So of course, after a season that saw me pick games at a clip of at least 10 total games worse than the other guys, who manages to go 4-0 in the wildcard round of the playoffs? My score predictions maybe weren’t the greatest — but I even managed to get the one I wanted to get wrong right.
This week has some even more compelling games that I probably won’t watch:
Tony T.: (more…)
Tony Gonzalez, Ed Reed and Champ Bailey headlined the announcement of the 15 finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2019 Thursday night. The list was culled down from a list of 25 semifinalists, named in November.
Joining the trio on the list of finalists are wide receiver Isaac Bruce, running back Edgerrin James, defensive backs Steve Atwater, Ty Law and John Lynch, offensive linemen Tony Boselli, Kevin Mawae, Alan Faneca and Steve Hutchinson, defensive lineman Richard Seymour, and coaches Don Coryell and Tom Flores.
The selection as a finalist marks Hutchinson and Atwater’s second time making the cut (Atwater was first a finalist in 2016, Hutchinson last year), the third time for Boselli, Bruce, James, Law and Mawae, the fourth time for Faneca, and the sixth time for Lynch. Flores and Seymour are first time finalists.
Among those not making the cut were coach Jimmy Johnson, receivers Hines Ward and Torry Holt, linebacker Clay Matthews. Two finalists from the 2018 class, Everson Walls and Joe Jacoby (who was a three time finalist) ran out of modern era eligibility, and now must wait for a possible seniors nomination.
The fifteen finalists will be cut to 10, and then cut to five before being placed up for a final yes/no vote, along with contributors Pat Bowlen and Gil Brandt and Senior Nominee Johnny Robinson on Saturday, February 2, the day before the Super Bowl.
We realized that we never actually put up an official post this year with our prediction in it, and that a fair number of our regular commentors have already listed their guesses on our thread about Robinson’s nomination–but this year, we’ve put together the form below to submit your choices below, and if a enough people submit guesses, we may come up with some sort of prize (and even if not, we’ll post some sort of adulation to the submission with the most correct).
And for the record, my guess this year would be Faneca, Gonzalez, Lynch, Reed and Coryell, with a yes to Bowlen, Brandt and Robinson.
I haven’t gone back to look at last week yet, but if it’s anything like my Alternative Picks, I probably am a bit closer to getting a concerned call from my fictional buddy Guido…
Tony:
$1,000 – New Orleans (-7.5, +105) vs Philadelphia – The Eagles are struggling mightily this year, and the Saints aren’t. If this was in Philly, I’d be hesitant on this one–but in New Orleans, I’m loving the +105 payout.
$1,000 – Atlanta (-3.5, -107) vs Dallas – A matchup of two teams that always seem to lose when appear to possibly have figured something out, only to win when they appear to have drizzled it down their leg. With the Cowboys coming off a big divisional win, and the Falcons at home after an embarrassing loss to the Browns (not because it was the Browns–because they were never in the game), I’m surprirsed this line has moved towards the middle from 4.5.
$1,000 – Pittsburgh at Jacksonville: Over 47 (-105) – A lot of weeks I don’t like any of the totals–this week, there’s three I like–this one, the Chargers/Broncos over 46.5, and the Vikings/Bears over 44. I’ll take what seems like the safest bet–look for the Steelers to jump out early, and the Jaguars to score some garbage points late. Which of course means if you’re in Vegas, the prop bet is the Jags score first and build up a 20+ point lead…
$750 – Cincinnati (+245 money line) over Baltimore – Yes, this game is in Baltimore. But it’s Lamar Jackson’s first NFL start. And there’s a chance that RG3 will see some action. I legit can’t figure out how the moneyline has moved towards the Ravens even more.
Andy:
$1,000 – Carolina (-4, -115) at Detroit – The Lions have quit.
$1,000 – Houston (-3, -117) at Washington – Relying heavily on road teams again, but the Texans are for real and Washington is imploding.
$800 – Arizona (-5, -110) vs Oakland – The Raiders have become this year’s joke team.
$500 – Cincinnati (+245 money line) at Baltimore – So, maybe not really that much of an upset, but the Ravens are favored by a TD. Really? Bengals win outright.
In 2017, it took Andy weeks to get a win in our Alternative Picks contest–in 2018, thanks to the Steelers, he got his first win in week 1–although much like the Browns breaking their losing streak, it’s more of not a loss than it is a win, since he only managed to go 8-7-1. Neither of us picked particularly well, but we’ll try to improve week 2.
| Week 1 | Andy 8-7-1 |
| Season total | Andy 8-7-1 |
1) Tony: Rams over Cardinals – Kind of weird getting to choose whether to go first or second and third…but as bad as the Bills are, I’m not excited about the Chargers traveling east, so I’ll grab the one game I feel the best about.
2) Andy: Chargers over Bills
3) Andy: Saints over Browns
4) Tony: Broncos over Raiders – Andy called this a ballsy pick this early–frankly, this week they all are. But I like Denver at home, and trust in Jon Gruden’s ability to coach like it’s 2002.
