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The Lineman: Week Seven NFL Picks

By Steve Keating

That was more like it, a very solid 5-1 effort in Week 6 after a very tough month of average results.

Could we be perfect in lucky Week 7? Feels good.

Record: 19-17. Last week 5-1

Pick of the Week: 5-1

PICK OF THE WEEK

Green Bay Packers (6-0) at Minnesota Vikings (1-5)

The Lineman: Week Five NFL picks

OK, it is not exactly the big week I was looking for but 3-3 at least has the Lineman heading back in the right direction. But catch a look at the Pick of the Week 3-1 (soon to be 4-1).

Good tipping to all.

Record: 12-12. Last week 3-3

Pick of the Week: 3-1

PICK OF THE WEEK

San Diego Chargers (3-1) at Denver Broncos (1-3)

The Lineman’s NFL picks — Still backing the Pack

That was another great football weekend made all the more exciting for the Lineman by going a very respectable 3-1. Only two games this week and both look like crackers. Enjoy.

Playoffs: 5-3. Pick of the Week 1-1.

Last week: 3-1

Regular Season Record: 53-49

PICK OF THE WEEK:

Green Bay Packers (12-6) at Chicago Bears (12-5) (Line Packers minus-3.5): I backed the Pack to get to the Super Bowl when the season started and there is no reason to slip off the Green Bay bandwagon now.

The Bears and Packers have clashed 181 times since 1921 but number 182 promises something special as the NFL’s two most storied franchises renew a rivalry that is as old as the league itself.

The Lineman’s NFL picks — classics on the cards

The Lineman is only sure of one thing this weekend and that is that football fans are in for a real treat with all four games shaping up as potential classics.

It was a rough ride for home teams last weekend with only the Seattle Seahawks surviving and who says you need an elite quarterback to win in the playoffs.

Saints Drew Brees and Colts Peyton Manning will watch this weekend’s action from the couch while Jets’Mark Sanchez and Seahawks Matt Hasselbeck moved on.

Yes indeed, shaping up as another wild and wonderful weekend in the NFL.

Playoffs: 2-2. Pick of the Week 0-1.

Regular Season Record: 53-49

PICK OF THE WEEK:

Super Bowl XLV: Jets v Falcons?

The NFL’s website really is a model in what a modern sports league should offer its fans and among the many handy features is a playoff picture that shows exactly what the situation would be if the season ended now.

As it stands, the top team in the AFC is the 9-2 New York Jets while in the NFC, the Atlanta Falcons are in control with 9-2. Both teams are almost assured a place in the playoffs but have they got what it takes to go all the way to Dallas?

What tends to indicate they have an opportunity is that in a season full of surprises, the Jets and the Falcons each have one elusive ingredient which is absolutely essential to reaching the Super Bowl.

For the Jets, whose last four games have included two overtime wins on the road and a late, late game-winning touchdown at home to Houston, it is their uncanny ability to come out winners when staring defeat in the face that makes them a team that is so hard to bet against.

Combined with a road record of eight straight regular season wins, a quarterback in Mark Sanchez who is coming of age and a head coach, Rex Ryan, who clearly gets the very best out of his players, the New York team, beaten by the Colts in last season’s AFC Championship game, have good cause for their oft-declared confidence.

This Sunday’s big game against the Patriots will provide a very useful gauge as to whether those factors are now enough to deal with one of the league’s established powerhouses.

When you look at Atlanta, the one word that springs immediately to mind is completeness. The NFL is rightly proud of the unpredictability in the league but one of the reasons for this year’s particularly inconsistent performances is the amount of incomplete teams competing.

Brett Favre: career renaissance at 40?

In one of the most anticipated games of the season, in two rabidly partisan Midwestern states, Brett Favre has gone from beloved icon of the Green Bay Packers to leader of the hated Minnesota Vikings. The dislike reached Hatfield-McCoy proportions Monday night when Favre triumphed 30-23 over the team he proudly represented for sixteen years.

According to the New York Times, the showdown attracted an average of 21.8 million viewers, the biggest audience in the history of cable television, exceeding the 18.6 million who watched the Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys game in September 2008 on ESPN.

In an interview to ESPN, Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler said Favre is the best quarterback in the NFC North. “[Favre] played really well,” Cutler said. “I think we kind of would have liked to have seen Green Bay beat him to even out the conference a little and give those guys a loss, but he played fabulous from start to finish. It was a good game.”

These days, the aging Cajun plays with the allure of a fine French wine: the older he gets, the better he gets… at least early in the season. Favre who turns 40 on October 10th has a perfect 4-0 record, and his surgically repaired right arm seems to have new life.

A medical team performed surgery on Favre’s biceps last May, cutting the partially torn tendon to alleviate the pain that prompted him to prematurely announce his retirement for a second year in a row before signing with the Vikings.

Last year, Favre’s season with the New York Jets started well; in week four he threw six touchdowns against the Arizona Cardinals, a personal best and one fewer than the NFL record. By week 12, the Jets had compiled an 8-3 record, including a win over the previously undefeated Tennessee Titans.

However, the Jets lost four out of the last five games of the season including the final game against the Miami Dolphins, who had acquired Chad Pennington after he was released from the Jets to make room for Favre. In those five games Favre threw eight interceptions and only two touchdown passes, bringing his season total to twenty-two of each.

The Lineman says avoid the trap, take the Bears

Ouch, the Lineman took a couple of hard hits last week but is still narrowly about 50-50 so still standing. A win by the Colts over the Phish on Monday saved the day but better to come this week – gulp.

