2-0 (1.00)
Week one of the National Football League season is now upon us. Its time for 17 weeks of high paced action with some of the best athletes available to us performing on the biggest stage. Sunday tips off at the usual 1pm time with 9 early games followed by 3 late 4:15pm games and a Sunday night game at 8. Here we go!:00hour
Denver Broncos -3.
The Broncos are going to open the 2007 campaign with a win. Once again Denver has a extremely powerful ground game featuring Travis Henry who had a strong season last year with the Bills. Travis Henry will be able to blast it up the gut against the Buffalo defence who is missing players like Takeo Spikes and London Fletcher. Jay Cuter will start where he left off last season. Look for a strong mix of pass and run to keep the Buffalo defence off guard all game long. On the defensive side Denver is stacked once again. Champ Bailey, Dre Bly, John Lynch and DJ Williams will shut down the Bills single handily. A strong D-Line and pass protection will get to J.P. Losman. Look for some interceptions and good field position all game long for the Broncos. The Bills have a weak defence like already stated. They lost some key play makers and do not have much of an answer to the run or pass going into this game. This makes them very vulnerable. On the offensive side they have J.P. who is definitely nothing to write home about and will struggle all game long against this picture perfect Blitzing Denver defence. Trying to use the ground game is useless as well due to the loss of Willis Mcgahee. Marshawn Lynch is not ready to be an all star running back for a team that needs one. Look for a lack of offensive yards and 3 or 4 turnovers from the Bills. I?m predicting the Broncos to go into Buffalo and cover the spread of 3 points.
St. Louis Rams pk.
Like a couple years ago St. Louis has a very solid offense. Stephen Jackson has turned into one of the premier running backs in the league. Jackson is able to dominate any defence he takes and make star linebackers look like first year tap dancers with his direction change and east west burst. Marc Bulger has quietly turned into a pretty solid quarterback. With good pocket presence and an ability to find his star receivers Tory Holt, Isaac Bruce, Dante Hall and Drew Bennett. Those four receivers right there are in my mind the top receiving core in the league. St. Louis will have no trouble all game long in the air or on the ground for that matter. Jake Delhomme will need to have a big game after the Panthers signed David Carr to a contract. Delhomme facing a strong blitzing defensive line does not add up. Look for turnovers and hurried attempts all day from the Panthers. I?m going to take the Rams at home straight up Sunday afternoon.
Jacksonville -6
Finally Jack Del Rio has made the right decision. Cut Byron Leftwich. Sure we all loved Byron but when you suck, you suck. The Jags finished last year 10-6...I mean 8-8. The fact was they played some solid football last season and was it not for some late game blowups in the 3rd and 4th quarter they may have made it far in the season. With a solid running attack in Fred Taylor and a team averaging over 5 yards per play last season the Jags are very effective on the offensive side of the ball. Dennis Northcut and Ernest Wilford and Jones-Drew lead the wide outs for the Jags. Look for a solid performance offensively today from the Jags. So Vince Young was a solid quarterback last season. He was all over the place running the ball and throwing miracle passes all game long. Here?s a secret, Travis Henry was in the back field. Now if you actually read everything here you would notice Travis Henry is playing with the Broncos this season. This leaves Tennessee with Chris Brown in the backfield. No not the rapper, Chris Brown the 3rd round 29th overall pick 2 years back. Still don't know him, don't worry you aren?t missing much. Now Jacksonville has to and will bring the blitz almost every down and force Vince Young to scramble and throw passes that you should not throw to receivers who don't usually catch the passes they shouldn?t catch. This spells turnovers and sacks for Jacksonville. Not only will the Jags knock the Totals off balance but the crowd will help along with that as well. Look for a weak offensive and defensive game from a totally different Titans team to open the season Sunday afternoon. Take the Jags to win by a touchdown.
