truth on hold Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 only loss was KC. bought into the "LJ will run all over them hype." after really watching him for a whole game i'll never make that mistake again. i know they credited the colts defense but what i saw were decent holes for LJ to run and an uninspired back going down when the first colts defender got to him. i don't recall him breaking a tackle the whole game ... folks, that's not a great back. and to make matters worse he just sat alone on the sidelines when the defense was on the field looking stoned. well all the home teams won last week. this week i see 3 of the 4 winning as follows: - Bears over Seattle: I know Chicago is between a rock and hard place at QB with "Wrecks" and journeyman Griese, but they'll have enough game to beat limping Seattle at home again. - Saints over Eagles: Saints have a lot of weapons and Payton has shown when he really focuses on game planning he can make a mess of the opponent ... asked Parcells if you don't believe me. Well Payton has had 2 weeks to prepare for the Eagles who barely got by Giants at home. - Ravens over Colts: Ravens have the best defense and a much improved offense with McNair that doesn't get enough credit. They will be put pressure on Manning all day, get some picks and stop the running game ... pretty hard for Colts to score in that scenario. And Ravens offense with Jamal Lewis and a strong TE is the perfect setup to move the ball on the Colts under sized front 7. Colts have been demolished on the road more than once this year and this won't be any different than those games. - Pats over Chargers: upset special of the week and first home team loss of the playoffs. I could make it simple and say Bellicheck versus Schottenheimer (0 for 25 even getting to the super bowl) and wade "wrong side of music city miracle" phillips. Or I could get more complicated and talk about how the Pats physical front 7 along with DBs playing soft and safeties playing tight will contain LT and Gates and make Rivers beat them. Given his inexperience and demonstrated immaturity throwing his helmet around and throwing tantrums on the sidelines when he should be talking to coaches, I don't think he will. The real wildcard here is what happens on the other side of the ball: will Merriman and Phillips be able to put enough pressure on Brady to force turnovers? For the Pats the 3-headed running game of Dillon (power), Maroney (speed) and Faulk (pass catching) and another strong performance from the offensive line like last week against the blitz, will keep the LBs on their heels enough throughout the game to keep pressure off Brady on passing plays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truth on hold Posted January 12, 2007 Author Share Posted January 12, 2007 only loss was KC. bought into the "LJ will run all over them hype." after really watching him for a whole game i'll never make that mistake again. i know they credited the colts defense but what i saw were decent holes for LJ to run and an uninspired back going down when the first colts defender got to him. i don't recall him breaking a tackle the whole game ... folks, that's not a great back. and to make matters worse he just sat alone on the sidelines when the defense was on the field looking stoned. well all the home teams won last week. this week i see 3 of the 4 winning as follows: - Bears over Seattle: I know Chicago is between a rock and hard place at QB with "Wrecks" and journeyman Griese, but they'll have enough game to beat limping Seattle at home again. - Saints over Eagles: Saints have a lot of weapons and Payton has shown when he really focuses on game planning he can make a mess of the opponent ... asked Parcells if you don't believe me. Well Payton has had 2 weeks to prepare for the Eagles who barely got by Giants at home. - Ravens over Colts: Ravens have the best defense and a much improved offense with McNair that doesn't get enough credit. They will be put pressure on Manning all day, get some picks and stop the running game ... pretty hard for Colts to score in that scenario. And Ravens offense with Jamal Lewis and a strong TE is the perfect setup to move the ball on the Colts under sized front 7. Colts have been demolished on the road more than once this year and this won't be any different than those games. - Pats over Chargers: upset special of the week and first home team loss of the playoffs. I could make it simple and say Bellicheck versus Schottenheimer (0 for 25 even getting to the super bowl) and wade "wrong side of music city miracle" phillips. Or I could get more complicated and talk about how the Pats physical front 7 along with DBs playing soft and safeties playing tight will contain LT and Gates and make Rivers beat them. Given his inexperience and demonstrated immaturity throwing his helmet around and throwing tantrums on the sidelines when he should be talking to coaches, I don't think he will. The real wildcard here is what happens on the other side of the ball: will Merriman and Phillips be able to put enough pressure on Brady to force turnovers? For the Pats the 3-headed running game of Dillon (power), Maroney (speed) and Faulk (pass catching) and another strong performance from the offensive line like last week against the blitz, will keep the LBs on their heels enough throughout the game to keep pressure off Brady on passing plays. why the heck was this post moved to off the wall? