Week Six NFL Picks-Big Ben Returns

Cincinnati, Green Bay, Houston, New Orleans, and San Diego all lost this past week. What a crazy season. No undefeated teams remain and the way things are going you might see the Lions and Buccaneers in the playoffs. Oh the hell with it, let's add the Browns as a possible. I know you probably are thinking this guy has gotten out of touch with reality. But this coming Sunday if the Browns beat the Steelers, the Lions beat the Giants, and the Buccaneers beat the Saints you will be apologizing for even slightly entertaining such a thought. It's a Bizzaro World in NFL 2010.

I was 7-7 last week. Time to get out the darts, close my eyes, and let it fly. I am pretty confident about The Chargers winning over the Rams this week, that is if the Chargers use super glue in the huddle before every offensive play. The Steelers are an easy bet over the Browns with Roethlisberger returning. As it stands right now Cleveland is sending in rookie Colt McCoy. Good luck with that one. A snow storm would even the playing field in this one, but that is unlikely. The Tampa Bay and New Orleans game is a toss up. The Saints have been in Jello Land since the beginning of the season and Tampa Bay's defense has been on a tear and acting like division contenders. All the rest of the games, anything can happen. Peyton Manning didn't have a single passing touchdown against the Chiefs. This week he will be compromising the goal line frequently. He will have to because Donavan McNabb will be putting the pressure on the Colts secondary with an aerial attack of his own.

The contests to watch this week will be Baltimore at New England and Tennessee at Jacksonville games. It will be interesting to see what the Patriots will do without Moss. They have picked up Branch and said they were glad to have him back to help them win some games, hopefully more than "some". Baltimore has the strong running attack and Flacco is looking decent. It will be a tough, close game, but I am taking the Patriots for the win. Wes Welker will be the deal breaker. Tennessee and Jacksonville are always a good matchup. Jacksonville is tough at home. Both teams have a good running attack. The difference will be decided by the quarterbacks. Whatever quarterback will make the least mistakes will come out the winner for his team in this one. Between the quarterbacks Vince Young has the least amount of interceptions but Garrard has more touchdowns. Jacksonville will come off victorious.
 
SUN, OCT 17 TIME (ET)
Seattle 15 at Chicago 22 1:00 PM FOX L
Soldier Field
Miami 23 at Green Bay 28 1:00 PM CBS L
Lambeau Field
San Diego 32 at St. Louis 17 1:00 PM CBS L 
Edward Jones Dome
Baltimore 20 at New England 211:00 PM CBS W 
Gillette Stadium
New Orleans 30 at Tampa Bay 24 1:00 PM FOX W
Raymond James Stadium
Detroit 17 at NY Giants 28 1:00 PM FOX W 
New Meadowlands Stadium
Atlanta 21 at Philadelphia 20 1:00 PM FOX L 
Lincoln Financial Field
Cleveland 18 at Pittsburgh 27 1:00 PM CBS W 
Heinz Field
Kansas City 17 at Houston 23 1:00 PM CBS W
Reliant Stadium
Oakland 24 at San Francisco 18 4:05 PM CBS L
Candlestick Park
NY Jets 21 at Denver 20 4:05 PM CBS W
Invesco Field at Mile High
Dallas 24 at Minnesota 27 4:15 PM FOX W
Metrodome
Indianapolis 34 at Washington 27 8:20 PM NBC W
FedEx Field
MON, OCT 18 TIME (ET)
Tennessee 20 at Jacksonville 23 8:30 PM
EverBank Field

The Browns Lose More Than Just The Game-Now What To Do?

Atlanta Falcons batter the Cleveland Browns 20-10. Quaterbacks limping, running back hobbling. Well, so much for a turn around. The Browns are back in the losing category, probably for good unless Mangini begins to change his stubborn ways and tries something inspiring. Yah, for a couple of weeks Hillis was running over 100 yards in each game and the Browns won one of those games.

