NFL Week 10 Hot Takes

Man, a relationship is hard work.  I am currently sitting on my couch, and not the reclining part of my couch where my girlfriend is.  Nope, I’m stuck on the middle part.  And the Monday nighter is on my phone, because she gets the big TV to watch Teen Mom.  Like, I don’t mean to compare it to a place like prison, but it’s KIND OF like prison!

If that’s not a hot take, I don’t know what is!

I didn’t get to see the Sunday nighter, which was awesome from all accounts, so I’ll start with the gem I did get to see between the Cowboys and Steelers.  The Cowboys seemingly face a bigger challenge every week, and every week they pass with flying colours.  People rave about the two rookies and how amazing Ezekiel Elliott and Dak Prescott are.  And they are great, don’t get me wrong.  But it’s all about the O-line.  That O-line is one of the best in NFL history.  The Cowboys had one of the best before with what was known as the Great Wall of Dallas in the 90’s.  All three Super Bowls the Redskins have won were mainly because of the hogs.  The Raiders in the 70’s were led by Art Shell and Gene Upshaw.  Of course (I say “of course” like any of you are anything of NFL history buff’s like I am) the Packers of the 60’s had likely the best O-line in league history.  This line isn’t THAT good, but they’re on their way to being all time like those lines were.

As for Romo v Prescott…they’ll stick with Dak, and I understand it.  I don’t think I would (still), but I do get it because of the shit storm it would create if they made the switch.  The best thing that could happen for the Cowboys in my opinion is if Prescott goes down for a game or two allowing them to put Romo back in and keep him there.  He’s the better QB, I’m sorry.  Don’t act like you haven’t seen a Cowboys team do this before.  This is what the Cowboys were when Romo has been healthy the two previous seasons.  And while Prescott took advantage of Bryant yesterday down field, he can’t do that against a team with a good secondary.  His arm isn’t strong.  His deep ball doesn’t have the zip on it that Romo’s does.  Most of the time I believe that shit is so overrated by fans and media.  But there isn’t much separating the two QB’s.  The deep ball and the experience are why I’d lean Romo.  But they’ll stick with Prescott, and I totally understand it and it’s likely the right decision because of the distraction a switch would cause.  And I’m not meaning to slight Prescott at all in saying all that, the kid is clearly real good.

If I did power rankings, which just about everyone does like a moron because they just simply go for a “what have you done for me lately” article rather than ranking the teams who would win it all despite what their record says, I would have the Cowboys ahead of the Seahawks.  Some might question that, seeing how the Seahawks are coming off that massive win at Foxborough.  But remember, they have two extremely controversial wins.  In fairness, that was with Russell Wilson being pretty beat up.  It does look like he’s getting healthy now and if that’s the case they’ll move back past the Cowboys in those power rankings that I don’t do.  That’s a pretty damn impressive win, and just when I was bitching about there being nobody worthwhile in the NFC, the Seahawks and there coach who celebrates everyone’s mistakes, and there annoying fan base who refer to themselves as “the 12’s” as if they weren’t about the 84th fan base to be called “the 12th man”, and did you know Richard Sherman went to Stanford?  I wish someone would mention that….anyway, that team will be back as the favourites in the NFC for the third time in four seasons.

A few weeks back I called Cam Newton a front runner.  I stand by that statement.  KC is real good, so that’s not a terrible loss.  But considering the Panthers led 17-3 at halftime and lost to a team that is built to play with the lead is pretty bad.  The good news for Cam is that the Saints are in town on Thursday, and they don’t play much D so Cam can start loving the game again since it’ll be easy for him…

Normally I talk about the Packers struggles, but I’m just going to focus on the Titans for this week.  They’re really improving!  I wasn’t a big Marcus Mariota guy at all, but he is learning to play from the pocket, he is only relying on his legs when the moment calls for it, and along with that great ground game they have led by DeMarco Murray I really believe the Titans will be the AFC South champions by season’s end, which isn’t saying much but it means they’ll get to lose to Oakland wildcard weekend.  That’s better than sitting at home like most teams will be doing.

I feel bad for Vikings fans.  This team would be on top of the NFC and a Super Bowl contender with Bridgewater, Peterson and Kalil all healthy.  Instead, all three are gone, Sam Bradford is now getting beat up and there for playing like his old skittish self, and now that defense is starting to look a little vulnerable.  Not that it isn’t still great, but they need it to be elite to have a chance these days and it just ain’t happening.  They’ve now lost four in a row.

