Week 2 – Sunday, September 20, 2009
Time to bounce back after a brutal Week 1.
Best Bets denoted by asterisk (*)
*Oakland (0-1) @ Kansas City (0-1) -3.5
Darren McFadden and the surprising talented offense of the Raiders will go into Arrowhead trying to prove their stellar performance against the Chargers wasn’t a fluke. KC doesn’t have the defense to stop them or the offense to keep up with Brodie Croyle at quarterback.
Raiders 20-16
Raiders 13-10
Jamarcus Russell with a huge final drive to win late on the road. Very impressive even if it was against the hapless Chiefs. Hey, refreshing change from telling a story about the hapless Raiders.
*Houston (0-1) @ Tennessee (0-1) -6.5
The Titans look to bounce back at home after a heartbreaking loss to division rival Pittsburgh last week. If the Texans can’t get pumped up at home against a rookie quarterback than what are they going to do here? The Titan defense will be way too much for the Texans who have yet to score offensively this year.
Titans 27-13
Texans 34-31
Texans bounce back from awful home opener where their only points came on a pick 6. Titans blew two 2 touchdown leads behing a stellar performance from Chris Johnson. Matt Schaub played great and Andre Johnson is a beast but this raises serious questions about the Titans defense.
Arizona (0-1) @ Jacksonville (0-1) -3.5
Jacksonville played Indy close last week but the game was not near as close as the score and conversely the Cardinals played better than people think. I think the Cardinals offense comes back to life and get in the win column on the road.
Cardinals 24-23
Cardinals 31-17
Jack Del Rio and the Jags have to be disappointed starting 0-2 and the Cards have to be excited about the big road win after a horrible week 1 performance at home to the 49ers.
New England (1-0) @ nyj (1-0) +5.5
Thanks Kerry Rhodes for ticking off Tom Brady and Bill Belichek.
Patriots 37-20
nyj 16-9
It pains me to say this but the nyj defense looks scary good and they’re still just learning Rex Ryan’s aggressive blitz package. Fans have to be excited “Gang Green”. Converesely, the Patriots and Tom Brady held without a touchdown for the first time in forever have to feel lucky to not be 0-2 after eeking out a victory on Leotis McKelvin’s bonehead decision to return that kickoff he fumbled last week opening the door for Brady.
Minnesota (1-0) @ Detroit (0-1) +9.5
Adrian Pederson may have 200 yards and 4 TD’s here. Home dogs on home openers are scary, especially when they are 9 ½ point dogs but the combination of a rookie qb against this stout Viking defense and AP against the Lions front 4 spells blowout.
Vikings 27-13
Vikings 27-13
Not often can you call a score exactly but it happens. Detroit fought hard but in the end the Vikings running game and defense was just to much to overcome. Detroit will find wins this year while Minnesota and Brett Favre will be a tough victory for anyone.
New Orleans (1-0) @ Philadelphia (1-0) -1.5
Mostly because I hate Philly and want New Orleans to win I’ll take them. I really do think the Eagles without McNabb are in trouble and despite a very solid Eagles defense I just think Drew Brees is on a mission and in the zone.
Saints 31-24
Saints 48-22
Add three more TD’s to Drew Brees’ stats and another 48 to the point total in another convincing offensive show by the Saints. Philly was without Donovan McNabb but I’m not so sure the results would have been much different. Both good teams and almost certainly playoff teams where we just may get to find out.
*St. Louis (0-1) @ Washington (0-1) -9.5
Washington played pretty well against the Giants last week in a hard fought grudge match so they welcome the Rams for their home opener. Washington will dominate both sides of the ball and cruise.
Redskins 31-13
Redskins 9-7
I don’t understand the Redskins. Are they good? Are they bad? Three field goals in your home opener against the Rams after a tough division loss to the Giants is pretty telling. They did get the win but sweating one out against the Rams makes you think they won’t win a game this year that isn’t decided in the final minute.
Carolina (0-1) @ Atlanta (1-0) -6.5
Another case of one team playing over their head and the other team not showing up in their first game. Atlanta looked spectacular against Miami last week but then again, that was Miami. I think Jake Delhomme and Company find more success this week and keep it close.
Falcons 23-17
Falcons 28-20
Atlanta looks great in moving to 2-0 and the score is closer than the game really was with Carolina scoring a touchdown late and even having a chance in the final seconds before the Falcons picked off Jake Delhomme on 4th and goal. Carolina goes to Dallas who is rebounding from a tough loss to the Giants and is staring 0-3 right in the eye. Not good since 0-3 generally spells a season lost.
Cincinnati (0-1) @ Green Bay (1-0) -9.5
Lambeau is a tough place to play and the Bengals aren’t exactly a great road team but I get the feeling Carson Palmer comes out slinging and improves drastically on the abysmal performance last week where they lost on Brandon Stokely’s fluky last second score.