Whoopty do. The Browns were still missing a passing attack. The bottom line is you cannot be successful in the NFL if you don't challenge the field vertically. The Browns need to get Joshua Cribbs more involved in the passing attack. Mangini is making the same mistakes he made last year until he woke up and began to utilize Cribbs more aggressively. The Browns play Pittsburgh this week and guess who is back, Ben Roethlisberger. How did the Browns beat the Steelers last year? Well, the weather was a little nasty for one.

Brett Favre just can't shake the one devastating mistake that has been plaguing his play these past few years. One minute he is flying high only to come crashing down the next. It is petty much heart breaking to see that happening to such a great player. Favre was unstoppable in the second half of Monday Night Football flicking touchdown passes with ease and hacking away at the Jets tenuous lead. In the closing minutes it looked like the Vikings were going to snatch victory right out the Jets hands.

Vikings ball on their own 16 with 1:48 left and down 22-20. First play Favre passes incomplete deep right to Moss. Next play defender falls down, Harvin wide open, Favre passes over Harvins outstretched arms for what could have been a huge gain and a demoralizing blow. Third down, play begins, Favre is forced to his right and sees Shiancoe open and throws the ball to him, but didn't see Lowery who was shielded by other players jump in front of Shiancoe where the pass bounced off his facemask and into his arms. How quickly the game changes. One minute celebration, the next deflation. The Vikings are down, but are they out? Dallas Cowboys are next. Stay tuned, the football follies have just begun.

Week Five NFL Picks-Who Will It Be Week

The biggest shocker of Week Four was the Colts loss to the Jaguars and the fashion in which it was accomplished. A one desparation shot at the crossbars with the game clock almost spent succeeded and Josh Scobee was running around like a crazed madman. The 59 yard field goal left the Colts with their jaws on the ground and handed them their second loss. Crucial mistakes by the Colts assisted in their downfall. The best game of the week in my opinion was the Steeler and Ravens matchup. It was head to head all the way to the end. With a few ticks left on the clock Joe Flacco found T.J. Houshmandzadeh wide open in the end zone for the winning score. The most lopsided victory of the week goes to the Patriots on Monday Night Football against Miami by the score of 41-14. This one was all defense and special teams for the Patriots. Miami looked solid until after halftime when it all unraveled.

I was 9-5 in Week Four. Decent, but still have to improve. Trying for that perfect week. This weeks game to watch is the Atlanta-Cleveland game. Can the Browns make it two in a row? Atlanta is hot and the Browns will need to be on their toes, especially Dawson, since Atlanta likes it close having played two overtime games thus far this season. I'm picking the Browns at home. The question this week involves the Detroit Lions. Can they get their first win? You can't fault them for trying because trying is what they have been doing week to week. What can go wrong does go wrong in the Lions case. This week against the Rams the Lions will have their opportunity, if some odd thing doesn't mess it up.

 

Most of the other match-ups this week are your pretty standard, run of the mill games. The only exception will be the game between the Vikings and the Jets. Randy Moss is back and Brett Favre has a big piece of the offensive puzzle completed. The Jets are on a winning streak and will be getting a piece of their offensive puzzle in place with Santonio Holmes returning. Who will have the biggest impact: Moss or Holmes? Stay tuned to Monday Night Football. It will be a good one. Oh, almost forgot the Giants and Texans game.  Run Foster run. Nothing more needs to be said.

 

SUN, OCT 10 TIME (ET)

Jacksonville 21 at Buffalo 18 1:00 PM CBS Tickets W

Ralph Wilson Stadium

Tampa Bay 15 at Cincinnati 24 1:00 PM FOX Tickets L

Paul Brown Stadium

Atlanta 20 at Cleveland 23 1:00 PM FOX Tickets L

Cleveland Browns Stadium

St. Louis 14 at Detroit 18 1:00 PM FOX Tickets W

Ford Field

Kansas City 17 at Indianapolis 34 1:00 PM CBS Tickets W

Lucas Oil Stadium

Green Bay 30 at Washington 23 1:00 PM FOX Tickets L

FedEx Field

Chicago 25 at Carolina 21 1:00 PM FOX Tickets W

Bank of America Stadium

Denver 17 at Baltimore 24 1:00 PM CBS Tickets W

M&T Bank Stadium

NY Giants 27 at Houston 30 1:00 PM FOX Tickets L

Reliant Stadium

New Orleans 23 at Arizona 12 4:05 PM FOX Tickets L

U of Phoenix Stadium

San Diego 28 at Oakland 20 4:15 PM CBS Tickets L

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

Tennessee 18 at Dallas 17 4:15 PM CBS Tickets W

Cowboys Stadium

Philadelphia 24 at San Francisco 20 8:20 PM NBC Tickets W

Candlestick Park

MON, OCT 11 TIME (ET)

