2010 Week 4 Picks

This game is huge. HUGE! DMac comes back to the Linc for the first time as a Redskin. You KNOW he has a huge chip on his shoulder, starting with the infamous draft day booing and going all the way up to this past Easter weekend:

Ring...ring...

"McNabb residence, this is Donovan speaking."

"Don."

"Happy Easter, Coach Reid!  Mormons do celebrate Easter, right?"

"Yes, Don.  Listen, I've got some bad news for you."

"You re-signed TO?"

"No - we traded you to the Redskins 5 minutes ago.  Your stuff is in a box outside the NovaCare complex.  You can pick it up whenever you like.  We changed the locks.  And gave your parking space to Kevin Kolb."

"Well, at least I don't have to play with that self-centered douchebag Terrell Owens again."

Although I was concerned that I'd be conflicted about this game, I find that I'm not.  I definitely want the Eagles to win.  I'm just not sure we can.

I know - we're atop the division (for all that means in week 4) and the Skins have been abysmal the past two weeks. But McNabb knows everything about our O and D inside out.  You better believe he's shared that ALL with the Skins coaches in the scouting sessions.

Of course, the Eagles have the offensive player of the month in Michael Vick and the defensive rookie of the month in Nate Allen.   Towards whom Big5 will be throwing.  To two wideouts who are, collectively, older than the rapidly-melting glaciers.

And, of course, divisional games are always wacky.  As I explained to someone recently, "any given Sunday" is quadrupley true when it's an in division game.  

On the other hand, is the "new" Mike Vick permanent?  We've beat two pretty bad teams (the Lions and the Jags), and although he played well in the second half against the Packers, he couldn't bring us back.  In other words, he's looking brilliant against scrubs.  On the other hand, he's been great in the red zone.  And many would argue that the Skins are scrubs this year, of course, but again, "any given Sunday."

Of course, the Redskins have been terrible in the red zone. The fact that they've almost universally chosen run plays (and they have NO ground game this year) hasn't stopped the Philly sportswriters from blaming it on McNabb.

And now we're back to that whole "chip on the shoulder" thing - last season's two end games against the Cowboys aside, McNabb generally plays better when he's playing with a chip on his shoulder.  Seems to help him focus.  But that lack of a ground game means our D will pretty much be safe blitzing (which we love to do) and blanketing the wideouts and jumping routes to come up with picks.

Verdict:  I'm a mess about this game, I can't wait until Sunday, and I hope the Eagles can pull off a win, which I don't think is nearly the sure thing lots of people seem to think it is.

For the other games:

Jets at Bills:  J-E-T-S- JETS JETS JETS!  The Bills, while better than last year, are still not that great.  And after a shaky start, Sanchez is looking more comfortable and confident the last two weeks.  I'd feel pretty good, too, if I managed to spank the Patriots.

Bengals at Browns:  What is wrong with Carson Palmer?  Batman and Robin are unrelenting trouble, but they're also really, really talented. And they've barely smelled the endzone this year.  That can't last - either they'll start hitting, Palmer will be replaced, or one or both of their heads will explode.  Bengals.

Ravens at Steelers:  The Steelers are 3-0, but they've beat the Falcons, the Titans, and the Bucs.  Who actually, now that I look at it, are all 2-1.  Hm.  I did call the Ravens to win the division, so I think that means I have to go with the Purple Menace.  But I'm far from convinced.

Broncos at Titans:  Hm - Broncos are 6th against the run in the AFC, and the Titans bread and butter is RB Chris Johnson.  I'm going out on a limb and calling Broncos.

Lions at Packers:  The Lions are better this year, but not that much better.  Packers.

49ers at Falcons:  The 49ers better f-ing pull it together this week, or it's game over.  Literally. I think this is the week.  49ers.

Panthers at Saints:  Watch the Saints bounce back big against the hapless Panthers.  Is it too early to talk about John Fox losing his job?

Seahawks at Rams:  The Seahawks are surprising in a big way this year, and the Rams win last week was a fluke.  Seahawks.

Colts at Jaguars:  Colts.  The Jags suck.  You heard it here first.

Texans at Raiders:  Hogs Haven, the Redskins SB Nation blog, had a really funny feature about a week ago:  Graph Jam style joke pictures.  One was a pie chart of what Redskins fans thought of Jason Campbell in 2009 versus 2010.  2009?  Divided between things like:  too many system changes, bad coaching, no wideouts, nice guy, etc. 2010?  100% "He stinks."  Of course, Bruce Gradkowski is now under center, and he does seem to be an upgrade.  But he's like upgrading from a Yugo to Taurus.  And you need a BMW to beat the Texans these days.

