Week 6 Picks (Part 1) (and part 2!)

Guess what! We missed Week 5! Oops!

Anyways, besides the Yankees sucking and th Mets winning, and hockey season starting, I'm sure there's lots to talk about. But it's football time now! (PS. If the Mets lose, how bad do you think the ratings will be for a Tigers-Cardinals World Series? Could set the record for worst ratings ever I think.)

Sooooorrrrry kids! See my comment below and my picks too.

Last Week (Well, actually, 2 weeks ago):
St. Ides: 8-6
Samichlaus: 7-7

Overall:
Samichlaus: 24-20
St. Ides: 18-26

Texans +12.5 over COWBOYS
Between the whole TO soap opera (apparently after last week's loss in Philly, he strormed into the locker room shouting "Why the fvck did you guys bring me here?" Meanwhile, the truth is he was thrown to 11 times, or about 30% of the pass attempts. Sadly, Drew Bledsoe sucks, so not all of them made it there. Anyways, the Tony Romo watch is on. #1 pick Mario Williams finally got a sack, and maybe the immobile Bledsoe could give him another. Not sure how the Texans offense is gonna look against this good Dallas D, but that's lot of points for a team in disarray to be giving. Cowboys 24, Texans 13.

I like the Texans too. I see pretty boy tossing a TD in garbage time to keep it close: Cowboys 27 Texans 23

FALCONS -2.5 over Giants
Coming off the bye, Abraham should be healthy again for the Falcons. Which means Eli will get a steady diet of pressure. Write it down now: the Giants will be one of the most inconsistent teams all season. Their defense has looked like crap mostly, though they shut down the Skins last weekend. I think these teams are about even talent-wise, and since the Falcons are home and giving less than the standard 3-point home field advantage, I'll take em to win by 3. Falcons 26, Giants 23.

Good analysis, but sadly flawed. The Giants are a better team than the Falcons... but I like the point about their inconsistancy. Atlanta still has Ed Donatel as their defensive coorcinator, right? I'll be contrarian: Giants 31 Mike Vick and his sick dick 20

SAINTS +3.5 over Eagles
Do we really know what we have in the Saints yet? No? Neither does Vegas. Reggie Bush made his first (of many?) game changing plays last week with the winning punt return for a TD. However, the game really shouldn't have been that close against a struggling Bucs team with a rookie QB. Still, it was a divisional game, so those are usually close. Meanwhile, the Eagles offense is pretty much all McNabb at this point (Westbrook and Stallworth are banged up pretty badly.) How long can he keep it up? Not long enough. Saints 24, Eagles 20.

The Eagles did not impress me against the Packers, who suck and yet outplayed them for the first half. However I like them in this game: Eagles 27 Saints 17

Titans +9.5 over REDSKINS
I keep taking the Titans plus the points, and they keep covering. Vince Young looked fairly comfortable in there last week. Of course, the Colts defense is awful right now, but still, it had to build his confidence a bit. And the Titans hung in there against the Colts. Despite the Redskins offense coming to life 2 weeks ago against the Jaguars, they looked lost again last week against the Giants. Skins should win this, but I'll take the points. Redskins 27, Titans 19.

Agreed. And I think Vince Younng is going to get better and better. Skins 24 Titans 20

LIONS -0.5 over Bills
Lions had a chance against the Rams 2 weeks ago in the Mike Martz' Revenge game. They should have won last week against the Vikings. (2 defensive TDs on Jon Kitna turnovers blew a 4th-quarter 17 point lead.) So they're due, right? Yeah, I think so. Losman is due for a bad game, and the Lions defense is actually decent. It's their offense that stinks. Lions 16, Bills 13.

The Lions are a lot like the Packers. If you root for them you'll see that they're close but not quite there. I wonder if all that weather in Buffalo affected the Bills practice? The Lions have to beat somebody, right? Lions 24 Bills 21

BUCANNEERS +5.5 over Bengals
Bengals are coming off a bye after a thumping by the Pats brought them down to earth a bit. They should be able to win this game, and we don't really know yet how good (or bad) that rookie Bucs QB is (whose name I'm too lazy to look up right now). I'll take the home points, but just barely. I'm regretting this pick even as I type this. Bengals 31, Bucs 27.

