NFL 2006 - 2007 Season

[Brian Baldwin]

This past week of football was exciting to say the least. I am now 10-6 in my picks and my wrong guesses were some of the more surprising games. Not just because of the loss, but also the way the winning team played.

We saw three shut outs this week which I can't say I've ever seen before in one week. Of course my memory only goes back to dinnertime these days so I can't really be sure. lol We watched Baltimore stomp Tampa Bay flat, making the Ravens another AFC North threat. That division is going to be an extreme race to the finish. We got to see San Diego treat Oakland like they were a High School JV team. The change over from Brees to Philips was, at this time, seemingly the right choice. And the other game was Chicago's Green Bay annihilation marathon. I'm beginning to think that Favre is the only player left in Green Bay and that he made an error in judgment not retiring this year.

Jacksonville was amazing in their defeat of Dallas but not nearly so much as the Rams in their well-rounded defeat of Denver. And while Detroit still lost, I liked what I saw from their defense. Seattle never saw the end zone once. Of course neither did Detroit, but we're very used to that.

This week could prove to be just as exciting as the one we just finished. There are some "Yawner" games like Cincinnati hosting Cleveland. Lets face it, this is just a gimme for the Bengals. And Tennessee at San Diego, which is pretty much the same thing for the Chargers. Not that it matters to the fans of those two winning teams mind you. They like to see their teams win even against bad teams. All fans do. But for those that want real exciting matchups and aren't necessarily fans of the above teams then I will point you at three games this week that should get your testosterone pumping.

The first one is Buffalo at Miami.

Yes, that's right. Both lost the week before but played very solid games. They are pretty evenly matched and are very much in the race for their division. I don't discount either one of these teams at this point and of course its still too early in the season to say how they'll develop but this game could be the defining moment in both of these teams that decide their paths. Miami is obviously the favorite here with their home field being hot and humid this time of year. Buffalo is a cold weather team that hasn't fared too well in these conditions as of late. Add in the Rain Saturday and possibly Sunday and this gives Miami some very nice advantages. But Buffalo isn't a write off by any means. They have good talent and a smart coaching staff that nearly beat New England. Granted, that was a much more depleted New England than last year but they're still a formidable team. I just don't think it will be enough to overcome the growing threat that is Miami.

Miami 24 - Buffalo 21

The next game I suggest is Arizona at Seattle.

Arizona is another team like Miami that seems to be growing into their own of late. Seattle is another team that is slightly depleted from the year before. The Seahawks barely managed to win against the Lions last week and never scored a touchdown. They'll have to play much better if they don't want to fall to the bottom of their division early on this year. With St. Louis almost certain to win against San Francisco Seattle will have to pull out all the stops Sunday. Arizona on the other hand needs to put Edgerin James to good use and have their secondary blessed before the game if they hope to defeat the obvious choice for this year's Division leader. I think they can if they put all their heart into it, the only problem is I don't think they will put their heart completely into it. I see Seattle winning this one barely.

Seattle 17 - Arizona 14

And finally... Yep. Pittsburgh at Jacksonville.

Now you may be thinking that since I'm a Steelers fan that I'm more likely to pick a Pittsburgh game as one to watch than I am some other. For my television at home this is true. But for my articles no. I am picking them again this week because this will be one of the better games this season. Every time these two teams meet it is always an all out battle from start to end. Two very hard hitting, evenly matched teams that love to play against each other. There is very little difference between these teams usually. Both favor a running game backed up by various passing packages. Both have super tough defenses that are geared to stop the run. Most times their games are won within a few points of each other or in overtime. What's more exciting than that? Since both teams are so evenly matched is there a clear leader? I think it comes down to the QBs. Leftwich is powerful and mobile. So is Rothelisberger. Leftwich can make plays from nothing. So can Roethlisberger. Leftwich is a bit slow on reading defenses and making his play. Roethlisberger is not. And if Big Ben plays then Jacksonville will likely lose. It's still going to be very close.

Pittsburgh 13 - Jacksonville 10

And now the rest of the games.

Minnesota over Carolina
Cincinnati over Cleveland
Chicago over Detroit *
Indianapolis over Houston
New Orleans over Green Bay
Philadelphia over N.Y. Giants
Baltimore over Oakland **
Atlanta over Tampa Bay
St. Louis over San Francisco
Denver over Kansas City
New England over N.Y. Jets
San Diego over Tennessee
Dallas over Washington

* Will be an interesting game of defenses for those wanting another pick to watch.

