Predictions for NFL week 5

Ravens to beat the Bengals

Baltimore is playing well but so are the Bengals but I just think the Ravens will have too much for them.  Look for the Ravens defence to play much better after last week.

Panthers to beat the Redskins

Is anyone interested in this game?  Really two bad teams and I fancy the Panthers to win because they are at home.

Bills to beat the Browns

The Browns can’t score on offence and to make things worse they have traded Edwards to the Jets.  Guess they have already written off the season.  The Bills aren’t much better but are at home at least.

Steelers to beat the Lions

Detroit has won one game this season but they aren’t going to get win number 2 this weekend.

Cowboys to beat the Chiefs

Chiefs need to get a win soon but I can’t see it happening this weekend versus the Cowboys.  Look for the Dallas defence to play well and for Romo to have a slightly better game than he has been having.  Though it is nice to see Romo getting found out for what he really is a decent QB rather than this superstar people were making him out to be.

Vikings to beat the Rams

Peterson to get over 200 yards? Wouldn’t put it past him or for Favre to have a big game.  The Rams are probably the worse team in the NFL at the moment.

Giants to beat the Raiders

Oakland just isn’t that good and won’t be when they have a thug has head coach or a nut job as an owner. Manning and the Giants look good and should make it 5 – 0.

Eagles to beat the Buccaneers

McNabb is back and they defence is playing well whereas noone is playing all that well for the Bucs.

49ers to beat the Falcons

San Fran is playing well and I thing they will have enough to beat the Falcons on Sunday.

Cardinals to beat the Texans

I can see both teams putting up a lot of points this weekend and also look for Fitzgerald and Johnson to have big games.  Fancy the Cardinals since they are home.

Broncos to beat the Patriots

Broncos are playing well which isn’t good news for all the McDaniels haters but something I’m personally not shocked about.  Orton is playing well enough to win games and the defence is finally showing how good it can be.

Jaguars to beat the Seahawks

Just not sure about this game since both teams aren’t that great but the Jags are slightly better.

Colts to beat the Titans

When you are winless the last team you want to play is the Colts on fire and Manning playing as well as he has for a few years.  Peyton is already MVP favourite and quite rightly since without this team would be average at best.

Jets to beat the Dolphins

Two young inexperience QBs in this game but the difference is Sanchez has a great defence to get him the ball back a lot.

MVP favourite

Kansas City the 29th best team in the NFL

The last three blogs about the three worse teams in the NFL have all started negatively so I thought I’d make this one positive.

 So here we go, Kansas did the right thing on Tuesday signing starting QB Matt Cassel to a 6 year contract worth about $63 million, yes it is alot of money but have you seen the starting QB’s in Kansas since Trent Green left?  Plus why would you waste a 2nd round pick to let the guy leave in free agency the next year.  Then you have to add in the fact that not only did they get a good QB for a 2nd round pick they also got a veteran leader in linebacker Mike Vrabel.  Having someone like that around your team can only be a good thing.  The last positive thing i can think of for the Chiefs is the hiring of Scott Pioli as GM, this is a guy who knows how to build a winning franchise and this can only be good for Kansas City.

 Now here comes the easy part, the negative things about Kansas City.

 Firstly why do you let the best TE to play the game go for only a second round pick.  Yes I know he didn’t want to be there but i doubt he wanted to be there for a while now.  Never stopped Tony putting in the effort or putting up the numbers.  I bet you Matt Ryan is over the moon at getting Tony on his team.  Secondly have you seen their schedule over the first 7 weeks?  The only game you can see them winning is the Oakland Raiders at home and yes that is only the second game in but the rest are a mess.  The entire NFC East, the Ravens and the Chargers!  That is a tough schedule no matter who you are.  Strangely if they actually beat one of the NFC East teams they may decide who makes the playoffs from that division.  I do actually think by their bye week which is week 8 that the Chiefs will have gotten two wins under their belts but that is going to be about it for the season.

 The things Kansas need to happen for a decent season are Matt Cassel to manage the game well, this isn’t New England where you get the ball back fairly quickly.  They also need to get a running game going to help Cassel but I’m not sure that Larry Johnson is the man to do it but I hope differently.  The defense needs to produce turnovers at fairly regular rate.

 Though in saying all that I still thing the Kansas City Chiefs will have another poor season and will finish 4 – 12 getting them the number 4 draft pick in 2010.

