2010 Week 15 Picks

Chef Spouse did something really amazing for his company this fall. To say thank you, they're sending us to Gotham this weekend - hotel, sideline tickets, car service to the Meadowlands, the works. And Chef Spouse is preparing a picnic lunch of high end treats (pate, caviar, champagne, etc.) for the train ride up.  And we have dinner reservations at WD-50. Now if we can just get the temperature above ridiculously freezing cold, we'll really be in business!

So who's going to win the game?

Well, the math says Giants. So do some of the guys at Bleeding Green Nation (traitors!). But The System doesn't know Steve Smith is done for the year, and Mario Manningham is decidedly iffy. And the Giants historically don't do well in December. And I'm not sure what's going on with Eli Manning lately, but he's throwing a LOT of picks. And did I mention that Asante Samuel is back? And even though he's been out since the last Giants game, he's leading the NFL in picks?

Oh - and could this game be any bigger? The team that wins this WILL win the NFC East. You heard it here first.

I gotta pick my Eagles, even against the math. And if they can win out, they'll likely jump to the #2 spot given how tough the Bears schedule is. That bye and a home playoff game would be nice, fellas. Can't you taste it? Don't you want it? You know you do. Don't let me down.

In the other matchups:

49ers at Chargers: Both teams playing for their playoff lives, and BWest is having a bit of a renaissance now that Frank Gore's sidelined. But I figure the Chargers should win this one going away. Both west divisions are bad, but the NFC West is like a whole other level of bad.

Saints at Ravens: This is going to be a hell of a game, with both teams in tough divisions and trying to stay in the wildcard race. I'm picking the Saints. I'm also picking this as the game we'll have on Chef Spouse's new iPhone while we're at the Meadowlands.

Cardinals at Panthers: This, on the other hand, is a meaningless game. The math says Panthers, but really, who cares?

Browns at Bengals: Another meaningless game. The Bengals have a slight edge, but again, who cares?

Redskins at Cowboys: Much as I want to pick the Redskins, the Cowboys are now playing like we all expected them to at the beginning of the season, and the Redskins' lack of depth at pretty much every position is causing their usual late season meltdown. Cowboys.

Jaguars at Colts:  Colts. I can't believe they'll miss the playoffs, and they have to win their division to get in this year. Peyton will make it happen by sheer force of will if he has to.

Bills at Dolphins: Dolphins.

Chiefs at Rams: Two not very good teams fighting to stay in the lead of their crummy divisions. Bleh. Chiefs.

Lions at Bucs: This one's a push, but the Bucs are at home and potentially have something to play for (they're still not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs), so I'm going with them.

Texans at Titans: The Texans will win this game, for all the good it will do them. Sigh. Maybe next year former/future Team of Destiny.

Falcons at Seahawks: The Falcons are only unstoppable at home. And when they're playing bad teams. Falcons.

Broncos at Raiders: Raiders. I hadn't bought, but I was renting to own. Hope I can get out of this lease.

Jets at Steelers: The math says Jets, but I think they're starting to fall apart, and the Steelers, who have one of the oldest rosters in the NFL but sure as hell don't play like it, are hitting their stride big time. I'm going with the Steelers.

Packers at Patriots: The math says Packers, but it doesn't know about Aaron Rodgers concussion or the fact that Tom Brady's on fire, too. I have to go with the Pats, even though another loss almost definitely dooms the Packers post-season hopes, while the Pats could coast a little at this point.

Bears at Vikings: The Vikes still have no stadium and have an almost new coach and a new QB (Patrick Ramsey, who hasn't had meaningful playing time since he was a Redskin in 2004) to backup their starter, who up until last week was the third string clipboard holder. The math says they're going to win, but that's crazy talk. Bears.

Read More

Sunday Schedule: Sunday, December 19, 2010

We're closed for business this week. Why? Chef Spouse did something amazing for his company this fall, and to say thank you, they're sending us to Gotham for the weekend with sideline tickets to see the Eagles take on the Giants in the Meadowlands in the game that may determine which team will win the NFC East (and car service to get us there and back). So y'all are on your own, but look for us on TV!

