Week Two Picks

Jets at Patriots (-9)

Yup, this game already happened. (I made the pick in my chat Thursday with Andrew Mount, which you can listen to here.) It was a closely fought game between two division rivals. If you missed it, you really dropped the ball. And that makes certain people mad.

Pick: Jets

Rams at Falcons (-7.5)

Steven Jackson gets to play against his old team, the St. Louis Rams, where he spent nine years, mostly on pretty crappy teams. Now he is on a Super Bowl contender in the Falcons, who will be looking to revenge their week one loss to the Saints. They will likely do so, and by more than 7.5 points. Just too much offensive talent.

Pick: Falcons

Panthers at Bills (+2.5)

This should actually be a sneaky good game to watch, as we get to watch two young quarterbacks in Cam Newton going up against E.J. Manuel. Manuel had a decent debut in the Bills near-upset of the Pats in week one. The Panthers defense managed to contain Marshawn Lynch last week, but will they be able to contain another great running back this week in C.J. Spiller?

Pick: Bills (and to win)

Vikings at Bears (-6.5)

Adrian Peterson didn’t take long to justify his number one overall pick status in your fantasy league, by rushing for a 78-yard touchdown. However, he only had 93 yards the whole game. Meanwhile, Jay Cutler had maybe his best game as a Bear last week, especially making throws under pressure in their comeback win against the Bengals. The Bears should deliver the Vikings a second straight divisional loss, making repeating their fluky playoff appearance of last year doubtful.

Pick: Bears

Browns at Ravens (-6.5)

I was wondering which team the NFL would give to the Ravens in week two following their “Away from Home” opener, and sure enough it’s the Browns because #GodHatesCleveland.

Pick: Ravens

Cowboys at Chiefs (-2.5)

Andy Reid’s revenge tour against the NFC East begins against the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys barely won in week one even though they had 6 takeaways, so expect game-manager Alex Smith to be extra game-manger-y and take care of the football.

Pick: Chiefs

Redskins at Packers (-7.5)

Both of these playoff teams took losses in week one. The Packers gave up 400+ yards in the air to Colin Kaepernick and the Niners. Meanwhile, the Redskins looked both terrible on offense and unable to figure out Chip Kelly’s “offense of the future” in the first half. We’ll see if Washington is more the team from the first half or the second one today, but I think the Redskins may be in trouble.

Pick: Packers

Titans at Texans (-9.5)

Week two is hard to pick since it’s difficult to know what you should take away from week one and what was just a fluke. Are the Titans good? Is Pittsburgh bad? Are the Texans not as good as we thought, or was that just a normal Chargers choke job? It’s tough to know for sure, but I think the Titans might be good enough to compete in this division. I’m picking the Titans here, which might be crazy, but I can assure you that crazier things have happened in week two. Seriously, crazier things.

Pick: Titans (and to win)

Dolphins at Colts (-3.5)

Mike Wallace was a non-factor in the Dolphins’ week one victory. He made a point that he was frustrated with his role. Keep in mind that they won that game. I’m sure this situation won’t worsen if they lose today…….

Pick: Dolphins

Chargers at Eagles (-7.5)

Man that game felt like a classic Norv Turner collapse…of course without the Norv. In regards to this game though, what if the Eagles’ new style of offense doesn’t work throughout the whole season – rather just a half of one game? Color me impressed, but not 100% sold.

Pick: Chargers

Lions at Cardinals (+1.5)

The Lions actually looked very good in their week one win against the Vikings. I think they roll here too. I also think I don’t watch one second of this game.

Pick: Lions

Saints at Bucs (+4.5)

Bucs lost in week one to the team that couldn’t beat the Patriots when they played their worst offensive game in the past 13 years. So, yeah, I’m taking the Saints.

Pick: Saints

Broncos at Giants (+5.5)

This seems like a standard Giants’ “Comeback after a head-scratching loss with a signature win over a good team” game, which obviously scares me. This could be first team to 50 wins, since the Broncos have relatively nothing of a pass rush and the receiving corps of Cruz, Nicks, and Randle, along with TE Brandon Myers all seem in sync with Eli Manning – and since the Broncos have Peyton Manning and a nice trio of wideouts of their own. This game could go either way, so I’ll take the points.

Pick: Giants

Jaguars at Raiders (-6.5)

I actually had the Oakland Raiders to win by 7 points in this game (that’s how bad I think the Jaguars are) before I was reminded that Chad Henne will start this game for the Jags, who is actually competent unlike Blaine Gabbert.

