Week 11 Thread

UnitedIrishman

Fixtures - (Vegas Line in Brackets)

Chicago at Miami (-1.5) [Tonight]
Detroit at Dallas (-6.5)
Arizona at Kansas City (-8)
Green Bay at Minnesota (+3)
Baltimore at Carolina (+10)
Cleveland at Jacksonville (-1)
Oakland at Pittsburgh (-7.5)
Buffalo at Cincinnati (-5.5)
Washington at Tennessee (-7)
Houston at N.Y. Jets (-7)
Atlanta at St. Louis (+3)
Tampa Bay at San Francisco (-3)
Seattle at New Orleans (-12)
Indianapolis at New England (-3)
N.Y. Giants at Philadelphia (-3) [Channel 4]

Denver at San Diego (-10) [Monday Night]

Game of the week looks to be Vick's Eagles against NY Giants in an NFC battle.

ESPN

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin sat down and watched Michael Vick on Monday night, hoping to get a quick headstart on this week's opponent.

And like everybody else who witnessed the game, Coughlin said he marveled at the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback's breathtaking performance.

"Let's see, 35-0, 12 plays for Washington," Coughlin said of the Eagles' 59-28 thrashing of the Redskins. "Just what everybody else was -- put the pencil down and become a fan."

Of course, Coughlin would admit that Vick's historic game left him in need of a bottle of Pepto-Bismol more than a set of pom-poms.

"No," Coughlin said when asked if he really was able to watch like a fan. "I had indigestion, stomach ache."

Less than 48 hours after Vick became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for more than 300 yards and four touchdowns while rushing for more than 50 yards and two touchdowns, the Giants were peppered with questions about Vick. The Giants are next up for Vick in a Sunday night showdown in Philadelphia that could elevate the winner to NFC front-runner and serious Super Bowl contender.

The Giants were all impressed by Vick's masterpiece in Washington and they expressed great respect. But they made it clear that they are not intimidated by the man who wears No. 7 and a tinted visor and looks a lot like the best player in the NFL at the moment.

"I've never seen a quarterback do the things that Vick can do," said safety Antrel Rolle. "His pocket passing is more efficient and he has a bazooka for an arm and he runs faster than three-quarters of the receivers in this league.

"[But] you have swagger and confidence when you play anyone. It doesn't matter who you play. Vick, he's a guy. I understand what kind of weapon he presents but he is a guy. He puts his pants on just like each and every one of us put our pants on. Our swagger is going to be there, no matter who we play."

Safety Deon Grant has had a few battles with Vick over the years when the two were rivals at Carolina and Atlanta.

Like the rest of his teammates, Grant respects Vick, but he said the Giants aren't intimidated by what Vick did to the Redskins.

"It better not," Grant said. "A Pop Warner defense, a high school defense [maybe]."

Vick may have looked immortal in Washington but Grant did recall that the Redskins were the ones who injured Vick in the fourth game of the season, knocking out the quarterback for three games with a rib injury.

"Ain't nobody Superman out on that field," Grant said. "Vick is just like me, ain't won no Super Bowls yet."

The Giants (6-3) may have felt unstoppable after winning five straight games. But Dallas looked like they had the Giants' kryptonite in a resounding 33-20 upset that saw the Cowboys amass 427 yards of total offense against the league's top-ranked defense.

The Giants say their confidence is not bruised, and certainly not broken, insisting that their mistakes and defensive breakdowns all are issues that can be fixed. They will soon find out in what is their biggest game of the season thus far.

The two rivals will likely be battling it out for the NFC East title, with this being their first of two encounters.

Also at stake is possible NFC supremacy, as both teams try to stay close to Atlanta (7-2) and the top of the conference.

"Definitely a statement game for us," defensive tackle Barry Cofield said. "Hopefully they left a lot of that magic in Washington and don't bring it to Philly and hopefully this was a wake-up call for us last week. I think a lot of guys, and with good reason, had a lot of confidence and were used to winning. It is definitely jarring and a shock to the system when you lose the way we did."

And for some like Coughlin, Vick's D.C. demolition can leave one feeling nauseous. The Giants hope to soothe their head coach with instant relief on Sunday night.

"I am tired of hearing about him already," Rolle said after being grilled about Vick on Wednesday. "I just want to play the game on Sunday. He is a great guy and a great player but I'm a Giant. I am going to play Giant football come Sunday."

