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Phreakin' Sweet!

Congrats to the Phillies on winning the big one! I'm not a phan or anything, but I was rooting for them this time around. Yeah, I know, the "ph" thing is pretty tired already. You gotta feel for the Rays though, coming that far and dropping the proverbial ball in the proverbial home stretch. Baseball analogies rule.

Anyways, not much happened in the NFL today, but I don't know why I'm mentioning that because this blog doesn't report daily news anyways. Romo's still out this weekend and it looks like Hasselbeck will be too. Whoopie.

Look for a new NFL Prospect Thursday or Friday.

Would They Still Call It American Football....

...if the NFL awards London their very own franchise? Would they still call it the National Football League? What do they call soccer now? There's some scary implications going on here.

Anyways, if anyone wants some British perspective on the Saints-Chargers game which took place at Wembly Stadium over the weekend as well as some observations on the league's future across the pond, go here.

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Week 9 Pick 'em

As usual, Monday brings Monday Night Football, but something which is not so usual these days: it's a pretty compelling game on paper. If unbeaten Tennessee wins tonight, it's going to silence a lot of critics, myself included, about the true nature of the Titans. It's been a fairly easy schedule for them so far, so I'm not yet sold. A Tennessee win would also spell serious trouble for a struggling Indy. But I digress, click through for this weeks edition of Pick 'em...

New York Jets at Buffalo Bills – After a surprising loss to Miami, Buffalo should look to get back on track here. The Jets (Favre) look like crap lately don’t they?

Detroit Lions at Chicago Bears- The quest for a winless season continues through Week 9 as Lions fans learn a new meaning for the word “hapless”.

Jacksonville Jaguars at Cincinnati Bengals- This game should be ugly. Real ugly.

Baltimore Ravens at Cleveland Browns- The Ravens dismantled the Raiders offense (and defense, for that matter) but can they shut down a recently revived aerial Cleveland offense? Probably, but I’ll go with an edgy pick.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Kansas City Chiefs- I still can’t believe they lost to such a hindered Dallas. They must’ve left their starters in Florida. Kansas City should not expect the same.

Houston Texans at Minnesota Vikings- This is a tough call, and really could go either way. I don’t know what they’re doing in Vegas, but for me the odds are with the Minnesota defense.

Arizona Cardinals at St. Louis Rams- Another tough call considering the Rams are all of the sudden a factor in the dreadful NFC West. If Arizona comes prepared for this game they should win it. If they show up expecting to play the old Scott Linehan offense, they’ll blow it. Nice fire, guys.

Green Bay Packers at Tennessee Titans- Whether or not Tennessee remains unbeaten after tonight is a toss up, but this one should go their way as Green Bay’s been struggling with injuries and inexperience.

Miami Dolphins at Denver Broncos- How ‘bout those Dolphins huh? They lose the games they seem capable of winning and then defeat the ones they should definitely have lost. Those tricky wildcats…

Dallas Cowboys at New York Giants- Will Romo return for this one? That’s the question we should be seeing all week. Probably not, and a Dallas victory? Probably not.

Atlanta Falcons at Oakland Raiders- I’m going to make a risky pick here and say the Oakland Raiders are going to rally together to win one at home. If you’re playing for money, it might be better to go the other way. But everyone else will too. Think about that!

Philadelphia Eagles at Seattle Seahawks- Eagles… what the hell’s a Seahawk anyways?

New England Patriots at Indianapolis Colts- God, this used to be better than the Super Bowl. Now it’s a running joke between everyone not living in these cities.

Pittsburgh Steelers at Washington Redskins- Pittsburgh took a hard loss to the Redskins division rivals New York yesterday, and will look to redeem themselves in what may be another tough matchup.

NFL Musings, Week 8

Another week is almost through and some new insights have been revealed. Some teams have made a case for the playoffs, and some slipped further into the postseason abyss. I'm lookin' at you, Chargers. Anyways, more on that and some other stuff when you click through.

1. First and foremost, I'm gonna have to stop denying the Carolina Panthers their true status as serious playoff contenders. They barely pulled a win over Arizona today, but that means more than it used to. I'm liking them for the Division win at this point.

2. Dallas won! I didn't see that coming.

3. Baltimore introduced a nice little play package today involving Troy Smith was quite reminiscent of the Wildcat package. I believe they called it the Wild Bird. Anyways, the result was Troy Smith gaining some big yards on the ground and the longest reception ever recorded by a quarterback, a 43-yarder to Joe Flacco. Ouch, Raiders. Ouch.

