Archive for September, 2008

So I decided to place my bets for Sunday. I guess I’ll take advantage of the “half the juice Fridays” at my sportsbook. I’m not too fond of this week, so I didn’t go overboard or anything.

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My big game of the week is Denver Broncos -5 over the New Orleans Saints, which I put 8 units on (after the Pats flop to the Dolphins, I’m bumping it up from 6 to 8 on the Broncos — let’s go Cutler/Marshall/Royal). The Broncos offense is on fire and it will be even easier for them this week against a depleted New Orleans defense. The Saints lost their starting DT (Hollis Thomas) and LB (Mark Simoneau) for the rest of the year and LB Fujita and 3 of their starting DBs are playing banged up (all are listed day-to-day). As long as the Broncos defense could step up a little, they shouldn’t have a problem covering because it seems as if they’re scoring points at will. With Marques Colston out for the Saints, it makes the chances of that happening even better.

I also did a 7-unit teaser (to win 5 units) on New York Giants -6 over Cincinnati with New England Patriots -5.5 over Miami. The Bengals have been awful and they’re facing a defense that is 5th against the pass and great at getting pressure on the QB (3rd in sacks). The Bengals defense will also let the Giants score easily. I like this matchup a lot. In the second game on the teaser game, the Patriots …

Reminder: If you haven’t checked out my Week 3 NFL Predictions and Picks Against the Spread, check those out in the article below or follow the link.

START ‘EM:

1.) Michael Turner — Michael Turner followed up his 220 yard, 2 TD week 1 performance with only 42 rushing yards last week, but that was against a tough Tampa Bay defense. This week, he’ll be against the Chiefs, who are ranked 31st against the run, allowing 213 YPG on the ground. I can see Turner running wild just like McFadden last week.

2.) Jay Cutler/Brandon Marshall/Eddie Royal — The Broncos have the Saints this week and the Saints defense has been decimated by injuries. They have 3 DBs banged up, 1 starting LB out for the season, another starting LB listed day-to-day. The Broncos have the first ranked offense and they should be able to score in the 30’s once again.

3.) Reggie Bush — After a poor performance in week 2 against the Redskins, he should be able to bounce back this game against a Broncos defense that is ranks 21st against the run this year and was 30th against the run last year.

4.) David Patten — If you have issues at WR on your fantasy team, David Patten might be a solid waiver wire pickup until Marques Colston returns. This week, the Saints have a defense that is 29th against the pass. Patten had 5 receptions and 55 yards last week and his numbers should be even bigger this week against a much poorer defense. He also had a 39 yard TD reception in week 1 against the Bucs. Patten is a much more consistent option than Devery Henderson and Robert Meachem may take Devery Henderson’s …

CLICK HERE FOR 2009 NFL WEEK 3 PICKS AGAINST THE SPREAD (THIS WAS FOR 2008)

I keep saying it’s a tough week, but this is the toughest of the first 3 weeks of football. There aren’t too many games that I like. I think I may have to do a few teasers instead this week. I haven’t decided which games I want to take yet. I’ll have to keep thinking them over and wait until Sunday to place my bets. I can’t even pick out a few games that I want to put in the “Spreads to Take” category. You’ll have to review the games yourself and make the best decision.

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS @ DENVER BRONCOS -5.5

The Saints have some defensive issues and that’s not going to bode well against a team that has averaged 40 PPG so far this year. The Saints also have a bunch of injuries in that defense: they’ve already lost LB Mark Simoneau and DT Hollis Thomas for the year, LB Scott Fujita is day-to-day, CB Randall Gay is day-to-day, CB Mike McKenzie is day-to-day and S Roman Harper is day-to-day. The Saint also have Marques Colston out to boot! I don’t see how any team will be able to contain the Broncos when 2 of their starting CBs, their starting SS, and one of their top LBs banged up. Jay Cutler is on fire! With Brandon Marshall, who had 18 receptions, 166 yards, and 1 TD against the Chargers, and Eddie Royal, who had 146 yards and 1 TD in his regular season debut, Jay Cutler has some amazing weapons to work with. Despite having the top ranked offense, the Broncos defense ranked near the bottom in every defensive category, which is …

This is something new that we’re doing here on The Pass Rush. After each week, we’ll compile our own NFL Power Rankings. We won’t look at your typical ESPN, CBS, or Fox Power Rankings. This will be solely based on my own opinion, which I think is better than your recycled ESPN/CBS/Fox garbage and it will help me evaluate NFL lines the following week.

1.) DALLAS COWBOYS

After a 28-10 win in Cleveland and a 41-37 win against the Eagles, which was one of the best football games that I’ve ever seen. In fact, I will rank it #1 behind USC vs. Texas in the 2006 Rose Bowl for the NCAA Championship due to being a somewhat bias Eagles fan. There were 7 lead changes and some of the most ridiculous plays I’ve ever seen: Romo’s fumble in the end zone for an Eagles TD, Felix Jones’ kickoff return for a TD, DeSean Jackson throwing the ball away at the 1 when he thought he already had a touchdown. Every time you get an Eagles-Cowboys game it’s an instant classic, but this one topped them all, and I’ll have to hand it to the victor. In my opinion, we truly saw the best two NFL teams go at it on Monday Night Football.

