[EDITOR'S NOTE: In case you don't know, my good pal 'Greek' is a diehard Buffalo Bills fan. We like him, though, because he does know his stuff when it comes to the NFL.]

So, Terrell Owens is a Buffalo Bill. The reactions around the Web have been wide ranging, from elation to absolute terror of what he may do to this team and this locker room. The one thing that you can be sure of, no one feels indifferent about this move, and that may be worth the $4 million signing bonus alone. I for one am ecstatic about this move. But before we get into that, let’s examine that last statement a little more closely. No one, from the media to the man on the street, is indifferent about this move. Everyone is talking about it, and has an opinion. In turn, this means that everyone is talking about the Buffalo Bills. When was the last time you could honestly say that, especially during the offseason? Who was the last big name star that the Bills signed? Last year, the Bills big signing was Kawika Mitchell, the year before that, Derrick Dockery, who just got cut. Not exactly the most scintillating group. For the past decade or so, the Bills have been known far more for the players they’ve lost in free agency, than the ones they have signed.

With the economy the way it is across the country, and in cities like Buffalo in particular, it’s clear that a team like the Bills needs all the media attention it can get. Last year the team signed a deal to play games in Toronto for the next several years to help build a fan base and add to the bottom line. People have been leaving many of the manufacturing cities like Buffalo in droves for a long time, and right now, those that are left need a reason to spend money on a team that is currently tied for the longest playoff drought in the NFL. Signing a player who is definitely polarizing, but will always keep fans talking, is something this franchise has shied away from in the past, but is a move they needed to make.

In reading some of the fan reactions to this move, I’ve seen some people actually renounce their allegiance to the Bills. Aside from this being the reaction of the ultimate fair-weather fan, it’s just plain stupid. T.O. is still one of the best receivers in the NFL. Signing a guy like this is a risk worth taking any way you look at it. What’s the worst that can happen with this signing? The Bills don’t make the playoffs? There’s unrest in the locker room for one season and the he’s gone? Where is the downside here? You’re not looking at a team that’s been a perennial playoff contender where a player like T.O. could put them over the top or destroy the often mentioned, but rarely quantified, team chemistry. Looking at this in terms of play on the field alone, how can you not like the idea of an offense with T.O., Lee Evans, Marshawn Lynch, and Trent Edwards? Who scared defenses last year, when the Bills went to the air? Josh Reed? Roscoe Parrish? Robert Royal? Not bad players overall, but none of them had defensive coordinators waking up in a cold sweat.

This is the best move that the Bills have made in a long time. It gives them an All-Pro player and immediately legitimizes them as a real contender in free agency and in the AFC East. Regardless of your feelings on T.O., the fact that a legitimate star is coming to Buffalo is a huge deal. This may finally give other star players a reason to look at Buffalo as a destination, instead of just a stop on their free agency tour. It gives Trent Edwards a receiver who makes other players better. Ask Tony Romo how much having Terrell Owens helped his development. Ask Jason Witten in November, if he misses having someone draw coverage from the middle of the field. Ask Cowboys fans how they feel about the dynamic receiving tandem of Roy Williams, Patrick Crayton, and Miles Austin. This move may not get the Bills into the Super Bowl, but they are a much better team today than they were just 24 hours ago.

Oakland at Tampa Bay (-13)
Detroit at Green Bay (-10.5)
Dallas (+1) at Philadelphia
NY Giants (+7) at Minnesota
Chicago (+3) at Houston
Carolina at New Orleans (+1.5)
St. Louis at Atlanta (-14)
Kansas City at Cincinnati (-3)
Jacksonville at Baltimore (-11)
Tennessee (-3) at Indianapolis
Cleveland (+11) at Pittsburgh
Miami (+2.5) at NY Jets
New England at Buffalo (+5.5)
Seattle (+6.5) at Arizona
Washington (+3) at San Francisco
Denver (+8) at San Diego

Last Week: 12-4
Season: 126-108-6

Baltimore at Dallas (-4)
Pittsburgh at Tennessee (+2)
Miami (-3.5) at Kansas City
Arizona at New England (-7.5)
Cincinnati (+3) at Cleveland
Philadelphia at Washington (+5)
San Francsico (-5) at St. Louis
Atlanta (+3) at Minnesota
New Orleans (-7) at Detroit
Carolina at NY Giants (-3)
NY Jets at Seattle (+3.5)
Houston at Oakland (+7)
Buffalo (+6.5) at Denver
San Diego (+3.5) at Tampa Bay
Green Bay at Chicago (-4)

 

From the 'you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone' department, being without power for four days and Internet for 5+ has definitely given me a new appreciation for both. I am still playing catch-up here, and will combine my missing results from last week's games, with the updated playoff picture and other bits and pieces.

 

Of course, you are seeing this article today because this week we have football tonight, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Luckily the league decided that for the final week of the season, every game will be played on Sunday at either 1 or 4. Finally, some semblance of sanity will return to the NFL schedule.

Despite all of the problems people have had here with the Giants play over the last two weeks, and the gloom and doom predictions from the media, be thankful you’re not a Jets fan. There are two games left in the season, the Jets are in first place, and guess who’s talking about his retirement plans again? That’s right, my favorite player and yours, Brett Favre. With the playoffs within their grasp, and everything within their control, this diva decides that now is the time to talk about his plans for next year. Favre’s been pulling this crap for nearly a decade now, and enough is enough. If you want to leave, go. If not, shut the eff up and play these last two games and try to get into the playoffs.

We got our annual joke of a Pro Bowl selection process completed earlier than ever this past week. Why even play this game anymore? Here’s an idea. No one wants to play in this game, no one wants to watch this game with the possible exception of degenerate gamblers (not that I’d know anything about that, but I’d take the ‘over’ this year), and it’s basically a joke.

So, make the Pro Bowl selections an honorary thing like the All-Pro selections, the all-iron team, the galloping gobbler, and any other stupid award that the NFL can get some bankrupt car company to sponsor. Then take the stadium in Hawaii, and make that one of the "international games" that the NFL wants so much. Will any team complain about losing a home game to Hawaii instead of England or Germany? I tend to doubt it, and if the area can support a game as trivial as the Pro Bowl, I think they can fill up a stadium to watch the Chargers or some other West Coast team play a meaningful game.

As for the playoff picture, things are finally starting to clear up as the teams that have been clinging onto their playoff hopes over these past couple of weeks have started to fall by the wayside.

The AFC Playoff picture looks like this:

In:

Tennessee
Pittsburgh

Control their own destiny:

NY Jets
Denver
Indianapolis
Baltimore
Miami

Need help:

New England
San Diego

The NFC picture:

In:

NY Giants
Arizona

Control their own destiny:

Carolina
Minnesota
Dallas
Tampa Bay
Philadelphia

Need Help:

Atlanta
Chicago
Washington

And the pick for tonight:

Indianapolis at Jacksonville (+6.5)

Last week: 9-6-1
Season: 114-104-6

[EDITOR'S NOTE: My apologies to 'Gree,' who did manage to get picks to me last week. I could not get them on the site, though, because of the power outage. Also, NFL.com has a nice graphic detailing the playoff picture if you want to check it out.

I’ve got to say, going into this week before I checked out the schedule; I was kinda hoping that there was no Thursday night game. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy watching as much football as possible, especially given the state of affairs of my Buffalo Bills, but these Thursday games, I fear, are starting to water down the excitement level.

Assuming that you don’t watch college football, your plate of football looks something like this: Thursday night, Sunday at 1 (possibility of 2 games), Sunday at 4 (possibility of 2 games), Sunday at 8, Monday at 8:30 (All times Eastern standard). That’s 5 games a week without even ordering Sunday ticket, and if you follow college football, you only get 2 days without games, and no days without analysis from ESPN.

The NFL has a great product, but we are starting to learn that they are stretching their efforts a bit thin. Look at the reaction to this year’s game in London compared to last year. Look at the reaction for last week’s game in Toronto. Viewers are being flooded with choices now and unfortunately, it is undermining the product. One of the great things about the football season is scarcity. With only 16 games in the season, every game means something. With games only on during certain times of the day and the week, watching football has become an event in itself. By taking that away, with all the random games on throughout the week, the NFL is taking away what makes it so great.

One just needs to examine Monday Night Football today vs. 10 years ago. With the advent of satellite, and the ability to watch any game you want, Monday Night Football no longer holds the mystique and reverence it once did. If Monday night is a terrible matchup, who cares, you had your pick of games to watch Sunday and a full slate of games next week. Monday Night Football used to mean something, but now it’s become just another game, despite all the promotion that ESPN has done.

