Week 8 Picks...

Miami at Cincinnati

Jacksonville at Dallas

Washington at Detroit

Buffalo at Kansas City

Carolina at St. Louis

Green Bay at NY Jets

Denver at San Francisco

Tennessee at San Diego

Tampa Bay at Arizona

Minnesota at New England

Seattle at Oakland

Pittsburgh at New Orleans

Houston at Indianapolis

Last Week: 6-8

Season: 54-50

Week 7 Picks for the School of Soft Knocks...

Since every NFL player and analyst made comments about the rule changes regarding hard hits this week, I'm going to choose not to contribute to the debate.

My only question on the matter: Is HBO going to have to change the title of it's hit summer series "Hard Knocks" to "Soft Knocks" next year?

To the picks...

I'm inching closer to good graces after my 8-6 performance last week. Let's ride this turnaround until it's dead. With the games as tough as they are this week, I'll take another 8-6 right now.

Cincinnati at Atlanta

Cause I have faith Marvin Lewis gave this speech to the Bengals after they lost two weeks ago (before TO and Ochocinco ran off to film reality television):

Washington at Chicago

Cause even Albert Haynesworth could get a sack on Chicago's offensive line.

St. Louis at Tampa Bay

Cause the Saints brought the Buccaneers back down to Earth last week:

San Francisco at Carolina

Cause San Francisco has to win the next 10 games to go 11-5.

Buffalo at Baltimore

Cause they're playing Buffalo.

Philadelphia at Tennessee

Cause I want Michael Vick back at quarterback, and a loss to Tennessee under Kolb might be his only hope.

Jacksonville at Kansas City

Cause the Jets should have lost last week and confirmed the theory I found that "you-never-pick-the-road-team-on-short-rest-after-Monday-Night-Football" works pretty well.

Pittsburgh at Miami - *UPSET SPECIAL

Cause no one on Miami's defense contemplated retirement this week.

Cleveland at New Orleans

Cause Cleveland's whole offense is out with a concussion.

Arizona at Seattle

Cause this week marks the three-year anniversary of the time Marshawn Lynch "ghost-rid the whip (or trainer's cart)."

New England at San Diego

Cause people are starting to think the Chargers might actually suck, and the referees always find a way to get the Patriots a "W" in this match-up.

Oakland at Denver

Cause Oakland lost to the Niners last week. That's just embarrassing.

Minnesota at Green Bay

Cause Brett Favre would rather lose his 289-consecutive games started streak for sending pictures of his "little gunslinger" to Jenn Sterger than lose to Aaron Rodgers for the first time.

NY Giants at Dallas

Cause I'm 0-6 in my Monday Night Football predictions this year and I want the Giants to win.

Last Week: 8-6

Season: 48-42

Tough Pill To Swallow...

The Yankees are 27 outs away from calling this season a failure. While a miraculous turnaround is conceivably possible (as the Red Sox showed us just six years ago), it's safe to say there will be no comeback for the Yanks. The looks on their faces last night said it all. This team doesn't believe in themselves. Over the last three games, they've had no answer for the Rangers. Without a miracle 5-run comeback in Game 1, this series would already be over, and in dominating fashion. The Rangers have stalled every Yankee rally, and answered every Yankee punch with a harder punch-back of their own. From the perspective of a true fan, it's been nothing short of disappointing. I'm not angry, I'm not sad, I'm truly disappointed. This isn't the same Yankees team I came to grow and love. The team that always came through for their home crowd - no matter the odds. Apparently they buried that Yankee magic with the old stadium. I know they won a World Series last year, but with the money they spend to get the talent they have, they should win every year.

What disappoints me the most is the lack of "want" the Yanks have demonstrated. They don't seem like they want to win. The Rangers want to win. That's evident. But when TBS shows the Yankee dugout, it's a wash of sulking faces, wallowing in their own depression. No one is cheering the others on. No one is trying to pick anybody up. The ones that can't get a hit are consumed by that, and the ones that can get hits are consumed by the fact that no one else is coming through for them. Last year the Yanks were known for their resilience. I didn't see it as much this year, but they were still resilient. After all those comeback wins, the classic interview statement was that "With these guys, [they] never feel like [they're] out of a game." Yet every time they fall behind Texas, the "I'm-not-sure-we-can-overcome-this" faces come right back out. Texas has showed the resilience. They've had the answer to every Yankee rally.

