NFL: Week 4

After monday nights debacle in Seattle, where Seattle was awarded the game winning touchdown on a clear interception, (the replacements called it simultaneous posession which gave the ball to the offense) a couple days later we got the real referees back.  The New Orleans Saints are showing us what life is like without a head coach.  The Saints are 0-3 and quarterback Drew Brees does not look like the same person.  The New York Giants showed their depth and the New York Jets lost cornerback Darell Revis for the season.
Week 4 Picks:
1)  Cam Newton has not looked the same as last year and neither have the Carolina Panthers. The Atlanta Falcons are one of the best teams in football right now.  I'll take the Atlanta Falcons (-7) over the Carolina panthers in this one.  Atlanta Falcons -7  
2)  The Tennessee Titans are a young team that despite a decent record will take its lumps throughout the season, while the Houston Texans are one of the best teams in the AFC.  I'll take the Houston Texans (-12) over the Tennessee Titans in Houston.  Houston Texans -12 
3) The Arizona Cardinals have shown some muscle with an 3-0 record on the season, while the Miami Dolphins are young and breaking in a new quarterback.  I'll take the Arizona Cardinals (-5.5) over the Miami dolphins in Arizona.   Arizona Cardinals -5.5
4) Last weel the NY Jets lost a cornerback for the season and I don't see life getting any easier this week as they host the San Francisco 49ers.  I'll go with the San Francisco 49ers (-3.5) over the NY Jets in the Meadowlands.    San Francisco 49ers -3.5  
5) The NY Giants who showed their depth in a win over Carolina, (and showed us something) visit an up and down Philadelphia Eagle team on Sunday Night.  I'll take the NY Giants (+2.5) over the Philadelphia Eagles.  NY Giants +2.5           

NFL week 3

Well it’s Week 3 and now that we enter, what I say is the grind of the season (weeks 3-12) we start to separate the good from the bad.  With only six undefieted teams, there is great parity in the league.  Week 3 got off to a good start on Thursday with some new stars emerging, on a banged up NY Giants team which was playing without many of its stars, as the New York Giants went into Carolina and beat the Panthers handily.

Week 3 Picks:

 1)The Chicago Bears have a great defense and although the St. Louis Rams are improving, it won’t be this week.  I’ll take the Chicago Bears (-7) at home over the St. Louis Rams.  Chicago Bears -7  

2)   The San Francisco 49ers are one of the best teams in football and the Minnesota Vikings are young and learning.  I’ll take the San Francisco 49ers (-6.5) over the Minnesota Vikings in Minnesota.  San Francisco 49ers -6.5    

3)   The Tennessee Titans are another young team and the Detroit Lions have all the tools.  I’ll take the Detroit Lions (-3.5) over the Tennessee Titans in Tennessee.  Detroit Lions -3.5

4)   The New York Jets looked good one week and bad the next, I don’t know if they’ve shown their real identity yet there better than the Miami Dolphins.   I’ll take the NY Jets (-2) on the road over the Miami Dolphins.  NY Jets -2      

NFL Week 2

Its week two of the NFL season and we're still learning about most teams.  Some teams looked bad, some looked good but it takes about 2-3 NFL games to find out about your team.
NFL Picks:
1)  The New York Giants welcome in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Giants did not look great last week but it's early.  I'll take the NY Giants (-7) over Tampa Bay in Greg Schiano return to Jersey.  NY Giants -7 
2) At this point New England is a good team, while Arizona is going through quarterback problems.  I'll take the New England Patriots (-13.5) over the Arizona Cardinals.  New England Patriots -13.5
3) The Dallas Cowboys won last week behind an improved Tony Romo, this week the visit the Seattle Seahawks who weren't great at the quarterback spot last week.  I'll go with the Cowboys (-3) on the road over the Seahawks.  Dallas Cowboys -3      
4) The New York Jets I think surprised some people last week, Pittsburgh is going to be pumped up for this one at home after loosing last week.  I'll take the Pittsburgh Steelers (-5) over the New York Jets in Pittsburgh.    Pittsburgh Steelers -5 
5)  I'll pick the Houston Texans (-7) over the Jacksonville Jaguars, Jacksonville isn't very good and Houston is a Super Bowl pick. Houston Texans -7   

nf

NFL week: 1

We made it through the opening game of the 2012 football season.  The Giants looked out of sorts in a way, they had a nice scoring drive in the fourth quarter and I felt they might have been able to mount a comeback attempt if they were able to get the ball back.  The Cowboys overcame their injuries and put on a good showing, Tony Romo looked like I had never seen him before, he had renewed confidence in the team around him.  The NFL dodged a bullet by getting through the first game, with the replacement officials without any major blown calls.  

