So far, so good on the early games. Of the 9 games played thus far, I've gone 7-2, losing only the Kansas City/San Francisco and New Orleans/Atlanta games. Here's how it breaks down:
Game #1-
(-3) Titans- 29 @ New York Giants- 10
I said one of the things that scared me about the Giants was their run defense and it looks like I had reason to be scared. Yet again, the Giants let someone run wild, as Chris Johnson rumbled for 125 yards and 2 tds. She-Li Manning had a decent game (386 yds passing), but 2 interceptions and no touchdowns from your quarterback will kill you every time.
RESULT- Titans win AND cover (1-0, 1-0)
Game #2-
(-14) Bills- 30 @ Patriots- 38
The Bills burnt me this week. Not in my wildest dreams did I expect them to put up 30 points on the Patriots. CJ Spiller made the biggest impact for the Bills, with a receiving touchdown and 189 return yards and a touchdown. Ryan Fitzpatrick and Tom Brady had similar passing numbers, but Fitzpatrick's 2 interceptions to Brady's 0 ultimately doomed the Bills. Still, I hate huge spreads and once again, the Bills find a way to screw me.
RESULT- Patriots win AND Bills cover (2-0, 1-1)
Game #3-
(-10.5) Browns- 17 @ Ravens- 24
Well, the Ravens finally put some points on the board. They got a pretty good game out of Joe Flacco (262 yds passing, 3 tds) and a superhuman game out of Anquan Boldin (142 yds receiving, 3 tds), but the run defense was nowhere to be found, letting Peyton Hillis, a 6'2", 250 pound white dude from Arkansas rumble for 144 yards a a touchdown. I absolutely thought the Brownies would show up in Baltimore and get a mud hole stomped in every one of their asses. Surprising final score, considering it was a home game and the discrepancy in talent.
RESULT- Ravens win AND Browns cover (3-0, 1-2)
Game #4-
Steelers- 38 @ (-2.5) Buccaneers- 13
Well, I was mostly right about this game. The Steelers defense is a world beater and they stifled Josh Freeman and the Tampa Bay offense with relative ease. That wasn't surprising in the slightest. However, I was very surprised the Steelers were able to overcome a 2 interception game by their fourth string quarterback and still manage to put up 38 points on the board. Batch wasn't great today (186 yards passing), but he did throw 3 touchdowns (2 of which went to Mike Wallace). Rashard Mendenhall ran hard (143 yards, 1 td) and the Steelers' train keeps on rolling. Just imagine what this team will do when Big Ben comes back (assuming he doesn't force himself on anyone between now and then).
RESULT- Steelers win AND cover (4-0, 2-2)
Game #5-
Bengals- 20 @ (-3) Panthers- 7
Not exactly a rout, but a pretty easy win for the Bungles down in Carolina. Cedric Benson had a pretty good game (81 yards rushing, 1 rec. td/1 rush. td) and Mike Nugent continues to Mr. Consistency (2-2 xps/2-2 fgs). Carson Palmer didn't quite have the game I expected out of him (195 yds passing, 1 td, 2 ints), but the defense stepped up and held the Panthers to under 300 yards of total offense. For the last two weeks, Cincy has looked pretty stout, so the AFC North could turn out to be a slug-fest between the Bungles, Pittsburgh and Baltimore.
RESULT- Bengals win AND cover (5-0, 3-2)
Game #6-
(-3.5) Falcons- 27 @ Saints- 24 OT
My first loss of the week and the Saints' first loss of the season. As I expected, this turned out to be a great football game (the game, not the outcome), but I'm still unclear as to what kind of team the Super Bowl champs (I plan to say that as much as possible) have this season. Brees put up decent numbers today (365 yds passing, 3 tds, 2 ints), but also made a couple un-Brees like mental errors. Lance Moore had a helluva game (149 yds, 2 tds), but the trio of Marques Colston, Devery Henderson and Robert Meachem combined for 7 receptions and 53 yards. On the other side of the ball, the ageless wonder Tony Gonzalez had a great game for an old man (110 yds rec, 1 td) as did Michael Turner (114 yds rush, 1 td). Turnovers were the key to this game, with NOLA giving it up 3 times and Atlanta only once.
RESULT- Falcons win AND cover (5-1, 4-2)
Game #7-
49ers- 10 @ (-2.5) Chiefs- 31
I am officially off the 49ers bandwagon. The insane thing is that despite the fact that the 49ers seem to be a shitty football team, they'll probably still make the playoffs because they are the best, crappy football team in the NFC West. This might be the first time in history that a team with a sub-500 record makes the playoffs and I'm sure some 10-6 or 11-5 NFC team will be screaming at the end of the season when they get shut out of the playoffs (God, I hope it's not the Saints). On the other side of the fence, Kansas City has been playing pretty good football against 2 bad teams (Cleveland & San Fran) and 1 OK team (San Diego). I like their two-headed monster at running back (Jamaal Charles & Thomas Jones) and as long as they aren't put into a situation where Matt Cassel has to win a game for them, I think they'll be all right the rest of the way out.
RESULT- Chiefs win AND cover (5-2, 5-2)
Game #8-
(-11) Detroit- 10 @ Minnesota- 24
Well, Minnesota got their first win, but man, was it ugly. Brett Favre threw 2 more picks (was almost 3 or 4) to bring his season total to 6. He tossed a touchdown pass, 2 tds in 3 games isn't going to get the job done. God help em if Adrian Peterson gets hurt because right now, he is absolutely the only Minnesota Viking doing ANYTHING positive on the offensive side of the football. If they don't make some vast improvements in a hurry, this team will be lucky to win 8 games. Speaking of lucky to win 8 games, Detroit didn't come to play like I expected today. Jahvid Best was nowhere to be found and their leading receiver was a tight end (Tony Scheffler). It won't get any easier for the Lions next week when the travel to Green Bay, so it looks like yet another disappointment in Motown.
RESULT- Vikings win AND cover (6-2, 5-3)
Game #9-
(-3) Dallas- 27 @ Houston- 13
Anyone with a brain saw this game coming a mile away. I said I'd be very surprised if Dallas didn't win this game by 10+ and what do you know, they win by 14. Actually, the final *should* have been 27-6, but Houston added a late (1:15 left in the 4th) touchdown to make it look a little more respectable. I'm still not sold on the Cowboys, but the offense finally showed up for the first time this season. Tony Romo had a respectable game (284 yds, 2 tds, 0 ints) and after almost 2 seasons, Roy Williams finally left the witness protection program (117 yds, 2 td). In the long run, I still believe Houston is the best team in Texas, but I'm concerned with the fact that Andre Johnson has gotten banged up two weeks in a row. Other than Matt Schaub, he is the man they can least afford to lose.
RESULT- Cowboys win AND cover (7-2, 6-3)
Looking at my 4 team parlay, I've won the first two, with two more to go:
Steelers (+3) over Buccaneers- WIN
Bengals (+3) over Panthers- WIN
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