Pick: Jaguars

Niners at Seahawks (-2.5)

There’s a great chance whichever team wins this division is going to the Super Bowl. And winning this game would go a long way in accomplishing the first part of that. I don’t think CK throws for 400+, but I do think he leads his team to victory on the road in Seattle, despite a bounce-back great game from Marshawn Lynch.

Pick: Niners (and to win)

Steelers at Bengals (-6.5)

I know better than to count out the Steelers (well any team coached by Mike Tomlin for that matter), but needless to say they did not look good in week one. The Bengals did look good but didn’t get the job done against the Bears. This time I think they do.

Pick: Bengals

Last Week:

0-0

This week:

1-0  (straight up and vs. spread)

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Week 2 - Power Rankings

Andrew Mount and Romo discuss their top 10 teams, preview the Thursday night game, and put the final nail in week one's coffin. Tweet

AFC Preview 2013

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NFC Preview 2013 (Part 2)

Part 2 with Breaking Bad and MTV's Challenge analysis Tweet

NFC Preview 2013 (Part 1)

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Super Bowl XLVII Preview and 2012 Season in Review

Colin Kaepernick and the Niners are one win away from giving the San Fran their sixth Super Bowl Championship.

It always pains me a little the moment the Super Bowl ends and it dawns on me that there will not be football again for a long time. It’s like the last chorus in the encore of a band that doesn’t tour all the time, or the last bite from a meal you got from a restaurant that’s about to shutdown. 

And while you would not realize it if you solely got your football updates from this blog (hooray for my second post on the NFL this season! my first being a preview article! -- update: the Panthers did NOT make the playoffs like I predicted), this season, which was fantastic, is about to come to an end.

Sure, it will culminate with the San Francisco 49ers facing the Baltimore Ravens in New Orleans (is it just me, or do their head coaches look kind of alike?) but this season was not without its share of noteworthy storylines from start to finish. So before I cover the game tonight, let’s look back at the 2012-13 season.

The 2012 rookie class was okay, I guess.

New Kids on the Block

Last night it was announced among many other things that Robert Griffin III won the NFL Rookie of the Year award. While I personally believe that Russell Wilson had a better season, you simply could not go wrong in handing the award to Griffin, Wilson, or Indianapolis QB, Andrew Luck. The seasons that each of the three of them had were tremendous, and the 2012 draft class of QB’s may go down as the best since 1983 when it is all said and done.

Griffin, who won the award, was by far the most exciting player of the three to watch. What sets him apart from the typical mobile quarterback is how accurate he was this season. Griffin finished with a 65.6 completion percentage and a 20-5 touchdown-interception ratio. His signature performance happened on October 14, when he led the Redskins to a 38-26 victory over the Minnesota Vikings, throwing for a touchdown and running for 138 yards, breaking off a game-clinching 76-yard touchdown run in the process. He also led his team to six straight wins to finish the season to give the Redskins the NFC East title.

Luck, the heir apparent to Peyton Manning in Indianapolis, threw for the most yards of the three, throwing for 4374 and 23 touchdowns. He also led the Colts to an 11-5 record one year after the Colts finished with just 2 wins, doing so with Vick Ballard as his leading rusher and T.Y. Hilton as his leading receiver. 

Wilson, who was selected in the third round, threw for the most touchdowns of the three of them with 26 and just 10 interceptions. He led the Seahawks to an 11-5 record and a wild card playoff birth. He finished the season only throwing 2 picks in his last 8 games, and led his team to score 150 points in a three-game period. All three had tremendous seasons and I’m excited to see what each can do next season and throughout their respective careers.

Peyton Manning and Adrian Peterson both had MVP type seasons.

Peyton Manning and Adrian Peterson Comebacks

One had four neck surgeries and threw for over 4600 yards and 37 touchdowns, and the other finished nine yards short of the single season rushing record after tearing his ACL last December. Peyton Manning won Comeback Player of the Year, and Adrian Peterson won Offensive Player of the Year and the Most Valuable Player award. It is truly incredible how both players had such amazing seasons after their respective injuries. 

Manning of course came over to Denver from Indianapolis. He had a fantastic second half of the season and led his team to 11 straight wins and the best record in the AFC. Doctors told him that he would be smarter if he just retired. Adrian Peterson not only had his best season as a pro, but did so only missing one game after tearing his ACL, many wondering if he would ever be his same dominant self. 

Unfortunately, this happened.

The Replacement Refs 

If you have the pleasure of following me on Twitter at @AdamRomo14 (or just been around me during the first half of the season), you know that I think Roger Goodell completely effed up the first half of the season by not getting a deal done with the regular refs. I get that the regular refs are not perfect, but the game is supposed to be about the players. The game is about the best athletes displaying their talents against each other. The rest of the factors affecting a game should be as minimal as possible. That especially means the referees. 

