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The Wrong Football

~ A UK American Football fan writes about the game he loves

The Wrong Football

Tag Archives: Competition Thursday

Competition Thursday: 2022 Week 17

29 Thursday Dec 2022

Posted by gee4213 in Picks Competition

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Competition Thursday, NFL, Picks Competition, Week 17 Picks

We’re running out of regular season and things remain tight, though I managed to extend my lead over the festive weekend to four points but still plenty of games to pick in the final weeks for either of us to get ahead.

Gee:Week 16:  8 – 8Overall:  117 – 123
Dan:Week 16:  6 – 10Overall:  113 – 127

Cowboys @ Titans (+9.5)

It has been a really rough stretch for the Titans having lost five straight. Quarterback Ryan Tannehill going down with a second ankle injury this season against the Chargers in week fifteen led to rookie Malik Willis getting the start against the Texans on Saturday, but the Titans couldn’t get the win. That does not bode well for them welcoming the Cowboys fresh off beating the Eagles. There is a caveat that the Eagles were without Jalen Hurts, but the line demonstrates how favoured the Cowboys are and does put me in a quandary. My numbers back the Cowboys in this one, but Titans head coach Mike Vrabel has an awful lot of equity with me and so I am second guessing myself, even as I eventually plump for the Cowboys.

Gee’s Pick:     Cowboys
Dan’s Pick:     Cowboys

Survivor Competition

Thanks to the 49ers beating Washington, both Dan and I came out of week sixteen in our survivor competition over a fifty-fifty record, but with seven eliminations each that is hardly inspiring. This week Dan is opting for Eagles in a display of faith despite Hurts injuries, whilst I am hoping that the Lions’ push for the playoffs puts them over the top against the visiting Bears.

Current Score

Gee: 9
Dan: 9

Week 17 Selection:

Gee:    Bears @ Lions
Dan:    Saints @ Eagles

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Competition Thursday: 2022 Week Fourteen

08 Thursday Dec 2022

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Competition Thursday, NFL, Picks Competition, Week 14 Picks

Dan had a double-digit week thirteen that pegged me back a bit so there’s till plenty of time for him to take a lead as we come into the closing run of the regular season.

Gee:Week 13:  99 – 95Overall:  99 – 96
Dan:Week 13:  95 – 99Overall:  95 – 100

Raiders @ Rams (-5.5)

The Rams are imploding through injury and key moves not working out back in the off-season. They are also in multiple only game being played matchups in the coming weeks, which makes sense as the current Super Bowl champions but things are very different this seasons. The neck injury suffered by Matthew Stafford is the latest problem to beset the Rams and whilst he has a path to come back next season, at 34 years old with a Super Bowl ring you have to wonder if he will want to.

Meanwhile, the Raiders have won three straight and its hard to see them not winning this one so whilst the points do make me pause, I just can’t back the Rams in this one. That might just get the Rams a win tonight…

Gee’s Pick:     Raiders
Dan’s Pick:     Raiders

Survivor Competition

It took special teams and defence for the Browns to do it, but they got the win and so both Dan and I scored points in week thirteen. This week, Dan is going against the Jaguars as he backs the Titans at home, whilst I’m doubling down on my game pick tonight and hoping that doesn’t double jinx the Raiders!

Current Score

Gee: 8
Dan: 7

Week 14 Selection:

Gee:    Raiders @ Rams
Dan:    Jaguars @ Titans

Competition Thursday: 2022 Week Four

29 Thursday Sep 2022

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Competition Thursday, NFL, Week 4 Picks

So my lead isn’t quite as big as Dan thought when recording the podcast and I am pretty happy with how things are going, but it is very early for Dan to be speculating on the return of the black and orange to the social media/podcast imagery.

Meanwhile, there is the minor matter of the fifth TWF Bowl taking place tonight.