5) Andy: Redskins over Colts
6) Tony: Eagles over Buccaneers – The Bucs won big in week 1–if they can beat the Eagles, will I be A) impressed, B) happy, or C) surprised? The answer is D), All of the Above.
7) Andy: 49ers over Lions
8) Tony: Steelers over Chiefs – No idea here, but I can’t see the Steelers losing at home. Unless Ben Roethlisberger is hurt worse than anyone knows, then all bets are off.
9) Andy: Patriots over Jaguars
10) Tony: Bengals over Ravens – I think this one comes down to which running back can grind more clock, and I like Mixon here better than Collins.
11) Andy: Vikings over Packers
12) Tony: Texans over Titans – Neither team looked that good in week 1, but I trust the Texans to rebound more than the Titans.
13) Andy: Seahawks over Bears
14) Tony: Giants over Cowboys – On ESPN this morning, they speculated that the loser of this game loses the division. Not sure that winning this game proves much, though.
15) Andy: Jets over Dolphins
16) Tony: Panthers over Falcons – Definition of a toss up game. I took the Panthers because…the coin landed on heads.
Straight up, our picks look like:
| Andy | Tony |
| Rams | Rams |
| Chargers | Chargers |
| Saints | Saints |
| Raiders | Broncos |
| Redskins | Redskins |
| Eagles | Eagles |
| 49ers | 49ers |
| Chiefs | Steelers |
| Patriots | Patriots |
| Bengals | Bengals |
| Vikings | Vikings |
| Texans | Texans |
| Seahawks | Seahawks |
| Giants | Giants |
| Jets | Jets |
| Falcons | Panthers |
With the real NFL kickoff just hours away (no one really cares about the Thursday night game, right? Especially when it’s a bird brawl with a team with a bunch of redneck, hick fans facing off against the Atlanta Falcons?), it’s time to bring back our ever popular present series from last year, the alternative pick series, where Andy and I choose the week’s slate of games, with $1 on the line per game.
Last year it wasn’t pretty…I’m not sure we ever actually updated the final standings, but with an even split in week 17, I managed to finish the season with a 141-111 split…ignoring that somehow our math by season’s end apparently caused us to miss 4 games.
We actually picked these games on Thursday, but haven’t had a chance to post yet:
16: Andy: Ravens over Bills
15: Tony: Saints over Bucs – The Bucs didn’t look that great last year, and are missing Jameis Winston for three games, and starting Peyton Barber at RB…despite the fact that I need him to produce in several fantasy leagues, I’m not optimistic.
14: Tony: Rams over Raiders – My favorite tweet after the Khalil Mack trade: Everyone else is playing chess while Jon Gruden is playing Go Fish. Sums up what I expect of the Raiders this year. Good luck in Vegas.
13: Andy: Lions over Jets
12: Tony: Jaguars over Giants – The Giants picked up the darling of fantasy fanatics in Saquon Barkley. Wonder how many tackles he’ll have today?
11: Andy: Packers over Bears
10: Tony: Panthers over Cowboys – I’m not expecting the Norv Turner/Cam Newton experiment to yield huge riches, but with a banged up offensive line and an overrated quarterback of their own, I think the Cowboys struggle this year.
9: Andy: New England over Houston
8: Tony: Titans over Dolphins – The Dolphins return Ryan Tannehill as starting quarterback…and start preparing for 2019.
7: Andy: Pittsburgh over Cleveland
6: Tony: Chargers over Chiefs – I think this game will end up being decided by the Chargers high octane offense and the Chiefs putrid defense, rather than Andy Reid’s chronic mismanagement of his offensive weapons. That won’t cost them a game until at least week 2.
5: Andy: Denver over Seattle
4: Tony: Bengals over Colts – Andrew Luck sees his first game action since 2016, and somehow, the offensive talent around him is even worse? At least they finally seem to be focused on building an OL for him…but will he survive to 2019 to see it pay off?
3: Andy: Vikings over 49ers
2: Tony: Falcons over Eagles – I was so sure of this one…if only Matt Ryan could connect with Julio Jones where it matters.
1: Andy: Cardinals over Redskins
In our straight up picks, Andy and I both finished 10-6 in week 17 of 2017, giving me a 169-87 record to end the season (at least the math works there), and Andy finished 153-103.
We both pretty much agreed on the slate of picks above, although just to make things a little interesting, I decided to go with the Seahawks over the Broncos.
| Andy’s picks | Tony’s picks |
| Baltimore | Baltimore |
| New Orleans | New Orleans |
| LA Rams | LA Rams |
| Detroit | Detroit |
| Jacksonville | Jacksonville |
| Green Bay | Green Bay |
| Carolina | Carolina |
| New England | New England |
| Tennessee | Tennessee |
| Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh |
| LA Chargers | LA Chargers |
| Denver | Seattle |
| Cincinnati | Cincinnati |
| Minnesota | Minnesota |
| Atlanta | Atlanta |
| Arizona | Arizona |
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