NFL Power Rankings Week 9

1. Colts – They keep winning even though they needed the help from Lady Luck
2. Saints – This team also keeps producing the goods.
3. Vikings – The bye week will have done this team the world of good.
4. Bengals – Huge game this weekend.
5. Steelers – See above
6. Patriots – Brady versus Manning is just going to be fun to watch.
7. Cowboys – Romo is showing some signs of actually be quite good.
8. Broncos – This team needs a win soon to stop the rot.
9. Cardinals – They keep showing that last years play off run away from home wasn’t just luck.
10. Falcons – Atlanta finally have the running game going.
11. Chargers – Rivers and co pulled the win out of the bag last week.
12. Eagles – McNabb and co need to start beating some decent teams and not just the poor ones.
13. Ravens – What has happened to this teams defence.
14. Texans – Houston were so unlucky to not win last weekend versus the Colts.
15. Jets – The defence needs to come off the bye week with all guns firing.
16. Giants – New York is slowly falling apart.
17. Packers – Massive lose to Tampa Bay pretty much ends all hope this team had of making the playoffs.
18. Dolphins – The wildcat nearly worked again versus the Pats but not quite.
19. Bears – How can this team win games by so many points then lose games by so many points?
20. Jaguars – Just keep giving the ball to MJD and then hit Sims-Walker on the play fake.
21. Panthers – This team just needs to run the ball more often.
22. 49ers – Has Crabtree ruined the 49ers chemistry?
23. Seahawks – I just can’t decide how good or bad this team is.
24. Titans – Tennessee has finally gotten the running game going and suddenly they are winning.
25. Bills – Will all this Vick talk distract the team?
26. Raiders – How will Oakland hurt itself his week?
27. Redskins – Washington isn’t far off being the worse team in the league.
28. Chiefs – If Kansas wants to be taken seriously they need to beat team like Jacksonville.
29. Rams – Steven Jackson is still the only plus point in this team.
30. Lions – They need to win a few more games this season to call it progress.
31. Buccaneers – Freeman is a huge plus point for this team and he may turn into this years Aaron Rodgers.
32. Browns – Do you get the feeling their will be a new coach next season.

NFL Preview 9

Atlanta to beat Washington
No way this poor Redskins team manages to beat the Falcons especially after such a good performance from Atlanta on Monday night.

Arizona to beat Chicago
For some reason the Cardinals are a better away team than home team this season and so I am going to take them to pull off an upset over Chicago this weekend.

 Indianapolis to beat Houston
If the Texans want to be taken seriously this season then they must beat the Colts on Sunday. This will put them to wthin touching distance of Indianapolis and give them a great chance to at least get a wild card spot.

Cincinnati to beat Baltimore
Probably the toughest game to call this weekend and I fancy the Bengals for some reason. Baltimore will be looking for revenge after getting beaten in week 5 by the Bengals, so look for the defence to play hard especially Ray Lewis since it was his head hit that cost them the game the last time.

Jacksonville to beat Kansas City
There is always one game on that noone cares about and this is it. Jaguars to win if they give the ball to MJD more than 8 times in a game.

Green Bay to beat Tampa Bay
The Packers need a win here to keep on the heels of the Vikings and should manage it against one of the worst teams in the NFL.

New England to beat Miami
I’m guessing we will get a lot of Wildcat in this game but look for Tom Brady to do his usual thing which is simply winning games.

New Orleans to beat Carolina
Yes the Panthers beat Arizona last week but this week they come up against a team that is managing to win in lots of different ways. The New Orleans defence will be looking to pick off Delhomme since he has had trouble looking after the ball this season.

Seattle to beat Detroit
This is probably another game that not many people are that bothered about. Seattle to win because they have a better QB.

Tennessee to beat San Francisco
They looked more like the Titans of last year on offence now all they need to do is sort out the defence. I still fancy the Titans to pull off another win and put the 49ers  season to bed. The 49ers have looked a lot worse since Crabtree got into the line up.

San Diego to beat New York
Rivers will be over the moon to be facing this Giants secondary. Vincent Jackson and Malcolm Floyd should both have big games.

Dallas to beat Philadelphia
This game last year nearly cost Wade Phillips his job but things should go better this year. I actually hope the Eagles win this so going on my logic that means the Cowboys will win. Look for lots of points in this game.