We need to see that Yankee resilience right now. If they don't show it right off the bat in Game 5, there won't be a chance to show it until next April.

________________________________________________________

Whatever comes out of this season, one belief of mine will never change. The belief that Joe Girardi should be fired. Whether we lose Game 5, take it to Game 7, win the ALCS or, against all odds, win the World Series, my stance on this matter will not change.

Girardi is single-handedly doing whatever he can take make this road easier for Texas. And the fact of the matter is, he's been doing it since Day 1. The naysayers will say he helped lead us to a World Series championship last year, but the truth is, I could have led us to a World Series championship last year. Our line-up is a fantasy team. Our pitching rotation - the same. Oh, and we have Mariano Rivera in the bullpen.

For some reason, and I'll never know why, Girardi needs to over-manage. Maybe he wants to feel like he's contributing to the game, since he didn't as a player once Posada came to town - I really don't know. But it's a devastatingly huge issue. From the seventh inning on, a Yankee lead is never safe. And it's all because of Girardi's need to mix-and-match lefty-lefty and righty-righty match-ups. It drives me crazy.

Andy Pettitte, aside from one bad pitch, threw an absolute gem in Game 3. Exactly what we needed from him. Then we turned to Kerry Wood in the eighth (which made sense), who promptly retired the side. Wood was "dealing" on the mound. After the Yanks came up empty-handed in the bottom half of the inning, I braced for the foolish decision my friends and I knew Girardi would make. Josh Hamilton was due up, and he's a lefty. Kerry Wood is a righty. No matter the circumstance, something compels, I mean really compels Girardi to make pitching changes in these situations. Even though Hamilton was the only lefty due up in the next six batters, with Guerrero, Cruz, Kinsler (all righties) looming behind him, Girardi took the ball out of a dealing Wood and put it into the inexperienced hands of lefty Boone Logan. Now it's not like Boone Logan is a specialist by any means. Lefties around the league don't fear the guy. And it's not like Hamilton can't hit lefties. He batted .359 this year, he can hit anybody. But even with all these things considered, or I guess probably not considered in Girardi's case, the Yankee manager still went to Boone Logan, knowing full well this was the only batter he would face regardless of the outcome (Think about how quickly this strategy could exhaust your bullpen - but that's a story for another time).

So what happened? The inexperienced and probably petrified Logan, threw three straight balls to Hamilton, before eventually surrendering a double. After that, Girardi came back out of the dugout, took the ball from Logan and brought in Robertson. More inexperience!! Robertson surrendered hit after hit. Then came in Mitre. Six runs later, the Yanks are down 8-0 instead of 2-0, entering their last at-bats. Why would you ever take out Wood, who was dominating, so you could have Logan and Robertson pitch instead? It was such a disservice to Pettitte, who pitched such a great game, keeping the Yanks in it until the very end. All his work was meaningless, because of terrible coaching decisions that took away any chance the Yankees had to come back in the end. But at least Girardi got to learn from his mistakes right?

WRONG!!!

Flash forward to Game 4. When Burnett seems to be done - as evidenced by his near wild pitch on an intentional walk - Girardi leaves him in the game. What do you know? Burnett misses his first pitch location by two feet, and the result is a three-run, series-crippling home run. Burnett could have been a hero. Girardi might have even been a hero for starting him. But another ill-advised managerial move and the Yankees find themselves in trouble again. But it gets worse. Who did Girardi turn to when the game was 5-3 and still very winnable in Game 4? Chamberlain, Robertson, Logan and Mitre. The same guys that gave the Yanks no chance to win the game the night before, surrendering six runs in their short work, redeemed themselves by surrendering five runs in their short outing the next night. Really? The same guys that screwed up last night and didn't show a wink of ability to get the Rangers out, didn't get them out again? Shocking. By taking any hope of victory out of the Yankees hands, the bullpen and Girardi single-handedly psyched their own team out of that game. That's the point where we started to see those sulking faces. If it was close, you would have seen that chatter and players trying to pick each other up. Instead, it was silence in the dugouts, silence at the bat, and there was no chance to create that spark that would ignite the fire behind the Yankee bats for the rest of the series.

