NFL

[Strafford 182]

With Baltimore being a bit off (Flacco 5 INT) do the browns make you nervous?

I tried to reply to this yesterday, but the site ate what I'm sure you will appreciate was an insightful and terribly articulate response. Unfortunately you will now have to put up with my usual fare

I'm not sure nervous would be the word I would use, more like frustrated. I do believe the Browns have some nice players, but in my view we still should be beating them, as should the Ravens. If we finish in front of the Ravens we will win the division. I was pretty confident we could do that...now not so sure.

[Strafford 182]

Gotta feel for Hoyer. Done his ACL and is out for the year. If you think AFL players talk in circles at interviews Santonio Holmes takes it to a new level.

"Our offense is our offense. The Falcons' offense is theirs. We have a defense that plays against the opponent's offense. And vice versa."

Injuries are never nice and it is especially tragic for this bloke who seemed to be taking his chance and running with it. Holmes is a nut

[Strafford 182]

There's been a spate of injuries this season already (higher than normal?) I've picked New England but not with any confidence. Your division looks the hardest to figure out. 9 wins might get it done

Nice win to Cleveland yesterday all the same but the QB's took some punishment. The hit on E J Manuel looked worse than Hoyer's but as 'cfh' mentioned, Hoyer is out for the season with an ACL. Weeden did ok after he was called into the game.

You expect injuries, but hope they aren't concentrated too much in one area. Our secondary has been devastated.

I thought that the Ravens and Steelers would crash last season due to so many of their key players starting to age, it seems to have caught up with them this season instead. I still can't believe the Ravens won the bowl as I didn't think they were that good. Just goes to show if you win your division and get hot at the right time anything can happen.

With the powerhouses of our division in transition I thought we had a window...doubts are starting to creep in.

Our QB and AJ Green just don't seem to be on the same page at the moment and considering how many times we target him that is not good. AJ is starting to acquire a few Diva traits which is a shame as he was a pretty modest young guy.

[Gorgoroth 12,947]

Wg had that where we were on our 4th choice corner, it's not pretty

[Strafford 182]

Wg had that where we were on our 4th choice corner, it's not pretty

It sure isn't... Even our fifth corner who came into the team has gone down and those actually suiting up are playing hurt. We are down to bringing in off his couch, our fifth safety, who we keep on cutting every year. He will be playing slot corner. I think Clive Palmer would outrun him as they both waved at the snail flying past.

[Macca 16,963]

Here are the TV games again along with Bill Simmons latest Grantland column (which can be found ... here)

Saints (-1.5) over BEARS
DOLPHINS (-3) over Ravens
I love both of these picks. Last Monday, I even parlayed the Saints and Dolphins with "Kobe will fly to Germany for a mysterious surgical treatment within the next 120 hours." Feeling good right now.

GIANTS (-1.5) over Eagles
Here's where the Giants rope in their fans with the old, "Wait a second, we're only a game back in the division" trick on Sunday night. By the way, I think this is either the 27th or 28th time that I have definitively felt like Michael Vick's career is over.

Mon Oct 7

4.00am Baltimore at Miami (OneHD)

7.05am Carolina at Arizona (Fox1)

7.25am Denver at Dallas (OneHD)

11.30am Houston at San Francisco (OneHD & ESPN)

Tues Oct 8

11.30am NY Jets at Atlanta (ESPN)

... all the other week 5 games

[Norm Smith's Curse 2,602]

Cults v Seattle will be interesting.

I want the demons to recruit J watt from the Texans. That guy plays like a demon!

[pantaloons 2,019]

Broncos-Cowboys. Wow. Apart from the fact that the result completely sucks for me, what a scoreline! Can't believe Denver wins despite conceding only 10 fewer points than KC has allowed all season.

Huge win for Indy today. Looking legit. Massive win also for Cincy against New England. A reality check for the Pats. They were ordinary in the first two weeks and got away with it.

[Norm Smith's Curse 2,602]

Seattle struggled last week so no surprises.

[Cards13 9,117]

Pants, go Broncs...

Gee wizz you know they can score, especially after half time, but sh I t the defence is such a worry and has been for years. Seeing Elvis D getting a sack and QB pressure against Miami was annoying.

[Macca 16,963]

So a team scores 48 points, has a QB who throws for 500 hundred yards and 5 touchdowns and loses!!? Wow! Dallas must be in shock right now whilst Denver just keep rackin' up the big numbers.

The 49ers returned to their best form and the Saints, Packers, KC, Cinci, Indi and the Ravens all had big important wins. The Chargers can't be trusted yet and the Eagles and Arizona are hanging in there.

Josh Freeman traded to the Vikings! Interesting times ahead at Minnesota. The Bengals holding the Pats to 6 points was a major achievement all things considered. Much relief that the Packers won as a loss would have been catastrophic. At the Ravens next week in another tough one.

KC won as expected but didn't have it all their own way. 5 and 0 now and home to Oakland next week. The Saints and Indi were maybe the biggest winners though in terms of setting up the rest of their seasons.

Once again it looks like no one picked 3 road wins - I changed my mind from Baltimore to the Pats in another baffling move. When will I ever learn? Maybe we should all be awarded a 'Participation point' just to get people off the mark!

[cowboy_from_hell 2,390]

What to say about the Dallas game? Romo can do no wrong until the 4th quarter. Great by the bengals and KC. The same cant be said about the giants and jags. Packers may be playing without cCay Matthews for a while.

