washington)
Buffalo @ Miami (Buffalo)
New York Jets @ New Orleans (New Orleans)
Dallas @ Denver (Dallas*)
St. Louis @ San Francisco (San Francisco)
San Diego @ Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh)

Monday Night:
Green Bay @ Minnesota (Minnesota 21 - 17)


Well we only have a one game difference this week. I expect Dallas to pull it off over the Broncos. I think a lot of the games this week were easy picks. The Houston game was a toss up for me for one reason, if I pick them to win they don't, if I don't pick them to win they do...... so while I do think they have a good chance in winning this game you can't hold it against me if they lose.

As for the Minnesota and Green Bay game I think it will be a good game and of course being Monday night football at home makes it all the better. Minnesota is going to have to use the home field advantage and put that new quarterback of ours to the test. I am sure it will be an interesting day for Favre as well facing his former team for the first time as the bitter rival. I do believe our solid run game will help us through.

So here it sits, Sunday can't come fast enough!

On to Week 4 by Rick

The final score for Week 3 came to 11-5 (me) and 12-4 (Mardi). Overall I'm holding a one game lead with the current tally at 32-16 (me) and 31-17 (Mardi). It's proving to be a close race between the 2 of us this season. Without further ado I present my predictions for Week 4:

Detroit @ Chicago (Chicago)
Cincinnati @ Cleveland (Cincinnati)
Oakland @ Houston (Houston)
Seattle @ Indianapolis (Indianapolis)
Tennessee @ Jacksonville (Tennessee)
New York Giants @ Kansas City (New York Giants)
Baltimore @ New England (Baltimore)
Tampa Bay @ Washington (Washington)
Buffalo @ Miami (Buffalo)
New York Jets @ New Orleans (New Orleans)
Dallas @ Denver (Denver)
St. Louis @ San Francisco (San Francisco)
San Diego @ Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh)

Monday Night:
Green Bay @ Minnesota (Minnesota 27 - 20)

Let's start with the Houston game. Houston is coming off a tough loss at home against the Jaguars. The worrisome run defense is going to have their hands full with Raider RB Darren McFadden. Houston needs to have a good day on run defense to force QB JeMarcus Russell to go to the air, where he has not been very good so far this season. Houston may also consider some press coverage in the secondary this week in order to disrupt the receivers. As noted before, the Texans were able to get pressure on David Garrard, but with the receivers being wide open all the hard work by the line was for naught. Even though Mario Williams has only one sack so far, I look for him to have a good day against Oakland as so far they have had a lot of trouble protecting JeMarcus Russell. Oakland does have decent run defense but I'm looking for Steve Slaton to build on his modest success against the Jaguars. The other key to a Texans victory will be for Matt Shaub (823 yards, 7 TD's and 1 INT through 3 games) and his receivers to continue their excellent play from Weeks 2 and 3.

The first Monday Night Football matchup in our little rivalry sees Minnesota hosting Green Bay in Minneapolis in a division game. Right away one can tell that this is going to be another close game for the Vikings as Green Bay has really pulled it together from last season. One glaring weakness is Green Bay's run defense, which is ranked 23rd in the league and is going up against the 7th ranked run offense. Green Bay is going to have to rely on turnovers and the quick release abilities of Aaron Rodgers to hold off Jared Allen and the Williams Brothers. Overall, both offenses are close, but with the better run game going against a lesser defense, not to mention home-field advantage, this game will go to the Vikings.

