NFL Week 3 Predictions

      I followed up week one's 12-4 prediction record with a mighty 13-3 for week two.  I'm averaging about a 78% for the first two weeks, not an A, but it's improvement people, this is the key.  Week three predictions continue to become more a mystery as the story-lines unfold.  This could the first time the Detroit Lions beat the Minnesota Vikings at the Metrodome since 1997.  Michael Vick matches up against the Giants, who he beat by scoring three touchdowns in the final quarter of last years' game.  We get to find out just how good the Texans' number one defense really is, considering that they'll be up against Brees and the Saints offense.  Good week of football, here we go...

Houston Texans @ New Orleans Saints                          Saints   

N.Y. Giants @ Philadelphia Eagles                                 Eagles

Jacksonville Jaguars @ Carolina Panthers                       Panthers

New England Patriots @ Buffalo Bills                            Patriots

Miami Dolphins @ Cleveland Browns                            Dolphins

San Francisco 49ers @Cincinnati Bengals                      49ers

Denver Broncos @ Tennessee Titans                              Titans

Detroit Lions @ Minnesota Vikings                                 Lions

Baltimore Ravens @ St. Louis Rams                               Ravens

New York Jets @ Oakland Raiders                                 Raiders

Kansas City Chiefs @ San Diego Chargers                     Chargers

Arizona Cardinals @ Seattle Seahawks                           Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers                     Falcons

Green Bay Packers @ Chicago Bears                             Packers

Pittsburgh Steelers @ Indianpolis Colts                           Steelers

Washington Redskins @ Dallas Cowboys                      Cowboys

NFL Week 2 Predictions

Last week I went 12-4 with my predictions.  If I'm lucky enough to keep that going, you're welcome for winning you money in Vegas.

 With week 2 rapidly approaching, and every game looking as if it might go either way, this will be a much tougher challenge than last week.

Kansas City Chiefs @ Detroit Lions                       Lions


Oakland Raiders @ Buffalo Bills                            Bills


Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Minnesota Vikings       Buccaneers


Chicago Bears @ New Orleans Saints                    Saints


Baltimore Ravens @ Tennessee Titans                   Ravens


Cleveland Browns @ Indianapolis Colts                 Colts


Jacksonville Jaguars @ New York Jets                   Jets


Seattle Seahawks @ Pittsburgh Steelers                  Steelers


Arizona Cardinals @ Washington Redskins            Redskins


Green Bay Packers @ Carolina Panthers                 Packers


Dallas Cowboys @ San Francisco 49ers                 Cowboys


San Diego Chargers @ New England Patriots         Patriots


Houston Texans @ Miami Dolphins                        Texans


Cincinnati Bengals @ Denver Broncos                    Broncos


Philadelphia Eagles @ Atlanta Falcons                    Eagles


St. Louis @ New York Giants                                 Giants

Heisman Watch Update

QB Andrew Luck:  Tore through Duke 44-10.  Holds pace, easy front runner.








RB LaMichael James: 67 yards on 12 attempts, and a TD in win over Nevada









QB Kellen Moore:  The Broncos take on the Toledo Rockets next week.  Toledo almost upset Ohio State this week, but Moore should put on throwing exhibition with Rockets secondary.







QB Landry Jones:   Plays Florida State next week in what should make for a good game.

Suprise of the week:
     South Carolina's RB Marcus Lattimore:   176 yards on 27 carries, and a TD in win Vs. Georgia

Underdogs on the Rise

Not only is today my birthday, but it's also a day remember 9/11, and celebrate the opening Sunday of pro football season.  This year the NFL is auctioning off all the 9/11 tribute gear the players wear today for charity.  Today is a great day.  The only present I asked of God on this 25th birthday of mine was a win against the Buccaneers.  Please God, I need you on this one.

Can I just say, "The lockout did more for the popularity of football than anyone wants to admit."  The lockout was good for the fans, and is going to make the season twice as exciting.  The sluggish starts, the unpredictable match-ups, it's going to be nuts.  The defenses will feel the pains from the lockout more than offenses; teams will be lighting up the scoreboard, and who doesn't love that!

Yesterday's college games were intense, only fueling to the anticipation of Sunday's match-ups.  If you missed the Michigan Vs. Notre Dame game last night, than you missed a true sight to see.  Everyone came out in 1920-1950s attire and looked the part for sure.  Even the refs had on little 1920's conductor-looking white hats on; it was great.  Both teams should just switch their uniforms to the ones they wore last night, there were definitely an upgrade.  

Anyway, to the thick of things, and back to Sunday football.  Sports Junkies have made their picks for week one, so today we predict the Underdogs on the Rise.

Underdogs on the Rise

1. Detroit Lions

            This team has been heavily covered all offseason, giving them more hype than any other team predicted to rise up from among the weak.  Detroit finished 6-10 last season on a four game win streak, and followed that up with a flawless preseason record.  If you want to be technical, they're 8-0 right now.  Their will be fireworks in Tampa today, which leads me to number two.

2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

            Let's be honest, Josh Freeman is just as good as Matthew Stafford.  Total different style of play, but as far as stats go, Freeman at least has some.  The guys 6'6, 248 lbs, and threw for 3,451 yards with 25 TD's and a quarterback passer rating of 95.9 last season.  Both enter their third year, but I have to give the edge to Freeman on this one.  The other thing working for Tampa is running back Legarrette Blount.  This guy ran for over 1,000 yards last year as a rookie!  This Tampa Bay Vs. Detroit Lions game today could be a potential playoff preview.  Tampa still considers their loss to Detroit last year the reason they didn't make the playoffs, and they want revenge.

