Same.

As good as McCourty has played as the #1 CB, if you match Marshall up against Butler/Arrington and a Safety of your choice, he will get open at some point with the pathetic pass-rush.

I don't think we'll win as I don't think we'll be able to stop the run enough to force Henne to throw multiple times.

If that happens, we're in with a chance.

Belichick always does better 2nd time around vs a QB.

Look at Sanchez last year as an example. Picked apart in the first game. 4 picks in the 2nd game.

Will be an interesting game.

27-24 Dolphins is my pick.

My D player not only has to make up 23 odd points but hope to score that over what a combined Brady, Hartline and another D player do this evening ... you never know ... :clown:

Marshall is too busy firing shots at the NFL Network team ... ;)

27-17 Fins tonight.

This was the only match I over-ruled my missus in on the predictions as I refuse to "bet" on NE the same way I never bet on CP. Especially after the first couple of weeks predictions :D

Agree with you there Sax, I never bet on my teams ... conflict of interest and all that. In fact my cousin who first started taking me to Palace would always do a bet in the bookies at the back of the Holmesdale on the team we were playing ... the thought that if Palace won he'd be happy, if the other team beat us then he won some money to soften the blow ... makes some kind of sense somewhere I think .. :D

I always bet on Palace to draw 1-1. With decent odds I used to finish ahead most seasons.

If I bet on Palace games, I tend to bet on an Anytime Goalscorer on each team.

Then I don't feel like i'm cursing the team.

Same with the Pats.

I've got Green-Ellis in a bet, but i've also stuck a few quid on Fasano as well.

Miami field looking terrible.

Patriots actually considering sitting Welker because of it.

Unbelievable that a team with multi-million turnover and profit, with $130m+ payroll cannot have a safe turf.

Cannot believe they've just sodded it today. Uneven and falling apart.

If I was a player on any team, i'd worry for my safety on that field tonight.

We all know you have a mangina but these pro sports men are paid to play, not get splinters in their arses.

Splinters?

Look for torn ACLs.

Joke.

Fishing on this thread is too easy :p

I agree with this.

Particularly astonishing given that it cost as a W last week when Jason Allen slipped over on a harmless short pass to Edwards that as a direct result turned into a 65-yard TD.

Mayo = 5 tackles in 5 minutes. Good for me!

Soooo...I've decided to write my own little report about the Raiders experience.

We arrived at the stadium two and a half hours before kick-off. The trip from Sacramento to Oakland is reasonably easy - get on the I-80, merge on to the 880 and you're there. The 880 is quite possibly the most unsafe stretch of road I've ever been on - potholes on motorways with cars travelling at 65mph or more - terrifying.

Anyway, we arrived, paid our ridiculous $32 to park, and drove to our designated spot. The stadium is a big oval shape, with its original purpose being to host baseball games (the arena is home to the Oakland A's) with parking space for thousands of cars, and thousands of tailgate-goers.

Prior to travelling, I was warned that Raiders fans can be quite interesting characters. Walking through the crowds of tailgaters, the warnings weren't far off. I felt a little bit of unease as my brother and I made our way to the Stubhub location (to pick up our tickets.) I can't explain why it was uneasy - but it just didn't feel very welcoming. Having said that, had we planned on travelling a little earlier, we might have felt a little more involved in the process.

Anyhow, we got our tickets (a nice mile and a half walk!) and had lunch in the official tailgate party location, while they showed NFL Redzone on the bigscreen.

Twenty minutes before kick-off, we headed to the stadium and walked up the shitload of ramps built to take you to the top of the stand. Cameras were allowed (obviously), food was allowed, drinks weren't. I figured that it was because of their licensing deals with Budweiser etc.

We found our seats, sat down and watched as the stadium failed to fill up :D With a little more than 32,000 fans at the game, it was the lowest attendance since 1967. My brother and I felt proud to be part of that. Despite the lack of fans, the noise made when the Texans were in possession was still impressively loud - and all that without a roof.