Cardinals at Chargers:  Can you believe the Chargers game is going to be blacked out AGAIN?  Based on that alone, they HAVE to lose.  Cardinals.

Bears at Giants:  Bears.  Who are looking way, way better this year.  And the Giants are WAY worse.  Maybe bad enough that they should have their NFC East membership cards yanked.  And (and I know you'll be SHOCKED to hear this) the players don't like Tom Coughlin very much.  Because he seems
like such a sweetheart, you know?

Patriots at Dolphins:  Dolphins.  Go Fins!

On bye:  Cowboys, Chiefs Vikings, Buccaneers.

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Sunday Schedule: Sunday, October 3, 2010

BIG week. DMac returns to the Linc for the first time as a Redskin.  Get your popcorn - and probably your asbestos underwear.

Game schedule:

1 pm: With the bye weeks starting, there's no NFC East game in the 1 pm spot. I'm inclined to go with Ravens at Steelers.
4 pm: Redskins at Eagles. CAN. NOT. WAIT.
8 pm: Bears at Giants.  Not that this won't at least potentially be a good game, but do you think the NFL suits are kicking themselves about not putting the Eagles/Skins game in the Sunday prime time spot?  I do.
MNF: Patriots at Dolphins

Menu:  Tweety Monster will be joining us and has requested shrimp etouffee (which fits in nicely with my need to start using some of the many bags of shrimp I've recently picked up at the grocery store due to good sales that are now filling my party overflow freezer and stealing valuable space from extra ice).  Bring something (New Orleans themed?) to go with.

Edited to add:  Upon reflection, we're NOT doing the etouffee this week because, looking in the fridge this morning I realized/remembered that we also have a bunch of okra we need to use up.  So we are sticking with the NOLA theme, but we're doing gumbo instead.

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2010 Week 3 Recap

Eagles at Jaguars, Sunday, September 26, 2010
In attendance:  EVERYONE turned out for You-Two-Calm-Down-or-I'm-Turning-Off-the-TV Dad's birthday celebration:  Chef Spouse, Shoegal, Life-Long Eagles Fan Mom, Ex-Navycheese Head, Tall Drink of Water Cousin (and his wife and new baby),  Fellow Eagles Maniac, and the Queen Bee.  Full house!

Menu:  Ribs, mac and cheese, crudities, sweet potatoes, various dips (including the legendary guacamole), cookies, apple pie.  URP!

Stud of the week:  Trevor Laws, who recorded 6 tackles, a sack, and 2 deflected passes on a day when our D only allowed 3 points.

We DOMINATED.  We TOTALLY DOMINATED.  OK, it was a bad team, but still - good day for You-Two-Calm-Down-or-I'm-Turning-Off-the-TV Dad's birthday fete.  The offense was quite good, putting up 28 points, but the D played hard for the entire game.  After almost giving up a huge lead over the Lions last week (and watching what happened with the Redskins), that's huge.

Do you think the "QB controversy" talk will die down this week?  With McNabb coming home Sunday, probably not.  But the Vick decision looked pretty good this week.  He missed some open guys, and there were some really off passes, but he went 17/31 for almost 300 yards, 3 TD, and no picks (and a win), so I'm not gonna gripe too hard.  Other than the fact that he hangs onto the ball too long and takes sacks he doesn't need to.  Not only is getting sacked a bad thing in the whole "we need to get 10 yards for a first down" sense, it's also bad to subject your body to that kind of pounding.

Is Jeremy Maclin a TD machine?  Time will tell, but so far this season, yes.

I would like to see Brent Celek more involved - he is Mr. Earning Hard YAC - and Jason Avant - Mr. Sure Hands - too, and DeSean, I know you're amazing, but could you please pay attention to where the down markers are, donkey?  But seriously, not too much to complain about.   Also, maybe you and Celek should compare notes so you don't run the same route into each other.  Because he's way bigger than you, and running into him full speed will, sooner or later, not be a good thing.

Finally, how different is our D with and without Stewart Bradley?  No more concussions, young man.  We need you.

On to REDSKINS week and the return of DMac.

Around the rest of the NFL....

Man, I did BAD with my picks this week.  In my defense, there were a lot of upsets, but still, I did B-A-D this week.

Titans over Giants:  Who are a mess, by the way.  Apparently, some of the new players they've signed don't like Tom Coughlin much.  There's a shocker.  Yes, I thought it was funny when Brandon Jacobs threw his helmet into the stands last week (particularly when the guy who caught it wouldn't give it back), but things are not right in NY these days.