Fans want to watch players, not refs. So if there is a way to get the calls as right as often as possible, as a commissioner you need to do everything within your power to get that to happen. This of course was highlighted in the fiasco between Green Bay and Seattle on Monday Night Football, when Golden Tate was credited with a TD catch that was actually an interception. Luckily, the incident faced enough backlash that a deal had to be reached, and the rest of the season saw the regular referees back in action. While not perfect, the people who best knew what they were doing were in place to sort out what goes on during a game, and that boosted the credibility of the game significantly.

I will likely see this image in my head until the 2013 season starts.

Super Bowl Prediction

I haven’t done that great picking games this postseason. I’ve gotten one game correct straight up from the Divisional round on (sorry Houston, even I knew you were no match for New England). Of course, against the spread I got both Championship games right, if you live in Nevada and you’re in to that whole gambling thing.

To start, let me say that San Francisco is such a different type of team than the Ravens have faced this postseason. Peyton Manning and Tom Brady are two of the best quarterbacks in the game, but at their ages, once you get enough pressure on them, the play is over. Neither are going to scramble and turn the play into a positive gain; it’s going to be an incompletion, sack, or worse. 

Colin Kaepernick is different. He can make something out of nothing, and capitalize when you do give him something. His ability to make big plays down the field has been an area of concern when Jim Harbaugh made the switch to him midseason, but he has answered the call, especially in the Niners last two playoff games.

But the Ravens can make big plays downfield too. Torrey Smith was great in the Denver game, and Anquan Boldin has quietly been the Ravens best offensive player this postseason, almost single-handedly beating the Colts and converting several key third downs in the Broncos and Patriots games. 

While I generally think that momentum is overrated, especially in the playoffs, this Ravens team seems to fit the mold that has a belief that they are going to win no matter what the odds are, and also that nobody else thinks that they can win the game. That being said, the 49ers defense had an off game against the Falcons and still managed to hold Atlanta scoreless in the second half. What are the odds that they have two off games in a row?

Niners cornerbacks have to play better than they did in the NFC Championship if they want to win. Smith and Boldin will give them all they can handle.

Super Bowls, for whatever reason, are usually hard to predict to a T. They always differ than whatever conventional logic seems to say. Maybe it’s the fact that I haven’t really thought either team has played that well this season, maybe it’s the close spread, or maybe it’s the pregame mimosas, but I have really struggled with this pick all week. I think the Niners are the better team, but I think that the Ravens have come up with a system of throws that Joe Flacco is comfortable with, including deep balls to Smith sprinkled in between handoffs to Rice and throws across the middle to the tight ends and Boldin. When it’s all said and done I actually trust Flacco right now and whatever is the driving force behind is recent play more than I do a first year starting quarterback, even if he is as dynamic as Kaepernick. The pick is Ravens 30, Niners 26. But, maybe that’s just because I’m looking forward to lighting shit on fire tonight in Federal Hill. Oh well.

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MLB Postseason Preview: How Everybody's Postseason Will End

 

Normally I do a detailed preview of who I think is going to win in the postseason and analyze each team’s strengths and weaknesses and examine what to look forward to in each matchup. But because, as a Phillies fan, I really think baseball kinda sucked this year, I am in a vengeful mood. Thus, not at all maliciously, I will just preview how each team’s season will end. This should be fun, I can’t wait.

Texas Rangers – Normally they dominate the American League in the postseason. Then they get to the World Series and lose to an average at best National League team (that somehow makes it past the top teams in the NL, but enough about that). But I can’t really explain the Orioles’ success this year, so let’s just say they’re average at best too. Needless to say, that spells doom for the Rangers, as they lose in the opening game, despite Yuuuuuuuuuu striking out 13.

Atlanta Braves – Last year they had a historical September collapse and missed the postseason by one game to the St. Louis Cardinals. This year, they can get their revenge by playing them in a one-game playoff. But once again, the Cards get the better of them and win in a close, 2-1 game in extra innings. What’s worse, the game is 1-1 before Craig Kimbrel comes in and gives up a go-ahead rbi-double to David Freese. The pitcher has a slightly better time than last time his team was eliminated. Also, Chipper Jones cries.

Detroit Tigers – Verlander has a strong showing in game 1. Miguel Cabrera hits 3 homers in the first two games.  And Papa Grande closes the door on both save opportunities. Everything looks good. Until rumor starts leaking that Mike Trout is going to win the MVP award. Then Cabrera gets pissed, and he starts hitting the sauce. Suddenly he can’t hit the ocean if he fell out of a boat. Prince Fielder, without his slugging third baseman in front of him, also goes cold (luckily for all of us who don’t like earthquakes, he does not fall out of a boat). They end up losing in round one after being up 2-0 in the series.

