2009 NFL Picks - Week 8

I will attempt again this year to pick every NFL game with a point spread. There are 6 teams with a bye this week in the NFL schedule, so there are only 13 games to pick. These point spreads (except for the Atlanta vs. New Orleans game) are taken from Danny Sheridan’s Odds posted October 31 in USA Today. I usually try to post my picks for the week on Thursday night or Friday morning. For Thursday games, I will either make the pick or post my pick to Twitter feed on the right hand column. Enjoy.

Favorites are listed on the left, underdogs on the right.
*Home team is in capital letters.

BALTIMORE 3 Denver - Baltimore
CHICAGO 13 Cleveland - Cleveland
Houston 3 BUFFALO - Buffalo
GREEN BAY 3 Minnesota - Minnesota
INDIANAPOLIS 12.5 San Francisco - Indianapolis
NY JETS 3 Miami - Miami
DETROIT 4 St. Louis - St. Louis
DALLAS 9.5 Seattle - Dallas
SAN DIEGO 16.5 Oakland - San Diego
TENNESSEE 3 Jacksonville - Tennessee
ARIZONA 10 Carolina - Arizona
NY Giants 1 PHILADELPHIA - NY Giants
NEW ORLEANS 10 Atlanta - New Orleans

Fantasy Wrap-up - NFL Week 7

Finally, I made some good NFL picks against the spread. I went 9-3-1 this week. After making the picks, I was nervous because I picked mostly favorites and gave points. Usually, this is what Las Vegas wants the general public to do. If you go with the public opinion, you often get killed on Sundays, but this week Vegas had to lose a ton of money.

It could have been worse. If the 49ers had not pulled QB Shaun Hill, the Houston Texans probably would have been the 11th favorite to cover in Week 7. The only two underdogs to cover were Arizona and Buffalo and they won their games outright. I picked Buffalo in a feeble attempt to give some karma to my Fantasy wide out Terrell Owens. Well, one out of two isn't bad.

Speaking of Fantasy, I am almost at the give up point. I was in a position that happens every week in Fantasy. I was leading both of my games going into Monday Night Football. All I needed was the Washington Redskins to play really well and make the game a low scoring contest. What a joke. David Akers, the Eagles' kicker and the Eagles' defense combined to beat me in both my leagues before halftime!

One bright spot this week was that I did pick up Michael Crabtree in both leagues and he played okay for his first game. That pick up could help me make the playoffs in my Dallas league. What is going on with the Atlanta league, you ask? Forget it. I just watched the Alien sequels last weekend and I have had a Bill Paxton type meltdown already.

It can't be that bad, these are some of the guys on my roster in that league--Matt Forte, Larry Johnson, Anquan Boldin, and Terrell Owens. Remember how good Boldin and Forte were last year? Yeah, neither do I.

2009 NFL Picks Record: 53-49-1

2009 NFL Picks - Week 7

I will attempt again this year to pick every NFL game with a point spread. There are 6 teams with a bye this week in the NFL schedule, so there are only 13 games to pick. Also, the New England and Tampa Bay game is in London, England. These point spreads are taken from Danny Sheridan’s Odds posted October 22 in USA Today. I usually try to post my picks for the week on Thursday night or Friday morning. For Thursday games, I will either make the pick or post my pick to Twitter feed on the right hand column. Enjoy.

Favorites are listed on the left, underdogs on the right.
*Home team is in capital letters.

San Diego 4.5 KANSAS CITY - San Diego
Indianapolis 13 ST. LOUIS - Indianapolis
CINCINNATI 1.5 Chicago - Chicago
Green Bay 7 CLEVELAND - Green Bay
PITTSBURGH 4 Minnesota - Pittsburgh
New England 14.5 TAMPA BAY - New England
HOUSTON 3 San Francisco - Houston
New York Jets 6 OAKLAND - Oakland
CAROLINA 7 Buffalo - Buffalo
New Orleans 6 MIAMI - New Orleans
DALLAS 4 Atlanta - Dallas
NY GIANTS 7 Arizona - NY Giants
Philadelphia 7 WASHINGTON - Philadelphia

2009 NFL Picks Record: 44-46

Fantasy Wrap-Up - NFL Week 6

October is a great time to be a sports fan. Monday night's baseball games and Monday Night Football were fun to watch. I really like the late afternoon start time for playoff baseball games. You might miss some of the early innings, but you are able to catch all of the crucial moments.

Going into the weekend, I felt good about my NFL picks. There were a ton of home favorites and big point spreads. I went 6-8 on the weekend to fall one game below .500 for the season. I missed on some close covers by losing teams like the Ravens and Browns.