Read More

2010 Week 14 Recap

Eagles over Cowboys, Sunday, December 12, 2010

In attendance: Shoegal, Life-Long Eagles Fan Mom, You-Two-Calm-Down-or-I'm-Turning-Off-the-TV Dad, Chef Spouse, and a friend of mine from Florida. The YAPstars, sadly, blew us off. Too bad for them, because it was a GREAT game.

Menu: Chef Spouse made all kinds of yummy snacks, Shoegal brought cheese, Life-Long Eagles Fan Mom made brisket and mac&cheese. URP!

Stud of the Week: DeSean Jackson, who, as Chef Spouse observed and Cris Collinsworth confirmed, should NOT have been penalized for his TD celebration. Apparently, the Cowboys didn't like it. Well, stop him from scoring a 91 yard TD and you won't have to see it, donkeys!

But I want to see it again:



Revisiting the keys to the game I identified last week, which happened and which didn't?

Well, Dez Bryant was out. That's indisputable.

Did they get DeSean Jackson going? Um, yeah. 210 yards on 4 receptions and a TD.

Did they get LeSean McCoy going? Yes again. 149 yards on the ground, including masterfully executing virtually every play to run out the clock in the final 4:22 of the game.

Did the O-line protect Michael Vick? No. He gets hit, he pops up. He gets hit, he pops up. He gets hit out of bounds, he pops up. And then Andy Reid screams at the zebras. The funny thing is that Terry McAulay's crew is usually one of the better ones, in my opinion, because they're more likely to just let the guys play. And that was borderline - an Eagles fan (or coach) would've seen it as a penalty, but a Cowboys fan (or coach) probably wouldn't. But it's good to see Andy stepping up for his QB, particularly since every time Vick goes down, I worry that THIS is the time he's not going to pop back up.

Asante Samuel wasn't back, but Kitna's mostly a short yardage guy, so it probably wasn't that big a deal. And the D did great shutting down the Cowboys running game.

Michael Vick? Good game - 2 picks, but only 1 was his fault (and by the way Maclin, you need to catch that pass, buddy), 3 TDs (two passing, one rushing), Kitna had more yards on the ground, but I'm loving that any play can be a big play. I'm loving that the D can give up a lead in the third quarter, and the team can fight back. I'm loving the chemistry. I'm loving that if the special teams can get the offense at least to around the 40, they're getting at least 3 points out of it.

And speaking of, how about some love for Chef Spouse's boy David Akers with that 50 yard field goal that turned out to be the margin of victory?

And did you see the postgame Vick and Jackson interview with Andrea Kramer? DJax was jumping around like a 5 year old who'd had too much sugar. It was hilarious.

Not so good?

The Eagles red zone D is bad. Like, historically bad. And they're terrible in the 3rd quarter. The offense is coming up clutch, and when they enter the fourth quarter down, I actually have hope. But it's better not to be down.

Speaking of down, Jon Kitna should NEVER be able to pick up a 4th and 8 on his feet. That is shameful. So were penalties that extended Dallas drives - Dimitri Patterson, I'm looking at you - and backed us up at critical times. Jorrick Calvin, you're a rookie, so I'm not going to bust your chops about the running around in the endzone. Your heart was in the right place, even if you didn't know what you were doing. But that punch? Unacceptable.

Speaking of unacceptable, what was with Collinsworth (who I normally love) kissing the Cowboys' asses all game? Newsflash: the Cowboys think they're the center of the goddamn universe, but in reality they are not the sun around which the entire NFL revolves. Teams, even NFC East teams, occasionally do stuff for reasons that have NOTHING to do with the Cowboys. Shocking, I know.

You know what else is unacceptable?  Stewart Bradley dislocated his elbow and Brandon Graham tore his ACL. We can't be losing any more players here, people!

And now the Eagles/Vikings matchup on Dec 26 has been flexed to prime time. The Eagles have killed in ratings in this year as well as on the field, and so far, the team is loving the night games, 5-0.

There's been a lot of tweeting about playoff scenarios, a surprising amount of them incorrect. Here's the deal: if the Eagles beat the Giants AND win one of their last two games, they will win the NFC East regardless of what else the Giants do. If the Bears win out, the Eagles will be the #3 seed regardless. If the Eagles win out and the Bears drop either the Jets or Packers game (possible if not likely), the Eagles will sneak into the #2 seed. Don't speculate - get the facts at the NFL site. They do a good job of keeping the playoff picture section up to date.