4. How hot is Clinton Portis right now? He joins O.J. Simpson as the only two players ever to have two separate streaks of five or more 120+ yard games. Nice.

5. In breaking news, the AFC West has just had its playoff rights stripped away due to no apparent contender in the mix. Not really, but it's worth considering.

6. It's time for teams to start really taking St. Louis seriously and for me to stop using them as the butt of my jokes. It's not really funny anymore. They look like a different team don't they?

7. Detroit still sucks. They'll take St. Louis' spot until further notice.

NFL Midseason Power Rankings

The following power rankings are courtesy of Dr. Z of Sports Illustrated. I thought about putting my own together but realized it would look quite a bit like his but with some very noticeable differences. Below you will see HIS picks in order with MY comments on why I do or don't agree with their placement. Also, I've instituted an abbreviated format of posts for my main page to save space and allow older posts some extra time to be read, so go ahead and give the link below a click to resume this article. Nice work..



1.Tennessee Titans- Dr. Z points out in his comments that he's fed up with sports analysts predicting a fast decline once Tennessee sees some real defenses. I happen to be one of these analysts and would probably put these guys at around number four.

2. Pittsburgh Steelers- Really? Based on performance so far I might agree, but this team is down to its reserve running backs, the offensive line is still shaky, and Santonio Holmes is looking at a possible suspension. There's little upside on the horizon in Pittsburgh.

3. New York Giants

4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

5. Carolina Panthers- Too high if you ask me. This team should show its true colors in the next few weeks. I say that without looking at their schedule, of course.

6. Buffalo Bills- This is a team that deserves to be higher up the board. Maybe sitting at number 3 where the Giants are presently. Then I'd move the Giants up to 2 and put the Steelers here.

7.Washington Redskins- Hype alert. This team came out with two division wins and then lost to St. Louis. Yeah, ST. Louis. I'd put Philly and Dallas above these guys.

8. New England Patriots- A bit high perhaps. These guys have little hope of making the playoffs.

9. Dallas Cowboys- Once Romo's back, these guys should bounce back and end up in the top five.

10. Philadelphia Eagles

11. San Diego Chargers

12. Jacksonville Jaguars

13. Arizona Cardinals- I'd put this team in the top eight at least. They seem to be dominating their division and have won a couple of big games.

14. Chicago Bears

15. Atlanta Hawks

16. Green Bay Packers- The Pack is below Chicago and Atlanta? That might be a little harsh. They're inconsistent, but not incompetent.

17. Indianapolis Colts

18. Denver Broncos

19. New Orleans Saints

20. St. Louis Rams- Cue Chris Berman: "WHAT?!?" Looks like Dr. Z's either riding the hype train off the last two wins or he's been sniffing glue again.

21. New York Jets- Brett Favre is bummed to be this low in the rankings. It'll be another uneventful January for the old guy.

22. Baltimore Ravens- I would rank this team at least five spots higher based solely on their defensive game.

23. Miami Dolphins

24. Minnesota Vikings

25. Houston Texans- This team had a lot of analysts on the bandwagon to have its first winning season. It looks grim.

26. Oakland Raiders- The Raiders are stoked to be this high in the rankings.

27. Cleveland Browns

28. San Francisco 49ers

29. Cincinnati Bengals

30. Seattle Seahawks- Out of every team in the league, this one fell the furthest. They probably should have foreseen a problem in April when they didn't have any decent wideouts.

31. Detroit Lions- These last two come down to one question. "If these teams were to have a matchup this weekend, who would win, Detroit or KC?" Dr. Z nailed it on the head.

32. Kansas City Chiefs

NFL Prospects 2009: Tim Tebow Edition

Before we get into the specifics, it's worth mentioning that yes, Tim Tebow is only a junior at Florida and does seem like the type of character who would want to stay another year and pursue a championship. That said, the QB stable has never been lighter than it will be this year, so his stock would be considerably more valuable this year than it may be the next. He stands to make millions of dollars more by declaring for the draft this year as opposed to next. Oh, and he DID win a championship with Florida in his freshman year, a victory he certainly contributed to. It will be, if nothing else, something to consider, which makes him the Home Field All-American QB.

