First off before I get to this week's preachment, I would like to quickly comment (and get it out of the way) and recognize my pick performance from this past week.
On a week like last week, when you are able to go 12-4, you had a great week. Allow me to illustrate.
A friend of mine runs a "NFL Picks Pool" every single year. It's pretty simple. Submit your picks for weekly winners, and there are weekly prizes and prizes at the end of the year for season-long performance. This year, I believe he received over 60 entries for the pool.
In Week One, the highest score was 14, and the lowest was 9. This past week? The highest score was 12, and the lowest was 4. Note that the individual who got 4 this past week got 12 the week before, which suggests this guy is not a total boob, and just struggled that much with this week's games.
In any event, 12 as a high to 4 as the low, shows that this week was a pretty tough week to make picks. Two 12 win weeks puts the season record to 24-8 after 2 weeks. We'll see if I can keep it up.
On to Week Two's Preachment...
- Well, it looks like these Jets just might be for real huh? There is probably not a single game the Jets are going to be more fired up for this year than last week's home game against New England. To their credit, they got the job done. I think the Pats realize that they need to be a little better with touchdown efficiency in the red zone. 0 for 3 is not going to cut it on the road in division games Mr. Brady.
- Matty Ice improves to 9-1 at home as a starter. Jake Delhomme put in a better game this week, but it wasn't enough. Ryan proved to be the difference against the Panthers' 'stop the run first' gameplan. As predicted last week, Los Panteros are in big trouble.
- With a win on the road in Green Bay, the Bengals effectively became my 2009 'Coin Flip Team of the Year'. When you lose at home to Denver, and then go on the road and win at Lambeau, it tells me two things. One, they are improved from last year and two, we are not going to know which Bengals' team will show up week to week. Heck, they could beat the Steelers this week, who knows? Also, did we jump a little too soon on the Packers' bandwagon because of a strong pre-season perfomance by the Green Bay first unit?? Something to think about...
- Johnson X3 = Mayhem. The Texans/Titans game was another great game this week. And what do you get when you mix two of the league's most talented players (Titans RB Chris Johnson and Texans WR Andre Johnson) and the league's best play-by-play announcer (Gus Johnson)? A great football experience...Looks like the Texan offense finally decided to wake up. Is the absence of Albert Haynesworth going to leave the Tennessee defence exposed in the back end? Does this mean that this leaves them without the ability to create pressure in the pocket up the middle?? The first two games would suggest yes...
- The Lions still suck, even though I was really hoping they would beat the Vikings. Adrian Peterson may have not run for 100 yards and multiple scores like most people thought, but in the end, the losing streak continues.
- What happens when a west coast team travels to the east coast for the 1:00 PM ET game? Well, normally the west coast team loses, unless the east coast team is bad like the Jaguars. This was pretty much the basis of my pick last week in this matchup, and a few bad breaks for Jacksonville in the first half sealed the deal early fin this game. Arizona's offense seemed to somewhat get on track as well which they'll need next week when they host Indianapolis. Next on slate for the Jags? At Houston. And I'm pretty sure the Texans will put out a much better effort at home this week as opposed to the performance in Week One. Could this be the beginning of the end of the Jack Del Rio era in Jacksonville?
- What did we find out in Philly that we already didn't know? Drew Brees is still the man, and the Eagles are never as good as they can be when they don't have Donovan McNabb. Kevin Kolb played good enough to keep the starting gig for this upcoming week, but who really thought he would be able to keep up the scoring pace with Drew Brees in his first career start?
- JaMarcus Russell sucks. Fortunately for the Raiders, the Chiefs suck more. This game was terrible, and I think that Russell is the worst starting QB in the NFL, sans debate.
- The Washington Redskins better fix some things. That's all I'm going to say. Because when you have a top 5 defence and you are beating St. Louis 9-7 AT HOME, you have problems. Last week, I thought that if the Redskins lost to the Rams, Jim Zorn would have been fired this week. I'm going to go out and say that I hope this team loses this week at Detroit. Reason: If Jim Zorn managed to keep his job this past week because he managed to get a win over the hapless Rams, then there's one last thing that can give us our first early coach-axing of the year; being the team to break the Lions' losing streak.
- Easiest game on the board last week: Buffalo to beat Tampa Bay at home. Buffalo is playing some good football, and should probably be 2-0 right now. I would not be shocked if this week at home they beat the visiting Saints. Tampa Bay on the other hand is still in shambles, and head back to the "Pirate Ship" to host the New York Giants. Good luck.
- So it didn't help the Seahawks that they lost starting QB Matt Hasselbeck right before half, but they were never going to win this game anyways. Frank Gore had one hell of a day and the defence was in the face of the opposing QB all day. The 49ers are looking very good right now. Next on the schedule? The Minnesota Vikings. Who have the Vikings beaten anyways? The Browns? The Lions? Keep an eye on the 49ers/Vikings game in Week 3 because it should be a good one where we should see the true colors of Minnesota. Matchup of the week: Adrian Peterson vs. Patrick Willis.
- Thank you for missing field goals Jeff Reed. Your cheque is on its way. The Bears stay alive and win a huge game against the defending champs and head to Seattle to face the Seahawks minus Matt Hasselbeck. How fast things can turn around in this league...
- I hate to say it, but the days of LT are done. No time to be nostalgic about one of the game's greatest all-time rushers, because this team will go as far as Phillip Rivers can take them. When you post your career best for passing yards against the Baltimore Ravens, that's telling me something. Unfortunately, there's only so much he can do and in the AFC, teams like Baltimore tend to be just too much. The Ravens on the other hand, with their newfound offensive efficiency are looking like a big time threat to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl.
- The Browns suck, Eric Mangini is going to lose total control of his locker room, and Denver is atop the AFC West at 2-0...pretty much how we thought things would be last week...
- The New York Giants just keep getting it done. Why? Because they dominate the trenches. They have the best and most cohesive offensive line in the game, and their defensive line puts so much pressure on the opposing QB that it masks the weaknesses in the secondary. As a result, this allows them to create turnovers. Of course when the opposing QB gives you points, that helps sometimes too.
- How do you dominate the time of possession at home 45 minutes to 15 minutes and still lose a game? The Colts had only 8 possessions, punted 3 of them away, and still put up 27 points. That's incredible. That's when you know you've either got really bad luck, or you just suck. I'm pretty sure that it's neither one of those things, but it's somewhere in the middle. Regardless, irregardless is not a word, and the Dolphins are in big trouble. I'm officially starting the "Countdown to the Chad Henne Era in Miami" effective immediately.
That's it for this week. Go in peace to serve and love the NFL.
- Deacon Touchback
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