Around the rest of the NFL...

Colts over Titans. Barely. The Colts were way up until the 4th quarter, and almost gave up the game. That's not the way it usually goes. The way it usually goes is that the Colts are down by 13 at the 2 minute warning and win anyway. I had actually stopped watching the game and gone to bed at the end of the third quarter, because it looked like it was over. Not this year.

Bills over Browns. Browns are out of the playoffs now. I mean, it would've required the Steelers, Ravens, and Bengals to just up and quit for them to get there, but now they're officially out. The Bills have been officially out since August.

Falcons over Panthers. Duh.

Lions over Packers. Raise your hand if you called this one. If you recall, I said that the key to the Packers season, given all the injuries they've sustained, was to keep Aaron Rodgers and Clay Matthews vertical. Well, now they're down to 50%, with the Pats, Giants, and Bears coming up. Yikes.

Jaguars over Raiders. The Raiders managed to tie up the game and then let the Jags score in 2 plays - a great kick off return, and an even better run by MoJo. You tie the game and then let the opponent score in 20 seconds? Not gonna win a whole lot of games that way.

Steelers over Bengals. If this was a Steelers blog, the stud of the week would be Troy Polamalu. Just sayin'.

Bucs over Redskins. There was an article in the WaPo Sunday magazine focusing on Billy Cundiff and talking about how tough it is to be an NFL kicker. Well, if you're kicking like Graham Gano anyway. Thank God we have David Akers, aka Mr. Reliable. Wanna bet Gano is playing for the Panthers (or the CFL) by Thursday? Bleeding Green Nation put it best: "Redskins lose in the most hilarious fashion of the season."

Saints over Rams. Again, duh.

49ers over Seahawks. I "like" Brian Westbrook on Facebook. Aside from "liking" his sexy shirtless profile picture, I also "like" his current comment: "Had a great day at the office yesterday." Yes, sir, you did. 110 combined yards and a TD. I'm telling you, the West is going to be won by a 7-9 team.

Cardinals over Broncos. Guess the New Head Coach Magic has been all used up for this season.

Pats over Bears. Ex-Navy Cheesehead is still recovering from getting his new ankle, so he wasn't able to make it out again yesterday. But he did email about being worried about the Pats. I find that charmingly optimistic, considering that the Eagles first have to get into the playoffs (likely but far from certain at this point), then WIN the NFC, then we can worry about the Pats. But if we have a repeat of Super Bowl 39 including the outcome, I'm going to start taking hostages.

Dolphins over Jets. First of all, people were complaining about DeSean Jackson having no class for his Nestea plunge. Two words for you: Sal Alosi. Also, what is wrong with the Jets? Standings-wise they're still right in it. But they got their butts whupped by the Pats and then couldn't put the Dolphins away in what was a very sloppy game. And they have the Steelers up next. Things are looking a little shaky for Gang Green.

Chargers over Chiefs. A Chargers shutout of the Chiefs is more like what we're used to seeing. But the Chargers' slow start may doom them this year.

I was supposed to be able to recap Giants at Vikings during Ravens at Texans, until this happened:



If the Giants could manage to lose this game (which is looking pretty unlikely here at halftime), that would be awesome. If they could manage to get snowed in in Detroit, further shortening their week, that would be even more awesome.

Read More

2010 Week 14 Picks

I know Kitna's the QB now, but still...good times.

It's Dallas week, and much as I wish the Eagles could've played them at least once earlier in the season - you remember, when they sucked? - at least we'll enjoy an exciting end to the season, with 3 divisional games in the next 4 weeks.

Keys to the game:

Dez Bryant is out. Thank God, because our kick off and punt return coverage has not been brilliant this year.

Get DeSean Jackson going. He had a great year against the Cowboys as a rookie in 2008. Last year? Shut down. Marty Mornhinweg can't let that happen, particularly not with Jason Avant and Brent Celek suffering from the dropsies lately.

LeSean McCoy. Run the screen ALL day long. Shady is shifty, and the big Cowboys defenders will have trouble staying with him.

DeMarcus Ware. The O-line has to keep him off Michael Vick.

Asante Samuel. The Eagles need him back in the lineup, not least of which because it reduces the amount of field the rest of the D has to cover.