Bengals over Panthers:  Man, the AFC North is looking tough this year.  Poor Browns.  Also, poor Jimmy Clausen, who's going to get his ass kicked again next week against the Saints, too.

Steelers over Bucs:  Guys?  If you can win without Roethlisberger, which you clearly can (and which supports my theory that he's an average QB riding a stout defense), maybe you might want to think about making that permanent.  Not least of which because, as I've mentioned before, he's a misogynistic date rapist.  Just sayin'.

Pats over Bills:  Not only did Trent Edwards get benched BEFORE the game, he got cut today.  In other news, the continuing quality QB drought is reaching epic proportions.

Ravens over Browns:  Well, yes, but they may have lost Ray Rice in the process, which is bad.  What wasn't bad was Joe Flacco.  Then again, he was facing the Browns' secondary, which is going to make, well, Trent Edwards look like Dan Marino.

 Chiefs over 49ers:  I'm starting to think I was wrong about BOTH of these teams.
 
 Cowboys over Texans:  GODDAMNIT!

Vikings over Lions:  So maybe I was wrong about that whole "trap game" thing.  Looks like the Vikings remembered they have this guy?  You might have heard of him?  Adrian Peterson?  On the team?  I still think there's a very good chance Favre retires - again - after this year and McNabb becomes the Vikings' starting QB.

Falcons over Saints:  OMG!  In other news, the Saints are auditioning new kickers.  Also in other news, I would be SO happy if coaches would dump the punk move of "icing" kickers with a last second time out.  Which totally bit the Saints this week. Everyone? You're on notice!

Rams over Redskins:  OMG OMG OMG!  Donovan usually puts in at least one inexplicable clunker each year.   The Redskins always put in at least one inexplicable clunker each year.  This was bound to happen.  Still, definitely not confidence boosting as they look to coming to Philly next week.

Colts over Broncos:  Well, yes.  Kyle Orton versus Peyton Manning?  That truly is no contest.

Cardinals over Raiders:  Whatever. Now that the Raiders have decided to sit Jason Campbell - which, by the way, is clearly the right decision - I've really lost interest.  There was a really funny post at Hogs Haven, the Redskins Sports Blog Nation blog a few days ago.  It was a bunch of made up graphics on Redskins fan attitudes, 2009 versus 2010.  The first one was a pie chart of what people thought about Campbell in 2009, and there were slices for nice guy, too many systems to learn too fast, bad O-line, bad playcalling, bad receivers, etc.  The second graphic?  What people think of him now.  100% "he stinks."  Yeah, maybe.

Seahawks over Chargers:  What is going on with the Chargers this year?  I do not know, but they better pull it together or the Chiefs might just sneak off with the division.

Jets over Dolphins:  That was one hell of a game.  Too busy with Boardwalk Empire and Mad Men to catch it?  Keep an eye on NFL Replay - I am SURE it will be one of this week's choices.  

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2010 Week 3 Picks

Seriously, people, hold on to your hats. Jamal Jackson and Leonard Weaver are out for the season. Mike McGlynn's the center. The O-line is in turmoil. Stewart Bradley's recovering from a concussion.

Never fear! Mike Vick to the rescue - or Kevin Kolb - no, no Mike Vick. Definitely Mike Vick.  At least for the next 10 minutes.

One thing that's marked the Andy Reid era in Philly is certainty.  Agree with him or not, he always seems to know what he's doing.  Actually, he doesn't care whether or not you agree with him.  He prefers that you DON'T agree with him.

Well, the pundits have fallen in line and pretty much everyone's praising Reid's brilliance in promoting Vick to starter and benching K2. Brilliance, or recognition that we have serious problems on the O-line? Tomayto, tomahto.

All I know is that if Vick wants to keep his starting job, the team better win this week.

And I can't believe we're hanging the hopes of the franchise on someone who seems kind of unstable.  Oh DMac, I miss you so.

Pick?  Eagles - I was planning to spend this season laughing at our mis-steps while we tried to rebuild the team.  Guess that will have to wait until next year, because at least through the first two weeks, the NFC East looks like it's someone's for the taking.  Why not us?

Titans at Giants:  Titans.  Just a hunch, but I suspect Chris Johnson will have a big day.

Bengals at Panthers:  Bengals.  On the Always Pick the AFC rule alone.  But Ochocinco needs to get his ass in gear.  Less reality TV drama, more focus dude.

Steelers at Bucs:  The Bucs have had a (brief) Cinderella ride to get to 2-0.  It ends here.  Steelers.  Even with Charlie Batch under center.