Tim Tebow is a name that really doesn't need much further elaboration. The only sophomore ever to win the Heisman Trophy, he also was last year's winner of the Maxwell Award (top football player), Davey O'Brien Award (top quarterback), and the James E. Sullivan Award (most outstanding amateur athlete in any sport). That's one hell of a resume. Oh, he's also the first collegiate quarterback ever to both rush and pass for 20 touchdowns (actual figures: 32 pass and 23 rush).

So how's he looking this year? It's business as usual in Florida. He's passed for 10 touchdowns, rushed for three, and only has one interception (a good count considering the three or four he had last year at this time). He's a little behind on rushing yards and touchdowns, but this is likely a symptom of defenses adjusting to his talents and putting less coverage on the less effective receivers. In short, defenses are stacking the box and pitting their strong safety firmly against Tebow and his running game.

So, assuming Tebow does declare for the draft this year, who would be a likely candidate to seek his help? The most obvious answer at this time would be Kansas City, who have lost two quarterbacks for the season in one game (that really weren't all that effective in the first place) and are now left with an inexperienced Tyler Thigpen out of Coastal Carolina. This situation screams for a new QB, and the fans will be screaming for one by the end of this season too. With Kansas City expected to be high in the draft order, possibly first, they should be in position to land Tebow without any trading up. Other teams expected to be high in the draft--Detroit, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and perennial Oakland seem pretty well situated at the position and have pressing needs elsewhere. At this point, I'd be surprised to see him land anywhere else.

NFL Picks Week 8

Oakland at Baltimore- After a tough win over the Jets, the Raiders have somewhat redeemed themselves after a demolishing handed to them by the Saints. Oakland has clearly relied heavily on their run, however, and Baltimore is more than capable of handling the ground game. Look for another low score effort out of the Silver and Black this week.

Arizona at Carolina- I really like Arizona these days. Kurt Warner has scarcely looked better and his receivers are second to none. Anquan Boldin may be returning to this game as well. I'm not sure Carolina is truly a contender and I expect to see them separate themselves from contention in the South Division in the coming weeks. As with any game involving Arizona, this could be a nice little shootout.

Tampa Bay at Dallas- After last week, who could expect Dallas to pull this one out? I wouldn't count them out just yet, but I think there's going to be some big changes in Big D if they don't start winning these games. There's too much invested in the team for losses.

Washington at Detroit- Will Detroit finish dead last in the league this year? It looks bad.

Buffalo at Miami- AFC East contention finally begins for Buffalo, and this is where they can distance themselves from the Pats. It's obviously not a must-win, but it would be a great one for the team.

St. Louis at New England- New England looked good last night, eh? Marvin Harrison is done for, which should further hamper the defense. The Rams have looked sharper in the past couple weeks, so I wouldn't count them out completely here.

San Diego at New Orleans- San Diego's had some heartbreakers this year, and they'll be looking for redemption, London style. New Orleans lacks the defense to win this one, and San Diego's defense is just good enough to handle the stellar New Orleans offense. Usually.

Kansas City at New York Jets- The Jets need to start seriously winning some games if they're going to make a bid for the playoffs. This should be a good start for them.

Atlanta at Philadelphia- The honeymoon's over, Matt Ryan. Here's the real deal.

Cleveland at Jacksonville- Which Cleveland is showing up this week? Probably the lousy one. For Derek Anderson's sake, hopefully the Monday night one.

Cincinnatti at Houston- This is one Cincy might actually win. After some preseason hype (ESPN mag, for one), the Texans look lost. They barely pulled one over Detroit last week, and that's just sad.

New York Giants at Pittsburgh- I think Pittsburgh takes this one at home. I really do. The New York pass rush was exposed by Cleveland, and a weakened pass rush means more oppurtunities for Big Ben Roethlisberger.

Seattle at San Francisco- This one could go either way, but I like San Francisco to get focused after the firing of Mike Nolan and pull out a win. Seattle's terrible anyway.

Indianapolis at Tennessee- The unexpected undefeated have had enough of a glory run. Indy needs to start winning some games too or they'll be sitting in the basement with Houston.

Well that was a mess..