Thursday Night Football works, but only if other games are eliminated. Back when TNT had the first half of the season’s Sunday night games, the league would move some games to Thursday night. This meant that there was no Sunday night game, and having a game on Thursday was considered a treat. If things don’t change, I fear many will see Thursday night games as a chore, and it will end up diluting what is a fantastic league.

New Orleans at Chicago (-1.5)

Last week: 8-8
Season: 105-98-5

It’s time to take an updated look at the playoff picture after yesterday’s games. The AFC is starting to look much clearer while almost everyone in the NFC is still in contention.

Playoffs, here we come:

AFC:

Tennessee

NFC:

NY Giants
Arizona

Controls their own destiny:

AFC:

Pittsburgh
Indianapolis
Baltimore
Miami
NY Jets
Denver

NFC:

Tampa Bay
Carolina
Dallas
Minnesota
Philadelphia

Looking for some help:

AFC:

New England

NFC:

Atlanta
Washington
Chicago
New Orleans


Looking for a Miracle:

AFC:

Buffalo
San Diego

NFC:

Green Bay

Looking forward to the draft:

AFC:

Kansas City
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Oakland
Houston
Jacksonville

NFC:

St. Louis
Seattle
San Francisco
Detroit

Here are the rest of' 'Greek's' picks for this week.

Cincinnati (+13.5) at Indianapolis
Jacksonville at Chicago (-6.5)
Houston at Green Bay (-5.5)
Cleveland (+14) at Tennessee
Minnesota at Detroit (+9.5)
Washington (+5) at Baltimore
Philadelphia (+7) at NY Giants
Atlanta at New Orleans (-3)
NY Jets at San Francisco (+4)
Miami at Buffalo (PK)
Kansas City (+9) at Denver
St. Louis (+14) at Arizona
Dallas (+3) at Pittsburgh
New England (-4.5) at Seattle
Tampa Bay at Carolina (-3)

With all the Plaxico talk there have been a lot of noteworthy events that have been glossed over, one of which ties in nicely with the recent suspension of Burress and juxtaposes the NFL with other leagues out there. Burress, of course, has been suspended by the Giants for conduct detrimental to the team. He got a four-game suspension for carrying a weapon illegally, a felony, and now has the players’ union fighting to get his suspension reduced. While all this has been happening a former New York athlete has also been suspended for conduct detrimental to the team.

Sean Avery, the former NY Ranger and current Dallas star was suspended by the NHL for comments prior to a game in Calgary about other players wanting his "sloppy seconds." The full story can be found here.

I know this is more of a hockey post than a football one, but the difference in league conduct and expectations is startling. Almost every day we are bombarded by NFL players talking trash, whether mic’d up on the field or sitting down with a member of the media. The NFL not only allows this talk, but basically encourages it. The NHL, a struggling league that has a national TV contract on what amounts to a regional cable network in Versus, is taking their version of TO or Chad Johnson, and not only silencing him, but possibly ending his career.

For those of you that don’t follow hockey, probably 95% or so based on TV ratings, Avery is a jerk. Always has been, probably always will be. But to suspend him indefinitely for this comment is ludicrous. The NHL is mired in poor management starting with Commissioner Gary Bettman and although the NFL may have gone too far in allowing their players to do and say nearly anything they want, the NHL has gone way too far in the other direction. If hockey ever wants to climb back into the national conversation and be recognized as a major sport once again, they need to move away from some of their overbearing policies for players, and allow them to be themselves and create an identity that has some crossover appeal.

Oakland at San Diego (-9.5)

Last Week: 7-9
Season: 97-90-5

With only a month left in the season (how did that happen already?) it’s time to look at where everyone stands and see what we can expect to look forward to in the coming weeks. Looking at the standings we can divide the league into four segments based on playoff aspirations; Control their own destiny, looking for some help, looking for a miracle, and looking forward to the draft. Here’s where we stand right now:

Controls their own destiny:

AFC:

Tennessee
Pittsburgh
Indianapolis
Baltimore
NY Jets
Denver

NFC:

NY Giants
Tampa Bay
Carolina
Atlanta
Minnesota
Arizona

Looking for some help:

AFC:

Miami
New England
Buffalo

NFC:

Dallas
Washington
Chicago
Philadelphia
New Orleans
Green Bay

Looking for a Miracle:

AFC:

Houston
Cleveland
Jacksonville
San Diego
Oakland (yes, Oakland)

NFC:

San Francisco

Looking forward to the draft:

AFC:

Kansas City
Cincinnati

NFC:

St. Louis
Seattle
Detroit

Amazingly enough, with only four weeks left in the season there are only five teams that have completely tanked the season to the point of being out of the hunt.

Sure, there are a lot of teams that need a lot of help, but that’s why they play the games, and at least there are a lot of teams left that have something to play for. Of course, next week the draft list will probably double, but playing semi meaningful games in December is what you hope for in September as a fan, and the majority of fans still have a reason to hope.

It’s time once again for that annual tradition of trying to squeeze in 6-10 hours of football around friends, family, dinner, and all those other distractions.

Another tradition is the Detroit Lions stumbling into this game with a horrible record, and the only real drama of the game being whether they can cover a ridiculously high spread. This week people are starting to come out and complain about the Lions getting this game every year, despite most times being an awful team to watch. Of course the fact that they were having trouble getting anyone to show up at the stadium to watch the game exacerbated the rhetoric.

Why is it that this year has become known for people coming out and complaining about things that have been around forever? The Lions have been historically bad, yet now their yearly Thanksgiving game is a mockery. West coast teams travel to the East coast all the time. Yet now, this travel has an adverse effect on the players’ ability to compete. Is this the year of the whiner? Is there just not enough going on out there in the NFL this year for people to talk about? Is this the price that we have to pay because Tom Brady went down in the first week of the season?

Sports writers have apparently just gotten lazy since last year, when they could turn in a "Patriots are undefeated" or "Spygate" story and call it a week. How can anyone tell me that in a season where the Giants are 10-1 as defending champs, the Titans just lost their first game, Brett Favre has turned around the Jets, the Dolphins have a legitimate shot at the playoffs, the Colts have gone from looking lost to being in the drivers seat for a wild card spot, the ridiculous NFC South keeps winning, and hundreds of other stories are happening that I haven't even mentioned, that the best we can talk about is jet lag?

People wonder why traditional media outlets are doing so poorly and blogs are increasingly becoming the first stop for people to get sports news. This is why. Sports reporting has gotten lazy in the mainstream media. Luckily we have other places to go to now instead of that monopoly in Bristol. And for that I am truly thankful.

The Picks

Tennessee at Detroit (+11)
Seattle at Dallas (-12.5)
Arizona (+3) at Philadelphia

Last week: 8-7-1
Season: 90-81-5

When basically every game this week, save for two, are blowouts, and only one of those was really a good game (Indianapolis 23, San Diego 20) it’s time to shake things up around here. Despite mounting evidence, that does not mean I will not provide an extensive breakdown on the Bills utter domination of the Chiefs. No, instead below please find an open letter to Eagles coach Andy Reid.

Mr. Reid,

As an outside observer I have watched as you have taken a team whose glory days had been mostly realized through QB sweeps on Tecmo Super Bowl and turned them into a perennial playoff team. You coached through the Terrell Owens debacle, through your own personal family issues with your sons, and even won over the infamous Philly fans in the process. You took this team to within one score of winning the Super Bowl, and got them to the conference championship four years in a row. All this begs the question, what happened to you? It’s like there’s an inverse relationship between your waistline and your coaching prowess. You’ve never been much for the run game, but, now, gaining one yard has become the most difficult play for your team to execute. You have a 240 pound quarterback who can just fall forward and gain a yard. That is to say you did have a 240 pound quarterback.

What you did this past Sunday is beyond ridiculous. Down 3 to the Ravens on the road, who thanks to some local fans here at SB Nation, I have learned have a pretty good defense, and you pull McNabb? I know his play for the last six quarters has been awful. Trust me, I have him on my fantasy team, I’m well aware of his recent struggles. But how can you justify that move?

On the road, with no practice against a top 5 defense, what can Kevin Kolb gain from this experience? You’re still in the playoff race. I know that many of the NFL rules seem to escape you -- overtime, challenges, the fact that you’re allowed to run the ball, but you should have someone on the coaching staff who can get their hands on a newspaper and realize that you’re team is 1.5 games out of the wild card thanks to that tie last week.

