Friday, November 03, 2006

NFL Week 9 Preview and Picks

Yeah, it's been a busy morning:
Friday A.M. Quickie Roundup
Louisville-WVA Reactions
CFB Weekend Preview

Now, Week 9 NFL Preview...

Obviously, the Game of the Week is Sunday night between the Colts and Pats, the best rivalry in the NFL right now. Sorry it's so brief today:

Packers over Bills: Pack at .500? Whaaa?!
Bears over Dolphins: No repeat of '85.
Falcons over Lions: Vick as NFL MVP?
Chiefs over Rams: It's Huard-Mania.
Giants over Texans: Bring back Sage!
Saints over Bucs: Colston over Bush.
Cowboys over Skins: Brunell needs Bledsoing.
Jags over Titans: VY a poor man's Garrard.
Bengals over Ravens: Chad vs. Ray-Ray. Yes!
Niners over Vikings: Have to pick ONE upset
Broncos over Steelers: Def. champs 2-6?!
Chargers over Browns: No Merriman? No prob.
Pats over Colts: There's your No. 2 team.
Seahawks over Raiders: Seneca sensation!

Last week: 6-8
Season: 63-51 (Ugh.)

Comments Question: What are your biggest storylines for Week 9? How do you size up the matchups and how do you pick 'em?

-- D.S.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Bills can't lose, man. We're coming off a bye, we're hurting, we need something to hang our hats on before we pull out the paper bag disguises against Indy, Jax, SD and Bal. Come on!

~sigh~ Who's in the NFL draft this year?

Worldwide Reader said...

Dan, for the love of God - pick 'em against the spread for once.

I like Cinci +3 at Baltimore. Carson is going to light it up.

Christian Thoma said...

Pack at .500? Whaaa?!

Heck, they'd be playing for 5-3 if they'd kept it together in the St. Louis game. Sadly, they'll likely be 4-7 after the next stretch (at Minny, New England, and then at Seattle) ... although we can always hope Matt Hasselbeck takes longer to recover ...

jhawkjjm said...

What's the over/under on the number of yards for Marony and Dillion Sunday night?

Pats will run run run against that sorry Indy run defense.

gvoll said...

Wait, you're not picking against the spread, and you're STILL barely over .500??!? Laaaaaaame, on so many levels.

marcomarco said...

No mention of Viniteri's homecoming?

Boos or cheers?

Personally, i'm rooting for the ultimate irony - a missed game winning kick.

The heroin sheik said...

NOt that anyone cares but I just noticed that the peeps behind withleather refered to some people as some cockgoblins. I was reading the st pete times today and joey galloway is running his mouth about he is going tobe so open since the saints always use man coverage. Great he is going to drop more balls when he is wide open this week. That guy sucks ass. I thought Chuckie was an offensive genius. I hate being a bucs fan. Sometimes I wonder if we are about to start another ten year stretch of consecutive ten loss seasons. I wish the NFl had a system like in europe where if you finish inthe bottom half you get relegated. At least then the bucs would get some wins on a second tier league. Probably not.

Brian in Oxford said...

you CAN'T have relegation in American sports....cities would literally SUE if they had to be treated as second-class because their teams were dropped down to a minor league.

So you're stuck in the NFL with the Bucs, rather than the SEC. (Not sure the wins there would come so easily, either!)

mark said...

The whole idea of relegation/promotion is too foreign to American ears, in general. There's this pseudo-democratic idea embodied in a sports league that, in theory, the Arizona Cardinals are the equals of the Chicago Bulls, and on any given Sunday anything can happen. So we let the dreadful teams lose to the great teams, year after year. We figure that if the bad teams wish to improve, then they should just go and do it.

Of course, another part of the problem is that we use our minor leagues as feeder teams for the majors; if we started relegating, that whole system would have to be scrapped.

mark said...

As for the actual games . . .

I like the Colts over the Pats, not because I actually think they're going to win, but because Bill Simmons' article today actively made me angry.

(I AM a Colts fan, but even so.)

Colts vs. Pats is NOT Manning vs. Brady. The two aren't even ever on the field at the same time! Do you think maybe, just maybe, NE's success over the last six-seven years has something to do with its O-line? You think maybe Indy's failure to win has something to do with their defense?

The Colts' failure to win a championship takes nothing away from Peyton Manning's abilities as a quarterback, so saying he, personally, is somehow wanting as a player because the Colts lose games in January is a reductionist fallacy. Anyway, if you want to blame an individual player for the Colts' failures in recent years, a more likely choice would've been Vanderjagt.

mark said...

You know I meant Bears. I do that sometimes.

marcomarco said...

Manning, the Arod of the NFL.

Blogger said...

No love for my Brownies? OK, I can't blame you.

Vick for MVP is laughable. Isn't it???

Anonymous said...

I will never understand Vick. He could be the barry sanders of his generation, and instead he wants to be Kordell Stewart.

Don't pick on Dan about the spread. The scoring has been soooo low this season, underdogs are winning all over the place. Even Oakland rose out of the grave last weekend. I can't remember more unwatchable games in any NFL season (I'm not talking about the Bills either). When the "take a couple quarters off" Giants are favored for the SB, we have problems. Offenses around the league are in shambles. Even fantasy scoring has been atrocious.

Bobman said...

mark

I'm a Pats fan, so my opinion is as biased as yours. BUT, if you want to be "reductionist", Manning's stats in January are significantly worse than his stats in the regular season. His interception to touchdown ratio is radically different. How do you attribute that to Vanderjagt or anyone else on the team?

marcomarco said...

Liria-nope

See you in '08

Worldwide Reader said...

Ignoring the first 3 post season games

What? Why would you ignore his first 3 playoff games? Because they were all losses? Or because his numbers looked like this:

19-43, 227, 0/0
17-32, 194, 1-0
14-31, 137, 0-2

Look, Manning is a great player. He'll probably go down as Top 5 of all-time when he's through. But in "big" games - and more notably, in games his teams were supposed to win - he shat the bed. Fair or unfair (ARod, anyone?), that's how he's going to be remembered, until he actually goes out and wins a ring.

The heroin sheik said...

IM not whining. I think you should be dropped. Imagine a second tier league with oakland, san fran, the bucs, houston, arizona, cleveland, detroit, buffalo, tennessee, and miami. We all play each other twice and the top two teams go up to the first division. The 3rd through 6th teams are in the playoffs to decide who gets the third spot. The bottom three teams in the first division drop. Imagine what would happen in the dawgpound if cleveland actually could win a title. I bet the games would be just as competitive as in a first division. I figure that back in the day the NFL schedules were based more on your record the previous year so teams that perennially sucked like the aints and the yuks would play every year. Sure both teams sucked but they were fun to watch. I know it is only a dream but I really love how they do the soccer leagues in europe

mark said...

I think Peyton's problem is not being able to adjust during the game.

Funny, I thought that was precisely what he was best at.

I think that is part of the problem people have with Peyton, he is quick to point out his teammates mistakes but you rarely hear him say how he messed up, A-Rod does the same shit.

Hi. Show me a direct quote from either of those people dissing their teammates. I really don't believe that you can. No fair pulling things from the Manning/Vanderjagt feud, which Mike V. indisputably started.