Bye weeks start this week with Philadelphia, Arizona, Carolina, and Atlanta all staying home. Detroit is coming off their first win of the season in Washington, but they won't be quite ready to handle Chicago. Tennessee's defense should be disruptive enough to the Jacksonville running game to help them pull out their first win of the season. Baltimore at New England was difficult to call so this one I have to play by the numbers. Joe Flacco is running a terrific offense and Ray Lewis is showing that he's still the man at MLB. New England is struggling in the red zone and their young defense still has some question marks. Edge: Baltimore. Miami has a lot of tricks but isn't playing fundamental football, which is why Buffalo will win on Sunday. New Orleans has both a running game and air attack that will be the biggest test so far of the New York Jets defense. Look for New Orleans to win and move to 4-0. Dallas has the number 1 ranked running offense so far this season but they are going up against the number 1 ranked defense in the league. Coupled with home field advantage, this game should go to Denver. San Diego is going into Pittsburgh with a lot of injuries. I'm looking for Pittsburgh to capitalize on this and win. Cleveland, Kansas City, Tampa Bay, Seattle, and St. Louis are just bad teams so far this year, which is why I'm looking for them to lose this Sunday (the Tampa Bay/Washington game was basically a coin-toss).

I'm going to start planning the menu for Sunday afternoon (I'm thinking a slow-cooked turkey chili spiced with chipotles). Let's see what Mardi has to say about this Sunday's matchups.

Almost Done with Week 3

First off, congratulations to Mardi for winning this week. It was another close week where it came down to the final Sunday game to decide the winner. So far the score of the week is 10-5 for me and 11-4 for her.

I stand by my earlier statement... who would have thought that after that poor showing against the Vikings in Week 1 of the preseason that the Colts would be 3-0, and in a dominant fashion? Or the Steelers would be looking weak at 1-2? Or the Jets with a rookie quarterback at 3-0? Let's not forget the fact that Brett Favre wasn't even a Viking in Week 1 of the preseason. I had my doubts but each game he's inspiring the team to greatness. I'll get to the Texans record in just a moment...

I attended today's game against the Jaguars. Everything started off ok, but the glaring weaknesses in our secondary were exposed today. The Jaguars, who were very weak in their first 2 games, came out and were able to score on the Texans defense almost seemingly at will. The line was getting decent pressure on David Garrard, but the receivers were getting open due to weak secondary coverage. That's not even mentioning the weak run defense shown for the 3rd week in a row. Add in the mix a couple of penalties and a late turnover (questionable, but the video evidence did not support overturning the call) and it became a recipe for a heartbreaking loss. The Texan offense had a good game, with 397 total yards. Matt Shaub put up good numbers as well, going 26 of 35 for 286 yards and 3 TD's. Steve Slaton even started to get things going by gaining 76 yards on 12 carries. But in the end, the defense lost this game for us. There is a grumbling going on about people wanting Gary Kubiak to leave town. That may be emotion from yesterday's loss, but we'll see maybe tomorrow what they're saying on the local sports shows. The Texans fall to 1-2 (there, Mardi, I am not afraid to admit my team's record) and in 3rd place in the AFC South behind Indianapolis (3-0) and Jacksonville (1-2 with better point differential).

Mardi pretty much summed up the rest of the Sunday. San Francisco had Minnesota on the ropes, and this one could have gone either way. To Minnesota I say congratulations for pulling out the win. As to the Detroit/Washington game, I had no doubt that Detroit would win due to the sorry play exhibited by Washington so far. For our third disagreement, that was definitely an ugly performance by Arizona. I guess I need to stop betting against Payton Manning. The play of the week goes to Brett Favre's last second game winning touchdown. The boneheaded play of the week goes to 2 different plays. The first goes to Antonio Smith of the Houston Texans for that nasty horse-collar tackle on Maurice Jones-Drew to end the Texans' chances of getting the ball back for one last play. The other goes to rookie OLB Brian Cushing of the Texans for letting David Garrard walk the ball into the end zone for 6 when he had a clear shot at him for the sack.

As I spent nearly an hour just trying to leave the stadium complex, along with another commitment on Sunday evening, I didn't get to watch all that much football. Right now I'm watching the Dallas/Carolina game, which is looking pretty ugly at this point. The full record along with the up-to-date tally will be posted on Wednesday when I post my predictions for Week 4.

As for now, I leave you with a shot of something I saw of lot of Sunday:

And it's good! Week 3 almost over.....