If you can put together a winning streak you are right back in this thing, and you still play everyone in the East one more time. Isn’t the point of playing this game to try and win? This is what you used to do. You have Brian Westbrook, use him. You have Donovan McNabb, not Joe Montana. Don’t make him throw the ball 50-60 times a game. Look at the waiver wire and pick up a big running back for those third and one plays. You just have to look down the road at what the Steelers did with that kid Gary Russell who they picked up off the street to grind out some tough yards. It can be done.

Maybe you got confused and saw all those pictures of Mike Holmgren announcing this year would be his last, so you stopped coaching too, but there’s still time for you to turn this around. You don’t want your legacy to be that of the guy who couldn’t get over the Super Bowl hump, ran McNabb out of town, and ruined any chance Kevin Kolb had to be successful in the process.

This letter is being posted on a Giants blog where I’m sure everyone could not be happier to see you floundering like this. That is if they even care anymore. You and the Eagles are so far in the Giants’ rear view mirror, I’m not sure they can see you anymore. If you want to phase out the Donovan McNabb era, go for it, but do it the right way. Destroying both McNabb’s and Kolb’s confidence is not going to help you or your team in any way.

Thank you,

The Greek

P.S. take the Packers in the Monday night game. Might as well win something this week.

Not to beat a dead horse, but for those of you that don't get the NFL network watching this week's matchup was nothing short of torture.

It wasn't the product on the field, or even the fact that I started Willie Parker in one of my fantasy leagues, although that did hurt a lot. It was listening to the moral outrage coming form the booth over Chad Johnson's insolent behavior.

I've come to expect everyone to get on their soapbox when a player acts out in such a petulant manner, but Chris Collinsworth took it one step too far. He spent the first quarter speaking out about Johnson's actions and how he can't behave that way in front of teammates and young players, because he's supposed to set an example. Later in the game after a Chris Henry catch, he nonchalantly mentions that Chris Henry's had his share of off the field problems but is moving past that.

What?!?!

Johnson is late for a meeting and shows up one of his coaches and his behavior is reprehensible, but Henry hasn't been arrested in a month, and he's a model citizen? Why the hypocrisy? Is it because Johnson acts like a jerk to the media, so they have to railroad him like this?  Chris Henry keeps quiet during all of his arrests, and is given a free pass, not only by the team, which did not suspend him, but the media as well.

I know that most of the people in the booth these days are blowhards out to further their own agendas, but this was too much. Henry is a criminal. Leonard Little is a criminal. Larry Johnson is a criminal. Chad Johnson and Terrell Owens are obnoxious, and nothing more. It's time for people to realize that and stop going out of their way to ruin the jerks of the league while ignoring the real problems that exist.

The Picks

Houston at Cleveland (-3)
Buffalo (-3) at Kansas City
NY Jets (+5.5) at Tennessee
New England (PK) at Miami
San Francisco at Dallas (-10)
Tampa Bay at Detroit (+7.5)
Philadelphia (+1.5) at Baltimore
Chicago (-7.5) at St. Louis
Minnesota (+2.5) at Jacksonville
Carolina (+1) at Atlanta
Oakland at Denver (-9)
Washington at Seattle (+3)
NY Giants at Arizona (+3)
Indianapolis (+2.5) at San Diego
Green Bay (+2.5) at New Orleans

 

Just when I think that this might be a slow week in the NFL for a Thursday night game, the Bengals come through again. Chad Johnson has been deactivated for tonight's game for violating a team rule.

Now I'm not out here as a Chad Johnson apologist. The guy can be a jerk, and a distraction, but is not a bad guy, and is a really good receiver when the team needs him. A team that is completely out of control, and has become the punch line of the NFL now decides they need to play hardball with arguably their best player.

This is the same team that re-signed Chris Henry after he was arrested again in the offseason, suspended by the league, and released by the team. This is the same team that released Rudi Johnson with no running back on the roster ready to take over so they signed Cedric Benson; the same Cedric Benson that was arrested twice in a span of 2 months for public intoxication/dui.

Yet, Chad Johnson misses a meeting or is late for his flight (those details are sketchy, since that kind of behavior is an embarrassment to the team) and the team decides that enough is enough.

This team is the biggest joke in the NFL, and for that to be the case in a league that includes the Lions is quite an accomplishment. I remember when the Bengals were actually a model franchise in the '80s. It is absolutely amazing how so many franchises can completely lose their way for so long in a league designed around parity. At some point the league needs to step in and do something about franchises like the Bengals. This is the most successful sport in America, and there is no reason for any team to not put a competitive squad on the field for decades at a time.

Cincinnati at Pittsburgh (-11)

Last week: 4-12

Season: 82-74-4

Where else to begin this week in review but with the first tie that the NFL has seen in 6 years. All I can say is, it’s about time. There may be nothing better than seeing two teams that you have no vested interest in playing in overtime as time slowly ticks away. Anytime the clock gets to about 5 minutes remaining, I no longer want any team to win, and I was finally rewarded.

The real reason that the Eagles-Bengals outcome is good for the league is that it proves that moving to the overtime rules utilized in the college game is not necessary. There are three distinct phases to the game of football. Having your offense start with the ball guarantees nothing. I’m tired of everyone moaning about how the rules of overtime need to be changed any time a team takes the ball and scores on their first possession. If getting the ball was the only prerequisite to scoring, then college overtime games would never end.

So, enough about tweaking the rules of overtime, instead concentrate on changing the rules so that defenders can hit the quarterback again without being penalized and fined. Even kickers are protected less these days.

Other Games of the week:

Tampa Bay 19, Minnesota 13 – This one harkened back to when Tampa was part of the old black and blue NFC Central. Lots of sacks, hard hits and turnovers, and the game was still up in the air until the final Minnesota fumble. Tampa was also able to keep pace with Carolina in the ultra competitive NFC South.

Indianapolis 33, Houston 27 – So much for counting Indy out of the playoffs. Houston, as usual, kept this divisional game close, but in the end did not have enough to get past Indy. Things are tightening up in the AFC, and the playoffs may not be decided until the final weekend of the season.

Denver 24, Atlanta 20 – Speaking of the AFC playoffs, Denver was able to extend its lead in the AFC West while taking out the surprising Falcons. It took a little luck, as the Falcons dropped a potential game winning touchdown in the waning minutes of this one, but Denver, down to its 4^th string running back, had just enough to try and wrap up a division title.

Tennessee 24, Jacksonville 14 – The Tennessee victory train just keeps on rolling along. They are not getting nearly the press as past unbeaten teams at this point in their seasons, but that’s just the way they like it. This team may fly under the radar all the way to the Super Bowl, which is surprising considering just a few weeks ago, many were wondering how they would get past the Vince Young debacle.

Pittsburgh 11, San Diego 10 – For the first time in NFL history a game ended with a final score of 11-10. Also for the first time in NFL history an illegal forward pass that wasn’t illegal and had no consequence on the outcome of the game caused multiple heart attacks in casinos across the country as San Diego went from covering, to not covering, to covering once again, for no apparent reason over the course of 10 agonizing minutes.  

Dallas 14, Washington 10 – Dallas is back in the thick of the NFC wild card race once again, and not a moment too soon. The Cowboys still aren’t quite clicking on offense, but they were able to buy themselves one more week to try and work out the kinks for a stretch run.

Other Thoughts:

Arizona has opened up a 4 game lead in the NFC West. Ridiculous.

Finally, the real Jim Haslett has come back to coach the Rams.

Chicago may want to hold a team under 30 points before the Bears talk about having a top defense in this league.

Same with the Ravens.

Didn’t Kansas City used to have home field advantage?

If the Miami Dolphins are 2008’s cardiac kids, then the Raiders are the senile old men. Oh wait, that’s just Al Davis.

Carolina’s 8-2. Just throwin’ that out there.

Monday Night Football:

I think you all know where 'The Greek' stands on this one. This is a must-win game for the Bills as they have been mired in a three-game losing streak and need to keep pace in the competitive AFC East. The Browns have thrown in the towel on this season that is when they’re not throwing each other under the bus. The Bills will circle the wagons with a hot crowd on Monday night and get their playoff drive back on track.

Well, looks like my predictions on what people would be talking about today were a little better than my prediction for the game. Of course, I was blindsided by the adulation for both the Patriots team and Favre. I figured one or the other, but both? I guess the talking heads didn't want either gem to go to waste and not be seen ad nauseam by the entire world. Hopefully, the rest of this weeks picks work out better than Thursday.

