Week Four
NFL - WEEK 4
Sunday, Oct. 1
Indianapolis 9 NY JETS - I hate to keep making this whole thing about the line, but so often these lines tell us not only where the teams are in terms of quality, but also in terms of perception. The Jets are at home, so the NY dollars will bring the line down. And they're not on the Indy track & field turf. And the Jets are showing a glimmer. I think they'll cover 9 at home, which is why I don't have a big fancy car and absolutely no 'bling' to my name.
Jets (Indy to win).
San Diego 2½ BALTIMORE - The Chargers as road favorites over a hot hot hot Ravens squad? Interesting. The Bolts have everything they need to go all the way this year, with two exceptions: a coach who's won a playoff game, and a QB who's started more than a half dozen games ever. Still, I'm not a believer in Baltimore. I think they're doing it with early-season mirrors.
Chargers
BUFFALO 1 Minnesota - Buffalo is proving to be a tough draw. Any Minnyiss playing with a bit of discipline and fire. This should be the year's most exciting 6-3 game.
Buffalo.
Dallas 9½ TENNESSEE - There goes Tagainin. First, he drew a few hours of honest sympathy for his reported suicide attempt. Now he's saying that it wasn't a suicide attempt. The only thing that's for certain is that the guy needs many hours of psychological help, whether or not he tried to kill himself. Dallas is in turmoil, but it might be the type of media thing that lets all the other players off the hook so they can just play football. Tenny has shown absolutely nothing this year. Jeff Fisher'uncharacteristicic blow-up at Billy Volek was an odd aside to another crummy year. When does this stop being the GM's fault for blowing up the team?
Dallas
KANSAS CITY 7 San Francisco - San Fran on the road is a guaranteed disaster. Of course, KC is still playing without a QB. Their defense at least knows that they have to cover and tackle this year. Under Vermeil, those items were not on the agenda. This could turn into another 6-3 hum-dinger, but I have the feeling that the 49ers aren't good enough to take advantage.
KC
CAROLINA 7½ New Orleans - Talk about no respect. Everybody's pre-season darlings, the Panthers, are horrible right now. The Saints are on an emotional high and are riding a 3-0 start. And Carolina gets 7.5? I'm with New Orleans.
ATLANTA 7 Arizona - The poor Cards still can't get any respect. There's talk of another concussion for Kurt Warner, and the Falcons are going to be looking for a big comeback week after getting their beads handed to them on national TV in the Big Easy last week.
Falcons
Miami 4 HOUSTON - Back to another edition of "who's worse?" Houston is at home, and Miami is not. Miami - the Super Bowl champs in March of every year - is circling the bowl. They need this - but they needed to beat the Bills at home, too.
Houston
ST. LOUIS 5½ Detroit - The Lions are up to their usual Jeckyl-and-Hyde routine. They played well against the Seahawks a couple of weeks ago, so we're supposed to think they're turning things around. Not buying it fominuteutwe. As long as MMilanllan is still in charge, the Lions fans will leave their Bobby Layne and Barry Sanders posters on the wall can continue to wait.
Rams
CINCINNATI 6 New England - The Pats are hurting. They were everythingnged on Sunday Night. They've got more injuries (what's new). But they don't lose two in a row (they're on a record run for that), and Belichick can be counted on when he's being counted out. If that makes any sense. Hey, just taking 6 on the Patriots is a vacation. They haven't been six-point dogs for a while. And they won't be again for a while.
Pats
Jacksonville 2½ WASHINGTON - Jax play good. Washington play bad.
Jax
Cleveland 2½ OAKLAND - So a winless Browns team that's given up 13 more points than the Raiders on the season shows up as a road favorite. I hope Al Davis is on some really really good drugs, because reality is something that he won't want to deal with. His old Hall of Famer Art Shell is just a bad coach, okay?
After the 'Rooney Rule' made it mandatory for a 'minority' coach to be interview for every head coaching position in the last 15 years or so, Shell has been the interview of choice for the teams who knew which white coach they wanted to hire. And there is a reason that after all those interviews, he was never considered a serious candidate - even over guys who's never been Coordinators, never mind former head coaches with winning records.
Art can't coach.
Browns
CHICAGO 3½ Seattle - In the Windy City where they play no offense, there always seem to be turnovers and odd plays that work in the Bears' favor. The Cleprechauneuchaun must use this venue for his pre-season. Well, he hasn't been in Boston since #33 retired, so we really don't know where he is these days. Alexander has a hole in his sock or a painful wedgie or something, so the Hawks will be one-dimensional on offence. The Bears defense sees a one-dimensional offense in practice every day (although a different dimension). I'm not really a believer, but I do think it's time for the Super Bowl hangover to kick in.
Bears
Monday, Oct. 2
PHILADELPHIA 11 Green Bay - This will be a tough game to watch. Neither texactlyxcactly tearing things up right now. The Eagles should have beaten the Giants, and should be in a better spot right now. They're definitely headed in a better direction than the Bay.
You have to wonder if Brett Favre is going to out a loser. Will he work a trade to a contender in the off-season? I could see a team like Tampa taking a flyer on him. The warm weather and tough D might produce a winner with him throwing 20 times or fewer, with one or two games where he brings them back throwing 40. Chicago might be a team that would shoot to the top with a quality starter. But would Favre join a division foe?
More likely a team like Miami (after they get some of their Cuban friends to dispose of Culpepper), the Jets (after all their QB's implode like Spinal Tap drummers again), KC (if Trent Green can't get rid of the tweety birds), or even Dallas after Bledsoe throws his inevitable playoff end-zone INT in the middle of the field to a linebacker from the two while trailing by two points with the wind at his back and five seconds to play.
Oh - Philly.
