Football Forecasters

Take Notre Dame and the generous points, don’t be surprised if the Irish outright win.  The line is out of proportion to the reality that these two teams are well matched and well coached.

This shapes up as a GREAT Super Bowl to watch.  After listening to the endless banter of pundits and analyzing strength and weakness of both teams, a compelling match-up exists between the Pittsburgh defensive line and Green Bay offensive line.  If the Packers O-line keeps Rodgers on his feet the Packers have the precision over the top pass attack to put more than enough points up on this Steelers D.  Pittsburgh is a little soft at corner back, and Green Bay has the depth and talent at receiver to take advantage.  On the other side much has been made of Big Ben’s ability to come up big in big games.  However, consider another point of view - Ben has managed the offense, while the Pittsburgh defense has controlled the flow of games (contrary to the irrational exuberance of fans such as my brother Clint).  I don’t see the Pittsburgh pass attack being able to sustain consistent pressure on this Packers secondary - this is a pivotal factor.  The Steelers will be able to move the ball between the 20’s; but the Packers have an underrated defense of their own, and will be able to keep the big plays to a minimum,   My call - Packers by 7.Â

NEW ORLEANS - Fundamental matchup advantage combined with situational circumstances make for a solid B-rated play.  Bengals turning the ball over at a high rate and facing underrated defense. Lay the Six.

BUFFALO (+) - Bills seem to be coming together and playing at an intense level.  Vikings are virtually eliminated from the playoffs, and have not steamrolled an opponent this season. I won’t be surprised if the Bills outright win.

TENNESSEE - Both squads have legitimate playoff aspirations and are struggling lately; this should be a dog fight. Houston doesn’t have the defense to run away with it, and this should be decided by a FG.  The Moss acquisition may finally pay off; look for the running attacks to dominate on both sides of the ball. 

Also Likes:  Chicago (ML), Seattle (ML)

We have two top rated NFL picks this week:

DENVER (ML) - Better coached team with superior QB prevails in London.

TAMPA BAY (ML)(+) - Arizona rookie QB has severe shortcomings, take the scrappy road team with a very good QB in Josh Freeman.

Also Likes:  San Diego, Houston (+)

NFL PICKS WEEK 7

Can’t login to the home page for an update, hope to fix that soon - so this weeks top picks are posted here in the blog:

MIAMI (+)(ML) Underrated Dolphins have lost two in a row at home, look for them to bring everything they’ve got here.  Should be a tight game down to the wire, I won’t be surprised to see the defensive minded Fish pull off the outright upset.

CLEVELAND (+): They’re catching New Orleans in a nice spot.  They have the power rush attack to keep the Saints offense off the field, and don’t give up the big play on offense.

KANSAS CITY:  Off a loss where they should have won… they won’t overlook this sorely overmatched foe.

NCAA

NORTHERN ILLINOIS (+)(ML) - Both teams have advanteges they can exploit and scoring could be liberal.  This one should be decided by who has the ball last, and we won’t be a bit surprised if the Huskies win outright.

Also Likes:  Houston, Alabama

NFL

SAN FRANCISCO - Niners are the better team and we don’t see them letting down in this spot, after all, this is their “playoffs”. 

Also Likes:  Oakland (+), Denver

New England - Jacksonville secondary is porous and Pats have the aerial attack to take advantage.  On the other side Jacksonville doesn’t have the ball control ground game to control the time of posession battle needed to keep the Pat attack in check.  Patriots by double digits.

Oakland (+)(ML):  This one should be relatively high scoring, and be decided by single digits either way - making for a nice Money Line value play.  Both teams have schemes they can expoit offensively.

Also Likes: Philadelphia

SEATTLE - Despite the loss of Burleson for the ‘Hawks this is a tough match-up for the Buc’s secondary.  Seattle should be able to move the ball over the top.  On the other side Tampa has a rookie QB in a tough road venue.  Seattle by 17.

ARIZONA - Big number, but Cardinals have excellent fundamental match-up’s to exploit here.  Lions missing key players on both sides.  We’ll call the Cards by 17.

ALSO LIKES:  Cincinatti (+), San Francisco (+)

GREEN BAY A Play - Packers have nice situational match-up advantages here:  Rodgers has been red-hot running this pass oriented offense, while Chicago has been vulnerable in the secondary;  GB has been vulnerable in pass protection, however Chicago one of the worst teams in the league at putting pressure on the opposing QB.  On the other side of the ball Packers have a pretty solid secondary, which does not bode well for Chicago’s league leading interception machine.  Pack by 10.

SAN DIEGO (ML)(+): Chargers playing with confidence at a high level down the stretch… vibes from Dallas indicate coach Phillips is feeling the pressure.  This shapes up to be a damn good game, both teams have advantages they can exploit, but we won’t be surprised at all if San Diego pulls off the road upset.