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NFL Week 3


MantaRay

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1:00 PM Sunday, September 23, 2007

Arizona Cardinals @ Baltimore Ravens -7.5

What a time for Matt Leinart. When a quarterback plays Baltimore he has two challenges. The first is intimidation. The Ravens are fast, physical and hit to hurt. The second is sophistication; the Ravens run a high number of defensive alignments that can confuse even the most polished protection schemes. So, for Matt Leinart, you have to play with courage and clarity. The quarterback issue for Baltimore is still an unknown. I have a feeling that Brian Billick has lost a little confidence in Steve McNair and gained some confidence in Kyle Boller. History says that Arizona loses by 10, but this is an Arizona team that has looked much better than they have in many years. They have good receivers, a solid quarterback and Edgerrin James, who already has 220 yards rushing on the season. Baltimore wins, but the Cardinals keep it close.

Picks: Arizona Cardinals

1:00 PM Sunday, September 23, 2007

San Diego Chargers -5.0 @ Green Bay Packers

I can't see San Diego losing two in a row. The big negative is that for the second week in a row, the Chargers travel west to east, which is more difficult than going the other way. Now, San Diego may have already played the best two defences in the league in Chicago and New England. What they can't take for granted is that the Packers, too, have an exceptional defence. The Packers have already beaten the Eagles and the Giants, which are by no means powerhouse teams. I also expect a breakout game from LaDainian Tomlinson. So far this season, he has 68 yards on 35 carries for an unbelievable 1.9 yards per carry. The Packers are no more dangerous. Take away a 38-yard run in the Giants game and the Packers have rushed for just 47 and 46 yards. The Chargers will cover in a bounce-back game.

Picks: San Diego Chargers

1:00 PM Sunday, September 23, 2007

Indianapolis Colts -6.0

@ Houston Texans

It has been a long time since the Indianapolis Colts have been favoured by only six points. Usually in this AFC South game the Colts are favoured by 10 to 15 points. This shows that many people think that the Texans are fore real, and I can be counted among them. This will be the Colts second road game in a row. Houston's defensive line is starting to emerge as a force and with Matt Schaub at quarterback they get a 72% completion rate. You don't always have to have the best QB to win, but the QB must have a maturity about him. That's Matt Schaub, but and this is big - receiver Andre Johnson will miss the game. Johnson has 262 receiving yards so far this season, the seven other players that have receptions for the Texans total 190 yards.

Picks: Indianapolis Colts

1:00 PM Sunday, September 23, 2007

Minnesota Vikings

@ Kansas City Chiefs -2.5

The Chiefs have lost two in a row to Houston and Chicago. The Vikings are 1-1, but are playing their second road game in a row. Tarvaris Jackson may not be 100 percent healthy going into this game, and he is struggling, only completing 53.6 percent of his passes with a 1:5 touchdown to interceptions ration. What did you expect? Also, this Chiefs' defence is better than any that Jackson has faced this season (Atlanta and Detroit). The Vikings strength is their defence, but this week they face Larry Johnson and he may be set to hit his stride. Kansas City at home is good for an extra touchdown, so I will take them to cover the spread - barely.

Schultz Picks: Kansas City Chiefs

1:00 PM Sunday, September 23, 2007

Miami Dolphins

@ NY Jets -3.0

There are two aspects of football that are going against the Dolphins as their strength last year has been a problem so far this year. They have allowed 752 yards against Washington and Dallas. Also the Jets have beaten the Dolphins 5 of the last 6 times the teams have met. So the present and the history says it may be a tough afternoon for Miami. I really like the way the Jets competed against Baltimore. They did lose 20-13 but had two opportunities to win it in the fourth by getting it into overtime. Kellen Clemons does not look overwhelmed by his NFL experience, but if Chad Pennington can start, he will. At 0-2, this is a must win game for the Jets in the tough AFC.

Picks: NY Jets

1:00 PM Sunday, September 23, 2007

St. Louis Rams

@ Tampa Bay Buccaneers -4.0

Both quarterbacks have yet to throw an interception, but where Marc Bulger is completing 55% of his passes, Jeff Garcia is connecting on 67% of his throws. Garcia is not spectacular, but knows how to get it done. I would not be surprised if he had an exceptional day passing as St. Louis is down to second team nickel-backs. Also, without Orlando Pace, the Rams offensive line is suspect. Monte Kiffin is an experienced coordinator who will take advantage of the Rams inexperience up front. Last week Tampa Bay took advantage of the Saints back four and scored 31 points. The can do the same against St. Louis.

