I am sorry to inform you loyal readers of this blog, but I will not be able to keep up this blog for the next week. I am in the process of moving to a newly bought house. This is my first house, yeah me. On top of that, the house was covered with wall paper that had to go, and need a new paint job. I will try to get back to this asap.
Arizona at Carolina: Carolina doesn't have a team this year and will get the #1 draft pick Pick: Arizona Denver at New Orleans: The underachieving Ain'ts will lose another game to a good team. Pick: Denver Indianapois at Chicago: The Bears have been surpising in some games, they won't be in this game. Pick: Indianapolis Pittsburgh at Cincinnati: Pittsburgh is just unstoppable at this point and against this team. Pick: Pittsburgh St. Louis at Buffalo: St. Louis can't play in the Northeast, and the Bills have a good defense. Pick: Buffalo-upset of the week Dallas at Baltimore: The Cowboy Retirees will not be able to contend with the Ravens. Pick: Baltimore Detroit at Minnesota: Detroit has to bad of a defense to stop the Minnesota even with out Moss Pick: Minnesota N.Y. Jets at Cleveland: Crackhead Carter will be qbing for the Jets, bad thing for the Jets Pick: Cleveland San Francisco at Tampa Bay: Coin Flip, Heads for the 49ers and tails for the Bucs, I got heads. Pick: San Francisco Tennessee at Jacksonville: Jacksonville just finds ways to win in the end Pick: Jacksonville Miami at Seattle: I don't know how Miami could win this game with all of their bad luck Pick: Seattle San Diego at Oakland: The Chargers are playing like they have a charge up their butts. Pick: San Diego Atlanta at N.Y. Giants: Both teams suck, but the Giants lost all of their luck and are on their way down Pick: Atlanta Washington At Philadelphia: Ramsey is fianlly playing, it is just to bad he loses his first start. Pick: Philadelphia Green Bay at Houston: Houston had a terrible game last week and will make up for it this week Pick: Houston New England at Kansas City: The Pats are a well oiled machine and will roll over K.C. Pick: New England- Monday Night
This week is going to be a easy game for one team and a very big underdog for the other. Losers first: The Redskins are going up against the Eagles this week. I don't even believe they could win this one. Yes, finally Patrick Ramsey is starting, but it won't be enough against the Eagles. Patrick will make some mistakes and they will be costly, so expect that from him. But don't lose faith for him yet because he has the ability to win games, even if it ain't this one. The #2 defense in the league will give the Eagles a run for their money, but they can move the ball so well, and the Redskins can't. That is the difference between the teams. I see the Skins losing by a pair of touchdowns. Last Week Winners: The Ravens will win three straight with this game. The Cowboys have just fallen apart this year. They bought too many over the hill veterans, and they should be easy picking for the Ravens defense. Kyle Boller displayed that he could finally throw the ball, hopefully that was his coming out party and he can continue the trend. Another problem that the Ravens should be able to exploit on the Cowboys defense is the running game. The Cowboys haven't been able to stop much in the past weeks. I see the Ravens winning by at least a touchdown Depending on what team you route for this could be a good week or another losing week. Hopefully I am wrong on the first game, and right on the second.
The Terps stomped Jackson State by almost 40 points. The Terps started running away from Jackson State after halftime. Garrison reached a career high of 21 points and topped all scorers in the game. I know this game was suppose to be a push over for the Maryland Terps, however, they have choked before. I am very happy that the Terps are starting off strong. If the Terps were in any other coference, they would be ranked higher in the polls. Good job Gary Williams.
Sorry about not giving you a preview of the game against Virginia Tech. It didn't matter in the end because they got their butts kicked all over the field. The defense couldn't even make up for all the mess ups on offense. Ralph Freidgen replaced the quarterback 2 times and got nothing from any of them. In total the Terps gave up 5 turnovers, 4 in the first half, and the defense couldn't recover. They lost the game by halftime. This disqualifies the Terps from a bowl this year. This year will be the first time since Ralph has been at Maryland that they will not be playing in January. Time to start building for next year,lol. The Terps have only one more game to loss
The Terps are currently ranked #7,#10,#15,#16 depending on what poll you look at. The fact is that the preseason poll means nothing. The Terps open the season against Southwestern Athletic Conference which does not have any of its teams ranked. If you follow the Terps yearly, you know that they lose games every year to bad teams. Jackson State should not be taken lightly in the Terps' season debut. Don't get me wrong, I definitly think that the Terps should be able to crush the Tigers at home. I am just warning you of the fact that they have choked on lower competition before. The game is set to start at 8:oo pm on Friday the 19th. My prediction is that the Terps win by 20 points.