Washington Nationals – In a close first round matchup, the Nationals go back and forth and tie the series to make it 2-2. But then on the day of game 5, the equipment manager messes up and prints “Natinals” on the teams jerseys again. These uniforms cause the DC squad to go back to their days of playing like crap (not that that was all that long ago), and they lose in the final game 7-1. When asked what kind of expression he felt best described this loss, Bryce Harper responds “That’s a frown question, bro.” (Sorry)

San Francisco Giants – Posey has a tremendous series, Cain pitches two extraordinary games, Lincecum goes back to the way he used to pitch when he was getting really high instead of just a little high, and the Giants go up 4-2 in a pivotal game 5 in the first round. Then, all of a sudden, it gets really humid. Suddenly, Brian Wilson’s “beard” falls off, and soon the rest of the bullpen’s “beards” fall off as well. Confused, and unable to pitch under normal conditions, the bullpen blows the lead and the Giants lose. Just for good measure, the Reds somehow sign Scott Cousins to freak the sh*t out of Posey all series.

Baltimore Orioles – After making it past the wild-card game, the O’s play the Yankees in the next round. Camden Yards is rocking during the first two games, and the Orioles go up 1-0 in the series. They then take the second game into extra innings, where they have an incredible record and feel confident about the outcome of this game too. But in the 13^th inning, Derek Jeter hits a fly ball to right-center and goes over the fence, barely. They take the lead, but the umps review it. On replay, it appears as though it should be called a ground-rule double, but the umps declare it a home-run. The crowd then starts chanting “bullsh*t” in unison so loudly that it can be heard clearly not only on TV, but also outside my window. Talk radio the next morning is filled with crazy people that say the refs screwed us over and that there should have been a flag and Showalter should have challenged the call. They go on to lose the next two games because they are the Orioles.

St. Louis Cardinals – After taking the wild-card game and the first round, many believe that the team that barely made it last year could have another miraculous run in October again. But they are down 3-2 in the series in a crucial Game 6. Game tied at 4, manager Mike Matheny makes a pitching change and asks for Jason Motte. Surprisingly, he actually gets Jason Motte and not Lance Lynn instead. Motte goes on to give up a two-run homer and seal the Redbirds’ fate. Ironically had Lance Lynn come in, he would have retired the batters in order.

Oakland A’s – The A’s march into the ALCS to everyone’s surprise with everyone praising Billy Beane for getting the most out of players like Brandon Moss and Coco Crisp and Jemille Weeks etc. The A’s are tied in the series 2-2 and Game 5 is a slugfest that is going into extra innings, 9-9. As the game carries on, the Fox broadcasters need time to fill, so they start panning around the Oakland stadium looking for famous people. They happen to come across JaMarcus Russell, former Oakland Raider quarterback and number one overall pick, in the first few rows, who has a lot of free time because he got cut from the Oakland Raiders. I can’t stress enough that he was picked with the first overall pick and got cut by the Oakland Raiders. His presence alone causes all Oakland players to start sucking and the A’s lose miserably. I hate the Raiders.

New York Yankees – After making it back to the World Series, the Yankees look like they are ready to reclaim the throne. Of course, getting to the Fall Classic was what Yankees fans expect anyway, especially if you told them before the season that in the AL playoffs you will have to face Baltimore and Oakland. But anyway, they are locked in a close series with the Cincinnati Reds. They are trailing the series 2-1, and were losing game four by one run most of the game. Still down one, top of the eighth with two outs, they are facing the Reds setup man, with the obvious thought of having to get a run off of Aroldis Chapman in the ninth looming. Suddenly, the most unlikely Yankee (let’s say…Eduardo Nunez…I don’t know why) hits a solo home run to tie the game! Now all they need to do is hold on and score some runs in the ninth. But with one out Rafael Soriano gives up a walk to Scott Rolen. For some reason, even though he is old and not that fast, Rolen steals second base during the next at-bat, and because no one is covering third, he KEEPS RUNNING to third base and makes it. Go ahead run is now 90 feet away and then all hell breaks loose and the Reds win 7-4, and the old veteran is praised as a genius. Reds go on to win in six, and somewhere (as if you couldn’t pick up on the similarities by now) Brad Lidge strokes a Cheshire cat in his lap and nods his head approvingly.

Cincinnati Reds –After winning the World Series, the Reds begin to celebrate. When the World Series trophy gets passed around, Aroldis Chapman lifts it up in jubilation. But at that moment, his throwing arm falls off from exhaustion because he is managed by Dusty Baker.

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