Picks: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

1:00 PM Sunday, September 23, 2007

Buffalo Bills

@ New England Patriots -16.5

Boy that is a lot of points; but can the Bills keep it close, because I would be shocked if they won. On the positive side, the Bills defence did force four field goals from Pittsburgh. On the negative side, safety Ko Simpson and corner Jason Webster are out for the year. Two linebackers Keith Ellison and Coy Wire, as well as defensive end Chris Denney, are several weeks away from playing. Then you add rookie Paul Posluzsny starting at middle linebacker, and this could be a major point producing opportunity for New England. The Patriots never take an opportunity for granted.

Picks: New England Patriots

1:00 PM Sunday, September 23, 2007

San Francisco 49ers

@ Pittsburgh Steelers -9.0

Second west-to-east trip of the season for the Niners. Second home game of the season for the Steelers. Pittsburgh has to avoid over-confidence because last week's win over the Bills was too easy. Now they play a 49er team at 2-0 that has won the close ones against two average teams, St. Louis and Arizona. The 49ers might just keep it close, as physical as Pittsburgh is, don't under-estimate San Francisco. The left side of their offensive line, with Jonas Jennings and Larry Allen playing side-by-side, is as good a left side as any in football. The Steelers dominate all NFC competition; they are 11-1 over the past three years. This will be the first of three consecutive NFC games for Pittsburgh. This will be their best competition after beating Cleveland and Buffalo by combined point totals of 60-10. San Francisco will keep it close.

Picks: San Francisco 49ers

1:00 PM Sunday, September 23, 2007

Detroit Lions

@ Philadelphia Eagles -6.5

Donovan McNabb is not 100 percent. In Washington on Monday night there was a moment where he really had to explode with his legs to avoid being hit. Towards the end of the run he was limping. It's a fact that in many cases, overcoming an anterior cruciate ligament injury takes two full years. I experienced it in 1993 and '94 and McNabb is having difficulty with it here in 2007. Also, he is not getting a lot of help from his receivers. It seems that the offence in Philadelphia consists of McNabb and Brian Westbrook, that's about it. Now the Eagles play a Detroit team that is 2-0, confident, bordering on cocky, and you know they will go to a four receiver set and try to exploit the Eagles defensive backs with pass plays. John Kitna should be able to handle the Eagles blitz pressure.

Picks: Detroit Lions

4:05 PM Sunday, September 23, 2007

Cleveland Browns

@ Oakland Raiders -3.0

The one aspect of Raider football that was dependable last year is not so dependable this year. Last week against Denver, the defence scored a touchdown and provided a safety, but allowed 441 yards and 26 first downs. In fact, that's 833 yards in two games. The big question after last week - are the browns for real? Well, Cincinnati is much better than Oakland on offence, so I doubt the Raiders will score 45 points. On offence, Cleveland has some good individual talent. The last time Oakland played a hot quarterback, Detroit scored 36 points. I don't think Cleveland is as good as Detroit, but they must be confident in Derek Anderson. Take the Browns.

Picks: Cleveland Browns

4:05 PM Sunday, September 23, 2007

Jacksonville Jaguars

@ Denver Broncos -3.5

If Jacksonville is to beat Denver, they will have to break a pattern of losing on the road. Last year, they were 6-2 at home and 2-6 on the road. The Broncos should be able to make the Jaguars one-dimensional. Dennis Northcutt and Ernest Wilford are the main receivers for David Garrard, but Champ Bailey and Dre Bly are cornerbacks for Denver, so that's an advantage to the Broncos. Although it is early, Jacksonville's running game has been ineffective. Fred Taylor is averaging 3.3 yards per carry. Maurice Jones-Drew is averaging 3.5 yards per carry. If Jacksonville was an elite team, they would have crushed Atlanta at home, but they only won by six points. Take the Broncos.