Cleveland +5
Heads or Tails? That is what was on the minds of the Cleveland quarterbacks going into training camp. It wisent losing games or how bad they were last season but it was on a flip of a coin. Charlie Frye called heads and will start Sunday for the Browns. Now your right he sucked last year, but this year the laughing stock of the NFL is allot better. Finally a good offensive line made up of Hank Fraley, Eric Steinbach, and Joe Thomas. These 3 will give what every quarterback and college student needs, protection. With at least 2 seconds in the pocket each throw this year Charlie Frye will be able to make completions to receivers like Joe Jurevicious and Kellen Winslow. The Browns finally have a running back in Jamal Lewis who made the move from Baltimore. His ankle is 100% healed and he is good to go. Pittsburgh has most of their players from last year back but are missing their leader. Coach Cowher is gone which is going to make things different in Steel town. A different system is always tough to get used to in just the pre season and make it work in the first week. I?m going to back the Browns at home plus the five points to get the win over the Steelers and start what I predict to be a 7-9 or 8-8 season for the new and improved Browns.
Philadelphia -2.5
The saying I got his number is never more true then it is with Andy Reid and playing the Packers. Reid is 5-0 in his last 5 games facing the Packers and the Eagles have outscored the Pack by more then 45 points in those games. Philadelphia has a fresh off surgery Donovan Mcnabb who recovered fast because he ate his Campbell?s chunky soup every day....err strong work ethic and training. The Eagles will also have Brian Westbrook in the backfield who will start and rack up a lot of yards this season. Hank Baskett will be the new receiving star in Philly. After some solid outings in the past season and the loss of some key receivers its his time to shine for the Eagles. Now making the change to Green Bay. Brett Farve will make his 2,131 start today for the Packers, as long as he doesn?t break a hip on the way to the stadium he will break Cal Ripken Jr. streak of most games started in a row. Luckily for Brett Farve the Packers are starting Vernand Morency and Brandon Jackson in the back field. Now most of you are thinking, why does that make Brett Farve lucky? Well, people will be too busy trying to think about everyone they went to school with that lives in Wisconsin now with the name Vernand and Brandon because it might be their friends who got picked off the streets to play running back for the Packers. Donald Driver is playing hurt, Greg Jennings is going to have a tough go against the Philly secondary and Bubba Franks is not going to start. Its going to be a long day for the Pack. I?m putting my money on the Eagles minus 2 and a hook.
Week one of the National Football League season is now upon us. Its time for 17 weeks of high paced action with some of the best athletes available to us performing on the biggest stage. Sunday tips off at the usual 1pm time with 9 early games followed by 3 late 4:15pm games and a Sunday night game at 8. Here we go!:00hour
Denver Broncos -3.
The Broncos are going to open the 2007 campaign with a win. Once again Denver has a extremely powerful ground game featuring Travis Henry who had a strong season last year with the Bills. Travis Henry will be able to blast it up the gut against the Buffalo defence who is missing players like Takeo Spikes and London Fletcher. Jay Cuter will start where he left off last season. Look for a strong mix of pass and run to keep the Buffalo defence off guard all game long. On the defensive side Denver is stacked once again. Champ Bailey, Dre Bly, John Lynch and DJ Williams will shut down the Bills single handily. A strong D-Line and pass protection will get to J.P. Losman. Look for some interceptions and good field position all game long for the Broncos. The Bills have a weak defence like already stated. They lost some key play makers and do not have much of an answer to the run or pass going into this game. This makes them very vulnerable. On the offensive side they have J.P. who is definitely nothing to write home about and will struggle all game long against this picture perfect Blitzing Denver defence. Trying to use the ground game is useless as well due to the loss of Willis Mcgahee. Marshawn Lynch is not ready to be an all star running back for a team that needs one. Look for a lack of offensive yards and 3 or 4 turnovers from the Bills. I?m predicting the Broncos to go into Buffalo and cover the spread of 3 points.
St. Louis Rams pk.
Like a couple years ago St. Louis has a very solid offense. Stephen Jackson has turned into one of the premier running backs in the league. Jackson is able to dominate any defence he takes and make star linebackers look like first year tap dancers with his direction change and east west burst. Marc Bulger has quietly turned into a pretty solid quarterback. With good pocket presence and an ability to find his star receivers Tory Holt, Isaac Bruce, Dante Hall and Drew Bennett. Those four receivers right there are in my mind the top receiving core in the league. St. Louis will have no trouble all game long in the air or on the ground for that matter. Jake Delhomme will need to have a big game after the Panthers signed David Carr to a contract. Delhomme facing a strong blitzing defensive line does not add up. Look for turnovers and hurried attempts all day from the Panthers. I?m going to take the Rams at home straight up Sunday afternoon.