Well good news people, I was in the win column this week. I picked decently this week although my upset didn't pan out. I was amazed the Houston Texans gave up that many points to the Colts. I thought they would have been a little bit more competitive than they were. Oh well, that put me in the losing side of upset results. I was also disappointed in the Redskins loss, yet I did get my wish of Patrick Ramsey starting at quarterback. Seattle was a bust yet again this week, and the Giants keep losing to bad teams. Week 10 Results: 8-6 Overall Results: 67-58 circa website Upset Result: 3-4
Maryland split this week in football. One team keeps finding ways to win, and other finds new ways to lose. Change is in the air for one team, and the other refuses to change. Both teams have great defenses, but only one has a winning record. Losers first in this review. The Redskins lost again to a bad team, the Bengals, in the game on late Sunday afternoon. They find ways to lose every game, the three won by the Redskins was luck, or set themselves up to fail. The defense allowed 17 points earlier in the game, yet they didn't let the Bengals to score again. Brunell started off terrible again after the first play of the game from the Bengals was an Carson Palmer interception, and the Skins couldn't score. Brunell stats by the middle of the 2nd quarter was: 1-8 completions, 1 interception, 6 yards. Finally, Gibbs pulled the over the hill QB for Patrick Ramsey. This was a great move, I have liked Ramsey since he has come to Washington, because he has a great arm, zip on the ball, and he can hit the recievers in the hands or numbers. All of the things Brunell lacks. The best thing about Ramsey in my mind though is that he will either win or lose a game for the team, but Brunell won't do either. The only time the Redskins have won this year is on Clinton Portis's legs. I, like you should be, am not expecting Ramsey to be the Godsend of the Redskins, for he is going to throw interceptions at costly times, the recievers need to learn how to catch the damn ball, and Gibbs needs to run the crap out of the Portis. Which brings up another disappointment about Sunday, Joe Gibbs only ran Portis 17 times against the worse run defense in the leaque. I understand getting away from the run when down late in the game, but the Redskins got away from the run in the beginning of the 2nd quarter. I totally didn't get this move. I have blamed Brunell for alot in my columns, and Brunell was at fault for alot. I also blame the reciever for dropping to many passes, Gibbs for not controlling the game well, the line for not blocking well, and the Refs for having it out for the Redskins this year. Once the coaching staff fixes some of these other problems, the Redskins might have a chance to even out for the year. The Redskins schedule just gets harder from here. Baltimore on the other hand is the winning football team in Maryland, and Kyle Boller finally did something to help his team. This was a great win for the Ravens over the Jets, for if the Ravens are in a tie going into the playoffs with the Jets, the Ravens would win the tie breaker because of this game. The Ravens did have some luck on their side, for the Jets were without Chad Pennington. Quincy Carter had to start for the Jets who started the game off strong and fizzled in the end. The Ravens were also on the benefitting end of bad clock management in the final seconds of the game when Carter couldn't get his team in position to win the game. They had to settle for a field goal to send it to overtime. After 3 three and outs the Ravens finally got in position to win with a Stover field goal. Jamal Lewis didn't get over 100 yards in the game, and Kyle Boller threw 2 touchdown. This is the exact opposite of how they been winning. Kyle Boller finally looked descent this game, yet everyone jumped on the bandwagon of Boller after the game. I am not sold yet. He did win the game for the Ravens, true, but he needs to do it in more then one game in a season. Do it again Boller and I will believe. All in all this was good game for the Ravens, they got behind early and came back to win against a good team. Final Thought: Thank you Gibbs for finally giving Ramsey a chance to play, and I hope he give the Skins the spark they have been waiting for. For the Ravens, I said it already, I am not sold on Boller yet, but he did do better then he has been for the season, just show me you can do it again.
This looks to be a good weekend for the Maryland teams this week. One good thing already happened, the Terps don't play this week so they can't lose. The Redskins host the Bengals this week. These two teams are struggling with their offense although the Redskins have a defense and the Bengals don't. This game should be a win for the Redskins if the offense doesn't turn the ball over. Hopefully the special teams or trick play doesn't decide the game for the Redskins this week and they can get some production out of the offense. Just maybe, Mark Brunell will get hurt and Patrick Ramsey will be put in. Please Joe, give Patrick a chance. I see the Redskins winning by a touchdown. The Ravens play the Jets in New York and are a very lucky team. Chad Pennington is out of action for a couple of weeks, and Quincy (Captian Crackhead) Carter. Carter should be easy pickings for the Ravens Secondary, and the Jets have proven they can be run on this season which is good news for the Ravens offense. Since the Ravens have no passing attack, they always have to rely on Jamal Lewis to win this game. I am going with the Ravens by a field goal. This may turn out to be a good weekend all the way around for Maryland. Happy hunting boys.
