NFL 2010 Week 9 Wrap Up

Whew!!!  Finally something good happens to my picks this week.  We were close to getting that perfect week, but as we all know, close only works for horse shoes and hand grenades.  Let’s see what happened. 

Tampa Bay @ Atlanta – The Falcons were able to pull this one out with a goal line defensive stand, stopping LeGarrette Blount to win this game.  Matt Ryan had a steady game (24 of 36 for 235 yards, 1 TD) eventhough he lost his #1 target in Roddy White.  The Falcons are on top of the NFC South and could be dangerous for just about any team out there.  They run the ball well with Michael Turner (24 carries, 107 yards, 2 TDs) and the defense has been able to make some stops when needed.  Great game for the Bucs too, they lost by about a yard.  Inquisitive Mind 1 – 0 for the week.

Chicago @ Buffalo – All this talk about going to the running game for the Bears and this is what you do?  Yes, the Bears ended up with 105 yards rushing as a team but some of that (39 yards) came from Cutler running for his life.  This Bears team is just bad.  Hopefully they will spend some money in the offseason on offensive linemen.  Any player they draft that doesn’t have the designation ‘OL’ should promptly be followed by season ticketholders turning in their tickets.  No one is going to want to watch this next year.  Did I mention that they won?  Just barely.  Inquisitive Mind 2 – 0 for the week. 

New England @ Cleveland – Here’s what I said on Friday – ‘The real question is which Browns team shows up.  Will it be the team that beat the Saints, or the team that shows up almost every other week?  I’m on record that the Patriots aren’t that good (their record says otherwise), but I don’t think this Browns team is quite ready yet.  Maybe this is one more step closer to the Mike Holmgren coaching era in Cleveland’.  Peyton Hillis (29 carries, 184 yards, 2 TDs) singlehandedly destroyed the Patriots, and he also made Colt McCoy look pretty good (14 of 19, 174 yards).  There may be life in Cleveland after LeBron because this Browns team looks to be on the come up.  Inquisitive Mind 2 – 1 for the week. 

New York Jets @ Detroit – This is the team you don’t want to play.  The Detroit Lions played well against the Jets and it took overtime for the Jets to pull this one off.  This was a good hard hitting game that even included (my vote for Defensive Rookie of the Year) Ndamukong Suh missing an extra point.  Santonio Holmes (5 catches, 114 yards) was the difference in the Jets passing game and Calvin Johnson (1 catch, 13 yards) got shut down by the Jets defense.   There had to be joy on that Jets plane home because they stole this one from the jaws of defeat.  Inquisitive Mind 3 – 1 for the week. 

New Orleans @ Carolina – Was this the Charlotte Mecklenburg football team or the Panthers?  This was a no contest from the beginning and that’s about all you can say.  I think John Fox sealed his job with this game and probably was glad that he made it home yesterday in one piece.  Inquisitive Mind 4 – 1 for the week. 

Miami @ Baltimore – The Ravens defense showed up and put this game away.  Joe Flacco (20 of 27, 266 yards, 2 TDs) was great and Ray Rice (22 carries, 83 yards) led the Ravens on the ground.  Inquisitive Mind 5 -1 for the week. 

San Diego @ Houston – Are you kidding me?  You let Philip Rivers just throw the ball all over the place?  The running game in San Diego is pathetic and you chose to let Rivers throw the ball?  Houston had me screaming yesterday because they gave this game away.  Literally they gave it away.  Not Antonio Gates, and you could barely name the other receivers on the Chargers team.  Arrrrgggghhh!!!  Inquisitive Mind 5 – 2 for the week. 

Arizona @ Minnesota – Again, how did the Cardinals lose this game?  You’re up 14 with 4 minutes left and you lose the game in overtime?  This was the game for Childress’ job and I wanted the Vikings to win, but the Vikings need to get rid of Childress.  If you just watched the post game press conference you would have thought that this was a loss for the Vikings.  Childress was melancholy as usual, even throwing in a jab at his quarterback (if you want to tell and joke and you don’t normally tell jokes and the joke is about a sore subject for you team, you probably don’t want to tell the joke).  The Vikings can turn this around if they all kiss and makeup, but that’s a big ‘IF’.  Inquisitive Mind 6 – 2 for the week. 

New York Giants @ Seattle – What I said on Friday – ‘We are now seeing the beginning of the Charlie Whitehurst regime in Seattle.  He’s never thrown a pass in an NFL game and he gets to face a well rested Giants front line.  There’s no way that this ends well for the Seahawks, right?’  Inquisitive Mind 7 – 2 for the week. 

Indianapolis @ Philadelphia – Whew!!!!  The Eagles held on to this game when I thought for sure that Peyton Manning and the NFL were going to make sure that the Colts won this game.  Here are my issues:  1) If you are going to suspend guys and fine them for hitting people in tight spaces, you need to fine and suspend the QBs that throw them the ball into the tight places.  I pray that Austin Collie is somewhere and he’s well this morning as you never want to see anyone get hurt.  But when you go down the seam with a LB in the chase position, and two safeties who are coming to knock you out, bad things are going to happen.  Collie got had time to brace himself and he drop his head and he was hit by 3 people in a matter of seconds.  This was a good football hit (not the outcome that you want) and it was a fumble.  2) If you don’t take the skirts off of these QBs, I’m not going to watch the NFL.  I’m sorry, I’d rather watch high school and college ball than watch Peyton Manning get 15 yard penalties because a defender was swiping for the ball and happen to hit him in the head with their hand.  You are taught from a young age to bother the QB if you can’t hit him, or hit whatever you can.  It’s just sad to see what this has come to.  Inquisitive Mind 8 – 2 for the week. 

Kansas City @ Oakland – The Raiders have won 3 in a row.  They haven’t done that in years and they are looking pretty good.  They came back against the Chiefs and were able to take this game into overtime.  The Chiefs had chances to come home with a win, but in a hard fought game like this, you can’t really fault either team (too much).  Inquisitive Mind 8 – 3 for the week. 

Dallas @ Green Bay – The crying will continue for the Cowboys.  Last night’s debacle should have sealed the fate of their head coach, the assistance head coach, the ball boy, and anyone else who is paid by the Cowboys.  Last night was a total a#& whoopin and pictures from the sideline suggests that grown men can cry.  The Packers defense got in the game and it was pretty much over when it started.  Jerry Jones is somewhere today and he is HOT!!!!  Wade Phillips, get on the bus.  Inquisitive Mind 9 – 3 for the week. 

Pittsburgh @ Cincinnati – The Steelers did what I thought they would do, go into Cincinnati and beat up on the Bengals.  This Bengals team has way too much talent, but the key may be that they are limited at the QB position.  I’m not sure what’s going on but Carson Palmer looks to be toast.  He’s just not the same guy, pre-knee operation.  The sad part is that the Bengals have no other option to turn to because the backup is his little brother.  They are 2-6 and the season is pretty much over.  I have a feeling that Marvin Lewis is pretty much over too.  Inquisitive Mind 10 -3 for the week. 

I’m glad I was able to bounce back with a 10-3 week, because otherwise it was starting to get depressing.  That brings me to a 73-56 record for the year.  We’re going in the right direction.  Lookout week 10.