"I know what you Steelers players are thinking. "Is he going to throw 5 or 6 touchdowns?" Well to tell you the truth, I'll probably loose track during the heat of the moment of the game. But since I am the greatest QB of the 21st century and and can throw the ball faster than your can touch my jersey, you've gotta ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, Pittsburgh?" -Dirty Tom Ryan L. Fox Yup, that’s the question this week: Do ya feel lucky? After last week’s success, yours truly feels extremely luck with his picks. This week, fans are in a treat with another NFL game in London, plus two games where old QBs come back to their old stomping grounds to play their former teams, and one game that could decide the fate of 2 AFC teams. What am I babbling about? Let’s find out, shall we? LAST WEEK’S RECORD: 3-1
All right, over .500 with the weekly picks and almost picked the correct score of the Pats/Bengals game. Hopefully that luck carries over into this week. OVERALL RECORD: 10-10 Sweet, back to .500. Hopefully after this week, I’ll be over that mark for the first time this season since going into Week 3. Honorable Mention New York Giants @ Los Angeles Rams in London, England Sunday @ 9:30 a.m. Well folks, this is the second London game of the NFL season. This time, it’ll be played at Twickenham Stadium instead of at Wembley. So, I shall analyze this game with all my intellect and knowledge of both teams. But first, it’s time for something completely different. It’s.…. Pick: Giants Da Picks Minnesota Vikings @ Philadelphia Eagles Sunday @ 1:00 p.m. ET At the beginning of the year, people thought the Minnesota Vikings would flounder. They lost their starting QB (Teddy Bridgewater), RB (Adrian Peterson), and starting LT (Matt Kalil) to injuries and made a desperate trade with the Philadelphia Eagles for oft-injured QB Sam Bradford in exchange for a 1st-round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft and a 4th-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. Now, the Vikings are 5-0 and the only remaining team to be undefeated team in the NFL right now. This is mostly due in the large part of their stout/unheralded defense that’s being compared by some to be better than the ’85 Bears. Now it’s only 5 games into the season, but the numbers are pretty impressive: 1st overall in points allowed per game (12.6 ppg) 2nd overall in yards allowed per game (287.6 ypg) 6th overall in passing yards per game (209.8 ypg) 1st overall in opposing QB rating against (65.3 QB rating) Tied for 3rd overall in sacks (19) Tied for 2nd overall in takeaways (12) 4th overall in rushing yards allowed (77.8 ypg) The only saving grace is that this game is going to be in Philadelphia, were Eagles fans will try to rally themselves to hate Sam Bradford, who is actually having a pretty good season himself (88-for-125 (70.4 Comp %) for 990 yards, 6 TDs, 0 Int, QB rating of 109.7). Still, home field can only hold up to lesser teams, which do not describe the Vikings whatsoever. Pick: Vikings New England Patriots @ Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday @ 4:25 p.m. ET *ahem* Maestro….if you would please. At the beginning of the year, many looked forward to seeing a high-octane offensive shootout between Steelers rugged QB Ben Roethlisberger and the ageless wonder Pats QB Tom Brady. However that dream was shattered last weekend in a game between the Steelers and the Miami Dolphins where Roethlisberger injured his knee and was ruled out for this Sunday’s game. Now it’ll be a matchup between Tom Brady and back-up Steelers QB Landry Jones. The good news for Pittsburgh is that this Sunday’s game is a home game, which will provide some ease to Steelers fans. Plus they still boast a top 10 offense this season as they currently 8th overall in total yards with 371.8 ypg and 9th overall in points per game with 25.7 ppg. Not to mention they have a slew of offensive weapons such as RB La’Veon Bell, WRs Antonio Brown and Sammie Coates, and TE Jesse James (who has scored a touchdown in 2 of the last 3 Steelers games). Still, this is the New England Patriots we’re talking about. Also Brady owns a career record 8-2 against the Steelers, including 4-2 at Heinz Field. Not to mention that he has a 24:3 touchdowns to interceptions ratio in those 10 career games against the Steelers. Even with the Steelers’ offensive weapons, they still have a very slipshod defense that’s in the Bottom 5 for yard allowed per game (394.8 yards allowed for 28th overall) and rank nearly dead last against the pass (293.7 ypg allowed for 30th overall). Plus they have nobody on that team that can cover the new Pats TE combo of Gronk/Bennett. It’ll be, at minimum, a 10 point differential but with the Pats still coming out on top. Pick: Pats Houston Texans @ Denver Broncos Sunday @ 8:30 p.m. ET This game is a classic case of an opposing quarterback returning back home to face the team that he once played for and helped win. Last year QB Brock Osweiler went 5-2 in a 7-game stretch while throwing 1,967 yards and 10 touchdowns. After winning Super Bowl L, Broncos GM John Elway allowed Osweiler to walk as he then signed with the Houston Texans for a whooping 4-year/$72-million deal. So far, it looks like that the Texans had overpaid Osweiler. His stats up to this point are as followed: 134-of-227 (59 Comp %) 1,402 yard, 8 TDs, 8 INT, QB rating of 74.1. His 74.1 QB rating is 3rd worse overall among QBs with 100 or more passing attempts behind Blaine Gabbert of the 49ers and Ryan Fitzpatrick of the Jets, both who are now riding the pine tar for their respective teams. Not to mention that he’s playing his old team, a team with a defense that knows a lot of his tendencies and his QB skill set from what they saw and remembered from when Osweiler was a Bronco. If you plan to start Osweiler in your fantasy league, do yourself a favor and just let him ride the bench in this one. Pick: Broncos |
WBOB
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