NFL Football 2005-2006 Season

[Brian Baldwin]

More on that colts noise thing....

Look to where it says Joe Theisman looks into the situation

http://espnradio.espn.go.com/espnrad...wId=danpatrick

[Sean Osborne]

I do like all of your picks Brian.


However comma ... except one


You've not assigned the proper importance to the Cowboys-Giants game. This one will very likely determine the winner of the AFC East and automatic playoff possibilities for the winner.

I'm partial to the Giants on this one 31-24.


It may be a slow starter, but watch for fireworks in the forth quarter.

[Brian Baldwin]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05336/615995.stm

More on the Indy crowd noise. I kind of figured nothing would come of it though.

Brian

[Sean Osborne]

Interesting and so be it. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

Time to send a lil' note to the front office.

"pump up the volume, pump up the volume, pump up the volume!"

[Brian Baldwin]

Who do they play that has a dome? I think its just plain dirty to do that. And when they say the burden of proof isn't on them; that's the same as saying "Yeah? So what?". They did it.

I don't even for a second believe that Pittsburgh would have beaten them. But it seems to me they don't have much faith in their own team if they've got to do B.S. like that.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

As for the Giants and Dallas game... When I wrote my article they were one of the games I considered writing about but I wanted to concentrate on teams we here currently are fans of. As more people come to the boards, I'll of course spread it out a bit more. But you are correct that the NFC East hinges this Sunday on this game. And it is truely a game to watch.

On the NFC side of the fence I'm more interested in Seattle and the Bears as teams this year though. The Bears show what a good coach is capable of and Seattle is kind of like Indy in that they've worked hard over the last few seasons to get where they are. Right now I can honestly see both in the Super Bowl. We'll see though. 5 games left.

Next year I think San Diego and Cincinatti are going to battle it out in the AFCC. That should be a real smashmouth game. (We should get a preview of that this year in the playoffs I'm thinking.) Provided both teams stay basically intact and healthy. Pittsburgh has some serious rebuilding to do this off season and I don't see them getting to the Super Bowl until 2008 at the earliest. And unless San Diego, Jacksonville, or K.C. screw up; I don't see them going to the playoffs this year. Cowher is one of the finest coaches in the NFL but he may not be right for the Steelers... Can't be stingy in passing and expect to dominate completely. Run games are great for wearing down a defense but you have got to pass also. The best teams are 50/50. Denver is the only variable I'm not real sure of yet. They're likely going to make it to the AFCC game against Indy but I think they'll lose and then probably fall apart next season. (Sorry Rick.)

Brian

[Ryan Ruck]

You know Brian, with your record on picking the games, I would hope you have a few $$$ strategically placed before each!

About this...

God in heaven above please let me be wrong about the Cincy - Steelers game!

Got a message to relay from a buddy of mine…

You aren't…

[Brian Baldwin]

My luck outweighs my prognostication skills. In the wrong direction. lol Were I to place bets on these games I'd likely lose.

But then maybe that means I should put money on Cincy to win so that the Steelers will?

Brian

[Ryan Ruck]

Hey Brian…





But seriously...

Now THAT was a football game!!

There was just too much about that game to get specific about greatness. But, I think my personal favorite point in that game was Tab Perry's 94 yard return. That was something else! Also, the three (almost 4) interceptions were pretty nice.

I was a little disappointed to not see a Chad Johnson touchdown and celebration but that's okay.

Got to give kudos to Ben Roethlisberger for playing that whole game with a hurting thumb/hand. I could tell that even when making practice tosses on the sidelines it was hurting a bit. I surely did not think he was going to make it past the half after taking that spill on it but, he played the entire game!

[Brian Baldwin]

It was probably one of the best games I've seen this season to be honest. And right at the end Pittsburgh could have sent the game into OT if the O-Line hadn't made those penalty mistakes.

The fact of the matter is that Pittsburgh hasn't played a real pretty game of football all season long. Even their wins were fairly ugly. Last season was exciting and this season makes me groan. lol The Steelers don't honestly deserve a wild card slot at this point and they have a butt load of rebuilding to do in the off season.

Brian

[Brian Baldwin]

So I went 12 - 4 last week when Kansas upset Denver, The Giants proved they were better than Dallas, Atlanta proved it was pretender, and Miami let Buffalo know they were fighters. That makes me 34 - 12 overall at this point. And even though I'm still stewing over the Pittsburgh loss (yes I called it that way. lol), its time for this week's predictions...

This week we're going to highlight a couple of underdog teams facing superior foes. First up we have...

Kansas City at Dallas.

So which team is the underdog? Why K.C. of course. They were all but counted out a couple of weeks into the season and now they're back. Talk about two teams that absolutely need this win... These are it. Dallas is the superior team via record alone really. They've had a lot of ups and downs and this year everything seemed to fall into place. Sure the Giants took them apart last week but that doesn't mean they're a bad team by any stretch. K.C. meanwhile has quietly flown under the radar to enter into a battle for 6th seed of the AFC playoffs as the final wildcard. They have a chance here to really sink their teeth into the wildcard race by defeating Dallas in Dallas. I think they will too. Dallas has the team to defeat K.C. if they all play good ball and they have done so thus far but in the end K.C. will pull this one out in the fourth quarter.

