2008 NFL Picks, Discussion, and Betting Topic

[octoinky]

Merriman? this season is going to be ridiculous!

[Neo]

First Brady, now Merriman? It's all falling in to place for the Colts!

Except for that awful week 1 loss and all.

[Jimbo]

You spelled Green Bay wrong, Neo.

[Neo]

Can't for the life of me understand how two serious AFC injuries is gonna make it easier for the Packers to make the SB!

[rshepherd1000]

Elite Pickem

Elite Pickem - Week 1

Back in business!

1 Shep's Ridic Picks - 12
2 QB's Surefire Successes - 11
2 Cyber's picks - 11
2 Boss - 11
2 mikerspd miscreants - 11
2 Lavery - 11
2 Esox Magnus - 11
2 Tuffy - 11

A strong opening week from the Ridic picks sets the early pace over pickem legends cyber, dykstra and lavery amongst others. Opening week tends to be pretty straightforward to pick and the Elite did very well as a whole, with over half of the group picking 10 or more correct which was an 83.7 percentile.

Disappointing as always to see wheat incapable of putting his money where his mouth is and picking with us. Great to see Jimbo not participating so the overall Elite average isnt dragged down.

Elite Pickem - Win Table

Just the one week. Just the one winner

1 Shep's Ridic Picks - 1

Elite Pickem - Pick breakdown (winner in bold):

Skins 8 Giants 16 - I think Giants were the obvious pick here despite the fact that the only thing they had going for them at the end of last season deteriorated greatly over the past few months due to injury and retirement. That being said the game was actually a lot closer than it appeared to be. The Giants did not have a sack after the first play of the game, did not score a td after the first drive of the game, did not score ANY points after the first half of the game, yet they were able to win because the skins were somehow worse. Yes the play calling was terrible toward the end of the game, but had the skins not fallen victim to some horrendous officiating earlier when brandon jacobs was not flagged for a personal foul that would have left 3rd and 20 on their td drive and santana moss not ruled down incorrectly later, the skins could have been driving at the end for a fg to win the game. And when you consider how POORLY washington played generally there is only one conclusion - the giants look pretty horrible still.

Lions 23 Falcs 3 - lol preseason. Im very shocked that the falcs only had 3 picks here because they seemed to be the smart choice. The lions are just a terrible terrible team. That doesnt make Atlanta great though. I still dont expect them to win many games this year, but it sure helps if you are a rookie to begin your career throwing against that secondary. Ryan did look great though so he should fare ok even against tougher opposition. Cue massive Michael Turner overating by all across the world.

Seagiantromos 15 Bills 13 - Well I had the Bills for some odd reason. That was definitely an incorrect pick by me and I freely admit a suckout. I dont particularly mind the Bills this year, they have a lot of things going for them and if they stay mainly injury free have a real shot at a wild card. However Seattle are still a very good team that have just fallen victim to a horrendous volume of injuries and any time you concede two (basically three) special teams touchdowns the score will never truly reflect the skill gap between the teams.

Jax 23 Tits 5 - I think Jax was the correct pick here howver I dont think the loss was a complete shock. I havent really seen much of the game yet but if Vince Young was THAT bad and still managed to win the game then Jax must have been absolutley abysmal. Together with the injury struggles it could be a long long season for the most penalised team in sports history.

Jets 26 Fins 2 - Absolutley no doubt that the Jets were the correct pick here however they are now being chronically overrated. This was freakin Miami. It was a one score game. Hell the fins could have even won it at the end there. Favre was mostly great but honestly if they were playing anyone but Miami then that heave extends his int record and not the td one. Make no mistake about it, the Jets have A LOT of work to do if they are to get a playoff spot this year. They are just fortunate to be in what is now a very average division. Yes the Jets could still end up winning it, but they might do so as an 8-8 team! In fact Id favour the Bills over the Jets if the Pats implode.

Chiefs 0 Pats 28 - Speaking of which. No brainer pick here and a pretty safe point in the end despite the blown coverage at the death that set up a goal line stand to keep things interesting. Despite that terrible hit on Brady (wheres the fine please?) and the resulting season ending injury I believe the Pats still have what it takes to win the division. If we somehow make it to the playoffs there wont be a single team that wants to play the Pats in the postseason, brady or not. Its somewhat concerning that they go to the Jets with a QB that hasnt started anywhere this DECADE, but lets give Belichick some credit for knowing a bit about the game.

Bucs 6 Saints 22 - Im not sure the Saints were the right side going in to this game at all, even though I picked them. Didnt really catch much of this one either.

Rams 1 Eagles 27 - The Eagles went throughout the entire off season playing second, third and even fourth fiddle (yes really some tv pundits are total morons) to the other sides in their division. Barely anyone was talking about them other than when showing Desean highlights. Hoepfully theyll now get the attention they deserve. Yes the Rams are bad.

