I made a huge mistake last week, I acknowledged my confidence. I was feeling good about myself, thought I knew what was going on in the NFL and I said it out loud.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
I had my worst week in ages, and I truly believe one of the reasons was that I got too cocky. Of course, it didn’t help that last week was just downright wacky when it came to the games, but I jinxed myself and delivered a result that was Costanza-esque.
Back to basics this week. Step one, admit your mistakes. Step two, try to do better.
For the record, the Thursday night game was picked by both Matt and I and put it up on Twitter to have documentation of it. I went with the 49ers, Matt took Seattle. Last week, I put together a horrid 4-9 record. Matt went a slightly better, 5-8.
Rich: 57-33 (.633)
Matt: 50-40 (.555)
Tennessee at Buffalo: Well, it doesn’t get any easier here does it. Two teams that are very difficult to figure out. When they’re bad, the Titans are awful. When they’re good, they beat good teams. The Bills suffered two horrendous losses in succession, then knocked off the undefeated Cardinals on the road. I’m going with the Titans because the Patriots showed a few weeks back that Buffalo can’t stop the run, and I think Chris Johnson looks ready for a big, big game.
- Rich’s Pick: Titans
- Matt’s Pick: Bills
Cleveland at Indianapolis: I guess the Browns had to win a game this year, and it’s easy to play the second-guess game and say that the Bengals were the prime candidate to be their first victims last week. I don’t believe we’re in a world where the Browns win two in a row, with the second on the road. Give me the Colts.
- Rich’s Pick: Colts
- Matt’s Pick: Browns
Green Bay at St. Louis: The Godfather Part III is a horrible movie, with one great line that is timeless. “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.” That’s how I feel about the Packers. I was ready to write them off as an over-rated, underperforming team, and then they brought the goods against Houston last week. Let’s roll with the cheese.
- Rich’s Pick: Packers
- Matt’s Pick: Packers
Arizona at Minnesota: The Vikings are this year’s sneaky good team that you don’t think is all that good but somehow they keep winning games. Granted, they lost last weekend against Washington on the road, but I like them at home. They have a good defense and special teams, and who doesn’t love that battle horn when they do something good?
- Rich’s Pick: Vikings
- Matt’s Pick: Vikings
Washington at New York Giants: Big Blue seems to play its best when it feels like it has something to prove. Last weekend against the 49ers, they felt it was a statement game, and they made a statement. This week they’re looking to silence the hype machine around RG3, and I have a feeling that they will.
- Rich’s Pick: Giants
- Matt’s Pick: Giants
New Orleans at Tampa Bay: I don’t believe that the Saints defense is very good, but that shouldn’t hurt them too much here because the Bucs offense is average at best. To beat the Saints you have to be able to score at least 28 points, I figure. Lots of teams can, but I don’t think that the Bucs are one of them.
- Rich’s Pick: Saints
- Matt’s Pick: Saints
Baltimore at Houston: The Ravens lost two of their most important defensive players for the year, emotional leader Ray Lewis, and corner Ledarius Webb. Mike Lombardi, of NFL Network, explained just how big of a loss Webb is against teams like Houston because of the way he helps stop the run for the Ravens. Without him there, I think the Texans will grind one out, ugly like.
- Rich’s Pick: Texans
- Matt’s Pick: Ravens
Jacksonville at Oakland: I just have no confidence in either team, so I’m going to ride the home team and figure Run DMC has a big day against a poor Jax defense.
- Rich’s Pick: Raiders
- Matt’s Pick: Raiders
NY Jets at New England: The Patriots are the most frustrating team in the NFL right now. They could easily be 6-0. However, you are what you are, and right now they’re mediocre. I still believe that they’ll be very good when all is said and done, and let’s not forget this. The Patriots biggest weakness is defending the pass down the field. This week they’re facing Mark Sanchez and maybe Tim Tebow. My 9-year old daughter throws the deep ball as well as those two.
- Rich’s Pick: Patriots
- Matt’s Pick: Patriots
Dallas at Carolina: Neither of these teams inspires much confidence. Something’s wrong in Carolina, though. That offense has no cohesion and Cam doesn’t look anything like he did in the first half of last year. Give me the Boys, by default.
- Rich’s Pick: Cowboys
- Matt’s Pick: Cowboys
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati: AJ Green is fun to watch. Andy Dalton ought to just huck it down the field every other play and hope that Green comes down with it, because the way he plays, he’s more likely than not to do just that. Still, the Bengals as a whole aren’t very good and I don’t think that they’ll be able to slow down Big Ben and that passing game.
- Rich’s Pick: Steelers
- Matt’s Pick: Steelers
Detroit at Chicago: Right now, on October 20, the answer to the question “who is the best team in the NFL” is the Chicago Bears. Smokin’ Jay Cutler has been efficient and that defense is downright scary. They make plays and plays and plays. They’ll win, and I exepect another defensive TD to boot.
- Rich’s Pick: Bears
- Matt’s Pick: Lions
The views and opinions in the Enterprise blogs are those of the author and are not neccessarily shared by Falmouth Publishing.