Gee:Week 3:  9 – 7Overall:  26 -22
RussWeek 3:  7 – 9Overall:  19 – 29
Dan:Week 3:  6 – 1Overall:  19 – 29

Dolphins @ Bengals (-3.5)

The Bengals got back to winning ways last week against the Jets last week and debut their alternate helmets in the snow tiger look white out game. They welcome the unbeaten Dolphins, who are coming to town with a lot of questions due to injury, not least to Tua who is dealing with back issues following a big hit in the first half of last week’s game. I can see the Bengals winning this one, but the speed of the Dolphins offence concerns me a lot so there is just no way I’m laying an extra half point in this one when I can very easily see the Dolphins finishing the contest 4-0. I will be very happy to be proved wrong on this one..

Gee’s Pick:      Dolphins
Dan’s Pick:      Dolphins

Survivor Competition

I continue to be a curse for teams and stand at a mighty three eliminations already this season and so I’m beginning to wonder if I can run the table in losses, but I’ll still try to keep things going with wins. Dan did better with the choice of the Ravens and so opens up a two point lead. I’m interested in his faith in the Cowboys going against Washington, but this is a straight pick so I can understand it, whilst I’m going with the Packers at home, welcoming a dysfunctional Patriots team with Brian Hoyer as their quarterback. If it goes wrong, Pats fans you are welcome.

Current Score

Gee: 0
Dan: 2

Week 4 Selection:

Gee:     Packers
Dan:    Cowboys

Bold Prediction of the Week

I was just about allowed to go for the Texans to be within six of the Chargers, which may be bolder than I think Dan was allowing but with the Chargers missing key players on either side of the ball we shall see.

Competition Thursday: 2022 Week Three

22 Thursday Sep 2022

Posted by gee4213 in Picks Competition, Thursday Night Football

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Competition Thursday, NFL, Week 3 Picks

Having struggled to set into the early part of the season I’m actually getting a Competition Thursday post up for the first time in the 2022 season.

Dan and I kept pace with each other in week twp, whilst Russ dropped behind Dan. It is always a tricky week to get week two picks right as you try not to overreact to the week one results but also not ignore them.

Gee:Week 2:  7 – 9Overall:  17 – 15
Dan:Week 2:  7 – 9Overall:  13 – 19
RussWeek 2:  5 – 11Overall:  12 – 20

Steelers @ Browns (-5.5)

We have an AFC North bruising affair that sees the Steelers and Browns vying for an early lead in the division ahead of the weekend’s games. I saw a sign on Twitter of someone wondering if both teams could lose tonight, which I have some sympathy with as a Bengals fan, although it is well know how fond I am of Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. I have to say, following a 1-1 start to the season where the Steelers have finished both games within three points of their opponent I’m surprised at the size of this line. I am interested to get a first look at the Browns, but I confess to being more than a little biased. Still, the numbers are backing my hunches and whilst I wouldn’t go as far as predicting a Steelers win, I certainly think they’ll keep the game within six.

Gee’s Pick:      Steelers
Dan’s Pick:      Steelers

Survivor Competition

I’m having a terrible start to the season as I was eliminated for a second time as well as seeing the Bengals fall to 0-2. Dan’s theory of backing Aaron Rodgers to continue his ownership of the Bears saw him get off the mark in week two and this week he’s backing the Ravens to beat the Patriots on the Road. I’m going for as sure a thing as I can think of this week, so I’m hoping I don’t jinx the Chiefs as they take on the winless Colts.

Current Score

Gee: 0
Dan: 1

Week 3 Selection:

Gee:     Chiefs @ Colts
Dan:    Ravens @ Patriots

Bold Prediction of the Week

After several minutes of squirming, having options refused as not qualifying according to Dan or simply not believable to me, I settled on the Jaguars to cover against the Chargers, which according to the ESPN line is to stay within eight points. I also thing that could be a sneaky good game given the Jaguars start to the season and the injuries to the offensive line of what has looked pretty good Chargers team.

2021 Competition Roundup

13 Thursday Jan 2022

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Competition Thursday, NFL

It’s been a bit quiet on the blog thanks to some illness after new year that saw me drop the ball completely on the picks competition so let’s see how things stood after I conceded ahead of the week seventeen games.

Gee:Week 16:  8 – 8Overall:  125 – 115
Dan:Week 16:  10 – 6Overall:  133 – 107

Clearly congratulations are in order for Dan, who wins for a second straight year, meaning the TWF social media stays in Dolphins colours for another season and it is now four years since I have won a picks competition with Dan taking a 3-2 overall season lead over me.