3.  St. Louis Rams

             Sam Bradford changed the way the league looks at rookie quarterbacks.  This guy came in, and almost single handily turned that franchise around.  With Steven Jackson having his way with defenses, and the addition of Lance Kendricks, the tight end out of Wisconsin, Bradford has even more explosive targets on the field. 

4.  Arizona Cardinals.

            Two words, Larry Fitzgerald.  This is the best wide receiver in the league when he has even a somewhat competent quarterback slinging the ball. Kevin Kolb is a huge upgrade at the quarterback position for the Cardinals, and after being benched to Michael Vick he's looking to make a statement.  Cardinals will be very competitive this year.

5.  Dallas Cowboys

             The Cowboys have all the pieces, they just have trouble putting them together.  Dez Bryant is a true talent at wide out.  If you can get him the ball, he's going to score you touchdowns.  This season yet again rides on the shoulders of Tony Romo.  He is the key, and a fragile one at that.  If he can run the locker room as well as he does the huddle, theres no limits to the Cowboys success.

Wolverines take on Fighting Irish in first ever night game at The Big House

This is a big game for Michigan, but a must win for Notre Dame.  If Notre Dame loses, it will be the second time in school history they start the season 0-2.  The only other time they started 0-2, they faced another school going 0-2 for the first time as well, Michigan.  The Wolverines won that game with great defense, and hope to repeat that performance again this year.

If Notre Dame loses, they can kiss their chances for a BCS game good bye.  I realize they have a moderately easy schedule after they get this game out of the way, but starting 0-2 is a hard path to come back from.  Notre Dame has a quarterback controversy going on as well, something they could obviously do without.  This is because ND's Coach, Brian Kelly will have started two different quarterbacks in their last two losses, guaranteeing some heat from the front office. 

If Michigan does lose, they'll be 1-1. Now I'll admit this would be a bitter loss because of the nature of the rivalry and because of the fact this is the first night game at the Big House. But let's be honest, if they lose this game, Brady Hoke's job won't be in jepeardy.  

Its pretty obvious that Notre Dame has a lot more riding on this game than Michigan does. Irish fans had a lot of expectations for year two of the Kelly era, especially with how they finished last season. Michigan fans had expectations too, but they were more about moving past the Rich Rodriguez era. A lot of the excitement surrounding Hoke has centered on his recruiting for next year. There are still some holes on the defensive side of the ball, but in time those will fill up.

I'm most interested to see how Denard Robinson, the Wolverine's QB, fares in this game.  Last year he single handily won the game in South Bend, and this year I look for him to do the same.  He's going into his junior season now, so this is probably the game where we'll see if he's worthy of Heisman talk.  

No matter who wins this game, the excitement surrounding it, and the rivalry of Notre Dame and Michigan should make for some great football.  I'll take Michigan by 14.

Maryland Terrapins Who?

You see that picture above? Yeah, that's the same uniform, crazy..I know.  Maryland is following the path Oregon has laid for them.  Last Monday against the Miami Hurricanes, the Maryland Terrapins debuted some of the most hideous football uniforms in the history of mankind.  Twitter blew up, and Maryland's Facebook page ignited!  The social media networks were hit like rocket fire, and every news site from fashion to football were talking about the uniforms.

Maryland showed up to game day warm ups in a pretty standard uniform and a colorful helmet.  Then they went back to the locker room, put on their NEW jerseys, and came out of the tunnel lighting the entertainment world on fire.

Maryland's Coach, Randy Edsall said, "We were on a smaller scale in the football world, and we wanted to bring our name into the discussion.  I think these uniforms did just that."

He went on to say how the uniforms helped his players play better, because of Under Armor's light weight material and breath-ability.   The school said its jerseys were to help recruit students.  The college even had a player fashion show, with a run way and everything.  The school confessed it has 32 different uniforms made by Under Armor.

Coach Edsall said, "I had a kid come up to me this morning, and said how great the uniforms were.  People are starting to get excited."

 He also noted that these jerseys are made to hit a certain demographic, and those are exactly the kids the schools trying to bring in.  Despite the inadvertent racism, he's making a good point.

I wrote an article on Oregon's uniforms last week, and how despite their loss to LSU, they more than likely recruited more kids with that game.  Since they shook hands with Nike in 96, their football program has improved by leaps and bounds.  Now Maryland's program will do the same thing, and it won't take that long either.  Oregon's been using uniforms to recruit for over a decade, they just aren't nearly as public about it.  I think the fact that Maryland's embracing it, and saying of course we did it to recruit more students, is going to help their national attention.  Eventually Maryland will sign their own deal, with Under Armor, and these jerseys will hit the market.  For now, they aren't for sale, but the school will be auctioning some off later this year for charity.

Whether you hate them or love them, those jerseys did exactly what Maryland set them out to do.

                                     It's almost as if he's giving a tribute to Oregon with the O.

Twitter Quotes:

-The two worst things to happen to University of Maryland were John Wilkes Booth, and those new uniforms.

-For the uniforms alone, Maryland should be charged with lack of institutional control.

   

NFL Division Power Rankings

Sports Junkies Top Divisions

1. NFC North
2. NFC South
3.NFC East
4.AFC East
5.AFC North
6.AFC South
7.AFC West
8.NFC West