Wow! What an opening NFL weekend! Start the week with Tom Brady ripping out Dak's heart and close it with a wild Monday night where the Raiders almost blew a game in the biggest way I've seen since the famous Herm Edwards play that led to the invention of kneeling. Between all of that, we had two Super Bowl favorites in the Bills and Packers getting handled. The Bills alone knocked 111 from the pool and with all the other losers brought the survivors down to 1210 from the starting 1604 entrants. But Alas, I got both of mine through.
This week my top pick goes to a team that couldn't win last week, but who can blame them when you're up against Mahomes. In this case, being close is enough for me to think the Cleveland Browns can handle the Houston Texans at home. They are the biggest favorites of the week at -12.5 and should make for a safe pick. I can't pretend like I actually watched any of the Jags/Texans game but I did watch the whole Chiefs/Browns game and what I saw was that Cleveland will be a playoff team again. The Texans are in rebuild mode and will be finishing at or near the bottom of the worst division in football.
For the second pick, I'm going with the other -12.5 favorite Tampa Bay Buccaneers. As good as Tom Brady looked in Week 1, this pick is all about Atlanta. I quickly remembered how bad they were last season after their performance against the Eagles and they won't be better this year. The Packers should be another popular pick this week, but I'm staying away until Rodgers proves he's not a mole trying to cost the team games.
My strategy early on in these pools is to keep it simple as long as you can and worry about making tough picks when the time comes. Saving teams always seems to bite you, just ask all the people that busted on the Jags in week 1 trying to be clever.
Cheers! Drink Five
Entry #1 |
Entry #2 |
Rams |
Buccaneers |
Buccaneers |
Browns |
Two weeks in the books, and almost 1/3rd of the pool has been eliminated. Cleveland gave me a little bit of a scare when they trailed the Texans briefly last Sunday. But, we managed to get both picks through again. Seattle and Pittsburgh caused the most casualties last week, with no huge upsets occurring. After watching the Thursday game this week, I think I may have made a strategical error in not locking in a Panthers pick while I could. I stayed away because I'm not a Sam Darnold believer yet. After watching the Panthers offense for the first time this year, I'm not sure I will be able to trust them to win against any opponent other than Houston playing a rookie backup QB.
The Denver Broncos are my top pick this week. After starting the first two weeks on the road against a couple of tomato cans they return for their home opener to face the hapless Jets. That Denver crowd should be fired up and loud after a 2-0 start and that defense will cause fits for rookie Zach Wilson. Teddy Bridgewater should have another good game as well against a week Jets secondary.
I like the Broncos so much I almost wanted to use them for both picks. But alas strange things can happen in the NFL, so I want to spread out my eggs a little bit. My second pick for the week is the Arizona Cardinals. After narrowly escaping the Vikings last week on a missed field goal at the end of the game the Cardinals travel to Jacksonville to feast on the winless Jags. The undefeated Cardinals are just too powerful on offense for Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars to hang.
Lots of good games this weekend should make for a fun Sunday!
Cheers! Drink Five!
ENTRY #1 ENTRY #2
RAMS BUCCANEERS
BUCCANEERS BROWNS
BRONCOS CARDINALS
Week three was relatively safe for everyone in the pool, with all the big favorites taking care of business. About 15% of the league were resurrected by Saint Justin Tucker's NFL record 66 yard field goal as time expired, but who could root against that kick? The Chiefs loss against the Chargers knocked out 18 for the highest number of the week bringing the total survivors down to 1064. Already 199 people have moved on this week with that actually exciting Thursday night game, where the Bengals pulled out a comeback win with a game-ending field goal. That may have been the best spot all year to play Cincinnati and they almost punished you for it. After watching my first Jaguars game, I don't see a winless season in their future.
I decided to use my two picks on the Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans. The Bills are the biggest favorite of the week opening at -16.5 against the quarterbackless Houston Texans. Buffalo looks to be rolling now ever since their week one slip up against the Steelers. Houston has no chance against any of the better teams in the league until they upgrade their QB.
The Titans are my second choice for the week. There is no need for concern about them not having any wide receivers, they are playing the Jets. The Titans will get plenty of receptions on defense to make up for the absence of Brown and Jones. Zach Wilson must be ecstatic for Justin Fields' start for the Bears so he is no longer the biggest embarrassment at QB so far. Titans defense and a heavy dose of Derick Henry should be all it takes.
Good luck everyone! And Drink Five!
ENTRY #1 ENTRY #2
RAMS BUCCANEERS
BUCCANEERS BROWNS
BRONCOS CARDINALS
BILLS TITANS
A few big upsets in week 4 and the field has dwindled to 790, a little less than half of the original entrants. If the Bengals wouldn't have been able to complete their comeback Thursday against the Jags half of the remaining survivors would have been eliminated. As expected, the top pick Buffalo Bills with 420 selections blazed their way through the Texans 40-0. But sadly my secondary pick fell short when the Titans couldn't pull out a late comeback against Jets in OT. To my surprise the Jets 1st win was only the second biggest eliminator of the week, with 146 losing on the Saints compared to 123. The Titans showed me they are too weak to trust against the Jaguars even with all the distractions. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice.... you can't get fooled again.
A team that did impress me last week were the New England Patriots and there stout defense against the Tom Brady and the Bucs. This defense will give the rookie Mills fits and the Pats offense will score enough to pull off this road win. I went back and forth between Pats and Vikings for this pick. But last week the Vikings offense got shut down and for some reason I'm not comfortable picking against Detroit here. The Pats won out here because picking against Houston and getting to use a middling team like the Pats was too good to pass up.
Another strong pick is the Cowboys, but I think I'll be able to find a better spot to use them.
Cheers DrinkFive!
ENTRY #1 ENTRY #2
RAMS BUCCANEERS
BUCCANEERS BROWNS
BRONCOS CARDINALS
BILLS TITANS
PATRIOTS