The game kicked off with the Raiders winning the toss and electing to receive.
Jacoby Ford took possession from the kick and looked like was on his way to scoring a touchdown straight from the off - the Texans got lucky though as he found himself stuck behind his own player, allowing him to be tackled.

From then on, the Raiders didn't look like winning. They kept fighting back and kept going, but they hardly ever looked good enough to actually go on and win. From hearing what fans around us were saying, they were all quite unhappy with how things were being played.

I was impressed by Darren McFadden - he looks like the kind of player who could really do with a strong offensive line - unfortunately he found himself stuck behind a porous group who couldn't find him the space he needed to really move forward.

On the Texans side, the same couldn't be said - Arian Foster was given the freedom of the Oakland Coliseum, running 130+ yards and receiving for 56-yards. His touchdown run for 74-yards was awesome - he just showed so much pace. Live games really do make you appreciate how fast and fit these players are - even the big bastards run with serious pace.

The biggest negative about the whole experience for me was the way the game was catered for a television audience. There really is no fluidity to it - I can understand the way offensive, defensive and special teams need to be switched, I just found the numerous minute-long breaks for adverts a little bit too much. Players standing around waiting for the referee to continue play just seemed to be the antithesis of the sport. It made it all very stop-start, and I wonder whether there would be a better way to do it.

It was, all said and done, an enjoyable experience. I am not likely to go again for some time, mainly because of Oakland (or San Francisco's) distance from Sacramento, but also because I find myself enjoying it much more from the comfort of my sofa!

I would travel hundreds of miles for Palace, because I get what I expect - an enjoyable matchday experience that felt like non-stop entertainment. I didn't get the same impression with Sunday's Raiders game. Perhaps its because I don't identify the Raiders as my team - or it could just be that I expected a little more.

Shameful.

(The Fins, Rob, not you.)

Pleased to admit I was wrong on two, if not three, counts - I beat you in the FL, Pats won easily AND our D made the difference.

Hat-trick! :D

Gameball to Special Teams Coach.

Brandon Tate is a genuine threat every time he touches the ball.

The Secondary guys have all blocked Kicks in College. Especially McCourty and Chung who BB called "4 down players" when they were drafted.

I also had Patrick Chung and Brandon Tate on my Fantasy Team. 20 points for Chung, 9 for Tate.

Good to get the monkey off the back of winning away from Gillette, England and Buffalo.

And we won the 2nd half.

I just don't understand why they went away from running the ball so early?

Williams and Brown were killing it.

Tate returns the ball to the house and suddenly Henne is throwing every play.

Credit the Patriots. Thought we played pretty well (and just edged) the first half.

But that Tate kick return completely popped our aqua-orange balloon and our collective coaches, special teams and QB completely lost a plot. At which point New England do what good teams should: finished us off quickly, ruthlessly, and emphatically.

We were outcoached, outspecialteamed (that's an understatement by the way), and outquarterbacked. Brady showed at the end that he really wanted this one; I'm not sure our boys did. Certainly the belief that they had the first three weeks disappeared pretty quickly (and perhaps understandably) after Henne's first pick, on a drive which could have put us 14-3. That was the sickener, and then the Tate kick return suffocated us.

With the Packers, Steelers and Ravens next, make no mistake: our season is already over. And with the Bills in contention for 0-16, I'm forced into doing something I never hoped I had to: cheering for the Jets and Rex Ryan. Can't believe it's come to this.

Got up this morning to watch the game and forgot to zap the programme immediately after but luckily I didn't need to (sorry Ben, Strathers & Elliott).

Enjoyed the first half, which I agree with Ben, Miami just about took the honours but the second was a special teams bonanza ... I guess you could say lucky but I guess you make your own luck. The punt and kick blocks, would you consider that bad plays by the Phins or credit the Pats? I'm not sure ...

It's a shame it turned out like it did as the Phins put some good pressure on Brady and could have been a lot different ...