Denver to beat Pittsburgh
Just for the record Clark should not play in this game for the Steelers, no way any game is more important than your health. A few soccer players over here in Britain have found this out the hard way. Onto the game I fancy the Broncos to get back to winning ways with a victory over a decent Steelers team.

NFL Power Rankings Week 8

Indianapolis Colts - This team just keeps playing well and winning soso not much more you can say about them.

New Orleans Saints - Another good victory against a divisional rival .  This team most be looking forward to their next three games and a chance to be 10-0.

Minnesota Vikings – Favre will be happy after beating the Packers in their won back yard but now they most keep winning.

Denver Broncos – The actual score line will hurt more than the lose but this team still have a chance to go 10-6 at least.

New England Patriots - It is a good bye week when your main rivals beat up each other and extend your divisional lead.

Cincinnati Bengals - This team is a real threat to someone in the playoffs if they can remain healthy.

Dallas Cowboys – HUGE game versus the Eagles next week.  Romo is looking better though but everyone remembers the last game in Philly.

Philadelphia Eagles – Just like the Cowboys this is a HUGE game since whoever wins it takes advantage in the NFC East with the Giants in freefall.

Pittsburgh Steelers – Slowing beginning to look like the Super Bowl champs.

Houston Texans - Made franchise history this week but if they want to show they can compete with the big boys they need to play beat the Colts on Sunday.

Baltimore Ravens - A good win over Denver last week but they need to start winning on a consistent basis.

New York Giants - Boy does this team need a bye week soon.  The Chargers will love playing against this dodgy defence.

Arizona Cardinals - For a change this team can’t win at home and are great away from home.  Bad defeat to the Panthers on Sunday.

Atlanta Falcons - Coming close to beating the Saints just isn’t good enough at the moment.

Chicago Bears - They need to start winning away from Solider Field.

Green Bay Packers – Their season is over if Rodgers keeps getting beat up like he did on Sunday.

San Diego Chargers - Rivers will be looking forward to the Giants on Sunday.

New York Jets – Why can’t they beat the Dolphins?

Miami Dolphins - Boy did Ted Ginn Jr look good running back kick offs.

Carolina Panthers – Finally the coaching staff remembered to run the football.

Jacksonville Jaguars – Just waiting on Jones-Drew to start complaining about never getting the ball.  come on guys he got over 150 yards on 8 touches and then you decide to let David Garrard win you the game.

San Francisco  49ers – Alex Smith looked good for two weeks running, now he only needs to win a game.

Buffalo Bills – This team needs to start producing results against dgood teams and not just the bad ones in the league.

Seattle Seahawks - Really just not playing all that well.

Washington Redskins - This is the only team that looks better when they aren’t playing.

Oakland Raiders - Still can’t believe they beat Philly this year.

Tennessee Titans - Could this be the start of a run  of results?

St Louis Rams - finally Steven Jackson got some reward for all his hard work.

Kansas City Chiefs – Need a win this weekend.

Detroit Lions – Losing to the Rams is a bad thing.

Cleveland Browns - They could well be the worse team in the NFL right now.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers - This is one ugly football team.

NFL Predictions week 8

Denver to beat Baltimore

Both teams are coming off a bye week and should be rested and healthy but I can see the Broncos winning this by simply playing Ravens football.  Great defence with lots of pressure and having a QB that looks after the ball.

Houston to beat Buffalo

Schaub and the Texans must be looking forward to playing the Bills even if it is in Buffalo.  Look for Schaub to continue throwing the ball a lot and for the Texans to pick up another win.

Chicago to beat Cleveland

Any team could beat the Browns at the moment and the Bears are actually ok at home it’s only away from Solider Field that Cutler loses the plot.

Dallas to beat Seattle

Romo seems to have finally found someone to replace TO pity it isn’t the man they gave up so many draft picks for.  Austin must be a certain starter on so many fantasy teams this weekend.

Dolphins to beat New York Jets

This could be a close game again but I think Henne and Brown will do enough offensively to handle the Jets good running game.  This game might be decided by who gets the most pressure off their defence.

Indianapolis to beat San Francisco

Peyton Manning will throw for 3 touchdowns at least and the 49ers will probably give up on Alex Smith again once the Colts defence start getting pressure on him.

New York Giants to beat Philadelphia

Just know sure about this game but think the Eli Manning will have enough in his locker to win this game plus he normally plays well against divisional rivals.