Can people shut up about how the Rams made the wrong pick.  Does the American media seriously not know a thing about Jeff Fisher?!  He might be the most conservative coach in the NFL.  The man sat Steve McNair (3rd overall in 1995) for two seasons, not just one, before starting him.  He doesn’t believe in rushing his QB’s, especially one who never took a snap from under center in college.  There is NOTHING wrong with sitting Jared Goff.  Some dip shits are calling him a bust already.  Just save yourself the humiliation of speaking…dip shits.  Yes, this includes Cris Carter who went on Colin Cowherd’s show last week and went off about how he’s a bust, minus any inside information on the matter.

Last week I was tittering on saying the Dolphins have perhaps turned a corner.  Now their streak is up to four and the fourth was pretty impressive winning in San Diego.  I definitely believe they’re the second best team in the AFC East (not saying a lot), and they are now in the hunt for the 6th seed in the AFC.  I still would have other teams I like more to take that spot, but the Dolphins are in it and seem to have found their identity.

What has happened to the Bengals?  I know, they’re a joke come playoff time, but this has been an elite regular season team the previous five seasons.  They aren’t old, they aren’t any less talented, they just are playing awful.  They’re a much better team than the Giants, and coming off their bye week that’s a game you have to win.  This should be a likely will be Marvin Lewis final season in Cincy assuming this keeps up.  I got a good landing spot for him too….Baltimore.  John Harbaugh moves on after this season, Marvin Lewis goes back to Baltimore where he was the defensive co-ordinator for that awful to watch but defensively tremendous Ravens team that won Super Bowl XXXV.  Might make some sense.

My picks were shit again, yet this week I don’t think I did a thing wrong, just had shitty luck.  1-4.  Should have at least been 2-3!  That return on the two pointer in the Broncos/Saints game was BS, he was out of bounds!  Oh well, I was hot for three weeks, ice cold now for two.  That’s how betting goes.

Finally, how did I do guessing the lines this week?  Real good, thanks for asking!

New Orleans at Carolina -3.5

As of writing this (Monday night), I was only off my half a point.  Panthers -3.

Pittsburgh -10.5 at Cleveland

Close, but not quite right.  Steelers only favoured by 9.

Baltimore at Dallas -6.5

Off by a point, which is basically what I shoot for is to be within a point.  Cowboys -7.5.

Jacksonville at Detroit -4.5

Maybe the biggest miss of the week.  I don’t like the Jags at all but didn’t expect the Lions to get this much respect, though they deserve it.  Lions -7.

Tennessee at Indianapolis -1.5

Missed again here just barely.  I know the Colts are coming off a bye, but the Titans are going to win this outright, and as long as the line stays favouring the Colts it’ll be on my week 11 picks ATS.  Colts -3.

Buffalo at Cincinnati -3

I use Sports Interaction for my source on the lines, but with the Bengals/Giants game not done yet as of writing this I went to another site (footballlocks?  It has the projected lines, so whatever).  Bengals -4, so I just got it.

Tampa Bay at Kansas City -7

Bingo.  KC -7.5.

Chicago at NY Giants -4

A little larger of spread than I expected here.  Giants -6.

Arizona at Minnesota -2

I knew this was going to be very wrong after the Vikings loss.  But the Cards barely got by the lowly Niners at home.  Still, it’s a pick’em.

Miami -1.5 at Los Angeles

Hmmmm.  Pick’em.  As long as it stays that way or the Dolphins get points, I’ll be taking Miami.  They’ve turned a corner.

New England -13 at San Francisco

Going -13 I figured was nice an extreme, yet right with it being in San Francisco.  No love for the Niners performance in Arizona either.  Pats -14.5.

Philadelphia at Seattle -6

SPOT ON.

Green Bay at Washington -3

It’s off the board on Sports Interaction right now, but that other website says the Redskins are -2.5.

Houston at Oakland -7

JUST got this one with the Raiders -6.  I’ll be taking the Raiders if that’s the case, even with it in Mexico City.

7/14, but 13/14 were within two points.  I’m totally meaning to brag when I say that is DAMN GOOD!  Be sure to tune in next week when I brag about more shit I called, because if there is one thing I know about people, it’s that they love to hear when you were right and they weren’t…

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