Denver at Atlanta (-6.5)
Oakland at Miami (-10)
Baltimore (+7) at NY Giants
Houston (+8) at Indianapolis
Tennessee at Jacksonville (+3)
Chicago (+3.5) at Green Bay
Philadelphia at Cincinnati (+9)
New Orleans at Kansas City (+5)
Detroit at Carolina (-14)
Minnesota (+4) at Tampa Bay
St. Louis (+6.5) at San Francisco
Arizona at Seattle (+3)
San Diego (+5.5) at Pittsburgh
Dallas (-1.5) at Washington
Cleveland at Buffalo (-5)

Well, it looks like my NFL Network posting may have been put up a little prematurely.

This morning I woke up to a lively debate about the NFL Network and why it's not fair that we do not get to see tonight's game. In my neck of the woods. I am at the epicenter of an unholy alliance of Jets, Giants, and Patriots fans. Jets and Patriots fans are at odds due to natural rivalries, as well as the fact that neither team has exclusive television rights from the Time Warner affiliate.

There is generally one fan base left in the dark every weekend. However, this week, both teams are off the airwaves, and people actually are up in arms. The basic crux of the argument from Time Warner and most other non-compliant cable companies, is that they want to make the NFL Network a standard station and have everyone pay a premium, whether they want the channel or not. Obviously, this has caused issues, and the standoff has not been resolved for the majority of cable subscribers.

This all leads to the same issues raised by last week's exclusive NFL Network broadcast. Imagine if Tom Brady was healthy for this matchup. This would have been the perfect storm for the NFL, who may have finally forced the hand of the major cable companies that have held out on including the NFL Network on their lineup. Unfortunately for the NFL and the fans, the outcry will probably be more regional in nature, and we will see this battle play out for several more years.

Perhaps the worst part of this is that I am able to see the game, and there is no way to see both teams lose. If the NFL could make this happen I'd be more than willing to shell out an extra $3 a month to have the NFL Network. At least tonight's game provides easy fodder for sportswriters out there. It's the equivalent of the writers for South Park putting out a post election episode last Wednesday.

Every sports columnist can write two articles tonight and post the correct one as soon as the game is over. The first storyline, if the Patriots win, is that the system works with or without Brady. No one is bigger than the team, blah blah blah. The second storyline, if the Jets win, is Brett Favre in first place. He turned the Jets around, put the team on his back, blah blah blah. No matter who wins I will die a little inside, but at least I won't have to watch either team on Sunday, and one fan base will be devastated. So I have that going for me, which is nice.

NY Jets at Patriots (-3.5)

Last week: 6-8

Season: 78-62-4

So much for the Browns making the playoffs. At least it appears for one week that they may  have their answer at quarterback. Now if they could just find a defense and a pass catching tight end they might have something.

 

Jacksonville at Detroit (+6.5)
Tennessee at Chicago (+3)
Buffalo (+3.5) at New England
New Orleans at Atlanta (-1)
St. Louis (+9) at NY Jets
Seattle (+8) at Miami
Green Bay (+2.5) at Minnesota
Carolina at Oakland (+9.5)
Kansas City at San Diego (-15.5)
Indianapolis (NL) at Pittsburgh
NY Giants at Philadelphia (-3)
Baltimore (PK) at Houston
San Francisco (+9.5) at Arizona

First off, I have to apologize to Ed for neglecting my “expert” duties here over the past week.

Granted it’s his fault for affording me this title, and it was only a matter of time before I let it all go to my head and started making outrageous demands, such as someone else to write for me. This week we start our first of several NFL Network exclusive games. For most of you out there, this means either going to a sports bar, getting NFL’s Sunday Ticket, available exclusively on Direct TV, or just not caring.

It seems like the third option has been the one adopted by the majority of people out there, at least in terms of demanding that their cable provider make the channel available. It wasn’t long ago that this dilemma was thought to be something that could cause anti trust exemptions to be dropped, satellite subscriptions to increase, and a general sense of outrage to permeate the NFL fans. Only a couple of years after the first NFL Network game aired, and there is hardly the outrage that the NFL had anticipated in trying to strong arm cable companies to add the network to their lineup at a reduced rate.

The NFL did itself no favors in airing last year’s season finale between the Giants and Patriots on network television. Fans realize that the NFL may want to promote its network to the ends of the earth, but they do not want to alienate their fans. So the NFL tries to cause panic by not showing what looks like an underwhelming matchup between the Broncos and Browns, or several other less than stellar matchups over the years.

The problem they have is that they have oversaturated the market with games. At least 3 per market every Sunday, and another on Monday, plus college games throughout the week and all day Saturday, and an individual Thursday night game no longer holds the appeal that it might have several years ago. Until there is a premier matchup that the NFL will not allow to air on any other channel, the NFL network will remain a niche channel with limited viewership and limited availability.  On to the Thursday pick, and tune in later this week for Sunday’s picks.

Denver at Cleveland (-3)

Last Week: 7-7

Season: 72-54-4

No rant this week, just the picks.

Houston at Minnesota (-4.5)
Jacksonville (-7.5) at Cincinnati
Tampa Bay at Kansas City (+9)
Baltimore (+1.5) at Cleveland
NY Jets at Buffalo (-5)
Arizona at St Louis (+3)
Detroit at Chicago (-12.5)
Green Bay (+4.5) at Tennessee
Maim (+3.5) at Denver
Atlanta (-3) at Oakland
Dallas (+8.5) at NY Giants
Philadelphia at Seattle (+7)
New England at Indianapolis (-6)
Pittsburgh (+2) at Washington

Last Week: 7-6-1
Season: 65-47-4

Usually I’m able to look at the games from Sunday and find a handful of games that really stick out as being great. This week, most of the games played fit in that category. Lots of important games were played that had huge divisional ramifications and most of those games actually played out as well or better than anticipated.

Games of the Week

Dallas 13, Tampa Bay 9: Not the greatest game ever played, but one that Dallas definitely needed. Every win that they can get through this portion of the schedule with Romo out is a big win, and keeps the heat and the TV cameras off this team for at least a couple days.

Miami 25, Buffalo 16: A painful game to watch and to review, but important in that it tightens up the AFC East. The Bills played one of their worst games of the season, and the Phins are not the same team they were last season, and took full advantage of it. The next two weeks will go a long way to determine the pecking order in the AFC East, with the Jets and Patriots both due up for the Bills.

New England 23, St. Louis 17: New England continues to find ways to win even without a quarterback or running back on the active roster. Meanwhile, Jim Haslett really has the Rams believing they can win, which is pretty amazing considering the "success" he enjoyed with the Saints not too long ago.

New Orleans 37, San Diego 32: Speaking of the Saints, they were able to win this shootout despite some poor clock management at the end of the game. Taking the intentional safety with a 7 point lead, the Saints left 1 second on the clock for the Chargers to attempt a very makeable 50 yard Hail Mary. The attempt fell short, but I’m sure everyone on the Saints sideline did not want to take that transatlantic flight if the Chargers managed to complete that pass.

NY Jets 28, Kansas City 24: Brett Favre gets booed at home, Tyler Thigpen throws for nearly 300 yards and 2 touchdowns, but the Jets still manage to get the W. The Jets are pesky and are still hanging around, but after going 1-1 in games against the Raiders and the Chiefs, a playoff spot seems to be a bit more of a reach than many may have thought even two weeks ago.

Carolina 27, Arizona 23: With all of the focus in the NFC on the East, this was a battle of 2 first place teams that were looking to get more of a stranglehold on their respective division leads. Carolina looks like they may be for real, and could be headed back to the playoffs in a competitive NFC South. The Cardinals fell in this game, but can afford to in that mess of a division that they play in.

Cleveland 23, Jacksonville 17: Cleveland, despite all the problems they seem to be having internally, is quietly trying to turn their season around. After winning 2 of their last 3 games, they are starting to resemble the team that everyone thought they could be, and are not going to be an easy out for anyone down the stretch.

Other Thoughts

Mike Singletary: This generation’s Jim Mora? Only time will tell.

The Lions once again managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Do you think the Jets would have passed on Favre and drafted Matt Ryan knowing what they know now?

Cincinnati. Ugh.

The NFL survived steroids, labor strife, and Pacman Jones. And water pills will be what brings this organization to its knees?

Monday Night Football

This looked like a great game before the season started, and now it has become even more meaningful. A loss tonight and the Colts are pretty much out of the race for the division. A win and the AFC becomes even more of a mess than it already is. I know I’ll be watching.

This has been the week of fallen idols, and I for one could not be happier. Who would have guessed that in the same week we would see both Brett Favre and Tom Brady fall from the grace of their respective fan bases?

