NFL Pick 'Em Week 3

No change in the standings after week two since we both picked the same five. No worries, we're making sure there's no repeat of that mess. On to week 3...

Miami at San Diego

Derek - San Diego. Again I’m picking against my fav team, but again they are traveling across the country to play one of the better teams in the AFC. I expect the Dolphins to struggle on offense this year and REALLY struggle against a tough running D in San Diego. That plus Rivers can through and the fins have a young defensive backfield.

Loren -San Diego. Too much ground game from the Chargers, too much defense, and too many time zones for Miami to hang in this one.

San Francisco at Minnesota

Derek - San Francisco. Crazy? Maybe but the Niners are playing well and can control the ball, which means they can keep the ball away from Mr. Peterson, which means Mr. Favvvree will need to throw it. I can’t wait to see 3 INTs next to his misspelled name.

Loren - Minnesota. Yes, Derekis crazy. He's letting his dislike of Favre cloud his judgement. Minnesota grounds the SF defense down and wins it going away.

Atlanta at New England

Derek - Atlanta. New England is not looking like the dominate team they are supposed to be. Brady is not back, the Defense is not there and Welker might not play. I’ll give it to the young high scoring Falcons, who have one of the best balanced O’s in the game.

Loren - New England. Not feeling great abou this pick, but I think it's about time the offense got in rhythm. Playing at NE gives them the edge.

Tennessee at NY Jets

Derek - NY Jets. One team is playing better than expected one team is playing worse than expected. I’m thinking the Rex Ryan’s D is going to have a field day on a suddenly old Collins and will score one TD and set up another.

Loren - Tennessee. Sanchez hasn't seen a D like the Titans' yet, and by the end of the day he'll wish he never had. Too much pressure will make him look like the rookie he is. Hey, it happens to the best of them.

Carolina at Dallas

Derek - Dallas. This time Dallas will get their first home win in their new stadium. Carolina is having problems all over the place and I expect the Dallas D to take over this game Romo will make one great play and that will be enough.

Loren - Dallas. Can't get behind the Panthers until they put a whole game together. Plus Dallas will be eager to avenge the opening loss in their new stadium.

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Giving back, literally

This morning reports came out that Tony Seminary, a disgruntaled Duck fan who attened the Boise State game had recieved a check from Coach Chip Kelly for $439 as a refund for attending the game.

Mr. Seminary had written and email to Kelly after the game stating how angrey he was and included and invoice. According to ESPN.com Kelly send a reply asking for his address. A few days later Mr. Seminary recieved this in the mail.

Good on Chip Kelly, just hope he does not set a precendent otherswise other coaches are going to be really ticked off.

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NFL Pick 'Em Week 2

Well I finally have something to brag about in this competition after having a perfect week 1 and taking a 5-3 lead. Something tells me it won't last. On to week 2.

Carolina @ Atlanta

Loren - Atlanta. I still think Carolina is dangerous but they are certainly in disarray. Delhomme wans to get some confidence back. Unfortunately, he needs help from his backs and that's not going to fly in Atlanta. Likely still a high scoring game, but only on one side.

Derek - Atlanta. Wow did you see how bad Jake Delhomme played last week? Me too. Say he plays only half that bad…yeah the Falcons will still win. If Atlanta can stop the run they will win easy, and it should be easy to stop the run since Delhomme would be passing it.

Houston @Tennessee

Loren - Tennessee. I saw a different Houston team last week than Derek did. Tennessee's D is going to absolutely stuff Houston unless Schaub gets some big play to open up the inside. Tennessee easy in this one.

Derek - Tennessee. I think this game will be close really close. Houston is becoming a solid team. That being said Tennessee is already a very solid team and should be able to control Slaton now that Johnson is out. Tennessee will win by a score.

New Orleans @ Philadelphia

Loren - New Orleans. Philly's O won't be strong enough to stay on the field, and that will be the most important factor in this game. They'll give the Saints arsenal too many chances.

Derek - New Orleans. Philly has a good D but not as good in past years. McNabb is out and normally the back ups play well. Look for Westbrook to have a monster day but not enough to beat Brees who will test out the Eagles DB’s all game long.

Baltimore @ San Diego

Loren - Baltimore. I'm inclined to agree with Derek. I'm also befuddled by Phillip Rivers. I had expected him to prove he can put this team on his back when needed but he has been very inconsistent. Flacco seems to be getting better every week and the Ravens D is stout. Should be a great game.

Derek - Baltimore. Normally I don’t pick the team traveling across the country, this time though I have to go with my gut. No LT for a team who struggled to score against Oakland, I don’t see the Chargers putting up tons of points against the Ravens D. Low scores mean Ravens victory.

NY Giants @ Dallas

Loren - Dallas. I'm only taking them because it's in Dallas, but I don't feel great about it. Seems everyone has written off NY but I believe they are still a force to be reckoned with and a legit contender. Still, Dallas at home.

Derek -Dallas. This should be quite the game. I don’t really have much to go on but NY’s D seems bendable to me and Dallas has the components to break it. Plus it’s in Dallas and the damn screen might fall on a Giant.

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Annual NFL Pick 'Em Throw Down - 2009 Edition

Hey folks.

Obviously I've been away from the blog for a while, but with some personal stuff out of the way and headed into the NFL and College FB (and soon NBA) seasons, it's time to get back on the horse and share my own brand of sports insanity with you.

