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
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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