Favre decided early in the season to let his good buddy in on some of the best ways to beat his old team. Unfortunately, that same buddy also happened to be the GM of the Lions. Surprisingly, the Packers and their fans did not look too kindly on this. This conversation took place before the Packers’ week 2 dismantling of the Lions 48-25. The final score does not reduce any of the hard feelings that the Packers fan base has towards Favre, though. He was still nursing his damaged pride since he was unable to strong arm the Packers into trading him to the team of his choice rather than the team that offered the most in return for him.

But no matter what feelings he may have had, to do that to the team and fans that had been there for him for so long may very well be unforgiveable. Of course, listening to ESPN (which thankfully is something that seems to be a rarity on this site) this conversation was not a big deal. All that the group of Favre defenders said was that this is something that happens all the time in the NFL, with teams picking up cut players from a future opponent to find out that teams strategy and tendencies. There is a major problem with that justification of course, most of these players that are cut, are low level backups. They are also looking to get back in the game any way that they can.

Brett Favre is an icon, who already had a job, but went out of his way to spite his former team. This alleged conversation may have also damaged his standing with his current fan base. Don’t forget that in week two, all we heard from the Favre camp was how much trouble he was having learning the Jets’ playbook. Instead of trying to grasp all of the new terminology of his playbook, Favre thought his time would be better spent trying to sabotage the Packers instead of trying to help the Jets, his current team.

This week also saw a team, rather than a fan base, turn on their prodigal son. Tom Brady underwent a third surgery on his knee this week, due to an infection. This infection not only set back Brady’s rehab timetable, but also may require the initial surgery to be redone and would reset his entire rehabilitation timetable. Why is this such a problem with the team? Because Brady went against team wishes and had the surgery done by a doctor of his own choosing, rather than the team’s doctor. Infections have been in the news quite a lot in the past week, but this infection takes a slight priority in the hierarchy of the NFL over the staph infection of Kellen Winslow.

The team is now scrambling to deny they have any problem with Brady and his choice of surgeons, but the damage has already been done. The Patriots are all about controlling all that they can on and off the field, and their perceived leader defied their wishes. The team claims that this is not a problem, despite what had come out all week from their front office, and I’m not sure that I would trust the Patriots front office over any other source at this point. So now there is a possibility that Brady will not be 100% for next season either and he could easily see his career follow that of Carson Palmer’s after his knee surgery.

So anyone who thought that Week 7 would see the downfall of the NFL’s top two stars, step right up, and feel free to take over this picks column, because clearly you are a better prognosticator than anyone that we can put out there on a weekly basis. Until then, here are the Week 7 picks.

The Picks

Oakland (+7.5) at Baltimore
San Diego at New Orleans (+3)
Kansas City (+14) at NY Jets
Buffalo (-1.5) at Miami
Tampa Bay at Dallas (-1.5)
Atlanta (+9) at Philadelphia
St. Louis (+7.5) at New England
Arizona (+4) at Carolina
Washington at Detroit (+7.5)
Cleveland at Jacksonville (-7)
NY Giants (+3) at Pittsburgh
Seattle (+5.5) at San Francisco
Cincinnati at Houston (+9)
Indianapolis (+4) at Tennessee

Last week: 7-7
Season: 58-41-3

 

Usually I reserve this space to talk about the games that were decided in the last minute or so, or featured amazing performances. This week, the games of the week were almost entirely blowouts because they really showed how the face of the NFL is changing. There was a definitive changing of the guard, at least for this week, in many of the games that we saw for Week 7.

Games of the Week

St. Louis 34, Dallas 14: OK, no Romo, no Felix Jones, and Roy Williams (the safety) gets knocked out of the game. But these are the effing Rams! How is the consensus pre-season pick as the NFC champion supposed to not only lose to the Rams, but get completely dominated? Maybe because nobody seems to have learned that a collection of superstars does not guarantee anything other than a bloated payroll. That goes for not only the teams, but the "experts" who see 11 Pro Bowlers and ignore everything else about the team, including the fact that the pro bowl is a popularity contest. With the state of the NFC East, the Cowboys better get their act together, and fast, if they want to even make the playoffs.

Carolina 30, New Orleans 7: So much for the offensive juggernaut that was the New Orleans Saints. At this point you really do have to take the home team in these NFC South matchups, but you can’t expect the Saints with all of their weapons coming back, to be shut down to that degree. After that shellacking, the Saints now have a trip across the pond to look forward to without Reggie Bush. Where they face a beaten San Diego Chargers team thanks to…

Buffalo 23, San Diego 14: Power? We don’t need no stinking power? After a first half that featured as many power outages as touchdowns, the Bills proved that their fast start was not a fluke, by taking the experts pick for the AFC Champions and soundly beating them in all aspects of the game. San Diego was held to half their season scoring average and once again had an ineffective LT at their disposal. San Diego is fading, and looks more like a team that will finish somewhere around .500 than one that will run away with the conference. The Bills on the other hand, seem to have found the answer to their decade-plus long question: Who will be the heir apparent to Jim Kelly? If they can keep Trent Edwards healthy, this team finally has a chance to make some noise in January.

Chicago 48, Minnesota 41: Exactly the game that everyone expected. A shootout between these NFC North opponents was clearly what we all thought upon seeing this matchup. Imagine what the score would have been if the Vikings had someone competent playing QB, instead of someone who threw 4 interceptions? This game would have easily gone over 100 points. It was nice to see the Bears finally close a win out, especially after last week’s debacle in Atlanta. This division could easily see the winner have a record of somewhere in the neighborhood of 9-7. They continue to beat each other up week after week, and I see no reason why that will not continue for the next 9 weeks.

Other Thoughts:

Wow, the late games yesterday were brutal to watch.

Detroit almost staged an impressive comeback; no one cared.

Is there time to retract the "Indy is back" stories from last week?

Isn’t it great that we get to see Cleveland on national TV at least 3 more times?

OK, seriously, how bad are the Raiders? They don’t even understand the concept of the line of scrimmage? Three times on the opening drive the Raiders simply lined up off sides. They managed to do it again on a punt on 4^th and 4 to sustain a Jets drive. How they won this game is beyond me.

After all of this, how bad must the Jets be?

Monday Night Football

When the Pats lose is it acceptable for me to start looking at the magic number for the Bills to clinch the AFC East? Denver hasn’t looked great the last couple of weeks, but the Pats have been downright awful. If the Pats do lose this game, all of New England may shut down with nothing left to care about except the Bruins and the Celtics getting started. At least they have that lovely New England winter to look forward to. Oh, wait…

[EDITOR'S NOTE: My apologies for the fact that 'Greek's picks did not appear last week. That was my fault, not his. Anyway, 'Greek' is back in business this week.]

Dallas gets Roy Williams for draft picks. That's it, unless you want to discuss the Bills trading their 4th defensive tackle, John McCargo to the Colts for a 4th round pick. Oh you don't? Seriously? Well since he failed his physical and was shipped back to Buffalo anyway, I guess there really isn't much to talk about from this year's trade deadline.

Shocking, I know. The NFL, the most highly visible and marketed sport in America, is the only one that has not figured out how to make the trade deadline the most important mid-season date on the schedule. Originally, the trade deadline was so ominous because teams did not know how to operate around the constraints of the salary cap and did not want to end up paying for a player to help out another team. However, teams have gotten both more savvy in dealing with the cap, and have gotten more flexibility as the cap has increased exponentially over the years.

So what's the problem? Look no further than Carl Peterson. In any other sport the Kansas City Chiefs would have been sellers in this market. They have three chips, Tony Gonzalez, Larry Johnson, and Patrick Surtain that could easily have been moved. What did Peterson do? He sat at his desk waiting for someone to offer the world for a 30-something tight end, a malcontent who was just charged with his third count of assault, and a cornerback who is clearly on the decline, and can only fit into certain systems.

This is a team that is going nowhere and he held his players and his team hostage by not pulling the trigger. I have more of a vested interest in this since the Bills were one of the teams rumored to have offered a third-round pick for Gonzalez, but look at recent history. TO got traded to the Ravens initially, though he blocked it somehow, for a second-round pick. Arguably the top player at his position in the prime of his career was worth only a second-round pick.

The trade that actually went through was for a fifth-round pick and a bit player. And Peterson feels that he should get a second round pick at least for Gonzalez? He's a great player, but when you need a QB, an offensive line, a second receiver, and nearly every position on defense, sometimes you have to give something up.

