2011 Week 3 NFL Picks

Well, after a huge week of football I am getting excited about today’s NFL games.  Last week was a crazy one for sure as it saw some pretty hardcore upsets.  Last week we went 3-3 which is obviously the worst week we have ever had I think.  Anyways, we have a whole new fresh list of picks for you because .500 is not where we want to be right now.  Tennessee beating Baltimore is something that I never want to see again.  That was a really rough loss haha.  There are some pretty good games this weekend with some great rivalries.  The Cowboys are taking on the Redskins for Monday Night Football which is one of the biggest rivalries in NFL history.  

2011 Week 3 NFL Picks

Home	Away	Date/Time (CST)	Channel	Our Pick
Minnesota Vikings	Detroit Lions	12:00 PM	FOX	Detroit Lions
Tennessee Titans	Denver Broncos	12:00PM	CBS	Tennessee Titans
Oakland Raiders	New York Jets	3:05PM	CBS	New York Jets
St. Louis Rams	Baltimore Ravens	3:05PM	CBS	Baltimore Ravens
Chicago Bears	Green Bay Packers	3:15PM	FOX	Green Bay Packers
Indianapolis Colts	Pittsburgh Steelers	7:20PM	NBC	Pittsburgh Steelers
Dallas Cowboys	Washington Redskins	Sept. 26 7:30PM	ESPN	Dallas Cowboys

2011 Division 2 Football – Week 2 Top 25

We may be a little late with the  Top 25 for Division 2 football this week but it has been a very busy week.  Not a whole lot of movement in the rankings.  Hopefully this next weekend will be a good one for football.  This season is already cooking up to be crazy one and the Lonestar Classic did no disappoint.

2011 Division 2 Top 25 - Week 2

Rank	School	Record	Previous
1	Minnesota Duluth	2-0	1
2	Abilene Christian	1-0	2
3	Northwest Missouri	2-0	4
4	Texas A&M Kingsville	2-0	5
5	Delta State	3-1	6
6	Shepherd	2-0	7
7	St. Cloud	2-0	8
8	Albany State	2-0	10
9	North Alabama	2-0	11
10	Valdosta State	2-0	12
11	Bloomsburg	2-0	13
12	Washburn	2-0	15
13	Wayne State (Mich.)	1-1	16
14	Grand Valley	2-0	3
15	Kutztown	2-0	18
16	Nebraska-Kearney	2-0	20
17	Colorado Mines	2-0	19
18	California	1-1	21
19	Michigan Tech	2-0	22
20	Central Missouri	1-1	9
21	Pittsburg State	2-0	25
22	West Texas A&M	0-1	23
23	Carson-Newman	2-0	NR
24	CSU-Pueblo	2-0	NR
25	Hillsdale	1-1	NR

What is Going on with the Cowboys?

The Cowboys came out tonight a little sluggish once again with a decent drive to start the game out with, ending with a missed field goal.  The Cowboys tried to make a game of it but the 49ers have dominated most of the game.  Tony Romo got blind sided just before halftime and Jon Kitna came out at the start of the second half. While he did throw a pretty sweet touchdown, it came at the price of two interceptions.  Needless to say, Tony Romo came back into the game despite his injured/broken/whatever rib and ended up playing very well towards the end. Bailey was able to make up for his first quarter mishap with the 21 yard field goal by hitting a 48 yard field goal to send the game into overtime.  After losing the toss, the Cowboys force a punt and within minutes Tony Romo throws a 77 yard bomb to a rookie receiver then boom! 19 yard field goal and the Cowboys are 1-1.  In the end, Dallas ended up with the win 27-24 in OT.

2011 Week 2 NFL Picks

Well we have had all preseason and one game in the regular season to start judging who is going to win football games this year.  We have a great idea as to who will win and we have a history of being 80%-90% right most weeks.  We have had a few bad weeks which is why we tell you not to take our word for it and do some research yourself.  You can take a look at our Sports Resources page to learn more in depth information about your favorite players or teams.  If you have any further questions, feel free to hit up the contact page and hit us up.  Here are our Week 2 picks:

Home	Away	Date/Time (Central)	Channel	Our Pick
Carolina Panthers	Green Bay Packers	9/18 - 12:00PM	FOX	Green Bay Packers
Tennessee Titans	Baltimore Ravens	9/18 - 12:00PM	CBS	Baltimore Ravens
New England Patriots	San Diego Chargers	9/18 - 3:15PM	CBS	New England Patriots
Miami Dolphins	Houston Texans	9/18 - 3:15PM	CBS	Houston Texans
Atlanta Falcons	Philadelphia Eagles	9/18 - 7:20PM	NBC	Philadelphia Eagles
New York Giants	St. Louis Rams	9/19 - 7:30PM	ESPN	St. Louis Rams