Michael Vick. A win over Dallas, particularly given the debacles last year, gives him the chance to really become the emotional leader of the fan base.

Also? Life-Long Eagles Fan Mom and You-Two-Calm-Down-or-I'm-Turning-Off-the-TV Dad are coming to town to watch the game with us.

Want the playoffs, fellas? We need this win. Eagles. Who've actually been pretty clutch this year.

In the rest of the picks:

Colts at Titans. Earlier today, I posted a poll to RootZoo asking which team people think is in more trouble: the Colts, due to their impending inability to field a full 53 man team, or the Titans, because, well, where do I start? So far, most people are going with the Titans. So am I. Which means Colts, who have to win out to go to the playoffs this year.

Falcons at Panthers. Falcons. I can't even think of anything funny to write about the ass-whupping that's about to commence.

Buccaneers at Redskins. You did hear that the Redskins have finally had it with Fat Albert, right? I know he's a loafing pain in the ass, but I'm not sure how this makes the team better.  Bucs. I hope to hell the Skins exercise the clause in DMac's contract that lets them cut him so he can go to Arizona and have some fun throwing to Fitz before he retires and goes into broadcasting. They owe him after this mess of a season.

Packers at Lions. Next year, or the year after at the latest, will be the Lions year. Maybe. Until then? Packers.

Bengals at Steelers. Soccer was the big sport at my high school, and in my sophomore (or maybe junior) year, one of my friends, a big guy who played halfback, broke his nose while in a game. After that, he had to wear the same sort of shield Big Ben will wear Sunday. It only made him more terrifying. Steelers.

Raiders at Jaguars. I'm going out on a limb and picking the Raiders.

Giants at Vikings. Any chance the Vikes do us a huge favor and beat the Giants? Yeah, I don't think so either. Giants.

Browns at Bills. Bills. They have to win some games, right? Homefield and all.

Patriots at Bears. Another wild pick? Da Bears. Da Pats have to be due a let down after the hurting they put on the Jets Monday.

Seahawks at 49ers. Alex Smith is going back under center, which is not good. I'm picking the 49ers anyway, though, and reminding Mike Singletary that there's this guy on his team by the name of Brian Westbrook who's one of the most talented backs to ever play the game. So given the QB situation, Mike, you might want to think about RUNNING the BALL.

Rams at Saints. Saints. And by the way, I'm still pissed that a team that's at .500 is leading a division.

Dolphins at Jets. Speaking of the MNF beatdown, the Jets will bounce back and beat the Dolphins. Also, did you hear that Chad Pennington is talking about retiring? He's heading for something like his fourth go-round with the same shoulder surgery. Chad, the universe is trying to tell you something. Don't ignore it until your arm falls off.

Chiefs at Chargers.  Chargers. Matt Cassel had an emergency appendectomy and likely won't play Sunday. This could spell doom for the surprising Chiefs - not just Sunday, on the season as a whole.

Broncos at Cardinals. Changing coaches has worked well for the Vikes and the Cowboys. I expect the Broncos to follow suit. Broncos.

Ravens at Texans. Oh Texans, I may have promoted you from Team of Destiny too soon. The Colts are struggling, and there is a huge window of opportunity this year. Unfortunately, you don't seem capable of taking advantage of it. Ravens.

Read More

Sunday Schedule: Sunday, December 12, 2010

It's Dallas week, y'all! And while I wish the Eagles could've played them at least once back in the early part of the season when they sucked, at least we'll have an exciting end to the regular season, with 3 divisional games in 4 weeks.

Life-Long Eagles Fan Mom and You-Two-Calm-Down-or-I'm-Turning-Off-the-TV Dad will be in town this weekend. And the YAPstars are coming in force. And we'll see the triumphant return of Ex-Navy Cheesehead and his new bionic ankle. It's gonna be epic.

1 pm: Giants/Vikings (c'mon Vikes, do us a solid and beat the Gints)

4 pm: Pats/Bears

SNF: Eagles/Cowboys. It's ON!

Menu?  Life-Long Eagles Mom's bringing mac-n-cheese and brisket. Chef Spouse plans to make a bunch of pre-game snacks. Do bring something, because we are going to be feeding a lot of people. At the moment, we have no dessert, and we could probably use something healthy like some vegetables. And of course, booze is always appreciated, although we are pretty set with beer at this point.

