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Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Prognostication Bukakke, NFL Week 2

Prognostication Bukakke Standings:

After one week, I am back where I belong. Standing atop Iggins! in the prognostication bukakke standings. Sure, it's just one game, but it is the sign of things to come. The standings:

NCAA
Code Red: 5-5
Iggins!: 5-5
Mrs. Code Red: 4-6

NFL
Code Red: 9-7
Iggins!: 8-8
Mrs. Code Red: 8-8

Overall
Code Red: 14-12
Iggins!: 13-13
Mrs. Code Red: 12-14

The Picks:

Bears @ Packers
Code Red: There's no reason to believe the Bears can't win this game. Their defense is clearly better at this point. Their offense is no longer outgunned, and they in fact have a considerable advantage if you factor in the superiority of their run game. Rodgers and desperation are not to be underestimated, but this game should belong to Cutler & Company. Bears 38-24.

Iggins!: The Bears certainly demonstrated that they are the superior team here. They have a similarly-powered passing attack, a far superior run game, and a better defense. Bears 45-28

Mrs. Code Red: Bears 27-24.

Buccaneers @ Giants
Iggins!: The Bucs won last week by being fundamentally sound. It was one of the most boring and structured things I have ever seen on a Sunday. The good part, for me, is that I have Doug Martin, and they run their entire offense through him. The bad part, for them, is that the Giants have a great defense and are pissed off. Giants win.

Code Red: Indeed. I feel the Bucs win last week bodes more ill for Carolina than it does good for Tampa. Giants win.

Mrs. Code Red: Giants.

Browns @ Bengals
Code Red: Brandon Weeden had the worst debut for a rookie quarterback since 1960. That's serious suck, since most rookies fail epically at the start. The Bengals played better than the final score against the Ravens, since that game turned late on Dalton's pick six. Bengals win.

Iggins!: Eh, the Bengals fell apart worse than that, even worse than the Chiefs, but it won’t matter against the worst team in the league. Bengals win.

Mrs. Code Red: Bengals.


Raiders @ Dolphins
Iggins!: Ugh. This is going to be a game filled with suck. The Raiders seemed to move the ball well last week, and their defense looked solid, but miscue after miscue doomed them. I can’t imagine Tannehill winning this game. Raiders win.

Code Red: The Raiders will not make the playoffs, but if Palmer and McFadden stay healthy there will be 2-3 games where they wake the fuck up and upset people big time. This game won’t be an upset, though. Raiders win.

Mrs. Code Red: Raiders.

Chiefs @ Bills
Code Red: Both of these teams got the shit kicked out of them, but at least Kansas City was competitive for one half. I've now lost all faith in the Bills. Or would have, if I'd ever had any? Chiefs win.

Iggins!: The Chiefs looked competent for a while against Atlanta. Their defense should tighten up and perform better than they did last week. And the Bills are terrible. Chiefs win.

Mrs. Code Red: Bills.

Ravens @ Eagles
Code Red: The Ravens looked incredibly impressive. The Eagles looked like shit against the Browns. I'll take the Ravens, but I expect Cam Cameron to throw too damn often against a stout Eagles secondary and ignore Ray Rice until Michael Vick gives the Ravens enough opportunities to win that Cameron finally takes one. Ravens win.

Iggins!: Based on simple observation I have to go with the Ravens here. Ravens win.

Mrs. Code Red: Ravens.

Vikings @ Colts
Iggins!: Both of these teams looked fairly competent last week, but not spectacular. I’ll give the nod to the Vikings because they’ll run Purple Jesus all over the Colts. Vikings win.

Code Red: I’ll take Andrew Luck. Just a feeling. Colts win.

Mrs. Code Red: Colts.

Cardinals @ Patriots
Code Red: Kevin Kolb saved the day! Won't matter at all against the Patriots, though. Pats win.

Iggins!: Won’t be close. Patriots win.
Mrs. Code Red: Patriots.

Texans @ Jaguars
Iggins!: So the Texans get two FCS schools to start their schedule? Texans win.

Code Red: Their schedule’s pretty soft until they have to face the Bears and Packers. That is good, because they deserve a smooth road to a second chance after the playoffs after Matt Schaub’s injury crippled a Superbowl contender last year. Texans win.

Mrs. Code Red: Texans.

Saints @ Panthers
Code Red: This could go either way. I feel like the Panthers didn't really upgrade their defense at all (they drafted a LB, the one position on defense they Didn't need), so Brees could have a field day. On the other hand, the Saints couldn't even dream of stopping RGIII when the Skins used the zone read, which Cam Newton has absolutely NO experience running. Nope. Definitely unlikely that Panthers will have any success running the ball with their QB. Coin flip. Saints win in a high scorer.

Iggins!: People mistakenly believed that the Panthers would be a dark horse this season. But they didn’t change anything. Cam Newton STILL can’t do everything, guys. Saints win.

Mrs. Code Red: Saints.

Redskins @ Rams
Iggins!: Watching the zone-read in the NFL is strange but also pleasant. RG3 ran it like a master last week, and the Rams almost beating Detroit was more an indictment of Detroit than a proclamation for St. Louis. RG3 wins.