The Packers Smash the Saints in the Mouth 42-34

A rematch of the NFC Championship game last season was actually pretty good. The Saints fought hard till the bitter end on Thursday night. Drew Brees had over 400 yards passing and 3 touchdowns with over 65% pass completion.  This was also the first regular season game for the NFL and it ended up very similar to the TCU vs. Baylor game.  It really makes you wonder if you have seen the best game of the season in the first weekend of football.  Aaron Rogers was his same old self with 77% pass completion with over 300 yards passing and three touchdowns. While the team rushed for a total over 100 yards, there was not a single player over 60 yards much less 100 of them. You know the Saints are not going to lose every game so they will probably get right back up on top of the horse they came in on when they play the Bears later today at Noon on FOX.

Colts are nothing without Peyton Manning

Houston saw the problems the Colts were having, came to the game prepared (possibly they had home field advantage), and conquered the competition (Indianapolis Colts). The game was over by the end of the first quarter when the Texans managed to score 17 points in a matter of three minutes and some change. It was a pretty spectacular sight to see and it just got worse for the Colts before half time. The Houston Texans scored 34 unanswered points and if it hadn’t been for a fourth quarter 6 yard pass from Kerry Collins to Reggie Wayne it would have been a complete shut out. Kerry Collins put the ball on the ground three of them and lost two. I would say the Colts should possibly reach out to Brett Favre to see what old dudes up to because I really do not think this old dude is going to get it done.  The Cleveland Browns are actually heavily favored in this Sunday’s game against the Colts.  You know its sad when the Browns are picked to beat you at your house.  You can check it out for yourself Sunday at noon on CBS. With no Peyton Manning, the Colts will hope that Kerry Collins can get them better results than the 34-7 loss they took to their division rival last weekend.

Vick and the Eagles destroy the Rams 31-13

In a much anticipated first game of the season Michael Vick was eager to take the field. He would not disappoint on this night with nearly 100 yards rushing and almost 200 yards passing. This is vintage Vick if you ask me because he has always been known for his ability to take off if rushed in the pocket. The question that remains here, is will he be able to handle taking some of the hits that he took all season long. I think that’s a big if at this point because he is still just a little guy in grand scheme of things. Stephen Jackson was a big disappointment except for one 47 yard rushing touchdown.

I know Michael Vick is looking forward to this weekend as he gets to go home to Atlanta to play the Falcons already in Week Two.  Going home is going to be a challenge not just for Michael Vick but also for the Atlanta fan base.   Do they cheer for Michael Vick even though he is the quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles now?   How many red and black #7 Vick jerseys do you think we can expect to see at the game?  My guess is they cheer for him pregame and cheer for him with any huge plays that he comes out with.  Who will get the win if this happens?  I would say that Michael Vick can almost highhandedly win the game himself.  I think its unfortunate that his old fans are going to have to see that, but they need to be getting behind Rex Grossman this season.  Michael Vick is no longer and will never be the Quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons.  Its just not possible at this point. You have to begin to ask yourselves some questions.  Is it the same fans as when Michael Vick was playing there?  Did you know that when Michael Vick was the starting quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons, they had the largest black season ticket holder population out of any team in the league.  Nowadays you are not going to see the same faces as you did back in the day, but its still the event to go to in Atlanta on a Sunday.  You will still see people dressed to the nines.  They will be disappointed though as “Hotlanta” is not longer there, its just plain old falcons for now. 

St. Louis has a long road ahead of them as Stephen Jackson has still yet to prove himself to his team and fantasy owners.  On top of that it looks like Sam Bradford can’t make into the end zone if his life depended on it.  This is going to be a problem when they start playing teams that rely on their red-zone defense to bail them out of bad situations.  I would expect them to play better for their Monday Night Game against the New York Giants.  It is a much bigger stage and its a chance for Stephen Jackson to let everyone know what he is all about.  Should be two great games though.  In the end, St. Louis just could not handle Michael Vick.  Vick was able to burn them for almost 100 yards rushing and almost 200 yards passing.  That just does not happen in the NFL anymore.  Lets hope he can keep it up.