** Will Oakland be shut out twice? We'll see.

[Sean Osborne]

How many times was Mr. Brooks assisted to the turf? 9? 11? I lost count. That one SD LB is a machine!

-Bryk

Ahhh, you're talking about #56.

6'4" 272 lb Shawne "Lights Out" Merriman the Chargers DE-OLB Sack machine extraordinaire.

Merriman had 6 solo tackles and 3 of the 9 Chargers sacks against Oakland. Consensus choice 2005 NFL "Rookie of the Year", selectee and starter on the 2006 Pro Bowl, and was All-Pro and All-Rookie team selectee by many of the nations sportwriters.

In 2005 Merriman led the Chargers with 10 sacks. He's a third of the way towards eclipsing that number this season in just one game. He's the best thing for the Chargers since Junior Seau. He's a future Hall of Famer wearing the same number as former-Giant Lawrence Taylor.

Merriman and Louis Castillo are going to wreak havoc upon opposing QB's all season long. Together the held half of the total Chargers sack vs the raiders. These guys kick butt. Literally.

[Brian Baldwin]

We'll trade you Kordell Stewart for him.

[Sean Osborne]

Nah... I like watching him dominate with a Bolt on his helmet.

Week 4 will be the first significant test for the Chargers.
Oct. 1 @ Baltimore Ravens.

[Brian Baldwin]

I don't see the Chargers encountering much difficulty in that meeting. The Ravens are right now winning but they're winning against lesser teams. I don't see much on their team to threaten San Diego. Baltimore will like be 3-0 for your meeting but that's where they'll show what they're made of. Confidence will be high for them but they're the lesser team this time around.

[Sean Osborne]

Well, i hope you're correct, and I certainly feel the Chargers are the better team on paper, and perhaps on the field...

but i remember what happened when the Chargers were 6-0 and played the hapless NY Jets --- and lost.

[Ryan Ruck]

The epic - game was today. And, talk about a game of titanic proportions! Wow!!

While neither team played to, I think, their top potential it was still a great game.

It looked a bit questionable at first for the Bengals when the Steelers came out hard charging, but they managed to keep the Steelers from rattling them and eventually got their rhythm going.

In the Steelers' favor, they managed to put a decent stop to the Bengals running game and also put some heavy pressure on the O-line which resulted in a couple sacks.

In the Bengals' favor, they did damage to the Steelers' passing game (4 interceptions) and kept their own in good shape. Speaking of… Kudos to T.J. and Henry for picking up slack due to the heavy coverage on Chad!

I thought that for sure this was going to be a bitter back and forth, nail-biting battle till the end, and it nearly was, but when the Bengals scored twice inside of 1 minute due to Steelers' turnovers the Bengals took the opportunity and ran with it (Okay, well, passed with it! ).

I think that even had the Bengals lost, I still would have come away knowing it was a good game played. A very enjoyable game to watch all around!

[Brian Baldwin]

The epic - game was today. And, talk about a game of titanic proportions! Wow!!

While neither team played to, I think, their top potential it was still a great game.

It looked a bit questionable at first for the Bengals when the Steelers came out hard charging, but they managed to keep the Steelers from rattling them and eventually got their rhythm going.

In the Steelers' favor, they managed to put a decent stop to the Bengals running game and also put some heavy pressure on the O-line which resulted in a couple sacks.

In the Bengals' favor, they did damage to the Steelers' passing game (4 interceptions) and kept their own in good shape. Speaking of… Kudos to T.J. and Henry for picking up slack due to the heavy coverage on Chad!

I thought that for sure this was going to be a bitter back and forth, nail-biting battle till the end, and it nearly was, but when the Bengals scored twice inside of 1 minute due to Steelers' turnovers the Bengals took the opportunity and ran with it (Okay, well, passed with it! ).

I think that even had the Bengals lost, I still would have come away knowing it was a good game played. A very enjoyable game to watch all around!

I thought the teams played great but that the Quarterbacks played like rookies. Could be the defense just made it look that way but both quarterbacks looked as if they had never played a regular season game before. Still... Good win by Bengals and overall a good example of two powerhouse teams in the AFC.

[Brian Baldwin]

Well, i hope you're correct, and I certainly feel the Chargers are the better team on paper, and perhaps on the field...

but i remember what happened when the Chargers were 6-0 and played the hapless NY Jets --- and lost.

