Macca

Couple from Paul Simon ... these 2 tracks are from his acclaimed album 'Graceland'

Week 6 tips ... Denver San Diego San Francisco

TV games ... Friday 11.30am Indianapolis at Houston (ESPN) Monday 4.00am - 10.30am RedZone (ESPN) 4.00am New England at Buffalo (7mate) 7.25am Washington at Arizona (7mate) 11.30am NY Giants at Philadelphia (7mate & ESPN) Tuesday 11.30am San Francisco at St. Louis (ESPN) All the week 6 games NFL Week 6 Elo Ratings And Playoff Odds

Still no points to allocate in the tipping comp (otherwise known as ... "Intolerable Cruelty" - the sequel) Cinci put most of us out. No change in the points tally ... 1 - Dappa Dan 0 - Anyone who can still be bothered. Week 6 games - can someone please tip 3 winners? Otherwise we might have to make it the home teams for a week!! It does look a little easier next week, all the same. No real surprises in today's games and Dappa summed up things quite well in the above post ... as for tomorrow's game, I give Washington a sneaky chance but Seattle should be too strong ... Seahawks 31 Washington 24.

Once again, the TV games ... Monday 4.00am - 10.30am RedZone (ESPN ... "Every Touchdown From Every Game") 4.00am Houston at Dallas (7mate) 7.30am NY Jets at San Diego (7mate) 11.30am Cincinnati at New England (7mate & ESPN) Tuesday 11.30am Seattle at Washington (ESPN) All the week 5 games NFL Week 5 Elo Ratings And Playoff Odds

You got that right. Rather habit forming in all reality!

Week 5 tips ... Seattle Steelers Baltimore

TV games ... not a bad line-up of games but we get the worst of the Sunday late arvo games (unless the Jets can make a game of it) Friday 10.30am Minnesota at Green Bay (ESPN) Monday 4.00am - 10.30am RedZone (ESPN ... "Every Touchdown From Every Game") 4.00am Houston at Dallas (7mate) 7.30am NY Jets at San Diego (7mate) 11.30am Cincinnati at New England (7mate & ESPN) Tuesday 11.30am Seattle at Washington (ESPN) All the week 5 games Found this web page on ESPN.com (might help with your tips - 2 pts on offer this week ) ... NFL Week 5 Elo Ratings And Playoff Odds

TV games ... not a bad line-up of games but we get the worst of the Sunday late arvo games (unless the Jets can make a game of it) Friday 10.30am Minnesota at Green Bay (ESPN) Monday 4.00am - 10.30am RedZone (ESPN ... "Every Touchdown From Every Game") 4.00am Houston at Dallas (7mate) 7.30am NY Jets at San Diego (7mate) 11.30am Cincinnati at New England (7mate & ESPN) Tuesday 11.30am Seattle at Washington (ESPN) All the week 5 games

With my Red Sox out of things, I'll be hoping for a Cardinals triumph ... Wild-card playoff games Wednesday 10am Oakland at Kansas City Thursday 10am San Francisco at Pittsburgh American League match-ups (begins Friday our time) LA Angels vs Kansas City/Oakland Baltimore vs Detroit National League match-ups (begins Saturday our time) Washington vs San Francisco/Pittsburgh LA Dodgers vs St Louis Most of the playoff games will be covered by ESPN radio (hopefully that link will work - if not, try tunein)

Plenty of teams have won Super Bowls without 'AAA' QB's. The key is to be good to excellent in all areas but not be deficient in any one area. Teams can also get "hot" when it matters. We've seen so many teams come from nowhere to win the whole thing ... Baltimore, Packers, Giants, Steelers and even New Orleans were a bit of a surprise (before the start of their SB winning season) With regards to injuries (or such like) every team gets them but you don't want to lose a franchise player like the Vikings have. Losing AP means losses. Bridgewater possibly stepping up counters that but imagine if both of them were firing? Detroit still need to win big games on the road and the Panthers loss in week 2 was telling. The Lions have to get it done and if they do, I'll give them credit - not before. They've still got 6 tough road games to come and a few at home that will be tough. Like Dallas, I wouldn't be going all in on the Lions. The teams I've got my eye on are Arizona, the Chargers, Ravens & Colts. Again, the Cardinals need to get it done on the road so the jury is also out on them. Same with the Chargers. The other 2 (Ravens & Colts) are dangerous. The Bengals need to win when it matters - in the playoffs.

