I was seriously torn about taking San Diego in my prediction league this week. Having backed them the entire season I thought I should play the percentages.......

This is why I will not win

Was probably higher when we were 10-2 up. Might have been higher had Ginn's TD return not been called back.

Anyone see Favre's last TD pass against the Vikings? In and out of a defender's hands and into the hands of a WR. I'd love that kind of luck just once this season.

••••••• Redskins. Absolute chokers

Great win for the Cowboys at the Giants, proving that they are worthy contenders this season.

Interesting to see that the Colts couldn't counce back from their defeat to the Patriots by losing their 2nd on the spin against the Chargers. Great result for the Packers as well, holding the Vikings to a no score.

Very good article on Alex Smith and the general conservative play-calling in the NFL:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...e=keown/071112

I haven't looked yet, but I'm sure on YouTube there's some footage of the Utah win in the Fiesta Bowl a few years ago. They were quite a team to watch in terms of a creative offense.

Just finished watching the Bills Fins game. Absolutely gutting despite knowing the result. One of the most emotional performances I've seen from the Fins. I've often accused american football as being quite an individual, selfish sport for the players, but I've never seen so much playing for the team as that game.

Just a fair rub of the green and they'll win a game soon, I'm sure.

On the plus side... O line looked awesome!

Sounds positive at least. :)

Hopefully it's a trap game for Philly on Sunday. They like to blitz though, so Beck might wake up feeling a bit the worse for wear on Monday.

Fish have gotta win on Sunday as I don't hold out much hope for my Redskins winning in Dallas

Missed a fair bit of last weeks action as I was over in London but back on it this week... can't wait!

Also, trying to decide if I can afford to go to Foxboro for the Pats Thanksgiving game... hmmm :D

Hmm, someone in DC is offering me tix to the Redskins v Cowboys game at Fed Ex Fields on December 30th...

V tempted...

If I were a Skins fan and could afford it I'd be there in a second. You're talking about one of the most historic rivalries in the game, they're good to watch even if you don't support either team.

Affording it is the snag...

And I'm meant to be going snowboarding...

But I'm desperate to go now :)

Cowboys at home to the Redskins this weekend, in what is said above to be one of the best rilvalries in the game. Not sure what the live games are this side of the pond.

Just watched the highlights of the last few weeks which was great viewing.

Can anyone tell me who this player is. His surname is either of Dutch or South African decent and he plays in the defensive line for the Titans I think. He is like a man posessed when going after the quarterback and so pumped up it was amazing to watch.

Vanden Bosch?

That's the one ... he's a nutter!

Skins v Cowboys is one of the games on Sky this weekend

The others being,

Sun 18 New York Giants @ Detroit
Sun 18 San Diego @ Jacksonville*
Sun 18 Washington @ Dallas
Sun 18 St. Louis @ San Francisco*
Sun 18 New England @ Buffalo
Mon 19 Tennessee @ Denver

All on Skysports extra, those with *'s are only available via the red button.

Jesus, just got back to place a bet on the amount of sacks in the Detroit v NYG game.

Reckon it'll be Sack City today with those two teams but cannot find anyone offering the usual o/u 4 or 4.5 sacks bet. Bolox!

If anyone knows of any online bookie offering this then put it on here.

Otherwise I might just take up Sporting Index on their Osi Unemyiora index.....and then watch aghast as Strahan gets three sacks!!

Turnpike Vinny starting for Carolina.

AJ Feeley in for the Eagles against the Dolphins. Thought Feeley wasn't given a particularly fair shot in Miami, so this could be interesting.

Didn't take the Osi option, given his form isn't sparkling bar THAT game a few weeks back!

And what was that I said about Strahan.....;)

And which game has by far the most points at ht?????

The one Ladbrokes had as the rank outsider to be the highest points!!!

(I'm on NE v Buffalo to be highest points so hoping Oakland and Minnesota revert to their normal selves.

Blimey, Miami still leading. WTF?

WOOOOHOOOOO!

Here come the Chargers!!

Come on boys - Remember that Bengal game and re-enact it!!

