NFL week 10 round up

Ok, Sunday is done and dusted, it's time to look back at how my picks have worked out so far this week. Obviously I've already covered the Bears @ 49'ers earlier in the week, which puts me at 1-0 to start with 13 games to look at today. Lets get cracking: Falcons 19 @ Panthers 28 : I don't know if anyone has caught on yet, but I hate the Panthers. Every week, no matter which way I pick their game, they'll always do something to mess it up and cost me. This week they ran the football well and only took passes at choice moments. Just as they did last season. Just as they should have been doing this season. To cap it all, Falcons RB Michael Turner racks up 111 yds off just 9 carries... then promptly gets injured, just to make sure the Panthers get the win. Curses. 1-1 Buccaneers 23 @ Dolphins 25 : The big news as far as Miami is concerned is the loss of Ronnie Brown. Luckily for them they handily have another RB who is just as good, if not a little better, in Ricky Williams. If Brown is out for any extended period of time, expect Miami to drop the traditional 'Wildcat' in favour of the option type plays they've been running with Pat White/Ricky Williams. Tampa nearly clawed their way back into this one and the improvement they've shown on offense lately will set them in good stead. Josh Freeman showed some nice touch on his passes. 2-1 Lions 10 @ Vikings 27 : Don't be fooled by the scoreline. Adrian Peterson had 133 yards & 2 TDs rushing off just 18 carries and Favre went 20/29 for 344 yards and a TD. Sidney Rice caught just 7 passes but notched up 201 yds. Detroit continues to struggle, and as we head into the dark days of winter with it's unco-operative weather, 51 pass attempts by a rookie QB are not going to reap success. 3-1 Jaguars 24 @ Jets 22 : Adrian Peterson may be fast and probably one of the most determined RB's in the NFL right now, but he's not the best. His ball handling is too dodgy. So who might take that accolade as best back? Maurice Jones-Drew has a big time shot at that. His production in this game doesn't immediately jump off the page; 24 carries, 123 yards and 1 TD. But he showed his all round game today as time ticked away at the end of the game, by taking a knee just shy of the endzone when the Touchdown was there for the taking. The Jags put away the field goal and that was that. Great play. But the Jets hardly did themselves any favours. They will insist on trying to get Sanchez to make big plays through the air, despite a first class ground game. This time it cost them two picks. 4-1 Bengals 18 @ Steelers 12 : According to the NFL.com recap on this game, online fans have rated it's memorableness (is that even a word?) as 75/100. There's either a lot of comedians living in the two cities, or someones fingers slipped. 8 field goals between them, the only touchdown coming on a 96 yd kickoff return by Bengals RB Bernard Scott. With Cedric Benson out the Bengals turned to Scott to power their running game and the inevitable happened; The Steelers shut down the Bengals run, while the Bengals shut down the Steelers passing. This is a big win for the Bengals who now move to 7-2 and top their division. The biggest blow the Steelers suffered here was safety Troy Polamalu tweaking his knee injury again. I imagine they're keeping their fingers crossed he'll recover quickly. 5-1 Saints 28 @ Rams 23 : Earlier I said I hate the Panthers. I think I hate the Saints even more. Actually, that's not true, I hate the fact they keep winning. This week I'll let it pass because I picked them in this game. But I just know that for the next week I'm going to have to listen to more endless bile about how great the Saints are and how masterful they are and how everyone thinks they're a lock for the Superbowl. Let's look at the facts here. They beat the Rams, a terrible side, by just 5 points. And even then, watching replays of Reggie Bush's second TD it's debatable whether he got the ball in before his leg touched the ground. I just know that the Saints are gonna play a solid team down the stretch (New England in a few weeks) and bomb. Still, can't complain, 6-1. Bills 17 @ Titans 41 : Chris Johnson is a beast, posting over 100 yards rushing and another 100 receiving. I thought it was interesting to see Vince Young running option football, mainly as I said last week about Miami, because for years we've been adamantly told by analysts that NFL defenses are too quick for the option to work. Yeah, right. It was also funny and refreshing to see a QB blocking. And by blocking I mean properly lowering the shoulder and hitting someone. Nice. The Titans secondary also looks like it's old self again. Could they go 10-6? No, surely not...... 7-1. Broncos 17 @ Redskins 27 : Having bigged up the 'Skins secondary so much this week it was amusing to watch them get completely burnt as they left Brandon Marshall (only the Broncos best WR) open and uncovered down the field twice. But football is a funny old game and just before half time Kyle Orton went down injured. Enter Chris Simms from stage left, who threw 13 passes and completed just 3 for 13 yards and 1 INT. At least Knowshon Moreno got things going on the ground, falling (literally) just three yards shy of a 100 yard day. And without Clinton Portis in the line up, Washington's rushing attack fell on the shoulders of Ladell Betts whose running style I admired last week. He carried the ball 26 times and notched up 114 yards. Go me. 8-1. Chiefs 16 @ Raiders 10 : Another RB that I had an eye on this week was Chiefs RB Jamaal Charles. 