Week 4: The Game of Disagreement

Philip Rivers has been on fire and looks to spearhead
the biggest blowout of the week against the lowly Jags.

Sorry for the late post once again, but here are our picks of the week. We only disagree on the one game that we both have the least amount of confidence in. Enjoy!

Stally's Seven-Point Pick
@San Diego over Jacksonville

Stally: The Chargers aren't the best team in the league, but they're taking the shape of a very good one.  It's hard to see them losing at home to Jacksonville just two weeks after they beat the Super Bowl-champion Seahawks.  That's unlikely.

Austen: When teams are even, I always go with the home team when it involves a 2000+ mile commute for the road team. These two teams are not even close to even. I would put the Chargers in the top 5 teams in the league right now, and they might be the best in the AFC (I cannot wait for their two games against the Broncos to see where they actually are). The Jags are miserably bad, as always. They have no chance.

Week 3: A Lot of Agreement

Stally: Just a note that it's NASCAR weekend here at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, so I'm going to try to type this about 10 minutes.  We also didn't have time to proof or format.  Sorry.

Austen's Eight Point Pick

@Cincinatti over Tennessee

Austen: The Bengals are seemingly unstoppable at home during the regular season. The Titans simply do not scare anyone on offense or defense. Even a banged up Bengals team should be a massive favorite over the Titans.

Stally: I certainly have the Bengals with a lot of confidence, but not sure I would have kicked them off with the first pick of the day.

Stally's Eight Point Pick

@New England over Oakland

Stally: This is a mismatch for sure, especially in New England.  I'd be shocked to see this one within even two scores.

Austen: I am starting Tom Brady is fantasy football this week, so I have a whole lot of confidence in the Pats winning this one. The Raiders might not win a game on the road all year.

Austen's Seven Point Pick

@New Orleans over Minnesota

Austen: There is no way the Saints start the season 0-3 after being a sleeper to win the Super Bowl. Even without Mark Ingram, they massively out class the Vikings. This is also their first home game of the year, where they tend to dominate.

Stally: As funny as it sounds to put this much confidence on an 0-2 team, I completely agree.  The Vikings looked miserable agains the Patriots in Minnesota last week, they don't stand a chance in the Superdome.

Week 2: Better Late Than Never

The Eagles (of the Boston variety) shocked the world and
these SOBs, while also disrupting our blogging flow.

This is unquestionably the latest we have ever sent out our picks of the week. I apologize profusely, but I am still recovering from the weekend in which Stally and I had to watch our beloved USC Trojans get utterly thrashed by Boston College. We got to see it live and in person, so our trip to Boston messed up our writing/posting schedule a bit.

Either way, here are our picks of the week!

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

Stally: This is a pretty easy pick.  The Packers are a good team and they're at home, and the Jets aren't a good team going on the road, at a place that is always hard to win.  I have trouble seeing the Jets pulling off any sort of upset.

Austen: Not a whole lot of argument here. Would not take them this high, but I have slightly more faith in the Jets keeping this as a close one, but ultimately falling short due to their weakness at cornerback.

ACE's Advice to Peyton: Let the Embarrassment In

Disappointment, regret, embarrassment, call it whatever you want, but
this picture sums up all these emotions and more for Peyton Manning.

With over a week now to fully digest what happened in the Super Bowl, all I can think of is how Peyton Manning can be anything but embarrassed by his performance in the biggest game of the year, and one of the biggest of his historic career?

Should he be embarrassed by his teammates or by his record breaking 2013 campaign? Absolutely not. The Broncos overcame numerous offseason distractions and a slew of injuries to make it to the Super Bowl. Manning himself had possibly the greatest regular season of any quarterback in the history of the game, despite having one of the weakest arms in the entire NFL (he is clearly still not the quarterback he once was physically before the neck surgeries). They should be proud of the way they fought all year long, except for what they brought to their final game.

The Stubborn OXen Super Bowl Predictions

This year more than any, the OXen haven't seemed to agree on a whole lot.  That's probably not going to change for the big game.  Austen has been touting the Seahawks since Day 1, and since getting bludgeoned with bad luck in the first round of the playoffs, Stally has picked with his heart, a heart which has no place for the outspoken, arrogant CB on Seattle, Richard Sherman.

Here's a look at who the two are taking:

Stally's Prediction
Denver 30, Seattle 24

Denver will win because ... they have Peyton Manning.  It's pretty simple really.  He set a record for passing touchdowns in the regular season and his surgical offense averaged a borderline-disgusting 37.9 points/game in those 16 games.  Things have slowed down a little in the postseason with scores of 24 and 26, but it's been the defense that's really picked it up to maintain Denver's dominance.