Sssssssssssshhhhhh! :D

D'oh. :sob:

And there's Strahan's 3rd sack

Happy that I took Brian Westbrook o85.5 yards v Miami. Fuming that stupid bwin.com restricted me to £7.70 on!!

FFS!!

6 yards to go!!

That guy must be killing himself for detroit after that drop to be picked off by the giants leaving them to run out the clock!

:D

Nice snap straight into the face of tony romo.

I gotta mention the rookie David Harris for the Jets

Game 1 three weeks ago - 17 tackles.
Game 2 a fortnight ago - 24 tackles!

Tonight in the first 10 minutes - 2 tackles and a sack of Roethlisberger.

Looks like losing Vilma through injury has been a blessing!!

Jets 10-0 Pittsburgh

Now I'm wise enough (like Strathclyde is with Miami) to know that this is merely the calm before the tragic storm.

Good job Betfair is here to allow one to capitalise and profit from their team's 2nd half ineptitude

Only managed it by about 70 yards or so. ;)

Don't spend it all at once. :moo: :D

Looks like it'll all be lost on my Willie Parker o100.5 yards bet.

Can't believe how quiet he's been. Portis managed to look like Walter Payton against the Jets two weeks ago and yet the league's top rusher is anonymous so far today.

The Jets are weird

9 sacks all season - then 5 today on the 2nd hottest QB in the NFL

No 100 yard rusher all year but then we do it today against the best run defense in the league which had allowed just ONE 100 yard rusher in 59 games!!

And looking like blowing a 10+ lead for the 4th time in 5 games.

TO is a machine. Just a shame he is a complete tool

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!!!!!!!

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHH!!!

Get in!!!

Real hairs on the back of your neck moment this evening when Kenny Everett (the Bill who duffed his neck earlier in the season) spoke on the big screen before the game.

Ok, two random kicks today. In the Baltimore game the ball hit the post then the t bar and came back over the post and they ruled it a miss. It clearly went over but you cannot use the video for kicks.

Then in the Patriots game they manage to hit the camera that is put on the T bar. This one counts as it is behind the post!

ROFL, don't you mean Kevin Everett? :D

And weirdest of all, they fail to score a TD in the final 58 minutes of the game yet manage to beat the red hot Steelers.

Go figure

And once again Harris has the most tackles in the game.

Just a mere 10 today

Got love waking up and seeing a 66 pointer being played out overnight

:lux:

KERCHING

Redskins came so close. Campbell's performance was a major plus, though.

Watched the Cowboys beat the Redskins last night and the game lived up to the expectations. Even though I'm obviously pleased at a Cowboys win, I was very impressed with Jason Campbell and the Redskins battling. I admit we were not at our best and the awful snaps that Romo kept getting could have lost us the game. The pleasing thing was that we were pulling big plays from the bag and a fantastic 4 TDs for TO! It was tense right until the end and could have been a lot different if Campbell had not thrown that intercepted pass, but a great match all the same.

Bring on the Jets on Thursday night ... :p

Personally, I cannot see who is going to beat the Patriots at the moment after their demolition last night ... The Packers visit at to the Texas Stadium should be a cracker though ....

Hottest QB in the NFL? The Jets weren't paying the Pats...

I watched the Pats game last night and they had ANOTHER debate on running up the score.

Twice, the Pats went for it on 4th down instead of taking the field goal (once at 35-7 and once and 42-10, I think).

John Madden made a good point - surely TAKING the three points is running up the score while going for 4th down gives the defence another legitimate shot to stop them. The Bills ineptitude gave the Patriots points as well as the Pats taking them. If the defense can't make a play, then that's their fault.

The crowd were only booing as they were getting so outclassed.

I think the Pats had 8 drives and scored 7 TDs. The only one they didn't score on, Brady had already checked out and was laughing with Moss on the sideline.

Oh, and I'm praying the 49ers keep up their bad form so as the Pats get a top 3 pick next year... looking likely :D

:eek:

:D

I am a tool. Thats what happens when you post late at night.

