The very moment I publish a rant declaring that ESPN [that outpost of Boston sports we all know and ambivilate] has no right to rank the Patriots higher than the Ravens; that's the very moment the Raven offense suffers a complete breakdown on Monday night against a clearly inferior opponent. Now all the ESPN guys are snickering and declaring they were right.
I still say that when the chips are down, the Raven defense will shove Tom Brady's head up his ass, and ESPN will be crying bitter tears in their Boston clam chowder.
In any case, this disappointing outcome is tempered with with some gladness. I am glad I was wrong about the Texans. Nothing smells right about these Titans. I don't know how they were winning, but they were winning in this noisy and chaotic league of 2011. I was wrong about them enough times that I felt I had to pick them. Still, I greatly prefer the Texans. I like the team coach Kubiak has built. I am glad to see they are persevering after losing both their top offensive and defensive players (Andre Johnson and Mario Williams). I am shocked they murdered the Titans as they did, but I am glad they did it.
The only thing you can take home from the Chargers v Jets game is that neither of these teams are contenders for the title. The Chargers got out to a big lead, exposing how weak the Jets can be defensively. Then the Jets came back and won in the 2nd half, exposing how inconsistent the Chargers can be both offensively and defensively. What I saw was two football teams with fundamental flaws in their architectures. Don't count on either of these teams to reach the 2012 portion of the playoffs.
The Lions are slumping a bit, but what I saw in the Lion v Falcon game was a desperate Falcon team playing dramatically better on the defensive side of the field. The Lion offense didn't go to sleep. Rather, the Falcon defense raised the level of their game tremendously. The Lion offense didn't expect that level of resistance. They got ambushed. It was still a close and competitive 23-16 game.
I seldom talk about my victories, but I just have to crow about one of them this week. How about that Chiefs v Raiders game? For some stupid reason I will never understand, the Raiders are a romantic drama for men slightly older than myself. For some foolish reason, these 54-46 year old men committed their hearts to the old AFL. Not me baby, I am an old NFL/NFC guy. For these old AFL guys, the Raiders mean original AFL team greatness. They are forever bewitched and biased towards the Raiders. Not me baby, I couldn't care less. I will only pick them if I see a clear-cut reason why I have too. They get no free love from me.
Of all the irrational picks I heard last week, those who picked the Raiders took the cake. We hear all this bullshit about how the NFL is quarterback driven league. We hear endless talk about how the QB position is the key position in football, and how making any change here is an organizational decision due to the magnitude of the impact. Why did you think the Raiders could lose their starting QB, and then immediately win with either Kyle Boller or Carson Palmer (who came off the couch)? There can be only one answer: it's because you are in love with the Raider mystique. That is a totally fallacious reason for picking the Raiders.