Detroit to beat St Louis

The Lions to win their second game of the season and for the Rams to look like a 0-16 team.  Starting to feel sorry for Steven Jackson being stuck in St Louis.

San Diego to beat Oakland

The Raiders let me down last week so they’ll probably do it again to me this week but surely Rivers and the Chargers will win this one.

Tennessee to beat Jacksonville

Yes I am taking the Titans to win this but only because the Jaguars have been so inconsistent.  Plus I just don’t think a Jeff Fisher coached team can be that bad all season.

Green Bay to beat Minnesota

The game everyone will be talking about this week.  Hopefully it will be nice and cold for Brett coming home and the Packers and Rodgers will win it.  Not sure what it is about the Vikings but for some reason I just don’t like them that much so maybe this is wishful thinking.

Arizona to beat Carolina

Warner and the Cardinals will be happy to play this poor team on national TV since it will allow them to show that they can still be Super Bowl contenders again.

New Orleans to beat Atlanta

This is turning into a must win game for the Falcons but I just think Brees and the Saints defence will be too strong for them.  Atlanta must get Michael Turner going soon or this season will be over soon.

NFL Power Rankings Week 7

1. Colts – Yes it was only the Rams but they are still winning easily and Peyton Manning is still MVP favourite.
2. Saints – A good win versus the Dolphins and even more impressive since Drew Brees had a bad game.
3. Broncos – In the top three even though they had a bye week, helped that other teams round them lost.  Big game versus the Ravens this weekend.
4. Vikings – This team should not be throwing the ball 51 times when they have the running game they do.  AP must be annoyed with the play calling.
5. Bengals – Great performance from Carson Palmer and I bet Cedric Benson has a smile on his face this week.
6. Patriots – Blow away the Bucs in London but no real surprise there.  Have a bye week to get players healthy.  Secondary looked better this week.
7. Steelers – Getting back to the form they showed last year.  Big Ben and Troy are showing they are the real leaders on this team.
8. Giants – Eli Manning and the offence looked ordinary versus the Cardinals and the secondary looked almost as bad as it did the week before versus the Saints.  Look for Philly to throw the ball lots this weekend.
9. Cowboys – Have they finally found a replacement for TO in Austin?  No matter if they have or haven’t the production from Williams is disappointing.
10. Cardinals – Warner and the offence are moving the ball well and having a running game, which is improving, will help.
11. Falcons – Bad lose to the Cowboys but what must be more worrying is the performance of Michael Turner.
12. Packers – Finally the offence line is getting better and this can only be good news for Aaron Rodgers.  Massive game for Green Bay this weekend versus the Vikings.  A must win if they want to win the division.
13. Eagles – Winning against the Redskins isn’t that good but at least they won and stay close to the Cowboys and the Giants.
14. Texans – Finally the team managed to decent performances in a row.  Although they nearly blow a 21 point lead to Alex Smith and Vernon Davies.
15. Jets – Great performance from the running game meant Sanchez could have a hot dog on the sideline.
16. Ravens – This team needs a win this weekend versus the unbeaten Broncos.
17. Bears – 3 loses away from Solider Field shows that this team is far from the finished article.  Jay Cutler needs to start performing better.
18. Chargers – Rivers is playing far better than anyone else on this team (Jackson is nearly there too) and he needs help fast if this team is to make the play offs.
19. 49ers – Switching back to Alex Smith is properly a good thing in the long run for Alex Smith since it will either get him a new deal or a move to another team.  Not sure what it does for the 49ers since they have already given up on him many times before.
20. Bills – Must wish they could play teams like the Panthers and the Browns every week.
21. Dolphins – Yet another game they managed to lose even though they dominated stats.  Just shows what an elite QB does for your team.
22. Jaguars – Surely they will beat the helpless Titans this week.
23. Seahawks – They need to become more consistent and also need to keep the QB on his feet.
24. Panthers – This team might finally be giving up Jake Delhomme.
25. Raiders – How can you beat the Eagles one week and then get hammered by the Jets the following week.
26. Redskins – This team just doesn’t look like winning a game again.
27. Lions – Good chance for win number 2 versus the Rams.
28. Chiefs – Larry Johnson is obliviously trying to get himself out of Kansas after his Twitter moment.
29. Browns – It is always good when you don’t play a QB because he will cost you too much money.  Looks like teams were right to pass on Quinn on the draft after all.
30. Titans – Are meant to be making personnel chances, now everyone is just waiting to see how is playing QB.
31. Buccaneers – Look like they are going to give Josh Freeman his chance at QB during the second half of the season.  Never going to be a good season when you have 3 starting QBs.
32. Rams – What can you say about this team anymore?  One thing for sure Steven Jackson is a quality player on a rubbish team.