I forgot to mention. In Girardi's defense, Robertson was "dealing" last night on the mound. Two quick outs to start the seventh in dominate fashion. But then, Girardi ruined the only thing he did right with his bullpen this series. Why? Josh Hamilton was up. And that compelling feeling overcame him. He HAD to put a lefty in to face him. After all, no righty could ever get a lefty out (Side Note: A-Rod (a righty) is 0-12 against lefties this postseason. Girardi must think that's an actual miracle - as it goes against everything he believes in). So in came Boone Logan, the man Hamilton doubled off of the night before. The result? A towering home run for Hamilton. Good thing you went lefty-lefty again Joe. 2-2.

At least he probably learned his lesson again though right?

A compelling feeling tells me, no.

Images taken from espn.com

Week 6 Picks (I Promise, No Brett Favre Dicks)...

So around 3:30 pm last week, I take a glance at the out-of-town scores and see that I'm less than a quarter away in every game from going 8-1! And the only one I had wrong so far was the Giants (my team) beating the Texans. I was essentially 9-0. When I pick the Giants to lose, I want to be wrong. Anyways, I was originally skeptical to look at the scores, because I was afraid I might jinx myself. But I looked anyway, and guess what?? I jinxed myself.

Moments later...

Carson Palmer helped lead Tampa Bay back in the game. Then when overtime seemed almost a lock, Palmer helped Tampa Bay win the game (prior to the extra quarter) with yet another interception.

Green Bay blew a 10-point 4th quarter lead, and a rare Aaron Rodgers interception set up the game-winning FG in OT for Washington. Oh and Mason Crosby missed a game-winning 53-yard FG off the post as time expired.

So the next thing I know, 8-1 quickly became 6-3. Then in the afternoon games I witnessed my heavily-favored picks fall to lesser foes.

The Chargers hadn't lost to Oakland in 13 years. But three fumbles in the red zone, coupled with two blocked kicks in the first 4 and 1/2 minutes that put the Bolts down 12-0 before they even knew the game had started, gave them no chance to keep the streak alive.

The defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints lost to a rookie quarterback without the Cardinals even scoring an offensive touchdown.

And lastly, the Cowboys, coming off a bye week at home in a near must-win game, lost to the Titans.

And that's how I was 6-6 going into the night games. Brett Favre's lack of magic and probably dignity for that matter cost me one of those games. And alas, I was 7-7 in Week 5.

So what good came out of this week? Well, I learned a few things.

First off, I was happy to see my Niners and Bears theory actually worked! I was 2-0 baby. Secondly, I learned that I hate the New York Jets more than Brett Favre - even in a week America learned he sent pictures of his dick to a smoke-show Jets employee two years ago. He's married and a father by the way. I now have a measurement for how much I hate the Jets. I seriously can't stand them that much. Finally, and most disappointedly, I found the Niners first loss (and my first win) bittersweet. Over the course of picking them to win every week, and constantly seeing them disappoint me, I've grown to really like their team. I want to see Singletary succeed, I've always liked Frank Gore, Vernon Davis is on my fantasy team, Michael Crabtree is one of my top-5 favorite college football players of all-time, and Patrick Willis recently became my "favorite-defensive-player-that-I-watched-for-the-first-time-last-night" a few weeks ago. They're a fun team to watch when they're at their best. And they have so much talent. When Alex Smith went into "Eff-you-I-refuse-to-let-David-Carr-come-in-and-end-my-disappointing-career" mode at the end of the Philadelphia game, they outscored the Eagles 14-3. It could've been 21-3 too if Smith's screen pass to Gore wasn't batted down in the final minutes. At 0-5, I'm not counting them out of this division. It's going to be an uphill battle, but I think they can take down the Rams, the Seahawks and Max Hall's Cardinals. That's five wins right there. At this point five might be enough to win the division.

