The National Football League: 2009 edition

Let's take a look at Week 2. Leaner pickings this week. Some good matchups from an entertainment perspective, but not so good for betting.

Houston at Tennessee(-7). Houston did not look good against the Jets, and they are facing a far better team this week on the road. The titans had a good shot at taking out the Steelers Thursday but were a bit unlucky. I'm giving the points here. Tennessee.

St. Louis at Washington(-10). I passed on fading St. Louis last week on the road at Seattle, largely because I just didn't have a feel for the Seahawks. I don't have that excuse this week. This should be my lock of the week, but the Skins somehow managed to lose at home to the Rams last year, and that loss and a woeful road loss at Cincy kept them out of the playoffs. I don't see that happening this week. If it does, coach Jim Zorn might as well put his house up for sale, because he not only won't be running this team next season, he might not be running it next week. The Skins looked pretty terrible against the Giants Sunday. They were able to stuff the Giants powerful run game but their DBs acted like they were afraid the Giants receivers were spreading swine flu. As a result, they couldn't get the Giants offense off the field. The Redksins have weapons on offense and should be able to get them untracked against the Rams' weak defense, but QB jason Campbell has never demonstrated the ability to put TDs on the board. I may hate myself over this one, but I just can't see giving 10 points for a team as dysfunctional as the Skins. Avoid.

Pittsburg(-3) at Chicago. I wasn't overly impressed by either team's week one game. The last time Urlacher was out, in '04, chicago apparently lost every game. I can see something similar happening. I also don't see Jay Cutler playing pinata too long with the Steelers pass rush. I'm giving the points here. Pittsburg.

NO at Philly(-2). Seems like a crazy spread if McNabb can't play. Maybe he does though. Iggles are playing it close to their vests. He won't be 100%, that's for sure. This one scares me. NO gave up 28 points to the no account Lions with a rookie QB. Philly's D is far better than the LIons though. NO is a finesse team going up against the NFC East bullies. I don't want any part of it. Avoid.

NY Giants at Dallas(-3). The Giants looked pretty good against the Skins but the Skins are a physical team and they took a toll on the Giants. They will be without their backup RB and rookie WR Nicks. Plenty of other players are probably black and blue. Cowboys looked efficient against TB, but they are playing the top team in the conference this week. No way I lay the points, but I don't trust the Giants to be in top form either. Avoid.

Minnesota(-10) at Detroit. I like the Vikings in this one. No way the Lions put up 28 points on the Vikes D like they did in NO. The Lions D is suspect, and the Viking should roll easily. Still, I really don't like giving double digits on the road. If I'm the Lions I load the box with 8 or even 9 and force Favre to beat me. Maybe he does but what if he throws a couple of picks and the Lions turn them into points? Got to avoid this one.

That's it for this week. Keep an eye on the Philly injury report to see what's up with McNabb.
 
Quote from AAAintheBeltway:

I don't know, but it seems to me online betting misses the point. If managed properly, a fan's relationship with his bookie can be useful. Unless you're a criminal defense attorney, how many other chances do you get to hang with members of organized crime? What is better than showing up at one of the roadhouses north of Boston or a Jersey diner to grab breakfast, see the book and hopefully leave with a thick wad in your pocket? A good bookie can do you favors if you're a steady customer. Tickets to games, good deals on used merchandise, maybe intros to strippers, etc.

Just don't be an idiot and get into them for money you don't have, don't have all your action with one bookie and never ever borrow money from them.
More...

My guy showed up one new years eve night where I worked with a fifth of I forget what, Black Velvet sounds right. Drank it all that night, it was not a pretty sight. ( no poetry intended ) All smiles when I lost, all gristle when I won. A fleeting relationship.
 
aaa describing a good wad in his pocket and strippers and ducats and hanging with bikers sounds Waaaaaaaaaaaaay far fetched to me. But I was waiting patiently to see if anyone else would pick up on it.

Plus...betting is for losers. Everyone knows this.


Quote from omegapoint:

My guy showed up one new years eve night where I worked with a fifth of I forget what, Black Velvet sounds right. Drank it all that night, it was not a pretty sight. ( no poetry intended ) All smiles when I lost, all gristle when I won. A fleeting relationship.
More...
 
Quote from Dr. Zhivodka:

aaa describing a good wad in his pocket and strippers and ducats and hanging with bikers sounds Waaaaaaaaaaaaay far fetched to me. But I was waiting patiently to see if anyone else would pick up on it.

Plus...betting is for losers. Everyone knows this.
More...


Its the juice ...man :D

Besides, you know the saying: NBWMMTYCATL
 
Quote from Dr. Zhivodka:

lol...

you lost me on that one Bro.
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Never bet with more money than you can afford to lose.
Not intending to reciprocate --don't know what I'd be reciprocating about -- but you lost me with what aaa might have been alluding to and what somebody would be discovering
from his post.
 
