2009 NFL Season: Week 7 Picks

After going 5-8 last week (first week that bad in years), I am wondering if I’m in over my head.  Am I being too stubborn about my contempt for the Patriots and the Broncos?  Am I underestimating the truism that Houston is the new Seattle and that Seattle is the new St. Louis?  I’m rolling the dice — full steam ahead.

13-0 or bust!!!

New England Patriots vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (in London). Does New England really need the assistance from the NFL of making this a “road” game?  The Pats will win and the Bucs will play another tough road game away from sunny Raymond James Stadium.  New England 95, Tampa Bay 0.

Green Bay Packers vs. Cleveland Browns. I like the Packers to feast during this part of their schedule.  One week after playing the Lions, the Packers may be heading to Bali after this game.  Green Bay 31, Cleveland 3.

San Francisco 49ers at Houston Texans. Aren’t the Texans the Bengals  of the South.  Aren’t they a team that cannot stand prosperity?  Aren’t the 49ers coming to town with Frank Gore?  San Francisco 30, Houston 24.

Minnesota Vikings vs. Pittsburgh Steelers. Game of the Week 1. The Steelers are playing without Aaron Smith.  He’s the most important cog in their run defense.  When he missed games in 2007 vs. Jacksonville, the Steel Curtain was shredded twice in a span of 3 weeks.  Adrian Peterson should have a big game if he runs to the right.  I don’t think it’ll be enough.  I’ll take Ben, Hines and Santonio.  Pittsburgh 45, Minnesota 42.

Indianapolis Colts vs. St. Louis Rams. Curse the Scheduling Gods!  This just isn’t fair.  Indianapolis 48, St. Louis 16.

San Diego Chargers vs. Kansas City Chiefs. If I’m the owner of the Chargers, this game tells me all I need to know about Norv Turner.  (Okay, I should already know.)  This is the first must win game of the season for the Chargers.  Last week was bad enough, but it wasn’t fatal.  The Colts won 9 in a row in 2008, only to lose to the Chargers in San Diego during the wildcard round.  San Diego can get off the map, but not after this week.  Do or die.  San Diego 23, Kansas City 21.

Buffalo Bills vs. Carolina Panthers. There will be four talented running backs in this game: DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart for the Panthers and Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson for the Bills.  There will be two awful quarterbacks and two beat up defenses.  Both teams are coming off dramatic wins against division rivals.  The Panthers have the better backs and are playing at home.  Buffalo could give up 300 yards for the 2nd consecutive week.  Carolina 28, Buffalo 13.

New York Jets at Oakland Raiders. The Jets NEVER (they did once in 2003) win in Oakland.  In 2008, the Jets had a nice little winning streak where they won 7 of 8.  The lone loss?  At Oakland.  In 2002, the Jets went 9-7, made the playoffs and won a wildcard game 41-0 vs. the Colts.  That season, the Jets lost at Oakland twice.  If the Jets win this game, it will be a minor miracle.  Oakland 17, New York Jets 10.

Atlanta Falcons at Dallas Cowboys. Remember when Dallas found its defense last year against Tampa Bay and won at home in a shocker.   This will be that game all over again.  Wade is going to win this one with scheme and anticipation.  Only Romo can lose it.  If he’s smart enough to remember down and distance — and attack Brian Williams’ replacement, the Cowboys should win.  Dallas 38, Atlanta 35.

Chicago Bears at Cincinnati Bengals. In the Cedric Benson Payback Bowl, I like the Bears to replicate the success of the Texans through the air.  The Bears have a pass-catching tight end and running back capable of doing damage to the Bengals.  If Olson and Forte can replicate Daniels and Slaton, it will a nice little road trip from the windy city.  The absence of Antwaan Odom means Jay Cutler may have time to handle his business.  Chicago 26, Cincinnati 23.

