NFL 2007 - 2008 Season

[Brykovian]

See ... I even picked Cinci as the winner this week.

-Bryk

[Brykovian]

See ... I even picked Cinci as the winner this week.

And I shouldn't've.

Okay ... so, in week #8 I went 8-5 and in week #9 I went 12-2, leaving me at 83-47 on the year. That puts me smack in the middle of the pack of my pick-em league.

Here's what I expect for week #10:
- Green Bay over Minnesota (*crosses fingers*)
- Pitt over Cleveland
- New Orleans over St. Louis
- KC over Denver
- Tenn over Jax
- Buffalo over Miami
- Washington over Philly
- Carolina over Atlanta
- Baltimore over Cinci
- Chicago over Oakland
- Dallas over NY Giants (should be a great game!)
- Detroit over Arizona
- Indy over San Diego
- Seattle over San Fran (but I won't be surprised if the Niners take it)

Cheers,
-Bryk

[Ryan Ruck]

Well, I've gone from my previous status of the bag on my head to:

[Brian Baldwin]

I ended up missing last week due to personal time constraints. This however didn't stop me from having picks already set up and I did an ok 11-3 for week 9. This puts me at 86-44 overall for the season I believe. Or 66.2%, which is a nice improvement. I'd have to check further to be sure.

Other than the Indy/Pats game and my beloved Steelers game I didn't see much worth while. Pretty much what should have been expected. Greenbay on the other hand along with the Lions are very nice surprises this season, with which one hopes to see continue. Indy would have won the game had their defense not tired out. That's the breaks though and the Pats look like they could end up with the first perfect season since Miami in 1972. We've heard this before though with New England and Indianapolis both and each time both got beaten eventually by unlikely teams. Right now my Steelers are the only team facing New England in the near future that have a real chance at doing this and even I as an ardent fan think it's unlikely.

As for games to watch this week... We have three good matchups between division rivalries of various divisons around the league. These three games will set the tempo for their respective divisions for the second half of the season. So let's see what we have.

Jacksonville at Tennessee... These guys just plain hate each other and it's no surprise that this game is one to watch considering they are basically playing for a post season seed in the playoffs. Injuries and suspensions and in general being beat up have taken their toll on these two rivals and I don't see where one side is matched more in favor of the other except in minor ways. Tennessee has the quarterback advantage but Garrard may play for the Jags so it could be nullified. Chris Henry of the Titans is out for this game due to suspension and he only managed to hurt them at a critical time. It's the running game I think will decide this game and that is obviously in Jacksonville's favor. While the game could go either way I will chose the Jags to win.

Jacksonville 17 - Tennessee 16


Minnesota at Green Bay... Minnesota has a running back that almost ran three hundred yards this past week. If Green Bay can't contain him they will lose outright. Brett Farve is having the best season he's had in a long time and the Cheese Head fans are loving it. Defense is key to this game and If Green Bay stops the run they will win. Their defense raw but they've been effective. In the end I think Adrian Peterson will win it. Minnesota doesn't deserve such a talent as this young speed demon but they have him and they're going to let him drag them into the playoffs. I give this game to Minnesota by a slight margin.

Minnesota 21 - Green Bay 17


Dallas at New York Giants... This is the NFC version of the Indianapolis and New England game last week. They also happen to be in the same division. Dallas has their game plan solidly set around their young and raw Quarterback while New York is still heavily reliant upon Eli Manning's sub par stats and Plaxico Burress' athletic prowse. I don't think there is as much question about who will win this game as there is the two above but both teams really need this win going into the second half of the season and their level of play should reflect that. I see Dallas as the winner.

Dallas 28 - New York Giants 20


So now for the rest of the picks...

St. Louis at New Orleans... New Orleans obviously.

Buffalo at Miami... Here's Miami's chance to be better than St. Louis. Too bad they blow it. Buffalo wins.

Cleveland at Pittsburgh... The only reason this game isn't up above for divison rivalries is because Cleveland hasn't proved their game plan is anything more than a fluke yet. Pittsburgh barely.

Philadelphia at Washington. Could go either way but most likely it's Washington's way.

Atlanta at Carolina... A coin toss game in my opinon but we'll pick Atlanta.

Denver at Kansas City... Could have been a game to watch except they both suck this year. KC this time wins.

Cincinnati at Baltimore... Pittsburgh and Cleveland are routing for the Bengals but in vain... Baltimore wins.

Detroit at Arizona... Detroit is riding high and will continue to when they win this one.

