Giants, Jaguars, Bengals, Bucs, Raiders
Looks like the Steelers came through big. 
Even better, if Indy can hold off the hated Ravens, we’ll be tied for 1st place. Granted, it would be with a 2-3 record, but 1st place is still better than last.
Pittsburgh is on thier way back. Mark my words.
Well I’k doing crappy so far, so much for confidence. Omniscient, on the Raiders arguement. See last years Rams. <yoda> Offense does not a champion make</yoda>.
Stuffy, Oakland’s defense is playing much better than last years Rams. And I’ve still yet to hear you name a team thats better right now.
I guess I should start remmebering to let you guys in on my picks before crashing on saturday since I always oversleep Sunday. Here’s my OMNI picks:
NY Giants, Carolina, Buffalo, Tampa Bay, Jacksonville
Shibbs glad to see you get in here, was about to be very very disappointed in you. 
However, it looks like your last minute picks on the early games were all pretty damn close. Except for GB and Cincy of course.
Can I mention how it’s no shock that just as I drop Alstott he explodes for 126 and 2 TDs. Damnit.
You are watching the Rams/Raiders game right?
I still haven’t seen enough games to name a better team, in fact counting today this is only the second Raiders game I’ve seen (they can’t seem to sell enough tickets for the game to be televised). Still the Rams defense last year seems pretty similar to what I’ve seen of the Raiders.
I think several teams have the potential to outperform the Raiders, yes including the Niners and Philly.
snort The “best team in the NFL” just lost to the Rams.
Bwaaahaaahaaaahaaa.
I knew the Raiders wouldn’t let me down.
When your defense can’t rattle the third-string quarterback in his first NFL start, you gotta start asking questions.
[Note: Yes, I actually completed this before today…damn board froze again. Sheesh, are they ever going to fix this? Anyway, make of it what you will…]
This is something of a down week for me, as not only do I have a lot on my mind other than football (not the least of which is my first full-time temp job ever), but I just don’t have any strong likes for this week. Philadelphia is streaky, Cleveland just can’t seem to seal the deal, New England is reeling, Arizona is winning awfully ugly, and Detroit is…well, Detroit.
But, as with elections, no matter how shaky the field looks or how uncertain my opinions, I never miss an NFL week. And so, however slowly, the bandwagons roll on…
1. Bills
Screw rationality…I want Drew Bledsoe to romp, I want to see who wins that $1,500 interception wager, and I want to see the dangerous, high-scoring Bills of old. Thankfully, they shouldn’t have much trouble against the straggling Texans.
2. Panthers
They drop two close games to contending teams, and already the braying’s going full blast. Beating Dallas won’t end it, but it will put them in good standing where it actually counts.
3. Colts
Another spite pick? Well, I definitely think this one’s justified, for a number of reasons (especially all the favorable calls the Ravens have gotten). The Colts were supposed to be a contending team, and the Ravens were supposed to get hammered this season…let’s see it.
4. Steelers
You can make a case that the Rams, by getting arrogant, had their crushing plummet coming to them. The Steelers, I feel, deserve a lot better.
5. Vikings
Hey, why the hell not. Detroit still hasn’t suffered enough, and the Vikings should be good for at least one win. Besides, this is probably the last chance I’ll be able to pick them for anything before the inevitable total meltdown makes this impossible.
Bandwagon standings:
7 - 49ers, Eagles, Panthers
6 - Bills
5 - Saints, Vikings
4 - Browns, Rams, Steelers
3 - Cardinals, Colts, Dolphins
2 - Patriots, Raiders
1 - Packers, Buccaneers, Bears
Doesn’t get much tighter than this. From the looks of it, though, the 49ers and Eagles look to be the favorites.
Now, to answer a few items from Omniscient from last week.
Thanks for the correction.
Nonetheless, I fail to see why a team owner wouldn’t be just as offended. And in any case, there is no possible justification for MAKING A DAMN CARDBOARD CUTOUT OF FOUR TEAM MEMBERS GIVING THE BIRD TO ANOTHER TEAM. That’s simply disgusting.
Disrespect is part of the game. There are plenty of reasons to hate the Yankees (Just an example! Don’t shooot!) despite the fact that they’re one of the most dominant teams ever in any sport. What I don’t like is how it’s taken over every discussion, every analysis, every damn bit of press that’s come from this team. This is old news, people…I’ve already brought up the Giants example, and there almost certainly were many before that. The season’s on, for crying out loud; let’s focus on that.
Look, I’ll spell it out real simple-like for you…I WANT PLAYOFFS OR NOTHING.
The best that can be said about the BCS is that it might be a tiny improvement over the old figure-skating style (i.e. after a tremendous down-to-the-wire competition, the champion is decided by a bunch of guys with the athletic ability of…well, me). Nebraska didn’t belong in the same city as Miami in the last Rose Bowl, and it’s a travesty that many far more deserving teams got locked out.