Minnesota 27 at NY Jets 24 8:30 PM Tickets L

New Meadowlands Stadium

Browns Top Bengals 23 to 20-One Giant Step Forward

The Bengals were ripe for the taking and the Browns did just that, they took it to them by a TKOwens and Browns fans everywhere finally had something to celebrate. Despite the win, the Browns were dominated across the board in every category of offense by the Bengals except one. But if you can't put it across the goal line it means nothing. Seneca Wallace again still did not impress me with a 74.9 rating and the bright spot of the offense for the second straight week was Hillis.

It was imperative to keep the ball out of Palmer's hands near the waining minutes of the fourth quarter with the game close. Peyton Hillis was called upon to grind out the final four minutes and he did exactly that. In those minutes Hillis had a 24 yard scamper. Hillis had 102 yards and one touchdown for the day. Seneca Wallace had 184 yards and one touchdown with an interception thrown in for good measure. Phil Dawson scored 11 points and was perfect with three good field goals. I would say it was a good combined offensive effort after all is said and done.

The game ball however goes to the defense this week even though Owens continuously burned the secondary with 222 yards but amazingly only one score. They pretty much harassed Carson Palmer with seven QB hits and four sacks. That harassement resulted in two Palmer fumbles that went the Bowns way. The last one came at a crucial time and gave the ball to the Browns to finish out the game.

The Bengals have been floundering since the beginning of the season despite what should be a one-two punch in their receiving core, Owens and Ochocinco. Todays loss to Cleveland puts them at 2-2. The road ahead for the Browns is treacherous and slippery.
 
Pittsburgh was stunned by Baltimore and host Cleveland next. The Steelers no doubt will have fresh in mind the loss Cleveland handed them in their last meeting and this weeks stinging loss. It looks to be a punishing game. An opportunity presents itself for the Browns with Roethlisberger still out and contigent on whether they will be able to weather the Steelers defensive onslaught. After that they face the stumbling New Orleans Saints in the Superdome who barely survived Carolina. First, Cleveland will have to ground the Falcons this weekend. If the Browns prevail over the next three weeks, expectations will heighten and anything can be possible.

Week Four NFL Picks-Will This Be The Week Browns?

I for one can't wait until Jake Delhomme is back out on the field calling the shots. Seneca Wallace has not impressed me. Although he had 18 completions in the Baltimore game, 7 of them were to Hillis, which means he is throwing short. Unless the Browns threaten the secondary of their opponents with shots down the field the outcome is going to be the same every week. They are not like the Steelers who can win on just running. Hillis had a good game running with 144 yards, but face it, that will not happen consistently.

The Bengals are coming to town and this Sunday is a must win or it's going to be a long and frustrating season for the Dawgs and the fans. Mohamed Massaquoi says in reference to the passing game 'it's early', but the dark clouds are amassing on the horizon quickly and everybody knows what that means in Northeast Ohio, a long and cold winter.

I was 7-9 in Week Three of my picks. I am going to have to think out of the box more if I am going to improve on my picks. The Saints lost in a shocker. Although, as I said last week New Orleans has not been impressive and Atlanta could surprise them and guess what, they did. Minnesota and Dallas finally got their first wins, Cowboys against the redhot Texans and the Vikings against the not so redhot Lions. They both have a bye this Sunday.

St. Louis and Seattle both got first wins and they did on the road against teams you thought they would have lost to. This week they play each other. Rams' Jackson is improving from an injury but still out of practice and iffy. Seattle beat San Diego despite Rivers throwing for 455 yards and Tobet running for 73. What happen? The Seahawks were ball hawking and forced 5 turnovers. St Louis doesn't stand a chance against Seattle. Neither does Detroit against Green Bay with the Packers breathing fire from their loss to Chicago.