New Orleans Saints at Miami Dolphins. Game of the Week 2. I hope Miami comes out in the orange uniforms and hands Jennifer Lopez a microphone.  This is going to be a great game.  The contrast in styles, alone, is enough to provide a clinic for casual fans.  The Saints, of course, are not a pass-only team.  They can run the ball as well.  The only difficulties for the Saints, in fact, have come in games where they were encouraged to run by the defense.  The Saints required 3 quarters to dispose of the Bills and Jets (AFC East teams like Miami).  Other games where the Saints run game was the focus were easily over by halftime.  I like Miami’s power running and deep play action passing.  Miami 28, New Orleans 27.

Arizona Cardinals vs. New York Giants. Kurt Warner will come back to town with ball security on his mind.  He’ll also be thinking about torching the Giants the way that Drew Brees did last week.  I like his chances.  I like Arizona’s defense against the run.  This is THE toughest stretch of games for the Cardinals.  A win here, following a big win in Seattle, should serve notice to the conference that Arizona could be legit.  Arizona 34, New York 28.

Philadelphia Eagles vs. Washington Redskins. This game couldn’t come at a better time for the Eagles.  It couldn’t come at a worse time for the Redskins.  Washington, though, may want its hand at beating teams with winning records since facing winless teams didn’t work out so well.  If the Raiders could right the ship against the Eagles, so can Washington.  The problem is that the Titanic can only sink once.  Philadelphia 44, Washington 14.

Murder in St. Tammany Parish?

From the Seattle Post Intelligencer:

Terreal Bierria, a former Seattle Seahawks player who started 12 games for the team in 2004, was arrested Tuesday on charges of first-degree murder in Slidell, La.

Bierria, 30, was a fourth-round draft pick of the Seahawks in 2002 and played 30 games for Seattle between 2002-04.

According to this story in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Bierria was arrested the day after Soron Salter, his long-time friend, was found stabbed to death inside his apartment in Slidell.

The newspaper reported that police indicated evidence pointed toward a fight over drugs and that a “significant amount” of cocaine was found inside the home.

From a 2007 article by Jemele Hill (ESPN):

One decision — it’s worth noting it was the right decision — changed everything. It altered his NFL career. Some might even say it killed it.

That decision, though, saved his family.

Bierria had started 12 games for the Seahawks in 2004, but was replaced late in the year because of performance and played only on special teams in Seattle’s playoff loss to St. Louis. In training camp in 2005, he was fighting for a spot on the team. That’s the NFL. And he was struggling.

But Bierria wasn’t worried about his football career. He had far bigger concerns.

In the final days of camp, he had been sick with fear. His family — some 150 relatives — was trapped in the New Orleans area during Hurricane Katrina. He paced restlessly at the team hotel, watching as one news program after another showed thousands of people being feasted on by the deadly natural disaster.

He dialed family members’ cell phones nonstop. He could find out only bits and pieces. He didn’t know who was dead or alive. And he’s supposed to worry about blitz schemes?

Thank God he heard from his daughter, mother, father and brother within the first couple days of the storm. His mother reached him from a hospital phone in Ruston, La.  She did not have good news.  The home Bierria bought for them was all but gone, along with his high school and Milne’s Playground in downtown New Orleans, where his mother first signed him up for rec football.  His grandmother was OK, but her home was buried by seven trees. A cousin was stranded on his roof, another on a bridge; some more family was in the Superdome, where news reports said something close to anarchy was taking place. An uncle was in intensive care in San Antonio, fighting for his life.

So many people he loved were suffering, and he was thousands of miles away feeling totally helpless.

“Just hearing the stories about the rapes going on in the shelters, people killing themselves, just the mad pandemonium going on down here,” Bierria says. “As a man, I can’t not go home and see about what’s going on there.”

He couldn’t justify staying in Seattle, sitting comfortably in a lucrative NFL lifestyle while his relatives’ lives were being torn apart.

“I didn’t know where half of my family was, and the other half, I didn’t know if I was ever going to see them again,” he says.