Clearly, I need to look again at my process in the off-season!

Survivor Competition

The good news for me is at least in the survivor competition I was more competitive, as already sitting on a four point lead the Chiefs came through for me against the Steelers while the Chargers laying an egg against Texans served to extend my lead.

Final Score

Gee: 12
Dan: 7

The Wrong Football Dynasty League

I had a very solid dynasty season, going 11-4 in the regular season to win my division, but sadly I was knocked out in the first round of the playoffs by Dan who in turn was beaten by our eventual winner Adam.

A hearty congratulations goes out to Adam, and thank you to everyone else in the league who is currently licking their wounds and planning their revenge for next season.

Playoff Football

It’s both the best time of season and the warning that soon we will be without football for too many months. Dan and I will be backing teams to progress in the playoffs, but it’s time to make the best of the fiercest matchups of the year as we see who makes the Super Bowl.

I’m just hoping that the Bengals can end the longest playoff win drought in US sports. It’s not that much to ask, is it?

Competition Thursday: 2021 Week Fifteen

16 Thursday Dec 2021

Posted by gee4213 in Gee's Thoughts, Picks Competition

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Competition Thursday, NFL, Week 15 Picks

We have what looks to be a cracking Thursday night game this week, though week fourteen was anything but cracking for me as Dan extended his lead to six games, and I’m looking at the fact that I have not won a picks competition in at least three, and by the looks of it four seasons now. Clearly the rethink I have hinted at in the last couple of years actually needs to happen in the offseason.

Meanwhile, as in so many places the number of Covid cases are rising in the NFL so picking could get very tricky in the upcoming weeks.

Gee:Week 14:  7 – 7Overall:  108 – 100
Dan:Week 14:  10 – 4Overall:  114 – 94

Chiefs @ Chargers (+3.5)

The Chiefs have found a formula for winning that’s got them six straight, with the addition of edge player Melvin Ingram via trade and the return of some of their injured defensive players the Chiefs are making lives difficult for teams despite only ranking seventeenth in defence by DVOA. They have held opponents to under twenty points in those six wins and if there is a concern, it is that the offence, whilst scoring big against the Raiders hasn’t been back to its explosive best, but if the defence can keep doing what it has been the Chiefs stand a good chance of solidifying themselves back amongst the challengers in the AFC.

The Chargers meanwhile have two very solid wins in their last two games and whilst many, including me, were wondering about their offence scheme and not taking enough of an advantage of Justin Herbert’s arm, they do seem to be pushing the ball more and the offence is now ranked third by DVOA. The defence still lags behind, but I do not believe Brandon Staley will make the same kind of mistakes as the Raiders’ Gus Bradley in scheming against Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes. This could well be another win for the Chiefs tonight, but with the Chargers at home on a short week getting an extra half point I’ll take that slightly nervously and hope I’m not overthinking my pick. Again…

Gee’s Pick:      Chargers
Dan’s Pick:      Chiefs

Survivor Competition

So it turns out that if Dan and I had the courage of our early convictions we would have been fine going with the Chargers to beat the Giants, but both the Packers and the Seahawks took care of us so we turn our attention to week fifteen, and I don’t mind telling you that it is getting pretty tough to find selections now.

After staring at the list for a while I have come up with the Dolphins beating the Jets at home and I just hope that it being a divisional game doesn’t trip me up. Despite Dan saying he hated all his options, I don’t hate his selection of the Chiefs to win, though it’s not an obvious one and might make for some nervous watching tonight.

Current Score

Gee: 10
Dan: 6

Week 15 Selection:

Gee:    Dolphins
Dan:    Chiefs

Competition Thursday: 2021 Week Fourteen

09 Thursday Dec 2021

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Competition Thursday, NFL, Week 14 Picks

I finally put together a strong week of picks and so was able to scramble a couple of points back from Dan, but it is getting to the business end of the season and I’m still three points behind so let’s see how the next couple of weeks go.