2.) PHILADELPHIA EAGLES

You can call me bias, but I call myself a realist. The Eagles are the 2nd best team in the NLF in week 2. Who in the AFC would you put at #2? The Patriots were out when Brady went down. The Colts looked awful against the Bears, but rebounded somewhat against the Vikings. They still have their ways to go. The Chargers, who could be 2-0, are 0-2 due to blowing their week …

FANTASY STUDS:

1.) Anquan Bolden — 140 yards, 3 TDs
2.) Brian Westbrook — 58 rushing yards, 45 receiving yards, 3 TDs
3.) Calvin Johnson — 129 yards, 2 TDs
4.) Jay Cutler — 350 yards, 4 TDs, 1 INT
5.) Kurt Warner — 361 yards, 3 TDs
6.) Marion Barber — 63 rushing yards, 51 receiving yards, 2 TDs
7.) Clinton Portis — 96 yards, 2 TDs
8.) Darren McFadden — 166 rushing yards, 9 receiving yards, 1 TD
9.) Brandon Marshall — 18 receptions, 166 yards, 1 TD
10.) Chris Chambers — 83 yards, 2 TDs
11.) Jonathan Stewart — 77 yards, 2 TDs
12.) Aaron Rodgers — 328 yards, 3 TDs
13.) Philip Rivers — 377 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT
14.) Santana Moss — 164 yards, 1 TD
15.) Darren Sproles — 72 receiving yards, 53 rushing yards, 1 TD
16.) Julius Jones — 127 yards, 14 receiving yards, 1 TD
17.) Tony Scheffler — 64 yards, 2 TDs
18.) Greg Jennings — 167 yards
19.) Tony Romo — 312 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT
20.) Eli Manning — 260 yards, 3 TDs
21.) Earnest Graham — 116 rushing yards, 12 receiving yards, 1 TD
22.) Adrian Peterson — 160 rushing yards, 20 receiving yards
23.) Larry Fitzgerald — 153 yards
24.) Isaac Bruce — 153 yards
25.) Anthony Gonzalez — 137 yards
26.) Frank Gore — 61 rushing yards, 38 receiving yards, 1 TD
27.) Reggie Wayne — 93 yards, 1 TD
28.) Plaxico Burress — 81 yards, 1 TD
29.) Bryant Johnson — 78 yards, 1 TD
30.) Tory Holt — 76 yards, 1 TD
31.) DeSean Jackson — 110 yards
32.) Jason Witten — 110 yards
33.) Chris Johnson — 109 yards

FANTASY …

So it was an average Sunday for me. I came out in the black, which was good, but I was just 1 game away from having a great Sunday betting on the NFL. I’m going to blame the rain on ruining the Steelers game for me. I guess that’s one reason to wait to place your bets right before the game when you know for certain what the weather conditions and player statuses will be. Let it be a lesson learned and let’s move on.

Tonight, the Dallas Cowboys are hosting the Philadelphia Eagles. The Cowboys came out as 7-point favorites, but the spread then dropped to Cowboys -6.5 after the betting public starting betting heavy on the underdog Eagles. I’m sure most of you are thinking Cowboys at home home on Monday Night is the way to go. Some of you might not be persuaded by the Eagles performance last week because it was, after all, the Rams. I just want to warn you of a few things before you decided to throw money down on the Cowboys. First, be warned that I am an Eagles fan.

Here is why you SHOULDN’T bet on the Cowboys tonight. The Eagles are 3-1 against the Cowboys in their last 4 games including a win in Dallas last season. The Eagles are great at getting pressure on Tony Romo and forcing him to make bad decisions with the ball. I expect the Eagles to get a few sacks and an INT off Romo tonight. The Eagles defense will make this a tight game. I’m not too worried about Terrell Owens. The Eagles have 4 Pro-Bowlers in their secondary (Asante Samuel, Brian Dawkins, Lito Sheppard, and Sheldon Brown). Asante Samuel will be on …

Overall, I moved up just 2 units this week. I hit the Packers for 8 units, but lost on the Steelers for 6 units, won the Giants for 3, lost the Saints for 3, won the Cardinals for 2, lost the 49ers/under parlay for 2. The Steelers outcome would have been different if it wasn’t for the rain and the Saints just blew the game in the 4th quarter. Here’s a bigger look at the games.

Wow, what a game the Packers/Lions game turned out to be. If you missed how it went down, the Packers jumped out to a 21-0 lead, took it 21-3 in the half, the Lions decided to play football in the 2nd half and were starting to make a comeback. The Lions then made it a 24-16 game. The Packers then gave up a safety after the punter was unable to catch the ball when they were pinned down at the 10. On the next drive Calvin Johnson came up with a huge TD to give the Packers a 25-24 lead. The Packers drove down field off a huge Greg Jennings reception and came out with a field goal to take the lead back, but it was only a 2-point lead. I needed to cover 3 points, so I was screaming at Jackson through my TV for dropping a pass that would have set up a 1st and goal. On the next drive, however, Kitna gave me a gift and there were plenty more to come. Kitna threw not one, not two, but three INTs in the final 5 minutes off the game that were returned for TDs. Thank you Jon Kita. Damn, it sucks to be a Lions fans. Why do they even watch …