Take a moment to read the entire article.  It’s worth it.

There is often more to a story than meets the eye.  Bierria was charged this week.  We’ll all see how it plays out.

The Blowout Backstory: New England 59, Jeff Fisher -3

From Yahoo Sports:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)—The wife of former Titans general manager Floyd Reese called a Nashville radio station Thursday to blast the team and Jeff Fisher, a day after hearing talk that her husband has hated the coach since losing a power struggle in Tennessee.

Sally Reese waited until her husband was on a plane headed to London with the New England Patriots then called WGFX-FM to defend him on air. Reese was let go by the Titans when his contract expired in January 2007.

“He kept Jeff from getting fired two times,” Reese said of her husband. “So if he’d let him get fired, he’d still be there. Hello? That’s hindsight. … Sunday I was hoping they’d run it to 100. And I love Tennessee. All you Tennessee people, my dad’s from Tennessee, but when you get sucker punched, you want to sucker punch back.”

She also said her husband wasn’t even allowed to clean out his office when told the franchise was going in a new direction after he had spent 21 years with the team. She also said a senior team official wrote a statement supposedly from her husband.

Floyd Reese was hired by New England in January as a senior adviser, and the Patriots handed Fisher and the Titans a 59-0 loss last weekend that matched the biggest defeat in the league since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970.

Fans have been calling for Fisher’s firing because of the Titans’ 0-6 start and the big loss to New England. Fisher didn’t help cool their anger when he wore a Peyton Manning(notes) jersey Tuesday while introducing Tony Dungy at a Nashville fundraiser.

A message left with a Titans spokesman was not immediately returned late Thursday night.

If there is any merit to this, Fisher’s miscues are piling up at an alarming rate.

Furious Competition For “Genius Points”

Quick!  Name that Offensive Coordinator.

Some offensive coordinators names are heard every week throughout the national media.  The names are heard when the teams perform well and when the teams are shut down.  The names are heard, in some instances, more often than that of the head coach.  It’s as if national reporters are collecting kickbacks from coordinators looking to ascend the final rung of the ladder.

Do offensive coordinators have agents that work tirelessly on their behalf so that they can get name recognition and keep their hat in the ring for the next Looking For Gruden search for genius coaches?  If not, what gives?

How does it happen that average fan hears more about Jason Garrett than Miles Austin or Marion Barber?  Can’t someone just hire Garrett to run their team and end the suspense?  Couldn’t Dallas just get it over with?  What would change?  Not much.  What about Darrell Bevell up in Minnesota?  Isn’t it time someone gave him a real job?  If Bevell is such a genius, what is Brad Childress doing?  And how is what Childress does different from what Norv Turner does?  What about Mike Mularkey?  Hasn’t he learned enough, now, from Mike Smith to warrant another shot at the top job?

In 2008-2009, the man pictured above called the shots for the #2 scoring offense in the NFL.  The man who led the number 1 scoring offense is working at Syracuse University trying to mold a winner.  Both are as anonymous as hooded monks in the Alps.

In my book, they’ve accumulated far more “Genius Points” than their over-exposed competitors in Dallas, Minnesota and Atlanta whose offenses have routinely stumbled in December and January.  Perhaps 2009 will be different.  Perhaps the coordinators who get results will get the credit they deserve…then again, not everyone can call the shots in a billion dollar stadium or craft the game plan for America’s favorite feel-good story.

2009 NFL Schedule: Ravens, then Steelers

This season, the AFC North is pitted against the NFC North and the AFC West.  That makes for some interesting matchups.  In looking at the schedule, however, I noticed a pattern.  The NFL has granted a tremendous gift to the Pittsburgh Steelers at the expense of the Baltimore Ravens.

And you thought THIS was out of bounds!!

Cushy Deal 101

From AP:

“The Titans (3-2) and Packers (3-1) have finished exhibition play against each other the last eight years, with Tennessee going 6-2.”

