Is anybody else experiencing the blackout on ESPN tonight? 10:13 in the 3rd, boys on a 4th and goal and the channel goes out Sopranos-style.
Guess Jerry Jones had to borrow K’s neuralyzer to mindwipe 95,000 fans to make sure they scored…
That might have been the most predictable interception ever.
It covers the spread…
…for the time being.
Tashard Choice was showed some serious TV chops during the post-game.
Wasn’t half bad during the game either.
That’s a city in Italy. Fine wines and cheeses would never associate themselves with Cleveland.
What post-Sunday columns that dissect the games do you guys read? I usually read Easterbrook’s TMQB but I’d like to find other quality writeups too.
The Browns are 4.5 point dogs to the Bengals currently. I think part of that may be because the starter at QB isn’t announced. If Quinn is starting, I may for the first time bet against my own team for some easy money.
If Anderson starts, though - totally unpredictable. We could suddenly come out of nowhere and put up 35 points, or he could set the new record for picks in a game.
The Panthers are done. Wait… make that “the Panthers are one.” They don’t have any D.
Do you really want to cross that line? I’m a dedicated gambler, but I’ve never been able to bet against my own team. Would it make a difference to you if the Browns 2-1 or 3-0 (but still just as likely to lose in your mind)? I’ve never done it, but I could imagine betting against the Giants or the Mets (the only two teams I care strongly about) if it was at the end of a dismal season.
Also, what’s wrong with Quinn? I haven’t really seen him play at all since college, but it’s surprising to me that he’s faring so poorly. How much of the problem is the team around him?
SenorBeef will correct me if I’m wrong but I always try to pay attention to the other teams and the AFC North and from what I’ve seen it looks like teams have learned how to disguise their coverages to bait Quinn into throwing interceptions. Roethlisberger was getting baited the same way early on so they may be able to coach Quinn out of it or set the plays up better for him. I don’t really follow the Browns closely enough to say for sure though but that’s the impression I’ve had so far.
I haven’t bet against my own team before, and I probably wouldn’t if they were doing well. I wouldn’t be rooting to win my own bets at the cost of my team losing but I think it would give me some degree of satisfaction that after I get a kick in the balls from watching their sorry asses that at least I got paid for it.
I guess this could lead to the worst of both worlds, where I bet on the team with like a +10 spread and they then lose by 9. Double kick in the balls.
I covered some of it here but the short answer is that it’s such a clusterfuck that it’s hard to tell.
TMQ all the way, but I read Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback also. I don’t really like his analysis but he has better access to the players and coaches than anyone.
Or O, for that matter. What the hell is wrong with them? Give the ball to DeAngelo Williams and everything will be okay.
In any other year besides this one, I would heartily agree with you. Bengals v Browns always seemed to have the propensity to be an unhinged, no-holds-barred crazy scoring fest or a hard-fought close game. I have always been leery of playing the Browns. Even though the wind has been taken out of the sails of the rivalry some due to circumstances, the games were often quite unpredictable.
This year though, the Browns look so freaking bad and the Bengals look improved that I can’t envision an outcome other than the Bengals winning. I never have thought much of Anderson (other than the fact that the reason he made his lone Probowl in the first place was because of the 2007 game against the Bengals where his stats were artificially padded by something like 500 yards passing and 5 TD’s…a game which I believe still ranks up there as the highest combined score total in NFL history), and with the Bengals defense being as it is now, I just can’t see Anderson pulling off the same trick.
I would never bet against my team, but I would take that 4.5 points. The Bengals, in my humble view, are going to win by a lot more than that.
It’s not really “artificially padding” - the game was competitive to the end and he just kept throwing and throwing. Those yards and TDs are as legit as any other.
I know, it seems impossible that the Browns will look good in the game - but the way 2007 worked was that Frye was the starter against Pittsburgh, got yanked at the half, then Anderson got the start the next week and threw for 5 TDs, which is actually quite similar to the circumstances of next week’s games. I doubt it’ll repeat, but if Anderson is the starter it’s unpredictable enough that I wouldn’t want to bet on it. I’m trying to only bet this year on sports when it’s a slam dunk easy bet (like I thought about Det +6.5 last week).
If Quinn’s the starter, I’m going to sell a kidney and bet it on Cinci -4.5.
I usually read TMQ and MMQB as well. Both have some interesting writing mixed with complete nonsense. When Easterbrook says things like “don’t blitz because the average NFL play only nets X yards” I just skip to the next section :).
I also really like the Advanced NFL Stats site. He writes well and does good research, and also often does a roundup of interesting articles from around the web.
Yeah, I dislike it when he tries to apply general rules for stats averaged over entirely different situations and then apply them to each specific situation. He’s also wrong about cheerleaders in every capacity and dedicates a lot of column space to them. He thinks the lack of cheerleaders actually displeases the football gods.
But in general he’s generally worth reading, and I usually find his random tangents interesting, unlike Peter King and his HEY! COFFEE STORY! stuff.
You’re right, those stats weren’t “artificial”. I suppose I used that word to deride my own team, as in, “anyone could have put up those gaudy numbers on that defense!”
I just think that Palmer and the offense really haven’t clicked for 60 minutes in a game yet and that they are really going to try to get things going, and the opportunity to do so against the defense of the Browns is going to afford them the chance. I see this game as the one where the Bengals offense scores a lot of points, and with the resurgence of our defense, that the Browns will not be able to answer in kind.
Oh, I forgot to add that the game you’re talking about is #8 all time in NFL scoring history, 51 to 45. The other one we played in 2004 is #2, 58 to 48. So we have 2 of the top 10 games, set in a 4 year span.
Crazy. Which is exactly why despite the Bengals recent successes, I remain decidedly uneasy about this game. There’s always that chance that things go awry (for the Bengals).