For week 2 the Titans -7 does appeared to be a good play. Houston could not score last week how are they going to score against Tenn. Also like Buffalo -4 against T.B. looking for 2 TD from T.O. in this game.

That Jets v. Pats game is going to be interesting is new QB for Jets that good. Will not play the Jets here but can they pull the upset.
 
Quote from timcar:

For week 2 the Titans -7 does appeared to be a good play. Houston could not score last week how are they going to score against Tenn. Also like Buffalo -4 against T.B. looking for 2 TD from T.O. in this game.

That Jets v. Pats game is going to be interesting is new QB for Jets that good. Will not play the Jets here but can they pull the upset.
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Great calls on Bills and Jets. I went down with you on titans.
 
Yesterday's games were a great advertisement for DirecTV's Sunday ticket, the plan that lets you watch any friggin' game you want. Say you are in our Nation's capital, you are stuck watching an awful game between the Skins and St. L. Youu could have been watching a great atlanat/Carolina game, you could have watched Kurt Warner complete 15 straight passes, or you could have seen the Bengals deliver a physical beating to the Packers.

Anyway, lot of great games yesterday. The first shoutout has to go to the Saints and Drew Brees. They lit up the McNabb-less Eagles in Philly. The Saints ran it up on the Lions but this week figured to be different, as the Iggles have the secondary to match the Saints wideouts. Maybe not, as the Saints put up 48 for the second consecutive week. I hope someone sends the game film to Jim Zorn to study, as that is about a season;s worth of TDs for the Redskins.

Other shoutouts go to the Giants, who left Big D with a big W, Ravens, winners in SD, Houston (more below), Jets, Cincy and Arizona.

I have never been a big Eli Manning fan but he clearly was the difference last night. The Cowboys pretty much outplayed the Giants up front on both sides of the ball, ran the ball effectively (251 yards on the ground) but suffered from bad play from Tony romo. Manning threw for over 300 yards and three Tds with no pciks and gave a two minute drill demonstration to the Cowboys and their stunned fans.

It was clear from last week's game against the bears that the Packers have some major questions on their O line. Those questions were magnified yesterday as their starting LT Chad Clifton was injured and left the game and the Bengals sacked Aaron Ridger 6 times in route to victory. This has to be a great lift for a Bengals team that lost a heartbreaker on that tipped pass last week against Denver.

The question on everyone's mind this morning is just how good are the Pats? They pulled one out of Tom Brady's butt last week against the Bills, but that seemed to be easily chalked up to opening game rustiness, etc. It's harder to dismiss yesterday's loss to the Jets, after a week of trashtalking between the teams. Jet's rookie QB Sanchez looked, well, tom Bradyish in leading his team to victory. The last guy the media loved as much as Sanchez (or as he is now known in NY, Mark "Sanchise" as in franchise) now lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The key to this game was the Jets bringing a lot of pressure on Brady and trusting their corners to blanket the Pats wideouts, Randy Moss in particular.

The Ravens win against the Bolts demonstrates one of the most important principles of the NFL: when in the Red Zone, you must get TDs. Phillip Rivers threw for an almost inconceivable 431 yards but the Ravens turned backed SD four times in the Red Zone, plus produced a great highlight play on a must-make fourth down for SD when Ray Lewis burst through the line and stoned Sproeles in the backfield.

Atlanta is getting some respect. They have produced two quality home wins to start the season, Matt Ryan looks good, plus he now has the league's premier tight end to throw to, tony gonzales. Nice going on that trde KC.

Ditto Minnesota. They took care of business against detroit, and Brett Favre seems to be liking getting paid 13 mill to hand off to AP.

The only thing good about this week's point spread picks is the fact I went 5-0 last week. Pride goeth before the fall, right? Anyway, 0-2 yesterday, giving points with the titans and Steelers. The funny thing is , I would probably take both plays again. I lost on a bad call in one game and two missed FGs in the other. Shows why it is so hard to beat the fat man consistently.

Titans managed to lose at home against a Houston squad that had been thoroughly dominated at home the week before by the Jets. Maybe the Jets are just that damn good, maybe Houston got its act together, myabe I was a little too impressed by the Titans effort against the Steelers, who maybe aren't so great after all, or maybe i got friggin' jobbed by the refs on a "TD" where the Houston receiver clearly dropped the ball as he went down. How the heck is that a TD? Whichever way you look at it, the titans' squad that started 10-0 last year has dug themselves a mammouth 0-2 hole and they don't have albert Haynseworth to dig them out of it. They do have Chris Johnson however, a good defense and the second best coach in the league.

The Steelers have made a habit of pulling games out of their hats. Didn't happen yesterday against a Bears team that sucked the week before in GB. This time Jay Cutler looked like Jay Cutler and keyed a fourth quarter win. The Steelers outplayed them though and should have covered pretty easily, but they managed to botch two easy field goals. Steelers badly need to rediscover their run game however. Big Ben has made a lot of plays, but they are not the Saints. they need to start playing some Steelers football. Pound the rock and get after it on defense.
 
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