Has the Honey Badger already flown to Seattle for a game (@420)? Did I miss the first half of this home and home that is destined to be rife with twitter zingers?? Certainly not, right? I mean, I would hate to miss ESPN falling over themselves to create zany headlines for that one.
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TIME |
Away TM |
Home TM |
Prediction |
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Thurs. Night |
Seattle |
Arizona |
Seattle |
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Sunday Early Games |
Buffalo |
Miami |
Miami |
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Chicago |
Washington |
Chicago |
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Cincinnati |
Detroit |
Detroit |
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Dallas |
Philadelphia |
Philadelphia |
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New England |
NY Jets |
New England |
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San Diego |
Jacksonville |
San Diego |
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St. Louis |
Carolina |
Carolina |
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Tampa Bay |
Atlanta |
Atlanta |
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Sunday Late Games |
San Francisco |
Tennessee |
Tennessee |
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Baltimore |
Pittsburgh |
Pittsburgh |
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Houston |
Kansas City |
Kansas City |
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Cleveland |
Green Bay |
Green Bay |
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Sunday Night |
Denver |
Indianapolis |
Indianapolis |
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Monday Night |
Minnesota |
NY Giants |
Minnesota |
At any rate, the most interesting team not playing home games in New Orleans, is Arizona. They have by far the most LSU players starting on their roster and also have one of my favorite players ever in Tyrann Mathieu.
The Bassford Matrix has seen fit to throttle the University of Phoenix stadium with a home team loss. Oh well. With 94,000 square foot of soil and sod rolling 1/8 a mile per hour on 546 “dubs” they are practically asking for it.
And, as it turns out, I haven’t yet missed Mr. Mathieu’s first NFL trip to the enlightened State of Washington.
ATLANTA WILL WIN AGAIN!
Atlanta returns to active play after being off in week 6. They couldn’t have asked for a better break in their season. At 1-4 and winning only against the Rams at home, the Falcons needed to quickly regroup. Even their lone victory came against a Rams team that was 1-3 two weeks ago before they ran off two victories against bottom feeder Jacksonville and the reeling Texans. In week 7 the Falcons draw the Buccaneers at home with Tampa using any random footballer as their QB the Falcons look to further delay the Saints’ clinching of the 2013 NFC South Championship—though no change to its inevitability is imminent.
DENVER HAS NO BUSINESS MAKING STORYLINES LIKE THIS
Just as their previous QB hero, John Elway, worked his way out of the Baltimore Colts’ organization (before ever stepping foot there) and into Denver, Peyton Manning fell into the Broncos lap quite unintentionally. (This completes the cycle of life when you consider how Peyton’s brother, Eli, worked his way out of San Diego and into New York.) At any rate, Peyton returns home to Indy just as folks start to bag on Jim Irsay (whose father ripped and dragged the Colts organization out of Baltimore) for ousting him a few years ago in favor of upstart draftee Andrew Luck. (who attended Stanford just like…wait for it….JOHN ELWAY!!!!) The Colts have been playing well so far this year, though, a hiccup in San Diego has caused the less-than-secure element (see: bandwagoneers) of the overall fanship in Indy to become the vocal minority. I like the Broncos in this match (as does the Matrix, above) but you really have to start wondering when the Broncos defensive weaknesses will rise up and bite the team. Likely in the playoffs causing Manning face, said everyone.
ELI….YOU ARE NO PEYTON
What has happened to the New York Football Giants? Maybe it’s premature to go all crazy-eyed on the 2013 Giants, but damn: ZERO and SIX?? That’s tough for a perennial playoff team with a pseudo-future-hall-of-famer quarterback.
It’s no surprise then that the NFC East so far ranks at the bottom of the league in average team strength (below). Unfortunately for the Giants, there are no Jaguar sightings on the horizon and most of the season yet to be played. Good luck with that, G-Men!
|
RK |
Group |
AVG Value |
AVG Win% |
AVG Pts |
AVG Yds |
AVG Pts-A |
AVG Yds-A |
|
1 |
AFC WEST |
2.98 |
70.8% |
27.8 |
380.0 |
20.5 |
358.9 |
|
2 |
NFC WEST |
2.21 |
62.5% |
23.1 |
330.8 |
20.5 |
337.2 |
|
3 |
NFC SOUTH |
1.70 |
35.8% |
21.5 |
353.9 |
19.4 |
340.1 |
|
4 |
NFC NORTH |
1.61 |
53.3% |
27.0 |
384.1 |
26.1 |
389.0 |
|
1 |
NFC |
1.28 |
45.4% |
23.9 |
363.4 |
23.9 |
367.8 |
|
2 |
AFC |
1.24 |
52.9% |
21.9 |
346.3 |
22.0 |
342.4 |
|
5 |
AFC NORTH |
0.87 |
46.7% |
19.9 |
340.0 |
21.0 |
323.4 |
|
6 |
AFC EAST |
0.70 |
56.7% |
20.9 |
336.6 |
22.1 |
359.9 |
|
7 |
AFC SOUTH |
0.40 |
37.5% |
18.8 |
328.6 |
24.5 |
327.5 |
|
8 |
NFC EAST |
-0.39 |
30.0% |
24.2 |
384.6 |
29.7 |
404.9 |
|
Grand Total |
1.26 |
49.2% |
22.9 |
354.8 |
23.0 |
355.1 |
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High Minded Sports 