Say what you want about Jerry Jones, but he realized that the draft is a crapshoot, and there was a "proven" commodity available so he made the move for Roy Williams. And a team with no GM, and one that has basically been operating without one for the past decade or so, managed to get three picks out of this deal. This is how the trade deadline works in every other major American sport, but until incompetent GM's are taken out of power, as I'm sure nearly every Chiefs fan can attest to, the NFL deadline will be a non-entity, and the hopes for a huge midseason pickup that can change the face of your team will remain somewhere between slim and none.

Week 7 Picks:

Tennessee at Kansas City (+9)
San Diego at Buffalo (Pick)
Pittsburgh (-9.5) at Cincinnati
Baltimore (+3) at Miami
Dallas (-7) at St. Louis
Minnesota (+3) at Chicago
New Orleans at Carolina (-3)
San Francisco (+10.5) at NY Giants
Detroit (+9.5) at Houston
NY Jets at Oakland (+3)
Cleveland (+7.5) at Washington
Indianapolis (-1.5) at Green Bay
Seattle (+10.5) at Tampa Bay
Denver (+3) at New England

Last Week: 8-6
Season: 51-34-3

At about 3:30 yesterday I mentioned to a buddy of mine how there were some OK games going on but overall the 1 p.m. games were pretty awful. Within five minutes of saying that the most exciting 30 minutes of football began, seeing four games decided in the last 10 seconds. And this was all before the Dallas – Arizona overtime thriller.

Games of the Week

Minnesota 12, Detroit 10: What an absolutely ugly game this was. Dan Orlovsky running out the back of his own end zone provided the margin of victory for the Vikings. Minnesota could not score more than 10 points against the worst defense in football despite gaining almost 400 yards of offense and having one of the best running backs in the game. Yet after all the negatives, they did kick the game winning field goal with 12 seconds left to get the win and are now tied for first place thanks to…

Atlanta 22, Chicago 20: One of the most exciting games of the afternoon. The Bears defense held the Falcons to field goals all day which allowed them to stay in this one until Kyle Orton hit Rashied Davis for a touchdown and a one point lead with 11 seconds left to play. However, thanks to a squib kick and a quick 26 yard completion to the sidelines with one second left, the Falcons were able to line up for a game winning 48 yard field goal. After hooking a 31 yarder on their last possession, Jason Elam was able to nail this one as time expired for the improbable win. And at this point we’re only half way through the fantastic finishes.

St. Louis 19, Washington 17: As the Falcons were lining up for their game winning field goal, the exact same scenario was playing out in Washington. The Redskins, who had no turnovers all season, turned the ball over 3 times on Sunday including a ridiculous batted ball that guard Pete Kendall caught and tried to run with only to fumble and watch the Rams return it for a seemingly game changing touchdown. However, the Skins were able to stay in this one and drive for the apparent game winning Clinton Portis touchdown. In a clear case of déjà vu the Rams took the ensuing kickoff and hit a huge third down pass to rookie Donnie Avery for 43 yards to set up the game winning field goal. Of course these are the Rams, so they managed to get a 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty while lining up to simply kill the clock. On this day it didn’t matter as Josh Brown’s 49 yard game winner went through the uprights at nearly the exact same time as Jason Elam nailed his 48-yarder.

Houston 29, Miami 28: This game was decided by 1 point as well, but it was a touchdown instead of a field goal that was needed for the Texans to get their first win of the season. Early on in this one the Dolphins appeared to have this game in hand after two huge receptions by fullback Patrick Cobbs of 53 and 80 yards. However, the Texans hit two field goals and returned a punt for a touchdown to pull within 1 at half time. This is what followed: Andre Johnson touchdown, Houston 20, Miami 14, Ricky Williams touchdown, Miami 21, Houston 20. Then in the 4^th quarter with 6 minutes left Houston hits a field goal to take a 2 point lead, followed by a Miami touchdown with 1:45 left for a 5 point lead. After 4 lead changes, the Texans had the ball and needed to score a touchdown to win with less than 2 minutes remaining. Somehow, the Texans were able to convert a 4^th and ten and with 3 seconds left Matt Schaub ran in on 4^th and 2 for the game winning touchdown reminiscent of a game winning QB draw that David Carr ran a few years ago for these same Texans.

Arizona 30, Dallas 24: The final nail biter of the weekend took overtime to decide a winner, though not too much of overtime. For what was expected to be a shootout in the desert, these two offenses took their time to click. The first half saw the Cardinals return the opening kick for a touchdown and then fail to do anything else to score points. The Cowboys didn’t even cross midfield until their first score of the half, with 59 seconds left to play. The fourth quarter more than made up for the lack of fireworks, as the Cardinals took a ten point lead with 3 minutes left only to lose it as time expired. The game tying field goal was aided by yet another penalty that occurred while simply trying to clock the ball, as the Cardinals were caught offsides. The 52 yard field goal that ensued was good and the Cowboys won the toss and got the ball to start overtime. All I was thinking about as overtime started was that I hope the Cowboys do not take the opening kickoff and score on the opening possession. The last thing I wanted to hear was Bob Costas bitching about how the overtime rules in the NFL are not fair and they need to be changed. There are three distinct phases of football, any one of which can decide the game, and in this case it was special teams that won the game for the Cards. So we survive one more week of not having to listen to how we need to change overtime rules, which will change once the next team takes the opening kickoff and marches down the field to win, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Other thoughts

Hard to believe there were actually other games this week.

Maybe we ought to hold off on the Eli is better than Peyton talk for a little bit.

We should probably hold off on the idea that the Patriots are going to be OK without Brady for a little bit, too.

Cincinnati is going to get a win sooner rather than later, they gave the Jets a good fight for 45 minutes of football with Ryan Fitzpatrick under center.

For all the talk about the NFC East, the NFC South is looking pretty strong right now.

After watching Trent Edwards get knocked out 3 plays into the game and the ensuing dismantling of my Bills in the desert, I’m having a hard time looking at what happened in Week 5. But I’m a professional, or at least pretend to be two days a week, and will have to push on with what was ultimately another great week of football.

Games of the Week

Atlanta 27, Green Bay 24: I hate to keep piling on Wisconsin, but what a week for them. The Brewers barely show up in the baseball playoffs and then another loss for the Packers to the Falcons at home. This is probably worse than the whooping they took in the playoffs to the Falcons a few years back. At least then they had Michael Vick, not Matt Ryan and Michael Turner gashing their defense.

Miami 17, San Diego 10: So how do those Super Bowl-bound Chargers look now? I know that everyone will blame the cross-country trip, but no one mentioned it prior to the start of the season. The Chargers do not look very good, and LaDainian Tomlinson has been average all year. Without Michael Turner to spell him, the Chargers could be in for a disappointing season.

Washington 23, Philadelphia 17: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; how in the world is this the same team that got dismantled in Week 1? Jim Zorn’s learning curve is apparently one game, as he has this team clicking right now. Philly looked like they were for real out of the gates, but after some divisional losses they’re going to have to tread water and hope that the rest of the division falls back to them.

Indianapolis 31, Houston 27: Twenty-one points in 4 minutes. Listening to the announcers for the first three and a half quarters you would have thought that Peyton Manning was done for the year, the team was out of the playoffs, and maybe they decided to move back to Baltimore. All that changed with 4:04 left in the game and Manning pulled another one out of his hat. You can look at this team and say they could be 0-4 or they could be 3-1. Just a really tough team to figure out. But as long as the Colts keep finding a way to win, does it really matter?

Denver 16, Tampa Bay 13: This is the game that probably ticked off more fantasy owners than any other (with the exception of anyone who started Trent Edwards this week). Denver suddenly found a defense, but lost their offense along the way. A win is a win, but this one will hopefully show the Broncos that they can win ugly instead of needing a shootout every week.

Pittsburgh 26, Jacksonville 21: No Willie Parker, no Rashard Mendenhall, no Najeh Davenport to drop the deuce on the Jags. Apparently, no problem. The Steelers got nearly 100 yards from Mewelde Moore and more importantly got “Ben” going, too. The Jaguars have had every game decided by 7 points or less so far this year, but unlike last year have seen themselves on the short end of most of those games. They have got to get this figured out quickly before Tennessee runs away with this division.

Other Thoughts

• Matt Millen may be gone, but his team still remains. Now Detroit fans are calling for Roy Williams to be traded. What a mess!
• Kansas City had 127 yards of total offense. How is that even possible?
• Tennessee got a gift win from the refs in this game. If you didn’t see it Terrell Suggs tapped Kerry Collins on the head on a play that was blown dead on a false start and was called for roughing the quarterback.
  