Prefab Sprouter

Chicago at Miami [Tonight]
Detroit at Dallas
Arizona at Kansas City
Green Bay at Minnesota
Baltimore at Carolina
Cleveland at Jacksonville
Oakland at Pittsburgh - Yes this pick is in hope but I can dream cant I?
Buffalo at Cincinnati
Washington at Tennessee
Houston at N.Y. Jets
Atlanta at St. Louis
Tampa Bay at San Francisco
Seattle at New Orleans
Indianapolis at New England
N.Y. Giants at Philadelphia

Denver at San Diego

Chucky the tree

Colts and Patriots is the game of the week for me. Outside of a Raiders game this is definitely the biggest game I look forward to watching and I'd easily pick it over any other fixture. The best best QB's of the last decade, I can't wait for it and I'm just delighted it doesn't clash with the Raiders victory over Pittsburgh. The Pats @ Colts Conference game was the best game I've ever watched and if Sundays is even half as good it will be a belter.

Peyton Manning

The Colts vs Pats game also gives us a chance to debate Brady vs Manning, which really doesn't happen enough around here.

Hazys

Anybody daring to pick the Panthers over the Ravens?

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/11/18/panthers-to-start-brian-st-pierre-on-sunday/

Brian St. Pierre, a 31 year old quarterback with five career pass attempts that was out of the NFL until two weeks ago, will start for the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

Versus Ray Lewis and co... *shudder*

Black Swan

Chicago at Miami [Tonight]

Detroit at Dallas
Arizona at Kansas City
Green Bay at Minnesota
Baltimore at Carolina
Cleveland at Jacksonville
Oakland at Pittsburgh
Buffalo at Cincinnati
Washington at Tennessee
Houston at N.Y. Jets
Atlanta at St. Louis
Tampa Bay at San Francisco
Seattle at New Orleans
Indianapolis at New England
N.Y. Giants at Philadelphia

Denver at San Diego

Chucky the tree

Chicago at Miami - Thigpen isn't a bad QB, I think he's better then Pennington and was pretty happy when Chiefs gave him away and took on Cassel instead.
Detroit at Dallas - The 'boys should take this one. Think it might be a bit of a mauling for the Lions. Morale seems to be better after getting rid of Philips and this team is still extremely talented. Lions haven't won on the road yet and two back to back road could take it's toll.
Arizona at Kansas City - Cards have lost the last 4 and the Chiefs need to win to be in with a chance with the play-offs. The best ranked rushing teams against one of the worst rush defences doesn't bode well for the Cardinals. Expect a heavey dose of Jones and charles to help them get back on track after last weeks poor game.
Green Bay at Minnesota - Favre vs Green bay is always good to watch. I doubt many people would have expect Vikings to be out out of it by this stage though. Packers just off the bye-week so I think that will edge it for me.
Baltimore at Carolina - DeAngelo williams out for the season now and with Clausen possibly out with a concussion this will be painful for carolina. Easy with for the Ravens here.
Cleveland at Jacksonville - Tough game to call. Browns have been excellent all season for a 3-6 team while the Jags have shocked a lot of people lately. Fresh off their last play miracle and 1 game behind the Colts makes this game hugely important for them. I think the Jags will edge a close one.

Oakland at Pittsburgh - What a match up. Being a Raider fans I've obviously been following this one and I think we have a great chance against the Steelers. We're back from a bye week which is huge as it means we might have Nnamdi and Miller back for us on Sunday. The number 2 rushing team against the number 1 rushing defense will make this a very tough battle. However I think the Raiders have a big advange on defense though. 3rd in the league in sacks against a injury riddled offense line leaves us with a big advantage. Seymour has been playing at DPOY level and hopefully that will continue. The big question is if Campbell can get the offense going, if he can I think we'll make it 2 wins in a row at Pittsburgh.

Buffalo at Cincinnati - Two teams that aren't as bad as their and 1-8(Bills) 2-7(Cincy) record would suggest. Especially Cincy who have lost to @Pats, @browns, bucs, Falcons, Miami, Steelers and @Colts while the biggest marign of defeat was 8 points. Bills aren't the worst either, and just coming off their first win should do well but I think the Bengals pass offence will be to much for the Bills.
Washington at Tennessee - Should be an easy enough win for the titans.
Houston at N.Y. Jets - Texans are awful in pass defence and I don't think they'l be able to get the best of their defense. Should be a comfortable win for the Jets.
Atlanta at St. Louis - Falcons for me, despite Rams good record they haven't played many great teams and I think the falcons will have to much for them.
Tampa Bay at San Francisco - Another tough game to call, 49ers have turned a corner while the bucs have surprised everyone. I think the 49ers will take this with a healthy dose of Gore against the second worst run D in the league it should open things up for Smith and co.
Seattle at New Orleans - Saints quite comfortably.
Indianapolis at New England - The big one. I think the Pats are actually further ahead of the Colts then they have been for a while. Home advantage just makes this even tougher for the Colts.
N.Y. Giants at Philadelphia - I think Eagles are now favourites for the NFC and with the giants losing last week it looks like a Philly win here.