Kansas City 24 - Dallas 17

Miami at San Diego.

Miami is obviously the underdog here. San Diego has had a slow start but that's par for the course with this powerhouse team. They start slow then gain momentum throughout the rest of the season. I think they will beat K.C. out for the wildcard in the end unless Kansas City wins the rest of their games. L.T. is an amazing rusher that has every team envious and Drew Brees is just as good as he can get. Their only problem in this game is that Miami clicked last week to come back and beat buffalo. If Miami has finally found its stride they could be exceedingly hard to beat. But I figure they'll most likely return to their slothful ways. If they use the tandem of RBs they have and Vinny plays error free they could maybe do this.

San Diego 31 - Miami 24

A couple of side games for watching this week may be Chicago at Pittsburgh and Indianapolis at Jacksonville. Pittsburgh needs the win to stay in the wildcard hunt and Chicago needs to defeat a beefy AFC team to be taken real serious. Jacksonville in my eyes is the best team to beat the undefeated Colts. And Indianapolis is just as likely to steamroll them on their way to the perfect season.

Anyway... Here's the rest of the games for this week.

Chicago over Pittsburgh
Cincinatti over Cleveland
Tennessee over Houston
Indianapolis over Jacksonville
New England over Buffalo
Oakland over N.Y. Jets
Minnesota over St. Louis
Carolina over Tampa Bay
N.Y. Giants over Philadelphia
Seattle over San Francisco
Washington over Arizona
Denver over Baltimore
Green Bay over Detroit
Atlanta over New Orleans


Brian

[Ryan Ruck]

Well, while I am always happy about a Bengals win, I am not very happy with the way they played today.

I think the Bengals went into this game thinking the Browns would be a complete pushover and "misunderestimated" them. I am especially unhappy with Carson Palmer's performance today with a number of poor passes and a thrown interception. Only 2 completions to Chad Johnson?!?!

I will say that Rudi Johnson did a great job today running the ball. I believe he alone had more rushing yards than all of the Browns combined.

If the Bengals are serious about the playoffs and beyond, this is not the way they can play.

Also, congrats on the Steelers win (I suppose…). I guess they did better than you had predicted Brian.

[Brian Baldwin]

I was very glad we beat Chicago. And we played the best I've seen us play all season. Our O-Line actually did its job against one of the top defenses in the league.

I was kind of hoping I'd be wrong on Cincy and they'd lose. lol Almost did too. Never take a divison team for granted I always say. Doesn't matter though since Miami somehow pulled off a helluva win against San Diego and put us back in the 6th seed playoff spot. Bad for Sean... Good for me.

If the Steelers win the rest of their games they'll be in the playoffs for sure. The problem though is that the Steelers play Minnesota next week in Minnesota and the Vikes can't lose another game either if they want to stay in the race. And the Colts clinched home field advantage and can afford to lose to San Diego next week while resting their starters. It'll be interesting to see if Indy is as disinterested in the "undefeated" title as they suggest. And there's no way the Steelers can catch Cincy truthfully since Cincy has it simple the next two weeks with Detroit and Buffalo. So that means its 6th seed or nothing for the Steelers unless the Jags somehow botch a simple end season against San Francisco, Houston, and Tennessee.

I'll be honest here. I'm one of the few out there that think division leader shouldn't be an automatic in for the playoffs. I think it should be the best 6 teams in a conference overall. Last season was a spectacle with teams that were better sitting out while teams that were worse going in.

Brian

[Sean Osborne]

Yuppers... a loss like that to Miami really bites. There were nearly a slew of upsets yesterday and a couple of bonafides.

[Brian Baldwin]

I'm going to get an early start this week on my picks and games to watch. It would seem that I went 11-5 this week to make my total 45-17 overall. As Sean said... This was a week of upsets. Every season we see such a week and I guess this one was it. I certainly didn't mind seeing Pittsburgh tear up Chicago, and it only helped that Dallas beat K.C. and Miami beat San Diego. Now Pittsburgh is back in the playoff race thanks to their losses. I'm sure Sean is not even close to being as pleased as myself though. Especially when Miami was supposed to just roll over and let San Diego have its way. The biggest upset though wasn't even an upset. Cincinatti almost lost to Cleveland in what amounts to a school yard brawl that lasted over 3 hours. The Bengals managed to pull it together long enough though to tie the score and finally to win in overtime. What a game. It was the first time I ever cheered for the Browns in my memory. Sorry Ryan. lol Well now we can get on to our two games of the week since I alienated my two sports chums. heh

The first game is of course....

San Diego at Indianapolis.

