Quick Thoughts - Week 6
Ah, that's more like it. A nice 4-9 week to bring me right back to reality. Let's just say I'm more than OK with the fact that I placed exactly zero bets this week. And I am even over the fact that I placed none last week, since I probably would have blown half the winnings on bets in Week 6 anyway.
"So what happened?" you ask... Well, I have no explanations. But lets just say I won't be writing my picks on a Thursday night anymore, especially while watching Survivor and CSI. Just can't concentrate while watching strippers and The Strip in HD...
Other thoughts over the past four days...
n Steve Lyons got a 100% raw deal. There is no reason to have fired him for his joking with Lou Pinella. And if they are trying to roll everything he has done this postseason (i.e. Pinella and his comments about the blind guy in the stands) then they should at the very least fine or suspend Thom Brennaman as well for going along with both jokes and not speaking up. Even worse, he had only one game left on his contract - they could have simply let him go after the season, without any pomp & circumstance. But now he is labeled as "racist" and "offensive", and may never get another big time job in baseball again. Ridiculous. And if you want to voice an opinion on this, here is the man to voice it with: David Hill, FOX Sports Chairman. E-mail him at david.hill@fox.com
n Speaking of Pinella... I can't wait for the first beanball war to break out with the Cubs & Cardinals, when Pinella goes after Pujols and the Cards retaliate by hitting A-Rod...
n ... Just checking to make sure you're awake. Though the proposed A-Rod for Aramis Ramirez deal makes a ton of sense - for The Yankees. Besides, the Cubs are perennial losers. They might as well employ the one player who embodies that more than any other - all kinds of expectations in the regular season, and no chance in the postseason.
n Back to football. I fell asleep just after Mike Brown scored the first defensive touchdown for the Bears last night, and I did so with absolute confidence that I was going to miss something spectacular. Guess I did. Although I think I would have enjoyed watching Dennis Green's post-game press conference a lot more than the game itself...
n From the "Don't say I didn't warn you" department... Did you see Marc Bulger's stat line this week? 360 and 3 TDs? Back at our annual fantasy draft in my NFL.com league, we gave one of my buddies a ton of shit about how he'd have to become a Rams fan this year - he drafted Bulger, Tory Holt & Jeff Wilkins. He's since moved right to the top of the league, tied atop the board in record (5-1) and just 12 total points behind the top team (592 in six weeks). Can't argue with results.
n Just wish I got a chance to play him this week with St. Louis on a Bye. Damnit.
n With all the talk surrounding the Raiders' Randy Moss and Jerry Porter being traded this afternoon, supposedly either one to my beloved Patriots, let me say this. Randy Moss was a superstar from the day he was drafted, and it looked like he lost interest in the game after his team blew their 1998 season in the NFC Title Game against Atlanta. Ever since then, he has looked disinterested in the game, even going so far as to say that he "plays when he wants to". This is what arises from a lack of faith in your team - why should he give 110% when the rest of his team seems destined to fail?
A Wide Receiver is only as good as his Quarterback. And if you were to put a Top-5 talent at receiver (Moss) together with a Top-2 talent at QB (Brady), it is not hard to imagine how well it could, and should work. But if New England acquires Moss, they will only be doing so for this season. He's a one and done pickup - any more than that (and even more so if they go on to win a Super Bowl with him) and he will become a distraction.
Winning only carries a person's motivation so far - just look at Lawyer Milloy & Ty Law. Randy Moss wants to win, but he also wants to get paid and be the superstar that he is, and neither of those things will happen in New England. If he comes here and gets his ring, he'll turn in to T.O. (circa 2005) immediately after the parade down Boylston St. If he comes here and doesn't get his ring, then he's got no reason to give his best effort after this season. He'll still get paid, and if he can't win a title here, he can't win one period.
n In Week 6, I was impressed by...
o The Giants. They did a hell of a job containing the Atlanta offense, even if Warrick Dunn managed to put up 140+ yards against them (90 came on one run). New York looked good on both sides of the ball, and picked up a big win in the process.
o The Cowboys. That was a game they needed to win, and win big. They did. In the first half, it looked like they were going to coast along and do just enough to squeak out a win. I don't know what Bill Parcells told them at halftime, but they were a different team when they came back out of the tunnel.
o The Steelers. Guess they're not dead after all, eh?
o The Bears' Defense. If they can play like that for four quarters, they don't need Rex Grossman to be the best QB in the game. They just need him to stop turning the ball over six times in a game. (Random Side Note: In my Yahoo fantasy league, my players had scored 9 TDs before Grossman ever took the field, and I had a 30-point lead. By the time last night's game ended, my team still had 9 TDs, and I only won by 13 points. Grossman scored negative 17 points for me. He had a 10.7 QB Rating!)
o Matt Leinart. Yeah, they lost. And yes, maybe if the offense hadn't stalled at the 23-yard line on the final drive, Neil Rackers' kick stays just inside the uprights. But he looked awful good for most of the game, with his only real mistake coming on a completely blindsided sack when his offensive line blew an assignment.
n In Week 6, I was appalled by...
o Dennis Green. You don't play not to lose that early. They eased off the accelerator in the second quarter, and it ended up costing them the game. The dinner theater act in the pressroom after the game was a nice touch, but let's face it - Green's play calling blew that game. He's got 8 more games with the Cardinals, max.
o Edgerrin James. 36 carries, 56 yards. The single worst rushing performance in NFL history by any player with 35+ carries. Hard not to be appalled by that. Think he misses Indy?
o Rex Grossman (I hated a lot of things in this game). If that was more of a "regression to the mean" for Grossman than just simply a bump in the road, the Bears' chances could be in trouble. They still haven't played anybody serious, and that could hurt them. They've got a five game run starting in November that goes @Giants, @Jets (might as well just stay in Jersey for a week), @Patriots, Vikings, @Rams. If they come out of that stretch 3-2, I'll be impressed.
o The Bills, Redskins, and Bengals. Buffalo and Cincinnati at least coughed up winnable games on the road, and Cincy really got hosed by a ludicrous Personal Foul call. But the Skins gave one away to a winless team, at home, when they were leading for the better part of the first half, and had caught all the way back up early in the fourth. What happened to their supposedly unbeatable defense? Weren't they supposed to be all the experts' sleeper pick this season? They might not win seven games this year - in the NFC East, that ought to leave them six games out.
OK, I've written enough today. I'll come back again later in the week with thoughts for Week 7, and in Week 8, I'll start to refine (read: fix) my playoff predictions.
Lata.
posted by Big D @ 10:04 AM
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