Man, you would think today was the damn Super Bowl. I guess that’s how I would act too if my favorite team played one good team a year. Anyway, I’m excited because it should be a good game. What I would give for my Eagles to switch with the Patriots and move to the AFC East and put the Pats in the NFC East. 6 automatic wins almost every year. And the only reason I say almost every year is because once in a while the Jets will make the playoffs so those games are harder. I will give my expert analysis however and give both teams keys to victories:
Patriots keys: If the Patriots want to win tonight, it’s all about scoring and scoring early. Now, this could be a problem because it is pretty crappy outside, but weather might not come into play that much. I realize the Texans can score as well, but scoring early and often will really put pressure on the Houston offense which would love to sit on the ball and control the clock. On defense it’s all about stopping the run. Containing Foster would be huge and give the Patriots a clear advantage. The pass defense should be simple. If you want any chance of winning a Super Bowl, you should be able to stop one wide receiver. Houston only has Andre Johnson, and he is a good wide out but the one goal is to contain him for no big plays. Dink and dunks are fine, as long as you can score on offense. Try and get to 30 and hope you can outscore that offense.
Texans keys: Control the clock. If Houston can run, which they can, I really like them tonight. The best way to beat the Patriots is to keep their offense off the field. You know the Patriots offense will score, but it’s not impossible to hold them to 20. Limit possessions and put pressure on Tom Brady. If you can force a few turnovers and run the ball there is no reason to not win this game.
Needless to say, I like the Texans. Honestly, the Patriots have not beaten a really good team in who knows how long. Last year they lost to every good team in the regular season and didn’t beat the Ravens, Billy Cundiff and Lee Evans beat the Ravens. Maybe this is the game where the Pats can show that they are the real deal and aren’t just going to beat up on mediocre teams and then lose to the Giants in the Super Bowl again. I just think the Texans defense is too good, and the Patriots defense isn’t there yet. I see a low scoring game tonight, even though many expect it to possibly be a shootout. The only way it will be a shootout is if the Texans defense shits themselves and forgets how to play. Patriots will score but not a lot and it should be a good, tough, hard fought game. Pats fans better hope it doesn’t come down to a field goal or they might be signing Billy Cundiff next week because Gostkowski is garbage.
Prediction: Houston 21- Patriots- 20
Sixers are hosting the Celtics tomorrow night followed by a game at the Garden on Saturday. We are almost a quarter of the way through the season and the Sixers and Celts are both sitting at 10-8. These two games probably don’t mean as much to the Celtics as they do to the Sixers. Who knows when Bynum is going to be back. I have said it all along that if the Sixers can go .500 until Bynum is back they will be able to contend for a championship. However, if he gets pushed back any later than mid January I will have to retract that statement. Most years .500 would get you a spot in the playoffs easily in the East. This year I’m not so sure. I thought the Sixers would have the Atlantic locked and have Boston as their biggest threat but Brooklyn and New York decided to show up this season. The reason I say these two mean more to the Sixers than the Celtics is because this could possibly be the team going forward for the duration of the season. It’s possible there is no Bynum at all which should result in a blanket party for Sixers upper management for leading us all on, so this is really a test to see if they have what it takes. The Sixers beat them in the first match-up this year, and that is the game where I think something clicked with Evan Turner because he has been on a tear ever since. I think he is the X-factor in these two games along with Thad Young. Celtics don’t really have anyone who can match up with Thad because he’s big and athletic.
Last week was a tough week. There were 3 pushes which could have either boosted me to a great week or knocked me down to a terrible week. Either way, I ended with 7-6-3 bringing my two week total to 15-13-3. By my math that is around 54% which is not very good but also not bad. This week I guarantee 10 wins. So if there is ever a week to pony up some money behind my picks, this is it. There have been 2 weeks and the league is as competitive as it’s ever been with 20 teams at 1-1. By the way, screw the Patriots who screwed about 40% of everyone in the world who was in a survivor pool.
This post has been long coming. The fact that all of this, and I tried to find a better word for it but just couldn’t, but all of this bullshit coming to a peak right now shouldn’t surprise any of us. We were all excited when the Sox signed Adrian and Crawford a few years back, thinking getting to the World Series would be a breeze. Well, they won like 2 games in their first 10. That was sign number 1. Sign number 2 I completely blocked out of my memory because I think I was in denial, but let’s not forget about that monumental collapse in September. Despicable. Disgusting. Vomit. Sign number 3 was both Crawford sucking and him sucking enough for him to write a letter to the fans saying he’d play better next year. Well, next year happened and Crawford wasn’t a part of it. Normally booze and fried chicken sound like a good time, but I guess it doesn’t mix well when you are a professional baseball player. The list of things go on and on and on and on. In fact, I am going to give you guys a list of all the things I’d rather watch right now than the Red Sox:
Tebow's World 