I think Dallas might be missing Tony Romo right now. Brad Johnson had a dreadful performance with 1 touchdown and 3 interceptions against the lame St. Louis Rams. It seemed like a good time for this to happen but St. Louis most certainly exposed the weakness in this team. This may bring new revelations to those who feel Romo is expendable or worse. St. Louis has defeated two teams it shouldn't have now and Steven Jackson looked like a Pro Bowl back (finally). Could this be a change in the tides? We'll see. New England and Arizona are next.

2009 NFL Prospects: Malcolm Jenkins, Ohio State

Possessing the speed and the size to be a coveted NFL cornerback, Jenkins likely would have been among the first corners taken in last year's draft had he decided to declare. His heart was in chasing a national title, however, and likely was interested in further improving his stock so as to increase the size of his first paychecks. Besides, last year's draft was loaded with quality corners and the competition was likely much more stiff than it will be this year. With the ever-growing popularity of his position in the first round, it would appear that Malcolm is a lock for the first round. He was recently picked for Rivals.com's Midseason All-America team, which measured the to-this-point success of all positions.

So who could use Jenkins in their ranks? A team like Minnesota may need to look to more pressing offensive needs, but Jenkins could surely be a step up for a team with such poor pass defense. Staying in the division, maybe the Detroit Lions could finally stop drafting receivers in the first round and pick a guy that defends against them for a living. Maybe. One thing is for sure, and that is that the rate of tackling has gone WAY down this season, and teams will be looking for some talent to fix this. One team will strike gold with Malcolm Jenkins, this year's top cornerback.

Feelin' Lonely? Get Home Field Emails!

I've recently added Feedburner functionality to the site, so if you feel like giving me your email address you can get updates sent directly to your email! I'm hoping to get a newsletter going in the near future, and I'm hoping I can use the same list of emails. It's hard to say at this point.

And yes, I promise I won't sell your emails or use them for anything other than site related stuff and what-not. I wouldn't even know how to go about it.

The Home Field- too ignorant to sell you out.

The Tony Romo Quandary

Will he play or not? It's a bit unusual that's even being discussed and says a lot about the faith in backup Brad Johnson. Typically a broken finger on the throwing hand will sideline a quarterback unquestionably for a month or so, but this is supposed to be the year Dallas makes a return to glory, and Tony is supposed to be the man to take them there. This question mark couldn't have happened at a better time for Dallas, as even with a bit of experimentation they should be able to dominate their opponent, St. Louis, on Sunday. If there's a chance of success, my call would be to let him throw the ball around for a series or two while letting Marion Barber handle most of the work. If he looks up to it, leave him in, if he struggles, let Brad Johnson manage the rest of the game. Even without a completed pass in the whole game this match up should be fairly one-sided.

And speaking of Tony Romo, have you seen all these blogs dedicated to hating him? I've never seen anything like it. I have nothing but admiration for a guy who becomes an elite QB after being an undrafted player out of Easter Illinois, a small time school. Just google "Tony Homo" or some other childish play on his name and you'll be treated to a slew of blogs that likely are very happy with his current situation. Buttholes..

What the Hell Happened? Where am I?

Holy crap. A guy misses a weekend of football and suddenly I feel like I've missed an entire season. If you think this league doesn't move fast enough, take a look at the events which unfolded over the last week that absolutely shocked me (some more than others).

1. Pacman screwed up again. That's not terribly surprising.

2. Roy Williams was (finally) traded to Dallas?! Just when they lost their QB for a month. Impeccable timing.

3. Shaun Alexander GOT SIGNED SOMEWHERE! One year deal in Washington. Sounds promising guy.

4. Jon Kitna's out for the season. That would be more devastating news had he done anything for them lately. I mean what are they gonna do, lose MORE? Not even possible, dude. It could be a blessing in disguise. And of course, it won't be interesting at all to see who takes the starting job over there. Seriously.

5. The @#&^$% Browns beat the Giants?!?

NFL Pick 'Em

Baltimore at Miami- This is a tough one to call, because Miami is looking decent on offense and decent on defense. Baltimore is a beat anemic on offense but the defense has scarcely looked better. Everyone knows a rock-solid defense wins the game.

Tennessee at Kansas City- Kansas City's nightmare season continues against the unbeaten Titans. Will Vince Young return as the main man? I don't know, I was hoping you might.

San Francisco at New York Giants- This is being posted prior to Week 6's Monday Night game, but I'm gonna go ahead and assume the Giants will remain unbeaten throughout Week 7 and into Week 8, barring any serious Tony Romo-like injuries. Hell, even with one of those.