week: 1
1)  The Chicago Bears have improved their team this offseason even with Andrew Luck quarterbacking the Indianapolis Colts the Bears (-10) will prove to tough in this one.  Chicago Bears -10
2)  It was ruled today that commissioner Goodell didn't have the authority to suspend players for bounty-gate.  The New Orleans Saints are going to be better than people think, they still have a good team.  Robert Griffin III will struggle in his debut with the Washington Redskins.  That being said in this one I'll take the Saints (-7.5) at home over the Redskins.  New Orleans Saints -7.5
3)  Payton Manning is now in Denver where he will guide the Broncos.  Although the Pittsburgh Steelers are good, Payton manning will have fun breaking in his new cast of characters.  I'll go with the Denver Broncos (-1.5) at home over the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Denver Broncos -1.5  
4) Tebow-mania starts this week for the Jets.  We don't really know what Tim Tebow is going to do for the Jets yet, but he could add another dimension to that team.  The Buffalo Bills are going to be good but we don't know how good.  I'll go with the New York Jets (-3) at home over the Bills for the start of Tebow-mania.   NY Jets -3                    

NFL Opening Night

Tonight the NY football Giants will host the Dallas Cowboys in the years first NFL game.  Dallas comes into this game banged up.  The Giants are of course the Super Bowl champs and have the momentum coming into this one.  This is also the regular season debut of the replacement officials, who have been learning on the job in the preseason but tonight will be a whole new ball game for them with the speed of the game and all of a sudden the guys aren't playing to get their work in and not get injured now there playing to win.  In this game I'll take the NY Football Giants to win 24-14 (-3.5) over their division rivals the Dallas Cowboys.  NY Giants -3.5       

Yankee struggles

The Yankees haven't gotten a clutch hit all season.  They have missed Rodriguez, Teixiera, Pettitte, Gardner, and Sabathia at times this season.  Injuries are no excuse, everyone goes through them, its how you come through them that matters in the end.  You have to hit, and get timely hits to score the all important tack-on runs.  Not all of the Yankees have been hitting (Jeter, Cano, Dickerson (not an every day player), Ibanez (until recently) and to an extent Martin have been getting their hits) lately but they have to come out of it.  This team will come out of it and I feel one more big run in them before the end of the year.  There are three weeks left in the season and yes Baltimore has caught up to them and Tampa Bay is nipping at their heels but there is no rule that says you have to be in first place throughout the season, as long as you're their after game 162 thats all that matters.  The Yankees have the easier schedule coming up as they play all but six games in the division and can make up ground in the last week and a half while playing Minnesota, Toronto, and Boston while Tampa Bay has to go to Texas and Baltimore has to go to the West coast.  I am not to worried about these recent struggles theYankees are a veteran team and they will start hitting.                  

2012 NFL Preview

When the NFL opens its season, the replacement officials will still be patrolling the fields.  The league and the regular officials have been unable to come to an agreement on a new contract.  I don’t think this will take to long to fix, after the teams and owners get a bad call against them in week 1, they’ll be all over the league to work out a deal as soon as possible.  The replacement officials have been far from perfect in the preseason.  No official is going to be perfect but at least the real guys are better and more consistent.     

On Wednesday night we start the road toward Super Bowl XLVII, as the Super Bowl Champion New York Giants kick off the season at home against their rivals the Dallas Cowboys.  It's been an interesting offseason for the (National Football League) NFL, Payton Manning and Tim Tebow have new homes and four rookie quarterbacks will start the season.     

In the (National Football Conference) NFC we have been pretty much drama free.  In the East the Super Bowl Champion Giants are strong, and I think primed for another Super run but as its been said it’s hard to repeat.  The did lose some big parts of that Super Bowl winning team (Manningham and Jacobs to SF) but new guys will step up (Jarrel Jernigan, Ramses Barden and David Wilson) and make a big impact.  The thing I would worry about with the Giants is the health of the offensive line and can those guys all stay healthy.  Sometimes the key in the NFL its how well teams deal with injuries.  The Washington Redskins might surprise some people with rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III.  The Philadelphia Eagles are always a though test, they just have to keep Michael Vick healthy.  The Dallas Cowboys have potential; right now I think they’re a mess.  In the South this might finally be Atlanta’s year with Matt Ryan.  Out West the San Francisco 49ers have a bunch (Mannigham, Jacobs, Moss) of new weapons.

NFC

East                                             North                                South                  

NY Giants  (10-6)                    Detroit Lions               Atlanta Falcons

Philadelphia Eagles#            Green Bay Packers#

Washington Redskins

West

San Francisco 49ers

In the (American Football Conference) AFC, we have the drama with Tim Tebow.  In the East, The New York Jets signed Tim Tebow this offseason for (backup to Mark Sanchez, I think he’ll be the quarterback of this team eventually) the Wildcat offense.  They’re going to let Mark Sanchez run the offense for most of the game and then bring in Tebow and the Wildcat.  The Wildcat is a gimmick that doesn’t always work.  In the NFL if you have two quarterbacks who can start, you have no quarterback. (chaos)   Besides having two quarterbacks the Jets have an offensive line issue.  The New England Patriots always have something up their sleeve with Bill Belichick and Tom Brady.  The Miami Dolphins have a rookie quarterback and the Buffalo bills are around a .500 team.  In the North the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens are always tough, the Cleveland browns have a rookie quarterback but the Cincinnati Bengals might surprise people.  Out West Peyton Manning has a new address in Denver with the Broncos.                    

East                                       South                           North

NE Patriots                      Houston Texans             Cincinnati Bengals       

NY Jets (8-8)                  Indianapolis Colts#         Baltimore Ravens#                             

West

Denver Broncos

Wild Card #

Super Bowl XLVII: Houston Texans vs. Atlanta Falcons