To the picks...

Seattle at Chicago

If the Bears are good enough to win when their quarterback goes 6-16 for 32 yards, 4 INTs and a net of -13 yards after sacks are factored in, they can beat anyone in my book. Oh, it was against Jimmy Clausen and his 0-5 Panthers??? Well, in that case, I'll take the Seahawks in this one. The Bears are due for a classic disappointing Bears loss aren't they? They'll probably under-utilize Forte again, even though he showed last week that even three years deep into the league, he's still got it (For those of you that don't know that was a joke. Cutler's ability to throw - mostly for interceptions - continues to shield Forte's talent from the eyes of offensive coordinator Mike Martz). But maybe I should I think this one through a little bit more. The Seahawks have played well every other week. They're last game was a 20-3 loss to the Rams. This one should be a win. Or did they practice well in their bye week, and now they're gonna suck again? Oh and I'm supposed to take the opposite of what I think is gonna happen. Decisions...decisions. I think I'm over-analyzing this right now. Seahawks.

Miami at Green Bay

I was gonna say Dolphins if Rodgers is out, Packers if Rodgers is in. But I'm just gonna say Dolphins either way. Just a hunch. (Side Note: Rodgers is in. I'm sticking with the fish)

San Diego at St. Louis

Let's take you back to something Michael Silver and I said last week:

"If a team has the league's No. 1 offense and defense four games into the season, how much does it have to screw up to go 2-2?" I'll take "Cut Everyone Associated With Your Special Teams" for $500 Alex.

On the fact alone that the Chargers still haven't fired their Special Teams coordinator I should take the Rams. But they lost 44-6 to the Lions last week. That's how bad the NFC West is. Go! Chargers! Go!

Baltimore at New England

Last time I picked New England to beat Baltimore, they got spanked in the playoffs. Kicking off my playoff picks to forget last year. And I think Baltimore widen the gap between these two teams even more.

They say it's not good to pick teams on the road. I've taken all four roads team thus far. And I wonder why I'm fighting to stay above .500 this year.

New Orleans at Tampa Bay

Divisional game. The whole world has even the Saints believing they might be overrated. They need that running game. It really opens up their offense. I'm going to say that without it, they lose again this weekend. (Never thought I'd pick Tampa Bay to win a game this year. Let alone against the Saints. Watch them win that division though. That division crowns a new champ every year. Although, I think it's the Falcons' division title for the taking)

Detroit at New York Giants

After two weeks of shunning them, it's finally time to let the Giants back on my good side.

Atlanta at Philadelphia

The Eagles announced Kevin Kolb as their starter today. I'm sure Vick's disappointed he can't take on the organization that kicked him to the curb. So the question of the week is: Would Vick rather see the organization that abandoned him win to ensure he keeps his starting job next week OR his team win, when it could cause coach Andy Reid to rethink starting Vick from here on out?

Cleveland at Pittsburgh

I would love to see Big Ben lose on Sunday. Imagine if Pittsburgh fans were so shocked by a Steelers loss to the Browns that they protested Charlie Batch should assume the role of starter?

That would almost be as bad as having to listen to your stadium chant "David Carr" on national television, because they thought your performance was that pathetic (Sorry Alex Smith).

Kansas City at Houston

Houston is letting me down. I appreciated the loss

to the Giants, but I didn't expect them to get dominated. Not only that, but they hardly even ran the ball. Sure the Giants got a big lead right off the bat, but there was three quarters left in the game. There's no reason to screw my two fantasy teams over because you're down 18 to the Giants. Don't let that happen again. The running game is what gave you those three wins Houston. Recognize that. Hard to pick against a Kansas City team that plays as hard as they do. Weis and Crennel are doing a great job. I said coming into this season that I thought the Texans were over their curse of mediocrity though. A win here would be a big win towards that cause.

Oakland at San Francisco

I know I'm supposed to pick against San Fran, but I think the curse was broken last week. This is their time. They will feast on these divisional opponents. Their schedule has been tough thus far. Here comes the turnaround. No San Francisco fans will be saying this on Sunday.