NFL Week 7 Predictions

Green Bay to beat Cleveland

The Packers have no offensive line but the Browns are just rubbish.  Rodgers to have a big game and the Packers to win easily.

Houston to beat San Francisco

The Texans normally have one good week followed by one bad week.  Surely they can manage two decent weeks in a row.

San Diego to beat Kansas Chief

Two bad teams and two teams I couldn’t care less about.  Chargers to win since they have slightly more talent but would prefer the Chiefs to win.

Indianapolis to beat St Louis

The Colts and Manning will be healthy after a bye week and will be looking forward to playing this Rams team.  Look for the Colts to get ahead early and let the defence attack Bulger.

New England to beat Tampa Bay

The London game and I fancy the Patriots to win by a mile.  Not sure this game will do much to increase the popularity of the NFL in Europe.

Pittsburgh to beat Minnesota

This could be the game of the week with two good teams who both need to win.  The Steelers need it slightly more than the Vikings so I’ll pick them.

Carolina to beat Buffalo

These are two bad teams so I’ll pick the home team.

Oakland to beat New York Jets

I have no idea why I am picking Oakland here but something tells me they will win again this week.

Cincinnati to beat Chicago

The Bengals had a poor game last week so look for them to bounce back this week.  The Bears are a strange team but this will be a tough road trip for them.

Atlanta to beat Dallas

This Dallas team simply isn’t that good and only a fairly easy schedule has made them look good.  Atlanta will look to score quickly and then let Abraham attack Romo.

New Orleans to beat Miami

Drew Brees and co had a great game last week and I can’t see Miami stopping them this week.  If nothing else the Dolphins will run lots of wildcat this week.  Look out for Sharper to be ball hawking the young QB.

New York Giants to beat Arizona

This could be a high scoring game since both teams have great offences.  The Giants in particular have a suspect secondary and so look for Warner to throw lots.

Philadelphia to beat Washington

If the Eagles can’t beat this Washington team then you can officially end any chance they have of getting into the play-offs let alone getting to the Super Bowl.  They also need a big comeback after last weeks shocking lose.

Dallas Cowboys the 21st best team in the NFL

Life in Dallas just keeps on going, the team have released their best receiver, they have a fantastic new stadium (but can’t get anyone to buy the rights to name it) and Tony Romo has ditched Miss Simpson.  Really just another off season for the Dallas Cowboys.

Dallas has a few problems they will need to sort out this season if they are to progress to the play offs (something I don’t think they’ll do) and if the head coach is to have a job next season.  The offensive coordinator, Jason Garrett, also needs to prove that he can win games for this franchise.  This summer all the talk has been about how poorly Garrett did in the run in to the season when last year the poor man was being linked with every job in the NFL.

The Cowboys let T.O. go and I do understand why they did but they have to really hope that Williams steps up to the plate or this team is doomed.  They play 3 top defences in their own division not to mention playing the Bucs, Panthers and Chargers.  All of these teams will simply load up the box to stop the running game if none of the wide receivers show that they can be a threat down the field.  Then the Cowboys have to hope that Romo can produce anything down the stretch since they last two seasons he has simply collapsed.  The loss to the Eagles at the end of last year might go down as one of their worse in history.

On the defence side of the ball they still have Ware, how is quite simply one of the linebackers in the NFL but they also have a dodgy secondary that teams are not afraid to attack.  The whole secondary unit needs to really improve this year or they are going to fail reach .500 mark this season.

In reality I think this will be a dreadful season for the Cowboys with them finishing 6 – 10 or maybe I am just hoping that because I really don’t like them.  Though at least the fans get a shiny new stadium to sit in.