Chicago at Oakland.... Chicago wins... Wonder if it has occured to the Raiders to get a return on the huge contract they're paying their new QB?

Indianapolis at San Diego... San Diego was the team that broke Indy's perfect season. But I doubt they'll beat them this time. Indy.

San Francisco at Seattle... Who really cares who wins this one besides the respective fans of these two sub par teams? eh... Seattle wins I guess.

Ok folks that's my picks for this week.

[Brykovian]

After going 12-2 in week #9, I thought I was back on track ... but my 6-8 record in week #10 corrected my thinking on that. That puts me at 89-55 on the season, quickly falling behind Brian (and most other people in my pick-em league).

So ... here are my humble offerings for week #11:

- New Orleans over Houston
- Cinci over Arizona ... but I'm not overly confident in that. If Edge runs wild, it'll be a long day for Cinci.
- Cleveland over Baltimore
- Indy over KC (big)
- Minnesota over Oakland ... only because they're at the Homer Dome
- Philly over Miami
- Green Bay over Carolina (roll-on Green & Gold!)
- Detroit over NY Giants (upset pick)
- San Diego over Jax
- Tampa over Atlanta
- Pitt over NY Jets
- Seattle over Chicago
- St. Louis over San Fran
- Dallas over Washington
- New England over Buffalo
- Denver over Tennessee (but may go the other way)

Enjoy the games!
-Bryk

[Brian Baldwin]

Alright, this week I am doing a quick one. Been very busy. I didn't do very well last week going only 7-7 for the week. That gives me a total of 93-51. I'm going to just submit my picks this week like Brykovian.

Green Bay over Carolina
Minnesota over Oakland
Jacksonville over San Diego
Cincinnati over Arizona. (Just for Ryan... I don't believe it.)
Indianapolis over Kansas City
Houston over New Orleans
Detroit over New York Giants
Cleveland over Baltimore (hope it's the reverse.)
Philadelphia over Miami
Tampa Bay over Atlanta
Pittsburgh over New York Jets (Woo Hoo)
Seattle over Chicago
Dallas over Washington
St. Louis over San Francisco
New England over Buffalo
Denver over Tennessee

Brykovian and I only disagree on two of the picks. So bet all of your money on what we agree on!!! (just kidding... Don't be an idiot.)

[Brykovian]

After last week, all I can say is ... Bengals & Steelers: ... Packers:

Okay ... now, with that over ... last week I was 11-5, bringing me to 100-60 on the year.

Here's my picks for week #12:
- Green Bay over Detroit ... either way, it should be a fun game to watch while downing the Turkey & Stuffing!!
- Dallas over NY Jets (no matter what they did to Pitt last week)
- Indy over Atlanta (another close one for the Colts?)
- Tenn over Cinci (sorry Ryan)
- Tampa over Washington
- New Orleans over Carolina (but might go the other way)
- NY Giants over Minnesota
- Jax over Buffalo
- Cleveland over Houston (I still can't figure out Houston ... but the Browns have made a case for themselves this year)
- Seattle over St. Louis (should be fun to watch)
- Kansas City over Oakland (anyone going to be watching this one?)
- Arizona over San Fran
- Chicago over Denver (my upset pick)
- San Diego over Baltimore (can't figure out San Diego this year either)
- New England over Philly
- Pitt over Miami (see, Brian ... I still believe )

Cheers,
-Bryk

[Brian Baldwin]

Last week wasn't bad at all, even though my Steelers lost. I went 13-3 on my picks for a total of 106-54 for the season. That's 66% at this time. I really was disappointed in the preformance of the Steelers this past week. I'm hoping they do better against Miami on Monday night. But this is a good example of the "Any given sunday" saying. Pittsburgh came from behind once again and a desperate 1-8 Jets kicked the winning field goal in overtime.

Jacksonville looked sharp and really is a good challenge for Indianapolis for the top billing of the AFC South this year. Green Bay looks more amazing every week and I can only imagine the story a Super Bowl victory would make for Brett Farve if this is his last year. I actually think he'll hang it up after this year. The problem is New England. Though their schedule has been soft they haven't been. And while Chris Carter thinks my Steelers will hand them their first win, I'm not as certain. Cincinnati whom I picked to go to the Championship this year with the AFC fell completely apart which is probably the one real upset of the season.

Many experts are picking Dallas and New England for the Super Bowl and these are solid enough picks, but I'm really starting to wonder if maybe Green Bay isn't the better NFC choice. These next few weeks should prove out the end scenario for the playoff seeds, and keep in mind that Pittsburgh's loss this past sunday took them out of what looked like a perfect 2nd seed. If it can happen with one game for that team it can do so for any of them.