I went even last week, lets see if I can do a little better this week. Baltimore @ N.Y. Jets: Jets are without Pennington for a couple of weeks, Carter will make to many mistakes against the Ravens. Pick: BaltimoreChicago @ Tennessee: McNair is still questionable for this week, and Chicago can run the ball. Pick: Chicago Detroit @ Jacksonville: The Lions couldn't do anything against Washington's defense. The same will be held true against Jacksonville's defense Pick: Jacksonville Houston @ Indianapolis: Houston has a defense and Indy does not. This is my upset of the week. Pick: Houston Kansas City @ New Orleans: KC will rebound from Tampa Bay game and win against the Ain'ts Pick: Kansas City Pittsburgh @ Cleveland: Pittsburgh is playing to well to be beatin right now Pick: Cleveland Seattle @ St. Louis: Seattle actually has been good this year away from home. The Rams just suck. Pick: Seattle Tampa Bay @ Atlanta: I want to pick against Atlanta so bad, but Tampa Bay got luck last week. Pick: AtlantaCincinnati @ Washington: Dallas has been playing aweful defense and Washington isn't. Carson Look out Pick: Washington Carolina @ San Francisco: Two bad teams, but San Fran has more talent on theirs Pick: San Francisco Minnesota @ Green Bay: The Moss-less Vikings won't stand a chance against the redhot Packers Pick: Green Bay N.Y. Giants @ Arizona: Arizona can't get lucky two weeks in a row. Pick: Giants Buffalo @ New England: Teams can run against the Patriots, but it won't be enough for the Bills Pick: New England Philadelphia @ Dallas: Hey Parcells, your whole team is over the hill. That's the problem! Pick: Philadelphia
Again this past weekend had its ups and downs. I can't wait for all three football teams to win in the same weekend. What is so ironic is that all three teams have the same problems and the good fortune. None of the teams have an offense other then the running game, and all three teams have a good defense. What is also funny is that all three coaches are suppose to be offensive genuises. Anyway, lets get the ball rolling. Maryland had an awful game against Virginia. Joel Statham threw for a whole 115 yards and had 2 picks and was replaced by a rookie. Josh Allen ran for a whole 39 yards on 10 attempts. Now it might only be me, but why would you only run Allen 10 times a game when he ran for 257 yards a year ago. The defense played great, only giving up 16 points to a #13 ranked team in the country. I just do understand what Ralph Freidgen is doing this season. He has a young learning qb in Statham, who should be handing the ball off very often in the game. Don't get me wrong, I love Freidgen for what he has done for Maryland. I wish someone would tell me the reason for this. On the other hand, the Redskins finally got a break and had a game go their way. The best player in the game was James Thrash, he downed the ball within the 2 yard line 3 times during the game. I also have to give it to Clinton Portis, he ran for over 150 yards and threw a touchdown to Coles. He is not a product of the Denver system, he has run over 800 yards in 8 games. If my math is right, Portis would have over 1600 yards by the end of the year. That doesn't sound so bad to me. On the other side of the ball, the defense played a good game and only game up a touchdown late in the 4th quarter. Now onto the quarterback situation, I almost became a believer against the Packers. Of course everyone knows who I am talking about, Mark Brunell. Come on Joe, he threw for 58 yards against the one of worse defense in the league. There is no excuse for this in my opinion. At least give Ramsey a chance to play a couple of series with the offense in a game. The team has the offensive weapons to be contenders in the league. If the coaches can't stop being stubborn about this, then this is a wasted season. The Ravens are still suprising people in the league except for their fans. After getting their butts handed to them from Cleveland in week 1, the Ravens got their vengence last weekend. The game was close until late in the game when Jamal Lewis ran in for a touchdown and the nail was driven in the coffin when Ed Reed returned an interception for 106 yards. Though it looks like Baltimore won this game big, the only reason they stayed in the game is Matt Stover's leg. He hit 4 field goals of over 30 yards. He kept them in the game until it was broken open with the Lewis touchdown. Heath Shuler(Kyle Boller) didn't do to bad this weekend. Of course he didn't win a game for the team, he didn't lose it either. I guess that is progress, I still think he should be benched. Last Thought: The players of both NFL teams is special team players. Matt Stover for keeping the Ravens in the game with 4 field goals against the Browns, and James Trash of the Redskins for being everywhere on special team unit. He downed 3 punts inside the 2 yard line, had 1 big kick off return and made a bunch of key tackles on returners. For the Terps, their player of the week is the defense for holding Virginia to only 2 touchdowns and keeping them in the game the whole time, even if they lost.