The Welker drama continued for the Patriots this past Sunday, as Edelman played more snaps and got the start over Welker. All I heard today was conspiracy theories on why Bill is doing this to the guy. The most logical in my mind is the whole contract dispute, and how Welker tweeted earlier this summer how he was hoping for long term but settled for the franchise tag and would sign as a “leap of faith” hoping the Patriots would do the same net off season. We all know the Patriots hate bad PR. That’s the number one no-no in New England. But then I thought about it more and you have Gronk who made a fool of himself after their Super Bowl loss last season and got a huge long term deal. I can’t wrap the whole situation around my head, and it is killing me to figure out what they are doing here. I have always thought that Bill has elaborate plans that defy logic, and sometimes just dicks around with teams, maybe even loses on purpose if he thinks it’s what’s best for the team. Who knows. How do you explain an offense doing absolutely nothing the whole game and then driving down the Cardinals throat on the drive with 3 minutes left and then nearly having another TD or at least a long gain to win the game if it wasn’t for the Gronk hold? Maybe Bill has some new stuff and he knew they had two layups, or what he thought would be layups before they took on a tough Baltimore team in one of their two toughest games this year? I don’t know. To make things more confusing they just resigned Deion Branch. The world is upside down in Foxborough, so I am just glad I don’t like the Pats anymore. And all I know is I just traded for Welker in one of my fantasy leagues so I hope he comes back to form, and honestly I think he will. They’ve had Julian for 3 years now so it’s not like all of a sudden he became Welker overnight. He isn’t as good, plain and simple. I’m curious to think what other Pats fans think so I will post a poll on here. So vote and tell me whether you think Welker will still finish the season with 100 catches and 1000 yards, whether he will end up back as the primary slot receiver but not produce as much, or whether the Pats are really trying to out Welker and go with Edelman for the most part.
NFL Refs and the Sad Truth
I can’t bite my tongue anymore on the replacement ref issue. I can’t stand listening to all the TV personalities/players/fans complaining about the new refs. If you are complaining about the refs week in and week out, here’s a newsflash for you: you are the reason the real refs aren’t on the field. If you really want the refs back, don’t watch the games. Roger Goodell is a money grubbing bastard who could care less what his product looks like and whether or not the players are happy/safe. All he cares about is ratings and money, and guess what, everyone is still watching! There might even be more people watching now that there is all this talk about how bad the refs are. Now don’t get me wrong and think that I don’t think the refs are bad, because I do think that. You couldn’t honestly think that refs could just come into the NFL and do a great job. But being an NFL ref isn’t like being a mathematician or a rocket scientist. The more they do it the better they’ll get. I think by the end of the season they should be about where the old refs were, which was not good anyways. We praise these old refs now for some reason, when the fact is they all are terrible. Every week we would complain about calls and say how bad the refs are, so the fact that we all want them back now is somewhat strange.
The NFL knows that people will watch no matter what. They are cheap and don’t care about their product. If they cared they would sack up the extra 3 or 4 million to put the old refs back to work. I gained a lot of respect for John Fox last night in his post game conference. There were a lot of things that went on in that game that someone could blame the refs on. He basically said that new refs or old refs, there are a lot of obstacles to overcome in any NFL game and the refs will never be an excuse for why they lost. Point blank that is how every team should be operating. We got to hear Joe Flacco cry like a little baby after they lost to the Eagles. Hey Joe I didn’t hear you complaining about the refs last week when you won. The Ravens of all teams should be benefiting from these refs because defensive backs and line backers can basically get away with murder now and, well, they also have a linebacker who has gotten away with murder once before. So my tip to you people who are constantly complaining about the officials, either stop and embrace it, or keep complaining and don’t watch because that’s the only way the real refs come back is if people stop watching.