With it being Thanksgiving and all I don't have games to watch because they're all scattered about and everyone will be able to watch most of the games. So I'll just get to my picks.

Green Bay over Detroit (looking forward to this game)
Dallas over New York Jets
Indianapolis over Atlanta
Houston over Cleveland
Jacksonville over Buffalo
Kansas City over Oakland (this is a hard fought matchup)
New York Giants over Minnesota
Seattle over St. Louis
Washington over Tampa Bay
New Orleans over Carolina
Tennessee over Cincinnati
Arizona over San Francisco
San Diego over Baltimore
Chicago over Denver
New England over Philadelphia (good matchup)
Pittsburgh over Miami (we'll see. lol)

Overall I feel pretty good about this coming week's picks but I will say the one doubt in my mind would have to be with the Green Bay and Detroit game. Detroit always gets to play home on Thanksgiving. It's their favorite game to play and it could put Green Bay off the mark. Something to think about.

[Brykovian]

I guess Cinci was unimpressed with my emoticonic message last week ... they really barn-stormed the Titans!

I went 12-4 on the week, bringing me to 112-64 on the season ... doubt I'll catch Brian at this pace. :P

So, for week #13, there are a lot of meaty games that could go either way. If I get more than 8 wins, I'll be happy.

Here goes:
- Dallas over Green Bay (say it ain't so)
- San Diego over KC
- Minnesota over Detroit
- St. Louis over Atlanta
- Indy over Jax
- Carolina (barely) over San Fran
- Philly over Seattle
- Tenn over Houston
- Washington over Buffalo (should be a blow-out ... Washington will be playing on emotion, wishing farewell to their fallen teammate)
- Miami over NY Jets (yes ... the 'Fins first win)
- Denver over Oakland
- Cleveland over Arizona
- New Orleans over Tampa Bay
- Chicago over NY Giants
- Pitt over Cinci (but nothing will surprise me here ... can't wait to see Brian's & Ryan's takes on this game)
- New England over Baltimore

Enjoy the games!
-Bryk

[Ryan Ruck]

I guess Cinci was unimpressed with my emoticonic message last week ... they really barn-stormed the Titans!

...

- Pitt over Cinci (but nothing will surprise me here ... can't wait to see Brian's & Ryan's takes on this game)

Honestly, I don't know what to expect anymore... The Bengals have been rather schizophrenic this year.

But in all honesty, that last game I felt something I hadn't felt all season. For the first time this year it felt like offense, defense, and special teams were all clicking and in synch.

That is they type of game play they need to do well and we can clearly see that they are completely capable of it.

I still think there need to be major changes in the coaching staff when the season is over...

[Ryan Ruck]

Well, in the Bengals-Steelers game, the first quarter was looking good. And then...

You know, I am considering a false advertisement lawsuit against the Bengals. They claim I am supposed to be watching a "professional" football team? I disagree! Starting with the coaching staff! Such BS with Marvin not challenging that Chris Henry TD attempt when they are down by two TDs and nearing the end. Not to mention the coaching stupidity of keeping that washed up Rudi Johnson in for 2 or 3 yard gains when there is obvious talent in DeDe Dorsey and Kenny Watson. And how many Steeler turnovers did the Bengals fail to capitalize on?Jesus when does the humiliation end.

As the announcers on TV pointed out, only one winning season in the last 16 and Marvin Lewis has been at the helm for 1/3 of that time.

To quote Albert Einstein, "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

[Luke]

You think the Bengles would like to trade coaching staffs with the Chiefs? I thought KC had the worst coaching staff in the NFL. With the possible exception of Gunther Cunningham. Even some of the Chief's players are begining to complain about Herm Edwards brand of football.

After MU stunk up the place against Oklahoma, and the Chiefs have entered a "rebuilding" phase I probably won't be watching much football on Sunday,s much to the delight of Mrs. Luke. Lord I hate going shopping, but not as much as I do watching basketball.

Maybe the answer to the BCS mess is to limit conferences to 10 teams in Division 1AA. Then the teams that win their conference would play in a tournament similar to basketball's "lMarch Madness" You lose, your done.
Oh well, once again my sports mantra becomes..........................................
Just wait till next year!