Week 14 Review

Week 14 Review Washington showed again that they can’t mix it with any of the big boys that have a good defence. Giants, Ravens and Steelers have all made Jason Campbell and the Redskins offence look very ordinary. Not saying these teams haven’t done this to a lot of teams this season but if Jim Zorn and his team want to be considered a playoff team they need to win at least 1 or 2 of these 4 games. The Cowboys have also put themselves in a difficult situation by losing to the Steelers and really know need to win out to have any chance of getting into the playoffs. This isn’t going to be an easy task since they have the Giants, Ravens and Eagles in their last 3 games. In fact looking at the schedule the NFC playoff picture is so confused since have the teams in the hunt play each other. In the AFC the same can be said, since the Dolphins and Jets play each other and so only one of them can make 11 wins and I’m afraid that 10 will probably not get you into the playoffs since the Colts and the Ravens have a great chance to get 11 wins in the bag and neither of them are likely to win their division. The Colts in fact have already lost their division to the Titans. The Titans in fact deserve extra special credit since they have sealed up their division and have a great chance of getting home field advantage through out the playoffs. In the game on Sunday it was sad to see the Cleveland players throwing in the towel so early. The last couple of touchdown runs were a disaster in terms of effort and commitment from the Browns. Finally the Panthers had an impressive win on Monday night running all over a Tampa Bay defence that had looked impressive this season.

NFL

Predictions

Well yet again I managed to make a total mess of my predictions by only getting 66% right.  Sounds ok but really I was hoping for much better.  Though in my defence I doubt anyone in the world got 100% since the Eagles and the Bengals managed to tie a game.  Really guys come on! 

It was another disappointting week to be a Redskins fan with the team losing to them.  Them of all the teams to lose to in such a disappointting fashion.  Dallas looked much better with Romo back under centre but even he showed signs of rustness.   In other games the Steelers somehow managed to beat the Chargers and the Titans showed yet again why they remain unbeaten.

Chicago look terrible versus Green Bay and now need to pick themsleves up or they are out of the Divisional race.

Prediction for the Thursday Night Game

Pittsburgh will be shown yet again on Sky Sports this Thursday, it would be nice to see some otehr teams as well.  This time it is versus the Bengals who now cannot finish .500 and surely something needs to change in Cincinnati.  Personally I think the head coach would be a good place to start followed by getting rid of Chad Johnson for a few draft picks.

So in this game I am going ot pick Pittsburgh to beat poor old Cincinnati and it is purely based on the fact that the Steelers have a much better defence than the Bengals.  Harrison in particular looksgreat every single week at the moment.

NFL Predictions week 11

Well I started off poorly this week getting Thursday’s game wrong.  The Jets looked great then rotten but managed to hold it together to get the win.  The Pats have shown that they are still a threat and this division looks like it might come down to the wire.

Rest of Week 11 Predictions

Eagles to beat the Bengals – The Eagles should have enough to easily win this game.

Giants to beat the Ravens – Big test for young Flacco and the Ravens but the defending champs just look too good at the moment.

Falcons to beat the Broncos – Never thought I would say this but Denver can’t run the ball and Atlanta can so I’m taking the Falcons to win this one.

Dolphins to beat the Raiders – Look for Williams and Brown to have big numbers in this game.  Pennington is also showing he is still able to run an offence in the NFL.

Colts to beat the Texans – If the Texans can lose the game versus the Colts earlier in the season they can surely lose this one.

Saints to beat the Chiefs – This is a hard one to predict since the Chiefs are getting better but I do fancy the Saints to sneak it but not by much.

Packers to beat the Bears – Green Bay lose this one and their season is pretty much done so I think they will get by the Bears but it won’t be pretty.

Bucs to beat the Vikings – The Vikings are playing well but they are up against a good defence this week unlike the last couple of weeks.

Panthers to beat the Lions – Have I mentioned the fact I think the Lions might go 0 – 16?  If not then I do, easy Panthers win here.

49ers to beat the Rams – The 49ers were unlucky on Monday night so I think they take that good form forward and beat the Rams for Singletary’s first victory.

Cardinals to beat the Seahawks – Seattle are getting healthier but Arizona is playing with so much confidence at the moment.

Titans to beat the Jaguars – No idea what Jacksonville team you are going to get so I’m taking the consistent team, Tennessee to win this one.

Chargers to beat the Steelers – The Steelers have been playing poorly of late and the Chargers need a win so San Diego to win this one.

Redskins to beat the Cowboys – I normally predict against Washington but I honestly feel this is game the Redskins can win.