Brick's Picks Week 3

Little slow around here this week, seems every time that I think I have some time to type another column something comes up. But that shouldn’t be a problem as I drew the short straw and have to work the night shift tonight. That means no phone calls, nobody stopping into my office and hopefully no emergencies. So lets get right into it.

Didn’t do all that bad last week with the picks, as I went 4 for 5, yes I am counting the everyone looses in the Denver vs. San Diego game, as there has been a weeks worth of controversy and we are all dumber for it.

As for the San Diego fans who are crying over the missed call and the replay equipment malfunction. WHHAAAAAAAAA, cry me a fucking river you front running fucks. Chances are none of you could name a player on the team 5 years ago when you were fighting for 3rd place every year. Now you bandwagoners got a taste of what Raider fans have been complaining about for years. The officials suck.

Did bodybuilder Ed fuck up the call. Sure did, but there are missed calls every game. They don’t always come at such a critical time, but great teams with great coaches don’t get put in the position that the call costs them the game, and have the ability to over come the bad call.

I’m reminded of the snow job that the Raiders were the victims of in New England. Was the call bullshit, if you aren’t a complete hater or a delusional Patriots fan you can admit that it was. But the Raiders had ample chance to salt that game away later and didn’t come through. The Raiders were a better team talent wise than that Patriots squad, but they were not a good enough team to over come that call.

That is where the Chargers stand right now. Talent wise the team is stacked. But with Turner at the helm and a lack of leaders on the field the team is not good enough to overcome a bad call or two. A.J. Smith is a great talent evaluator, but seems to put talent over character and leadership. Say what you will about the Rat, but he consistently gets the most out of his offensive talent on game day. That is why the Broncos are tough, and the Chargers have tough luck.

On to the picks:

As always, these are the games that I will be making a point to check out at some point of the day, not necessarily the best match-up, just the ones I am the most interested in.

Oakland +9.5 at Buffalo

I like just about everything about these Bills except the coaching. Dick Jauron just doesn’t seem to have the balls to make the tough choice when necessary. Instead he calls the game by the book. Jauron would never have gone for 2 the way the Rat did against the Chargers. This will cost the Bills when they reach a big game. This week however the Bills seem to be a little better than the Raiders at just about all phases of the game, and should win a close one, but not by enough to cover the spread:
The Pick – Oakland with the points.

Dallas at Green Bay +3

This to me is a great match-up, Dallas’s offense looks like it could be a Juggernaut, but Green Bay will give them their stiffest test to date. The over/under is 51, which is the easy pick (over), the game itself is much tougher, which is why I will be paying attention. I think in the end Dallas’s 3-4 will be too tough of a nut for Aaron Rogers to crack.

The Pick – Dallas

Jacksonville +5 at Indianapolis

Well my preseason Super Bowl pick of Jacksonville is looking pretty bad right now. Injuries have decimated the squad, but in the Colts they face another team with huge problems. No Bob Sanders should open up the run game for Jax, and lead them to a win…I hope.

The Pick – Jacksonville

Pittsburgh +3.5 at Philadelphia

The local Yintzers are going crazy as their Steelers have opened up the season 2-0. Color me less than completely impressed. The opening day blowout of the Texans was nice, but Houston is still a year away from being able to compete with the best. If you read the site you know that I was down on Cleveland from the start, and I was more surprised by how close they managed to keep things that by Pittsburgh’s win. Philly will give them their 1st real test, and the fire zone defense will utterly confuse Pittsburgh’s line. This will be a physical low scoring game with Philly coming out on top.

The Pick – Philly

NY Jets +8.5 at San Diego

Thank god for the mute button, I don’t think I would be able to watch the Monday night crew verbally fellate Favre without it. San Diego will come together this week and stomp the Jets, not much more needs to be said.

The Pick – San Diego

Thats it, I'm having connection problems now, so just watch the interior line play of the LSU vs. Auburn match-up. Pro tallent on both sides when LSU has the ball.