Texans 1 Steelers 27 - This game was apparently a lot closer than the scoreline suggested. The lone Texan picker was SZ and it wasnt really a bad pick imo. If Houston doesnt get too down about this loss they'll still have a good year. The Steelers have a brutal schedule so we'll see about them.

Bengals 18 Ravens 10 - Very surprised at all those bengals picks. Ravens played just how I expected them to.

Pants 0 Chargers 28 - Although everyone picked the Chargers I wouldnt have complained about anyone taking the Panthers. This was certainly a lot closer going in to the game then many people thought and the way the game played out demonstrated that, whether delhomme makes that play at the end or not.

Cards 21 Niners 7 - Niners arent without hope this year. Once they get the hang of their new system and personnel they could test a number of teams. The Cards open strongly and again should be contesting a wild card spot.

Cowboys 27 Browns 1 - lol offensivelineaments

Bears 2 Colts 26 - Well this was just a ridiculous result. Without question the biggest upset of the week and may end up being the biggest upset of the season when its all done. There is no possible justification for picking the bears.

Vikes 7 Pack 21 - The pack came out and did what we all knew they would do, play solid football all over and allow their qb to win them the game. The vikes on the other hand have a lot of work to do. Against a lot of teams AD alone will do enough on the offensive, but in the absense of a solid QB and WR set I dont expect them to go far this year. Their defense was also a little disappointing with the lack of pressure they put on rodgers.

Broncos 23 Raiders 5 - I have no idea why I picked the Raiders. Just inexcusable. Cannot think of a single reason to justify it. Cutler looked good. Deangelo Falls. etc


Elite Spread Pickem

Elite Spread Pickem - Week 1

A good start for the Nonsense here too

1 Shep's Nonsense - 13
2 Boss - 11
3 Neo's Aussie Picks - 10
4 QB's Spread Offense - 9
4 Octo's Spread Picks - 9
4 springadero - 9


Elite Survival

Just absolutely ridiculous that I am out of survivor in week 1 after picking the colts over the bears. Drag and Octo's Boss (????????) get what they deserve after making the worst picks in survivor history by taking detroit.

Alive

QB's Unwavering Champions
Ng Survives & Advances
DK's Natural Selections
Cyber's unsurviving picks
packattack
Jimbo
Mr. Twishall's Selecsheeowns
Matt8000s Pants
mostfrantic
Come
Octo's Survival Picks
Eye of the Tiger
Neo's Aussie Picks
Insanity
Topes
Encrypted Salvation
springadero

Dead

Shep's Ridic Survivors (1), Octo's Boss's Picks (1), Sucram goes pew pew on you (1), mikerspd maintainers (1), Drag (1), Boss (1)

[rshepherd1000]

Chatroom quote of the week

With Miami down 6 and time expiring, the Jets defense started to fall apart and a game winning touchdown seemed a distinct possibility:

GoldenJimbo007 (21:00:08): I swear if I lose survival because of this shit....
GoldenJimbo007 (21:00:10): I'm gonna get fat again.

[Jimbo]

I chose Kansas City this weekend (over Oakland), hopefully my gamble of NOT taking Green Bay so early will pay off later in the season. Also, anyone interested in placing a $300 or $400 bet on GB -3 for me? >_<

[octoinky]

This is a very fun weekend in football, I think. A lot of would-be favorites are now just meh, and I think most lines will be shattered. But in which direction? Obv I don't know as I suck at spread!!

[Jimbo]

Steve Bryze is coming up to Green Bay (and probably spending a night at Jon's in the process) to watch the Colts/Packers game with me, that should be a lot of fun.

[Invertigone]

Here were my picks.

CHI over Carolina (L)
CIN over TEN (L)
GB over DET (W)
JAC over BUF (L)
OAK over KC (W)
IND over MIN (W)
NYG over STL (W)

4-3 so far. I had 9 wins last week, 6 losses. So that takes me to 13-9 so far on the year.

[Cyberwrath87]

Man this week is absolutely terrible for me! Oh well, at least I'm still alive in the Survival league!

[Ngamer]

Ngamer Bets the NFL - Week Two

Packers to defeat the Lions by more than 2 pts, AND the Eagles to defeat the Cowboys

Risking $5 to win $27.93


YTD: + $10.91

[octoinky]

survival... 12 down, 10 left. rofl. good times

[MostFrantic]

I'm out of Survival. I had the Seahawks over the 49ers. It seemed pretty good at the time. Good luck to the survivors the rest of the way!

[Jimbo]

Ugh why did I not just stick with Green Bay, such an easy pick but I wanted to save them for later. Oh well, use GB wisely guys!

[Ngamer]

Do you know where the best place to enjoy NFL action each week is?  Why, in the Chatroom of course!  Be sure to join us every Sunday morning and Monday night for exciting football talk.

