Week 1 Roundup

With apologies to our man Quikdraw – MLB takes a back seat to Week 1 of the NFL. Yes we know most of you probably agree with him that baseball is king 24/7, 365 – but with the Sox looking like they are a lock to win the AL East, and none of you giving a rat’s ass about what is happening with Red Sox West, we are going to take a look the great, the good, the bad, the sad and the downright ugly from the weekend that was in the (insert John Facenda voice) National – Football – League.

THE GREAT
New England Patriots QB Tom Brady is a regular here – the guy is a champ, so didn’t come as a surprise that he torched the Jets again yesterday. But we are giving kudos to Patriots WR Randy Moss who was dominant yesterday and silencing those who wondered how he would fit in with the Patriots. Moss had nine catches for 183 yards and a touchdown, but more importantly, he looked like he was toying with the Jets secondary…it didn’t even look like he was going full out. So for Patriots’ fans, and loud mouths who try to come off like they know so much more about the game that anyone else, before you all start raving about Wes Welker, remember this - the Jets weren’t even thinking about Welker, they were focused on stopping Moss and they couldn’t. Welker went up against single coverage all day – Moss caught a TD pass in triple coverage. Honourable mention goes to Ellis Hobbs who returned a kickoff for 108 yards – a new record.

Dallas Cowboys QB Tony Romo had an unbelievable game – albeit against a suspect Giants team that was bruised and battered. Still though, 15 of 24 for 345 yards and 5 TDs (4 passing and 1 rushing) qualifies as a great game – hey, we love the Cowboys here (ok, “I” love the Cowboys).

Tennessee Titans RB Chris Brown shredded the much-heralded Jacksonville Jaguars defence for 175 yards on 19 carries – he didn’t score a touchdown, but he the driving force behind the Titans’ upset win over the Jags, and was the main reason the Titans controlled the clock…not that the Jags offence is anything to be afraid of.


THE GOOD
Pittsburgh Steleers resident half-wit Ben Roethlisberger had a nice game – 12 of 23 for 161 yards and 4 TDs. We were a more than a bit amused to hear Evil Knievel’s post-game comments about how teams are going to have a tough time figuring out what the Steelers’ offence is going to do from play to play. Memo to Roethlisberger – it was JUST the Cleveland Browns, don’t go getting to high on yourself there champ.

Houston Texans WR Andre Johnson caught 7 passes for 142 yards and a touchdown in a 20-3 pounding of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Detroit Lions QB John Kitna was 27 of 36 for 289 yards and three touchdowns – shouldn’t that get some consideration for great? Well, yes. But when you consider that Kitna also threw two INTs and it was just the Oakland Raiders…we’re not willing to put him in that upper stratosphere. Kitna, who predicted that the Lions would win 10 games this year, was borderline obnoxious in his post-game comments – talking about how they have turned the corner and are ready for big things. We’ll check back with Kitna after next week’s game against the Vikings.


THE BAD
From our perspective it isn’t really bad (unless you count our pool picks), but if you are a fan of the Eagles, it is time to push the panic button. Picked by many to represent the NFC in this year’s Super Bowl, the Eagles were downright ordinary yesterday. Two muffed punts, including one that lead to the game winning field goal, a bunch of missed tackles, and an offence don’t have us seeing thought of that Chunky Soup Lovin’ Mama’s boy puking in the huddle in Arizona next February.

Atlanta Falcons QB Joey “Happy Feet” Harrington started off his new gig in fine style – two interceptions returned for touchdowns. We’d be laughing a little bit more at this, except for the fact we picked Atlanta to win (vs the spread and outright) in our pools this week. Atlanta continues to screw us – Harrington is well on his way to joining Ron Mexico on this page.


THE SAD
Buffalo Bills TE Kevin Everett underwent surgery yesterday after suffering a spine injury on a helmet-to-helmet hit while covering the second half kickoff yesterday. His agent reported that he showed “some sparse movement” last night – thoughts and prayers go out to Everett.


THE UGLY
Watching the Cowboys/Giants game yesterday was ugly – coming into the season, it was thought that Wade Phillips would make the Cowboys better on the defensive side of the ball. While they certainly missed CB Terrence Newman – there was no excuse for the way Manning shredded them yesterday. We aren’t looking forward to week six when Brady & Moss visit Big D.


MONDAY THREE PLAY
We finished our best week ever on last week – our picks would have netted you $1,400 last week. So after one full year of doing a daily “Three Play” we wind up - $300 for the year…not great, but no awful either (a pretty damn good recovery). We’ll recap a year in review later this week. Today’s suggestions:

Cleveland over Chicago – Fausto Carmona takes the mound against Gavin Floyd – a mismatch on paper with Floyd’s ERA being three runs higher than Fausto’s. The Indians can pretty much wrap things up in the division with a sweep – we like them tonight. Lay $100 on the Indians - $170.

Milwaukee over Pittsburgh – the Brewers seem to have things back together and are back in first place. They are 7-3 in their last ten, while Pittsburgh is 3-7. Brewers starter Carlos Villenueva has won two games vs Pittsburgh and we like him to win his third. Lay $100 on the Brewers - $130.

San Francisco – 3 over Arizona – another NFL season starts with big expectations for the Cardinals, we’ve seen this before. San Francisco is somewhat of a sexy pick this year too - but think most of it is just guys trying to justify their employers’ tags of “experts”. We’ll go with the 49ers to pound Frank Gore and keep Fitzgerald and Boldin off the field tonight. Lay $100 on the Niners – 3>

That’s it for today gang – thanks for taking the time to check in. Have a great one.

Hazel, we hope things are groovy in your world…even if you are still a Chiefs fan.

We’re Out!