I'm trying to get my head around Freeman in purple. Will ponder go from a starting QB to a 3rd stringer? Cassel played very well in London and will probably start next week. I'd imagine freeman will need time to get used to the offensive scheme so he may be a starter soon. Our offence is pretty simple though. Hand it to AP. Repeat that 40+ times a game. Then to confuse the defense, Play action then throw it out of bounds just to remind the defense that we might throw it. Then hand it back to AP.

[Strafford 182]

Mike Zimmer our defensive co-ordinator is a genius. If he wasn't such a foul mouthed curmudgeon he would be a head coach by now. Good for us and probably good for him as I don't think he could handle a top job.

Dalton, despite his first ever interception thrown in the red zone was pretty good. He really made a couple of clutch plays, even one with his legs. The play of the game was Dalton third and long on his own 1 yard line, just after being sacked, hitting Marvin Jones for 28 yards down the sideline for a first down. The drive ended up with the only touchdown of the game.

Also my aplogies to Chris Crocker for comparing his athletic abilities to Clive Palmer, he was actually pretty good

I also wish to apologise on behalf of the Bengals for mucking up so many of our comp picks, by losing last week and winning this week.

[Macca 16,963]

Great win to the Jets ... Geno Smith had an excellent game. Atlanta in a bit of trouble - wild-card may be their best option.

Tipping comp points table ...

2 - cowboy from hell

1 - Macca

0 - Gorgoroth, pantaloons, DemonDave, 45HG, Norm Smith's Curse, Strafford, bananas, Demon Land 7

... Week 6 games

... Bill Simmons & Cousin Sal's podcast

Power rankings come out in the next couple of days but I'll have a go at my top 8 teams ... in order ...

1 - Denver (great offense and Manning is immense)

2 - Seattle (solid, dependable and well coached)

3 - New Orleans (the big danger)

4 - Indianapolis (have beaten Seattle and the 49ers)

5 - San Francisco (if Kaepernick finds his form they'll be hard to beat)

6 - Cincinnati (have beaten Green Bay and New England)

7 - New England (not impressive but they find a way to win)

8 - Kansas City (5 and 0 is hard to argue with. Reid and Smith are the difference makers)

[pantaloons 2,019]

Woke up to find my twitter feed filled with Chiefs fans campaigning for a return of Tony Gonzalez to Arrowhead. Would be a glorious reunion but Atlanta would have to reconcile themselves with shelving their season five weeks in. They should though - at 1-4, even in the fairly weak NFC, it's over.

[pantaloons 2,019]

Indy

Green Bay

Detroit

[Macca 16,963]

... NFL Power Rankings

16. (22) Jets (3-2): Geno Ice. That's the kind of huge win that makes seasons.

19. (20) Cowboys (2-3): Typical loss. So very typical.

21. (18) Panthers (2-2): Cam Newton plays like Eli: four turnovers, seven sacks.

32. (32) Jaguars (0-5): Now for the Broncos. Hide the women and children.

Edited October 9, 2013 by Macca

[pantaloons 2,019]

KC's next three games are all at home against Oakland, Houston and Cleveland. We will start favourites, barring injury or unforeseen calamity in all of them, but the one I fear an upset in the most is this week against da Raiders. Our biggest rival, and they've beaten us the last 6 times at Arrowhead. There's no overly logical reason for this fear, other than our games are always intense and often close no matter how the teams are travelling.

[Macca 16,963]

TV games ... there aren't any 'early' games covered by cable or OneHD this week

Fri Oct 11

11.25am NY Giants at Chicago (OneHD & ESPN)

Mon Oct 14

7.05am Tennessee at Seattle (Fox1)

7.25am New Orleans at New England (OneHD)

11.30am Washington at Dallas (OneHD & ESPN)

Tues Oct 15

11.30am Indianapolis at San Diego (ESPN)

All the other week 6 games

Most Vikings, Lions and Packer fans hoping for a Giants win tomorrow! New York have to win a game sooner or later but the Bears should prevail. 0 and 6 would have the Giants fans a little restless (to say the least!)

Tips ...

Indianapolis

Cincinnati

Philadelphia

[cowboy_from_hell 2,390]

Green Bay

Bengals

Detroit.

All NFC north teams should win this week which doesn't help my vikings. Saints at Patriots will be a dead set cracker as will the Jags at Denver. The scoreline at Denver should read like Round 2 Melbourne Vs Essendon. A lot of talk about QB's fighting to keep their jobs. Schaub at Houston, Ponder at Vikes, Newton who has done very little after his rookie year. Matt Ryan will be without Jones for the year and Eli Manning would be furious at the Giants record.

[Gorgoroth 12,947]

New Orleans

Detroit

Cinci

[Strafford 182]

Bengals

Colts

Eagles

I make these picks with a sense of impending doom....

[Strafford 182]

KC's next three games are all at home against Oakland, Houston and Cleveland. We will start favourites, barring injury or unforeseen calamity in all of them, but the one I fear an upset in the most is this week against da Raiders. Our biggest rival, and they've beaten us the last 6 times at Arrowhead. There's no overly logical reason for this fear, other than our games are always intense and often close no matter how the teams are travelling.

Rivalry games are always tough to pick. It gives you hope if you are the underdog, but always makes you nervous as hell when your team is picked to win.

[Gorgoroth 12,947]

Cracking game today.

Enjoyed it a lot.

Giants huh, 0-6, bet the jets fans are loving that.

[cowboy_from_hell 2,390]

Cracking game today.

Enjoyed it a lot.

Giants huh, 0-6, bet the jets fans are loving that.

Got to see the last quarter at work. I thought Manning was in his game saving mode as he has done so many times before. Nek Minute interception and game over. Bloody Bears keep winning and Giants keep losing. Your right Jets fans will be over the moon with the year they and the Giants are having.