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NFL General

2010 NFL Week 6 Picks and Podcast

First, a favor please: if you enjoy the podcast, please log onto iTunes and give us a good rating.

Second, last week was an unmitigated disaster for Vin and Ryan. RJ held his own and is actually the go-to guy for your lock of the week. The lineup of games is much better this week and we’ve got all your analysis. We also discuss the MLB playoffs.

The featured games this week are Baltimore @ New England, Atlanta @ Philly, Dallas @ Minnesota, and Indianapolis @ Washington.
You can download the podcast directly (running time 90 mins) or subscribe to the feed.

If you use iTunes, just click here and then click subscribe and iTunes will take care of the rest.

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NFL General

2010 NFL Week 5 Picks and Podcast

Ok so week 4 wasn’t so great but we held our own against the ESPN crew and they only pick straight up. Ryan’s 9-5 against the spread last week was one of the best around the interwebs. This week’s lineup of games is really weak. Out of 14 games, there are maybe 3 worth really paying attention to. Nevertheless, we’ve got insight into every game, crappy or not. (The games that is, not the insight.)

The featured games this week are KC @ Indy, NY Giants @ Houston, Tennessee @ Dallas, and Minnesota @ NY Jets. We also discuss the MLB playoffs.

This week’s NFL betting odds are from Betus.

You can download the podcast directly (running time 90 mins) or subscribe to the feed.

If you use iTunes, just click here and then click subscribe and iTunes will take care of the rest.

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NFL General

2010 NFL Week 4 Picks and Podcast

Week 3 was a good week for the Sportscolumn staff. Now we hope to extend it to week 4. Week 4 is a great week in the NFL season. At the quarter pole, we should have a much better idea of which teams can be considered legitimate playoff threads.

The featured games this week are Baltimore @ Pittsburgh, Washington @ Philadelphia, Chicago @ NY Giants, and New England @ Miami.

You can download the podcast directly (running time 90 mins) or subscribe to the feed.

If you use iTunes, just click here and then click subscribe and iTunes will take care of the rest.

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NFL General

2010 NFL Week 3 Picks and Podcast

A lot of surprises in the NFL over the first two weeks. Teams expected to bottom feed are 2-0 and teams expected to make deep playoff runs are 0-2. Meanwhile, a whole host of teams have decided to make a switch at QB just two weeks into the season. With more information about these teams, our picks should get better this week. Right? We’ll see.

The featured games this week are Tennessee @ New York Giants, Dallas @ Houston, Atlanta @ New Orleans, and Green Bay @ Chicago. This week’s spreads courtesy of your friendly neighborhood sportsbook.

You can download the podcast directly (running time 90 mins) or subscribe to the feed.

If you use iTunes, just click here and then click subscribe and iTunes will take care of the rest.

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Philadelphia Eagles

Eagles 2010: Farce or Tragedy?

When the news flashed across the wires that Michael Vick was the new starting QB of the Philadelphia Eagles, I could only shake my head in disbelief. Just last week, I wrote:

“[Reid] is not going to wither under media and fan pressure to start Michael Vick. First, because he knows Michael Vick is not the long term answer at QB… More importantly, because admitting he made a mistake in anointing Kevin Kolb the future one game into the season would mean that Andy made a mistake in evaluating Kolb’s talent. For four years. … His concussion might force Kolb to sit versus the Lions but as soon as he’s healthy, Kevin Kolb will be back under center.”

Oops.

This isn’t about being wrong. This is about being wrong about Reid as a coach. Despite all the complaints about Reid as a head coach (poor clock management, passing too much, lack of a running game, arrogance, etc.), the one positive trait that always stood out was his ability to remain calm and steer the ship towards his destination. We might not have always agreed on the course he chose, but we knew that he would never panic and overcorrect. After all, that’s the type of knee jerk behavior that gets other coaches around the league fired.

So what does Andy do? He throws everything out the window and makes a knee jerk reaction. What in the name of Rich Kotite is going on here?

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NFL General

2010 NFL Week 2 Picks and Podcast

OK. No more of the “it’s hard to pick week 1” excuses. It’s week 2 and we’ve all had a chance to see what every team is made of. Week 2 separates the contenders from the frauds and we’re here to pick them out. Were the Jets all bluster? Will Seattle come back to earth? Is Houston over the hump? We debate all those questions and more on the podcast this week.

The featured games this week are Baltimore @ Cincinnati, Houston @ Washington, New England @ NY Jets, and New Orleans @ San Francisco.

You can download the podcast directly (running time 90 mins) or subscribe to the feed.

If you use iTunes, just click here and then click subscribe and iTunes will take care of the rest.

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NFL General

2010 NFL Preview

Like NFL football, I am back. Let me first apologize for my extended absence. And admit that I’ve missed the Sportscolumn community. I swear, there is a method to my madness (reasons for hiatus: pursuit of double major at Washington State University, new puppy, new girlfriend, and inebriation due to lackluster performance by the Dodgers). College classes are no longer fun, my puppy is no longer cute, my girlfriend is no longer…well, my girlfriend, and I’ve completely run out of Keystone. So, it is my privilege to finally be back on my computer, trying to convince and persuade everyone to read my annoying articles and accept my biased viewpoints as fact.

As always, I am pushing the deadline of journalistic timeliness by posting this preview literally ten minutes into the Saints-Vikings season kick-off. Anyway, with my baseball team out of the picture, it’s time to get excited for football season. Here is how I see the season playing out:

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NFL General

2010 NFL Week 1 Picks and Podcast

It’s football season! Every season, I give the excuse that week 1 is the hardest week to pick. But looking at the results from last season might give us some insight into what will happen this week. Opening day 2009 gave us only 3 underdogs winning outright and they were all away: Jets @ Texans, Niners @ Cards, and Broncos @ Bengals.

As far as against the spread goes, it was an even split between underdogs and favorites. But 7 of those underdog winners were away. Vegas tends to lean towards the home team a little so the trick here is to find those dogs.

The featured games this week are Cincinnati @ New England, Indianapolis @ Houston, Dallas @ Washington, and Baltimore @ NY Jets.

You can download the podcast directly (running time 90 mins) or subscribe to the feed.

If you use iTunes, just click here and then click subscribe and iTunes will take care of the rest.

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NFL General

A More Accurate Strength of Schedule for 2010

It’s been recently theorized that the strength of schedule used by most media outlets is inaccurate because it uses the previous season’s record and NFL teams tend to change over the course of an offseason.  So what should we use to determine strength of schedule?  Why Vegas of course.

It actually makes perfect sense.  Vegas bookmakers make their living on accurately predicting the number of regular season wins for each team.  Or at least setting the number and the vig so that they make the most money off of it.   But in general, they’re pretty good at picking that number.

There’s two things we have to examine: 1) is using the number wins set by Vegas more accurate than using previous year wins; 2) if so, what actually are the rankings for strength of schedule for 2010?

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NFL General

2010 NFL Predictions and Podcast

Welcome to the 2010 NFL Preview show. Burton sits in for Ryan (who was possibly robbed by Raiders fans) to discuss the upcoming NFL season with Vin. Apparently Vin and Ryan can’t get on the field at the same time. We pick all the division winners and wildcards for both the NFC and AFC. Tune in next Thursday at 8PM for the Week 1 NFL Picks show.

You can download the podcast directly (running time 60 mins) or subscribe to the feed.

If you use iTunes, just click here and then click subscribe and iTunes will take care of the rest.