As a brief example of the fun to be had, here's a snippet from tonight's Cowboys/Eagles MNF game.  This was our reaction to Tony Romo fumbling the ball in his own endzone, picking it back up, then fumbling it away a second time, resulting in an Eagles TD.

GoldenJimbo007 (8:30:28 PM): OMG
Brian19King (8:30:31 PM): ....
Brian19King (8:30:32 PM): WTF
dragondragon18 (8:30:32 PM): td!
CieloAzor (8:30:33 PM): omg
RyanWhiteGoose (8:30:34 PM): ROFL!
NgOnHisLaptop (8:30:35 PM): haha
AlecBoy006 (8:30:35 PM): WOAH
CieloAzor (8:30:36 PM): WOWOWOW
sterlin18 (8:30:37 PM): wow
GoldenJimbo007 (8:30:37 PM): Holy wow!
CieloAzor (8:30:38 PM): pwned
AlecBoy006 (8:30:38 PM): WHAT WAS THAT???
DKK5 (8:30:38 PM): You've got to me kidding me
NgOnHisLaptop (8:30:39 PM): oh man!
CieloAzor (8:30:39 PM): pwned
AlecBoy006 (8:30:40 PM): ROFL
Brian19King (8:30:40 PM): ....
NathanStinson (8:30:41 PM): YESSS
AlecBoy006 (8:30:42 PM): HAHAHA
AlecBoy006 (8:30:42 PM): WTF
NathanStinson (8:30:42 PM): MUAHAHAHA
AlecBoy006 (8:30:44 PM): PWNED
CieloAzor (8:30:55 PM): lolololol
Brian19King (8:30:59 PM): you have got to be fucking SHITTING me
CieloAzor (8:31:06 PM): there's that Romo magic
octoinky (8:31:33 PM): ROMOWNED
NgOnHisLaptop (8:31:47 PM): I bet Romo regrets eating that greasy chicken during the last commercial break

[rshepherd1000]

Elite Pickem

Hi

Elite Pickem - Week 2

1 Boss - 11
1 mikerspd miscreants - 11
1 Matt8000's Pants - 11
1 Come - 11

Any week matt8000 is involved in a tie for the lead you know is a farce and can be written off immediately, so thats exactly what we'll do here. Some very silly results mean that the overall table has a new feel to it:

Elite Pickem - Overall Table

1 Boss - 22
1 mikerspd miscreants - 22
3 QB's Surefire Successes - 21

Elite Pickem - Win Table

Now a five-way tie at the top

1 Shep's Ridic Picks - 1
1 Boss - 1
1 mikerspd miscreants - 1
1 Matt8000's Pants - 1
1 Come - 1

Elite Pickem - Pick breakdown (winner in bold):

Tits 17 Bengals 7 - Its really hard to tell where the Bengals are at right now. Having played two of the top defenses in the league in back to back weeks. Taking the Bengals was the correct side here though before the game so I have no problem with losing this pick.

Saints 21 Skins 3 - Unlike this one which is just absolutely ridiculous, even more so because both QB and SZ took the skins. Theres nothing more frustrating than watching Jim suckout on a ... nevermind.

Bears 12 Pants 11 - I'm really not sure why so many people took the Bears here. After a very solid opening week from Carolina on the road it seemed like playing a much inferior team at home should see a huge pickem run on the Pants. This was not to be however as many seem to have bought too much stock in the Bears following their fortuitous victory over the Colts last week.

Bills 6 Jax 17 - Im still finding the Bills difficult to place after the first two weeks. Jax was probably the right side here but their complete lack of an oline was possibly enough reason to take the Bills and feel good about it.

Pack 23 Lions 0 - Probably the most straightforward pick of the week, but the Pack gave us a scare late in the game with some crazy defense to allow the lions to creep back into it. The game was over so early that I guess the Pack just went to sleep for a while before remembering that Kitna likes to throw ints as much as Favre used to. OMG FAVRE REFERENCE, Neo wont be happy about this!

Raiders 3 Chiefs 20 - I didnt see any of this game yet but the Chiefs have been pretty unfortunate with QB injuries to start off the season. Lets not forget that, as bad as the Raiders were in Week 1, the Chiefs are also a pretty horrendous team so it isnt a major shock at all to see oakland take it. That being said only people like matt8000 were picking them here. And Alec. You know he had 4 correct picks in the early games this week? In fact he guarantees a top 3 overall position if he joined pickem. Not that he can of course, you have to be 21 and Alec is younger than that so he will politely wait 10 years until able to legitimately enter. I know everyone is looking forward to this day, for several reasons. Firstly, when Alec joins

sadly notepad crashed at this point and I lost the remainder of the Raiders/Chiefs writeup.

Giants 23 Rams 0 - Nothing interesting could possibly have happened in this game. Question: What happened of interest in this game?  

Spoiler

   Nothing!