Detroit Lions Start the Season 1-0

The leagues worst team for the past few seasons has finally decided to step up their game by taking out one of the top NFC teams in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Matt Stafford threw for over 300 yards (305 yards) and 3 touchdowns which is pretty sick if you ask me. I think he is coming into his own in this league and will probably grow to be one of the greats. He was picked to do well in the NFL (being the #1 pick in the NFL will do that for you) but I don’t think anyone thought that he would be this ready, this quickly for everything that has been thrown at him. Having watched the game, I could not tell if the Lions were playing that well of if it was just that the Buccaneers we overrated coming into the regular season. This game was as exciting as it was close and I would honestly have to say that neither quarterback really disappointed their team.  Both of them threw picks which really wasn’t all that bad.  While Freeman may have only had one touchdown, Stafford had 3 so that’s an average ratio.  Tampa Bay’s running game just wasn’t sticking with just 56 yards rushing and only one first down via rushing.  I guess that would be reasonable had Josh Freeman not had half the rushing yards including the first down run of 15 yards.  LaGarrette Blount needs to step it up if he expects to be taken seriously in this league.    Sunday, the Lions play the Chiefs and look for the Lions to possibly start their season off 2-0 for the first time since 1997 when they got that overtime victory against the Vikings.  Remember, that’s the same game that Tavaris Jackson threw for zero touchdowns and four interceptions.  2-0, I think, would give Detroit fans some closure as to all the previous disappointing seasons.  Getting to the playoffs would definitely help also.

Rangers are looking good through 7 innings.

Through seven innings tonight the Rangers have been dominating.  Particularly in the fourth inning where the Rangers scored 8 runs.  Napoli and Hamilton both homered in the fourth inning to help the Rangers take a 9-1 lead going into the 8th inning.  Time is slipping away for Cleveland not just in this game but in the Wildcard race.  They will probably not get a slot in the playoffs at this point.  Meanwhile, the Texas Rangers lead the American League West by just two in a half games over the L.A. Angels.  If they do manage to slip below the Angels, its going to become increasingly difficult for them to even make a Wildcard with some of the other teams in the AL this season.  Its going to be a tight race to the end for sure.  Cleveland needs to h ope for a really bad streak for Detroit but that does not look like its going to happen as they are already on a 12 game winning streak.  Texas Rangers look to make the playoffs and will hopefully be poised to fight for a World Series Championship.  The city of Dallas and the State of Texas could really use some good new for once in a while as over 3.5 million acres (about the size of Connecticut) have burned since November of last year. Let it be known that it was still 9-1 going into the ninth inning so bearing an incredible comeback by the Cleveland Indians, it looks like the Texas Rangers will have their 85th win this season (still with a chance to get to 100).  

Brian Urlacher’s Mom died unexpectedly. Not sure when he will return.

ESPN is reporting that Brian Urlacher is not sure when he will return to the Bears because he is going to be concentrating on being with his family for right now. He had originally left the Bears today for personal reasons regarding her Mother. Later ESPN found out that his Mother had died unexpectedly in her home in Mount Pleasant, Texas. I can imagine how that phone call went considering I have dealt with a similar issue in my past. The family at SidelineBlog are all hoping and praying that he and his family stay safe and make it through unscathed through the battle of recovery. With Urlacher gone, this leaves lots of questions as to who will step up to take his place in the absence. I think there is more than ever a question of depth with the Chicago Bears.  You all know that we arent the biggest fans of the Chicago Bears but I feel as if this story hits me personally in a way and would like to express my condolences to the Urlacher family.  Brian Urlacher release a statement saying, “My first priority right now is to be with my family as we mourn her loss and make the arrangements to lay her to rest,” Urlacher said. “This is a very difficult and emotional time for us and I sincerely ask that you respect our privacy.” I am not exactly sure what this means as far as him playing in the game against the Saints this Sunday, but it does not sound good.  If he is going to play it could really go one of two ways.  He is either going to have a rough time trying to get into the game, or I am going to feel sorry for opponents who go up against him because he might be taking all of his frustrations out on them on the field.  What does this mean for the Bears?  This means a huge blow if they cannot get him playing this weekend, but what can they really do?  He had 10 tackles, an interception, and a fumble return for a touchdown in their season opener against the Atlanta Falcons so you can see how important he must be to their defense.  By the way, they ended up winning that game.  Jay Cutler is just going to have pull some tricks out of that old bag of his if they want to get another win.  The Saint are not exactly happy coming off a loss to the Green Bay Packers (a team who stuffed them last season to go to the Super Bowl…its like double ouch for the Saints).

I think I speak for everyone though when I tell you that I hope Mr. Urlacher can come to grips with what is going on in his life, he should celebrate his moms life and maybe think about her when he is playing on the field and know that life is so precious that in an instant it can be gone.  Life changes and you have to roll with the pucnhes (and life will throw you some knock out style punches along the way).  Time will tell if this is a good or bad thing (was a great thing for Brett Favre). 

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