Well they say... "Any given Sunday." Which means any team can have it's day and unseat a larger team under the right circumstances. I don't think you'll have much to worry about. The Chargers should make the playoffs this year if their calibre of play remains the same.

[Brian Baldwin]

Well I missed writing this article last week due to real world issues but I'm back for week 4. Counting win - loss of week 2 I'm officially 22-10 on picks. I didn't get a chance to see much football last week so I don't have much to comment on besides that Greenbay looked much better in their first win and Denver finally showed up for a game when they beat New England. Usually around mid-season you begin to see the real faces of the teams and where they're headed. There are very few surprises after that point. But right now teams are still trying to make an identity for the season and switching schemes fairly regular. This can lead to good choices and bad choices during game day. This is why I particularly mentioned Denver and Greenbay. Both have talent and means but struggled in the first weeks to find a grove. Denver will of course keep their scheme and just tweak it so we should see them begin to make their playoff run. Greenbay however will be interesting to see if they can take the win over a subpar team and turn it into a winning season.

I'd also like to mention that Tampa Bay's Quarterback Chris Simms is doing much better after having his spleen removed after it was ruptured in a touchdown scramble hit. He will likely miss several weeks of football but it doesn't appear at this time that his career is threatened. This is great news. We all here at TAA wish him well and hope he has a speedy recovery.

This week I only have a couple of must see games but they should be very aggressive and very entertaining.

San Diego at Baltimore...

San Diego has had a great opening season so far. Two weeks of overpowering wins. They have become well balanced and very tough. Philip Rivers appears to have been the right choice for the Chargers and he's not letting them down. Now both games have been won against sub-par teams but it's the way they won them that makes this team so great. They play each team as if that team is the top pick for the Super Bowl. They never let up even an instant. Baltimore has also had a great opening season. Three weeks and three wins. All sub-par teams again. Steve McNair has added vetran leadership and allowed the Ravens to find the fire inside again. This should be an interesting clash. The Ravens are about evenly picked to win as they are to lose this game. But to me there is only one way they will win and that's if San Diego stays home. Baltimore barely beat Cleveland by one point last Sunday and San Diego hasn't played yet where they haven't had at least a 27 point lead at the end of the game. It's going to be the most aggressive game of the week and yet in the end the old timers on the Raven's will be off field for oxygen while the younger stronger team takes them to the cleaners and settles the debate.

San Diego 34 - Baltimore 10

New England at Cincinnati...

New England is always a favorite to the media and with 3 rings in 5 years they should be. Cincinnati on the other hand has yet to overcome the "Bungles" nickname the media gave them years ago. But that's all changing. New England has suffered the fate all teams do when they get great... Free Agency. No one can afford to pay a team full of stars for long before they have to let them go elsewhere. New England is slowly being whittled down and while Belichick is still one of the best coaches around, even he can't stop that with a pep talk. Cincinnati on the other hand has clearly set it's eyes on Division Leader and the Super Bowl. They're hungry. And Coach Lewis is about as good a coach for getting them there as they could hope. He can't out coach Belichick but his players will outplay them this week.

Cincinnati 27 - New England 14

And now for the rest of the games.

Atlanta over Arizona
Dallas over Tennessee
Indianapolis over N.Y. Jets
Miami over Houston
Minnesota over Buffalo
Carolina over New Orleans
Kansas City over San Francisco
St. Louis over Detroit
Cleveland over Oakland
Jacksonville over Washington
Seattle over Chicago *
Philadelphia over Green Bay

* Most experts have Chicago beating Seattle in this game.

[Sean Osborne]

Well, i hope you're correct, and I certainly feel the Chargers are the better team on paper, and perhaps on the field...

but i remember what happened when the Chargers were 6-0 and played the hapless NY Jets --- and lost.

What did I tell you guys, eh? Chargers fail the first real test of the season.

[Ryan Ruck]

What an utterly pathetic game by the Bengals today.

Everyone had them as the favored team and they sit there and do nothing but live up to their old "Bungles" moniker.

The defense let themselves get run over by the Pats' running game and failed to put any pressure on Brady. All the while the O-line allowed themselves to get steamrolled resulting in 4 sacks on Palmer and 3 fumbles.