Colts 19 Vikes 4 - It's hard to know really what the correct pick here was. I think it was probably the Colts although its more or less a coinflip. As far as the game itself, lol tavaris, lol childress. The vikes should have been up like 24-0 at half time if they had anyone in there who could throw the football even remotely well. AD was running all over a ragged Colts D and the Vikes dline was dominating the woeful group facing them on Colts possessions. But Tavaris cant throw and the Vikes forgot that running on Indy worked. Thus after some gonzo magic set up the first td it was later left to vinatieri to kick the game winning fg for the 234234th time in his career. Hejsan Gus Frerotte. Hejda Playoffs.

Niners 3 Seatavaris 20 - Well obviously taking the niners here was dumb but congrats to those who did and lucked out.

Falcs 8 Bucs 15 - Im fairly surprised so many people took the Falcs here. Kinda a big leap from playing the lions d to the bucs d

Pats 15 Jets 8 - On the other hand I guess it doesnt surprise me that so many people took the Jets for this one given the RIDICULOUS media hype about how the Jets were winning the Superbowl and dominating the league for the next 30 years all because Brady got hurt. Cassell stepped in and did a solid job managing what is now a running offense. The Pats D really stepped up to hold the Jets and Favre to practically nothing but are still vulnerable to giving up the big play with more regularity than is comfortable. However Id probably say a fair line on the Dolphins winning next week in Foxborough would be 35-1.

Fins 1 Cards 22 - Yes Miami are still bad. Yes Kurt Warner is still good.

Chargers 12 Broncos 11 - Well everyone who correctly picked the Chargers this week got royally screwed. Really not much more to add to this. Other than shanahan going for 2 was awesome. I have serious concerns about the Chargers D now for the remainder of the year.

Steelers 23 Browns 0 - Fairly straightforward pick and everyone obliged with the correct choice

Eagles 4 Dallas 19 - SHOCKING. How can only FOUR people take the Eagles. I dont think Dallas was a terrible pick, but for only four people to go with Philly is unreal. lol mediahype. Anyway, great game that had just about everything except for the result everyone wanted. Someday a Dallas lineman will get injured and the whole offense will collapse.


Elite Spread Pickem

Elite Spread Pickem - Week 1

Boss takes the win here this week

1 Boss - 11

Elite Spread Pickem - Overall

1 Boss - 22
2 Shep's Nonsense - 20
3 Ng Says Spread'Em - 18
3 Come - 18


Elite Survival

Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb is all i can think of when looking at all these people who picked the CHIEFS in survival. Are you kidding me? The CHIEFS???? In week TWO???? This is the best you could come up with? The flippin CHIEFS???????

Alive

QB's Unwavering Champions
Ng Survives & Advances
Cyber's unsurviving picks
Matt8000s Pants
Come
Octo's Survival Picks
Eye of the Tiger
Neo's Aussie Picks
Insanity

Dead

Shep's Ridic Survivors (1), Octo's Boss's Picks (1), Sucram goes pew pew on you (1), mikerspd maintainers (1), Drag (1), Boss (1)
Encrypted Salvation (2), springadero (2), packattack (2), springadero (2), Topes (2), Mr. Twishall's Selecsheeowns (2),    DK's Natural Selections (2), Jimbo (2), mostfrantic (2)

[wheatrich]

The Skins were in the exact same scenario this week as the Bengals so I don't get your reasoning at all how one was ridiculous and the other was obviously the correct side.

Lol at everyone already out in survival. That's really pathetic. Everybody but Indy that was the "sure" pick the first two weeks won.

[Quiet Bol]

Big talk for a guy that was too scared to join in!

[Ngamer]

Quality work again Shep!

And yeah wheat, pretty disgusting of you not to join Pigskin and Survival.

[Jimbo]

He seems to downplay it bigtime, but just so everyone knows, if Miami wins this weekend, QB wins $3500 Everything has fallen into place to have that perfect chance at a big pot!

[Ngamer]

Ngamer Bets the NFL - Week Three

No bets - nothing to work with this week

Risking $0 to win $0

YTD: + $5.91

[mikerspd]

I was quite aware of QB's position, and it seemed like Brown had been offered a chunk of something (haha, $3500 is little for a pro RB, but still).

So...  booze is on QB?

[matt8k]

Well it's only early on, I expect my score to plummet within the next month.
For the record, I generally base my tips on a team's win loss record for the season (even if we're only at round 2!), so one we've played a few rounds I'm sure to get a few correct. I'll usually pick one or two longshots, and I tip the Eagles most rounds regardless of form.

[Jimbo]

Hey Matt, that avatar...... is that from GTA San Andreas?!

[matt8k]

Why yes, yes it is. SF-UR is a house radio station in GTA SA. The dj's accent is hilarious. German i think. It's not a new game, but it is a good one.

[rshepherd1000]

Elite Pickem

The field gets better every week!