I don't agree with this argument about running up the score at all. Surely teams should be allowed to play, and if the opponents aren't good enough then they will get battered. It's a sport and you play to the best you can and if that means thrashing someone then so be it. Can you imagine this happening in football? especially when it effects goal difference ....

Which is why I said '2nd' hottest, dingbat.

The Jets moving up to 2-8 helps matters, drags 49ers down one more place to jt-3rd worst.

Obviously 49ers won't finish dead last as Miami have it in teh bag :D

Sorry, I didn't have my first coffee of the day until AFTER that post... :clown:

Besides, they weren't playing the Cowboys either... ;)

Taking a second pick (assuming Miami finish winless) would be great for the Pats considering they are losing their own first round pick (which would be at least 25 if they make the play-offs).

Go on Jets! Go on Rams! Even go on Oakland!

Second picks following championships have a history of not working out well in New England. In fact I've got a hunch that Bill Simmons wrote about it somewhere.

Bingo:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...5&sportCat=nfl

I didn't see anything in that article about 2nd overall picks...

Read the San Francisco paragraph and the parallels to 1986.

Ah, gotcha!

It would be interesting though to see who the Pats would take (position wise) with a top 5 pick.

The usual top picks of WR, QB and RB would surely be overlooked by the Pats for a LB or Safety... I don't watch enough college football to know if there are any of them worthy of a top 5 pick!

Wahey, Miami are way out of top of the league.....for felony charges.

http://www.profootballtalk.com/turdwatch.htm

Very interesting....and very worrying that a sport that's so keen on being squeaky clean that so many of its participants can be crims

There has been some speculation about NE trading down and getting two picks because they're so good at getting late first round value. Would be quite ironic if in the year they're meant to forfeit a first round pick they end up with two!

The only safety I've heard mentioned in really glowing terms is Kenny Phillips from Miami, but I think it would be a reach for him to go #2. Time to find some updated mock drafts.

Just read one quite sensible mock that suggested if the Pats had the no. 4 pick then they'd get Dan Connor from Penn State. I think he holds the tackles record there, quite something when that's known as linebacker U and he's following the likes of Conlan and Posluszny.

Seems there is a new case every week at the moment... in fact, almost daily whether it be a criminal activity or breaching a league policy.

Do you have a link, please? I'd be interested to have a look.

That particular one was from http://www.draftking.com/nfl/2008/mockdraft.shtml

Seriously, if you have a spare day to hand put "2008 mock draft" into Google and delve in. Some very weird predictions in there.
Was trying to figure out how we managed that. Forgot about Joey Porter (along with everyone else in all likelihood).

Interesting reading. I obviously wasn't very close when I said playmakers generally make up the top 5 based on that draft - A DT, DE, OT, LB and 1 RB!!!

Jesus, I finally top 100 points on the Fantasy League (109 - previous best 89) and see my position as 818th in the competition for the week, which I was happy about given my previous best is about 4000th!! Then realised that 818 is my total for the season and my weekly rank was 4029th!

I actually do try and pick decent teams - honest I do! How people rack up 200 like the winner this week (or even 150+) is beyond me. Bloody geniuses.

I raise my Jets baseball cap to these Fantasy wizards

I forsee a skiving from work tomorrow to watch all the matches (despite the fact 2 out of 3 are after work hours, anyway!)

Serious question for a knowledgeable person to answer.

Can a team register a sack without a player being given credit for that sack? The reason I ask is that if you look at the NFL.com gamecenter for the recent San Diego v Indy game, the total of sacks in the individual player columns adds up to 3. See here.

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter?game_i...ter&week=REG10

However if you then go to the Box Score tab, the total of sacks jumps up to a total of 4 - 2 for each team, with Indy getting an extra one to their credit.

Checking the Play-By-Play you can see the confusion arises from a play where Indy scored a TD from a supposed sack of Rivers. However, no player was credited with the sack and when you see the play I'm dubious as to whether it was a sack anyway as the ball slipped out of Rivers' hand (due to the rain) before an Indy player even touched him. Should that even be counted as a sack?

