Mr. Royal covers today in what you need to know for Sunday’s games.
Week 8 Preview: All About That Action Boss
Side Note #1: I’m back baby! Went 5-2 last week bringing my record to 27-15 on the year. Very excited about this week. Just a great week to be a pure football fan (Giants are on a BYE, meaning I can’t be saddened). Tremendous matchups. Can’t wait to post up on my couch with my remote, burgers, beer, and my NFL Sunday Ticket.
In the wake of the (completely unsurprising) Kobe Bryant story in ESPN the Magazine, what we’re talking about for the intro today is the lack of attachment we see between players and their teams – and sometimes even their fans when it comes to their star athletes in the NFL.
You see career one-team guys get traded or even cut routinely so easily and often in the NFL. There’s no atta boy, no “thanks for your service,” no over-sized contract to keep a guy on the decline around because the fans love them. Nope. NFL franchises have no problem saying, “It’s been real brah, but we’re not paying you that. Adios.” Happens all the time. Don’t believe me?
- Demarcus Ware – no-doubter for the HoF on a team known for crap contracts sent packing because he cost too much. Meanwhile Dallas is experiencing some kind of renaissance not even Football Jesus himself could explain
- Peyton Manning – “Oh, you might be hurt and not able to play again? Yea, we’re gonna go with the younger, cheaper guy in the draft.” The guy might be the GOAT and the Colts sent him packing. Insane.
- Ladainian Tomlinson – Set all kinds of TD records for the Chargers. But when push came to shove and he got to be a little old, they practically walked him out the door to head to New York.
- Justin Tuck/Osi Umenyiora (thanks for the rings, but you’re getting a little old)
- Brian Urlacher – Bears’ legend. I’ve never seen a middle linebacker (other than maybe steroid-chomping, murdering Ray Lewis) who was as aware of what was happening on a football field as Brian Urlacher. He got old, Bears wouldn’t pay him, forced him into retirement.
- Steve Smith was costing Baltimore too much. Let him go to Baltimore and HE CAN STILL PLAY!!
These are household names. Hall of Famers (some). All shown the door when the dollars and cents didn’t add up correctly as they balanced the checkbook.
How many players in the NFL can you point to that are grossly overpaid? I mean, badly overpaid and teams can’t do anything about it? Romo? He’s having the best year of his career (I’m eating my words). Now think about baseball and basketball. I could go all day here, folks.
- Kobe (obviously)
- A-Rod
- Jeter (overpaid as you look at his production late in his career. They paid him just to stay in NY and everyone applauded them for it)
- Ok, most of the Yankees
- Pujols
- Robinson Cano
- Amare Stoudemire (I literally dream of the day he’s no longer a Knick)
- D-Wade
- Remember that Rashard Lewis contract!?
- Is Allan Houston still on the Knicks’ payroll? What about Eddie Curry? How about Starbury? T-Mac? Stevie Freaky Franchise Francis? (WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF?!)
I won’t bore you, but I really could go on forever. It’s partially a structural issue with the other leagues penalizing teams for cutting guys, guaranteed money etc. But it’s also an issue with how we view stars. As football fans we view stars in terms of their prospective production and usefulness – we care more about the bottom line, and less about nostalgia and sentimentality. Laker fans will stare you straight in the face and tell you Kobe is worth $25 million a year. Colts fans folded up their Manning jerseys and bought Andrew Luck’s the next day.
That’s why Jay Cutler’s contract this off-season was a little shocking. It’s just a hard pill to swallow watching him underachieve after they addressed their O-line issues (much improved, actually one of the better lines in the NFL). They also have a very-good RB, two tall, dynamic, strong, and highly athletic receivers, and ditto for the tight end. Also, isn’t your coach supposed to be some kind of QB expert? I mean, what’s the excuse now, Jay? Why should the Bears hang on to you when undrafted guys like Austin Davis are leading the Rams to wins over the Seahawks?
On to the picks…
Games I’m too chicken to bet on:
Chargers (+7.5/+9.0) at Denver
Lions (+4.5) at Atlanta (I will take the UNDER though – O/U 47)
Vikings (+3) at Tampa Bay
Seahawks (+6) at Carolina
Dolphins (+6) at Jacksonville
Bears (+6) at New England
Packers (EVEN) at New Orleans
Redskins (+10) at Dallas
Rapid-Fire Reasoning
- The line on the Denver/San Diego game changed a lot. My opinion on the Chargers chances of winning changed almost every time I thought about this week. So good no call
- Lions don’t have Megatron, Atlanta is… Bad? Not as bad as they’ve played? I don’t know what to do with my hands?