Gee:Week 13:  10 – 4Overall:  101 – 93
Dan:Week 13:  8 – 8Overall:  104 – 90

Steelers @ Vikings (-3.5)

I am definitely intrigued by tonight’s game as the Vikings seem to be stuck in a recurring nightmare of close losses and wins, while the Steelers feel like they are in a very similar place. I don’t have a strong feel for how this game will work out and I could be horribly wrong, but to me this line is off thanks to being over the key number of three so even though I don’t have a strong inclination for how this matchup will play out on the field, I am very happy to pick the Steelers. That just leaves me to watch the game without worrying if my analysis was right and I think it should be a pretty entertaining game too.

Gee’s Pick:      Steelers
Dan’s Pick:      Steelers

Survivor Competition

I am afraid Dan got eliminated again last week off the back of the Lions first win of the season, and this isn’t even the first time the Lions eliminated Dan despite only having one win on the board. He is also running out of weeks to catch me so can ill afford another slip up as the Colts kept me going with their routine looking win against the Texans on Sunday.

This week, I am going to be taking the Chargers as they are hosting the Giants and by coincidence so is Dan, although we are running out of teams at this point of the season.

Current Score

Gee: 9
Dan: 5

Week 14 Selection:

Gee:    Chargers
Dan:    Chargers

Bold Prediction

I completely understood why Dan vetoed my tentative suggestion of the Falcons to beat the Panthers as not being bold enough, but I’m not sure if last week’s results had an undue influence on me suggesting the Lions will be within three of the Broncos this weekend, but that’s what I went with on the pod so I just have to will it to be true I suppose.

Competition Thursday: 2021 Week 8

28 Thursday Oct 2021

Posted by gee4213 in Gee's Thoughts, Picks Competition

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Aaron Rodgers, Allen Lazard, Arizona Cardinals, Buffalo Bills, Chicago Bears, Competition Thursday, Davant, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Joe Barry, LA Rams, Miami Dolphins, NFL, Philadelphia Eagles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Dan and I both had winning weeks in the picks competition, and I’m particularly pleased to pick up ten points in a thirteen game week. The pair of us are solidly over fifty percent at the moment, but who knows if we’ll be able to maintain that for another eleven weeks.

Gee:Week 7:  10 – 3Overall:  58 – 49
Dan:Week 7:  8 – 5Overall:  56 – 51

Packers @ Cardinals (-5.5)

This could be completely the wrong way to approach this game, particularly as the Packers are dealing with receivers Davante Adam and Allen Lazard going on the Covid-19 list as well as defensive coordinator Joe Barry, but while this line is slightly better than the consensus I’m seeing online it still seems like a lot for Cardinals to cover. I can definitely see given their record and the situation in Green Bay that they are favourites, but I keep looking at those numbers and going, yeah but the Packers have Aaron Rodgers. Throw out the first game of the season and the Packers are unbeaten, and whilst that first game definitely counts it shouldn’t have too much influence and even missing one of the best receivers in the game this line is just that bit too rich for me. I could easily regret this, and I absolutely know that this is not how I advocate making decisions, but I just don’t want to go against the Packers giving Rodgers this many points.

Gee’s Pick:      Packers
Dan’s Pick:      Cardinals

Survivor Competition

Dan and I held serve in week seven, with the Rams beating the Lions for Dan and the Bucs taking care of the Bears for me. Dan is going for a radically different, and some might suggest overly bold strategy of going against the Eagles this week as he thinks the Lions are getting their first win. It’s certainly an approach, although I do wonder if he remembers this is a competition that is supposed to be based on a survivor pool so it’s certainly not one I’m going to replicate right now. I am hoping that any concern Dan might have about my pick will be compensated for by the reverse jinx potential as given Dan’s statements on the pod and the pick rankings I use, I am going for the Bills to beat the Dolphins. I can certainly handle dropping a point in this competition if the Dolphins get a win and not just because of my bold prediction.

Current Score

Gee: 6
Dan: 4

Week 8 Selection:

Gee:     Bills
Dan:    Lions

Bold Prediction of the Week

As ever I was struggling with a bold prediction despite my big win last week, but I was eventually allowed to plump for the Dolphins keeping the score to within a touchdown against the Bills so I basically get to be on both sides of this game.

