Week 8: Austen Plays Captain Hindsight

With a busy weekend of work, Austen gets to assume his
alter ego, Captain Hindsight, and give his breakdown of
events that have already transpired in the NFL.

I apologize for being a no show on the blog this weekend and letting Stally run the show. He got to say his part, now I get to say mine. However, I get the power of hindsight at my back.

Stally's Eight Point Pick
@Dallas over Washington

No matter how much hindsight I've got, I still cannot see my way to how the Redskins won this game. Kudos to Colt McCoy and the Redskins defense for leading a truly miraculous and shocking victory on the road against what many thought was the best team in football.

Austen's Eight Point Pick
Miami over @Jacksonville

Well, well, well. Not only did my confidence in the Dolphins help me take a commanding point lead over Stally in "Blog Points," but I also started the Dolphins defense in three fantasy football leagues which got me darn near 30 points. My thought process was that a game in Jacksonville probably has about a 50/50 split of Jags and Dolphins fans at it so it really was not a road game against possibly the worst team in the league. The Fins' defense might have outscored the offense, but this was still a pretty commanding win for them.

Week 8: Stally's Week

Even Austen has to admit that Tony Romo is a good QB these days.

Stally: Austen has a weekend full of work, so we'll see if he has time to share his thoughts at some point.  This was a week in which I got all the games I wanted, and it seemed like every time I took a game, Austen had it next on his list.  We'll see if I can benefit from that or if upsets come back to haunt me.

Stally's Eight-Point Pick
@Dallas over Washington

Stally: This is the only game of the week in which I have full confidence.  One of the league's best teams at home against one of the league's worst.  What's not to like?

Austen's Eight-Point Pick
Miami over @Jacksonville

Stally: This is too much confidence on a road team (the Dolphins) that will likely go 8-8 this season.  Don't get me wrong, Jacksonville isn't good, but it did just handily beat another mediocre team, the Browns, at home.  Miami is still the right pick, but not this early.

Stally's Seven-Point Pick
@Kansas City over St. Louis

Stally: The Chiefs tend to play well at home, as proven by their route of a solid New England team, and the Rams enter at 2-4 as one of the league's less inspiring teams.

Week 7: Predicting an Upset?

The trade of Percy Harvin did nothing to
ruin the OXen's confidence in the Seahawks.

Austen's Eight-Point Pick
Seattle over @St. Louis

Austen: I like the Seahawks offense to get back on track. That means a lot of Beast Mode. The Rams should be shaking in their boots.

Stally: This is a mismatch of talent, that's for sure.

Stally's Eight-Point Pick
@New England over New York Jets

Stally: Taking the Patriots over the Jets in New England with the utmost confidence is a Stubborn OXen Blog tradition.  I couldn't see anyway that the Pats lost, and even as the game unfolded, I just didn't see it happening.  It turns out I was right!

Austen: Well I "had" this game with the second most confidence, but at least my Jets put up a fight. It is interesting to think how this game would have turned out if the Jets had Percy Harvin for this game...

Stally: If they did, then the team wouldn't even have locker room chemistry, which about all they got right now.

Austen's Seven-Point Pick

@Dallas over New York Giants

Austen: Stally is going to be fuming that I got this before him, but Dallas is simply crushing it on both sides of the ball right now. In a week where there should be a lot of close games, I will unquestionably take possibly the best team in the league against a team who just got shut out by the Eagles and lost their best offensive player for the year.

Week 6: What's Your Confidence Level

Patrick Peterson and the Arizona Cardinals defense
has them in hot pursuit of the NFC West. (Getty)

Stally: It seems as though Austen and I have agreed more than usual this year.  Maybe we're both getting smarter, or maybe we're just too lazy to think outside the box.  Who knows.

However, like last week, our level of confidence varies significantly.  Most of the clear mismatches put the better team on the road, which is always cause for hesitation, but there aren't too many games that seem destined for overtime either.

As I told Austen, instead of ranking them 1-15.  I could have just put eight confidence points on every game and called it a week.  The necessity to rank to the games creates an interesting "disagree to agree" situation in this week's blog.

Stally's Eight-Point Pick
@Arizona over Washington

Stally: The Redskins are 1-4 with nothing more than a home win over Jacksonville and a racial slur for a nickname.  The Cardinals struggled on the road against one of the best teams in the league, Denver, but their defense is normally very strong and should hold down a Redskins offense that has failed to impress with Kirk Cousins under center.

Austen: Drew Stanton is banged up and Logan Thomas only managed to complete one pass against the Broncos last week when he was forced to fill in. I have AZ but with a whole lot less confidence. 

Week 5: Austen's New "Worst Team"

Things have not gone Drew Brees' way so far this season, but
a home matchup against the Bucs is just what the doctor ordered.

Despite a lot of agreement on the outcome of the games this week, Stally and I still disagree on how much confidence we have in most of the teams in the league. This season has already had a lot of surprise upsets.

Austen's Eight-Point Pick
@New Orleans over Tampa Bay

Austen: I know the Saints have been terrible so far this year (and Jarius Byrd is now out for the year). I know the Bucs just beat the Steelers on a beautiful last-minute touchdown. None of that matters when you are playing in the Superdome. Drew Brees is almost impossible to beat at home and I think this is where the Saints start to turn around their season.

Stally: Whoa, whoa!  Let's not send the 1-3 Saints to the Super Bowl just yet, Austen.  I agree that there's little cause for concern against the lowly Bucs, but the Saints aren't as good as we thought they'd be.