Too right ... KC played a great all round game Alex Smith was terrific all night and played the best game I've seen him play (although I haven't seen him play a lot of complete games) ... Brady was un-Brady like. The Patriots defense was awful whilst KC's was very good. Davis, Charles, Kelce & Bowe were all first rate and there was a lot to like about the Chiefs. New England have their issues but we've said that before. They were terrible today ... according to Belichick they "Need to do everything better" I started watching his press conference but found myself dozing off 1 minute in The crowd broke the all time decibel level as well.

I agree but I guess if we're going to start critiquing all the weaknesses of all the teams then where do we start and finish? No team is strong in all areas for any sort of length of time. QB's get more focus because of the nature of things ... defenses less so except in the case of 1 or 2 teams. Bad defenses are just not a juicy enough story. There are numerous examples of that and Geno & the Jets is another one. On an overall basis the Jets are not a good team but Geno will be the one copping the heat. In my eyes we haven't seen a big enough sample size with Geno but if he gets replaced soon then that might be the end of him. If Dallas self destruct the focus will be on Romo. Flacco copped it for a long time until the Ravens won that Super Bowl. The scrutiny will remain on a few other QB's unless they can somehow get their teams over the line against the good teams on a consistent basis.

No change at the top of the leaderboard in the tipping comp ... 1 - Dappa Dan 0 - The rest of us poor souls I almost feel like I had a win by getting 2/3 but unlike what the 'Meatloaf' song indicates, getting 2 out of 3 in this comp is a fail. Next week is the 2nd of the bonus weeks with 2 points up for grabs ... week 5 games ... remembering that anyone can join in the "fun and frivolities" at any time - there is no cut off point for anyone wanting to enter the comp. 3 picks but they must be all road teams and they must all win in order for you to pick up a point (or points) Hoping for a KC win tomorrow and I'll tip them in a close one ... 28-26

Big win for Dallas and credit must be given to Romo (today) He was well protected and he therefore took full advantage. As much as I'm critical of Romo that doesn't mean I wouldn't like him to do well (sorry Dappa) Murray their key RB had a huge game for them which helps but again, we've been burnt by the Cowboys previously so I'm not sure that they can be trusted yet. Apart from going to Seattle in a fortnight they've got some winnable games coming up ... vs Houston, @ Seattle, vs Giants & then vs Washington. Win 3 of them and they'd be 6&2 and well placed. No guarantees with any of those match-ups though. The other big story is the Saints ... they're now 1&3 but luckily for them, the Panthers & Falcons both lost and they're only one game back in the NFC South. They'll need to start getting on the winning list pronto all the same ... next 4 ... vs Tampa, @ Detroit, vs Green Bay & then @ Carolina. They'll probably beat the bucs but after that ....

Cutler just can't get it done against the Packers - that last interception was pure amateur hour. There's more than a touch of "Romo" about Jay. The Packers pass defense was quite good today ... the Bears only scoring 17 points at home against a team that can score as well as Green Bay just isn't going to cut it. By the way, every team gets injuries, not just Chicago The Lions are odds on to choke when the heat gets turned up. Same as Houston haven't proven anything yet and the Steelers shouldn't be written off, Detroit need to win some big games away from home and ... they can't be dropping games at home that they shouldn't. The jury is still out. They've got a chance to gets some wins up with their next 5 though ... vs Buffalo, @ Minnesota, vs New Orleans, @ Atlanta & vs Miami ... they'll need to win at least 3 of those games and more likely 4 of them because after that, it gets very tough for them. The truth is that no game is a guaranteed win for the Lions. Rodgers was immense today and there was one play he pulled off that was incredible - trouble was that we committed a penalty in the process so the TD that we might have scored was disallowed. Our pass defense was quite good but our run defense wasn't good. Lacy played ok but we only achieved 56 yards of run out of our running backs. Chicago's defense had no answer to the precision of Rodgers but I'd prefer it if he had a couple more quality targets. As much as I want the team to improve in other areas our strong point can definitely get better. Can't ever complain about winning @ Chicago though ... as you indicated, your blokes visit Lambeau in a few days - Bridgewater will hopefully come up for the game for your fans. Could be a close one.