What an amazing day of football. As it stands right now I am 11 of 15 and Rick is 10 of 15. So, that means I get this week. A little sweet redemption after my stomping last week. Since Rick was live at the Texan game I am going to let him cover that one. Let's take a look at some other highlights from today.

Baltimore walked all over Cleveland, though who is surprised. Four turnovers certainly does not help win a game, and 34-3 is a stomping. Washington at Detroit was a bit more of a surprise. I really expected the Redskins to pull this one out and keep the Lions on their 19 game losing streak. Indianapolis did a nice job of stuffing the Cardinal's. The game was in the bag when Warner threw an interception on the first play of the fourth quarter. That brought the Colts up 31-10. Manning had 379 yards passing for four touchdowns.

Now on to the game that matters..... Minnesota pulled this off literally with 2 seconds to spare. And as shamed as I am to admit it, Favre earned a purple stripe today. His fourth quarter 32 yard perfect pass to Greg Lewis won the game. The Vikings made an amazing 80 yard drive in a minute twenty seven with no time outs. Favre passed for 301 yards today making him the first under Childress to go over 300 yards, which even I have to admit is amazing considering Childress is an ........ Percy Harvin made an impressive run with an 101 yard kick return for a TD. The calls on this game were certainly interesting to say the least. There were some unusual calls being made on both teams and calls being made on imaginary things.

This was a good week with some good games. Monday night we can wrap it up and move on. Next week we face the Packers! Cannot wait, woohoo!

By the way, I believe in post #1 Rick made mention that the first preseason game was no indication of week 1 of the regular season.... well hmm we are 3-0, how are the Texans doing?

Week 3 predictions - Mardi

Cleveland @ Baltimore (Baltimore)
Washington @ Detroit (Washington*)
Jacksonville @ Houston (Houston)
San Francisco @ Minnesota (Minnesota*)
Atlanta @ New England (New England)
Tennessee @ New York Jets (Tennessee)
Kansas City @ Philadelphia (Philadelphia)
Green Bay @ St. Louis (Green Bay)
New York Giants at Tampa Bay (New York Giants)
New Orleans @ Buffalo (New Orleans)
Chicago @ Seattle (Chicago)
Pittsburgh @ Cincinnati (Pittsburgh)
Denver @ Oakland (Denver)
Miami @ San Diego (San Diego)
Indianapolis @ Arizona (Indianapolis*)

Monday Night:
Carolina @ Dallas (Dallas 21 - 13)


*Games we disagree on

Well here we go. Let's hope this week proves better luck for me. I think we have a good matchup this week again. Some of these games should be pretty close. The last time the 49er's and Vikings met up the Vikings walked away with a 27-7 win. I would love to see a repeat. As long as Favre can land some long throws we should have a good chance at taking this game. The 49er's defense may be a challenge against the Vikings common running game but than with Adrian Peterson making his own blocks maybe it won't be an issue. I think the edge up in this game will be Minnesota's run-blocking defense line. Being the third in the NFL and having yet to allow a rushing touchdown this season if the Vikings can stop Gore they will force Hill to win the game with passes. Hill has been pretty good this year but he may find a challnege against the MN defense.

The Texans take on the Jags and I have to agree with Rick on this one, due to the young lineup on the Jags I expect the Texans to come out on top in this game. The Texans had a nice week 2 comeback which should help carry them into week 3. Provided Schaub can keep it together again, this game should be pretty one sided.

As for the other, some were hard to call, some were easy but time will tell if my instincts are correct.

Presenting Week 3

Week 2 was full of surprises and some damn good football. My prediction of more road wins came true as 9 of the 16 games played showed the visitor to be victorious. The final score for me was 10-6 and for Mardi 7-9. The current totals show to be 21-11 (me) and 19-13 (Mardi).