[Brykovian]

I'm on the road this week, and pressed for time. So, I'll just quickly give my week #14 picks:

- Washington over Chicago
- Houston upsets Tampa Bay
- St. Louis over Cinci (yeah, they've lost me now)
- Buffalo over Miami
- Green Bay over Oakland
- Philly over NY Giants
- Jax over Carolina
- Dallas over Detroit
- San Diego over Tenn
- Minnesota over San Fran
- Seattle over Arizona
- Denver over KC
- Cleveland over NY Jets
- New England over Pitt
- Indy over Baltimore
- New Orleans over Atlanta

There ya have it ... enjoy the games!

-Bryk

[Brykovian]

Week #15 ...

- Denver over Houston
- Cinci over San Fran (which means that the Bengals will lose because they do the opposite of whatever I predict for them :P)
- Baltimore over Miami
- Tenn over KC
- New England over NY Jets (really, really big this time)
- Green Bay over St. Louis (yee-haw!!)
- Tampa over Atlanta
- Cleveland over Buffalo
- Pitt over Jax
- New Orleans over Arizona
- Seattle over Carolina
- Indy over Oakland
- San Diego over Detroit
- Dallas over Philly
- NY Giants over Washington (or the other way around, maybe?)
- Minnesota over Chicago



-Bryk

[Ryan Ruck]

(which means that the Bengals will lose because they do the opposite of whatever I predict for them :P)

You know... I've noticed this pattern... LOL!

[Brykovian]

You know... I've noticed this pattern... LOL!

I suppose you'd like me to pick against them all next season, eh?

-Bryk

[Brian Baldwin]

This has always been one of my most favorite subjects on this site as Ryan can attest to. Unfortunately I was unable to follow the sport as closely as I would have enjoyed this year.

I do however have a few regular season wrap up comments to share and a hope that next season will see me in a better way for pursuing the sport.

I'll start off by bringing up the very start when Patriots' Head Coach Belicheat decided to show just how stupid he was by cheating in the exact same manner as always against a coach that had just worked for him. Can a person be more retarded? Not to mention the joker didn't even have the decency to apologize for it afterwards, instead saying that he misunderstood the rule so it wasn't his fault. Cheating is fairly obvious and no one mistakes it. The AP (associated press) even voted for this nitwit as Coach of the Year. Why not just come out and say they love cheaters? I hate that they got a perfect season as it's tarnished and the game against the Jets should have been forfeit due to the cheating. In my opinion Goodall dropped the ball here when he gave a small slap to the wrist of that team. Had I been the owner I would have fired Belicheat right there on the spot for messing with my pocketbook and sullying the name of such a magnificant sport. In the very least he should have been suspended for 4 games like a player would have been. Instead he's made Coach of the Year. I'm spitting mad at that.

I think Green Bay has impressed me the most this year and I'm officially pulling for Brett Farve to win the Super Bowl one last time. I like storybook endings for guys like this. When the Steelers won Super Bowl XL I was more estatic about Jerome Bettis finally getting his ring than I was about the team getting a fifth ring. A happy ending in days where there are so few is hard to beat.

Romeo Crenel was one of my choices for Coach of the Year this past season because of what he's done for the team over the years he's been there. Now as a Steeler fan I'm not "officially" allowed to say he impressed me, but he did... Unofficially.

I can't say I'm shocked about the Bengal's fall this year. I saw it coming and I knew Marvin Lewis needed to break up his revievers and criminals in order to salvage the team as a whole. I think he could just taste that ring and wasn't paying attention to what was happening in his house. This next season I think he'll have a clearer picture and hopefully will realise he needs to send some folks packing and bring in some solid citizens to bolster his locker room with.

Now Dallas seems to be able to do under Wade Phillips what they couldn't do under Parcells and here again I was right in that Parcells wasn't the answer. Sure he knows talent and can put an effective team together... But he's so in love with his own image now that he has lost that connection to the players that a Head Coach MUST have. They may end up in the Super Bowl this year though I hope it's Green Bay. If they do I think we all know that was coaching that got them there this time.

This year saw an increase over last year's record injuries. Something has to give here and I don't think it's in penalty rules. Perhaps it's time they took a serious look on how big of guys they field coupled with a completely regulated stadium package that every team must have within the next decade. Yes that takes away from "home field advantage", but it saves some bodies and perhaps lighter players will make for more exciting play. I'd say no players over 6'5" and 250 pounds is where we should aim but that's my personal opinion. It's more a weight issue than a height issue when it comes to the lion's share of these injuries. How well the neck is protected is another issue. I was only able to come up with one thing that would help there while still allowing current mobility... Hard rubber face masks that enough force will cause to break away. Since neck injuries happen in one of three ways on the field for the most part; Face Masking, Face into the Turf and head on collisions, you eliminate two of the causes with my face mask. Yes, there will be a few more broken noses but ask anyone which they'd prefer... Concusions can be minimized with better helmet construction overall. This is something though they are working on even as we speak. The fields all being of the same materials and layouts should help to allay some of the knee injuries since there won't be any unforseen conditions players aren't familiar with on their own fields.

