NFL Week 4 picks

Another bad week for both Loren and I. I had a terrible 1-5 record and Loren was able to pull one ahead by going 2-4. Right now Loren leads with an 8-10 record and I'm sitting at 7-11.

 

Green Bay at Chicago

Derek - Green Bay. The Pack have to turn it around here soon. There O is just too good to be playing this poorly. The bears have been good and bad and I expect a good game.

Loren - Chicago. Yeah, the Bears are up and down. I give them the edge at home.

 

Tennessee at Indianapolis

Derek - Indianapolis. Tennessee ain't that good. I'll give this one to the Colts. Their offense is rolling and Luck should have another big game.

Loren - Indianapolis. Who would have thought this could be an important early season match up? Indy at home, big, to stake a claim.

 

Carolina at Baltimore

Derek - Baltimore. Not sure why I'm picking the Ravens here but They seem like a team that's not going to fall apart and be part of the convo for the playoffs. I see a hard fought win.

Loren - Carolina. Big game for both teams. Gut says Carolina is playing with a chip on their shoulder. Could be surprisingly good.

 

Atlanta at Minnesota

Derek - Atlanta. The Falcons have had a couple of extra days off and are brimming with confidence. The Vikings have nothing going for them expect you get to see their rookie QB earlier than expected.

Loren - Atlanta. Too bad the Bridgewater era opens with a firm home loss.

 

Philadelphia at San Francisco

Derek - San Francisco. If this was anywhere but SF I'd take Philly. But they've been living on the edge and I don't see a 1-3 start for the 49ers.

Loren - San Francisco. This is probably the closest call this week. But Philly has been playing behind. A good team will eventually make you pay.

 

New Orleans at Dallas

Derek - New Orleans. Nothing like curing your road woes then playing the Cowboys D.

Loren - New Orleans. Nothing like a Dallas home loss to cheer me up.

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Week 3 NFL Picks

Bad week for both Loren and I. Loren got one game right but I couldn't gain much ground as I got 2 correct. But this does bring me to a tie. Both of us have 6-6 records.

San Diego at Buffalo
Derek - Buffalo. Classic west coast team traveling to the east coast. I think you could make an easy living picking these games stright up. I'm still not sold on Buffalo but I think they're a good defensive team who can control the ball.
Loren – San Diego. Ah, the early part of the season when you have no clue what you’ll get from certain teams. Are the Chargers the team that resoundingly beat the Seahawks last week or the team that couldn’t get anything going against the Cardinals in week 1? Is that one point loss to the Cardinals more impressive now that the Cardinals are now 2-0 with an east coast win? How strong are Buffalo’s wins? For me, I see San Diego as a veteran team less likely to make mistakes, and the Bills have to come back to earth at some point. The Chargers can take advantage of a team that might be suffering from early season inflated hopes.

Green Bay at Detroit
Derek - Green Bay. I think Green Bay just ahs the better team all around but this could go either way...first one to 40?
Loren – Green Bay. Flip a coin and hope for a barn burner.

San Francisco at Arizona
Derek - San Francisco. Who's the starting QB for Arizona? If Vernon Davis is healthy this could be a double digit win. The 49ers D hasn't dropped off as some thought. I'll stick with them...for now.
Loren – San Francisco. Yeah, the Bears made the Niners look silly for a quarter. The Niners were fairly in control up to that point, though, and a bad quarter does not make a season. They’re still a more dynamic team than the Cardinals, even if their defense may have lost some potency.

Denver at Seattle
Derek - Seattle. Forget the Super Bowl, forget the Seahawks D and the Broncos O. This is the best home field advantage in the NFL and the crowd will get to see the home team win another.
Loren – Seattle. Wow, this really pains me. I’d like to think the Broncos learned their lessons about crowd noise and preparation. I’d like to think the Broncos are a stronger team since the last meeting. I’d like to think that Seattle’s going to be full of doubt after being embarrassed by San Diego. What I really think is that Manning won’t be able to audible effectively and they’ll have trouble running consistently. Meantime, Seattle’s going to be looking to bounce back and they just happen to be at home and playing a team they know they can beat. Prove me wrong, Broncos.

Kansas City at Miami
Derek - Miami. Not sure what to expect from either team. This would could be a blow out either way or a close one. I'll be a homer here and pick my team and hope the O can produce more consistant drives.
Loren – Miami. So much is in question for this game. Will Charles play? Can Miller step in and produce with Moreno out? Which QB will give more fuel to the doubters? Could the Dolphins be a more confounding team? When in doubt, take east coast home team, not the visitor with a long trip.

Pittsburgh at Carolina
Derek - Carolina. Can the Panthers repeat last years preformance? Are the Steelers to old and going downhill? I bet on both is yes.
Loren – Carolina. The Panthers’ performance against the Lions was a little more what we expected of them this year. Cam Newton was making plays, the defense was opportunistic, and they didn’t let the opponent off the mat.  They’ll need to establish some kind of running game to keep Newton healthy through the season.

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Week 2 NFL Picks

Well my Green Bay over the Seahawks gamble didn't pay off last week. I have a 4-2 record and Loren has a 5-1 record after the first week.