NFL Week 2 Picks
So my first week picking all the games went, well, not as bad as I expected. Picking 15 games with spreads is not an easy thing to do, and I might have taken on a tough task by doing that many every week, but whatever. My goal is to go above .500 over the course of the season. I went a decent 8-7 last week, with all things considered. My most cherished fantasy league has gone to shit already and it’s only the beginning of week 2, thanks a lot Jennings/Forte/Steve Smith. I am expecting this week to win at least 10 games. So here we go:
Bucs @ Giants (-7) – Giants looked terrible week one against the Cowboys. Bucs on the other hand looked pretty good against the Panthers, especially on defense. I think the Panthers just didn’t show up though which will factor into this decision. Also, having 10 days to prepare especially after seeing the other team play a game this season should not be overlooked. The Bucs won’t do anything special or different and the Giants can’t expect to keep starting off the season bad and winning the Super Bowl so I like the G-Men to come back and cover the touchdown spread.
Tbow’s Pick- Giants -7
Cardinals @ Patriots (-14)- I showed last week how much I hate spreads over 10 points. Two touchdowns is a lot, and with the way Kolb looked on the final drive of that game. Based on the Cardinals being 1-0 and Kolb’s potential to play like a good qb for once, I am taking the Cardinals +14.
Tbow’s Pick- Cardinals +14
Vikings @ Colts (+2)- Colts are getting 2 points at home after a week one loss on the road. I’m not going to say the Colts looked good, but they looked better than I expected, at least offensively. They definitely have much to work on on the defensive side of the ball, but the Vikings certainly don’t have the weapons the Bears had. I like the Colts in this game to get their first win of the season. Maybe they will realize they can stop sucking for Luck because he is on the team already.
Tbow’s Pick- Colts +2
Saints @ Panthers (+3)- Here’s another home dog this week, and this could be the most tricky pick of the week. Both teams severely underperformed last week, and quite frankly were disappointing. Because the Saints are more experienced and know the ramifications of going 0-2 to start the season, I am going to say Brees will be on the top of his game and they win by a few touchdowns.
Tbow’s Pick- Saints -2
Chiefs @ Bills (-3)- This game is kind of a laugher in my opinion. Did Vegas watch the Bills game last week? They let a team that didn’t score a touchdown in the preseason score 40 something points. Chiefs looked okay at least in the first half against the Falcons who seemed to be on a mission in week 1. Charles looked healthy and Cassel looked pretty decent so I like their chances of winning this game.
Tbow’s Pick- Chiefs +3
Ravens @ Eagles (-3)- Ah, my Eagles. Almost gave me a heart attack last week, thank god I couldn’t actually watch the game or I would have had one. Definitely did not look good, but after further review, I put a lot of that on Andy Reid. I was not aware how good of a pass defense the Browns actually had. They were tops in the league last season in pass defense. They were also worst in the league in rush defense, so let’s not give the ball to the best running back in the league and let Vick throw 56 times. Makes sense. Anyway, plain and simple, Ravens are a different team on the road. I like the Eagles to come out and whoop them, even if Jackson and Maclin don’t play.
Tbow’s Pick- Eagles -3
Raiders @ Dolphins (+3)- Oakland had a horrible misfortune last week with their long snapper going down in the 1st quarter. That will kill your special teams, and it did. Just can’t prepare for that. I like them to bounce back against the horrible Dolphins. However, this will be a close game that might go down to the wire.
Tbow’s Pick- Raiders -3
Browns @ Bengals (-7)- This game is my beat down of the week. Browns looked like a Pee Wee team on offense last week. Just nothing positive at all. Not one thing. Bengals got embarrassed on Monday night by a good team, and will be out for blood this week. All Bengals after the coin toss.
Tbow’s Pick- Bengals -7
Texans @ Jags (+7.5)- I doubted the Texans last week with the big spread, didn’t think they had the offensive fire power. I was wrong. They scored 30 with their running game virtually non existent, I mean if you consider 100 yards non existent. A hobbled Adrian ran for 80 and two td’s against the Jags, so I expect Arian to do the same and like the Texans big this week.
Tbow’s Pick- Texans -7.5
Cowboys @ Seahawks (+3)- This game comes down to whether or not you believe the Cowboys. They have been the biggest frauds the last few years. Look great one week then the next week look like they belong cleaning the stadium after the game. I’m not a believer and I love how the Hawks play at home. Just a tough place to play, probably getting close to as tough as playing at the Ravens. Let’s go Russel FTW!