- Betting on Minnesota at Tampa Bay would be like betting on a high school football game between two teams you’ve never seen play before.
- I want to take Seattle, I really do, but I think this is an ugly one or three-point win for them
- Bortles still makes really dumb decisions, but I see some potential. They’re at home, coming off a win. But they’re still the Jaguars
- The Bears are better on the road and everyone has started believing in New England again. I smell an upset/I’m not ready to give up on the Bears… but I’m not going to bet money on them
- On the one hand, New Orleans’ defense isn’t good, Brees is making really stupid mistakes, and Rodgers is on cruise control, on the other hand, New Orleans at home in the dome is still tough to bet against straight up
- I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY wanna take those points. But maybe Colt McCoy still sucks as much as I think he does and maybe Dallas is as good as everyone wants them to be (can’t stop throwing up in my mouth when I say that)
Rams (+7) over Kansas City
CHOO CHOO! That’s the sound of the Austin Davis’ bandwagon train for dumbasses who like the Rams after a small sample size of games. Why am I betting on the Rams then? BECAUSE I’M THE CONDUCTOR OF THAT DUMBASS TRAIN! (and that spread is a point too high)
Texans (-3) over Tennessee
Zach Mettenberger said the Titans are “his team” now. Good for you Zach. I love to see overrated-former-college-football-players-who-are-now-NFL-rookies-playing-for-terrible-football-teams-who-ran-out-of-options-at-QB saying cocky things before their FIRST NFL game against JJ Watt. Makes me feel all warm inside and super excited to watch him fail as badly as his predecessor, Clipboard Jesus (see below). Did I mention that I think the Titans suck, really hard? Oh, I have. OK. Gimme Houston by 10.
Clipboard Jesus. Behold his glory.
Ravens (-1.5) Over Bengals
AJ Green, aka Half-Of-Andy-Dalton’s-Contract, is still hurt and Cincinnati is demonstrating that they are as mediocre as I thought they would be. Baltimore’s good is really good. But their bad is pretty bad. Still, there’s something I really like about this Baltimore team. They stick to a well-developed game plan for four full quarters and play every minute hard.
New York (Jets) (-3) over Bills
When Geno Smith spends time in the freaking film room and doesn’t make the worst decisions ever, he’s not terrible. Not great, but not terrible. The Bills are terrible (OK, they’re rush defense and front 7 ain’t bad).But I have no concept of how they’re 4-3. Did they play Jacksonville 4 times? What is happening?
Eagles (+2.5) over Arizona
I think the Eagles are overrated, but Arizona is too. And the Eagles are a team that relies on pace and conditioning coming off a BYE week. I dunno, maybe I’m also not ready to live in a world where the Carson Palmer/Drew Stanton QB tandem is 6-1 in the toughest division in football.
Raiders (+7) over Cleveland
Hey, Oakland! Quick! You’re playing Cleveland, snag a quick win! (Or, just cover the spread)
Side Note: Is it sad that I want Brian Hoyer to fail for no other reason than the fact that I want to witness the chaos that ensues when Johnny Manziel starts for Cleveland just as Lebron James suits up for the Cavs again? I mean, can you imagine the hysteria in Cleveland!?!
Colts (-3.5) over Pittsburgh
I was listening to a talk radio show on the way to work this morning and 7/7 of the people they had picking games on the show picked the Colts. They were almost confused as to why this spread was so low. Then it dawned on the host and he said, “Or, maybe Vegas knows something we don’t and we’re all suckers.” It got real quiet. I hate that half point. I really do. Maybe I’m a sucker. Or maybe Vegas is giving us a “gimme.” I’m not overthinking this one. Colts by a TD. Oh yea, and have I mentioned that the Colts are legit and Andrew Luck is my dark horse for MVP? Oh, I have?
It never gets old
****FILLERBUSTER SIDE NOTE #1: I like how he comments on the Broncos game but I received the blog Friday morning. Like he is in some unpredictable job like the Army…oh…he is.
****FILLERBUSTER SIDE NOTE #2: I don’t care if contract concluded at the END of the 2014 NBA season, I would say Gilbert Arenas would be a funny addition to his overpaid list since he isn’t playing anymore.
****FILLERBUSTER SIDE NOTE #3: So, if the Steelers beat Indy, then my team wins. And, if Indy beats the hell out of Pittsburgh, my dark horse Super Bowl team is still rolling. Win-win. Well, not really, but kind of.