Picks: Denver Broncos

4:05 PM Sunday, September 23, 2007

Cincinnati Bengals

@ Seattle Seahawks -3.0

The Bengals have some serious problems on defence. I mean, I give a lot of credit to Cleveland and how well they played last week against Cincinnati, but if the Browns can drop 51 points, the Seahawks should be able to have success against the Bengals, too. With Carson Palmer coming off a game in which he threw for 401 yards and six touchdowns, he knows he needs to do something similar to beat Seattle. I would not be surprised if Shaun Alexander also has a great game, and not so much because of the Bengals defence, but more because of the mis-communication on a possible audible play with Matt Hasselbeck last week. The resulting fumble was the deciding play in the loss to Arizona. Alexander and Seattle will bounce back and cover.

Picks: Seattle Seahawks

4:15 PM Sunday, September 23, 2007

Carolina Panthers -3.5

@ Atlanta Falcons

The Atlanta Falcons have signed Byron Leftwich as a quarterback. How can Joey Harrington be confident when he knows that as soon as Leftwich can communicate the playbook, he'll be playing. Atlanta has scored three and seven points in two games and this could be a better defence than the ones they saw against Minnesota and Jacksonville. Even in their loss to Houston, the Panthers' Steve Smith had eight catches for 153 yards and three touchdowns. Carolina is still a fundamentally sound team. Atlanta is a team in transition at head coach, quarterback, defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. Take Carolina to cover.

Picks: Carolina Panthers

4:15 PM Sunday, September 23, 2007

NY Giants

@ Washington Redskins -4.0

This is 0-2 versus 2-0 and the surprise is that it's the Redskins who are 2-0. The Giants and the Redskins always play each other close, but you sense, and mainly due to injury, that things are falling apart in New York while they are building up in Washington. The main issue for Washington is to avoid over-confidence due to the eight point win over Philadelphia. The Redskins have an opportunity here to go 3 -0 with the bye week on the horizon. Dallas scored 45 points on the Giants while the Packers dropped 35 on them last week. Eli Manning is a more established quarterback, but Jason Campbell is beginning to look more and more confident. Clinton Portis and Ladell Betts in the running game are an excellent duo to work with, Redskins 3-0.

Picks: Washington Redskins

8:15 PM Sunday, September 23, 2007

Dallas Cowboys

@ Chicago Bears -3.5

Well, I have gone with Dallas two weeks in a row, so let's go for three! Can the Dallas offence, which has scored 82 points in two games, their biggest two-game total to start the season since 1971, produce enough against a defence that can dominate? Can the Dallas cover team prevent Devin Hester from making impact plays to either produce points or create a short field? Can the Cowboys' defence force a key turnover at a critical moment, on the road, like they did against Miami last week? An advantage for the Bears is the fact they are playing their second straight at home, while the Cowboys are playing their second straight on the road. But Dallas has a balance between offence and defence. Chicago has a great defence and great special teams, but... Cowboys again.

Picks: Dallas Cowboys

8:30 PM Monday, September 24, 2007

Tennessee Titans -4.5

@ New Orleans Saints

The Saints have been outscored 72-27 in their first two games. Now, against Peyton Manning in the first game, you'd expect them to give up points. But Jeff Garcia had 243 passing yards last week and threw TDs of 69 and 24 yards to Joey Galloway. New Orleans has a big problem stopping the big play on defence, and now they are playing a quarterback in Vince Young that is at his best when times are toughest. His skills are hard to defend because he has so many. At one point last week, the Bucs were winning 28-0 so the final score of 31-14 actually flattered New Orleans. The Saints are back home this week, but Tennessee has played well in both of their games. New Orleans is a mystery of inefficiency. I'll take the Titans.

Picks: Tennessee Titans

Edited by MantaRay
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Wow, Clown. Don't bust out the deed to the house on those. You might get the NO game, but I doubt it.

Now, if you want some winners, here's

Masked Money Shots ...

Lions +6.5 ........ They are dogs to the Eaglets ... nuf sed

Cowboys +3.5 ... The Chicag Bears. nuf sed

Cardinals +7.5... They know how to handle stingy D's & Arizona is not bad on D themselves. and lets face it, against Baltimore, you don't need to be.

:evil: I gotta go find my bookie.