Bills at Patriots:  Everyone's saying that Trent Edwards needs to play better or risk getting benched.  You know what's going to happen Monday?  Trent Edwards is going to get benched.  Patriots.

Browns at Ravens:  Eventually, the Browns might face a team they could conceivably beat.  But not this week.

49ers at Chiefs:  The Chiefs Cinderella start ends this week, too.  The 49ers are ripe to right their ship.  OK, I guess that Always Pick the AFC rule isn't in effect 100% of the time.

Cowboys at Texans:  The Cowboys totally need to win this game to keep their locker room - and fan base - from descending into absolute chaos.  Next stop?  Absolute chaos.  Texans.

Lions at Vikings:  The Vikings are, according to Favre, "desperate." Their answer?  Hank Baskett.  Wrong answer.   This has "trap game" written all over it.  Lions.

Falcons at Saints:  Matt Ryan's another QB who needs to pick it up, but I don't see the Saints losing to divisional rival The Dirty Birds at home.  Saints.

Redskins at Rams:  Skins.  Not only are they the new Team of Destiny, they're pretty good this year.  And the Rams aren't.  At all.

Colts at Broncos:  Colts.  Jeff Saturday's back, the O-line is working right again, Peyton's not getting hurried, and all is right in Indianapolis.

Raiders at Cardinals:  Worst Game of the Week.  What a mess.  Raiders, with new QB Bruce Gradkowski.

Chargers at Seahawks:  The Seahawks shocked the 49ers week one.  Think they can do it again?  Me neither.  Chargers.

Jets at Dolphins:  Game of the Week.  Get your popcorn!  Dolphins, but this is going to be a Battle Royale.

Packers at Bears:  There's 2-0, and then there's 2-0.  Packers

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Sunday Schedule: Sunday, September 26, 2010

Big week! You-Two-Calm-Down-or-I'm-Turning-Off-the-TV Dad and Life-Long Eagles Fan Mom are coming down from the Philly area for the weekend, AND Tall Drink of Water Cousin, his wife and their new little girl will be joining us. Also, Ex-Navy Cheesehead's back in town. It's ON, y'all!

1 pm: Cowboys/Texans (the Giants are also playing the Titans in this time slot, so that's likely to be the Supercast game)
4 pm: Eagles/Jags, featuring our new starting QB, David Akers. KIDDING! It's still Vick, at least as of the moment. (Supercast game will be Skins/Rams, which I predict will be a blowout)
8 pm: Jets/Dolphins
MNF: Packers/Bears

Menu: Next week is You-Two-Calm-Down-or-I'm-Turning-Off-the-TV Dad's birthday, so we're making ribs, baby! And apple pie (his favorite dessert). Life-Long Eagles Fan Mom is bringing down homemade mac&cheese. Thank God it's supposed to be a little cooler Sunday!

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Who in the what where?

AR on Monday: Kevin Kolb is absolutely, positively the starting QB of the Philadelphia Eagles.

AR on Tuesday: Mike Vick is absolutely, positively the starting QB of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Now, admittedly, it's been a rough start to the season for starting QBs. Sunday, 5 got benched (Jason Campbell of the Raiders, Derek Anderson of the Cardinals, Matt Moore of the Panthers, Vince Young of the Titans, and David Garrard of the Jaguars), and some of them have or appear to have lost their starting jobs, at least temporarily (definitely Matt Moore, possibly Jason Campbell). The Bills' Trent Edwards has been demoted this week as well.

But Andy's quick and total reversal has me scratching my head. We're going to pull the plug on Kolb after one bad half? When we traded away the most successful QB this franchise has ever seen because it was time for the heir apparent to move up? Again, I look to the Packers Rodgers/Favre situation a few years ago. And remember that Rodgers went 6-10 his first year. I can hardly believe I'm writing this, but maybe a little patience is in order here?

Then again, who knows what schemes Reid has in that ginger noggin of his....

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2010 Week 2 Recap

Eagles at Lions, Sunday, September 19, 2010

In attendance: just me, Shoegal, and Chef Spouse. Big crowd expected next week.

Menu: Shoegal brought along some dumplings, and we picked up Popeye's on our way back from a weekend in Stone Harbor with friends.  Plus, of course, rum punch.  ARRRR!

Stud of the week: LeSean McCoy, who had his first 100 yard game. Given the historical paucity of our run game, getting 100 yards on the ground as an Eagle is not an easy feat to accomplish, you know.