18 carries, 103 yards, 1 TD. Ahhh I'm good! But to be fair, it's against the Raiders, so take it with a pinch of salt. Nice to see JaMarcus Russell completing just 9/24 as usual. One day the Raiders will realise that he's a waste of roster space and dump him. Question is, who'd be stupid enough to pick him up? (Browns. I'm not kidding....) 9-1. Seahawks 20 @ Cardinals 31 : So you're ahead by 14, time to break out the run game a little yeah? Not if you're Seattle. 52, I say 52, passes by Hasselbeck. Credit to Justin Forsett though. On his meager pickings of just 17 carries he clocked 123 yards and a TD. Sadly the Cardinals running game is just finding itself of late and produced 2 touchdowns, in addition to two more through the air. I have to hold my hands up on this one, taking the Seahawks was stupid. 9-2. Cowboys 7 @ Packers 17 : Would you believe it? Them ****ing Packers just had to go and fix all their problems at once against a team that's about to go on a downward slide. Someone obviously tapped Aaron Rodgers on the shoulder mid week and said "you do realise on a 5 step drop, you have to throw after the 5th step?" "Oh really?! Thanks! Now I understand why I've been hit more times Mike Tyson!" And sure enough, Rodgers only got sacked 4 times! Which for him at least, is progress. Meanwhile, every week Dallas continues to forget just a little bit more about their potentially excellent rushing attack. And Tony Romo forgets that he's the QB and thus the leader of the offense, not whoever is the latest person to be crying in the media about not getting enough throws (*cough* Roy Williams). As a result, Romo isn't looking for his primary play maker Miles Austin anywhere near enough, and Jason Witten has seen his production drop as well. It's the same old problems in Dallas. And it's not helped when the Packers figure out that switching from a 4-3 defense to 3-4 defense is mainly done to help you bring more unpredictable 5 man blitzes. As a consequence, I'm now 9-3. I think I hate Dallas as well now. Eagles 23 @ Chargers 31 : But not as much as I hate the Eagles. Tomlinson remembered how to run just as the Eagles pass rush forgot how to sack. Classic. McNabb must be going nuts. 35/55 for 450 yards and 2 TDs and he still lost. Brian Westbrook must be going nuts that he only got 6 carries. LeSean McCoy must be going nuts because he's proved he's better than Westbrook and he only got 3 carries. Leonard Weaver must be going nuts because he's pretty darn good himself and he only got 2 carries. Eagles fans must be going nuts that their team combined for just 13 rushing attempts. And finally, Norv Turner must be going nuts because it takes his team half the season to get into stride, despite having the easiest, most common sense and most legible playbook in the NFL (I've seen one of his Washington playbooks. Apparently little has changed). 9-4. Patriots 34 @ Colts 35 : I sat down with a cup of coffee this week and prepared myself for what was being billed as the 'Rivalry of the Decade'. Sadly the game lacked any real animosity, emotion or conflict. What it didn't lack for though was some great football. I can honestly say this is one of the best games I've seen in a long time, if not ever. The tight scoreline tells you everything you need to know. But it has to be said, even though I picked the Colts, they were extremely lucky. With just over two minutes remaining the Patriots went for it on 4th and 2, up by 6 on their own 28. And got stopped. There was a case for challenging the play, but Bellichick was worried about burning his only remaining timeout. And that was crucial. They turned the ball over and the Colts drove to the endzone, scoring on a pass to Reggie Wayne, burning all but 13 seconds off the clock on the way. It's stunning that the Patriots managed to burn timeouts so ineffectually in the second half. And it cost them. In a typically high flying game, Brady threw 29/42 for 375 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT. Manning went toe to toe with his opposite number throwing 28/44 for 327 yards, 4 TD's and 2 INT's. And to be honest, it could have been comfortable if the Colts rookie wideouts hadn't dropped so many passes. It was no surprise that for the final throw Manning went back to Reggie Wayne (10 catches, 126 yards, 2 TD's), who was his most (read: only) reliable receiver, with Dallas Clark drawing heavy coverage. The big surprise for the Colts was on defense, as Dwight Freeney licked his chops at the thought of facing rookie LT Sebastian Vollmer..... only to get dominated by the German native pretty much single handed all through the game. Though Robert Mathis stepped up a few times, the Colts badly need to find new ways to bring pressure and also need to find a run game, though Chad Simspon looked sprightly on his 4 carries (and Donald Brown was woeful on his 4). The Patriots just need to keep being themselves. They really were the better team on the day and were incredibly unfortunate not to win this one. I can see a re-match coming in January. 10-4 So that's me done for the weekend. Tomorrow night the Ravens travel across to Cleveland for a Monday Night clash, in which I'm backing the Ravens. Might as well call it 11-4 for the week then. That's more like it. That takes me to 37-17 over the 4 weeks I've been picking. Not bad. Still annoyed that some slipped through my fingers though. Anyway, tomorrow I'll recap the Ravens/Browns game (Might as well do it now. The Ravens won by over 30 points and Ed Reed had a pick 6) and I'll also be dishing out my extra credit for week 10. And as always if you enjoy the blog (you know you do) feel free to tell as many people as humanly possible about it.