NFL Picks – Week Four
9/30/2010 | Posted by
Devin
Before we get to the picks, just a quick disclaimer. This past week was the last week my power rankings will be posted. I've had fun writing them for the better part of four years, but I need to turn my focus to writing more Bills and Sabres specific articles (since that is the focus of this site). Plus, I can only make the same jokes about Brett Favre, Ben Roethlisberger and the NFC West over and over again before they get old. Now with that out of the way, here are our picks for Week Four.
San Francisco 49ers @ Atlanta Falcons - As a Bills fan, I know that if there is one key to success in the regular season, it's firing the offensive coordinator very early into the season. If you couldn't tell, that last sentence is dripping in sarcasm. To put it lightly, the 2010 campaign for the 49ers has been a total disaster so far. They were a team picked to win the awful NFC West (crap, I did it again) and have so far failed to even appear competent in two of the three games. In fact, before the season I would've pegged them to start out 2-1, with the one loss being against New Orleans. I guess this shows how much I know about football
because the game against New Orleans was the only game the 49ers even came close to winning. If San Francisco continues to lose this season, might I suggest that they finally cut ties with Alex Smith and draft a new QB this April? Word on the street is that there will be three or four good QBs available.Atlanta comes into this game with a 2-1 record after beating the Super Bowl champs on the road. Their lone loss on the season came on the road at Pittsburgh, against a ridiculously good defense. Really, there's no shame in that. When given the opportunity against a lesser team, Atlanta throttled the Cardinals to the tune of 41-7. I don't think this game will be that big of a blowout, but I also don't think the Niners stand chance. (Atlanta)
New York Jets @ Buffalo Bills – Speaking of teams that don't stand a chance, the Bills are hosting the Jets this Sunday. I got a kick out of the news that the Jets had put a waiver claim in on Trent Edwards this week. With Kellen Clemens and Mark Brunell already on the roster, why in the world would the Jets need Trent Edwards? The answer is simple really; to get information about the Bills the week they play them. It's a sad statement for the Jets. They are clearly a better team and they shouldn't need any help beating the Bills. If anything, this kind of tells me that maybe the Jets aren't quite as good as we think they are. Then again, maybe I'm looking too much into it.
In the department of making me look like an idiot, The Sanchize has thrown for 476 yards, six touchdowns and zero interceptions in the past two weeks. Not much I can say about him this week. As my mom always told me; if you can't say anything nice to someone, don't say anything at all.
I'm lying. That's just an old saying. My mom never told me that. (NY Jets)
Cincinnati Bengals @ Cleveland Browns – The Bengals might be the least impressive 2-1 team I've seen this season. Carson Palmer has a ton of weapons on offense and has done next to nothing with them. Besides the game on opening day where Palmer racked up a ton of garbage stats, his numbers have been very Trent Edwards like in the past two weeks. I had hope for Palmer going into the season and even picked him up on a few fantasy teams as a solid #2 guy, but I'm rethinking that strategy now. In fact, if he doesn't do something impressive in the next two weeks, I'm done with him. (Cincinnati)
Detroit Lions @ Green Bay Packers – So let me get this straight. The Lions haven't won a road game since Ronald Regan was president. The Packers are one of the five best teams in the league. The Lions are still starting Shaun Hill at QB. Jahvid Best is questionable and might not even play. Yeah, this is going to end will for the Lions. (Green Bay)
Denver Broncos @ Tennessee Titans – I would probably be picking the Titans over the Broncos no matter where it was played, but having the game in Tennessee just seals the deal with me. I've never been too crazy about West Coast teams traveling east for the early game on Sunday. I know it's not a full proof theory, but I'm going with it. (Tennessee)
Seattle Seahawks @ St. Louis Rams – Just stop. I've had enough of this division. I can't take it anymore. (Seattle)
Carolina Panthers @ New Orleans Saints – The Saints should be 3-0 but I guess you're bound to lose a few games when you have a crappy kicker. All that aside, they get Carolina at home and I'm like 99.9% certain that they will take their frustrations out on Jimmy Clausen and turn this game into a 20+ point blowout. Speaking of Clausen, his debut didn't go exactly as planned as he finished 16 for 33 with no touchdowns and two interceptions. Then again, after looking at Brady Quinn's numbers; that seems to be standard for Notre Dame QBs. (New Orleans)