You've really gone off the deep end, haven't you? Wow. Bengals 37 Bucs 17

Panthers +2.5 over RAVENS
I think the Ravens were exposed a bit Monday Night against the Broncos. Steve McNair and Ray Lewis both looked their age. Jamal Lewis hasn't been the same since he spent some time in the slammer. Yes, the Ravens defense is still pretty good. But any early thoughts that Steve McNair could single-handedly turn around their yearly horrible offense are in doubt. Panthers 19, Ravens 16.

McNair, like Favre, will show wear and tear as the season goes on. It is the sad truth of the aging quarterback. Panthers 27 Ravens 10

RAMS +3.5 over Seahawks
Rams should have lost to the Packers last week. (Or at the very least, gone to OT). They almost lost to the Lions (in St. Louis) two weeks ago. They lost to the Niners. On paper, this should be an easy one to pick. But the Seahawks thrashing in Chicago is still on everyone's mind, and suddenly Seattle is one loss away from being 1.5 games out of first place in the anemic NFC West. Not to mention the Rams always play Seattle tough, especially on their home turf. Jeramy Stevens is back, which will help. But if Rex Grossman and Bernard Berrian can slice apart our secondary, imagine what Marc Bulger and Torry Holt will do. This game comes down to whoever has the ball last. Rams 34, Seahawks 33.

Dude, will you stop with the reverse jinx stuff? That Chicago game is exactly what the Seahawks needed. They'll be ready. Seahawks 31 Rams 17

JETS -2.5 over Dolphins
J-E-T-S Jets! Jets! Jets! Who woulda thunk the Jets would actually be a favorite over anybody in Week 6? Not me. But something is telling me no way in hell should I take Joey Harrington, who replaced an injured (read "benched") Daunte Culpepper last week. God, this game stinks. Jets 23, Dolphins 20.

The Jets always play the Fins tough. Jets games are my father in law's worst nightmare. I think he still wakes up with visions of pedestrian quarterbacks like Richard Todd and Ken O'Brien lighting it up against superior Dolphin Teams. Jets 23 Dolphins 20

Chiefs +6.5 over STEELERS
Not sure if I actually wrote this before, but the Steelers are suffering the "Super Bowl Loser" jinx. "But they WON the Super Bowl!", you say? Maybe on the scoreboard, but people who watched the game know better. And so do the Football Gods. The only thing that could possibly make a complete Steelers collapse any sweeter would be Jerome "Overexposed" Bettis being struck dead by a bolt of lightning. I paid the price for calling Big Ben "Dilferesque", but maybe I was right after all. Chiefs 27, Steelers 20.

Oh lord. You don't really want to see Jerome Bettis dead now, do you??? Last week Najeh Davenport had one catch for 30+ yards. When will Bill Cowher realize he's sitting on a gold mine? Steelers 31 Cheifs 24

Chargers +10.5 over NINERS
Lots of points to give. I'm kinda wishy washy on this pick. But I'll say I like the offense vs defense matchups on both sides of the ball heavily in favor of the Chargers. Chargers 31, Niners 17.

That's too much gravy for my pot roast. Niners and the points: Bolts 27 Niners 24

BRONCOS -14.5 over Raiders
You know the Raiders are bad if they're getting over 2 touchdowns in this once fierce divisional rivalry. Some guy named Andrew Walter is the Raiders QB. Randy Moss has pretty much admitted he's mailing it in. Don't expect any mercy from Denver. Broncos 29, Raiders 6.

That's too much KY for my lambskin condom. Broncos 31 Raiders 20

Bears -10.5 over CARDINALS
I'd say this is a potential "let down" game for the Bears except: A) the Cardinals have rookie QB Leinart in there, B) the Cardinals have a crap offensive line to protect said rookie, C) the Cardinals have a crap offensive line and, therefore, no running game, and D) even if Leinart DOES get time to throw, star WR Larry Fitzgerald is hurt. Which means double coverage on Anquan Boldin. The real question here is the over/under on Leinart turnovers. Let's go with 3.5, and I'll take the over. Bears 29, Cardinals 13.

I'd be surprised if the Cards put up 10. The Bears are the real deal, and that's coming from a Packer fan. Bears 34 Cardinals 9