Shock The Monkey

by

pigskinfan

in NFL Football / NFL General

November 23, 2009, 1:48 pm

rating

10.0

1 votes

Introduction

"Hands are for shaking, not tying."---Soundgarden/"Fell On Black Days"

Some amazingly shocking results in the NFL yeterday, and they leave us with a couple of things to talk about to begin today. First, I think we have to face it. There's just no way in the world that we can rely on teams like the Steelers or the Giants anymore this season. Their defenses are weak, and because of this fact, these 2 teams in particular have no identity. They're both in the race for a playoff spot, but I think it's more of a death struggle for them now. They increasingly look more like pretenders than contenders, and even if they do make the post-season, they'll soon be ousted.

The Steelers have the crutch to fall back on that they don't have their best defensive player on the field, but that leads us right to our second point to make before we get to business. Has anyone noticed how poor the special teams play in the league has become? It's horrendous. The Steelers certainly appear to be the worst having given up more special teams TDs than any team in the league, or in recent memory for that matter. But bad specials is an epidemic throughout the league. Last night's game was another good example of this. The Eagles had just struck the Bears with a shock and awe moment on a long TD bomb to DeSean Jackson, and on the ensuing kickoff, they allowed the Bears field position at midfield!

I don't know what the reason is for this, but it's ridiculous. In fact, there were rules put in place before the season that should have made it more difficult to be successful with kickoff returns. The result, however, has been the opposite.

Thanks to getting on the Eagles last night, it was a break even day for me, so I press forward to get a leg up now and close out the month with the flourish I began late last week.

THE NFL (8-6 yesterday, 24-32 so far for the month)

CHILLIN'
1. TEXANS (-4) over Titans - The Titans have certainly got some mojo going since tossing the keys of the boat to Vince Young, but will the wheels come off at some point? They're bound to, and this may be the spot. I won't get on this game, but I lean to the Texans here because they can expoit the weakness of the Titans, and that's their secondary. Tennessee is incredibly young there, and Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson had a field day against them in the season's 2nd week. I think they will again as the Titans finally hit a wall against the best team they've played since they began their recent streak.

THE NBA

SU WINNERS (4-1 yesterday)
GRIZZLIES, SPURS, BLAZERS and CLIPPERS

TOTALS (3-2 yesterday)
OVERS - Kings/GRIZZLIES (208), Bulls/BLAZERS (183 1/2) and Wolves/CLIPPERS (192)
UNDER - Bucks/SPURS (191 1/2)

BUTTA
There's nothing clear cut enough for me to invest in with any of today's 4 games.

ALL THE REST (2-3 yesterday)

BUTTA, NO BREAD
1. BLAZERS (-8 1/2) over Bulls - The Bulls are right in the middle of their annual circus trip. They beat the Kings soundly to open the trip before getting it handed to them by the Lakers and Nugs. It doesn't get any easier for them tonight with the Blazers. Even with Saturday's blowout of the Wolves, I still can't bring myself to lay a big number like this with the Portland though.

CHILLIN'
1. SPURS (-9) over Bucks - How interesting it is that Tony P. comes back on Saturday night, and the Spurs run the Wiz right out of the gym. It is testament to how important he is to this team. He makes everybody better of course, and that's so important to players like Richard Jefferson, Roger Mason and Matt Bonner. All that being said, this is too much for me to lay with Manu still on the shelf.

YUCK!!!
1. GRIZZLIES (-5 1/2) over Kings - I'm not putting this game in this category not because of the perennial dysfunction of the teams involved. I just don't know what to do with these teams. I don't think the Kings are going anywhere, but they play hard. The Griz are another issue altogether. They have the talent to make waves in the West, but will they?
2. Wolves (+7 1/2) at CLIPPERS - This game is in this category because of their histories. UGH!!!

Have a great Monday, everyone. I'll see you all again tomorrow.

pigskinfan is reporting from pleasant hill, MO

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