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDS Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 why the heck was this post moved to off the wall? I don't know. Seems legit to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsCelticsAngelsBama Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 Now that I know who is going to win, I have no need to watch the games!! Best of Luck with your picks !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BUFFALOTONE Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 I like all your picks except NE, BALTIMORE, AND CHICAGO. That being said I agree about the Saints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eball Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 AFC: Colts/Ravens: The birds don't score enough points. They haven't had a decent running game all year, and that's the best way to attack the Colts' defense. For all of the "choke" talk -- some of it well-deserved -- Peyton is still a clutch QB and he won't let the Ravens' defense rattle him. Baltimore Old beats Baltimore New in a game that may not be as close as you'd think. IND, 27-13. Chargers/Pats: Marty is a new man. As long as he continues to leave the offensive gameplanning to Cam, SD will have more than enough to top NE. The loss of Harrison in the middle of the Pats' defense is huge. NE will slow LT down early, but they won't stop him. SD, 31-23. NFC: Eagles/Saints: This one is too close to call. NO is the story of the year, but the Eagles have risen from the ashes and are on a major roll. I'm going to go with the Saints by virtue of what will be an unbelievable homefield advantage, as well as the injury to Sheppard in Philly's secondary. It really could go either way, though. NO, 27-24. Seahawks/Bears: I am not a Rex "Gross, Man" fan. He puts the ball into the other team's hands far too often to be considered a top flight QB. Seattle has extra motivation in this one as well -- Chicago embarrassed the Alexander-less Hawks early in the season. Hasselbeck is a smart QB and Holmgren is a playoff-tested coach; they will find a way to score enough points to win (and they'll probably be handed a few by the Bears' offense). Chicago's drought in the playoffs continues with another disappointing early exit. SEA, 20-17. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozymandius Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 I went a lazy 2-2 last week ATS, 3-2 if you count Florida Bal -4: while I'm rooting for Indy, this is the game where people are going to look back and think, damn, how did we ever think the Colts actually had a chance to win? Phi +5.5: Eagles and Saints are pretty evenly matched so I'll take the points. Chi -9: the Seahawks suck. They really, really suck. SD -4.5: Rodney Harrison would've helped a lot. I think SD has some underrated receivers that will exploit the Pats secondary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFLstyle Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 lol, so it is true, unless a running back is running like LT, he is uninspired. lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 Balt - Pats + Bears - Philly + Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikie2times Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 BALT/IND Under 20.5 half, Under 41 game New Orleans -5.5 Chicago -9.5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truth on hold Posted January 14, 2007 Author Share Posted January 14, 2007 AFC: Colts/Ravens: The birds don't score enough points. They haven't had a decent running game all year, and that's the best way to attack the Colts' defense. For all of the "choke" talk -- some of it well-deserved -- Peyton is still a clutch QB and he won't let the Ravens' defense rattle him. Baltimore Old beats Baltimore New in a game that may not be as close as you'd think. IND, 27-13. Chargers/Pats: Marty is a new man. As long as he continues to leave the offensive gameplanning to Cam, SD will have more than enough to top NE. The loss of Harrison in the middle of the Pats' defense is huge. NE will slow LT down early, but they won't stop him. SD, 31-23. NFC: Eagles/Saints: This one is too close to call. NO is the story of the year, but the Eagles have risen from the ashes and are on a major roll. I'm going to go with the Saints by virtue of what will be an unbelievable homefield advantage, as well as the injury to Sheppard in Philly's secondary. It really could go either way, though. NO, 27-24. Seahawks/Bears: I am not a Rex "Gross, Man" fan. He puts the ball into the