Record: 7-5; Last week 3-3; Pick of the Week: 1-1

PICK OF THE WEEK: Chicago Bears (1-1) at Seattle Seahawks (1-1) (Line Bears minus-2) Fragile Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck is out with a broken rib and Chicago QB Jay Cutler started to look comfortable leading da Bears to nice win over the Steelers last week. Bears are learning to live without linebacker and defensive leader Brian Urlacher while the Seahawks are are already looking beat up.

No Bear traps here. Take the Bears and give up the two points.

Tennessee Titans (0-2) at New York Jets (2-0) (Jets minus-2.5) What sounds weirder? Titans 0-3 or the Jets 3-0? The Titans finished last season with the NFL’s best record but have stumbled out the gate while the Jets have been flying high with rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez at the controls. Remember the Titans are still a pretty good team (and not a bad movie) while Sanchez is about to hit some turbulence. Fasten your seatbelts.

Take the Titans and the 2.5 points.

Green Bay (1-1) at St Louis Rams (0-2) (Line Rams plus-6.5) Are the Detroit Lions the NFL’s worst team or is it really the Rams? The Rams have scored just seven points in two games this season and have lost 12 straight going back to last season. The Packers, one of the pre-season faves, have dropped five straight on the road and have not looked sharp. Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers has been sacked 10 times but will not see the same pressure from the Rams defence he got from the Bengals last week giving him time to locate dynamic pass catching duo of Greg Jennings and Donald Driver.

The Lineman basks in glory, fears the worst

Well, the Lineman got the season off to a perfect start (click the link). Steelers get the win, Titans cover, score one for the Lineman.

We will bask in the glory while it lasts because the Lineman understands this is just the first play in a long season. Let’s hope we are still on the right side of the scoreboard come Tuesday.

Record won-loss: 1-0.

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PICK OF THE WEEK: Minnesota Vikings at Cleveland Browns (plus 3.5): Future Hall of Famer Brett Favre is back (again) and has something to prove. Adrian Peterson is the NFL’s top running back.

The poor Browns aren’t catching any breaks in Week 1 with the NFL allowing Vikings defensive linemen Kevin Williams and Pat Williams (two of the best in the business) to continue to play while their long-running drugs saga works it way through appeals.

Nasty pass-rusher Jared Allen spearheads a Minnesota defence that might be one of the league’s best guaranteeing it will be a long day for the Browns starting quarterback, the not so mighty Brady Quinn.

Favre soap opera is getting a little tired

The Brett Favre saga continued this week when the future Hall of Fame quarterback un-retired yet again to join the Minnesota Vikings.

No one should be able to tell Favre when he should stop playing, but the 39-year-old 10-times Pro Bowler has fumbled his retirement so badly he’s become a national punch line.

His on-again, off-again retreat is greeted with a yawn by some, anger by others, and a laugh by those who stopped listening to him years ago when he first decided to quit.

The last time he retired was just three weeks ago when he told Vikings officials to look elsewhere for a quarterback. So it is no surprise that Number 4 will be in the line-up Friday when Minnesota hosts the Kansas City Chiefs.

He had a Cal Ripken-esque career when he retired following the 2007 season after 16 marvelous years with the Green Bay Packers.

But after a tearful good-bye, Favre decided he wanted to come back. The Packers said it was too late. So he went to the New York Jets for the 2008 season, but when both he and the team faded down the stretch, he decided to call it a career.

Should Brett Favre come out of retirement…again?

Although NFL training camps are still weeks away, each passing day brings new reports suggesting that Brett Favre is about to come out of retirement for a second time in as many years. The Vikings have openly admitted their interest and Favre has done the same.

While the New York Jets and Green Bay Packers are trying to rebuild around younger quarterbacks, the Minnesota Vikings appear to be willing to throw a proverbial Hail Mary pass to an aging quarterback in the hopes he can take them to the Promised Land.

During an appearance on HBO’s Joe Buck Live, his first since retiring from the New York Jets last February, the three-time NFL MVP said he had surgery a couple of weeks ago on his throwing arm. He said the doctor who performed the surgery on his biceps told him it would take four to five weeks to find out if the procedure was a success.

As long as his right arm is healthy, it looks like Favre is coming back to the NFC where he’s spent almost his entire career. The Cajun may not be able to part the river that runs through the Twin Cities, but his eye-popping statistics cannot be overlooked so easily: he won Super Bowl XXXI, was voted Associated Press MVP three years in a row (last one shared with Barry Sanders), selected 10 times to play in the Pro Bowl and he holds NFL record for the most touchdown passes.

Last year, Favre’s season with the Jets started well; in week four he threw six touchdowns against the Arizona Cardinals, a personal best and one fewer than the NFL record. By week 12, the Jets had compiled an 8-3 record, including a win over the previously undefeated Tennessee Titans. However, the Jets lost four out of the last five games of the season including the final game against the Miami Dolphins, who had acquired Chad Pennington after he was released from the Jets to make room for Favre.

In a recent interview, the NFL’s all-time leader in touchdowns, receptions and receiving yards, Jerry Rice didn’t show a lot of confidence in Favre. Rice said the stress of a 16-game season might be too much for a 39-year-old. “Brett is a competitor. But I know towards the latter part of my career, even though I still wanted to be out on that football field, it was like things became a little bit more difficult,” Rice told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.