2-4

Just a quick post. It looks like I may have spoke too soon. This Wizard team has not looked good its last few games. Deshawn Stevenson is awful and Mike James is worse. Yet against Indiana who is just awful, they each got significant playing time. Granted Mike Miller was out, but I have to think that Nick Young, Randy Foye, Caron Butler and Gilbert Arenas could handle the guard duties. I am a little skeptical about this team now. It is far too soon to panic but this performance against the Pacers was just flat out bad. The Wizards just refuse to shoot three's late in games when they are down by 10+ points, it makes no sense to me. Instead of Gilbert trying to take over he has been looking to pass, this is not what I want from Gil. He can be as selfish as he wants and it would be fine with me. Lets just hope that the return of Antawn Jamison and Mike Miller will bring some change to this team. 

MH

Houston's Finest Week Nine Picks

Overall Record: 77-39

Last Week: 10-3

Washington-Atlanta: Atlanta- Atlanta is coming off of a strong performance against the undefeated Saints, and the Skins are coming off of a bad looking loss to Philly. Even though the Skins had a bye week in between, Sherm Lewis and the Skins are not going to put up much of a fight against a far superior team.

 

Arizona-Chicago: Chicago- Arizona just had an ugly, ugly loss against the Panthers last weekend where Kurt Warner showed some of his age, throwing five picks. The Bears have been a bi-polar team so far this year so it would make sense for them to lose this game that they should win. Still I like Cutler and the Bears over the Cards.

Houston-Indianapolis: Indianapolis- This is one of the premiere match-ups of the week between to high powered offenses. The loss of Owen Daniels, who was on the brink of

 becoming an NFL superstar, is going to be a big loss to the Texans. This game may be a lot closer than the average fan would expect though, but Manning prevails in a thriller. 

 

Baltimore-Cincinnati: Baltimore- Baltimore lost their first game against Cincy this year, the D collapsed at the end of the game committing far too many penalties and losing all discipline. Chad Ochocinco has sent the Ravens D some deodorant this week, thats the only thing that can cover him, this very well may spark some fire under Ray Lewis and his D. The Ravens need a win in this game if they want to stay in the division race, and I think Flacco can prevail for them. 

Kansas City-Jacksonville: Jacksonville- This is a bad game being played by two bad teams in a bad football stadium in a bad football city. There is really nothing appealing about this game other than MJD for fantasy owners. The Jags will pull this one out though after being emb

arrassed by the Titans last week. 

Green Bay-Tampa Bay: Green Bay- In the battle of the Bay's the Green takes the game easily. Tampa is the last team yet to win a game, and this is certainly not going to be the first win. Josh Freeman is going to pressured heavily by the Pack all game, and Rodgers should tear up the Bucs D.

Miami-New England: New England- This is the first meeting of the season between the Pats and the Phins. Last year the first meeting between these teams the Wild Cat had its coming out party and the Dolphins shocked the Pats, but then in the second meeting the Patriots shut down the Wild Cat and the Dolphins. This game I believe is going to be a lot more like their second game from last year, Pats take care of business at home. 

Carolina-New Orleans: New Orleans- Carolina is coming off a big win against the Cardinals last week while New Orleans had to pull a tough one out on Monday Night Football. Although the Panthers and Jake Delhomme showed good signs of improvement, they do not have what it takes to beat the Saints.  

Detroit-Seattle: Seattle- This game like the Jacksonville-Kansas City match-up is not a very appealing one. The 1-6 Lions taking on the 2-5 Seahawks proves to be one of the worst games of the season on paper. Seattle is a better team and at home they should be able to tame the Lions. 

Tennessee-San Francisco: Tennessee- San Francisco has played some close games recently but have been unable to win them. This trend is going to continue this week against the Titans who are on a solid one game winning-streak. It will be interesting to see two "bust" quarterbacks who have been given another chance. VY proves to be in-vince-able in this game.

  

San Diego-New York Giants: San Diego- This is an interesting game between the rising Chargers and falling Giants, who have been crashing and burning in the last three weeks. The Chargers are trying to win their third in a row while the G-Men are trying to avoid a four game skid, which would put them at 5-4. San Diego gets it done due to a big game from Philip Rivers

Dallas-Philadelphia: Philadelphia- This is a huge NFC East game, the winner will take the outright lead in the division. The Eagles have looked very good this year other than the awful performance against Oakland. Philly fans still depressed by the World Series loss will be going all out for the Eagles and that could prove to be the difference. 