other team's hands far too often to be considered a top flight QB. Seattle has extra motivation in this one as well -- Chicago embarrassed the Alexander-less Hawks early in the season. Hasselbeck is a smart QB and Holmgren is a playoff-tested coach; they will find a way to score enough points to win (and they'll probably be handed a few by the Bears' offense). Chicago's drought in the playoffs continues with another disappointing early exit. SEA, 20-17. nice day for you, even got the score right in the NO game! i lost on Indy (2nd week in a row now. LJ did me in last week, this week it was McNairs turn to lay an egg.) puts me 5 & 2 post season. looking forward to sunday's games ... have pats and bears Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFLstyle Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 I'm 5-1, not going by the spread. I took the Giants over the Eagles, which is my only loss so far. Tomorrow I have the Patriots and Da Bears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
generaLee83 Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 only loss was KC. bought into the "LJ will run all over them hype." after really watching him for a whole game i'll never make that mistake again. i know they credited the colts defense but what i saw were decent holes for LJ to run and an uninspired back going down when the first colts defender got to him. i don't recall him breaking a tackle the whole game ... folks, that's not a great back. and to make matters worse he just sat alone on the sidelines when the defense was on the field looking stoned. congratulations, you can pick up your medal at the nearest short bus stop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eball Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 nice day for you, even got the score right in the NO game! i lost on Indy (2nd week in a row now. LJ did me in last week, this week it was McNairs turn to lay an egg.) puts me 5 & 2 post season. looking forward to sunday's games ... have pats and bears Thank you, thank you very much. The big test is today -- I went out on another limb with Seattle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crackur Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 Thank you, thank you very much. The big test is today -- I went out on another limb with Seattle. no you didnt sheesh............stop making excuses seahawks win Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crackur Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 no you didnt sheesh............stop making excuses seahawks win hm, Im stunned that Hassleback sucked that much today....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truth on hold Posted January 15, 2007 Author Share Posted January 15, 2007 only loss was KC. bought into the "LJ will run all over them hype." after really watching him for a whole game i'll never make that mistake again. i know they credited the colts defense but what i saw were decent holes for LJ to run and an uninspired back going down when the first colts defender got to him. i don't recall him breaking a tackle the whole game ... folks, that's not a great back. and to make matters worse he just sat alone on the sidelines when the defense was on the field looking stoned. well all the home teams won last week. this week i see 3 of the 4 winning as follows: - Bears over Seattle: I know Chicago is between a rock and hard place at QB with "Wrecks" and journeyman Griese, but they'll have enough game to beat limping Seattle at home again. - Saints over Eagles: Saints have a lot of weapons and Payton has shown when he really focuses on game planning he can make a mess of the opponent ... asked Parcells if you don't believe me. Well Payton has had 2 weeks to prepare for the Eagles who barely got by Giants at home. - Ravens over Colts: Ravens have the best defense and a much improved offense with McNair that doesn't get enough credit. They will be put pressure on Manning all day, get some picks and stop the running game ... pretty hard for Colts to score in that scenario. And Ravens offense with Jamal Lewis and a strong TE is the perfect setup to move the ball on the Colts under sized front 7. Colts have been demolished on the road more than once this year and this won't be any different than those games. - Pats over Chargers: upset special of the week and first home team loss of the playoffs. I could make it simple and say Bellicheck versus Schottenheimer (0 for 25 even getting to the super bowl) and wade "wrong side of music city miracle" phillips. Or I could get more complicated and talk about how the Pats physical front 7 along with DBs playing soft and safeties playing tight will contain LT and Gates and make Rivers beat them. Given his inexperience and demonstrated immaturity throwing his helmet around and throwing tantrums on the sidelines when he should be talking to coaches, I don't think he will. The real wildcard here is what happens on the other side of the ball: will Merriman and Phillips