Sunday, Oct. 1
Indianapolis 9 NY JETS - I hate to keep making this whole thing about the line, but so often these lines tell us not only where the teams are in terms of quality, but also in terms of perception. The Jets are at home, so the NY dollars will bring the line down. And they're not on the Indy track & field turf. And the Jets are showing a glimmer. I think they'll cover 9 at home, which is why I don't have a big fancy car and absolutely no 'bling' to my name.
Jets (Indy to win).
San Diego 2½ BALTIMORE - The Chargers as road favorites over a hot hot hot Ravens squad? Interesting. The Bolts have everything they need to go all the way this year, with two exceptions: a coach who's won a playoff game, and a QB who's started more than a half dozen games ever. Still, I'm not a believer in Baltimore. I think they're doing it with early-season mirrors.
Chargers
BUFFALO 1 Minnesota - Buffalo is proving to be a tough draw. Any Minnyiss playing with a bit of discipline and fire. This should be the year's most exciting 6-3 game.
Buffalo.
Dallas 9½ TENNESSEE - There goes Tagainin. First, he drew a few hours of honest sympathy for his reported suicide attempt. Now he's saying that it wasn't a suicide attempt. The only thing that's for certain is that the guy needs many hours of psychological help, whether or not he tried to kill himself. Dallas is in turmoil, but it might be the type of media thing that lets all the other players off the hook so they can just play football. Tenny has shown absolutely nothing this year. Jeff Fisher'uncharacteristicic blow-up at Billy Volek was an odd aside to another crummy year. When does this stop being the GM's fault for blowing up the team?
Dallas
KANSAS CITY 7 San Francisco - San Fran on the road is a guaranteed disaster. Of course, KC is still playing without a QB. Their defense at least knows that they have to cover and tackle this year. Under Vermeil, those items were not on the agenda. This could turn into another 6-3 hum-dinger, but I have the feeling that the 49ers aren't good enough to take advantage.
KC
CAROLINA 7½ New Orleans - Talk about no respect. Everybody's pre-season darlings, the Panthers, are horrible right now. The Saints are on an emotional high and are riding a 3-0 start. And Carolina gets 7.5? I'm with New Orleans.
ATLANTA 7 Arizona - The poor Cards still can't get any respect. There's talk of another concussion for Kurt Warner, and the Falcons are going to be looking for a big comeback week after getting their beads handed to them on national TV in the Big Easy last week.
Falcons
Miami 4 HOUSTON - Back to another edition of "who's worse?" Houston is at home, and Miami is not. Miami - the Super Bowl champs in March of every year - is circling the bowl. They need this - but they needed to beat the Bills at home, too.
Houston
ST. LOUIS 5½ Detroit - The Lions are up to their usual Jeckyl-and-Hyde routine. They played well against the Seahawks a couple of weeks ago, so we're supposed to think they're turning things around. Not buying it fominuteutwe. As long as MMilanllan is still in charge, the Lions fans will leave their Bobby Layne and Barry Sanders posters on the wall can continue to wait.
Rams
CINCINNATI 6 New England - The Pats are hurting. They were everythingnged on Sunday Night. They've got more injuries (what's new). But they don't lose two in a row (they're on a record run for that), and Belichick can be counted on when he's being counted out. If that makes any sense. Hey, just taking 6 on the Patriots is a vacation. They haven't been six-point dogs for a while. And they won't be again for a while.
Pats
Jacksonville 2½ WASHINGTON - Jax play good. Washington play bad.
Jax
Cleveland 2½ OAKLAND - So a winless Browns team that's given up 13 more points than the Raiders on the season shows up as a road favorite. I hope Al Davis is on some really really good drugs, because reality is something that he won't want to deal with. His old Hall of Famer Art Shell is just a bad coach, okay?
After the 'Rooney Rule' made it mandatory for a 'minority' coach to be interview for every head coaching position in the last 15 years or so, Shell has been the interview of choice for the teams who knew which white coach they wanted to hire. And there is a reason that after all those interviews, he was never considered a serious candidate - even over guys who's never been Coordinators, never mind former head coaches with winning records.
Art can't coach.
Browns
CHICAGO 3½ Seattle - In the Windy City where they play no offense, there always seem to be turnovers and odd plays that work in the Bears' favor. The Cleprechauneuchaun must use this venue for his pre-season. Well, he hasn't been in Boston since #33 retired, so we really don't know where he is these days. Alexander has a hole in his sock or a painful wedgie or something, so the Hawks will be one-dimensional on offence. The Bears defense sees a one-dimensional offense in practice every day (although a different dimension). I'm not really a believer, but I do think it's time for the Super Bowl hangover to kick in.
Bears
Monday, Oct. 2
PHILADELPHIA 11 Green Bay - This will be a tough game to watch. Neither texactlyxcactly tearing things up right now. The Eagles should have beaten the Giants, and should be in a better spot right now. They're definitely headed in a better direction than the Bay.
You have to wonder if Brett Favre is going to out a loser. Will he work a trade to a contender in the off-season? I could see a team like Tampa taking a flyer on him. The warm weather and tough D might produce a winner with him throwing 20 times or fewer, with one or two games where he brings them back throwing 40. Chicago might be a team that would shoot to the top with a quality starter. But would Favre join a division foe?
More likely a team like Miami (after they get some of their Cuban friends to dispose of Culpepper), the Jets (after all their QB's implode like Spinal Tap drummers again), KC (if Trent Green can't get rid of the tweety birds), or even Dallas after Bledsoe throws his inevitable playoff end-zone INT in the middle of the field to a linebacker from the two while trailing by two points with the wind at his back and five seconds to play.
Oh - Philly.
posted by fiduciary at 1:17 PM
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