Elite Pickem - Week 3

1 Boss - 12
1 QB's Surefire Successes - 12
1 wiff's super DUPER picks - 12
1 Shep's Ridic Picks - 12
1 DK's Penalized Picks - 12

A strong week from the Elite this time with many players doing much better than the average. A five way tie for first place with a reasonable 12 points is noteworthy only for the fact it would be a tie for SECOND place had wheat been picking with us this year.

Elite Pickem - Overall Table

1 Boss - 34
2 QB's Surefire Successes - 33
2 mikerspd miscreants - 33
4 wiff's super DUPER picks - 32
4 Shep's Ridic Picks - 32

Elite Pickem - Win Table

Boss and Shep's second appearance in a leading position pulls them one ahead of the rabble with one.

1 Shep's Ridic Picks - 2
1 Boss - 2
3 mikerspd miscreants - 1
3 Matt8000's Pants - 1
3 Come - 1
3 QB's Surefire Successes - 1
3 wiff's super DUPER picks - 1
3 DK's Penalized Picks - 1

Elite Pickem - Pick breakdown (winner in bold):

Falcs 22 Chiefs 1 - Our resident nutter matt8000 provided the one blot on the Elite's record here. For what its worth the Falcons are statistically one of the best teams in the league right now, until theres enough data available to adjust them for the teams they have faced.

Bills 23 Raiders 0 - Can't complain about a sweep of Bills picks although I think this week gave us a better idea of just how good the Bills really are. That being said they still might be the best team in their division right now, which is a pretty dismal state of affairs really.

Bears 16 Bucs 7 - Despite being the home team in a close matchup I am kinda surprised at the number of Bears pickers, and I'm sure wheat would agree.

Tits 20 Texans 3 - I would have liked to pick the Texans as a risk but thought better of it. Houston are still probably better than they appear, having opened the season with two tough road games. Although their schedule doesnt really get an awful lot easier any time soon.

Vikes 8 Pants 15 - Odd to see so many Panthers picks here. I like Carolina a lot but really the Vikes at home should have been able to deal with them, even with Smith returning. And thats just what happened.

Pats 23 Fins 0 - Just one of those freak results I guess, or was it? Miami has always been a nuisance team for the Pats but maybe this is the first legitimate sign that New England is in decline. Its really difficult to tell as there is so much coaching ability and (old) talent on the roster still to make this a playoff team yet.

Giants 23 Bengals 0 - Pretty straightforward pick here but the Giants were considerably overvauled in the spread. What has happened to that Bengals oline?

Skins 9 Cards 14 - I havent seen the skins since week one but I'd really like to do so again now because it would appear they are a completely different outfit. I wasnt comfortable at all picking the Cards here and I guess it was the wrong side

Broncos 20 Saints 3 - Meh. The Saints were obviously the correct risk pick this week and I am so ghsfdihgiudhiurdgiphsuidgupgs annoyed that they didnt get it done, despite the multiple opportunites they had to come away with the win. Im sure matt8000 and dykstra are as frustrated as I am.

Niners 16 Lions 7 - Why are people still picking the lions?

Seajimbos 23 Rams 0 - The St Louis Lols

Ravens 17 Browns 6 - Hard to know how much of this is the Ravens being awesome or the Browns being terrible. I've never been a huge Anderson fan but is he really the reason Cleveland are sucking so much thus far??

Eagles 16 Steelers 7 - So the Steelers arent content with being a miserable team, they want to also ensure any game they are involved in is miserable to watch also.

Colts 21 Jax 1 - Yes one of Ngamers cousins chose to protest and not pick this game either way. I think the Colts were the right side here (only Sucram went the other way), but the Jax offense really started to get themselves back together this week and show some promise for the games still to come. Whether or not Taylor and MJD can stay healthy all year is another matter and certainly they wont come up against run defenses this porous that often, but it was still a great improvement. Peyton continues to suffer from the curse of being drafted by me in my $ league, although it largely isnt his fault.

Pack 7 Cowbowys 16 - Well this was just dumb all round. Firstly the Pack should have been favoured here so I dont get all the Cowboys picks. Secondly I somehow picked Dallas here anyway even though I didnt intend to, so I totally luckboxed a correct pick thanks to some fat fingers type screw up. Thirdly the Pack give up several retard touchdowns in a game they could otherwise have won. Fourthly Dallas are going to the Superbowl this year for a number of reason: a) they are overrated b) they have an overrated qb c) they win games despite a+b d) a+b+c loses me money e) a+b+c+d makes me mad f) a+b+c+d+e means i will rant about it here g) a+b+c+d+e+f = superbowl

Chargers 16 Jets 7 - The Chargers winning big was the most obvious result of the week.


Elite Spread Pickem

Elite Spread Pickem - Week 3

QB somehow gets credited with the official win on Yahoo, no doubt thanks to the coinflip 'what will the square root of the number of times Mike Martz advises Mike Nolan to throw a flag, multiplied by the number of Fred Taylor broken tackles, divided by the sum of Gramatica field goal misses and Favre interceptions, cubed be' tiebreakers.