NY Jets at Denver

So, I'll be the first to admit the Jets are pretty damn good. They have that luck factor that all good teams have to have. The ball just rolls their way when they need it to. I'm afraid to see how far they go. With this being said, I hear you never pick the road team on short rest after a Monday night game though. I figure the Jets are the best team to try this methodology on. I'll be rooting against them anyway. Here's more incentive.

Dallas at Minnesota

Not sure if you're supposed to pick against the home team on short rest after a Monday night game or not. Did we ever think this match-up would be a match-up of two 1-3 teams fighting for their life? With all the parity in the NFL right now, this is hardly a life-or-death game, but it's getting close to that. I'll take Randy Dandy in his return home. I really, really hope I'm right.

Indianapolis at Washington

Washington seems to elevate their game on Sunday and Monday nights. In saying that, those are usually divisional games. Oh, and you know who else elevates his game on Sunday and Monday nights? You guessed it, Pierre Garcon. That Manning guy isn't bad either.

Tennessee at Jacksonville

Just a terrible game to advertise. I'll be watching for Maurice Jones-Drew fantasy points. The teams in the AFC South usually play competitively against each other, so this could really go either way. Titans played well against the Cowboys. Jacksonville beat the Bills and recently beat the Colts. Is it possible the Jags could have a three game winning streak entering Tuesday? I'm gonna say, oddly enough, yes.

I'd like to end with a special farewell to John Carney, former, former, former place kicker for the New Orleans Saints. The man's been used more times than Jennifer Aniston. Every time a Saints kicker sucks, they bring John back, only to send him off when the next Angelina Jolie of kickers walks by. He misses one field goal in place of Hartley and off he goes again. Sorry John. So long. I doubt this is last we'll see of you. Even though you're like 64 years old.

Last Week: 7-7

Season: 40-36

NFL Quarterly Review...

So I kind of pulled a "Matt Hasselback" with my picks last week:

I guaranteed a great week of picks, encouraging all my readers to parlay every Week 4 game in line with my picks. It didn't quite work out. I went 7-9 again. It's safe to say I'm a little embarrassed. Since my Week 1 picks (11-5), I'm 22-24. I've been two games below .500 two of the last three weeks. That's unacceptable. I wouldn't even make the playoffs with that record. Unless I played in the NFC West. I'm a couple bad weeks away from tarnishing my reputation as a picks guru. If there's ever a time to take a step back and think things through, it's right now.

Taking a look at the standard deviation of my picks (I can do that stuff cause I'm an accounting guy), one outlier sticks out the most. The 49ers and Bears are killing me! Between those two teams, I'm 0-8. No matter what I pick, I get it wrong. I'm starting to realize that's because I keep picking the 49ers to win, and let's face it, it seems to be their mission to be the most underachieving team in NFL history. Take their games out of my picks and I'm 41-21 instead of 33-29. So I think the best hope for my picks right now, would be for me to never pick the Niners again. Then I'll just pick the opposite of what I expect to happen in the Bears game. Kind of like I do each March for the Clemson first round match-up in my bracket. No matter what, for the rest of my life, I'm picking Clemson to lose in the first round. A southern, die-hard Clemson fan named Brint once told me that Clemson is incapable of winning big games. He made me realize that in life, only a few things are certain: Life, death, taxes and Clemson first-round March Madness losses. I've gone against my gut twice in the last two years and picked against Clemson. And I'm 2-0. Thanks Brint. Sorry Clemson still sucks. So if I treat San Fran and Chicago like Clemson - Bam! A four point swing every week.

So now that I think I solved the problem, it's time to get to my quarterly review. Like I said, I'm an accounting guy, I'm entitled to do things like quarterly reviews.