be able to put enough pressure on Brady to force turnovers? For the Pats the 3-headed running game of Dillon (power), Maroney (speed) and Faulk (pass catching) and another strong performance from the offensive line like last week against the blitz, will keep the LBs on their heels enough throughout the game to keep pressure off Brady on passing plays. i'm 7 & 2 now picking outright winner. only loss again came against colts .... so i will take my time this week before calling colts - pats. i am definitely taking saints over bears and when i determine my colts - pats pick i'll post my analysis for both games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truth on hold Posted January 20, 2007 Author Share Posted January 20, 2007 i'm 7 & 2 now picking outright winner. only loss again came against colts .... so i will take my time this week before calling colts - pats. i am definitely taking saints over bears and when i determine my colts - pats pick i'll post my analysis for both games. My picks and why for this week: Saints over Bears: Saints have too many weapons for the Bears to defend (maybe too many for anyone), including the best play caller in the league in head coach Sean Payton. Play calling importance has been under-estimated because so much emphasis has gone into game planning whereas play calling's limited time frame actually requires more talent. Really all the talk about Rex Grossman for the Bears is misplaced ... just like last week he'll neither win nor lose as his team will be beaten by a superior opponent across the board. Also over-emphasized factors will be home field, natural turf and cold weater. Forget it .... Saints are the better team no matter the environ. If I had to go into detail to support this conclusion via a position vs position analysis it would take too much space, so my apologies for leaving it general. Colts over Pats: took me a long time to reach a conclusion here. The head says Colts (home field dome, unbeaten at home, team speed, more convincing playoff wins, etc) but the gut says Pats with the history between the 2 teams/coaches. When you examine how the Pats beat the Colts in 2003 playoffs the game plan was extremely simple: Pats DBs/Safeties/LBs beat up the Colts WRs all the way from the line of scrimmage until the whistle was blown to a.) tire them out and b.) put them out of their routes (redirect) to throw off the Colts timing patterns. Pats key defensive players in this were Ty Law (now with KC) and Rodney Harrison (unlikely to play, shell of former self if he does.) Not only are they all-but missing but the officials are now calling it much closer on pass interference and illegal contact in the secondary than they did in 2003. This is no coincidence: after the 2003 loss, Colts GM Bill Polian lobbied the NFL Rules Committee to make this enforcement change. His argument, although self-serving, also had merit: by slowing the game down, reducing big plays and turning it into a game of field goals, the league was destined to lose fan interest/revenue. So look for Colts to be able to move the ball much better this time against Pats, with Harrison, Wayne & Co. licking their chops at revenge. Since Colts will score the key question becomes: how will Pats offense perform against Colts defense? My answer: not as well as Colts does against Pats defense. Colts defense is perfectly suited to counter Pats offensive strengths: running and quick outs. Colts run defense has stiffened with the return of strong safety Bob Sanders shutting down both Larry Johnson and Jamal Lewis in consecutive weeks and the Colts speedy LBs and DEs will be able to disrupt Brady's throwing lanes and limit YACs on completions. So first off look for Pats to get very little on 1st and 2nd down, whereas they typically clip 4 to 5 yards a pop. This puts it all on Brady and the deep threat. With that being so isolated I don't think they will be able to keep pace with Colts offense. The deep throw to Caldwell last week was setup by effective running and short passes which the Pats won't have this week. Brady will be forced into obvious long passing situations that the Colts will be ready for. Not that Pats will be completely shutdown, they just won't be effective enough to score more than Colts. Colts 27, Pats 19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFLstyle Posted January 20, 2007 Share Posted January 20, 2007 7-1 picking the winner outright, my only loss was Giants/Eagles. This week I'm taking Colts and Bears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truth on hold Posted January 21, 2007 Author Share Posted January 21, 2007 7-1 picking the winner outright, my only loss was Giants/Eagles. This week I'm taking Colts and Bears. OUCH! 39 - 14 shellacking of saints! 5 turnovers and a couple key plays and one drive by bears says it all. drops me to a still solid 7 & 3. all i can say now is "go colts!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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