1 QB's Spread Offense - 11
1 Shep's Nonsense - 11

Elite Spread Pickem - Overall

1 Shep's Nonsense - 31
2 Boss - 29
3 Ng Says Spread'Em - 27
4 QB's Spread Offense - 26
4 Come - 26


Elite Survival

Not the worst survival selections this week, as we lose a couple of Patriots pickers.

Alive

QB's Unwavering Champions
Ng Survives & Advances
Matt8000s Pants
Come
Octo's Survival Picks
Eye of the Tiger
Neo's Aussie Picks

Dead

Shep's Ridic Survivors (1), Octo's Boss's Picks (1), Sucram goes pew pew on you (1), mikerspd maintainers (1), Drag (1), Boss (1)
Encrypted Salvation (2), springadero (2), packattack (2), springadero (2), Topes (2), Mr. Twishall's Selecsheeowns (2), DK's Natural Selections (2), Jimbo (2), mostfrantic (2)
Insanity (3), Cyber's unsurviving picks (3)

[Neo]

I love you wrap-ups, but some of your commentary is a little confusing. Shouldn't the "right pick" be the team that wins, lest we all be picking the favourite each week? And the Cowboys killed the Packers, even Jimbo agrees with this.

[Jimbo]

Yeah Dallas was correctly favored, and although I agree Dallas is incredibly overrated, our team is too young to take on the talent they have in priiiiiimetime.

Matt8000: I know what the station is, it's based in San Fierro. You're talking to a GTA Sage lol, I've beaten SA 100% at least 6 times since November 2004.

[rshepherd1000]

the 'correct' pick is a mixture of favourites and underdogs that I think are good opportunities to make a pick that is different from the masses. ie picking the pats was correct last week, as was taking the packers or saints. the result of the game is irrelevant. Now, people can disagree as to who they think are the favourites and where the best places are to take risks and thats fine, im presenting one viewpoint. Obviously everyone here spends like 30 secs doing their picks each week and this is a fun competition, so no one should take the writeups too seriously. (although from a sports betting perspective some of the stuff i write here is enough to put me on tilt)

I didnt really say anywhere that Dallas didnt kill the Pack, but I still think they were the right play in a pickem pregame. The Packs defense matches up very well with the Cowboys offense and I think for pretty much most of the game that was obvious, although less so after Al Harris died. I dont know wtf happened for the felix td and then miles flippin austin burns the secondary?????? Couldnt have seen that coming. Someone made a great point about the WCO breaking down in catchup football, I cant remember who it was - maybe one of Madden/Michaels - and that was really the first time so far the Pack missed Favre, as Rodgers with his inexperience didnt seem to be able to deal with it as well. That being said if Driver takes it all the way on that monster play things may have been very different.

[Ngamer]

Ngamer Bets the NFL - Week Four

Packers to defeat the Bucs, and also, the Browns to defeat the Bengals

Risking $5 to win $19.34

YTD: +$5.91
QB Tab YTD: -$4.09 (includes two 360 controllers)

[Invertigone]

My week 4 picks

Carolina
Cleveland
Jags
Denver
Saints
Jets
Packers
Vikings
Chargers
Rams
Skins
Eagles
Steelers

[Jimbo]

My preliminary thoughts of Washington+10 and Chicago+3 are looking like genius picks now, Corey!

[youseinthehouse]

THROW ANOTHER SHRIMP ON THE BARBIE, BITCH

[Neo]

Hell yeah motherfucker.

Me and you, Youse.

[youseinthehouse]

Yeah, good going Neo. We really made it out of that week by the skin of our teeth. Actually, I didnt' have any skin left on my teeth after the Buffalo/Oakland shocker.

Anyway, I know you're already there, but YOU'RE GOING DOWN UNDER

Haha, good luck boieeeeeeee.

[Jimbo]

Rodgers has a 2 TD lead going into his personal bye week here!

[youseinthehouse]

Haha, "personal bye week". Good one. We ought to be even: 1 for Jackson dropping it, 1 for McNabb sneaking it vs Bears. ARGH!

Also I wanted to mention that I went to high school with Montell Owens... Jacksonville's 3rd halfback on the depth chart and terrific special teamer (once recovered an onside kick vs. Dallas) who ran in the fake "punt" 41 yard for the TD against Houston on Sunday.

SMAH BOY!

[rshepherd1000]

Elite Pickem

Looking through the list of entrants this year I only have one thought. Wheres Brandon?

Elite Pickem - Week 4

1 Shep's Ridic Picks - 9
1 Ng's Picks of Awesome - 9
1 Esox Magnus - 9
1 MMF Moles - 9

Respectable score totals on a bye week, although several big upsets really killed off a number of obvious picks. Its so rare to see one Bearder near the top of the leaderboard let alone TWO!