Code Red: What he said. RG3 wins and Redskin fans lose all sense of perspective. RETURN TO GLOREEEE COOCH!

Mrs. Code Red: Redskins.

Cowboys @ Seahawks
Code Red: I expect Tony Romo to make a few horrible passes against that fairly stout secondary, but there's no way the Seahawks can hang in this one for four quarters. Cowboys win.

Iggins!: It would be a very Romo thing to do to lose to the Seahawks after beating the Giants, but I have to take Dallas to win.

Mrs. Code Red: Cowboys.

Titans @ Chargers
Iggins!: The Chargers looked pretty bad while beating the Raiders. Were it not for three botched punts, 1200 penalties on Tommy Kelly, and the golden foot of Nate Kaeding, the Bolts would have lost. On the other hand, the Titans have a second year QB and a terrible running back. Chargers win, go 2-0, people get excited, then they start losing A LOT.

Code Red: I don’t think the Chargers looked that bad. Their defense looked considerably better than last year, at least. They’ll have enough to beat a severely injured Jake Locker. Chargers win.

Mrs. Code Red: Chargers.

Jets @ Steelers
Code Red: The whole “Tebow inspired Mark Sanchez to not suck!” bit will end abruptly when he regresses back to Rico Mirerez against the Steelers. Steelers win.

Iggins!: What did I tell you about the whole “whoever wins, someone is overreacting” thing? The Jets should get brought right back to earth here. Steelers win.

Mrs. Code Red: Steelers.

Lions @ 49ers
Iggins!: The Lions and especially Matt Stafford showed their true colors Sunday. The 49ers should tear these guys to pieces. 49ers win.

Code Red: Courtland Finnegan was pretty damning when he said “we know what Matthew Stafford likes to do, so we just took it away.” He’s a pretty one dimensional quarterback. Imagine what a defense as good as the 49ers can do if the Rams provided the blueprint.

Mrs. Code Red: 49ers.

Broncos @ Falcons
Code Red: Peyton Manning was Peyton Manning, and that's good enough for me. The Falcons were impressive on offense, but I'll not ignore that they allowed Matt Cassell to put them on their heels for most of the first half, and they just lost their best cornerback in Brent Grimes. Broncos win.

Iggins!: I really feel a Peyton Manning come-back-to-earth moment here, but all your points have convinced me. Broncos win.

Mrs. Code Red: Broncos.

7 comments:

Erik said...

I think the Chargers looked pretty bad, all things considered. Rivers was efficient enough, but his numbers were helped along by dumb penalties and the Chargers' inability to use Lechler to pin them farther back than the 20. Tebow could put up that many points if he got to start from the red zone on every drive. Their defense came up big late, but they allowed Palmer to move the ball pretty well for the first three quarters of the game.

Anansi said...

If the Bills are gonna be this hilariously bad, then I have the perfect sitcom name for them: Wanny, Fitzy, Gailey!

Anansi said...

But on a more serious note: Weeden and Blackmon are gonna miss each other. A LOT.

Code Red said...

Erik, I think part of it was that they were up fairly big pretty early into the game. They made the embarrassing mistake of losing games to the Raiders the last two years. They weren't going to take any chances. So they went as conservative as possible because Oakland was way too happy to just give them the win.

I don't think they're that much better. They may be a 9-7 team instead of 8-8. Which should get Norv a 7 year contract extension.

Iggins! said...

Did you even watch that game, Red? They were not up big early. It was 10-6 at halftime. The raiders were up 3-0 initially, and the Oakland offense walked all over San Diego. The only reason Oakland wasn't up 21-0 was penalties, fumbles, and bad punt snapping.

Rivers overthrew a wide open Malcom Floyd in the endzone, then immediately overthrew a wide open Antonio Gates the next play. They only scored one touchdown. They only went up by two scores late in the third, and that was just 16-6.

YOUR COMMENTS ARE INCORRECT.

Code Red said...

Eh. It felt to me like the Chargers were in control most of the game and played extremely conservatively, perhaps to avoid some of the death-by-fucktardery that killed their season last year. I'm not going to stand here and defend the Chargers, because I don't see any reason to believe they're all that much better than last year. I just don't think they seem that much worse. But, it was Oakland.

Erik said...

The Chargers were in command late because of a few totally fixable things on Oakland's end. Injured long-snapper is just bad luck, especially when you have the best kicker and punter in the league. Tommy Kelly had a couple dumb penalties, but he was a monster in the backfield and it's easier to fix penalties than lose performance. And Oakland was playing with their usual corps of fast receivers who are constantly open and cannot catch the ball under any circumstances when they have an actual competent receiver who'll be back on the field soon. I honestly think the Chargers will drop to 7-9 if they change from 8-8 at all. It took them 3 quarters to capitalize against a mediocre team that was missing 3 of its 4 biggest-impact players for the majority of the game. Rivers looked smooth, but he always does until he can't put the ball in the endzone.