Tony was the winner last week, hitting three of four picks, including an improbable over 38 on the Vikings/Jaguars game. Both of us fell victim to believing in the Buffalo Bills, a mistake nobody should make in this day and age. I was also unsuccessful in picking Detroit and Jacksonville for a 1-3 week. Better luck next time.
Year-to-date standings: Tony 3-1, Andy 1-3
Here goes for week two… (more…)
Looking back at 2011, both Andy and I had pretty solid seasons picking games straight up–Andy edged me slightly at the end of the year, with an 11-5 record in Week 17 to my 9-7, putting him at 171-85 for the year (67%) to my 167-88 (65.5%). But while we were alright at picking games, we’ve got to keep pushing ourselves–so we’re adding celebrity team blogger to the picks each week. This week Neal Coolong (@NealCoolong), editor with Behind the Steel Curtain, was kind enough to join us.
Neither of us put any fear into the “betting experts” last year when we started doing our “Best Bets.” But we had a good time doing them. So we’re bringing them back for another year.
There’s not a whole lot of science that goes into our picks. We look things over, ponder what we know and have read, and try to find a couple pointspreads that look off. As I learn every time I try to bet against the spreads, those are hard to find. Vegas generally does an amazing job figuring out how these games are going to go.
Nonetheless, here are our thoughts on the best bets for the opening week of the 2012 NFL football season. Take these for what they’re worth – virtually nothing. (more…)
In 1992, the Green Bay Packers finished 9-7, completing a 20-year stretch in which they made the playoffs one time (strike shortened 1982, when they finished 5-3-1) and only finished above .500 three times. But in a surprise move the next offseason, they landed the top free agent on the market in the first year of true free agency, defensive end Reggie White, signing him to a then-record 4-year, $17 million deal.
The next season the Packers still finished just 9-7. But thy made the playoffs for the first time in a non-strike year since 1972, starting a string of six consecutive seasons (White’s entire run with the team) and 15 of 19 years in which they would make playoff appearances — a stretch capped by two Super Bowl wins and a third appearance in the big game.
White wasn’t the only catalyst for the run (a certain guy named Favre began his long consecutive games started streak during the third game of the 1992 season). But his signing has generally been credited with being a reason that other free agents would be willing to consider moving to a team that has the smallest media market in the NFL. And the infusion of talent led to success, which has led to more free agents along the way.
Fast forward 20 years, and the Buffalo Bills may be trying to make the same kind of splash with free agent defensive end Mario Williams. The Bills are coming off a 6-10 season where they started strong at 5-2, before losing eight of their last nine games, the seventh straight sub-.500 record and 12th straight season with no playoff appearances. (more…)
Buoyed by predicting a Giants’ upset over Green Bay, Tony finished 3-1 in predicting the divisional round of the NFL playoffs, which gave him a 5-3 overall record in the postseason. I didn’t see the Giants’ win coming, so I split. That puts me at a pathetic 3-5 in the playoffs.
So with that as context, here are our picks for Championship Sunday. (more…)
Loading ...
If only if Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft had been elected then we wouldn’t be having this discussion
Paul we’ll just see what happens and if changes are made which I hope there are
My guess is that Bill goes in before Kraft as it was Bill's omission that really generated the negative press…
I wouldn’t have a problem if Robert Kraft went in with Rob Gronkowski next year and Bill Belichick went in…
I want to apologize for all my complaining you don’t know what it’s like living with autism