Three games to watch are Baltimore at Pittsburgh, Washington at Philadelphia, and Chicago at NY Giants. Flacco is coming off an impressive showing with his three touchdown passses against hapless Cleveland. He will be facing a much more staunch defense in the ever aggressive Steeler secondary with Polamalu roaming wild. Got to give the edge to the Steelers. Vick is back in form for the Eagles and will prove to be to much for Washington. Chicago is flying high after stunning the Packers in the final seconds of a hotly contested game. True, the Packers shot themselves in the foot with all those penalties and losing a fumble in the final minutes courtesy of Urlacher. That's what it is all about and that's what wins games. Watch out New York, the Bears are coming to town with an attitude.

That's my take this week and these are my picks. Thinking out of the box. Oh, Cincinnati coming to Cleveland. What does the box say? Mangini, get Joshua Cribbs to go long a few times and let's see what happens, or Massaquoi, or somebody. Take a chance, you may be surprised at what happens. You couldn't do any worse.

 

SUN, OCT 3 TIME (ET)

San Francisco 18 at Atlanta 24 1:00 PM FOX Tickets W
Georgia Dome
Cincinnati 23 at Cleveland 24 1:00 PM CBS Tickets W
Cleveland Browns Stadium
NY Jets 30 at Buffalo 20 1:00 PM CBS Tickets W
Ralph Wilson Stadium
Seattle 20 at St. Louis 17 1:00 PM FOX Tickets L
Edward Jones Dome
Denver 21 at Tennessee 28 1:00 PM CBS Tickets L
LP Field
Detroit 15 at Green Bay 34 1:00 PM FOX Tickets W
Lambeau Field
Baltimore 23 at Pittsburgh 27 1:00 PM CBS Tickets L
Heinz Field
Carolina 17 at New Orleans 37 1:00 PM FOX Tickets W
Superdome
Indianapolis 34 at Jacksonville 13 4:05 PM CBS Tickets L
EverBank Field
Houston 25 at Oakland 20 4:05 PM CBS Tickets W
Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
Washington 18 at Philadelphia 27 4:15 PM FOX Tickets L
Lincoln Financial Field

Arizona 17 at San Diego 28 4:15 PM FOX Tickets W

Qualcomm Stadium

Chicago 24 at NY Giants 27 8:20 PM NBC Tickets W

New Meadowlands Stadium

MON, OCT 4 TIME (ET)

New England 32 at Miami 20 8:30 PM Tickets

Sun Life Stadium

Week Three NFL Picks-Put Them On Ice.

Iced- 1. to put in ice. 2. covered with ice. 3. to freeze a field goal attempt by means of a time-out. Washington's Gano had a chill run up his spin after he found out his field goal attempt that passed through the uprights for the potential win was iced. His next attempt went wide right and the Redskins went from elation to cold hard reality in a matter of seconds, a stunning loss to Houston. Timing is everything. Another case in point. Troy Polamalu launched himself over the Titan's offensive line and landed on the Titan's quarterback all made possible by perfect timing of the count and snap. Steelers beat the Titans 19-11 and Week Two of the 2010 season is now history.

I improved my picks to 9-7 for the week. Week Three, anything can happen. Minnesta is 0-2 and desparately in need of a victory. Fortunately they are facing Detroit at home, but don't count Detroit out so easily. Brett Favre needs to chill and not press the panic button. Run, screen, run Brett. Minnesota should win. Dallas is 0-2 also. They need to press the panic button. Houston is hitting on all cylinders. Watch out if Houston's running and passing game merge. I give this one to the Texans.

Philadelphia's Andy Reid has been playing the roulette wheel in his quarterback decision concerning who he is going with, but it seems the ball has landed on Vick's number, for now. Vick had a great game against Detroit. The jury is still out on this one because that was Detroit, Jacksonville is next and after them is Washington. The Jaguars are tough at home. Garrard had a melt down with four interceptions against the Chargers. If the Jaguars establish a solid running attack they will be in it.