I knew there were certain franchises that had natural rivalries with one another and others that partake in pre-season competitions steeped in tradition.  The Jets and Giants, for example, play what is known as The Mayor’s Trophy Game during the 3rd week of each NFL exhibition season.

I had no idea that the Titans and Packers had been playing one another for close to a decade.  Financially, this is a great deal for the Titans — and it was better when it brought Brett Favre to town.  The Packers are a national draw.  Fans will turn out, even in pre-season, to see a high-quality non-traditional opponent.

The Packers are in the NFC North and the Titans are in the AFC South, so they rarely play one another in the regular season.

2009 NFL Pre-Season: Early Thoughts

The NFL pre-season means absolutely nothing.  Last year, the Pittsburgh Steelers lost every single game and were particularly ineffective on offense.  Pre-season means nothing.  Still…

Santonio Holmes – Super Bowl MVP

I can’t help thinking that some of what I’ve seen is instructive as a prelude to the 2009 season.  Here are some early thoughts:

As Legitimate As George W., Right?

Legitimate elections? Surely the US has absolutely NOTHING to say about that. Surely, there isn’t a soul within these borders who would even dare utter a syllable about someone else’s election. Shhhh!

clipped from www.bloomberg.com June 15 (Bloomberg) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed defiance against external “threats” as he defended his disputed re-election. He may have vanquished for now the internal threats to his authority. The president’s victory and its endorsement by Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sidelines those in the Islamic republic’s theocracy who favor easing tensions with the West, according to analysts. While his main opponent, former Prime Minister Mir Houssein Mousavi, says the vote was rigged and demands its annulment, his complaints and protests by his supporters are unlikely to shake the regime, said the analysts. The election results mean leaders who still adhere strictly to the principles of the 1979 Islamic Revolution have beaten back a challenge to their dominance, said Geneive Abdo, an Iran analyst at the Century Foundation, a New York research group.

Chrysler at Odds with Indiana State Treasurer

Is it possible that the Republicans have figured out that two can play the game of claiming assets on the cheap.

clipped from www.reuters.com NEW YORK, May 25 (Reuters) – U.S. automaker Chrysler on Monday slammed Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock as making demands that would ultimately push the carmaker into liquidation — resulting in the loss of more than 4,000 jobs and 9,000 retiree pensions in Indiana alone. Mourdock, who oversees pension funds invested in Chrysler debt, has objected to Chrysler LLC’s plan to quickly sell itself in bankruptcy, claiming it is a dangerous path that would hurt pensions for thousands of his state’s retirees. The Indiana pension funds have filed court papers requesting that an examiner be appointed to investigate Chrysler’s business decisions, and that the company be placed in the hands of a Chapter 11 trustee who can act independently of the government. Chrysler claimed in a statement on Monday that Mourdock, a Republican, is willing to put Chrysler in liquidation over less than 1 percent of the three funds’ assets.

Carlyle Reaches Settlement with New York State

Andrew Cuomo is exuberant. Is he premature? Probably. Carlyle has more and better criminals, er, lawyers than Cuomo. They’ll be working on loopholes while he’s trying to figure out his next path to the Governor’s mansion.

clipped from www.nytimes.com The Carlyle Group has agreed to pay $20 million and make broad changes in its practices under a settlement reached with the state attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, as part of Mr. Cuomo’s sweeping investigation of corruption of the state pension fund. Under the deal, Carlyle executives and the firm will not face any further action, including criminal prosecution, by Mr. Cuomo’s office. Mr. Cuomo hopes to use the settlement with Carlyle, one of the largest and most politically connected private equity firms, as a model for broader reform in how hedge funds and private equity firms intersect with public pension funds. Under its terms, Carlyle will be prohibited from using any kind of intermediary to provide even an introduction to officials at public pension funds. Carlyle will also have to disclose contributions to any politicians in a state — such as governors, mayors or legislators — in which it does pension business. “This is a revolutionary agreement,”