Tbow’s Pick- Seahawks +3
Redskins @ Rams (+3)- This seems to be a theme this week. Home dogs by 3. I don’t like the home team in this one though, at all. They played good last week, but let’s not forget they let the Lions drive right down the field in under a minute to not only tie the game, but win with a touchdown. Just unacceptable at the NFL level. At least hold them to a field goal. Redskins looked legit. Beat the Saints who had a lot to play for in New Orleans. I’m on the RGIII bandwagon.
Tbow’s Pick- Redskins -3
Jets @ Steelers (-5)- Jets looked great last week, Steelers, not so much. If you think the Jets winning ways won’t be attributed to Tebow in any way you are high. The guy brings a winning attitude, and turned a bunch of selfish players into winners. J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets!
Tbow’s Pick- Jets +5
Titans @ Chargers (-6)- Chargers won by default last week, and we didn’t get to see a lot of offense from them, mostly because each drive started inside the Oakland 30. The defense looked solid and the offense looked okay. I like the Chargers this year, Phil Rivers comeback kid.
Tbow’s Pick- Chargers -6
Lions @ 49ers (-7)- The cowardly Lions are going into a dangerous place this week. I don’t really like the Lions this year. I think what we saw from Stafford last game is the real Stafford. 5,000 yards last year was a fluke. 49ers by 20 and expose the Lions for who they are.
Tbow’s Pick- 49ers -7
Broncos @ Falcons (-3)- Quite frankly I am just tired now of writing, so ya.
Tbow’s Pick- Falcons -3
One Hour til Kickoff…5 Things to Watch For
We are at the eleventh hour, and football is almost upon us. The Red Zone channel will no longer say “Off Air”, and you’ll no longer have a need to take a shower on Sundays….or maybe that’s just me. All the Pats fans are already somewhat happy seeing the G-Men lose on Wednesday, but don’t get too excited cause they sucked at the beginning of last year too. So now that we are truly ready for some football, I will give you 5 things to watch for today:
5. Wildcat in New York- Today we get to finally find out if Rex is really serious about using Tebow throughout the game and in various ways in the offense. He supposedly had been hiding their wildcat package all season to keep it a surprise for the regular season. Today we will see if he truly has a plan or if he just wanted the circus and a lot more feet people in the stands.
4. Patriots opening drive- Most of you reading this will be watching the Pats game at one so if I were you, I would be very excited to see the opening drive for them. I think we will all learn a lot about whether the offensive line will be ok and if Brady is in sync with his receivers because it wasn’t too pretty in the preseason. I’d also look for how many plays Gronk is on the field and to see if the addition of the extra tight ends and big contract to Hernandez shows that they want to pull back on Gronk a little bit in the regular season since they rode him pretty hard last year and in the end he couldn’t hold up…except of course his ankle held up at the Super Bowl after party during the rager.
3. Replacement refs- A few days ago this would have been number one. But you know, they did a good job on Wednesday night. If none of us knew they were replacement refs we would have had no clue except maybe would have said hey wheres Hochuli or wheres that black ref who says ” Holding…….OFFENSE”. Other than those two I wouldn’t know Joe Schmo from Jerry Sandusky. I think they’ll be ok, but I mean, if you are watching a game with the notion that the refs suck in the back of your head you start to look for mistakes, and obviously there will always be mistakes made. It will be interesting to say the least.
2. The 49ers at the Packers- Just a great game to be on at 4 today. All of you should be watching this game, because this will tell you a lot about who the true power in the NFC is. No question, after watching Wednesday, neither of those teams are that good, and the 49ers have a lot of buzz surrounding them this year. As I told you all yesterday, I do expect the 49ers to win and I am going to give you a bigger stretch. Stone if your reading this don’t get too excited. Randy Moss will get a touchdown today. Lock it up. He’s a beast at Lambeau. Hopefully today he won’t fake moon the crowd though.
1. The bottom of your glass- Sit back, crush some brews, eat some shit, and watch some damn football.
Merry Christmas Harry, Happy Hanukkah Marv
P.S. I hope Peyton’s head falls off his stupid neck and that John Elway gets food poisoning in his suite right at kickoff.
Tebow's World 