The Cleveland Browns play the Ravens in Baltimore. If I were to go by statistics the Ravens would be my choice. The Browns need to win or its going to be a repeat of 2009. Joshua Cribbs is going to be the difference in this one, if Mangini gets his head out of the clouds and manages the talent. Here we go Brownies, here we go. The Patriots, Colts, and San Diego should win. New Orleans has not looked impressive and Altanta could surprise them. The game to watch will be the Jets and Dolphins. It will be Miami hot and both teams will be doing some heavy sweating. Maybe they will get cooled off by an iced field goal attempt. As to who, take your pick.
 
SUN, SEP 26 TIME (ET)
Tennessee 23 at NY Giants 24 1:00 PM CBS Tickets L
New Meadowlands Stadium
Pittsburgh 18 at Tampa Bay 17 1:00 PM CBS Tickets W
Raymond James Stadium
Cincinnati 24 at Carolina 18 1:00 PM CBS Tickets W
Bank of America Stadium
Cleveland 20 at  18 Baltimore 1:00 PM CBS Tickets L
M&T Bank Stadium
Dallas 20 at Houston 28 1:00 PM FOX Tickets L
Reliant Stadium
San Francisco 23 at Kansas City 21 1:00 PM FOX Tickets L
Arrowhead Stadium
Detroit 15 at Minnesota 27 1:00 PM FOX Tickets W
Metrodome
Buffalo 17 at New England 28 1:00 PM CBS Tickets W
Gillette Stadium
Atlanta 23 at New Orleans 24 1:00 PM FOX Tickets W
Superdome
Washington 20 at St. Louis 10 4:05 PM FOX Tickets L
Edward Jones Dome
Philadelphia 27 at Jacksonville 24 4:05 PM FOX Tickets W
EverBank Field
Oakland 23 at Arizona 18 4:15 PM CBS Tickets L

U of Phoenix Stadium

San Diego 30 at Seattle 12 4:15 PM CBS Tickets L

Qwest Field

Indianapolis 34 at Denver 20 4:15 PM CBS Tickets W

Invesco Field at Mile High

NY Jets 20 at Miami 21 8:20 PM NBC Tickets L

Sun Life Stadium

MON, SEP 27 TIME (ET) 

Green Bay 27 at Chicago 24 8:30 PM Tickets L

Soldier Field

The Browns Bark Is Bigger Than Their Bite-Lose to Kansas City

Here we go again Brown's fans, here we go. Wimper Wimper. Week Two, another weak showing and another killer interception. One bright spot out of the whole game was the 65 yard reception-touchdown by Joshua Cribbs. Other than that, the Browns made only one trip to the red zone with a poor third down efficiency to match and were a no-show in the second half. Mangini needs to stabilize the offense by making up his mind as to who is going to play what. Uncertainty wreaks havoc on a teams cohesion.

The Browns defense stood tough and it was the nose of the ball that finally sealed the Browns fate. The defense didn't allow one offensive touchdown and had two picks. The secondary limited Matt Cassel to 176 yards, but the line gave up 132 yards on the ground to Jones and Charles. Dawson's missed field goal could have been the clincher but there are just to many variables in a game to say that with any certainty.

Quote, "It's not good football," Mangini said. "It's not smart football. It's not winning football. We can't play that way." Mangini should have said, "It's not good coaching. It's not smart football. It's not winning football. We can't coach that way." Attitude reflects leadersip. It's the task of the coaching staff to organize the talent it has chosen into one cohesive unit where each of its parts enhances the other. Mangini needs to go back to what began the four game win streak last season.

The Browns needed to win these first two games because it is only going to get worse from here with a tough, no-breather schedule ahead. Meanwhile, the Steelers continue to find ways to win and the Bengals field goaled their way to victory. So, where does that leave the Browns? It leaves them at the bottom of the barrel, in the cellar, ground zero. You can't get any worse than that. What's it going to be Mangini? Can you pull off a Houdini and come back from the dead?
 
Question: I wonder if Jake Delhomme's injury really kept him out of the game or it was an opportunity for a look-see what Seneca Wallace could do? Just a thought.