Read More

2010 Week 13 Recap

Eagles v. Texans, Thursday, December 2, 2010

In attendance: not even me! I had dance practice Thursday and had to record the game and watch it Friday night. Of course, I knew how it turned out before I watched it. My media blackout attempts were summarily killed by the Washington Post, which had the score on the front page of the Sports section Friday. Given how the game went down, this was probably a good thing, and no doubt saved me several heart attacks and much screaming and yelling.

Stud of the week: Michael Vick. Not only was his defense not able to hold a 14 point lead, going down by four at one point, and needing him to rally the team to a win, but he did it after getting repeatedly knocked on his ass. Much like a weeble, he kept popping back up. Thank God. Shady had a good game, too, going for 130 combined yards. Anyone else notice how much he's starting to run like BWest? Must be all those screens! Gotta give a shout out to Chef Spouse's boy David Akers, too, who set the franchise record for starts at 184 on Thursday, passing Wolverine, whose starts, let's be honest, were qualitatively different (no disrespect meant to Akers).

So, comments on the game. It's four days after, so the recaps have already hit everywhere but, um, here.

The big stories were:

Michael Vick is one tough mo-fo. Yes, he is. See above. Also, loved the whole "not in OUR house" 4th quarter come-back.

Andy Reid calls out the officials. Glad to see I'm not the only one who notices that some QBs (whose last name may be "Manning") draw 15 yard penalties if your arm glances off their helmet, while some QBs get blatantly face masked (see above, Vick, Michael) or their NOSES get BROKEN (Big Ben and the whole "my nose is now perpendicular to my face" thing on SNF) and...nothing.

Brent Celek and Jason Avant BOTH drop the same TD pass.  C'mon man!

The Vick throw in the 4th quarter when we needed to keep the clock moving. I don't think that was actually a planned throw. Watching it again, the flags were already in by the time Vick threw it away. Andy is not the master of clock management, but I don't think that was him.

And the big one: the defense. OK, the third quarter was not great. But the thing is, the Texans can totes score points. I'm not thrilled that the gave up 2 TDs, but I'm not that surprised, either. It's clear that the Eagles D misses Asante Samuel big time, not least of which because no coach in his right mind wants to throw near him, which allows the rest of the defense to cheat the coverage on his side, leaving them only having to deal with about 2/3 of the field. When they have to cover the WHOLE field, things aren't so good. But again, giving up 24 points to the Texans is not beyond the pale.

4 games left, resurgent Cowboys twice, resurgent Vikings once, and the Giants in their house. The Eagles can't ever do anything the easy way, can they? Go get 'em, boys. (Doing something to reduce penalties might help.)

Around the rest of the NFL...

Saints over Bengals. How do the Bengals go up on the Saints? How, after they've pulled off that feat, do they fall for the oldest trick in the book and jump offsides on the hard count on 4th and 2 at the end of the game? Oh Bungles, it sucks to be you.

Bears over Lions. Have you noticed that the Lions have been in every game this season? If they can just keep Matthew Stafford healthy, they're this close to being good.

Packers over 49ers. Well, yes. And how many tackles did Donald Driver break to put the Pack ahead for good? 4? 5? 137?

Chiefs over Broncos. With the Chargers surprising loss to the Raiders (more on that below), the Chiefs have probably pretty much wrapped up the West. Raise your hand if you saw THAT coming. Also, Josh McDaniels is out. Three head coaches out of 32 are already out. As Chef Spouse observed while cooking dinner tonight, the beheadings don't usually start until January, so they're really ahead of schedule this year.

Browns over Dolphins. Apparently, this was the most boring game since the Steelers beat the Dolphins 3-0 on MNF a few years back (the infamous "the ball actually got stuck in the field" game).

Vikings over Bills.  See, I told you the Vikes should give Tavaris Jackson a shot.

Giants over Redskins. Apparently, the Redskins dragon-style "we suck" suckitude-fu was stronger than DMac's tiger-style "Dear Giants: I own your asses" awesomeness-fu. Also, Fat Albert was apparently having a bad hair day and didn't feel like playing. Also, it would've been REALLY helpful if the Redskins could've pulled off the upset win. Also, perhaps they should fire EVERYONE (including the owner), burn FedEx field to the ground, salt the earth, and start over. Just a suggestion.