Miami at Buffalo
Derek - Miami. I'm a pessimistic Dolphin fan, but they showed me something last week. The Pats normally crush the Phins and it looked like it was going to happen again. But Miami dominated the second half, running over the Pats D and chasing Brady all around the field.
Loren – Buffalo. I’m going to need to see consistency from Miami before I take them against a team that beat the Bears in Chicago last week. Buffalo’s D will be better than expected and if Manuel can limit turnovers, Miami will have a hard time staying in this game.

New England at Minnesota
Derek - New England. Yes, Loren picked before AP was deactivated. But so did I. The Pats don't lose two in a row and not to Matt Cassel.
Loren – Minnesota. Too many options for a thin New England defense to contain. This feels like a down year for the Pats while the Vikings have young talent, confidence, and can still fall back on AP as needed.

Atlanta at Cincinnati
Derek - Cincinnati. Tough one, but I'm going to go with the team that has a defense. I expect a high scoring game but the Bengals at home should have enough juice to pull out a victory.
Loren – Atlanta. What a match up! If this was played in Atlanta, I wouldn’t think twice about taking the Falcons. But we haven’t seen them play on the road this year and this is a difficult first test. I expect, though, that the Falcons will have the Bengals defense spinning by the end of the game. Who do you cover? Whoever you choose, you’ll eventually get burned.

Detroit at Carolina
Derek - Detroit. Lets see if the Lions O can move against the Panthers D. This is a game of strength against strength and weakness against weakness. I just think the Panthers aren't up to last years standards and they might only score 10 points.
Loren – Detroit. Detroit would not let up against the Giants. If they continue to make use of all their offensive capabilities while being opportunistic on defense, there won’t be a lot of teams that can take them down. Doesn’t figure that a weakened Panthers team would be one of them.

Chicago at San Francisco
Derek - San Francisco. I was thinking the bears would have a great team this year, but after watching the inconsistent plays last week I can't buy into them yet. The 49ers while down on D this year comparatively should still have enough at home to be the Bears by double digits.
Loren – San Francisco. Are there two veteran QBs more inconsistent than Romo and Cutler? At least they’re consistently inconsistent. The 49ers handled Romo last week, I anticipate they’ll be up to the task of limiting Cutler’s chances. I foresee more Cutler pouty bro-face…

Philadelphia at Indianapolis
Derek - Indianapolis. Which team will need to comeback in this game. I'm going with the home team but I expect to see a lot of fire works.
Loren – Indianapolis. It took them a while to get rolling, but Indy’s offense eventually started looking legit against Denver last week. Same goes for Philly, but their efforts were against Jacksonville. I’ll take the team the slugged it out with the Broncos over the team that needed a comeback against the Jags.

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Week 1 NFL Picks

Sure the NFL is back, but that just means we're back to blogging and will start our weekly 6 pack of picks. Who will win this year? Me of course.

 

Green Bay at Seattle

Derek - Green Bay. Yeah! Right off the bat. More of a shot in the dark pick. Do have good reasons? Sure how about Ole Aaron. I might lose this one but I got to pick a dark horse at some point.

Loren – Seattle. Lots of talk about Seattle’s defense declining, the ability of Russell Wilson to grow into an elite QB, Lynch running on dead legs, defending SB champs dropping off a cliff the following year. I’m not buying it. Seattle’s D is as nasty as the players on it, and they’re nasty. Wilson completed 63% for 3,300 and a 29/9 TD/INT ratio last year, and his receiving corps is better. While Lynch may be past his prime (uncertain), I’m considering Seattle one of the best 2014 teams until proven otherwise.

New Orleans at Atlanta

Derek - New Orleans. I think the Falcons will be a good team this year but I think the Saints outscore almost everyone.

Loren – New Orleans. I’m hoping for a barn burner of a game. We might see both QBs throw over 350 yards. But if you had to pick one of these teams to implode and beat themselves, which would it be? Exactly.

Indianapolis at Denver

Derek - Denver. Home team gets the win here. We'll see if the Broncos offense is the same as last year but the Colts minus Luck aren't a good team.

Loren – Denver. I think Indy has a puncher’s chance here. I expect them to be on the better side of mediocre this season, possibly even legitimately good. But opening in Denver against that offense is brutal. The Bronco’s D may actually get some respect this year, too. Not sure this one is even close.

Cincinnati at Baltimore

Derek - Cincinnati. Don't care for the Ravens much and I'm picking the Bengals to win the division. Good place to start.

Loren – Cincinnati. Two middling to decent teams that should be fighting, with a middling to decent Pittsburgh team, for the division crown. That tells you the state of the AFC North. Dalton or Flacco? Bernard or Pierce? Who knows? Who cares? Edge to Cincy’s D.

San Francisco at Dallas

Derek - San Francisco. The Cowboys D is pretty darn bad. I'll take the 49ers by 10. Cap will have his breakout season this year.

Loren – San Francisco. This is a potentially challenging road opening for SF, but this is Dallas. We’re talking about Dallas, man. How silly is that? And we’re talking about Dallas. I’m not shoving it aside like it don’t mean anything. But we’re talking about Dallas.

Washington at Houston

Derek - Houston. I think Houston will make the playoffs this year and They'll start the season off right by beating a happless Washington team.

Loren – Houston. Blame Derek for having this one on the sched. Fitzpatrick is adequate and has more weapons than in previous stops. Houston’s D will be menacing, and their schedule is a cakewalk. Meanwhile, the Oracle of Delphi couldn’t tell you what’s going on with Washington.

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