The reason I ask is that I wagered on there being less than 3.5 sacks in the game. Initially I was paid out only for $400 to be taken out of my account a few days later with the firm saying they were going by the box score. Fair enough that NFL.com is used to decide these things but I've seen plenty of instances of NFL.com getting things factually wrong (like adding 6 points to one team and then the extra point to the other team to have a temporary score for 5 mins of 6-1 and such like!) so to me having this inaccuracy is pretty poor.

However, back to the question, in simple terms..."Can a TEAM get credited for a sack without an individual PLAYER getting the credit to his own total?"

Now check this one out

Giants v Miami at Wembley. I remember being there and counting four sacks. The Gamecenter from NFL.com shows 3 (2 for NY and 1 for Miami)

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter?game_i...nter&week=REG8

However, when you look at the Box Score and the Play by Play there was indeed 3. The missing one is possibly the biggest play of the game, namely Strahan's sack and forced fumble just before half time which set the Giants up for a winning 13-0 lead. Yet the sack and the forced fumble aren't even given to him on the stats. Am I missing something here?

What's more the stat box on the gamecenter says this

Noteworthy
Entering the game, the Giants led the league with 27 sacks, but against the Dolphins they only managed one -- by DT Fred Robbins. ...

FCKUING morons!!! How can they say this. This is the most authoratative source for the entire sport and they can't decide on there being 1,2 or 3 sacks for the Giants when it was clear for the 90000 there that there were 3!!!

Can't say I was counting, but I don't trust gamecentre stats in general.

My guess regarding Wembley is that the fumble wasn't counted as a sack as the ball had gone by the time Strahan got there.

Off the top of my head I would have said there were three:
1) The fumble recovery by Strahan.
2) The botched snap on the three where Lemon recovered, looked to pass and then took a nine-yard loss.
3) The 3rd and 3 in the 4th quarter where Lemon never spotted a wide-open Marty Booker two yards past the marker and took a sack.

I'm sure you can have a "team" sack. There was one on Sunday where about 4 players hit the QB at the same time and on TV they credited it as a "team" sack as no single player got to the QB before any others... it was just a pile of bodies!

AJ Daulerio is a genius. :D
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/blogs/...ew-englanders/

Fair enough. Been looking into this and it looks like you're right.

Bit gutted as I thought I had a case to get my $400 back!!!

Best tackle of the year so far?
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=o-OgcokgNbQ

Looking at Wembley tonight, I never realised quite how narrow was a Gridiron pitch

NFL Access last night showed 'the play' from that college game 25 years ago where all the fans ran on the pitch and the fella with the trombone got clattered by the player with the ball! never seen that before

Skins v Bucs on telly this Sunday :) Done alright as a Skins fans this season - most games have been on TV

Did they show the recent version as well? That was class.

I make it a choice of 10 games available to watch on Sky this weekend. I'm off work on Monday, I might make Sunday night a late one. :lux:

Irony - someone from Philadelphia, an Eagles fan too, giving lectures on what it is to be "classy".

F*ck me!

Surely you should complain then if the "team" sack would have given you the money but is not recorded by nfl.com...

Make your bookies watch the whole tape of the match :D

The day that Daulerio edited Deadspin last year was class. Not really classy, but certainly class in terms of humour. :D

Incidentally Philly are supposedly a 23.5 pt underdog on Sunday, supposedly the biggest line ever for a game not involving an expansion team. I think Grim and I should predict what our teams will be given before our respective trips to Gillette Stadium.

Week 16 - Dolphins -36.5 is my guess at the moment.
Week 15 - Jets...?

The Jets will be a nice round +30 v NE and I'll be putting £3 on at silly odds on them to win the match straight up like they did last year!! :-)

For the record I had the u3.5 sacks option.

The 'mysterious' sack is the one that has cost me.

The Box Score has the total as 4 and that's what CaribSports.com are going by.

The fact that it was the weakest looking asck you'll ever see is somewhat annoying.

Thanksgiving my ar5e

Not much to be thankful for tonight if you're a Jets fan.

Probably the dullest second half I've ever seen.

I can't decide if the NFC is mediocre or just tough, so few teams have a decent winning record

Well, I saw two of the three matches yesterday and after seeing the Packers outplay Detroit, I wish I'd switched off then!