Oakland Raiders the 31st Best team in the NFL

Oakland, like a lot of teams down at the bottom of the NFL, have changed coach since the start of last year.  Gone is boy wonder Kiffin and in comes Tom Cable on a permanent basis.  Tom did get some caching time last season and was a respectable 4 – 8 during his 12 games in charge but I’m afraid that he won’t win that many games in 2009/10.  The main problem in Oakland is Al Davis and this has actually been the problem for a while now.  The man is slowly losing his marbles and spends way too much time interfering with game plans and his coaches.  The Al Davis syndrome is the reason that the Raiders have made so many strange draft picks over the last few years.  Right from the time he picked a kicker in the first round, Sebastian Janikowski in 2000, to him picking wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey last year Al Davis has done his best to ruin the Raiders.   

Like Matt Stafford at the LIons, I believe Heyward-Bey will be a decent player in the NFL the only problem being the fact that across the bay the best WR in the 2009 draft, Michael Crabtree, will have an outstanding year and career.  Experts can say what they want about Heyward-Bey but the only reason Al picked him was because of his speed and we all know how successfully picking the quickest guy at a position as been in the NFL.  In the Al Davis world Jerry Rice would never have gotten picked due to his lack of speed but someone like Troy Williamson would be a starter.  In fairness Al Davis isn’t the only owner, GM or coach that thinks this way but it still doesn’t help his team any.

JaMarcus Russell will be the starting QB for the Raiders this season and this is another reason they will only win a few games.  Again he could be a top player in the NFL but like David Carr if you are the wrong team your career tends to go belly up before any thing good happens.  Jeff Garcia should be the starter for Oakland and this would give them a much better chance of winning and staying in contention in what really is a very poor division.  There are now 3 teams in the AFC West that are in a transition period with new coaches and 1 team that should be a Superbowl contender.  

For the Raiders to do well this season Russell must control the football better than he did last year, 8 Ints doesn’t look that bad until you realise he only throw it 368 times, plus he only completed 53.1 percent of his throws which is about 20 percent down than it should be.  The other big name star in Oakland, Darren McFadden, will also need to seriously improve on his performance from last year.  Darren’s problem, like what Heyward-Bey’s problem will be, is he was outshone by players drafted much lower than him at the same position.  Chris Johnson, Felix Jones and Matt Forte are three names that jump to mind.

The only good thing in Oakland right now is the fact they have one of the best cornerbacks in the business, Nnamdi Asomugha, though how if the Raiders don’t improve I can’t see him staying beyond his 2 year of his contract.

The Oakland Raiders will go 3 -13 this up coming year and because of this they will have the second overall pick in the 2010 Draft that no doubt Al Davis will ruin.

32nd Best team in the NFL

Last season was a first for the Lions losing all 16 games and I’m afraid that this up coming season isn’t really going to be that much better for what really is a very poor team.  During the 2009 Draft they had a chance to up grade the offensive line which was a real problem for them but instead decided to waste two first round picks on Matt Stafford (QB) and Brandon Pettigrew (TE).  Ok I do get the selection of Matt Stafford because this team needs a decent QB and a face of the franchise but I’m not convinced that Stafford is going to be that good.  If he is to blossom in the NFL then he needs to spend most of the season as a backup to Culpepper and learning the offense.  Though the chances of this happening are slim especially if they have only won 1 game by the time they have their bye week, which is week 7.

The new coach, Jim Schwartz, should help change the attitude of the club but he needs time to get the club going in the right direction and I’m afraid that this doesn’t mean they are going to do it in a year like Miami did.  For the 2010 season I predict that the Detroit Lions will win 2 games which is at least an improvement on 2008 but will still be good enough for them to get the number 1 pick again in next years draft.

Their schedule doesn’t really help them having to play the AFC North which just happens to have two of the best defenses in the league, Steelers and Ravens, plus all of their divisional rivals have improved or are going to improve.  Bears having gotten Cutler and the Vikings going to get Favre who happens to like playing the Lions.

For the Lions to have success of any kind they need to see a big improvement from wide receiver Calvin Johnson and from running back Kevin Smith both of whom have been high draft picks over the last few years.

Detroit Lions will go 2-14 and finish up as the worse team in the NFL for the second year running.

NFL Preview Week 10

Well I totally forgot to do my predictions last week so I’ll try this week for my 80%. 

 

Week 10 features the first Thursday night game, great if you live in Scotland like me and get this free with Sky not so great if you live in America and don’t have the NFL network.  This seems totally strange to me but hey since I can get it I’m happy.