Without further ado, here is the Week 3 schedule and my predictions:

Cleveland @ Baltimore (Baltimore)
Washington @ Detroit (Detroit)
Jacksonville @ Houston (Houston)
San Francisco @ Minnesota (San Francisco)
Atlanta @ New England (New England)
Tennessee @ New York Jets (Tennessee)
Kansas City @ Philadelphia (Philadelphia)
Green Bay @ St. Louis (Green Bay)
New York Giants at Tampa Bay (New York Giants)
New Orleans @ Buffalo (New Orleans)
Chicago @ Seattle (Chicago)
Pittsburgh @ Cincinnati (Pittsburgh)
Denver @ Oakland (Denver)
Miami @ San Diego (San Diego)
Indianapolis @ Arizona (Arizona)

Monday Night:
Carolina @ Dallas (Dallas 27-17)

Houston is coming off a big win in Tennessee this week and hosting AFC South rival Jacksonville. Houston's offense bounced back and showed why they were the 3rd best ranked offense in 2008-2009. Jacksonville has gotten off to a very rough start this year, losing to Indianapolis and Arizona. Houston is expecting Kevin Walter to return this week, who will add another weapon to Matt Shaub's passing attack. Chester Pitts, the Texans iron-man, will miss his first game this Sunday due to a sprained MCL. Kasey Studdard is a capable backup though, and should handle the Left Gaurd position well in Pitts' absence. There are 2 things that worry me about the Texans - their running game (very anemic 2 weeks into the season) and the defense's tendency to give up big plays. If Steve Slaton can pick up the pieces on Sunday, it should keep Jacksonville on their toes. As much as Jack Del Rio won't comment, there is a youth movement going on in Jacksonville with 4 rookies projected to start on offense this Sunday. In fact, they just cut another veteran player this week after a poor performance against Arizona. While they do have another week to improve and gel as a team, I expect their struggles to continue.

Minnesota is hosting San Francisco this Sunday in a matchup of early division leaders. San Francisco has been the surprise team this season, even without the services of diva Michael Crabtree. The running game on both sides is going to be a feature of this game. While Frank Gore is no Adrian Peterson, he did gain 207 yards against Seattle on very effective play from his offensive line. San Francisco will need to work on its air attack, though, as Minnesota's defensive line won't let Gore put up those kinds of numbers again. Brett Favre has been a game manager thus far into the season. All of his passes thus far have been short passes, and more than a few teams have noticed this. I can't claim to know why Favre isn't taking more shots down the field (something to do with his shoulder, perhaps?), but look for San Francisco to try to shut down the short passing game. If they can succeed in this and Favre isn't able to connect down the field, I expect San Francisco to win the game.

Tennessee goes into NYC this Sunday to take on the Jets. This one was a little tough to call. After losing 2 close games, the Titans are going to be hungry. Mark Sanchez and company are coming off a nice, if not so-pretty, win against the Patriots. I'm going to have to go with Tennessee on this one as their defense should disrupt Mark Sanchez enough to keep the offense on the field. Another tough game to call is Atlanta at New England. In this one I'm going to have to go with experience and home field advantage in picking New England. Defense wins games and that's why I'm picking Baltimore, Green Bay, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh in each of their matchups this week. Both New Orleans and Buffalo are sporting high powered offenses... in this case the edge goes to New Orleans. San Diego's high powered offense was kept at bay by the Baltimore defense, but not shut down completely. If they can keep their offense on the field, they will beat Miami. Peyton Manning was looking mortal on Monday despite the win, while Kurt Warner was looking like a 30-year-old in his prime. Edge: Arizona. Tampa Bay is not going to be able to handle the Giants offense. Carolina is a bad team since they seemed to have quit on Jake Delhomme. The Cowboys had some misfires late against the New York Giants, but it was still a close game, which is why they are picked to win on Monday. And as for Denver at Oakland, this game was basically a coin toss with the decision going to Denver.

Mardi has assured me her analysis of week 2 will be available soon as real-world work and family responsibilities have kept her busy this week. She has assured me that she is still paying attention