Betting Football: Week 2 Picks

Well, our first week of picking football bets went almost as good as our straight up picks–we both hit two, and missed two.  Do I get bonus points for hitting on the “Upset” of the week? Spreads again coming from Vegas Locks.

Andy

New York Jets (-9.5) vs Jacksonville – I’m going to guess that Luke McCown isn’t going to go to New York and shock the world. The Jaguars will struggle to run the ball this week against the Jets and McCown doesn’t have the weapons or the talent to exploit Revis-Island. This line has actually gotten closer since the beginning of the week. All the easier to take New York. This game will be a blowout.

Pittsburgh (-14) vs Seattle – Pittsburgh got destroyed last week but this is a proud team playing at home. Seattle got destroyed last week and it is a sign of things to come. The Seahawks lack skill at the skill positions and mental toughness at the quarterback spot. The Steelers will get ahead early and pound away at Seattle, easily avenging their week one loss and covering the abnormally large spread possibly by the end of the first quarter. Tarvaris Jackson might regret signing with the Seahawks by halftime.

Houston (-3) at Miami – The Dolphins were supposed to have a solid defense, but they got shredded by Tom Brady to the tune of 517 yards passing. Matt Schaub won’t duplicate that number but he will have his way with Miami in a comfortable win on the road.

Upset of the week:

Indianapolis (+2.5 spread/+110 money line) vs Cleveland – I wasn’t really going to consider this enough of an upset to use it as my pick, but then I saw the Colts are +110 on the money line. Bettors have really lost faith in Indianapolis, who admittedly looked terrible against Houston last week. But the Colts are not devoid of talent. Kerry Collins is an old-but-serviceable quarterback with plenty of offensive weapons on whom he can rely. As he gets more comfortable with the system, the team will at lest be more competitive. Cleveland, meanwhile, has not done enough to this point (losing at home to Cincinnati = same old Browns) to warrant being a road favorite over a team like Indianapolis. I’m a little bit worried that the Browns might be able to pound the Colts into submission with Peyton Hillis. And if they do, then I might start to believe the folks putting Indy in the Andrew Luck sweepstakes. But until then, I’ll rely on Cleveland’s long, illustrious history of finding ways to lose and I’ll bet the Colts, not just to cover the 2.5 but to win straight up.

Tony

New England (-7) vs. San Diego – San Diego didn’t look great against the Vikings, who themselves didn’t look that good. A lot of Charger fans want to claim that the team is finally shedding it’s slow start ways–I disagree, I think they just met an opponent last week that is off to an even slower start. This week, they have to travel east (a move that tends to kill west coast teams), and they have to face a team that last week put up almost 500 more yards than the Vikings put up against them.

New Orleans (-6.5) vs. Chicago – Chicago’s win against the Falcons was impressive, but let’s not give them too much credit–the defense still can’t be counted on to win every week for them. While Cutler put up 300+ yards, the running game was still not impressive, and he also turned the ball over. Meanwhile, the Saints offense was firing on all cylinders against the Packers–in the end, the defense couldn’t keep them in the game, but the Packers offense is a few steps above the Bears.

Green Bay @ Carolina: Over 46.5 points

I was tempted to pick Green Bay (-10), but Cam Newton’s week 1 performance impressed me. Not to the point where I think they’ll win, but at least to the point where it might be closer than most would think. Especially at Carolina, and especially if the Panthers can get DeAngelo Williams and/or Jonathan Stewart involved.

Upset of the week:

Tampa Bay (+3 spread/+130 money line) @ Minnesota – As much as it pains me to bet against my Vikings, I saw nothing in their week 1 performance that makes me think they should be favored in this game–even if it is the phantom 3 points for being at home advantage. I wouldn’t mind getting this one wrong, but even if I was in Vegas, I’d probably be putting something on the Bucs to win outright. Worst case, I’d at least get something out of watching another frustrating game for the purple.

Does the Hall of Fame Really Exist?

I somehow just stumbled across a new (to me) sports related site (Grantland.com) that is somehow tied to The Sports Guy (my 3+ year ESPN embargo may have had something to do with my not hearing of it sooner).

In checking out some parts of the site, I saw a name that is somewhat familiar to me, Chuck Klosterman. Now, I readily admit that I don’t really know why I’ve heard the name–something makes me think it has something to do with the time I used to spend as a commentor at RandBall. But that really isn’t a part of the story.

In looking at Klosterman’s recent articles, I saw that he recently posted an article about the Hall of Fame induction–and I found the article to be a somewhat interesting read, and was wondering what our audience of regular Hall of Fame commenters would have to say about it.

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Fred Taylor: Canton Bound?

Just read the news that Fred Taylor will be retiring as a Jacksonville Jaguar on Friday, and figured (especially after an amusing couple minutes of conversation at a draft last night during which a neighbor of mine tried to convince me that Fred Jackson would be voted into the Hall of Fame–took a couple minutes to figure out he meant Taylor) that it’s worth putting the question out to the experts on our site.

The numbers:

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Hall of Fame Names 2012 Senior Nominees

Two players from the NFL’s All-Decade team for the 1950’s have been named the two senior finalists for enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a part of the 2012 class.

Cornerback Jack Butler was an undrafted free agent that signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1951-1959, earning Pro Bowl honors from 1956-59 ad being named first-team All-NFL in the final three seasons of his career.  He recorded 52 interceptions in nine seasons with the Steelers, including a career high 10 during the 1957 season. He retired after suffering a knee injury in 1959. This is his first nomination as a senior candidate for the hall.

Guard Dick Stanfel was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the second round (19th overall) in the 1951 NFL Draft, which to date has produced four Hall of Fame players (Bill George, Mike McCormack, Jack Christiansen, and Andy Robustelli) and one Hall of Fame coach (Don Shula) from it’s 30 rounds.  Stanfel won two NFL Championships with the Lions in 1952 and 1953, and was chosen as the team’s most valuable player in 1954, before being traded to the Washington Redskins in 1956. He retired following the 1958 season, having earned Pro Bowl honors in all three of his seasons with the Redskins to go along with his two Pro Bowl seasons in 1953 and 1955. He was also named first-team All-NFL four times in his career, twice with the Lions and twice with the Redskins.

Stanfel was the offensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints, and was named interim head coach for the final four games in 1980, going 1-3 in preventing the Saints from having the first ever 0-16 season. He was then an offensive line coach for the Chicago Bears from 1981 to 1992, including their Super Bowl win 1986. He was named a senior nominee previously in 1993.

Butler & Stanfel were chosen as the senior nominees from a list of finalists that according to commenter Boardgame included Ken Anderson, Maxie Baughan, Cliff Branch, Roger Brown, Butler, Curly Culp, Mike Curtis, Ray Guy, Cliff Harris, Lester Hayes, Chuck Howley, Claude Humphrey, Alex Karras, Jerry Kramer, Bob Keuchenberg, Eddie Meador, Tommy Nobis, Dave Robinson and Johnny Robinson.

So what say you, Zoneblitz nation–are Butler & Stanfel worthy nominees? Others from the list of finalists that made more sense? Surprise omissions from the finalists (looking at you, Mick Tingelhoff)?  Let us know in the comments.

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Pro Football Hall of Fame Names Class of 2011

As I’m sure most of you have seen or heard, the Hall of Fame officially announced the Class of 2011 tonight.  Making the final cut were:

DB Deion Sanders
RB Marshall Faulk
Contributor Ed Sabol
DE Richard Dent
TE Shannon Sharpe
LB Chris Hanburger (Senior Candidate)
LB Les Richter (Senior Candidate)

So our thoughts on the class?

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