Thursday, November 5, 2015

2015 NFL SEASON: WEEK 9





Me
Eli
WEEK 8
9-5
11-3
12-2
TOTAL
80-39
78-41
74-45



MUST WATCH GAMES

Bengals at Browns/Packers at Panthers/Washington at Patriots/Broncos at Colts
The NFL currently has four undefeated teams remaining: Broncos, Bengals, Panthers, and Patriots.

The Bengals play tonight in Cleveland. Last season these two met for a primetime game in Cincinnati and the Browns came away with a 24-3 win holding Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton to 86 yards, sacking him twice, and intercepting him 3 times. Later in the season the two teams met in Cleveland where the Bengals beat the Browns 30-0 in quarterback Johnny Manziel’s first NFL start. Manziel is expected to start against the Bengals tonight and hopefully doesn’t duplicate similar results.

As for Dalton and the Bengals, they off to their best start in franchise history. However, there is the dreaded curse of playing in primetime. According to ESPN’s QBR metric, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, and Tom Brady are in the top four in prime time games dating back to 2006. Andy Dalton ranks 30th out of 34 qualified quarterbacks in that time period. Dalton is 3-7 with a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 11:11.

Speaking of playing poorly in primetime, Aaron Rodgers. The Packers were bumped from the ranks of the unbeaten after their 29-10 loss in Denver. Rodgers was held to 77 yards passing… the entire game. As for Green Bay’s next opponent, the Panthers had to survive a furious Colts comeback that forced overtime in rain soaked Charlotte. The Panthers defense played well for 3 quarters. If Carolina is to shutdown Rodgers the way Denver did, their defense will have to be firing on all cylinders.

The Broncos and Colts occupy the late spot of Sunday afternoon games. Denver’s defense has led them to a 7-0 start and the last time Denver started 7-0 was in 1998 when they successfully defended their Super Bowl championship. It was also the last season John Elway played quarterback for the Broncos. Could this also be the last season for Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning? Manning is playing in the city where he started his NFL career and took the Colts to two Super Bowls in a three-year period, winning Super Bowl XLI in February 2007.

The Colts still have not won a game outside of their division this season.

The Patriots are off to their best start since 2007 and share the same record as the Broncos. If the Patriots and Broncos keep up their winning ways, NBC might luck out again with another matchup of undefeated teams when New England travels to Denver in Week 12.

Raiders at Steelers

Only reason to watch this game is to see this play:


What’s that…?

The Raiders are good…?

Right now the Raiders are 4-3 and are in second place in the AFC West. If the playoffs were to start right now, the Raiders would occupy the 5-spot.

The Steelers saw quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s return from injury but also lost running back Le’veon Bell for the season when he tore his right MCL. While DeAngelo Williams has 239 yards and 3 touchdowns and was the Steelers starting running back when Bell missed the first two games of the season, Bell’s production as another pass catcher will be missed.

Eagles at Cowboys

PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!! CAN THE DALLAS COWBOYS WIN AT LEAST ONE GAME?!

Both teams have gone in opposite directions since their first meeting in Philadelphia back in September. The Cowboys started 2-0, but since quarterback Tony Romo’s injury in that game Dallas has lost 5 straight games; three by 8 points or less. The last time the Cowboys won a game with a quarterback not named Tony Romo: at the Eagles in the last game of the 2010 season.

Philadelphia started 0-2 but has won 3 of their last 5 games. Even though the Giants are 4-4 and lead the NFC Least East, the Eagles currently hold the tiebreaker over the Giants with their head-to-head win and the Cowboys are 2-1 in the division. Someone will have to win this division The division is still within sight for the teams involved. Even Washington could win it


And now the picks.

Kickoff times are Mountain Time
Sunday afternoon games airing in Denver are noted by (DEN)
Picks are in BOLD

BYE WEEK
Cardinals, Chiefs, Lions, Ravens, Seahawks, Texans


THURSDAY NIGHT, NFL 6PM
Browns at Bengals


CBS 11AM
Raiders at Steelers (DEN)
Dolphins at Bills
Jaguars at Jets
Titans at Saints

FOX 11AM
Packers at Panthers (DEN)
Rams at Vikings
Washington at Patriots


CBS 2PM
Broncos at Colts (DEN)

FOX 2PM
Falcons at 49ers
Giants at Buccaneers


SUNDAY NIGHT, NBC 6:30 PM
Eagles at Cowboys


MONDAY NIGHT, ESPN 6:30 PM
Bears at Chargers


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