Competition Thursday: 2021 Week Six

14 Thursday Oct 2021

Posted by gee4213 in Gee's Thoughts, Picks Competition, Thursday Night Football

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Baltimore Ravens, Competition Thursday, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, LA Rams, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, NFL, Philadelphia Eagles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tom Brady, Week 6 Picks

Dan closed the gap to two points in week five of our picks competition but as we turn our attention to game six, which is the first of the season to feature teams on a bye, we also have what looks to be a distinctly one-sided Thursday night game.

Gee:Week 5:  7 – 9Overall:  43 – 37
Dan:Week 5:  10 – 6Overall:  41 – 39

Buccaneers @ Eagles (+6.5)

The Philadelphia Eagles are currently ranked sixteenth overall by DVOA, but are undeniably limited on offence despite occasionally flashing glimpses of what they could be. The Eagles did beat the Panthers last week, but you would feel that even with the Buccaneers’ cluster of injuries at corner, that the Eagles’ passing game is not efficient enough for them to get the win. Even Tom Brady dealing with a thumb injury on his throwing hand is not enough for me to back the Eagles to cover given that the consensus line is +7 and I’ve seen others higher than that. The Eagles could very well make me look like a fool but for now I can’t look past the Bucs in this one, even if they are on the road.

Gee’s Pick:      Buccaneers
Dan’s Pick:      Buccaneers

Survivor Competition

I don’t know how closely Dan was following the game on Sunday as it was happening, but the Patriots were made to work to get their win against the Texans but his plan to pick against the Texans just about held. However, he has transferred his plan to pick against the Jaguars, which I understand except he’s placing more faith in his Dolphins team than I have! That said, the Ravens could have easily lost against the Colts so I can’t be too confident in my own selections. Looking at the teams this week I’ve gone for the Rams against the Giants, even if they are on the road, the Giants have enough injuries and struggles this season to make me think they’ll struggle to keep up with the Rams.

Current Score

Gee: 4
Dan: 3

Week 3 Selection:

Gee:    Rams
Dan:    Dolphins

Bold Prediction of the Week

I was really struggling for a bold prediction this week, but I was eventually allowed to back the Bears to cover getting four and a half points as they host the Packers on Sunday.

DVOA is Football Outsiders statistic for measuring a team’s success on every play versus the league average and you can read more about it and other football topics at https://footballoutsiders.com.

2021 Week Four Picks

03 Sunday Oct 2021

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Competition Thursday, NFL, Picks Competition, Week 4 Picks

I was ill enough during the week to drive a coach and horses through my blog schedule for the week so I have a large number of things to cover in a single post so I guess I will be going broad but shallow this week.

I extended my lead over Dan with a decent week of picks after a poor week two so let’s see if I can settle into a system or if it’s going to be a week to week season.

Gee:Week 3:  12 – 4Overall:  28 – 20
Dan:Week 3:  8 – 8Overall:  23 – 25

The Thursday night game saw the Bengals win a game 24-21 having gone in at half time down two touchdowns having scored nothing. Until recently that would have meant a loss but there does seem to be something different about this year’s Bengals. I’m not suddenly pencilling them into the Super Bowl, but Joe Burrow is reminding everyone why people were excited about him and to get this win with the injuries in the secondary on a short week is a good step forward. As for the Jaguars, they obviously had a good first half, but they look a ways away from winning regularly and it could take some time. It’s too early to truly judge Urban Myer as a coach, but it has been rough early and this was always a long term project so it might not get better for a while. You can also see given Myer’s offseason moves and some of his comments why there is already speculation.

Survivor Competition

Dan got his first point on the board this week with the selection of the Cardinals going against the Jags whilst I would still be standing in a standard survivor pool so let’s see both how long I can keep that going and if Dan can catch me. I’m plumping for the Saints at home for the first time this season against a Giants team who have injuries and a troubled start to the season. Dan is going for Bills to beat the Texans which seems a solid selection to me!