Packers 24-23
Packers 31-24
The Bengals go into Lambeau and light it up after struggling mightily offensively to the Broncos last week. The Packers struggled all day and found themselves playing catchup. Huge bounce back win for Cincinnati if they think they can compete for the division and shocking loss for the Packers to open at home against a team they have to feel they should have beaten handedly.
Tampa Bay (0-1) @ Buffalo (0-1) -4.5
The Bills bounce back after their heartbreaking loss to the Patriots last week. The Bucs just have two many holes and injuries to pose a threat right now.
Bills 24-13
Bills 33-20
The Bills offense shredded the Bucs on the ground with Fred Jackson while T.O. and Trent Edwards took care of the passing game. Buffalo should be 2-0 after blowing that game last week against the Patriots and now with the nyj taking out NE it appears the AFC East is anyone’s ballgame. Tampa Bay will struggle to win 4 games this year.
Seattle (1-0) @ San Francisco (1-0) -1.5
The 49ers have quietly won 6 of their last 8 regular season games dating to last year continuing with an impressive road win in Arizona last week. The Seahawks are a different team away from home and the 49ers start the season 2-0.
49ers 27-23
49ers 23-10
The San Francisco 49ers are 2-0 and look to be one of the bigger early season surprise teams in beating the Seahawks coming off an impressive victory of their own in shutting out the lowly Rams 28-0. Seattle played poorly on the road as usuall and couldn’t muster any offense while Frank Gore broke 2 huge touchdown runs of 79 and 80 yards which proved to be more than enough.
Cleveland (0-1) @ Denver (1-0) -3.5
Denver isn’t very good at all but will likely start 2-0 playing a Cleveland team with no identity on offense and a less than dominant defense. Cleveland doesn’t travel well and the Broncos will be riding high – Mile High – after their miracle win in Cincinnati.
Broncos 24-20
Broncos 27-6
The Broncos are 2-0 and have to be happy about their start but I still think 8-8 is the best they can hope for while the Browns will be lucky to find 4 wins on their schedule.
Pittsburgh (1-0) @ Chicago (0-1) +2.5
Two physical teams facing one another after losing their best defensive players already. Troy Polamalu tweaked his knee and Brian Urlacher dislocated his wrist and is lost for the year. This will be a tight ball control game going down to the wire but I’ll take Pittsburgh simply because Chicago’s offense look horrible and that Steelers defense is nasty.
Steelers 20-17
Bears 17-14
Pretty much the game we all expected basically decided by two 4th quarter missed field goals by Jeff Reed which ultimately cost the Steelers the win they should have had. Give the Bears and Jay Cutler credit though for scoring with 6:21 left to tie the score and the opportunity to take advantage of the Steelers uncharacteristic blunders.
Baltimore (1-0) @ San Diego (1-0) -3.5
Ladanian Tomlinson is out and Darren Sproles takes over against the vicious Ravens defense. If they can contain Sproles they have a great shot at the elusive cross country road win. Joe Flacco and the Ravens offense came to life last week and should be able to score enough to win.
Ravens 27-24
Ravens 31-26
There isn’t a more impressive team in the league right now than the Baltimore Ravens, Saints fans would have a case though. Joe Flacco and the Ravens offense looks unstoppable while the Ravens defense is it’s usual formidable self. The Chargers looked impressive as well behind huge days from Philip Rivers, Darren Sproles and Vincent Jackson. Expect to see these two matchup again in January.
NY Giants (1-0) @ Dallas (1-0) -2.5
Tony Romo looked amazing last week and this game will finally unveil the new Cowboys Stadium and their controversial score board. Everything is me want to pick the Cowboys but the Giants always seem to take care of business so I’ll go with the great defense and ball control offense .
Giants 27-21
Giants 33-31
The division nemesis Giants came to town and ruined Jerry Jones and the Cowboys home opener and unveiling of the revolutionary video monitor scoreboard. Eli Manning looks as calm and cool as any quarterback in the league and the Giants never seem to get rattled. Of course, four Cowboy turnovers aided in that and despite thrashing the Giants defense on the ground the Cowboys still couldn’t get the victory at home.
Monday, September 21
Indianapolis (1-0) @ Miami (0-1) +3.5
Peyton Manning must be licking his chops at the chance to play against 2 rookie corners as Sean Smith and Vontae Davis will platoon but with the loss of Anthony Gonzales the Dolphins may be able to rattle Manning and their high octane offense. If Miami gets their offense rolling they will be fine.
Dolphins 27-23
Colts 27-23
Whatever.
This Week ATS – 10-6
Season to date ATS – 16-16
This Week Best Bets – 1-2
STD Best Bets – 1-5
No comments:
Post a Comment