We also need to address this habit of bad teams firing their coaches after one season. It's completely stupid and is ruining the game. There should be a rule in place that short of gross misbehavior, a new coach gets a minimum of three years if your team was less than 40% when he was hired. The main teams guilty of this are Miami and Oakland. Oakland is so bad at it that they couldn't even get an experienced coach to work for them. ALL of them backed out of meeting with the team and Al Davis was forced to find a nobody to coach his team. Bad bad bad.

On a positive note, I thought we saw some good improvements on overall player behavior as there were fewer incidents this season. This proves that Goodall had the right idea when he cracked down on them. The moment you sign a contract with the NFL you become an instant Child Rolemodel. That carries some heavy responsibility with it that shouldn't be ignored. I think Goodall recognized that. Now if only he could see that it MUST apply to coaches like Belicheat too.

So that's about it for this thread. I enjoyed my time on it and look forward to next August when I start the 2008-2009 season thread up. Hope to see you guys on then.

[Brian Baldwin]

And the season is over! And it couldn't have ended on a better note at this stage. I can not tell you how happy I was to see the Cheatriots and their cheating coach, Belicheat, lose to the Giants in the final minute of the game. The look on that useless cheating bastard's face was worth millions. All that smug arrogance wiped out in one catch!

Now I've never been a huge fan of Eli Manning's person. He rubbed me the wrong way when he refused to play with San Diego if they drafted him, which they did. They then brokered a deal with the Giants whom had originally intended to go with Ben Rothlisberger on the fourth pick of the first round of that draft. Big Ben fell to my beloved Steelers at 11th and took us to the Super Bowl in his second year while I laughed at the Giants, Chargers, and Eli Manning with all their non-sense. To be honest, I wouldn't have allowed Eli to play in the NFL at all for denying San Diego their right to him in the draft. But I hate cheaters much worse than I hate players with useless egos, and so I routed for Eli all the way during the Super Bowl this year.

All I can say is if the NFL doesn't take a look at their current path and set up some corrections, they'll quickly fall to less than favorable and get to watch NASCAR over take them as the most watched sport. Which will also prove just how bad we've become as a nation when you have a whole country that would rather see cars make a giant non-stop left turn that lasts for 3 hours while calling it a sporting event. So the NFL had better wake up soon. I'm running out of sports that typify the American spirit.

And with that, this thread has ended. See you all next season.

[Ryan Ruck]

I didn't get to see but 10 minutes of the Super Bowl due to work so I can't say much about it except I was hoping the underdogs, the Giants, could pull out a win and it looks like they did!

In other NFL news:

Chad Johnson Threatening To Sit Out '08 Season If Not Traded

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson is threatening to sit out the 2008 season if he isn't traded.

ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported Johnson's claim on Sunday. Mortensen also quoted an unnamed source that said Johnson feels betrayed by head coach Marvin Lewis after Lewis quit speaking to him during the 2007 season.

Johnson would forfeit his $3 million base salary if he sits out this fall.

Johnson's trade-me tour of sports-talk-radio was in full swing during Super Bowl week in Glendale, Ariz.

Asked on the Jim Rome Show if he was happy with Bengals, who endured a 7-9 season, Johnson made his feelings clear.

"I'm not allowed to say," Johnson said. "I get the blame; the so-called best player. I'm the problem. Someone in-house is spreading this. Maybe they want me to quiet down (and) stop being me. That is not going to happen. I can't function that way. I tried it. It sucked. There was no excitement."

Lewis, who gave his coaching staff the weekend off, couldn't be reached for comment. But he told the Bengals media on Jan. 16: "There will be no trade of Chad Johnson. I'll repeat it again. He'll be a Cincinnati Bengal for quite a while."

Johnson, a four-time Pro Bowler who set a single-season franchise record with 1,440 receiving yards in 2007, is under contract through 2011 after signing a $35.5 million extension in April 2006.

"What Chad is doing (in radio interviews) is expressing his emotions and frustration," Drew Rosenhaus, Johnson's agent, told ESPN.