The Jets were woeful although that is a little dis-credit to a very stable and solid Dallas D.

The match between the Colts and Falcons never showed up on my NFL Network due to something about me being in a different region...

Either way, I didn't miss much by the sounds of things.

Looking forward to the matches on Sunday and then next Thursdays match in Dallas where I'll pray for a Packers win!

Another fine result for the Cowboys last night. Incidently, they seemed to ease off the gas a little and took a couple of kicks instead of going down the Patriots route ....

Looking forward the massive game against Green Bay though, both teams in fine form ... :p

So taking 3 points isn't running up the score but going for it on 4th and 8, like the Pats did last week, is?

Surely taking a field goal is easier than trying to get 8 yards on a 4th down?

And given the reserve QB was in for the Pats, why shouldn't they try and give him more time on the field? (And yes, I realise they went for a 4th down while Brady was still on the field too but that was about 4th and an inch within 10 yards of the goal line...)

As I've said before, I don't agree with the 'big' issue about teams running up the score. If there good enough, let them play. But I do beleive that the way the Cowboys are playing they could have gone for those 4th downs and more than likely got them, the commentary said so themselves. The QB issue was the same for the Cowboys, they put in their reserve in the final quarter.

I've made decent money this season by backing the 2nd halves of Oakland and SF home games to have lower than 17.5 points. I often switch to the red button game late on Sunday and take great joy in seeing 'three and out - punt' 'three and out - punt.' Last week's St Louis v SF game was just the latest in a run of about 7 or 8 similar games.

This was exactly the same as those games, but without having a few dollars on it and being my team, it was indeed sh1t. Luckily I had a giant pile of ironing to get through so that provided the entertainment!!!!

The Giants v Vikings game is the one I'm concentrating on for Sunday night.

Giants should win but the debate begins in earnest when you consider there will be no Jacobs or Derrick Ward for the Giants' running game. PLaxico Burress and his lack of practice due to an ankle injury is now catching up with him after he scored TDs in the first six games. He's done nothing for weeks now.

Even in his 4th year Eli still hasn't stamped his authority on the team. If he was graded school style he'd be around a B or B-. Had a couple of B+ games in his life but still never come anywhere close to his older brother.

The signs point to this being a game where he will be needed to throw maybe 40 times to make yardage. How the Giants perform could depend on whether he hits his usual OK-ish 50% or maybe 70%-80% of those passes.

Given he was the number one overall pick just 4 years ago, it's strange that he's in that middle bracket of QBs that'll do a job but never win a game on their own a-la Favre, Brady, Manning snr.

Also we have the worrying precedent of the Vikes winning 24-21 at the Giants in 2004 with just 72 yards of offense!!! Have you ever heard a crazier stat!!???

Some concern amongst the Jets faithful looking ahead to next week's LoserBowl.....

http://forums.theganggreen.com/showt...t=27281&page=2

This week I'll be somewhat interested to see what the field is like at Arrowhead. They've got a big college game there today (Kansas vs Missouri) then the Chiefs host the Raiders tomorrow.

I suspect the field won't look as bad the day after a game as Wembley did three and a half weeks after one.

With that info I think I'll be playing the unders on the Kansas/Oakland total

Won't that be pretty low to begin with anyway?

Yes it will be low but a) both offenses are poor and b) scoring lines tend to come out early so don't factor possible adverse weather, meaning value can be found in backing unders if weather or pitch conditions deteriorate.

Enjoy your dollop of Sunday morning brutality guys

http://youtube.com/watch?v=GeqRBjwTEjA&feature=related

Decided to have faith in Eli and taken him to pass over 245.5 yards. Don't let me down, boy

Love it

Giants march 65 yards

Eli passes for 45
Reubens rushes for 25 on 5 carries

Burress and Shockey both notch up 20 yards apiece on the drive and 5 yards for Hixon

Doing wonders for Little Reaper learning her 5 times table!!

Eli now playing like a dick

0 yards in 2nd qtr

5/13 with 2INT

FFS