At least, playoff baseball is giving me something to look forward to, because my Fantasy Football season is slowly going down the drain. I was killed in my Atlanta league this weekend to drop to 1-5 on the season. In my Dallas league, my receivers had nice games, but both my bench running backs played better than my starters. I am having a major dilemma every Sunday on whether to start the Giants' Brandon Jacobs or Ahmad Bradshaw. So far, I have been staying with Jacobs, but he is struggling big time.

Here is my Fantasy year in a microcosm. Peyton Manning has been carrying me, but he was on a bye this week. There were very few options on the waiver wire, but I went with Mark Sanchez of the Jets against the Bills. All Sanchez did was throw 5 interceptions in one of the worst performances by a QB this season. Sanchez looked miserable in the cold and wind in New York. I guess I should have figured in the weather.

The bright spots this week for me were my TE's, Hines Ward, Randy Moss, and Aaron Rodgers. Hines is quietly having a Pro Bowl season. Moss was huge against the Titans and he looks to be back in sync with Tom Brady. Rodgers has been steady this year, but he is the one guy I can count on in my Atlanta league and he is not going to win Fantasy games by himself.

In my Dallas league, I am 3-3 and I think my line-up is solid going into the second half of the Fantasy season. I need the Ravens' defense to step up, but other than that I am getting above average production from the other players. I need to pick up a kicker this week and will probably go with a kicker playing against a bad team.

2009 NFL Picks - Week 6

I will attempt again this year to pick every NFL game with a point spread. Byes now each week in the NFL schedule, so there are only 14 games to pick. These point spreads are taken from Danny Sheridan’s Odds posted October 15 in USA Today. I usually try to post my picks for the week on Thursday night or Friday morning. For Thursday games, I will either make the pick or post my pick to Twitter feed on the right hand column. Enjoy.

Favorites are listed on the left, underdogs on the right.
*Home team is in capital letters.

WASHINGTON 6.5 Kansas City - Kansas City
CINCINNATI 4.5 Houston - Houston
PITTSBURGH 14 Cleveland - Pittsburgh
MINNESOTA 2.5 Baltimore - Minnesota
JACKSONVILLE 10 ST. Louis - St. Louis
NEW ORLEANS 3.5 NY Giants - Giants
Carolina 3.5 TAMPA BAY - Carolina
GREEN BAY 13.5 Detroit - Detroit
Philadelphia 14 OAKLAND - Philadelphia
SEATTLE 2.5 Arizona - Arizona
NY JETS 9.5 Buffalo - NY Jets
NEW ENGLAND 9 Tennessee - New England
ATLANTA 3.5 Chicago - Chicago
SAN DIEGO 4 Denver - San Diego

2009 NFL Picks Record: 38-38

*Wow, 12 out of 14 home teams are favored this week.

Fantasy Wrap-Up - NFL Week 5

It seems that I am destined this year to be very average. I was 1-1 again this week in Fantasy Football and 7-7 in my NFL picks. That still leaves me at .500 for the year on picks versus the spread. Definitely, my best pick of the week was the Bengals to cover the spread against the hated Baltimore Ravens. I also picked Miami to win against the Jets.

In Fantasy games, I am making every wrong move with my roster in the Atlanta league. I dropped the Titans' defense and picked up the 49ers' defense. After the strong showing last year, the Titans have been terrible this year. The 49ers looked like a steal and a good start at home against Atlanta. Wrong. The 49ers put a -7 points on the board which seems impossible. The Falcons totally dominated that game.

To make matters worse, Aaron Rodgers and Matt Forte had bye weeks. I was forced to start Matt Cassel and Larry Johnson of the Chiefs. Cassel actually came through with a solid Fantasy game, but I was so uncomfortable with starting him I picked up Derek Anderson of the Browns and let go of WR Jeremy Maclin. Maclin had his best day of the year and Anderson had one of the worst games in the history of NFL quarterbacks. I think I jinxed him. My team is now 1-4 and in dead last in that league.

Luckily on draft day, I picked Peyton Manning in my Dallas league. I have never been a big fan and I had Peyton rated lower than a few other quarterbacks, but the QB I really wanted was gone when I picked. Lucky for me. Manning has carried me to a 3-2 record. One of those losses is somewhat disputed, so I feel pretty good about that team.

Peyton is on a bye this week and my back up plan is to start Mark Sanchez. I felt okay about that post waiver wire pick up last week, but with his performance last night and the addition of WR Braylon Edwards I like Sanchez this week. I need some other guys on the roster to step up to pick up the points lost with Manning on a bye.

This week I want to make some moves to make my Atlanta team better, but I do not see much out there. My team defense is awful, T.O. has killed me, and my running back situation is the worst in the league. I mean I actually picked up Mewelde Moore last week and thought about starting him against Detroit. That is really reaching for something in the distance...