My AFC Playoff Predictions:

AFC East: New England Patriots (11-5)

Actual Record: (3-1); Record to be a match: (8-4)

AFC North: Baltimore Ravens (12-4)

Actual Record: (3-1); Record to be a match: (9-3)

AFC South: Indianapolis Colts (12-4)

Actual Record: (2-2); Record to be a match: (10-2)

AFC West: San Diego Chargers (11-5)

Actual Record: (2-2); Record to be a match: (9-3)

Wildcards: Houston Texans (10-6), Actual Record (3-1), Match: (7-5); Pittsburgh Steelers (10-6), Actual Record (3-1), Match: (7-5)

Serious threats to my parade: Kansas City Chiefs (3-0), New York Jets (3-1); Long-shot threat: Denver Broncos (2-2)

Some things to note:

1) I had the Chiefs slated in at a (5-11) finish. That means they only need to go (2-11) here on out for me to be right. So you're sayyyyyyyingggggg there's a chance. I said I was only 95% confident my predictions were perfect, alright!?

2) Randy Moss no longer plays for the Patriots. Mark Sanchez answered my call out and got serious about being a good quarterback. The Jets offense looks better than their defense and they add Santonio Holmes and Darrelle Revis back this week. Things are looking good for my AFC East prediction. S#!%

3) If there's ever a team that can finish 10-2 to end the season, it's the Indianapolis Colts. Hey Kansas City. Remember the first time the Colts lost this season, and a pissed off Peyton Manning led them to a route over the Giants? Good luck preserving that undefeated season? To quote Matt Silver of Yahoo! Sports: "Should the '72 Dolphins just pop the champagne already, or does this team have a shot in Indy against the ticked-off Colts?"

4) My surprise Wild Card pick of the Steelers might not have been ambitious enough. Big Ben isn't even back yet, and this team already looks geared for their third Super Bowl in six years. Resist the young girls Ben! Think of it like a museum. Do not touch the work of art.

5) Don't look back Houston! Give the ball to Foster. Throw it up to Johnson. Improve your defense. You can do this!

6) Michael Silver is getting a lot of love today. Here's another quote that sums up the San Diego Chargers: "If a team has the league's No. 1 offense and defense four games into the season, how much does it half to screw up to go 2-2?" I'll take "Cut Everyone Associated With Your Special Teams" for $500 Alex.

My NFC Playoff Predictions:

NFC East: Dallas Cowboys (11-5)

Actual Record (1-2); Record to be a match: (11-3)

NFC North: Green Bay Packers (12-4)

Actual Record: (3-1); Record to be a match: (9-3)

NFC South: New Orleans Saints (12-4)

Actual Record: (3-1); Record to be a match: (9-3)

NFC West: San Francisco 49ers (11-5)

Actual Record: I'd rather not say. No seriously, come on, I don't wanna say it. (0-4); Record to be a match: (11-1)

Wild Cards: Minnesota Vikings (10-6), Actual Record (1-2), Match: (9-4); New York Giants (10-6), Actual Record (2-2), Match: (8-4)

Serious threats on my parade: Atlanta Falcons (3-1), Chicago Bears (3-1), Philadelphia Eagles (2-2), Washington Redskins (2-2), all of the NFC West; Long-shot threat: Tampa Bay (2-1)

Some things to note:

1) When I originally made my predictions, the Falcons were mathematically ahead of both the Vikings and Giants. Because I'm a Giants fan, I added a loss to the Falcons record and bumped the G-Men ahead. That might have been a bad idea. Although Jay Cutler would say I made the right choice (if he wasn't concussed right now). Keep all that in mind, looking ahead though, because the Falcons look real good.

2) The Saints really don't look that great. Sure they're 3-1, but they barely escaped the 0-4 Niners and the wrath of Jimmy Clausen and the 0-4 Panthers. Didn't look great against a suspect Vikings team either. Oh and congrats to me for drafting Garrett Hartley in both my fantasy league's this year. This marks the second consecutive season my kicker has either been cut or replaced by a 46-year-old. Last year I turned one of the best kickers in the history of the sport into one not worthy of playing for an NFL team. This year, I took a guy who only missed two kicks all of last season, a guy that sent his team to the Super Bowl on a game-winning kick, and turned him into the worst kicker in the NFL. I'm cursed when it comes to fantasy kickers. If you read my fantasy column, you know why.