Current Score

Gee: 3
Dan: 1

Week 3 Selection:

Gee:    Saints
Dan:    Bills

Bold Prediction of the Week

My bold prediction for this week was to take the Detroit Lions getting their first win on the road against the Chicago Bears. It’s certainly bold, and I’m not entirely sure it won’t happen either, but let’s see.

Early Games:

I’m still at the stage where I’m seeing most of the games as having something interesting but in the interests of keeping it short, I’ll cover what I can in a brief manner.

The matchup of the early games for my mind is the Carolina Panthers visiting the Dallas Cowboys to put their unbeaten record on the line against the 2-1 NFC East leaders. This should be a great game given how well the two teams are playing, particularly as the line is very much leaning to the Cowboys, while the Panthers are the number one team by DVOA and are both eight places and 18.5% higher than their opponents. The Cowboys have competent defence this season to go along with an explosive passing attack, which should be a really interesting matchup against the league’s top defence by DVOA. I think you likely lean Cowboys to win the game as I’m not that convinced by Sam Darnold and the Panthers are also missing Christian McCaffery with a hamstring problem, but it still should be a cracking game and the Panthers could well spring a surprise.

Points from the rest:

  • The Falcons got their first win last week but are not convincing yet so is this a game where Washington can get right after a difficult start to the season or will their problems continue on the road.
  • The Bills are understandable favourites against the Texans, but 16.5 is a huge number of points to lay so whilst I doubt rookie quarterback Davis Mills can get his first win on the road, he didn’t look that bad last week and I wonder if there is a sneaky cover to be had here.
  • The Bears offence was woeful last week, and the questions are understandably on the coaches at this point. The Lions might be viewed as a get right team but equally, this could be a game that’s a big trap for the Bears, particularly as these two teams are right next to each other in overall DVOA.
  • The Miami Dolphins have had a rough start to the season, but the Colts have been even rougher and starting a quarterback with two sprained ankles and limited time with his new team in the pre-season doesn’t inspire confidence. At this point, a first win is a must for the Colts, but a top ten defence by DVOA might be enough for the Dolphins to deny them.
  • This is the other cracking matchup in the early games that in another week would have been featured. The Browns are the number two team by DVOA and are heading to take on a Vikings team whose record is probably worse than their performance. This should be a cracking game, well worth a watch and whilst I understand the Browns being favoured, the Vikings getting points at home looks a good selection to me
  • I don’t think the Giants are getting the answers they were hoping for about Daniel Jones thanks to a combination of coaching and injuries, but there are wider problems for this franchise. It’s hard to see them beating the Saints, even if Jameis Winston has shown us the usual high and lows of his play dispite now having Sean Payton as his coach.
  • The New York Jets have shown glimmers of what could be, but it was already a mutli-year rebuild project before the injuries started and after a shut out they will be desperate to do better at home against the Titans. The Titans are not a good team, but should have enough to win this one, but I’m not sure that includes winning by eight.
  • The Chiefs are another team who’ve had a rough start to the season, which is unusual for Andy Reid who has an impressive record in September but the Chiefs’ defence is rooted to the bottom of the DVOA rankings and even with Patrick Mahomes you can’t outscore that. However, the Eagles started picking up injuries and quarterback Jalen Hutrs needs to be more consistent passing the ball before the Eagles can truly start to compete and so I find it hard to believe they will win this game.

Washington @ Falcons (+1.5)

Gee’s Pick:      Washington
Dan’s Pick:      Washington

Texans @ Bills (-16.5)

Gee’s Pick:      Texans
Dan’s Pick:      Bills

Lions @ Bears (-2.5)

Gee’s Pick:      Lions
Dan’s Pick:      Lions

Panthers @ Cowboys (-4.5)

Gee’s Pick:      Panthers
Dan’s Pick:      Cowboys

Colts @ Dolphins (-1.5)

Gee’s Pick:      Dolphins
Dan’s Pick:      Dolphins

Browns @ Vikings (+2.5)

Gee’s Pick:      Vikings
Dan’s Pick:      Vikings

Giants @ Saints (-7.5)

Gee’s Pick:      Saints
Dan’s Pick:      Saints

Titans @ Jets (+7.5)