Pittsburgh-Denver: Pittsburgh- Monday Night Football gets its best match-up of the year between the 6-1 Broncos and the 5-2 Steelers. Pittsburgh after a shaky start of the year has rebounded well and are on a roll, while the Broncos are coming off their first loss of the year. Even though this is in Denver, Big Ben and the Steelers will take care of the Broncos and solidify themselves as a true Super Bowl contender. 

MH

2-2

The Wizards have looked like a completely new team from the one we all saw last year. Other than one shaky game against a good Hawks team on the road and a collapse against the Cavs, who only lost 2 games on the road last season, this Wizard team has looked much, much better. The addition of Gilbert Arenas and emergence of Andray Blatche have been the two clear cut biggest factors in this turn around. This by no means is saying that those two reasons are the sole reasons for the turn around. The additions of Mike Miller, who has provided very steady play and leadership, and Randy Foye, who has shown to add a great spark of the bench, have been huge as well. This team is doing all of this without one of its steady stars, Antawn Jamison. This leads me to think, will Antawn be a good addition when he comes back? As great of a player as he is, this team has been playing fantastic and the rotation and chemistry seems to be clicking on all levels. With Jamison back it could lead to less playing time for Blatche, and the way he is playing right now that does not seem like a good thing at all. While Fabricio Oberto's minutes are the most likely to deteriorate when Twan gets back, I have to imagine some of Blatche's will as well. Also JaVale McGee and all of his excitement could be lost from the rotation. Although it is very unlikely, I believe a trade of Jamison might not be the worst thing for this team. 

I have been blown away so far by this entire team. As I watched the Wizards play the Cavs tonight and saw Shaq throw Deshawn to the ground and the Cleveland fans applaud it made me realize, I truly hate the Cavs and Lebron James more than any team/player in the league. Classless act by the Cavs fans to applaud as Deshawn stayed down on the ground for a moment after the hit. As I began writing this the Wiz had a 18 point lead against the Cavs, but they proceeded to blow that lead and end up losing somewhat badly, but even in the loss there were clear signs of competitiveness from this squad. I am looking forward to see how we bounce back tomorrow night against Dwayne Wade and the Heat. So far this team has looked dramatically better than the 19 win Wizards of 08-09.

MH

Houston's Finest Week Eight Picks

Overall Record: 67-36

Last Week: 8-5

Denver-Baltimore: Baltimore

Houston-Buffalo: Houston

Cleveland-Chicago: Chicago

Seattle-Dallas: Dallas

Miami-New York Jets: Miami

San Francisco-Indianapolis: Indianapolis

New York Giants-Philadelphia: Philadelphia

St. Louis-Detroit: Detroit

Oakland-San Diego: San Diego

Jacksonville-Tennessee: Tennessee

Minnesota-Green Bay: Green Bay

Carolina-Arizona: Arizona

Atlanta-New Orleans: New Orleans

I am just giving my winners this week and will be posting an article on the Wizards shortly.

MH

Fantasy Week Eight Studs and Duds

Overall Record: 23-19

Last Week: 5-1 (Oh yes)

Week 7 Studs:

Matt Ryan- 19/35 198 yards 2 TD 2 Int- Miss

Wes Welker- 10/107 TD- Hit

Joseph Addai- 20/64 TD- Hit

Week 7 Duds:

Jake Delhomme- 27/44 325 yards 3 Int- Hit

Reggie Bush- 3/10 rushing 3/16 receiving 1 TD- Hit

Terrell Owens- 3/27- Hit

Week 8 Studs:

Jay Cutler QB-CHI: Cutler is going up against lowly Cleveland Browns, the Browns are 27th in PPG allowed and 24th in passing yards per game. Those two numbers are very promising if you are a Bears/Cutler fan. Cutler is coming off a poor game last week and a shaky season in general. I am looking for a 3 TD game from him today though. 

Steven Jackson RB-STL: S Jax is putting up ridiculous yards numbers but has yet to find the pay dirt yet, which is even more ridiculous. The Rams are god awful, and will probably lose to the Lions today, but this could be the game where they put up there most points. In a risky prediction I am saying Jackson gets in the end-zone not once but twice today. 

 

Owen Daniels TE-HOU: Even if Andre plays in the game against the Bills, OD has been the premiere receiver on the team. He might be one of the most underrated players in the league right now as I believe he is the very best receiving TE in the league. The Texans are going to call his number a lot this game, so it is very possible for OD to put up another 10 catch game. 

