NFL Week 6 Hot Takes

I hope you all get the joke that this is titled “hot takes” because they aren’t anything like that.  They’re rationale takes…that’s the joke.  Probably isn’t good that I treat my readers like blithering idiots is it?  But if you don’t get the joke, I don’t know how else to treat you.

There is a ton of things I’m going to talk about where I feel like I’ve been proven wrong, but one thing I got right, this week specifically, were my NFL picks!  4-0-1, 5-0-1 if you want to include the over/under pick I snuck in there on the Saints/Panthers pick.  That’ll move the record to 18-12-1 on the season.  Though as great as that was, I can’t believe the 1 happened.  I’ve never been more sure that I caught Vegas with their pants down as I did on Houston/Indy game.  Maybe if the Texans would have shown up the first 3 quarters it would have been a win rather than a push.

Ok, so normally I just go off the NFL.com scoreboard and work my way across, A.K.A. I go from the early games to the late games.  But I have to talk about the game that killed my thousand dollar dream.  The legend of Dak Prescott just keeps getting bigger and bigger.  It’s great for me, because I want to write a big ass piece just on him and the trickle down affect that he’ll have.  But I think we have to start giving a LITTLE credit to this Cowboys defense that was projected to be one of the worst units in the league.  They have no pass rush, but that secondary is really talented and with Morris Claiborne now showing flashes of becoming the stud corner he was expected to be, it’s a big lift.  Think about it.  Only one QB has put up more than 20 points on them, which was Kirk Cousins at home (23).  Eli Manning, Cousins, Andy Dalton, and now Aaron Rodgers.  They’ve been solid.

HAVING SAID THAT…

What the hell is up with the Packers and Aaron Rodgers specifically?!  I’ve defended him all season but yesterday was my breaking point.  No, not because he lost me money.  He only managed 16 points at home.  And I just praised the Cowboys defense, but this guy is a guy who two years ago was the best QB in football, he should be able to pick apart a defense that is just ok.  That O-line is good, he has plenty of weapons, something just isn’t right with the guy.  He’s not over the hill or anything either.  So I have to wonder if he’s playing with an injury.  Colin Cowherd keeps piling on and his big reason he claims he’s not good is exactly why he’s top three in the league.  Keeps pointing out how Rodgers isn’t the biggest, isn’t the fastest, doesn’t have the best arm in the league….it’s garbage, because he literally has all the tools.  And if you read me you know I love Cowherd, but he’s been a dip shit and clearly has an agenda when it comes to Rodgers.  But he is right, when he says something isn’t right.

That missed call in Seattle was disgusting.  And it was a combination of time of game and reputation, which are the two things that bother me most about officiating.  Time of game was late, so for some reason late in a game means more can happen, because it’s late in the game.  Minute 59 is more important than minute 12 in a game, because refs say so.  The RULES don’t say so, but the refs do.  And then you have the reputation.  Since the Seahawks got the reputation that they have a good defense, they magically have gotten away with MUCH more than most teams.  And this is no secret, this is a philosophy, and a damn good one on their part honestly!  The philosophy is that they’re going to challenge refs to call everything, because they know they won’t.  So they get away with a ton of different things…like the PI that should have been called on Jones.  The Falcons should have won this game, and the Falcons are damn good.  The last few weeks have proven this.

The Falcons have supplanted the Panthers in the NFC South.  So have the Saints.  So have the Bucs.  The Panthers are a MESS.  They can’t get off the field, and the offense just can’t gel.  I know they put up 38 yesterday, but it was against the SAINTS!  Myself and ten of my buddies can put up 38 on the Saints!  I’ve always questioned Cam Newton’s maturity.  That’s far from all of the Panthers problems, but this team are total front runners, and he’s the leader.  When things are going great and they’re somewhat easy, Cam is amazing.  But thus far in his career, when things have started to go South on him, he folds.  He pouts.  He has a chance to be one of the all time greats, and you can say he was coming off a concussion, and that’s true.  But the season itself, the guy hasn’t found a way to get things done and the team has followed that lead.  15-1 last season, done by week 6 this season.

Different week, same Ravens.  What the hell happened to this franchise?  I mean, I called it that they weren’t as good as their 3-0 record said, but heading into last season a lot of people (myself included) were picking them to go to the Super Bowl!  Last year was awful, and this season doesn’t appear to be any better.  New offensive co-ordinator, still lost to a Giants team which is relatively on the same path.  I really think a change is coming there and John Harbaugh after nine seasons has to be on the hot seat.  Great coach, but sometimes you just need a change.

That Chiefs/Raiders game yesterday was exactly why I picked the Chiefs to win that division.  Love the Raiders, they’ll be fine.  But that Chiefs running game and defense are both right near the top of the league.  They are far from the sexiest team to watch in the league.  But they can beat you in several different ways, and Andy Reid is one of the top coaches in the game (now 16-2 off the bye week!)  With the Broncos coming back down to earth, the AFC West is there for the Chiefs to win.

What else can I say about the other games?  The Pats are the best team in the league.  The Steelers are close with them but got humiliated in Miami yesterday.  The Jags only beat the lowly Bears by a point off a bye week and with their talent I wonder if they aren’t the worst coached team in the league.  The Eagles and Carson Wentz are back to being in a rebuild.  How do you destroy the Steelers and then lose two in a row after your bye week?  The Niners are a total train wreck and I really don’t think it’s Chip Kelly.  Conversely the Bills have really righted the ship and while I’m not a big fan of Rex Ryan I think he deserves a little credit because the train was on the verge of coming off the tracks there after the loss to the Jets.

The Monday nighter tonight is a total dog, and I assume you’ll be watching the Jays game rather than that.  IF YOU MUST bet it, the Jets getting 7.5 and the over of 46 feels right because something is off with the Cards, and the Jets D just isn’t close to what they were last season.

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