Minnesota at Chicago- Chicago's feeling pretty jacked right about now, but can an offense that relies so heavily on their young runner get past the league's premiere run D? Well, Minnesota is in a pretty damn similar situation, so look for a low scoring and uneventful game.

Pittsburgh at Cincinnati- I want to call this the Lock of the week but something scares me about it. I won't be terribly surprised if I'm wrong on this one.

New Orleans at Carolina- Did you see that absolute ass whooping N'awlins handed Oakland over the weekend? Me neither, and boy am I thankful for that. It's time for the Saints to make their case for a playoff run before Tampa makes theirs.

Dallas at St. Louis- So who's the backup in Dallas? Brad Johnson? Ouch. My call would be direct snaps to Marion Barber all day long. They'll still probably manage this one though. I guess that injury couldn't have come on a better week.

San Diego at Buffalo- It's time for San Diego to start making their case as well. Now Miami could beat San Diego, but will Buffalo? Logically they should. but likely they won't. Don't worry, as long as the Bills stay on their game they won't be watching the playoffs on TV this season.

Detroit at Houston- OK, this is the lock of the week. Will Detroit win a game this year? That depends, do they play St. Louis?

Indianapolis at Green Bay- This should be a fun game to watch. Indy smashed Baltimore last week and it looks like they may be in good shape for a playoff run. Green Bay has been kind of all over the place lately.

Cleveland at Washington- Can somebody call Washington and tell them to stick with an identity? They go on the road and defeat their division rivals who are supposed to be better than them, and then come home to a glorious reception only to LOSE TO ST. LOUIS! So are they playoff caliber or do they absolutely positively suck? This game should be revealing, and I still think they're playoff caliber. Barely.

New York Jets at Oakland- Sexy pick of the week. If you're playing for money, don't go with this pick unless you're feeling dangerous. One of these days that defense has got to hold up all four quarters to seal a win. I recall looking at the Raiders schedule a few months prior the season and feeling this was one of a few games in which they could actually pull out a win. Then Brett "Just Kidding" Favre had to come in and muck it all up. They're overrated though, seriously.

Seattle at Tampa Bay- Tampa Bay, all the way.

Denver at New England- I could see this one going either way depending on which Denver Broncos team shows up this week. It's been scientifically proven however that New England is not the team they were a season ago. That's a good thing.

What to Watch

It's Week 6 in the NFL, but it's the Conference Championships in the MLB. That's got my vote.

Dallas at Arizona- This is gonna be an aerial shootout and easily the most entertaining game of the week. The safe pick is another win for Dallas, but my gut's looking another way.

New England at San Diego- This game is a test to see if either of these teams has what it takes to make the playoffs. It's a MUST win for San Diego. They've both lost to Miami, but we don't know quite what that says just yet.

If you have to watch an early game- oh, I don't know... Chicago at Atlanta might be interesting. You could also watch haplessness at work with Detroit at Minnesota.

Oh, and that Monday night game might've been a good one LAST YEAR. They really need to get some in-season flexibility in the schedule.

Dissecting the Dreadful: The Detroit Lions Edition

After a season in which the faithfully mediocre Detroit Lions showed significant improvement, it comes as a surprise to many that this team has yet to find even mild success this season. Based on their track record through the years, however, it probably shouldn't. I must admit even I didn't expect this team to free fall so readily, as it's clear the work has been put in over the off-season to improve this team. A firing or two isn't going to fix this problem, but then again it couldn't hurt much, could it? Let's take a look at what could be wrong with this perennial failure.

Much of the blame for the lack of success has to fall on the shoulders of the defense. In the off-season the Lions attempted to right the ship on some of their defensive woes by trading away oft-troubled DT Shaun Rogers for a quality cornerback in Leigh Bodden. Apparently, it didn't take. This team has not allowed less than thirty points in each of it's first four games. That's 31st in the league, and I don't even want to think about who's got a worse total than that. The D-line has only managed to get four sacks in four games, while the opposing defense has taken sixteen. They might be missing Shaun Rogers right about now. Additionally, the Lions are still waiting for their first interception of the season while the opposing defenses have already taken seven away. Oh yes, and total yards allowed? The Lions are dead last at 32nd. As they say, the best offense is a good defense, and this team is missing theirs.