2009 NFL Picks - Week 5

I will attempt again this year to pick every NFL game with a point spread. Byes started last week in the NFL, so there are only 14 games to pick. These point spreads are taken from Danny Sheridan’s Odds posted October 7 in USA Today. I usually try to post my picks for the week on Thursday night or Friday morning. For Thursday games, I will either make the pick or post my pick to Twitter feed on the right hand column. Enjoy. (There was no posted spread for the Seattle game, so I went with a spread from another web site.)

Favorites are listed on the left, underdogs on the right.
*Home team is in capital letters.

Minnesota 10 ST. LOUIS - Minnesota
Dallas 9 KANSAS CITY - Kansas City
CAROLINA 3.5 Washington - Carolina
PHILADELPHIA 14.5 Tampa Bay - Tampa Bay
NY GIANTS 16 Oakland - Oakland
BUFFALO 6 Cleveland - Cleveland
BALTIMORE 8.5 Cincinnati - Cincinnati
Pittsburgh 10.5 DETROIT - Pittsburgh
SAN FRANCISCO 2.5 Atlanta - San Francisco
New England 3 DENVER - New England
ARIZONA 5.5 Houston - Arizona
Jacksonville 3 SEATTLE - Jacksonville
Indianapolis 8.5 TENNESSEE - Indianapolis
NY Jets 1.5 MIAMI - Miami

2009 NFL Picks Record: 31-31

Fantasy Wrap-Up - NFL Week 4

For whatever reason, the 1 pm NFL games this year are killing my picks. I struggled again out of the gate this week, but with the help of San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and Minnesota all covering the spread at home, I finished the week 7-7 to stay at .500 for the season.

This weekend I was cut off from my Internet access, but I was able to follow the games and scores on the radio on Sunday. It seemed like my players were putting up some good numbers. The Bears' Matt Forte even came through with a touchdown and over 120 total yards. I started Donald Brown of the Colts and he scored a touchdown, so I was feeling good before checking the scores of my two Fantasy games.

Of course, in my Atlanta league, I was getting killed. My opponent racked up over 100 points this week. That owner made a great pick up and start of Rashad Mendenhall of the Steelers. Mendenhall had a monster game against San Diego. I am a huge Steelers fans so it was hard to be upset with that outcome. In this league, I dropped to 1-3 on the year and I have major bye week roster problems. Good times.

In my Dallas league, I came into the Monday night game down 12 points, but I had Mason Crosby kicking for me. I drafted this guy because he can make 50-yard field goals. He was kicking in a dome to make me feel even a little more confident. Aaron Rodgers helped kill me. The Green Bay quarterback fumbled on the first possession in potential field goal range; and then on the second possession, Rodgers threw a terrible interception when the Packers were driving. To add insult to injury, Green Bay decided not to try to other potential field goals that would have given Crosby points.

This game was frustrating because I made a change late in the week to bench Hines Ward and to start Devin Hester against the Lions. I figured the Bears would score a ton of points and Hester might have a big game. It turned out he put up 0 points and Hines came through with a solid game for the Steelers. That move hurt.

During this week, I have major roster problems because of the byes. Right now, I have to start Matt Cassel at quarterback and I do not have a kicker on one team. I do get Tony Gonzalez back in my line-up and I figure to start Marshawn Lynch this week to hopefully solidify one running back situation, but this season could be me just donating money if I can't get a couple of big wins this week.

2009 NFL Picks - Week 4

I will attempt again this year to pick every NFL game with a point spread. Byes start this week in the NFL, so there are only 14 games to pick. These point spreads are taken from Danny Sheridan’s Odds posted October 1 in USA Today. I usually try to post my picks for the week on Thursday night or Friday morning. For Thursday games, I will either make the pick or post my pick to Twitter feed on the right hand column. Enjoy.

Favorites are listed on the left, underdogs on the right.
*Home team is in capital letters.

CHICAGO 10 Detroit - Detroit
Cincinnati 5.5 CLEVELAND - Cincinnati
HOUSTON 9 Oakland - Oakland
INDY 10.5 Seattle - Indianapolis
Tennessee 3 JACKSONVILLE - Tennessee
NY Giants 8.5 KANSAS CITY - NY Giants
NEW ENGLAND 2 Baltimore - Baltimore
WASHINGTON 7 Tampa Bay - Washington
Buffalo 2 MIAMI - Miami
NEW ORLEANS 7 NY Jets - New Orleans
Dallas 3 DENVER - Dallas
SAN FRAN 9.5 St. Louis - San Francisco
PITTSBURGH 6.5 San Diego - Pittsburgh
MINNESOTA 3.5 Green Bay - Minnesota

2009 NFL Picks Record: 24-24