Week 8 Duds:

Brett Favre QB-MIN: This pick probably is straight out of my hatred of Favre, but this game is also in Green Bay. Emotions will be flowing through Favre's mind the entire time he is in Green Bay. It would not shock me if this leads to a very rough game on his part. Also that Packers crowd and D is going to be doing all they can to stop old man Brett. 

Brandon Jacobs RB-NYG: Jacobs has been a total bust so far this year, and this is going to continue against a very physical Philly D. The G-Men may look to use their speed back Ahmad 

Bradshaw a lot more in this one. The Giants have not been impressive in their last two games and it is very possible they have a similar performance in this one.

 

Marshawn Lynch RB-BUF: The Texans run D has been incredible the last 4 weeks. Only giving up around 50 yards on the ground a game. The linebacking corp has stepped up their game and Brian Cushing is the favorite for D Rookie of the Year so far. This is going to be a long game for Marshawn, i don't think he will be able to get in to "Beast Mode" in this one. 

MH

JG's Week 8 Picks

Denver (+3.5) @Baltimore- The Broncos are 6-0 and continue to get no respect. The Ravens are coming off a badly needed bye after dropping three in a row. This game will likely come down to which Ravens team shows up, the 3-0 team from that looked like the best team in the NFL the first 3 weeks, or the 0-3 team in the last 3 weeks. I love the Broncos on the road.

Denver 24- Baltimore 21

Houston (-3.5) @Buffalo- The Texans have looked like an elite team the last few weeks. Matt Shaub is leading the league in passing yards and Andre Johnson is leading in receiving yardage. The Texans continue rolling on.

Texans 31- Buffalo 27

San Francisco (+13) @Indianapolis- Indy may be the best team in the NFL. Looking across the ball at them, San Fran goes back to former number one pick Alex Smith at QB. Smith played awesome last week and their defense looks energized again. Indy wins but the 49ers are able to cover.

Colts 28- 49ers 17

Miami (+3.5) @New York Jets- It's clear that the Jets go the way of Mark Sanchez. That was evident in their loss to the Bills. The Dolphins lost a heartbreaker to the Saints after being up 24-3. Despite the loss, I love how Miami is playing and I see them going to Giants Stadium and taking down the Jets.

Dolphins 24- Jets 21

St Louis (+4) @Detroit- In what may be the least watched football game in a long time. The Winless Rams. The Rams have actually been able to move the ball between the 20s the last couple weeks yet turnovers in the redzone have killed them. The Rams get their first win of the year.

St Louis 28- Detroit 17

Cleveland (+13.5) @Chicago- As horrible as Chicago looked last week getting blown out by the Bengals, the Browns were just as bad getting shellacked by the Packers. I would love to pick against the Bears, but unfortunately the Browns offense is simply hard to watch.

Bears 27- Browns 13

Seattle (+9.5) @Dallas- Seattle is not a bad team with Matt Hasselbeck at the helm. That being said Dallas has looked great beating Atlanta last week. The Boys get another big win in their new home.

Cowboys- 27- Seattle 17

Oakland (+16.5) @San Diego- Enormous spreads always worry me in division games. As bad as the Raiders has looked at times this year, they have been able to keep a few games close, including the opening Monday night game against these Chargers. Oakland keeps it just close enough to cover.

Chargers 30- Raiders 14

Jacksonville (+3) @Tennessee- Vince Young stated this off-season that he would be the next black quarterback to win a Super Bowl. A good start would be to get the Titans their first win of the year. Right now the Jaguars simply have more to play for and will win the game.

Jaguars 20- Titans 17

Carolina (+10) @Arizona- The Panthers only two wins this year come against a winless team, and team that has only beaten winless teams. They will not go cross country and deal the Cards a loss.

Cardinals 34- Panthers 20

New York Giants (-1) @Philadelphia- The Giants have looked lost the last two weeks. The Eagles looked good on Monday night going into Landover and getting a win. What makes me really feel good about the Eagles though is how much they dominated the Gaints in their last two matchups last season, including the playoff matchup.

Eagles 24- Giants 17

Minnesota (+3) @Green Bay- It really does not get better than this; Brett Favre returns to Green Bay to take on his former team. Add in the fact that his current team is 6-1 and his old one is 4-2, and you've got yourself quite a game. The Vikings handled the Pack in the Metrodome but this will be a much bigger challenge. Still though, the Packers offensive line will not be able to contain the law firm that is the Vikings defensive line (Williams, Edwards, and Allen).

Vikings 31- Packers 28