 Sav Rocca also gets a shout-out.  I was calling for them to end the Aussie experiment after last year.  I was wrong.  Sav's kicking great so far this year.

I also have to give FS Nate Allen some props - two games, two picks.  We might finally have Wolverine's heir apparent.

And Vick had another great showing. Yes, K2 is the starter.  Yes, Vick's "happy" to be a backup.  For now.  Newsflash:  he's auditioning to be a starter somewhere next year, and he's killing it.  K2 better play well against the Jags next week and against the Skins in DMac's homecoming game the following week - or have a Kevlar hide.  McNabb could give him some pointers on that one - hope he's still in K2's speed dial.

You know who didn't have a great showing?  Our defense.  Admittedly, the Lions are a LOT better this year than they have been (it's hard to be worse than 0-16 and 2-14).  But seriously, how to do you blow a 28-17 lead, let the Lions put up 15 points on you (THE LIONS!?!), give up a two point conversion, and muff an onside kick EVERYONE knows is coming ALL IN 15 MINUTES OF FOOTBALL?

That was a mess.  I was definitely having that "we're totally going to blow this" feeling, and I'm sure I was not the only one.  Thank goodness that, after the recovered onside kick the Lions were unable to move the ball and turned it over on downs.  I have the feeling this season is going to be one coronary after another.

Good game from Vick, though.

Around the rest of the NFL...

Packers over Bills.  Told you they didn't need Ryan Grant that much.  This week.

Dolphins over Vikings.  In other news, Favre was responsible for 4 turnovers.  HAH!

Chiefs over Browns.  Know who's currently leading the AFC West?  The Chiefs.  Not that it's likely to last, but good for them.

Bears over Cowboys.  Can you believe it? I know, me either!  How awesome is that? The Mike Martz/Jay Cutler connection is obviously working.  The Cowboys will pull it together sooner or later, and I still figure them to win the NFC East, but in the meantime, it's really fun to watch all the agita created by their 0-2 start.

Falcons over Cardinals.  I think the only reason the Cardinals scored at all was that the Falcons were just too tired to deliver any more offense after their 41 points.  They were all like:  "Need...to...sit...NOW."

Buccaneers over Panthers.  I can't believe I picked against the Bucs on International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Bengals over Ravens.  The Bengals were helped by a really bad day for Joe Flacco (to the tune of 4 picks).  But the much vaunted Batman and Robin combo is not exactly lighting up the scoreboard so far. Then again, we are talking about the Ravens here, whose D is once again playing lights out. They've given up no TDs in their first two games.

Steelers over Titans.  I'll admit - I'm surprised the Steelers look as good as they do so far.  I'm still against them as long as serial rapist Roethlisberger remains their QB, though.  Which hurts, because normally they're my AFC team.  Also Jeff Fisher benched Vince Young.  Seems a little harsh to me in a game that wasn't exactly a blowout, but now that AR did it in 2008, apparently, it's all the rage.

Broncos over Seahawks. Further evidence of the "when in doubt, go with the AFC team" rule.

Raiders over Rams. Jason Campbell also got benched.  Maybe I was giving him too much benefit of the doubt all those years with the Redskins.  He's not exactly lighting it up out in Oakland.

Texans over Redskins.  DMac had a great game, but the Skins ground game completely disappeared.  Maybe it's McNabb?  Then again, he doesn't call the plays.  I HATE HATE HATE that the Texans won it on that BS Gary Kubiak last second time out before rookie Graham Gano nailed the first 50+ yard field goal of his career, a feat he was not able to duplicate.  But you know what's weird?  The kicker missed two field goals - and no one in DC is blaming McNabb.  Fat Albert didn't play, and no one is blaming McNabb.  The Skins D couldn't protect a 17 point lead, and no one is blaming McNabb.  The team bus got a flat, and no on is blaming McNabb.  The locker room showers ran out of hot water after the game, and no one is blaming McNabb.  He's not going to know what to make of it.

Jets over Patriots. Go Rex!  Your big mouth reminds me fondly of your dad.  And anyone who can bring the pain to the Pats is OK by me.

Chargers over Jaguars. Speaking of righting the ship, the Chargers looked like, well, the Chargers again this week, getting it done in the air and on the ground, and forcing SIX turnovers in their win over the Jags.

Colts over Giants.  For all the hype, the "Manning Bowl" (whatever number it is yesterday, today, or in the future) will pretty much ALWAYS go to big brother Peyton.  Sorry, lil Eli. 

At half time of the Saints/49ers, the Saints are winning but only 9 to 7 after a fast start, and it has been a SLOPPY game so far.

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