Elite Pickem - Overall Table

1 QB's Surefire Successes - 41
1 Boss - 41
1 mikerspd miscreants - 41
1 Shep's Ridic Picks - 41
5 wiff's super DUPER picks - 40

Elite Pickem - Win Table

As the win table welcomes the addition of the Barbers and Drag, Shep takes an outright lead with his third weekly leaderboard top.

1 Shep's Ridic Picks - 3
2 Boss - 2
3 mikerspd miscreants - 1
3 Matt8000's Pants - 1
3 Come - 1
3 QB's Surefire Successes - 1
3 wiff's super DUPER picks - 1
3 DK's Penalized Picks - 1
3 Ng's Picks of Awesome - 1
3 Esox Magnus - 1
3 MMF Moles - 1

Elite Pickem - Pick breakdown (winner in bold):

Browns 2 Bengals 21 - Well everyone except Jon and Drag took the Bengals here, although I think most of us realised we should have changed that pick once Palmer was confirmed out. Everyone was too busy trying to make money out of the situation rather than thinking of altering their pick though!

Vikes 2 Tits 21 - Its amazing how far the Vikes stock has fallen in the first 3 weeks to lead to this kind of pick distribution. Likewise the Titans are playing incredibly well, especially on defense. From being pretty much the consensus wooden spoon favourite in their division, the Tits are now looking good to finish on top!

Broncos 23 Chiefs 0 - Most people had $ on the Chiefs to cover, but win the game outright?? Did anyone really think that would happen? Not in the Elite league thats for sure!

Niners 4 Saints 19 - I guess a shot on the niners here would have been acceptable had they been at home, but not on the road.

Cards 10 Jets 11 - Well that was a ridiculous game. I find it fairly astonishing that Favre has never thrown this many touchdowns in a game before. On the other side I guess this wasnt even close to Warner's turnover PR I don't know what the right side of this game was really so picking either was fine.

Pack 18 Bucs 5 - This was all about the Bucs beating themselves mentally early on, according to Alec. I suppose they won the game mentally thereafter. I'm not sure what the right side was here either. Like the Jets game I would say picking either was defensible and an example of why you dont need to necessarily look to make too many upset picks early in this game to try and stand out from the crowd. There'll be enough 50/50 games that will give you opportunities at better odds.

Falcs 4 Pants 19 - Pretty straightforward pick for those of us who have less faith in the Atlanta offense than Alec and friends.

Texans 1 Jax 20 - Jax eek out another victory against a divisional rival and are slowly playing themselves back into things. The offense still seems a little one dimensional, although Del Rio does his best to compensate with his jap plays

Chargers 23 Raiders 0 - lol Raiders. I actually think Kiffin has a lot of potential as a coach and I don't understand him being fired from the perspective of an organisation that likes winning. Of course the Raiders don't, so the dismissal makes complete sense. The Chargers show here they still have some work to do if they are to contend later in the season.

Bills 23 Rams 0 - Nothing of note to see here other than a dumb decision to sit Bulger.

Skins 1 Cowboys 22 - Wiff was the only Dallas hater to put his $ where his mouth was this week, and he was handsomely rewarded with what in all fairness was an upset pick. The skins really impressed me with how they performed, particulary the speed with which their personnel are adapting to the new system. After the week 1 semi-debacle they all deserve a tremendous amount of credit for this reversal in performance.

Eagles 19 Bears 4 - How did the Eagles not win this game given all the turnovers? I suppose the simple answer is no Westbrook and its probably also the correct one. Although some very dumb play calling at the goal line was arguably equally to blame. Credit the Bears defense though.

Ravens 2 Steelers 21 - Sadly I didnt get to see this because my recording equipment failed, however this can't have been the most thrilling encounter despite the overtime.


Elite Spread Pickem

Elite Spread Pickem - Week 4

A lower scoring week than previous, although with teams on a bye now there are less potential points to pick up. Jon takes the outright win

1 Ng Says Spread'Em - 8

Elite Spread Pickem - Overall

1 Shep's Nonsense - 38
2 Ng Says Spread'Em - 35
3 Boss - 34
4 QB's Spread Offense - 32


Elite Survival

As Denver and Dallas get taken down, only two remain in the Survival group - Youse and Neo. This really has been a dismal performance by the Elite this year.

Alive

Eye of the Tiger
Neo's Aussie Picks

Dead

Shep's Ridic Survivors (1), Octo's Boss's Picks (1), Sucram goes pew pew on you (1), mikerspd maintainers (1), Drag (1), Boss (1)
Encrypted Salvation (2), springadero (2), packattack (2), springadero (2), Topes (2), Mr. Twishall's Selecsheeowns (2), DK's Natural Selections (2), Jimbo (2), mostfrantic (2)
Insanity (3), Cyber's unsurviving picks (3)
Come (4), Ng Survives & Advances (4), Matt8000s Pants (4), QB's Unwavering Champions (4), Octo's Survival Picks (4)

[youseinthehouse]

I have no problem with the goal line play calling by Andy Reid.