I’m mystified at the sycophantic sportswriters who point to this horribly flawed system as evidence that we don’t need playoffs…or, even worse, an argument for bringing back the figure skating judges. Both systems are ridiculous, and as long as college football insists on using either, I will never take the “national championship” in this sport seriously. I know that there are a bunch of reasons not to adopt playoffs. That does not automatically make the current system good.
In fact, here’s another idea…no national champion. Go ahead and have your big rivalries, your Games of the Century, your proud traditions, your homecoming, your pomp, your pageantry. Have a whole bunch of bowls just for bragging rights, like the old days. Then, at the end, everyone just go home and not have some stupid debate about who was “really” #1. I mean, how many people would actually miss it?
I never did get the whole idea that Philadelphia is a streaky team. They haven’t lost two in a row in a while, and have been rather consistant for the past two years. Granted, the loss to Jax was an upset and you could hear the collective groan from the entire city by half-time, but Mcnabb always comes back off a tough loss with a remarkable game. If they are streaky, I just no seeing it.
Sorry to barge in on your conversation…I usually just observe.
DKW, I never said I was pro-BCS. Granted I don’t think the solution is as easy as “let there be playoffs!!”, and I’ve spouted off on it in other threads at length. The point of my statement was to note the irony of the fact you bash the Patriots who won a playoff system to claim the championship, and then a few paragraphs later you comment that the lack of a true playoff winner in college is a travesty. Seems a touch inconsistent.
That Miami/Denver game had to be one of the best games of the season. It’s the best I’ve seen this season anyway.
Might be one of the best ever IMHO. Its up there with the Rams-Bucs game on MNF a couple years ago.
Bad pick week all around in my pool. The winner only picked 7.
And I was right. The Jests didn’t lose!
Originally Jests was a typo, but it looked so appropriate I left it like that.
Well, let’s see how the theory turns out.
::checks NFL website::
And I got 7/14. Exactly half of my random picks were correct. Stupid mathematics.
I had a long-winded, detail recap of all my picks this week done up, and just as I previewed the hamsters died. So you’re all spared that. Summary: I sucked this week, on about half of the games, and had good insights on the other half. So just about as good as gex gex did with no idea of how things work.
In other news: it’s C-i-n-c-i-n-n-a-t-i. Three 'n’s, three 'i’s, only a single ‘t’. I realise that they suck and don’t deserve a correct spelling, but it’s also not a city in Italy.
Yeah, I did a crappy job this week too. But was that a great Monday night game too, Seattle had me worried for a minute there.
Not too bad considering how much trouble most people had. Went 9-5 Straight Up, and the inverse, 5-9 ATS. I can handle that. I went 2-3 in my OMNI picks again, but at least this time the average score was right about there and it rolled again. Gotta be on the money this week.
Won my fantasy too, so thats nice.
Shibbs, I’ve gotten in the habit of selecting and copying all my text before clicking the submit button just for those cases. I got burned the second week on my huge first post, and its svaed my ass 3 times already.
Not too bad considering how much trouble most people had. Went 9-5 Straight Up, and the inverse, 5-9 ATS. I can handle that. I went 2-3 in my OMNI picks again, but at least this time the average score was right about there and it rolled again. Gotta be on the money this week.
Won my fantasy too, so thats nice.
Shibbs, I’ve gotten in the habit of selecting and copying all my text before clicking the submit button just for those cases. I got burned the second week on my huge first post, and its svaed my ass 3 times already.
Still a ton on my mind (will have some verrry choice words about Altres Staffing sometime in the future…don’t feel like talking about it right now, so don’t ask), and not really a whole lot to comment on this week, so I’ll keep this short.
Omniscient - I stand by everything I said about how the college champion is decided. Sure, implementing a workable, fair playoff system isn’t going to be easy. I say do it anyway. A championship without legitimacy is no championship at all. Otherwise, don’t have any championship, just the conference titles, rivalries, traditions, big games, pomp, pageantry and annual bowl madness…which have always been the best things about the college game anyway.
And I never bashed the Patriots. I think that they have a legitimate beef about being dissed even after winning the championship. A title’s a title no matter who it’s against…I reminded myself of that after the Houston Rockets’ back-to-back. The thing is, they were lucky, so the disses weren’t totally off…and in any case, the new season is on, so that’s what should be commanding their attention.
So in brief: Fluky, but it counts, congrats. Now quit yappin’ and start defending it already!
And, to reiterate, there is no possible justification for making a cardboard cutout of four players flipping the bird with the Super Bowl Rings. Jesus freaking Christ.
everyone - Again my picks didn’t disappoint…I may eventually figure out this season after all.
If I had to do a power ranking, I’d have Miami at #1, followed by either San Francisco or New Orleans. Miami’s had a history of flagging down the stretch, but there’s absolutely no reason to doubt them right now. San Francisco is, predictably, strong as ever. The Saints has made a ton of amazing clutch plays and could be The Team No One Wants To Meet come crunch time.