Jacksonville -6
Finally Jack Del Rio has made the right decision. Cut Byron Leftwich. Sure we all loved Byron but when you suck, you suck. The Jags finished last year 10-6...I mean 8-8. The fact was they played some solid football last season and was it not for some late game blowups in the 3rd and 4th quarter they may have made it far in the season. With a solid running attack in Fred Taylor and a team averaging over 5 yards per play last season the Jags are very effective on the offensive side of the ball. Dennis Northcut and Ernest Wilford and Jones-Drew lead the wide outs for the Jags. Look for a solid performance offensively today from the Jags. So Vince Young was a solid quarterback last season. He was all over the place running the ball and throwing miracle passes all game long. Here?s a secret, Travis Henry was in the back field. Now if you actually read everything here you would notice Travis Henry is playing with the Broncos this season. This leaves Tennessee with Chris Brown in the backfield. No not the rapper, Chris Brown the 3rd round 29th overall pick 2 years back. Still don't know him, don't worry you aren?t missing much. Now Jacksonville has to and will bring the blitz almost every down and force Vince Young to scramble and throw passes that you should not throw to receivers who don't usually catch the passes they shouldn?t catch. This spells turnovers and sacks for Jacksonville. Not only will the Jags knock the Totals off balance but the crowd will help along with that as well. Look for a weak offensive and defensive game from a totally different Titans team to open the season Sunday afternoon. Take the Jags to win by a touchdown.
Cleveland +5
Heads or Tails? That is what was on the minds of the Cleveland quarterbacks going into training camp. It wisent losing games or how bad they were last season but it was on a flip of a coin. Charlie Frye called heads and will start Sunday for the Browns. Now your right he sucked last year, but this year the laughing stock of the NFL is allot better. Finally a good offensive line made up of Hank Fraley, Eric Steinbach, and Joe Thomas. These 3 will give what every quarterback and college student needs, protection. With at least 2 seconds in the pocket each throw this year Charlie Frye will be able to make completions to receivers like Joe Jurevicious and Kellen Winslow. The Browns finally have a running back in Jamal Lewis who made the move from Baltimore. His ankle is 100% healed and he is good to go. Pittsburgh has most of their players from last year back but are missing their leader. Coach Cowher is gone which is going to make things different in Steel town. A different system is always tough to get used to in just the pre season and make it work in the first week. I?m going to back the Browns at home plus the five points to get the win over the Steelers and start what I predict to be a 7-9 or 8-8 season for the new and improved Browns.
Philadelphia -2.5
The saying I got his number is never more true then it is with Andy Reid and playing the Packers. Reid is 5-0 in his last 5 games facing the Packers and the Eagles have outscored the Pack by more then 45 points in those games. Philadelphia has a fresh off surgery Donovan Mcnabb who recovered fast because he ate his Campbell?s chunky soup every day....err strong work ethic and training. The Eagles will also have Brian Westbrook in the backfield who will start and rack up a lot of yards this season. Hank Baskett will be the new receiving star in Philly. After some solid outings in the past season and the loss of some key receivers its his time to shine for the Eagles. Now making the change to Green Bay. Brett Farve will make his 2,131 start today for the Packers, as long as he doesn?t break a hip on the way to the stadium he will break Cal Ripken Jr. streak of most games started in a row. Luckily for Brett Farve the Packers are starting Vernand Morency and Brandon Jackson in the back field. Now most of you are thinking, why does that make Brett Farve lucky? Well, people will be too busy trying to think about everyone they went to school with that lives in Wisconsin now with the name Vernand and Brandon because it might be their friends who got picked off the streets to play running back for the Packers. Donald Driver is playing hurt, Greg Jennings is going to have a tough go against the Philly secondary and Bubba Franks is not going to start. Its going to be a long day for the Pack. I?m putting my money on the Eagles minus 2 and a hook.
~Think Smart, Bet Sharp