Baltimore Ravens @ Pittsburgh Steelers – I'm not sure what the over/under is on this game, but I would bet my life savings on the under. I can't see this game having more than 23 points total. As we saw in Week One when the Ravens faced the Jets, in a low scoring defensive game, it's the team with the better QB that usually comes out on top. For that reason, I'm picking the Ravens on the road. Joe Flacco hasn't been that impressive so far this season, but I would pick him 10 out of 10 times against Chaz Batch. (Baltimore)
Indianapolis Colts @ Jacksonville Jaguars – Finally. I've made my living as a writer constantly making fun of the Jaguars for their awful home crowds. I was starting to tire out from it and was in desperate need of some new disparaging material against Jacksonville. Then they claimed Trent Edwards off waivers. (Indianapolis)
Houston Texans @ Oakland Raiders – This has trap game written all over it. I don't need to go back and look it up but every season the Raiders steal at least one victory at home against a far superior team. Because
I can't see the Texans losing another game this early and the fact that Oakland hosts Miami later in November, this probably isn't that game. Or at least I hope not. I need to keep my picks going. Did you realize last year after three weeks I was 34-14 at this point? I'm actually getting worse. What the…I thought I was getting better. (Houston)Arizona Cardinals @ San Diego Chargers – Arizona might be the worst 2-1 team on the planet. They beat the Rams and Sam Bradford on opening day by four points. Then they defeated Oakland at home by one point, benefitting from Sebastian Janikowski missing THREE field goals. So in theory, they should have lost by eight points. I have little to no doubt that my favorite college team (The U) would beat Arizona by at least 20 points on the road. The only way the Chargers lose this game is if Phillip Rivers tries to play QB and WR at the same time. (San Diego)
Washington Redskins @ Philadelphia Eagles – And here we are, the game everybody will be talking. Former Eagle Artis Hicks makes his return to Philadelphia, this time as a member of the Washington Redskins. It will be very interesting to see how the fans react to his return. My guess is they will cheer. Philadelphia fans are a tough crowd, but they should appreciate his time spent in Philly and now looking back on it, they must feel a little bad about the way it ended. However, the star of this game will be Michael Vick, as he continues his impressive play. He's going to garner a lot of attention this offseason. As he was getting out of prison, I was against him coming to Buffalo because in the past I was never impressed with his overall style of QB play. But this looks like a different guy all together and I have to admit, I would be very excited if the Bills had this version of Michael Vick on their team. If I were running the Bills, one option might be signing Vick for two years and drafting a QB with the top pick and allowing him to learn the game slowly instead of throwing him to the wolves. I don't know, just an idea. (Philadelphia)
Chicago Bears @ New York Giants – I always get super irritated with the Bears. I don't know what it is about them but they bug the hell out of me. Part of it probably stems from the fact that they are the luckiest team alive. I mean seriously, they made it to the Super Bowl with Rex Grossman as their QB. Now they have Jay Cutler, who is much better than Grossman, but 10 times more unlikeable. About the only thing I like on Chicago is Devin Hester. Partially for his name, partially because he represents The U. That's right, I got The U in this picks article twice. Get over it. (NY Giants)
New England Patriots @ Miami Dolphins – Bleh. I had the hardest time picking this game. On paper, the Patriots are the far superior team. But in the past five seasons, the Patriots are a combined 4-8 in Miami since the 1998 season. Adding that in with the atrocious New England secondary and this game is prime for a Miami upset. I still don't think they're a legit playoff contender though. (Miami)
Last Week: 10-6
Season: 30-18
Scott's Picks –
San Francisco 49ers @ Atlanta Falcons
New York Jets @ Buffalo Bills
Cincinnati Bengals @ Cleveland Browns
Detroit Lions @ Green Bay Packers
Denver Broncos @ Tennessee Titans
Seattle Seahawks @ St. Louis Rams
Carolina Panthers @ New Orleans Saints
Baltimore Ravens @ Pittsburgh Steelers
Indianapolis Colts @ Jacksonville Jaguars
Houston Texans @ Oakland Raiders
Arizona Cardinals @ San Diego Chargers
Washington Redskins @ Philadelphia Eagles
Chicago Bears @ New York Giants
New England Patriots @ Miami Dolphins
Last Week: 10-6
Season: 27-21
Here are the updated standings for mine and Scott's fantasy bet. I'm still up in 2 of the 3 leagues, despite Scott scoring way more points than me in the BZ Staff League. On the bright side for Scott, he pretty much has it wrapped up in his league because my team is a steaming pile of garbage.
BZ Staff League | ||
| Inebriaters v4.0 (Devin) | 3-0 | 245 |
| NC Ninjas (Scott) | 2-1 | 338 |
It's Just Pretend | ||
| NC Ninjas (Scott) | 3-0 | 377 |
| Buffalo Blaze (Devin) | 0-3 | 265 |
Lake Erie Football League | ||
| Buffalo Blizzard (Devin) | 3-0 | 413.5 |
| NC Ninjas (Scott) | 2-1 | 331 |
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