3) The Cowboys are 1-2, and I'm not mad about it. Analysts still believe they're the Super Bowl favorite. Wade Phillips still can't believe he has a job as a head coach in the NFL. And I believe it's time for Jerry Jones to step down as owner and coach the team. Wouldn't it be fun to see the boss handle all this supposed talent? "Now Dez you see that star on your helmet (in a southern accent)? That means you're a Cowboy. And the Cowboys won football games in the 70s and 90s. You know what that means? It means we can win one playoff game in 13 years and still get analysts to dub us preseason Super Bowl champs. Now you wear that star with pride. And carry my clipboard."

4) Randy Moss is a Viking again. Inteeeerrrressssssstttttinnnnnng. Who should be the really happy about this? Percy Harvin.

5) Really trying not to address the Niners right now.

6) "The NFC West: Where the chance to have a sub-.500 team make the playoffs happens." Now that I've come to terms with the Niners likely not finishing 11-1 this season, I turn my attention to the remarkable NFC West race at hand. The favorite to win the division might be rookie quarterback Sam Bradford, and his 1-15 team of last year, the St. Louis Rams. We also have the

bi-polar Seahawks who route good teams and get routed by bad teams. Then there's the Arizona Cardinals, who, against all odds, are 2-2 right now. Lastly, there's the 49ers. At 0-4, they're still, in many analysts' opinion, the favorite to win the division. Has an 0-4 team ever been the favorite to win the division? Is that one of the craziest things I've ever heard? Yes. But do I think the people that believe this make a strong argument? Yes. Because it's the NFC West people. I'm hoping the Niners take down the division at 6-10, barely edging out the 5-11 Rams, Seahawks and Cardinals. It could seriously happen at this point.

The Quarterly MVP (brought to you byyyyyyyy Top Spot Promotions, because it's the only company supporting this website right now):

Arian Foster, RB, Houston Texans

Is this guy happy he drafted him in both of his fantasy leagues? You betcha.

Hold on, we haven't had a Michael Silver quote in a while. Let's see if I can find one. Yep, here's one: "When Arian Foster skipped that team meeting last week, was he actually attending a Raiders defensive meeting?"

That's how good he is.

(Honorable Mention: Antonio Gates)

The Quarterly D-Bag (brought to you byyyyyyyy OG Paper, because our contract ended and I'm pretty sure you didn't pay me for the last month of advertising):

Braylon Edwards, WR, New York Jets

See: Driving, Drunk.

(Honorable Mention: Phillip Rivers - How he did not win this award amazes me. All of America watched Rivers curse out teammates and kick footballs on Monday night Week 1, and he still lost this award to Braylon. Everyone knows I think Rivers is the biggest d-bag in the league and I'm the judge of this award and I still picked Braylon. How can you even look at yourself in the mirror at night Braylon?)

Questions on my mind:

Do the Pats realize that although Moss' numbers have been down this year, the double-teams he drew in coverage were what made him the most valuable asset to their offense?

Is Andy Reid going to say he's staying with Michael Vick as his quarterback, announce him as the starter one week, then change his mind and name Kevin Kolb the starter in the same season he said he was staying with Kevin Kolb as his quarterback, announced him as the starter one week, and then changed his mind and made Michael Vick the starter that week? (There's a confusing sentence for ya)

When will people realize Jahvid Best is an overrated fantasy player?

(Aside from one 33 yard run, Best has 49 carries for 141 yards - 2.9 yards per carry. Take out the longest run for all of his contests and look at the numbers: Wk 1: 12 carries, 9 yards; Wk 2: 16 carries, 45 yards; Wk 3: 6 carries, 10 yards; Wk 4: 11 carries, 40 yards.) Nothing to write home about folks.

So do I have any doubts about my preseason predictions thus far? (Let me see: the Niners, Chiefs, Colts?) Nah, I'm still fairly confident everything I predicted is 95% right.

Through one quarter, it could be a lot worse right now. Am I right?

Be sure to check out my picks embedded in the column as always.

Last Week: 7-9

Season: 33-29