Gee’s Pick:      Jets
Dan’s Pick:      Titans

Chiefs @ Eagles (+7.5)

Gee’s Pick:      Chiefs
Dan’s Pick:      Chiefs

Late Games:

There’s a couple of intriguing games in the late slot but the pick for me once again has to feature the LA Rams, this time hosting the also unbeaten Arizona Cardinals. The Rams have been explosive on offence and good enough on defence, which is interesting as when you start comparing these two teams’ DVOA rankings the Rams are ranked first in offence, but the Cardinals are top ten in all three phases of the game and are only 0.3% worse overall. I’m not sure if the Cardinals can win the game on the road, but this looks to be a cracking game and I think there’s a decent chance the Cardinals can keep this to within six.

Points on the Rest:

  • The Seahawks have not quite come together yet and will be hoping to peg back the 49ers in their bid to stay in the race for the play-offs. The 49ers have not entirely convinced either so this should be an interesting demonstration of where these two teams stand.
  • The unbeaten Denver Broncos host the Ravens this week in their first true test of the 2021 season. The early DVOA ranking are somewhat volatile as they don’t have all the opponent adjustments factored in, so I totally understand why the line sees the Ravens as the better team but I’m curious to see how this plays out on the football field. It’s certainly not beyond Vic Fangio to scheme up a defence capable of stymieing the Ravens’ multi-faceted rush attack as well as their passing game, but can Teddy Bridgwater maintain the Broncos offensive success against the Ravens defence?
  • The Steelers look to be in trouble with the offence looking how it did at the end of last season and the defence struggling against the Bengals last week minues TJ Watt. There are still doubts about the Packers after their opening loss of the season and how the defence has looked, but a good win here would further settle some of those anxieties and I suspect that is what will happen, even if you should never count out Mike Tomlin’s Steelers.

Cardinals @ Rams (-5.5)

Gee’s Pick:      Cardinals
Dan’s Pick:      Rams

Seahawks @ 49ers (-2.5)

Gee’s Pick:      Seahawks
Dan’s Pick:      Seahawks

Ravens @ Broncos (-1.5)

Gee’s Pick:      Ravens
Dan’s Pick:      Ravens

Steelers @ Packers (-6.5)

Gee’s Pick:      Packers
Dan’s Pick:      Packers

Sunday Night Football:

Buccaneers @ Patriots (+6.5)

From a narrative point of view the undisputed game of the week is the return of Tom Brady to New England with his Super Bowl winning Buccaneers. Things have not gone perfectly for the Bucs this season, particularly as they have been struggling to defend the pass and were fairly straightforwardly beaten by the Rams last week. However, their offence has looked good and there is a solid 31.8% between the teams in overall DVOA, which accounts for them laying six and a half pints. Ordinarily getting this many points at home would be a no brainer selection of the Patriots, but even with the selection of Mac Jones looking to have provided the long-term successor to Brady at quarterback for the Patriots, there is still a lot of development for the Pats to go and whilst I wouldn’t bet against them being in the playoff hunt by December, I’m not there with them right this second. Mind you, I would not exactly be surprised if Belichick makes me regret this pick come Monday morning either…

Gee’s Pick:      Buccaneers
Dan’s Pick:      Buccaneers

Monday Night Football

Raiders @ Chargers (-.3.5)

This should be a cracking divisional game to finish off the week as the unbeaten Las Vegas Raiders head over to LA to face a Chargers teams coming off an impressive win against the Chiefs last week. However, right now the Raiders’ defence ranks eleventh by DVOA so might be able to do a better job against Justin Herbet than the Chiefs managed. Derek Carr has been playing better than the Vegas offensive ranking of seventeenth might indicate and the Chargers have not demonstrated that they are a defensive monster just yet. I don’t have a strong lean in either direction on this one so I’m grabbing the extra half point for a pick, but I am really looking forward to watching this game.

Gee’s Pick:       Raiders
Dan’s Pick:      Chargers

DVOA is Football Outsiders statistic for measure a team’s success on every play versus the league average and you can read more about it and other football topics at https://footballoutsiders.com.

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