Of course, two bad calls at critical times did nothing to help but, that shouldn't have spelt doom for the team. The first bad call was right before the half when a ref called a pass to C.J. incomplete when it was clear he had complete control of the ball and was in bounds. The second bad call was for the unnecessary roughness against Kevin Kaesviharn when he broke up the pass to Reche Caldwell. That was a horrible call in my opinion… This isn't baking cookies with Martha Stewart, this is football and Reche Caldwell just got laid out hard just like Chad did last week. A hit which, may I remind, did not result in any unnecessary roughness call despite a split and bleeding chin on C.J.!

One other bitch I have is the decision by Marvin to punt on 4th and 2. I have no doubt that had the Bengals given it to Rudi, he would have reached down and come up with at least two and put the Bengals in scoring position. That punt was a bad decision which ended up resulting in a Pats' score.

Oh yeah... I LOVED when the fans chucked the ball back at that piss ant, Dillon! Too good!

Again, a sorry showing by the Bengals today (Hell, the loss to the Pats was smaller last year!). While I realized that it was unlikely the Bengals go 16-0 this year, there was no reason for them to have lost today's game except for their ineptitude.

By the way, anyone else catch the end of the Jets/Colts game? That was a riot and a half! LOL! I was on the edge of my seat hoping that the Jets' antics would pay off but, I guess they were too far from the end zone. Also, that 103 yard return was pretty spiffy!

[Brian Baldwin]

Chargers and Bengals both should have won their games. They were the superior teams in their matchups this past sunday. Everyone has an off week or two so it's not really a telling factor to how the teams will shape up. I won't begin seriously looking at where teams are headed until week 6.

[Sean Osborne]

Chargers back on track. They held the Steelers scoreless in the second half and kept their own offensive points coming to win fairly convincingly. LT had a dismal day, but that's okay as Rivers took advantage of the many holes Pittsburgh's defenseive preoccupation with LT created.

[Bastastic]

So the Arizona Cardinals return tonight after a seven year hiatus to Monday Night Football. The Cardinals (1-4) are playing against the undefeated Chicago Bears here in good 'ole Glendale, Az. (The new stadium is a 15 minute drive away from me). I just hope they don't embarrass themselves by losing by 30+ points. Us fans deserve better.

[Bastastic]

Well, I don't know what to say about last night's game. There is no reason whatsoever why the Cardinals lost that game. None. They were up 20-0 at halftime and then self-destructed in the later quarters. Oh well. At least they put on a good show.

[Sean Osborne]

Chargers fell off the track early in the game with three turnovers which translated into Chiefs points. By the time the Chargers got back on track there simply was not enough time to finish the job.

The 'Lesson" I hope they all learned is - do not ever, never, make early turnover miscues and get yourself way behind early in the game. If you do then for the remainder of the game you have to execute and play like there is no tomorrow. The Chargers effort in the second quarter was not what it should have been imho.

Tonight is Giants @ Cowboys.

Giants are undefeated in conference and 3-1 in NFC play.

Giants must win on the road to get back into the rumble for the division title and maybe the conference.

Pick: Giants by 3 over Cowboys. (21-17)

[Ryan Ruck]

Truth be told, the Bengals' Sunday game started off a little scary. No 1st downs until half way through the 2nd quarter?!?! I mean seriously… That is ridiculous.

But, it looks like the Bengals soon got into their rhythm and pulled off the "W".

I will say that the defense did much better than they had the last two games. It was good to see improvement there. Especially that end zone interception by Kaesviharn. Big kudos to him for putting out the effort to make sure he caught it in bounds to ensure the interception!

Another bunch of kudos go to Chad for pulling off that big 4th and 1 gamble pass!

One thing I did notice though, in the second half there were two big catches missed by T.J. Houshmandzadeh. I don't know if it was Palmer over throwing, Palmer having to throw early due to defensive pressure, or T.J. just being too slow running but it looked like they needed to get synchronized better.

Other than that I can't complain too much. I just hope the Bengals get over all the injuries (especially on the O-Line) before it is too late in the season and get to playing like they should.

[Bastastic]

Football season have offically ended for me last sunday. The flippin' Cards lost to OAKLAND!!! Oakland! The only winless team in the NFL and they lost to them! Not only did they lose, but they got spanked 22-9. Dennis Green is a joke. I'm done venting now. I need a drink...

[Brian Baldwin]

Bas... Don't feel bad. Oakland beat my Steelers this past sunday also. I didn't think it would happen. lol