Too funny 'cfh' You've got to be happy with Bridgewater ... great effort considering it was his first game starting off. I thought Atlanta were beaten fair and square and just beaten by a better side on the day. Our division just got a whole lot more interesting after today's results. To say I'm relieved with the Packers winning is an understatement. The bonus is the road win within the division - vital. I can R.E.L ...... A.X (for now) I'll leave the SNF result aside for later on but in other results ... The Steelers blew a game they should have won. Houston are now 3&1 but I'm not convinced - their next 3 are @ Dallas, vs Indi & @ Pittsburgh. Baltimore look dangerous again and Indi are back on track The Chargers might be a real challenger for Denver in the AFC West The Eagles went close but their offense cost them - 22 yards rushing vs 218 yards rushing was a telling statistic. Like Green Bay, the niners would be breathing a huge sigh of relief Any win is worth celebrating in this league.

I've always been a fan of Eli and the way the Giants play on offense generally. Eli is a big occasion player and I get that - players like that are exciting to watch. They get criticised for not doing it all the time but that's never bothered me - it's how they're wired and I accept them for who they are. Fantasy sports people would argue with me but I could care less Give me Eli or Big Ben over Romo or a few others, anytime. Getting the job done when it counts is what matters. Eli and Big Ben have been 'A' grade when it matters but unfortunately for both of them, neither of them are surrounded by the weapons that they once had (although Donnell for the Giants is a giant of a man and looks the goods already - he was immense in the red zone today) The Giants and Steelers can never be underestimated whilst they've got their QB's at the helm. I reckon Cousins just had a bad day - all players have those days and I wouldn't be writing him off just yet. He looks like he's got a bit of a "gunslinger" in him and again, those sort of QB's are great to watch.

4 interceptions for Cousins - a nightmare. Another blow-out on a Thursday night but not many were predicting that the Giants would be dishing out the punishment. The NFC East might be alive after all. The Giants do this all the time - write 'em off and back they come.

Eli is having a night out so far ... he's damn good when he wants to be. Turnovers costly for Washington

Completely forgot that the Miama @ Oakland game is being played in London I guess that it's technically Oakland's home game which would make Miami the "road" team. Anyway, for expediency's sake, and for any other games played at neutral venues, any team listed as the "road" team can be included in your tips in the comp. Anyone who wants to change their tips because of this new information can do so - just delete your original tips and post up your new tips in a different post.

TV games ... Friday 10.30am NY Giants at Washington (ESPN) Monday 3.00am - 9.30am RedZone (ESPN ... "Every Touchdown From Every Game") 3.00am Green Bay at Chicago (7mate) 6.30am Philadelphia at San Francisco (7mate) 10.30am New Orleans at Dallas (7mate & ESPN) Tuesday 10.30am New England at Kansas City (ESPN) All the week 4 games BS Report Not part of my tips but I reckon the Giants will get up tomorrow ... 23 - 21

Just the one point on offer this week ... Week 5 is worth 2 points ... after that, the other bonus weeks are week 8, 11, 14 & 17. (All those weeks are worth 2 points except week 17 which is worth 3 points) All the other weeks are worth 1 point only. I had a look at the week 5 games and couldn't find one "lock" ... it's the toughest comp in the free world.

Nor me ... was tempted to pick the Eagles, Pats or the Panthers but in the end, I just had a guess (which is my usual way of tipping) There will be road winners of course and there's always a surprise road winner or 3.

Tough week (again) Green Bay (a hit & hope) Miami New Orleans