8-6 last week (the night games are KILLING me)… not awful (damn you Packers)…. But still…. 48-28 on the season ain’t too bad… and it’s one of my favorite weekends of football… the Dallas Cowboy bye week….so I can watch all the games without stress and aggravation… and more important annoy pouting Eagles fans with the trash games of the week since we own this side of the bar at Sun Tavern no doubt!!!

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Sunday Oct 18:....

Texans at Bengals:

An interesting game in a lot of ways…. The Bengals are playing over their heads (look who they’ve beaten)… and the Texicans seem to fold at any chance of adversity this year (the Jet loss… that IDIOTIC goal line play call sequence… if you want to pound it up the middle on 4^th and 1 and have you have the WR corps they have in Houston SPREAD THE FIELD… go four wide and try to open up the middle… at least then you can check off and go over the top to Andre Johnson.. not like he had two TDs or something Sunday?)… I’d love to take the Texcians here since they are an every other week kinda teams, but the Bengals really believe in themselves now and they have the QB, a running game… defense and a passing game… and like I said the Texicans come up softer then Dick Cheney sans Viagra (gotta love that visual eh??) …. An intriguing watch though!

Prediction:  Bengals

Game Quality:  *** ¼

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..Detroit.. at ....Green Bay....:

So you get pounded by your douchebag ex-QB and then have a whole bye week to sit and think about that pounding… fret not… the Lions are in town… all is good again kids!!!! No ..Stafford.. and now Calvin Johnson isn’t practicing… holy hell this is not a good sign for the Lions….hey when do they play the Redskins… shit THEY DID… FML, ....Detroit.... style… well there’s always the Red Wings… oh wait they suck too…. Do they play the Bills?? (Please God… I love my anti-football!!)

Prediction: Packers

Game Quality:  ½

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Rams at Jaguars:

It’s a shame the Jaguars are an OK team… or this would be a 5-stat epic classic of Pigskin Entertainment… but they have some things going for them and they gotta be pissed off after that Rodney King style beatdown they took in Seattle last week….hell this is proof MJ-D called himself “the second highest paid decoy this side of Reggie Bush” (his words but an awesome slam of Reggie Bush too)…. Somehow I think the Jaguars are gonna smoke em like it’s 4:20….

Prediction:  Jaguars

Game Quality: * ¾

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Ravens at Vikings:

Damn these two teams match up well don’t they??? This is gonna be one of those games the Ravens man up and slow down the run (though I will be the first to admit the Raven defense is a bit overrated right now… just ask Cedric Benson….)… and we know how I feel about the Vikings… it’s been a bit of luck and a lot of lesser opponents, this may be the week that battered old douchebag needs to air it out and pray his garbage WR corps bails him out again… this is gonna be a good game and you’ll be watching it come 4:00 too…  I do think the Ravens are the more desperate team in purple here… and I think that’s gonna come into play here

Prediction: Ravens (but obviously I could be wrong, I’m only 64% accurate… something Brady Quinn can only dream of)

Game Quality: ****

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NY Giants at Saints::

Did you know that the Giants opponents until now had a COMBINED six wins…. And ....Dallas.... had three of them?? Now we get a feel for how good the Geographically Confused “....New York....” team really is… I think the Saints could be the best team in football right now… so obviously they are atop the NFC.. and they’re home, and seem to be more complete a TEAM then the Giants are now… the Saints can run the ball, make plays on defense and oh yeah the Drew Brees guy too…. Not to sell the Giants short… if this was in the crappy Swamp I’d pick them… but Saints at home and that team is too much… the Saints may not lose at home all year……

Prediction: Saints

Game Quality: ***** (maybe best game of the year so far)

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Browns at Steelers:

Note to the Browns… you may want to complete more then two passes in this game kids J….the Steelers haven’t exactly been world beaters and the injuries are piling up on their defense… the running game is still weak (but Mendenhall is showing signs of life), but I think the Browns winning two in a row is HIGHLY unlikely anyway….

Prediction: Steelers

Game Quality: ** (one for each Browns completion last week!)

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..Carolina.. at ....Tampa.. ..Bay....:

Wow, another game on the edge of being 5-star anti-football!!!! But sadly I think ....Carolina.... is on the verge of turning it around… the schedule helps…. And ..Tampa.. seems to be getting beatdown by the beatdowns (hell they lost to ....BUFFALO.... for God’s sake!) and the resistance seems to lessen week by week….maybe FINALLY I can get a big Goddamned game outta DeAngelo Williams… PLEASE???

Prediction: ....Carolina....

Game Quality: * ½

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....Kansas City.... at Redskins:

OH MY GOD NOW THIS IS THE TYPE OF ANTI-FOOTBALL I AM TALKING ABOUT!!!! If you are not a Chiefs or Redskins fan I am serious… WATCH THIS GAME… you will laugh your ass off!! To me this is really what football is about (I know I am weird about this)… these kinda games are FUN… where else can you laugh and stare in disbelief at checkdowns on a hail mary pass… or a team losing to a two completion effort?? These games offer much entertainment and you NEVER know where it’s coming from!!!! (and they make you feel better about your team!)… weird fun fact, never in the NFL before had a team played SIX games to start the season against winless teams (and think about that… the Redskins only won TWO of them…..) PUT THIS ON THE TV BABY HERE WE GO!!!!

Prediction:  Chiefs (I love punishment what can I say?)