Of course, teams manage to win with horrid defenses from time to time (Atlanta, for one), so there must be some trouble on the other side of the ball. To begin with, the teams rushing totals are 31st in the league, and again, I don't want to think about who could be worse than them. In my Divisional Analysis I pointed out that this team lacks running talent, but that was before they picked up Rudi Johnson. Let's just say my mind hasn't changed much. The Lions starter, rookie Kevin Smith, is averaging 3.6 yards-per-carry, a total which is a whole yard short of an acceptable average. But, you may asking yourself, what about that multitude of first round receivers from the past five years or so? Well, Charles Rogers and Mike Williams can't even help themselves at this point (both are no longer with...any team, for that matter). Roy Williams is a non-factor, and Calvin Johnson is about the only solid performer in Detroit. Of course, he's not exactly having a Pro Bowl year just yet, and there's one good reason for that. Calvin needs a capable quarterback to throw him the ball. In order for Kitna to be capable of throwing the ball to Calvin, he needs a decent O-line. It's a horrible circle that starts and ends with incompetency. This team was absolutely foolish to fire Mike Martz. He went to San Francisco with the Lions' former third-string quarterback. They've won two games, are sadly second in their division, and that former third-stringer is a starting quarterback in a throw-happy system. Sure would come in handy now what with that terrible running game and all. It's just another example of placing the blame where it isn't due. Matt Millen was driven out of town and this might be a good choice. He was in charge of this fiasco after all. His replacement will have a lot of work to do. Marinelli has insisted that he has no intentions of quitting regardless of how bad things get, but someone may be making that decision for him sooner or later. This team needs to go the way of Miami or New Orleans a few years back and go for a total overhaul in order to once again be relevant and bring some football glory to Motor City.

The Home Field has a Favicon!

Favicon- that little logo next to the URL in your search bar that reads "HF". It also shows up on the tab next to the page title.

Before entering the world of web design, I didn't know what that thing was called. Never thought about it really, but it's good to know.

You regular types will also notice I've spread things out into the margins a bit. Those sidebars were excruciatingly large and were causing my already long posts to look even longer. This works better.

Favicon...

The Sunday Rundown

Another week is almost under our belts, what did we learn this time?

• LT is starting to look a bit old. For the second week in a row the man behind your Vizio looked fairly unimpressive. Yes, he did rush for over 100 yards and two touchdowns last week, but he did it all late in the game and did little to help his team keep up for the first three and a half quarters. We've seen how fast a league MVP can become irrelevant/expendable/unemployed (Shaun Alexander anyone?), but it would be quite a shock to see this guy out any time soon.

• The Chiefs got shut out, and unless I'm forgetting someone, that would be a first this season. It's fitting for a team that has so few bright spots. Like I mentioned in my NFL Pick 'Em, the Panthers watched tape of LJ running all over Denver and they adjusted accordingly. The guy got just seven carries and two yards. Damon Huard or whoever happens to be throwing the ball around there apparently didn't fare much better.

• How 'bout those Falcons? A team with endless issues last season has started the this season over .500. Any dissenters in Hotlanta who doubted taking Matt Ryan with the third pick are busy cleaning up their blogs right about now. A win over Green Bay in Green Bay, that's alright for a rookie.

• The Redskins are certifiably the Real Deal. The two teams in the division they were not supposed to beat, and they did it twice in a row. The next three games are practically gimmes so they're definitely looking good for the playoffs. Capital City is starting to look relevant again.

• Dallas is starting to slump like the Mets in October. Sure they won today, but they barely won. Against the Bengals. I'm not sure what's going wrong down there, but my best guess would be a slouching defense. The Romo/T.O. connection can only get you so far. That Marion Barber guy is pretty good too.

• The Tennessee Titans are nowhere near as good as advertised. A soft schedule and a hard D has kept this unit alive and well, but anyone should be able to see a fall in production on the horizon. Of course, when one looks at the schedule ahead of them, there's maybe two teams you could see beating them, being Indy and Green Bay. Jacksonville and Pittsburgh may pull one out too. This means playoffs for the Titans, but not a great deal further. They'll meet with the big boys in January.
  

• Have we had a genuinely exciting Sunday night game this season? I don't know what it is (anemic offenses?) but Pittsburgh at Jacksonville just sounds like a sackfest. Nothing wrong with that I guess.

The Home Field Made a New Friend!