  I can not remember a season where refs had more bad calls in such a short period of time. We’re very close to another scene like in Cleveland a few years ago with the fans pelting the field with beer bottles after another blown call.
• I never thought I’d say this, but Chris Carter made a very insightful comment on 'Sunday Countdown' yesterday. Everyone in the media is complaining about TO and Ocho Cinco talking too much, and saying ridiculous things. Carter made the observation that it’s the media’s fault for seeking them out for comments when they are not needed. Stop creating controversy and start actually reporting on something that’s happening. There are plenty of interesting storylines out there without the media needing to create one.

Monday Night Football

Two underachieving teams meet in New Orleans tonight. These two teams are polar opposites of one another. The Vikings can definitely play some defense, but can’t score consistently, and the Saints have the opposite problem. The problem is that the Vikings defense hasn’t been nearly as dominant as last year, and is not able to hide the deficiencies on offense. I’m taking the Saints at home and waiting to see the “what’s wrong with the Vikings” articles to start tomorrow.

Well, we’ve made it to the quarter point of the season, so it’s time to look back at what’s happened so far and what we can look forward to over the next few months.

NFC East

This has quickly become the strongest division in football. After watching Jim Zorn look more confused than an elderly man trying to purchase something on eBay in Week 1, I am more surprised than anyone about this development.

NFC North

Of course all the off-season drama surrounded the Green Bay Packers, and that continues to be the case a month into the season. Aaron Rodgers started off the season by making everyone forget about Favre. Now sitting at 2-2 and tied with the Bears, and the Brewers on the verge of being swept out of the playoffs, a very long winter looms for residents of Wisconsin.

NFC South

You don’t hear a lot about this division, but every team appears to be competitive. Many people handed the South to the Saints after they added Jeremy Shockey, but he’s hurt, and the Saints still can’t stop anyone, leaving the division wide open. Tampa and Carolina look like they might be for real, the Saints can score with anyone, and even the Falcons look like they could easily be a .500 team. NFC West Ugh. 4 teams, 5 wins. This division is putrid, and with Seattle getting healthy now, it’s probably theirs to lose once again. Arizona is the only team to outscore their opponents so far this year, and that’s by a single field goal. Kurt Warner looks shaky again, San Francisco is going to be this year's Detroit Lions with Mike Martz on board, and the Rams should be asked politely to return to LA so at least there’s a reason to discuss them at all.

AFC East

Tom Brady, Brett Favre. Tom Brady, Brett Favre. Tom Brady, Brett Favre. Tom Brady, Brett Favre. Tom Brady, Brett Favre. Tom Brady, Brett Favre. Tom Brady, Brett Favre. Tom Brady, Brett Favre. Tom Brady, Brett Favre. Tom Brady, Brett Favre. Tom Brady, Brett Favre. Tom Brady, Brett Favre. Tom Brady, Brett Favre. Tom Brady, Brett Favre. Oh yeah, Brady’s hurt and the Pats got smoked by the Dolphins. Favre, is doing what he always does for a team with no defense that seems destined for an 8-8 season, and the Bills are 4-0, so I guess there’s more to this division than a certain two quarterbacks.

AFC North

Everyone tries to make this division more than it really is. Until something changes it’s the Steelers and then everyone else. Baltimore will win some games with their defense, the Browns look like they are suffering from a playoff hangover without having actually made the playoffs last year, and the Bengals have a guy that should be running a Fortune 500 company or making house calls running their offense until Carson Palmer is healthy.

AFC South

Tennessee is 4-0, everyone else in the division is 3-7 and the Colts are 1-2. This division is upside down right now, but the top 3 teams are who we all expected, with the Texans bringing up the rear. If Peyton Manning and the Colts continue to struggle it may mark the first time that the Colts-Patriots match up has more draft significance than playoff significance.

AFC West

The Chargers are one game out of first, and one game out of last. They also almost lost to the Raiders last week. It’s early, but all of the AFC Super Bowl favorites could be in some real danger here.

The Picks

Indianapolis (-3) at Houston
Tennessee at Baltimore (+3)
San Diego at Miami (+7)
Kansas City at Carolina (-10)
Washington at Philadelphia (-6)
Chicago (-3) at Detroit
Atlanta at Green Bay (NL)
Seattle (+7) at NY Giants
Tampa Bay (+3) at Denver
New England (-3) at San Francisco
Buffalo (+1) at Arizona
Cincinnati at Dallas (-16.5)
Pittsburgh at Jacksonville (-4)
Minnesota at New Orleans (-3)

Last Week: 6-7
Season: 38-21-1

And then there were four. As we reach the end of the first month of the season, we are now down to 4 undefeated teams. Of the four, only the New York Giants are not a complete surprise. The Bills, Titans and Ravens (for now) are also undefeated and this is shaping up to be one of the more interesting NFL seasons we’ve seen in a long time. With the Patriots and Colts seemingly having fallen back to the pack in the AFC, and the Packers and Cowboys appearing to be far more beatable than many had predicted just two weeks ago, both conferences are wide open right now.

Games of the Week:

Jacksonville 30, Houston 27 (OT): They don’t make it easy, but after two straight last second victories, the Jaguars are starting to resemble the team many thought they would be. Garrard is playing more like last year, and the running game is starting to pick things up as well. It would be nicer if they were able to put teams away earlier, but two wins against division opponents will go a long way towards making the playoffs.

Washington 26, Dallas 24: 8 rushes for Marion Barber? No touches for Felix Jones? And now Terrell Owens is complaining about his touches? The problems that many experts predicted prior to the season appear to be cropping up. There are not enough footballs to keep everyone happy, and if players aren’t going to buy into the team concept, there will be further issues. After week 1 Jim Zorn looked lost, but now he’s got a team that is 3-1 and looking legit.

Chicago 24, Philadelphia 20: The first loss for an NFC East team outside of the division comes down to an epic goal line stand with the Eagles top player out for the game. Even without Westbrook, and playing in Chicago, the Eagles are showing that the NFC East is easily the best division in football right now.

San Diego 28, Oakland 18: The final score in made this one seem a lot worse than it actually was. The Raiders controlled this game for the second week in a row and ended up losing it at the end once again. Everyone is jumping on Kiffin for attempting a 76 yard field goal to end the first half. Obviously Kiffin had to have seen something in practice to convince him to line up for this kind of try, and the odds of a miss being returned or the kick being blocked and returned for a score are pretty slim. With one second left in the half, it’s good to see someone out there try to do something other than kneel down and go to the locker room. It wasn’t the brightest call, but in no way was it the worst decision either.

NY Jets 56, Arizona 35: All we will hear about is the 6 touchdowns that Favre threw yesterday, but this game was more than that. Kurt Warner is back to his old ways of being careless with the ball committing 6 turnovers. This is going to open up the door for Leinart once again and could very well lead the Cardinals back down the same path that they’ve traveled since these two have been playing together. Shuttling quarterbacks in and out of the lineup every other week is going to hurt this team once again. The Jets also have to take a look at their defense, as they managed to give up 35 points despite getting 7 overall turnovers, and forced the offense to continue to throw in a game that should have been over at the half.

Other Thoughts:

• Aaron Rodgers is lucky that not only does he have only a minor shoulder injury, but that the Brewers have made the playoffs for the first time since 1982. Without this distraction this would be a long week for him in Green Bay
• Congratulations go out to Cleveland and Kansas City for winning their firs games of the season. Finally both Ohio and Missouri have one in the win column.
• Carolina and Tampa are both quietly 3-1. The wild card spots in the NFC are going to be very competitive and will quite possibly be featuring a 12 win team.
• Denver had better fix their defense soon, or they are not going to make it out of the West despite potentially breaking their single season scoring record.
• Buffalo is 4-0. I just wanted to be able to write that down.

Monday Night Football:

This game is going to be ugly. There’s no other way to put it. The top two defenses in the AFC square off in Pittsburgh. They hate each other, the Ravens have a rookie QB playing, and the Steelers don’t have Willie Parker available. Don’t expect a Cowboys Eagles offensive showdown in this one, but that shouldn’t make it a boring game by any means. Expect lots of big hits, defensive plays, and a Pittsburgh victory.

 

So much for changing the format of these picks. After last week I’m not changing a thing here until I’m forced to by management, which means more ranting from me.

Being a Bills fan writing on a Giants site, I think there’s one thing we can all agree on -- we hate the Jets. That’s the premise of this week’s rant. Having grown up on Long Island, and being a Bills fan (don’t ask how that happened) I was subjected to countless hours of airplay devoted to the Jets. From back when they first started dipping into free agency and WPIX would play enough commercials to make even a sane person believe that Boomer Esiason and Johnny Johnson were going to lead the Jets to the Super Bowl, to the incessant "Vinny and the Jets" theme that the local CBS affiliate played for six straight months, there was no escape.