Denver at San Diego - Hopefully the Broncos can win against another divisional rival and put the Raiders in an even better position to take the division but I think the Chargers will have to fire for them. River's should have good success against their secondary.

Syferus

Hazys wrote: »

Anybody daring to pick the Panthers over the Ravens?

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/11/18/panthers-to-start-brian-st-pierre-on-sunday/



Versus Ray Lewis and co... *shudder*

In all honesty I don't think even Brian St. Pierre is going to be terrified by the Ravens defense. They've played at a low level all year and Lewis and Reed (whisper it) seem to be finally starting to slip into the abyss of age. Reed might have a couple more years on the clock if he's lucky, but Lewis has to be nearing the end now. The biggest irony is that it's now the Ravens' offense that's carrying the defense along for the ride.

cruiserweight

Chicago at Miami [Tonight]

Detroit at Dallas
Arizona at Kansas City
Green Bay at Minnesota
Baltimore at Carolina
Cleveland at Jacksonville
Oakland at Pittsburgh
Buffalo at Cincinnati
Washington at Tennessee
Houston at N.Y. Jets
Atlanta at St. Louis
Tampa Bay at San Francisco
Seattle at New Orleans
Indianapolis at New England
N.Y. Giants at Philadelphia

Denver at San Diego

spiralism

Chicago at Miami - Short week for chicago and a long enough trip down to miami. Thigpen isn't half bad either. Chicago defend the pass very well but miami are very heavily run based anyways and their defence matches up well against an always inconsistent cutler and the league's worst offensive line by some distance

Detroit at Dallas - Detroit haven't won away in forever and Dallas are due a win in the JerryDome™ this year. 2-0 for Garrett

Arizona at Kansas City - Kansas were bad against us last week but they are a different team in arrowhead and arizona are woeful. Bad matchup for arizona in every area, have to pick chiefs here

Green Bay at Minnesota - This Vikings team is in a mess, they struggle against the pass, Favre is looking his age and Childress is an imbecile... Packers ran em close here last year even when the Vikings were class, and it's hard to see how the vikes will stop them with no pass rush (surprisingly the vikings are struggling horribly at getting to the passer) and a terrible secondary

Baltimore at Carolina - Carolina are unspeakably bad this year and now lost one of their few good players... poor lads

Cleveland at Jacksonville - Jags have been playing well of late but are a team often guilty of taking weeks off.... could see them sleeping on a highly underrated Browns team and McCoy and co. capitalising.

Oakland at Pittsburgh - Good matchup for Oakland. Pittsburgh are missing a lot of players on both lines so will have issues against Run DMC and Bush while struggling to establish their own run game and keeping Ben upright... Also, Asomugha will eliminate Wallace from the game pretty much and he is a huge part of the steelers offence. Only issues i have with the oakland pick is that i dunno if Ben loses two straight and if Campbell keeps up his performance level

Buffalo at Cincinnati - Bit of a hunch here, buffalo get a second on the spin against a very poor and badly focused bengals team(and that's it with them winning this year after that). Also, Ryan Fitz might play like he has something to prove

Washington at Tennessee - That washington defence is terrible, Haslett actually doesn't know what he's at there. Also, if Haynesworth mails in an effort like he did against Philly, CJ will kill them.

Houston at N.Y. Jets - Jets defend well and the Texans do not. Texans will struggle to put points on the board against the Jets D while the Jets will likely not. Simple really

Atlanta at St. Louis - Two teams that perform much better at home than away. Atlanta are due a loss as well so Bradford adds another scalp.

Tampa Bay at San Francisco - I just don't trust that TB defence against Gore, Troy Smith and VD...

Seattle at New Orleans - Seattle are terrible on the road and this is the superdome they're heading to
.
Indianapolis at New England - Colts have struggled lately and the pats are well due to get one over on them.

N.Y. Giants at Philadelphia - Philly look the better team now... if the giants can't stop vick then i dunno who can really

Denver at San Diego - Because I'm a homer.

eagle eye

I really fancy the Dolphins tonight. I think Thigpen is a nightmare for an aggressive D like the Bears. I am also expecting to see at least one pick 6 off of Cutler.

UnitedIrishman

Cutler sacked.. something tells me I'll repeat that again and again tonight.

eagle eye

Neither offensive line is doing a good job. Stupid push in the back from Marshall there when Thigpen had the first down, but the pick was bad.

Oat23

What's that? Marshalls 3rd or 4th drop?

He caught 1 ball, taunted our sideline and got called for it. What an idiot.

themont85

eagle eye wrote: »

I really fancy the Dolphins tonight. I think Thigpen is a nightmare for an aggressive D like the Bears. I am also expecting to see at least one pick 6 off of Cutler.

Are they? They generally play cover 2 from what I can see and seem to stick to two high safties with Urlacher dropping into coverage quite a bit.

themont85

Oatesy23 wrote: »

What's that? Marshalls 3rd or 4th drop?