To start us off, let's do the first edition of our annual NFL pick 'em contest. No easy start for us, we get right into the tough games. Meaning, of course, we'll probably both go 0 and 5...

My picks follow and I'll update with Derek's soon.

Jacksonville @ Indy

Loren - Indy
My gut says this is likely to be another close, painful game for both sides. These teams really don't like each other and the hits come hard and fast. That said, Indy has had the talent to outplay the Jags and pull out the win more often than not. What scares me here is a potential for Indy to start slow and the Jags to play with something to prove.

Derek – Indy

It’s been hard over the last few years to pick against them. The Jags always play the Colts tough but seem to come up short most of the time. Peyton will show that he is already in midseason form and will lead the home team to victory.

Philly @ Carolina

Loren - Philly

Taking the road team here not because I believe Philly is all that, but because Carolina definitely has more potential to tank than the Eagles do. Don't get me wrong, Carolina could easily have a 12 win superbowl appearance type season, but they could just as easily have a 6 win disappointment type season, too. The Eagles are the safe pick here.


Derek – Carolina

This game could go wither way, both play great D but Philly’s defensive backs are worse this year than last and I think that will open up the passing game enough for the Panthers to control the time of passion resulting in a W.

Chicago @ Green Bay

Loren - Green Bay

The Pack looked good in pre-season, whatever that's worth. But they appear to be a stable team looking to improve upon last season while the Bears are breaking in a new QB, have an underperforming WR corps, and a sophomore RB who won't be catching anyone off guard this year. Chicago's D is better than Green Bay's, but not by as much as you think.

Derek – Chicago
The Bears new QB will have nice weather in GB to throw and Chicago will stop Rodgers in his tracks. I say the Bears D scores a TD and they win by double digits getting the NFC North division off on the right track.

Dallas @ Tampa Bay

Loren - Dallas
It's not time for the Cowboys to crumble under the pressure. We'll have to wait until about week 9. Even so, they are likely a playoff team (with a first round exit). Not a hard call here.


Derek - Dallas

I have to agree with Loren, Dallas starts out well and then fades. They will be a trending pick halfway through the season but will melt down towards the end. That being said Tampa Bay could be in for a long long season, it’s gong to be tough to score points for them.

Miami @ Atlanta

Loren - Atlanta

The Falcons didn't lose much in the off season but did get an (aged) upgrade at TE to help make sure Matt Ryan doesn't have a sophomore slump. But looking at Miami's schedule, you have to think they believe this is their best shot for a win in their first three brutal games (@Atlanta, Indy, @Sand Diego). I expect them to pull out all the stops, trick plays and all, to stay in this game. I also expect that it won't be enough.

Derek – Atlanta
Miami is my team but I have a feeling that this year is going to be rough, if this game was in Miami I would pick them, but it’s inside and I don’t see the Fins DB’s holding their own against Ryan.

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Celebrating Roofball

Last night I was able to attend two Roofball events. First KPTV came to RFA headquarters to film a feature on the game that will air Sunday 9.13 at 11:00 during the sports segment.

After the camera crew left we headed inside for the RFA decade awards to celebrate the first 10 years of Roofball history. In all 17 awards were bestowed on a few select individuals who over the years have had a great influence on the game. The biggest winner of the night was Dan O’Reilly, who recently appeared on Portland Men on Sports, who not only took home a Builder award but also received the Roofball Player of the Decade Award.

All in all it was another great event for Roofball.

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s'ok dunk

I gotta to admit this dunk ranks up there.

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WTF

I was hoping the first update to the blog in almost two months would be a happier one. I had planned on writing about the first Ducks game of the season win or lose, and unfortunately it was a loss. Boise State won 19-8, yes a game that should have been in the 30's for both teams ended up with more turnovers than offensive scores. But the worst part of the game was not the final score it was the boneheaded sucker punch by LeGarrette Blount after the game.

Blount was being yelled at by a BSU defensive player Byron Hout after the game, BSU coach Chris Peterson was attempting to restrain Hout and while his head was turned Blount sucker punched him with a straight right. You can read all about this on all other sports sites I'm sure. So I'll stop with the details. After seeing this three things hit me.

1. Anger. Blount should be kicked off the team. No suspension, no apology, just the door. There is no room for that at any level of sports, let alone life.
2. Shame, I feel shame for being a Ducks fan. This is not the type of thing Ducks football, athletics or the University should be known for. I literally feel it in the pit of my stomach.
3. Respect. Respect for Chris Peterson, not only was he riding his guy for making an ass out of himself, after the game he had not ill will towards Oregon or Blount, just the following quote.

"You know, just emotions getting the best of players, and you know, it was a hard fought game, really proud of our defense," Petersen said. "Typical first game, lot of sloppy football, but I thought our defense rose to the occasion and played great."

He went right from a statement back to the game. Good for you Peterson.

That being said...
Give credit to BSU they outplayed the Ducks. The Ducks looked more like Idaho than an Oregon team that was supposed to score well in to the 40's this year. Zero first downs at half is pathetic. You can chalk it up to a terrible showing by the offensive line. The entire spread option attack is predicated on blocking and without that a team will not get anything out of the running game and it will put undue pressure on the passing game.

During our last show I picked the Ducks to be the second best team in the Pac-10, I did say at the time it would come down to the lines, both with almost all new inexperienced players. So far the lines look dismal.

P.S. Can the Ducks DB's stop giving five yards of spacing to all receivers?

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