On the earlier first and goal series, Buckhalter would have walked into the endzone had McNabb not tripped on his own two feet before the handoff. Replays showed the blocking was a yard deep into the end zone. On the final goal line drive, Reid just went with the statistics. There is a 99% chance of moving the ball 18 inches on three consecutive running plays. Granted it's 99.9% for three straight quarterback sneaks, but reports were that McNabb was still very sore all week from the Steelers game, and why risk more off time for your most important player when you have a 99% chance with another method? The call was okay, and the players didn't execute. On the leap-over attempt, Matt Schobel, a guy I couldn't dislike having on the Eagles more, allowed the defensive end to go right by him in order to try to block the linebacker, which he could barely even touch. That defensive end was the only reason the flying leap got halted soon enough to avoid paydirt, grabbing Buckhalter around the legs in midair just as he leaped. It was a case of the players letting the coach down, and now he'll take all the heat for it (also note our best offensive lineman was out for the game).

The real reasons the game was lost was a muffed punt, and TWO MISSED FIELD GOALS. If even one of those go in, we're not even getting stuffed on fourth down, we're putting 3 more points on the board and definitely putting the game out of reach given how our D was absolutely slaying their O.

Anyway, we're the worst team in the NFC East so far... this is NOT good.

[Quiet Bol]

I don't have a problem with the playcalling either, and I'm not entirely convinced that we didn't score on 2 of those plunges! Anyway, we'll be fine. I'm not panicking at all.

[rshepherd1000]

I don't think you can blame missing 50 yarders early in the game. Its hiding the fact Philly got a lot of great field position in the game and didnt do much with it. The muffed punt wasn't great, but if your d played as well in the red zone as it did in the bears half of the field that wouldnt have been as big an issue either.

To be clear I didnt mind the call on 4th down as much as the one on 3rd (referring to the final drive). The leap just seemed so ridiculously ambitious that you have to call something else. I would have liked the sneak on 4th also but I wasn't aware Mcnabb was so dead he couldnt pull it off. That being said it looked like a td to me anyway.

[youseinthehouse]

Missing a 50 yarder is OK, following that up (you should be tuned at this point) with a 47 yard miss is NOT OK for an NFL kicker who is often (wrongly) considered one of the best.

And I agree, the overhead camera on the 4th down play looked like the ball broke the plane... it would just depend on whether the overhead angle was directly over the line or back farther, making the touchdown just an illusion. Andy Reid is one of the most depressing coaches when it comes to challenges, using them much too frequently for plays that have no shot at being overturned... this was a time when I wanted him to bust one out. His track record probably told him not to challenge and save the timeout for the defensive stand (which also failed miserably allowing a first down).

I won't be panicking unless we lose at home to the Skins this week. I predict both Westbrook playing and us winning big though. That will really bring the NFC East into a very exciting situation... although Dallas and NYG both have some snoozers coming up where they'll win by double digits each for the next few weeks.

[rshepherd1000]

shouldnt you have challenged the bears first td also?

i havent seen any replays since the game, but at the time it seemed like the flag should have been thrown

[youseinthehouse]

Madden and Michaels (mainly Al) seemed to think so, but I think they were just trying to create something to talk about... That call was in no way overturnable after watching several replays... it was a good non-challenge. I was watching the game with many biased Eagles fans and nobody thought we should challenge it.

[Ngamer]

Ngamer Bets the NFL - Week Five

Jaguars to defeat the Steelers by 7 or more, and ALSO, Saints to defeat the Vikings by 4 or more

Risking $5 to win $15.99

YTD: +$0.91
QB Tab YTD: -$9.09 (includes two 360 controllers)

[youseinthehouse]

See what I mean about horrible challenges?

Andy Reid challenging a play is a good reason to cheer if you're the other team.

I'm in panic mode Luckily my dad is keeping the faith, which is keeping me from going off the deep end. (Also the Phillies are really helping out here).

Also I live another day in Survival, but my pick was flat out owned by Neo's. In fact given our already-picked teams, he's looking a lot better than me so far.

[Neo]

Damn, really thought the Bungles might pull it out there.

Looks like we're going to Week 6, Yousey!

[Jimbo]

McNabb is behind by 5 TDs now, Reggie Wayne is killing Randy Moss, and Jason Witten REALLY pulled ahead of Antonio Gates this week.

[youseinthehouse]

Not worried *just yet* about McNabb/Rodgers. Those prayers (see: Donald Driver TD) aren't always going to be answered. The schedule also seriously toughens up for you guys (after next week) while it's smooth sailing for Super 5 for a while, who is going to go all out to prove he's still awesome.