 

So here goes:

Browns to beat the Broncos – The Brady Quinn era starts in Cleveland tonight and luckily for him he is facing a terrible defence which is missing its best player, Champ Bailey.  The more interesting part to the Quinn starting is where Anderson ends up.  There is plenty of teams in need of a decent QB and I would say he is a decent QB so good luck to him when he moves.

 

Falcons to beat the Saints – Turner will have fun running all over the Saints defence.

 

Titans to beat the Bears – So good old fashioned football going to be played here.  Both teams like to run the ball but for me the Titans have the better running backs in Johnson and White.  Look for the Titans to play 8 and 9 man fronts since they know that Grossman shouldn’t beat them.

 

Lions to beat the Jags – Jacksonville are a team with no confidence and no running game plus they have shown that they an lose games to poor teams.  Look for Detroit to win their first game of the season.

 

Texans to beat the Ravens – I like the look of the Ravens but for some reason I really fancy the Texans to win this one.

 

Dolphins to beat the Seahawks – The Seahawks have real problems at he moment and the Fins are playing well.  Look for Pennington to guide them to another victory on Sunday.  By the way Miami have a real chance of winning this division.

 

Packers to beat the Vikings – Still not sold on the Vikings and so I think that Rodgers and the Packers get back to winning ways in the dome.

 

Pats to beat the Bills – New England will be hurting after losing to the Colts but look for them to win a crucial divisional game versus the Bills.

 

Jets to beat the Rams – The Rams have been improving but I think that Favre and the Jets will win comfortable at home.

 

Panthers to beat the Raiders – Things don’t get any easier for the Raiders and Russell.  After a poor performance last week they get a better team with a better defence to play.  Look for Peppers to cause chaos in this game.

 

Steelers to beat the Colts – The Colts will lose this game because the Steelers can run the ball and their defence is looking great again.

 

Chargers to beat the Chiefs – The Chiefs look good but the Chargers should come back from the bye week hungry for a victory that could see them become joint top of the division again.

 

Eagles to beat the Giants – I can see the Giants losing this one because of how important a game it is for the Eagles.  If they lose this one then they are pretty much out of the NFC East.

 

Cards to beat the 49ers – What a terrible Monday night game this will be.  The Cards and Warner will throw for thousands of yards versus this very poor San Fran team.

Preview of week 8.

After forgeting to make any predictions last week I’ll have another go this week. So here goes:

Ravens to beat the Raiders – Yes the Raiders won last week but the Ravens defence should be good enough to win this one.

Panthers to beat the Cardinals – This all comes down to Panthers being at home.  It’s that simple with both of these teams.

Bucs to beat the Cowboys – When you are struggling on offence one of the last teams in the world you want to play is the Bucs with their excellent Kiffin lead defence.  The Cowboys have issues all over the park and this wll result in another defeat this week.

Redskins to beat the Lions – Detroit wil remain winless this week with the Redskins winning this on the back of their running game.  Portis is teh MVP through the first 7 weeks of the season for me.

Bills to beat the Dolphins – Trent Edwards and the Bills to continue winning and looking good.  Some grab by Evans last week!

Pats to beat the Rams – Yes the Rams have been great recently but they need a full strength Jackson to have any chance of winning.  On the injury front the Pats must be worried about Brady.

Saints to beat the Chargers – The Saints to win the London Bowl this year.

Jets to beat the Chiefs – The Chiefs can’t win without Johnson in the back field so suspending hm rules out any chance of them beating the Jets.  The Jets and Favre will be happy they are playing the Chiefs to get back into the winning feeling.

Eagles to beat the Falcons – Matt Ryan and the Falcons will seem some intersting blitzs from Johnson this week.  This is when the rookie Ryan needs to really step up if the Falcons are to be taken seriously.  The Eagles are good but not as good as some people think since they are still the worse team in the NFC East.

Jags to beat the Browns – Browns are improving but the Jags should be too strong for them in Jacksonville.

Texans to beat the Bengals – Bengals are getting better slowly but the Texans are improving again and should win this game.  Look for Williams to have a big game.

Steelers to beat the Giants – The Steelers and Big Ben will hand the Giants their first defeat of the season.  To do this they need to have excelent ball control.

49ers to beat the Seahawks – Nice first game to have for the new 49ers coach.  Should be a easy win for them since the Seahawks have massive problems.

Titans to beat the Colts – The Colts can’t defend the run and the Titans love to run the ball.  Simple really and Chris Johnson and White will run all day.  Manning looked shocking last week and must improve if the Colts have any chance to win this season.