He caught 1 ball, taunted our sideline and got called for it. What an idiot.

He's a muppet, grade A muppet. Way to help out your 3rd string QB.:rolleyes:

themont85

Jay Cutler...don't think he will be bailed out by the officials.

Oat23

Good, balanced game from Martz tonight. 20 passes/29 runs so far.

spiralism

of all the teams i expected to call a varied playbook with a lot of runs, i didnt exactly think it would be chicago as opposed to a miami team with tyler thigpen in at qb...

Syferus

Chicago's D is setting up my fantasy team for the weekend, at the very least! Expected a better game out of these two, but I guess Miami are pretty much done for this season in all reality - if the Jets and the Patriots record victories this weekend there's no way I see Miami hauling themselves back into contention.

Oat23

I loved every second of that, 7-3..wow. I had us winning 5 all year.

Although Cutlers stats were nothing special he had a great game. He did what he needed to do, converting 3rd down consistently and his game management was top notch throughout. Everytime Hester got the ball on a crossing route I creamed myself . I love that play. The o-line did well after a disappointing first two series. Martz had a great game and he limited Jay's chances to make bad throws and avoided putting him in tough situations.
25 pass attempts and 40 rushes. Those rushes made the Miami defense extremely tired in the same way that the Giants running game did to us a few weeks back.

The D was fantastic again, under 40 rushing yards allowed which killed Miami. They didn't even try to run because we were giving up feck all.
Nick Roach did well filling in for Tinoisamoa and it was awesome seeing Urlacher get a clean run at the QB for a sack. Peppers did well too, hope for more of that next Sunday. I hope the D can keep it up for what will be an important few weeks.

So, to summarise. Great gameplan and execution, great D and solid special teams.

Happy 700th win, Bears!

landsleaving

Archimedes wrote: »

The Colts vs Pats game also gives us a chance to debate Brady vs Manning, which really doesn't happen enough around here.

ESPN says Manning... http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5819047

49ers fan

Thurs:
Bears, Bit late now I know:D
But I did have them in my Fantasy team, Great D....
Although I also plummed for Dan Carpenter as my Kicker....:eek:
'Nul Points'

SUNDAY:
Cowboys, Due a W at home
Chiefs, Arrowhead=W
Packers, Poor Brett
Ravens, Rice, Cundiff
Browns, Clot McCoy
Steelers, Big Ben will go crazy
Bengals, Just cos
Titans, CJ's Running game on Washintons D
Jets, at home
Falcons, cause we need to catch up on the Rams
49ers, Yes sir... Gore will run all over them
Saints, Brees due a big game
Colts, Manning over Brady
Eagles, Vick...nuff said
MNF:
Chargers, Look out for a big game from Phillip Rivers

eagle eye

Please ease off on the bold type 49ers fan. Your post is an eye sore and I mean that literally.

49ers fan

Bit Harsh

Oat23

49ers fan wrote: »

Bit Harsh

Shouldn't have picked against the Pats or said Manning > Brady :pac:.

Syferus

49ers fan wrote: »

Bit Harsh

He's eagle eyed, remember!

49ers fan

Will bear that in mind for future posts.......Go Colts;)

eagle eye

Oatesy23 wrote: »

Shouldn't have picked against the Pats or said Manning > Brady :pac:.

I didn't even read it:pac:

I just seen all the bold type and decided to give it a miss.

mikemac

Chicago at Miami (-1.5) [Tonight] already lost but that was my pick
Detroit at Dallas (-6.5)
Arizona at Kansas City (-8) Home of the Chiefs
Green Bay at Minnesota (+3)
Baltimore at Carolina (+10)
Cleveland at Jacksonville (-1)
Oakland at Pittsburgh (-7.5)
Buffalo at Cincinnati (-5.5)
Washington at Tennessee (-7)
Houston at N.Y. Jets (-7)
Atlanta at St. Louis (+3) :pac:
Tampa Bay at San Francisco (-3)
Seattle at New Orleans (-12)
Indianapolis at New England (-3)
N.Y. Giants at Philadelphia (-3) [Channel 4]

Denver at San Diego (-10) [Monday Night]
[/QUOTE]

I cannot recall a week where I picked so many home teams. It's not the main factor in choosing my picks

tommyboyle

The birds v giants will be a very good game to watch. The strength of the gmen is their 4 man rush and dropping back seven. I dont know how well that will work against the birds. I have a feeling tom coughlin is going to force them to stay in their lanes and not attack as is their nature/strength. They can try to shadow vick but if landry couldnt do, good luck new york. The eagles defense could throw up a stinker so picking the over is a strong bet. Looking at history manning usually does poor against the birds. 55% completion rate. Final pick Eagles 27 gmen 13.