San Diego is a tough team. And with L.T. its a wonder they're not on top. But the problem here is they lose big games when really need to win them. This is one of those games. Unless they win here they're basically out of the playoff race unless K.C. and Pittsburgh lose too. Indianapolis on the other hand doesn't need this game as they clinched homefield advantage on Sunday. Everything is against San Diego too. They're playing against the toughest team in the NFL... They're playing them in their dome which is known to be the loudest place on earth. (Because they cheat with noise amplification? We'll see.) They're players are tired and they are leading up the rear in the tie breaker 6th seed AFC wild card race against K.C. and Pittsburgh. They not only have to win this game but their next and then their final one. This one keeps them in the race, the next moves them ahead of K.C. (who beat Denver to move ahead of S.D.) And the final to hopefully secure the seed spot. And even if all of that happens for them... Pittsburgh has to lose at least once more for S.D. to get the spot. And the Steelers have the easiest remaining schedule of the three tied teams. Best bet for San Diego? Route for the Vikes!

Indianapolis 28 - San Diego 13

Kansas City at N.Y. Giants

A lot of folks are going to be watching this game closely because of all the playoff implications it carries on both sides. N.Y. needs this win in order to keep its spot at the top of its division and San Diego needs N.Y. to win so that K.C. slides back. K.C. needs this win in order to stay in the AFC wild card race and Dallas would like to see K.C. win in order to bring N.Y. down. N.Y. has been pretty good lately and K.C. has shown they can play when they decide to. But in the end I think N.Y. is going to be more than K.C. can honestly handle. If K.C. pressures Eli it'll be a different story but N.Y. is fond of protecting their high cap investment. Look for K.C. to fall from grace and out of the AFC wild card race with a loss here.

N.Y. Giants 21 - Kansas City 14

That just leaves the rest of the games....

New England over Tampa Bay
Denver over Buffalo
Arizona over Houston
Carolina over New Orleans
Miami over N.Y. Jets
Philadelphia over St. Louis
Pittsburgh over Minnesota
Seattle over Tennessee
Jacksonville over San Francisco
Cincinatti over Detroit
Oakland over Cleveland
Dallas over Washington *
Chicago over Atlanta
Baltimore over Green Bay

* I was tempted to pick Washington over Dallas here. Don't know why though.

Brian

[Ryan Ruck]

I definitely concur about last week being a week of upsets/near upsets.

Also, I happened to catch the end of the Dallas/KC game after the Battle for Ohio concluded and I've got to say, what a finish! That was definitely a nail-biter!

[Brian Baldwin]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/trib.../s_404128.html

Vikings coach Mike Tice said the NFL sent out a memo to all teams warning against piping in crowd noise to distract the opposition. The memo, sent yesterday, threatened fines or the loss of draft choices as a penalty for manufacturing crowd noise. A national report indicated that the Colts had piped in sound when the Steelers played in Indianapolis in Week 11. The league did not investigate.

"Everybody got a memo; someone must be breaking rules," Tice said.

I hope San Diego refuses to play the game if the noise level gets very high in Indy this sunday. Personally I think Indy should be disqualified for cheating and removed from playoff status. I don't like their owner and really believe he'd trade some draft choices for this win.

Brian

[Brian Baldwin]

http://www.nfl.com/teams/story/PHI/9100045

Owens is such a loser!

Brian

[Brian Baldwin]

So N.Y. has lent a hand to the Steelers in their victory over K.C. yesterday, and Sean is hoping Pittsburgh gets stomped by the Vikes today more than he hopes the Chargers can pull off the upset of the year. Right now the Steelers are secure in their playoff spot since even if they lose they'll be able to bank on the Chargers losing also. BUT.... Indy has decided to rest a couple of starters from their defense. The Chargers may be able to take advantage of this and hit those areas a bit more. And if they learned anything at all from the rest of Indy's home games the Chargers would be smart to come in with a set of secret hand signals to combat the noise of the dome.

The Chargers have pulled upsets before. I can even see them doing so today if they have truely prepared themselves for what they'll face in that dome. How it stands right now though, they'll need the Steelers to lose in order to stay in the race for the AFC 6th seed wild card slot.

On the other end of that... The Steelers need this win badly. This win would not only seal up the wild card for them for the most part but would also prove they deserve to be in control of that seed. Minnesota is not a slack team and has really turned their season around with the great leadership of veteran QB Brad Johnson. But I think they're being over-rated at this point and if the Steelers ride the bus we'll see a good victory here. Minnesota needs to force the Steelers into a shootout in order to control the game.

What a week! If everything goes my way then Detroit will seriously injure every starter on the Bengals roster. (Actually I'd hate to see that.) And the Bengals will lose out and give the division back to the Steelers since IMO that's where it belongs! lol Seriously though... I don't see detroit doing anything but further humiliating themselves today. And some small part of me really would like to see the Colts lose today even if it means going to the end of the season to tie up the Chargers and win the wild card slot by warrant of our past victory over them.

Thank God I have 4 televisions, 2 tivos and a subscription to DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket. Now all I need is to put in the Bar in the basement and I'll be one happy S.O.B.

Brian

[Sean Osborne]

26


17



:hail:

[Brian Baldwin]

26


17



:hail:

No fair praying for your team bible boy.

Even though the Steelers needed your team to lose and even though I picked Indy to win.... I'm actually glad someone finally beat the Indianapolis Cheats. They ain't so tough without their amped up crowd noise.

But since your prayers seem to work.... Anyway you could pray for Cincy to lose big time today? Please?

Brian