That's right, The Home Field just found a new link partner that we feel proud to do business with. Juiced Sports Blog is a well established jack-of-all-trades sports blog that's among the Top 50 sports blogs on BallHype. This blog isn't among them, in case you were wondering. Anyways, check it out now by clicking that link over to the right and get yourself a dish while you're over there. You'll thank me later.

Picks Week 5

In an effort to get these out quickly, I'll be foregoing any comments for the time being. Check back for details.

Tennessee at Baltimore- can anyone stop the Nashville steamroller? Not this week.
Kansas City at Carolina- Kansas City found a hole last week and ran all over Denver's defense. Carolina will have watched plenty of tape and will make sure that doesn't happen to them.
Chicago at Detroit- Detroit continues its hapless season against a surprising 2-2 Chicago. It's all defense, baby.
Atlanta at Green Bay- After a disappointing loss to Tampa Bay, Green Bay will be out for revenge against an NFC South Rival. This game would've been sort of significant were Favre still in place.
Indianapolis at Houston- After a much needed early bye-week, Indy's going to look to climb back on top of their division and regain control of the AFC. Houston will continue a winless season where they SHOULD be winning games. It'll happen guys, it'll happen.
San Diego at Miami- LT should run all over these guys. Can Ronnie Brown bring home an upset? Probably not.
Seattle at New York Giants- This one's a virtual lock. New York just looks too sweet these days. Seattle, on the other hand, is miserable.
Washington at Philadelphia-This is the toughest pick, on the other hand.
Tampa Bay at Denver- Denver showed their weakness to the run last week against a poor, poor Kansas City team. Tampa Bay doesn't have the best running game, but then again Denver has one of, if not THE worst pass defenses in the NFL. I think it's time to come crashing back to Earth, boys.
Buffalo at Arizona- Still waiting on that Buffalo loss. If they win this game, which wouldn't be very hard, they will be a serious contender and a deep playoff threat. Who saw that coming?
Cincinnati at Dallas- I do hope to see Chad Johnson kiss the star, but he just gave the Dallas D a lot of motivation to shut his confidence down. Even if they do score, the Cincy D can't keep up with the offensive juggernaut in Dallas.
New England at San Francisco- But I'll be rooting the other way. I still dislike New England. Sorry, guys.
Pittsburgh at Jacksonville- A horrible offensive line and a patchwork running game spells bad news for the typically steady Pittsburgh.


If you assign a point system in your pool, Cincinnati at Dallas should be given the highest amount of points, followed by Atlanta at Green Bay, and then Seattle at NYG. Lowest points should be assigned to Washington at Philly, Arizona at Buffalo, and Minnesota at New Orleans.

At least I got these right...

Being October and all, I wanted to repost this piece I did about a month ago making some predictions on the playoffs. Technically, I've got it all right as far as which teams are going, but you may noticed I kind of contradicted myself on the whole Chicago/Minnesota fiasco. This demonstrates my previous lack of commitment to either outfit. But as I mention in the article, in the end it's a moot point.

Enjoy...

Michael Crabtree: Just Another Prospect...

But not just another wide receiver. Texas Tech's own Michael Crabtree is making his case this season to be among the first wideouts taken in the NFL Draft. His numbers often look more impressive to casual onlookers than they probably should, as Texas Tech's blend of the spread offense is very receiver happy. That said, Crabtree is the perfect candidate for the NFL and brings size, speed and a set of sure hands to the team which takes him off the board. Watch any game involving the Red Raiders and you'll see a bright young talent on the verge of making it big.

In the 2008 NFL Draft there were no receivers taken in the first round. This could be attributed to several things. First, the talent of the 2008 class was well spread, with no immediate front-runners coming to mind. In fact, the first receiver taken was Donnie Avery by the St. Louis Rams, a draftee that no one predicted going first. Second, many teams are working to build their teams into contenders fast, and its widely known that receivers don't fully blossom until their third, fourth, even fifth years. It just takes a certain amount of time for most receivers to learn the system. Finally, this is a position with such an abundance of potential stars available, most find it more pressing to take a defensive end or tackle in the first round due to the scarcity of elite talent.

Time will tell if we see any 2009 wide receiver draftees get taken in the first round, but it's not hard to imagine a team reaching out to get Crabtree early in order to lock down a potentially elite wideout. At this point, it certainly looks like he'll get the most looks early on.