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Why? The Cowboys main problem right now is defense, and you are going to sit here and tell me that Rex Grossman can pick apart a decent defense, without laughing? Their run D is pretty solid, and their pass d is going to improve vastly when Terrence Newman comes off the bench. One of the most high-powered offenses in the NFC won't exactly have a feild day against the Bears, but you'll see that they can produce enough against the most laughable offense in the league among playoff teams.

Cowboys get it done, 13-6

Its a big game, which usually means TO disappears. Bears 16-13

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Name some "big" games that T-O dissapeared in.

Well it's not really disappearing when the whole world sees you drop key 3rd and 4th down passes with mass consistency last year :P

that in mind I do expect a good game from him cause it's prime time

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Super Bowl 39, 9 Receptions 133 yards (bad game or not important game?)

Week 1 Vs. Rival Giants, 3 Receptions, 87 yards, 2 TD's. (again, is that a bad game? and it was definately a biggun')

Name some "big" games that T-O dissapeared in.

LOL. In the Superbowl he had a few drops and they lost. The Eagles also did better when TO was out that season as well.

He will put up big numbers against teams like the Giants and Dolphins, but against a tough D he will disappear or drop alot of key passes. See post season games for your examples.

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I really think the Jets are gonna run away with this one vs Miami..

Gimme a break. The Jets might win, but I doubt you'll "run away" with it. I expect a close game with my heart being broken yet again, as it always is when we play the Jets. Nonetheless, I will be at the game Sunday with my Jason Taylor jersey over my JETS SUCK t-shirt.

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49niners to win?

Wow, just wow.

I know my Steelers didn't play good teams(Sorry LOTCB :P) But dude, The 49niners OFF has been struggling BIG TIME, and playing such a Good DEF in Pittsburgh, won't help the case at all.(And they won't have the oppurtinity to relay on Gore to win the game, since Pittsburgh hasn't allowed a RB to get more than 100yards+ in a game for like..44games or some thing like this) Their DEF Though is good, but with the lost of Lawson for the rest of the season, (Who lead the Niners with 14tackles so far this season) I can only see, a Steeler win by ..

27-17.

Yup.

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Why? The Cowboys main problem right now is defense, and you are going to sit here and tell me that Rex Grossman can pick apart a decent defense, without laughing? Their run D is pretty solid, and their pass d is going to improve vastly when Terrence Newman comes off the bench. One of the most high-powered offenses in the NFC won't exactly have a feild day against the Bears, but you'll see that they can produce enough against the most laughable offense in the league among playoff teams.

Cowboys get it done, 13-6

Wow. If I was sitting there near you, I'd cup the back of your head. Wake up and read the post before you let the rage take over your keyboarc.

Let me spell it out for you. My picks are in the column to the left, and "why" follows the "..." and if you'd open your eyes and read prior to posting your obvious opinion, you'd see that there is no O in Chicag Bears.

jeez. way to state the obvious there Mb. :doh1:

Lions +6.5 ........ They are dogs to the Eaglets ... nuf sed

Cowboys +3.5 ... The Chicag Bears. nuf sed

Cardinals +7.5... They know how to handle stingy D's & Arizona is not bad on D themselves. and lets face it, against Baltimore, you don't need to be.

Get it?

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I know I'm relatively new here, and i know i sound arrogant... but i love to talk all sports... and when its talking football your pretty much at a loss with me, like i said before, when the Cowboys win i get cocky, and when they lose i become arrogant... :P
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Cowboys will win it all this year!!

It doesn't work as a hex when you do it as a fan of another team... so NYAH :P

Anyway to some actual NFL Stuff... Kelly Holocomb will be starting in Minnesota, something to keep an eye on

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It doesn't work as a hex when you do it as a fan of another team... so NYAH :P

Anyway to some actual NFL Stuff... Kelly Holocomb will be starting in Minnesota, something to keep an eye on

:o , Vikings are still lacking a compete Number one QB... I wonder if Holcomb can be back to his days with the Browns, with the Bruce Arians area.

LINEBACKER of the 49niners, Manny Lawson will be out for the season, he led the 49niners with 14tackles in 2weeks,.

I'll watch my team(STEELERS!) crashing off TD TEAM'S!!!!

:P

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