Jaguars over Titans. Did I mention that things are going all the way wrong in Tennessee? Because they are.

Raider over Chargers. Have you ever noticed that the second the commentators start making a big deal about something, whether it be "Mike Vick hasn't thrown a single pick all season" or "The Chargers haven't lost in December in FIVE YEARS," it immediately happens?

Rams over Cardinals. Whatever. Apparently, Ditka is also on record as agreeing with me that, if no team in a division finishes above .500, they should automatically lose their playoff spot. Preach, Ditka!

Cowboys over Colts. Well, that was unexpected. Two thoughts: number one, with almost no players left, Peyton Manning is clearly trying to do too much. Number two, maybe changing head coaches mid-season isn't such a bad move after all. At least then no one knows what to expect until they get some film on you. For the Eagles' sake, I hope 4 weeks worth of film on Jason Garrett will be enough.

Seahawks over Panthers. Yawn.

Falcons over Bucs. OK, everyone's now on the whole "Matty Ice is DREAMY" train. I have to point out that the 7-5 Bucs haven't beat any teams with winning records AND the NFC South features the truly awful Panthers. There's 10-2, and then there's 10-2.

Steelers over Ravens. Talk about a slug fest! I mean literally - Ben Roethlisberger's nose got broken. The Ravens dominated the game...up until the very end, when Troy Polamalu forced a Joe Flacco fumble that was recovered by LaMarr Woodley with about 3 minutes left, leading to the Steelers only TD of the evening.

On to Pats/Jets!

Read More

2010 Week 13 Picks

The Texans are, even as I write this, at The Linc, no doubt thinking, "Damn, it's COLD here!"

This has been a relatively high drama week for our beloved Eagles - Andy Reid went all Bill Parcells on the team after the loss to the Bears. Asante's still gimpy. Big Red called out DJax. Rumors have surfaced that his mind is on his contract and not on field. Andre Johnson, the Texans' top receiver, threw down with the Titans' Courtland Finnegan but oddly wasn't suspended, even though helmets came off, punches were thrown, and they were both ejected from the game.

Drama, drama, drama.

But to me, this whole game comes down to one fact: the Texans are 31st in the league against the pass and have given up the most 40+ yard plays of any team. The Eagles offense is 8th in passing yards, and in the top 5 teams in plays of 40+ yards. Don't get me wrong - the Texans have a hot offense, too, #7 overall, and there's a very good chance this turns into a shoot out. But I just don't see them keeping up with us over 60 minutes.

Eagles. And they better win, because I think NFC teams who aren't in the West are going to have to go at least 11-5 to get into the playoffs this year.

In the rest of the matchups:

Broncos at Chiefs - Cheaters never win. Unless they're Bill Belichick. Chiefs.

Bears at Lions - One of these seasons, it's going to be the Lions' year. Looks like this one isn't it, though. Bears.

Redskins at Giants - The Skins are going to get killed. Remember a few years ago, when Osi Umenyiora sacked DMac, like, 300 times? That's going to be mild compared to what's going to go down Sunday. I hope the Redskins still *have* a QB by 4 pm. Giants

Jags at Titans - Things are falling apart fast in Tennessee. Jags.

49ers at Packers - Even with BWest active in the backfield, I gotta go with the Packers.

Bills at Vikings - Vikings. Dear God, if they win a few more games, does that mean we STILL won't be rid of Brett Favre?

Saints at Bengals - Bengals. SIKE! Saints. Of course.

Browns at Dolphins - Dolphins. Although, to be fair, the Browns are looking much improved.

Falcons at Buccaneers - Falcons. Damn, the NFC South is tough this year. Well, other than the Panthers.

Raiders at Chargers - Chargers. It's December.

Cowboys at Colts - Colts. Even if they are starting guys they picked up off the street.

Panthers at Seahawks - Panthers. Think anyone will watch this game?

Rams at Cardinals - Rams. Yuck.

Steelers at Ravens - Ravens. I think this one's going to be a low-scoring nail-biter, but I'm going with the home team. Also, what a great game for SNF!

Jets at Patriots - And speaking of great prime time games, TWO divisional leads on the line two nights in a row. Boo-yah! Also, Jets. I think the Pats' day has passed.

Read More