I’m not usually one that likes to honk his horn, pound his chest, or brag a ton, but I’ll admit it, picking EVERY game correctly this past week feels pretty good after the terrible job I did last week. Last week I probably had half if any of the games right, and this week, not one wrong. So I’m pretty proud of that at the moment. Toots horn, pounds chest Pauses. toots horn, pounds chest Ok, I’m done. On to Week 4.
OPENING DRIVE – Super Bowl 50 – Is it too early to get the Patriots/Packers Super Bowl 50 stuff out? It is? Yeah, I guess you’re right. After three weeks of football there are a handful of teams that look good, then there are a few that look really good, and then there are two teams in particular that look scary good. Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers are both leading their teams to spectacular starts, and are already very early favorites to headline Super Bowl 50 this season. And I guess it makes sense that these two are six steps ahead of everyone else, because flash back to when Green Bay blew the NFC Championship game to Seattle in January, and how mad they must’ve been to let that game slip away from them. Something to prove. Now also flash back about a month ago when the news broke that the Packers would play their season Jordy Nelson -less. Again, something to prove. To Aaron Rodgers, and the Green Bay Packers it’s all about something to prove. Prove to the world that they can get back to that game, and finish it this time. Prove that they can win without a top 10 wide receiver in Nelson. Same goes for the Patriots. Now they won Super Bowl 49, but you wouldn’t know it due to the fact that the NFL’s completely brainwashed most of the world to believe they’re 110% cheaters. Well to sum up just how mad the Pats are, they were DESTROYING Jacksonville last weekend, and in the beginning of the fourth quarter up about three touchdowns Tom Brady was still on the field. Both teams playing very angry, and playing with something to prove, and when Brady, and Rodgers play like that they’re both tough to beat.
The third team – Oh Wait. Can we have three teams play for the Lombardi trophy this year? Cause Arizona’s looking really good too. Like I said in last weeks article, Arizona’s offense is playing AMAZING. Crazy stat for you, in the first three weeks of the season Arizona’s scored 126 points. That’s tied for the most in NFL history for the first three weeks. Larry Fitzgerald looks like he rewinded the clock back five years, Carson Palmer ‘s playing like a top three quarterback, and the defense has only given up 49 points all season. Arizona’s playing lights out football in basically every area, and I don’t see them slowing down anytime soon. Foot on the gas from here on out. The Cardinals don’t have the easiest set of games ahead of them with St.Louis (all over the place), Detroit (0-3), Pittsburgh (injured Big Ben), Baltimore (also 0-3), Cleveland (well, still Cleveland) … okay so maybe they do have a fairly easy schedule ahead of them. Nothing’s given of course, but damn do I like what these Arizona Cardinals are doing right now.
Lions, Ravens, and Bears … 0-9! Please tell me somebody got that opening pun. Ok, So I pretty much just covered three dominant teams in the NFL right now with the Patriots, Packers, and Cardinals, well lets flip the script completely now, and talk about three teams that’ve been … well, bad, and again I have to be feeling pretty good about that, because all three were on my list of “non playoff teams” when the season began, however they’re three teams that all could’ve potentially reached the playoffs this season, but if you combine their current records, they add up to a very ugly record of 0-9. Eeeesh. Of course I’m talking about the Detroit Lions, the Baltimore Ravens, and the Chicago Bears. Three teams that had potential coming into the season, and they’re now all 0-3. Detroit had a rough couple of games in the first three weeks (Chargers,Vikings, Broncos) and it only gets worse for the next two weeks (Seahawks, Cardinals). That’s a possible record of 0-5 to start the season. Not only that, but it basically puts you in the drivers seat for 1st overall draft pick in April, as very few teams have gone 0-5 and reached the playoffs. Stat check, ZERO teams in NFL history have started off the season 0-5 and reached the playoffs. That’s right, it’s never happened. Plus, Detroit’s got Green Bay in their division. Hate to tell you, but it only gets worse from here Detroit fans. As for Da Bears, rumors have already been swirling around that Pro Bowl running back, Matt Forte , and star wide receiver, Alshon Jeffrey are on the trade block. A move like that wouldn’t make any sense, considering the fact that they’re the two best players on the team, and only a few days ago they traded away Pro Bowl tackle, Jared Allen to the Carolina Panthers. If a move does send those two guys somewhere else, it should be clear to everyone that it’s rebuilding time for Chicago! And finally, as for Baltimore, short putting it, they’ve just started the season off badly. They lost three close games to start the season, but I guess point differential doesn’t really matter in this league, because whether you lose by three or twenty three, a loss is a loss, and the Ravens have three of them. However, I still think they have the best chance to fix their season out of these three teams. A mostly healthy team, a fairly good schedule, so they shouldn’t be too deep in trouble. Matter of fact, I like them to steal a win in Pittsburgh this Thursday night. No Big Ben for Pittsburgh, should result in a Ravens win. Key word being ‘should’. But to sum this up, all three teams have had rough starts to their season, and all are most likely doomed of any playoff chance this year.
Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers – Last week we saw Tony Romo go down with a bad injury, and this week we saw another quarterback do the same. Steelers Quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger left the game against the St. Louis Rams sunday with a knee injury. Ben’s said to miss about 4-6 weeks, which is going to be a big loss for the Steelers. They did however manage to pull out the victory against the Rams, 12-6, and are currently 2-1 on the season. Good news for the Steelers though, they have Michael Vick as their backup! I mean that’s kinda good news right? Anyways, Vick is expected to start for Pittsburgh this week against the Baltimore Ravens, which also happens to be a Thursday night game. Talk about bad timing huh? The Steelers are expected to run the ball a lot more now with Ben hurt, and they should rely heavily on the Steel Curtain more than ever this season. I don’t like Pittsburgh this week, and they don’t have the easiest schedule to come, but if they can pull out around two to three wins during Ben’s absence, they should be fine.
Browns QB Battle – You’d think that after three weeks the Cleveland Browns would have their starting quarterback problems all figured out. Well not exactly. We’re three weeks in, and you have Browns fans chanting for Johnny Manziel to be the starter, while the coaches all want McCown to start. Go figure. Personally I think Manziel’s the best choice for the starting job, and for the Browns best chance to win. If Cleveland wants to make some noise Johnny Football has to be the Browns starting quarterback. I mean when McCown was the starting quarterback for most of the browns’s games this year they did worse than when Manziel was the guy in the slot. Not to mention their only win was when Johnny Manziel was the starting quarterback. So Mr. Pettine, sir, uh.. Sir Pettine we all ask you sir to please put in Johnny Manziel this week, sincerely yours, the entire NFL fan base.
Week 3 Player of the Week : Carson Palmer, Arizona Cardinals QB – Every week I’ll be giving out a “Player of the week” shout out to the player who I believe had the best week out of all the players in the NFL. This week it happens to be Arizona Cardinals quarterback, Carson Palmer. Surely the award could’ve gone to a wide receiver who had really nice flashy stats this week like Steve Smith Sr. or A.J Green, or it even could’ve gone to a different quarterback like Aaron Rodgers who tossed five touchdowns last Monday night, but instead I’ve decided to go with a guy who never really gets enough credit around the NFL, in Carson Palmer. Palmer led the Cardinals offense to yet again another great victory last weekend. On Sunday, Palmer threw 311 passing yards, which isn’t necessarily eye popping in today’s game, and he also only threw two touchdowns, along with an interception. But let’s give Palmer his respect for coming back healthy this year, and leading Cardinals offense to such a great win this weekend, and a great 3-0 start.
AB’s Week 4 Winners : Ravens, Dolphins, Panthers, Bills, Bengals, Raiders, Falcons, Colts, Eagles, Chargers, Broncos, Packers, Cardinals, Cowboys, Seahawks
Fantasy Dream Team of the Week :
QB – Aaron Rodgers, GB
RB – Jamaal Charles , KC
RB – Matt Forte, CHI
WR – Julio Jones , ATL
WR – Demaryius Thomas , DEN
FLEX – Latavius Murray , OAK
TE – Greg Olsen , CAR
DST – Seahawks
K – Matt Bryant , ATL
Thanks for the read, and hopefully my week four picks are as good as my week three picks were. Eh, they probably won’t be, but who knows right? Enjoy week four everyone. See ya next week!
Alex B.