My hatred for the Jets did not begin to fully blossom until the late '90s as, up until that time, there was no use hating a team that thought Rich Kotite was a good hire. Then, in 1998, under the direction of Vinny Testaverde, the Jets were actually good. Not great, but good.

Somehow that lone AFC Championship appearance ignited a groundswell of support for the Jets that has not waned since. Despite winning a total of two playoff games since their AFC Championship appearance, their fans have treated this team as though they were one break away from dethroning the Patriots for the past 10 years.

Why am I taking the time to discuss the Jets at this juncture of the season, you ask? The reason is since Tom Brady went down in the first game of the season the Jets have been anointed the heir apparent to the AFC East title.

The sole reason for this assertion? Brett Favre. The media’s fascination over whether he has had time to learn the playbook, whether he’s in rhythm with his receivers, was he right in coming back from retirement, all overlooks one key issue. The Jets are not a good team. They tried to make a run at the playoffs the same way Daniel Snyder had tried in the past. They spent a lot of money for an expensive band aid when they really needed a full overhaul.

Why must we continue to listen to the media week after week tell us how Favre is making strides with the offense and it’s just going to take some time? Favre was not responsible for Thomas Jones’ fumble against San Diego. He wasn’t responsible for the boneheaded onside kick call after the Jets cut the lead to three, and he wasn’t responsible for the revamped defense giving up 1,000 yards last Monday.

This is not a good team, and we should not spend any more time discussing them until something changes. A 1-2 record and being in third place in their division should not mean that SportsCenter should devote half their coverage to them. It’s time to move on, and until this team turns things around, which I highly doubt, I’m done talking about them, too. Now onto what really matters, the Week 4 picks.

The Picks

Cleveland (+3.5) at Cincinnati
Washington (+11) at Dallas
Denver at Kansas City (+9)
Houston at Jacksonville (-7.5)
San Francisco (+5.5) at New Orleans
Arizona (+1.5) at NY Jets
San Diego at Oakland (+7.5)
Green Bay at Tampa Bay (-1)
Minnesota (+3) at Tennessee
Baltimore at Pittsburgh (-7)

Last Week: 14-2
Season: 32-14-1

What a week! Every week some talking head claims that the past week was the best one of the season, but I find it hard to imagine a better week in 2008 than the one we saw in Week 3.

Games of the Week

• Miami 38, New England 13: Once again the game of the week involved the Patriots. But unlike every other regular season game we’ve seen for the past year and a half or so, this one had a different ending. Ronnie Brown responded to his promotion to starter by doing something no Dolphins player had ever done by running for 4 touchdowns. If that were not enough, he added a passing TD on top of it. The AFC is suddenly very wide open.
• Tampa Bay 27, Chicago 24: This game epitomized a running theme for the day. The Bears led by 10 with 6:38 left to play and managed to find a way to lose to Brian Griese and his 750 pass attempts. I’m sure the game plan was to put the ball in Griese’s hand, but no one could have expected the performance that he put together. Of course, the Bears had this game in hand in OT as well until an unnecessary roughness call on Charles Tillman after a third down stop kept the Bucs alive and allowed them to drive the length of the field for the win.
• NY Giants 26, Cincinnati 23 (OT): Another theme that arose this weekend; last second wins by teams that seemed to have no business winning the game. The Giants were just a bit off all day on both sides of the ball. Though in their defense they were probably surprised by the Bengals game plan on Sunday; play like they cared about winning. No coach could have been prepared for that scenario. But the good teams pull out wins like this, and the Giants remain undefeated.
• Buffalo 24, Oakland 23: Speaking of a game that a team had no business winning, Buffalo pulled a rabbit out of its hat with this one. The Bills had theee turnovers, multiple penalties, dropped passes, and terrible special teams, and managed to score 17 points in the final eight minutes to steal a victory, and most likely end Lane Kiffin’s coaching stint in Oakland.
• Jacksonville 23, Indianapolis 21: In a combination of the last second victory that was common place this week as well as a changing of the guard in the AFC, the Colts managed to lose this game after taking the lead with only one minute remaining. The Jaguars always play the Colts tough, but this loss has to be disheartening to the Colts and their fans. With the Patriots seemingly reeling, the Browns in real trouble, and the Chargers hurting, the door was left wide open for the Colts. Losses like this are pushing that door closed slightly week after week.
• Denver 34, New Orleans 32: Denver seems to be a good bet to provide fireworks and dramatic endings every week. That’s bound to happen when you’ve got a top notch offense and a bottom feeding defense. This game was a reversal on the theme that we did see in week three, as the Saints missed the game winning field goal with 2 minutes remaining. At some point a team is going to realize having a reliable kicker is an important key to winning in this league. Martin Gramatica has not been that since he was in Tampa. Of course if you were to ask him he’d tell you he only missed it by "that much."

 

via reviews.goldenagecartoons.com 

Other Thoughts

• The New England Patriots are not in first place for the first time since week 4 of 2005. Wow!
• Teams still looking for their first win of the season that are not surprising at all: Cincinnati, Kansas City, Detroit and St. Louis.
• Teams still looking for their first win of the season that were expected to be playoff teams: Cleveland, San Diego, Houston.
• At approximately 5:15 PM Eastern Time on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008 the St. Louis Rams made their first trip to the red zone of the 2008 season
• Is Missouri the NFL’s worst state for "professional" football? Two teams, zero wins, and no hope.

Monday Night Football

This will be the game that gets the San Diego Chargers into the win column. They may be banged up, but they’re at home and they need this one. Of course I don’t think there’s any way that I can tune into this game. For two weeks we have heard nothing but a Favre love fest from Tony Kornheiser, and Favre was not involved in either game. Now with Brett on the field and Tony calling the game I fear what may happen in the booth. It may involve a hefty FCC fine and millions of mentally scarred NFL viewers. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Well, after last week’s performance I may have to go back to commenting about each game individually. Going .500 isn’t terrible, but not where I wanted to be after Week 1. Of course, picking half of the games right against the spread might be enough to get me a segment on SportsCenter. There’s always room for another Goldberg with mediocre picks coming to you via satellite from the local OTB, which brings me to this week's rant.

I understand the synergy inherent between ABC and ESPN being under the Disney umbrella. I went to business school, I get it. But here’s my problem: Why do we have to be inundated with clips from ABC shows on the top 10 plays of the day? It started off innocently enough with some clips from Dancing with the Stars. It was a pseudo sport with some former or even current athlete’s participating. It was a stretch, but I could understand showing 10 seconds of a Jerry Rice cha-cha.

Then the clips with 'C List' celebrities started showing up. I’m trying to catch a few sports highlights before heading off to work; I don’t need to see Adam Carolla flail about for 30 seconds. Then the real retardation began. A spot in the top 10 dedicated to Wipeout? Well John Anderson hosts it, plus that guy who was on Talk Soup 10 years ago, sure that counts as a sport. Plus, the contestants are wearing spandex; that should be good enough for the viewers at home.

Now this week we have hit a new low, if that’s even possible. A spot in the top 10 has been dedicated to people trying to break Guinness world records on Regis and Kelly. These aren’t even sports related, they’re showing clips of people blowing up balloons or throwing ice cream. I can’t remember exactly what happened without the help of some hypnotherapy as I am still trying to repress the memories.

What has happened to ESPN? Not only are they continuing to move away from sports in an alarming fashion for a sports network, but they are now promoting shows that are running at the same time as the show they are airing. Does the average ESPN viewer fit the target demographic of Regis and Kelly? Do the heads of the network want people switching over to watch ABC instead of SportsCenter? The World Wide Leader has been crumbling for years now, and unless some serious competition arises from the cable/satellite wasteland, we will continue to see this shameless cross promotion waste valuable airtime that should be dedicated to something like, oh I don’t know, sports perhaps.

The Picks

Kansas City at Atlanta (-5.5)
Cleveland (+2.5) at Baltimore
Oakland (+9.5) at Buffalo
Tampa Bay (+3) at Chicago
Dallas (-3) at Green Bay
New Orleans (+5.5) at Denver
Jacksonville (+5) at Indianapolis
Carolina at Minnesota (-3.5)
Miami (+12.5) at New England
Cincinnati (+13.5) at NY Giants
Pittsburgh at Philadelphia (-3.5)
Detroit (+4) at San Francisco
St. Louis at Seattle (-9.5)
Houston at Tennessee (-4.5)
Arizona at Washington (-3)
NY Jets at San Diego (-9)

Last Week: 7-7-1
Season: 18-12-1