Week One in the NFL

Alright, so you're going to have to trust me that I picked the Colts to beat the Saints on Thursday night, but I honestly did. You could ask the Intern but that might require him actually writing something for the site which seems a bit out of a stretch for him now-a-days. So, without further ado, the rest of my Week One picks, against the spread to make it a bit hard on myself. By the way, I fully expect to go sub-.500 on the season, so don't put too much faith this way. Home teams are in Caps.

TEXANS (-3) over Chiefs

How sad is your franchise when you're the underdog to the Texans? With L.J. only seeing limited time and Damon Huard starting at QB for the Chiefs, this game almost looks like a lock. Also, Houston's D-Line this year is going to be good. It looks like they've built something good there; now they just need almost everything else.

Steelers (-4.5) over BROWNS

This game may very well determine the seasons for both clubs. Pittsburgh could be right there in the Super Bowl contender hunt or they could be somewhere near the bottom of the division, possibly leap-frogged by the Browns. I don't have an ounce of faith in the Browns (which could make them a viable sleep) but I'm not putting money on them until Brady Quinn gets the ball and starts his career. As a side note, I am fully all-out rooting for the Browns to go winless this year, if only to get God's team (Dallas) the number one pick next year.

JETS (+6.5) over Patriots

This line is too high, especially with the Patriots setbacks on defense right now. I can actually see the Jets taking this one straight up. While New England has their new, over-the-top offense, I'm not exactly sure how they're going to play all together. This could actually be game-of-the-week calibre. Also, I'm actually kind of interested as to why Chad Pennington is on the injury report, listed as probable with Pelvis in brackets.

Dolphins (+3) over REDSKINS

I know quite well that the Dolphins are going to stink up the joint this year. It's completely going to happen, there's no sleeper potential here. Why am I picking them (on the road no less)? The way I see it, shouldn't the rule of the underdogs have some sort of carry-over? This is my test subject.

Broncos (-3) over BILLS.

It would seem kind of dumb for me to put money on J.P. Losman (even at home) and that new offensive line the Bills have assembled when I'm actually taking the Broncos to win the Super Bowl. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that this new O-Line that the Bills have thrown together is actually over-rated and when you see how bad they actually are and what people have already been saying about them, you'll know why I'm not stoked on picking Buffalo.

Titans (+6.5) over JAGUARS

Some of the Sports Guy's Ewing Theory potential here with the Titans and Pacman Jones (not quite as much as Atlanta though) and this line is too much to give up. David Garrard didn't start any of the preseason games and, ergo, hasn't faced any body's starters yet. I don't think he'll be too sharp. But then again, the Madden curse could kick in and Vince Young could get his ACL shreded this week.

Falcons (+3) over VIKINGS

It's the Vikings and Tavaris Jackson is the quarterback. Also, you're giving three points. Would you wager money on that?

RAMS (-1) over Panthers

I actually picked the Panthers to win it all last year. This year, I wouldn't beat on them in a close game against the Rams, especially in St. Louis. No way they're coming away with a win.

CHARGERS (-6) over Bears

Firstly, I don't think that Cedric Benson is going to be very good this year with the heavier work load. Secondly, Rex Grossman is still Rex Grossman. Thirdly, this San Diego team is going to put up A LOT of points this season and their Merriman anchored defense is going to get their stops. Come playoff time though, I'm not so sure about the Chargers.

RAIDERS (-2) over Lions

Let's remember that the Raiders actually had a very good defense last year. Let's remember Detroit actually has quite the high-powered pass attack assembled. Let's also remember this is the Raiders and Lions we're talking about here. When the Raider's offense is on the field, it might look a lot like the movable object vs. the stoppable force.

COWBOYS (-6) vs. Giants

Note the "vs." instead of "over." I don't pick Dallas games, I would have absolutely no objective judgement.

Ravens (+2.5) over BENGALS

I liked the Ravens last year and I like them even more this year with my boy, Willis McGahee. The loss of Adalius Thomas will hurt their defense but not as much as you'd think.

NINERS (-3) over Cardinals

If this Niners team is as good as everyone's built them up to be, they should have no problem with the perennial sad-sack Cards. The city of St. Louis sure did upgrade when the Cards left and the Rams came in.

This Week: 1-0
This Season 1-0

It's go time

The NFL season launched with a bang last night in Indianapolis where the Colts layed a whuppin' on the Saints. Every knew that, same as always, the Colts would be able to put points up on the board and the question was, same as always, would their defence be able to contain their opponents. Well, fans of the Colts should be quite splendidly surprised with their D's performance after their 41-10 win.

Even after losing some key personnel, the Colts looked same as always running their opponent out of their building. Not to mention that their defence held the Saints offense, Reggie Bush, Drew Brees et al, to only a field goal is saying something special. That's right, the only touchdown that the Saints could muster was off of a fumble recovery.

And, for the record, while I picked the Colts to win last night, both the Intern and the Designer went with "America's team" to win. And can we please remove that nickname from the Saints? I'm totally for giving that moniker to the Atlanta Falcons this year after what they endure because of the Michael Vick / dog-fighting saga.

Follow the flow

A lot can happen over a long weekend; especially at this time of year and even more so if you can't post due to internet problems. A wonderful little flow of big events happened over the past few days in major league baseball and if I had somehow been unable to post for another day or two, I would have been glad to write a "Six Degrees of Separation headline.

We begin on Friday night when the ever-so fading Twins nearly had a historical night. The young Scott Baker had a night to remember and made a lot of people scoot forward to edges of their seats. Going into the ninth inning against the sad sack Royals, Baker was holding down the fort and tossing a perfect game. Now, of course this post would be leading a lot differently if he had actually accomplished the feat, but even getting that close before finally giving up a walk is still fantastic. Even odder, the man who got the hit was Mike Sweeney, pinch hitting in the second game of the double header. Sweeney hadn't had an June 17th and was activated off the DL in between the twin bill. So close.

The very next night, the Boston Red Sox received a similar pitching performance from an unlikely source. Rookie Clay Buchholz, in his second major league start, threw a no-hitter against the very bad Baltimore Orioles. After having some time to think about both Buchholz's and Baker's performances, it's actually kind of hard to get fired up about them. These were two high-level prospects who stepped up and beat seriously crappy teams. The Royals are, well, the Royals and the Orioles are the same team that were dominated by a Blue Jays double-A farm hand in his first start (Jesse Litsch). If one of those kids could stun a contender, then I would give some serious kudos.

Speaking of the Red Sox and beating crappy teams, former Boston ace Pedro Martinez made his first start since undergoing major shoulder surgery and did a damn good job in his come-back. Pedro picked up the win in a 10-4 game against the Reds but more importantly became the 15th pitcher in history to reach the 3,000 strikeout mark. Pedro should be hall of fame bound when his career wraps up and these numbers are really helping pave his way into Cooperstown.

Speaking of milestones, one that was off of my radar at least occured last night. Marlins superstar (yes, I would consider him one) Miguel Cabrera became the third youngest player to drive in 500 RBIs with a run-scoring against the Nationals. The two men ahead of him, Mel Ott and Ted Williams, had some stunning careers themselves so this milestone bodes quite well for Miggy C. It was Cabrera’s 96th RBI of the season and now, should he tally four more, he’ll also become the third-youngest player with four consecutive 100 RBI seasons. Ott and Williams are the others in that category as well. Too bad the lost the game.

Now, the challenge will be to see if some in baseball can connect to Cabrera's feat last night; but I might have to get creative with that part.