Game Quality:  ***** anti-football GEM!!!!

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4pm:....

Eagles at Raiders:

The Giant players called playing the Raiders last week an overblown scrimmage… honestly from the 40 seconds I watched of that disaster I can’t say I blame them… the Raiders may have the worst offense in NFL history (even being Captain Checkdown would be an UPGRADE here)… and the Eagles are starting to fatten up on the cheese in their schedule…. But for GOD’S SAKE WHERE’S THE BIG GAME OUT OF BRIAN WESTBROOK??? Time to get him in the games too!!!! I can’t waste time on the Raiders…. sorry

Prediction: Eagles

Game Quality: DUD

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..Arizona.. at ....Seattle....:

Kinda important game in the NFC West… the winner gets to be within sniffing distance of the 49ers who are off this week… and Seattle looked VERY good in stomping out the Jaguars last week and added a sense of homefield dominance again (amazing what having a Pro Bowl level QB back in the lineup does to a team)… While Arizona did all it could to blow it last week, but the Texicans wanted to lose more…..still a good game as these teams are pretty evenly matched, but Seattle at home always means something….

Prediction: ....Seattle....
Game Quality: *** ¾

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Titans at Patriots:

Dammit.. what the hell happened to the Titans? Is it Haynesworth? I don’t know.. not like he’s setting the world on fire in ....Washington.... (but playing with that team will kill your spirit….Some of it is Kerry Collins… Drunken Kerry is not the long term answer in the NFL anymore and the magic wore off there…. Lord knows why they don’t even try to Wildcat Vince Young and get him in the game somehow…. They can still run the ball like champs… but their receivers drop the ball more then the guys I watch football do with the ladies (oh snap… he went there!) … but still 0-5… really? In 2009? Do they play the Redskins yet? The Patriots have more issues then a certain 2am texter I know also… Tom Brady is having that standard “crappy year after knee surgery thing” it’s normal… you don’t feel right in your body and you question it…they don’t run the ball well and the defense is spotty-willy at best….. this is a winnable game for the Titans but damn them I am done with that now……

Prediction: Pats (screw you Titans!)

Game Quality:  ** ¾ (it will be a battle… I hope…)

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NY Jets at Bills:

CAPTAIIINNNNNNN CHECKDDOOOOOWWWWNNNN!!!! It’s gonna be ugly today, I got the feeling the Jets are gonna come out with some Mattitude in this game, after all walking down the field on big Rex is like walking into his house and stepping on his babies… with cleats on…..and the Bills do a wonderful job of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory! The Jets can’t lose this game… but it could be amusing…. T.O.e trade talks are all over the place…. Coach getting fired?? The Sabres outscoring the Bills… oh it’s a mess in the land of the ....Buffalo...., there’s no way I can expect them to win a football game here….

Prediction: Jets

Game Quality: ** ½ (+1 star for ....Buffalo.... jokes!)

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820pm:....

Bears at ....Atlanta....:
Oh boy… the night games…now it’s all pressure to get these damn games right.. booo!

I’m still not sold on Atlanta (yes they pounded the 49ers last week, but if you take a 10 point lead o a team that doesn’t have Frank Gore it’s good game time), and I gotta admit, maybe Jay Cutler was the answer in Chicago (though give the guy credit in Denver who took his place too… I’ll get to him)… the Bears look like a more balanced team now and not one that goes out happy to not turn the ball over and let the defense do it’s thing… this has to be the first Prime Time game in Atlanta since Jamal Anderson, which means maybe half the building will have fans in it :p… I just still ain’t big on the Faclons yet… maybe they can prove me wrong this week…..

Prediction: Bears

Game Quality: *** ½

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Monday Oct 12:....

..Denver.. at ....San Diego....:....

This should be a good game… but the Broncos are playing awesome football now… timely passing… solid running… and my God that defense! And ....San Diego.... on the other hand…. Can’t run the ball well… the defense and Merriman is getting called out by his GM and the D has been small all year so far… but this is what the Chargers do.. they start slow and then look invincible come thanksgiving and beyond….the problem is they lose here and it’s four games behind the Broncos, that’s a SERIOUS hill to climb… but I’ve been fooled by the “well they’re desperate they’ll put up this week” theory… and this week I SELL on that one… should be a good game and the Chargers won’t lie down… they just won’t win either…..

Prediction: Broncos

Game Quality: *** ¾

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Power Rankings Week One:....

NFC:
1. NY Giants: Pre-School’s over… time for a real test

2. Saints: For real? We’ll know by 4pm…..

3. ....Minnesota....:  Another team with the spotlight on them….

4. Bears: Wow… two NFC Central teams in there.. oh how times have changeed

5. ..Atlanta..: Was torn between Atlanta/San Fran and Phily… none of them really stand out… but I guess since ....Atlanta.... pounded the 9ers they get the nod…..

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AFC:....

1. ....Denver....: … Broncos hear voices in their head thanks to Orton and the voices are saying this team is GOOD

2. ....Cincinnati....: Shock team in the NFL, no doubt about it… but the quality wins speak volumes!

3. Colts:  Smoke, mirrors, good schedule and quarterbacking… it’s a good combo, this team will smack you in the face with its fail in the playoffs though

4. Steelers: Only 3-2 team that won… but Christ it was the Lions…..

5. Ravens: Need to spend money bribing the refs and not paying post-game fines….