Quick question: What’s better than skipping church, sitting on the couch in a dark room watching the Red Zone channel for 12 hours avoiding all real world responsibilities, and gambling on grown men who probably have CTE? Doing it for the 6th straight week. Welcome to NFL Sunday.
Odell Beckham wins another sideline battle with inanimate objects
Last week Lil Wayne emerged from whatever cave he’s been hiding in since 2011 and dropped Tha Carter V. Why is this noteworthy at all? Because for some reason in all his album promotion he decided to do an interview on ESPN alongside Odell Beckham. That was mistake number one for OBJ, anytime Lil Wayne wants to sit in on your interview, just say no. OBJ and Lil Wayne mumbled through the interview like their trying to drop a mixtape on soundcloud, and through all the mumbling they gave an interesting answer to a question about Giants QB Eli Manning. The aftermath this week from OBJ’s comments on Eli have been heard throughout the NFL world. Giants coach, and future scapegoat, Pat Shurmer was reportedly pissed about Odell’s interview and comments on his QB. The media spent the whole week discussing how Odell’s comments will effect the Giants going forward, Odell’s behavior, and is Odell hurting the Giants. What could Odell have said about his teammate to get everyone so fired up and start questioning Odell’s motives? OBJ said Eli is not going to move around in the pocket much, and not going to throw the ball deep and take the top off a defense. That’s it.
OBJ didn’t say Eli is washed up (he is). He didn’t say the offensive line is garbage and can’t give Eli time to throw (they are). He didn’t say Eli will never be as good as Peyton and should have retired 2 years ago (again all true). Odell said an honest statement and it wasn’t even that honest. Some years ago everyone involved in the NFL had a meeting and decided that the Manning family is a sacred cow and absolutely no one will be allowed to disgrace them. Even if the little brother of the Manning family has been keeping one of the marquee franchises in the league in first gear for the last 2 years, don’t anyone dare say he isn’t one of the top QBs in the league. Let the Giants have another 3-13 season but no one say a bad word about Eli.
Thursday night was more of the same for the Giants and Eli. Sitting at 1-4 and playing at home with their backs against the wall this was exactly the type of situation where you expect a team to come out fighting for their season. Instead the Giants failed to move the ball on offense through the air because Eli Manning is basically as useful as a mannequin at this point. The only time the Giants were able to move the ball was with rookie RB Saquon Barkley. As good as Barkley was he would have looked a lot better if he had a QB who could pretend to throw the ball farther than 10 yards so defense couldn’t stack the box against him. Saquon may go on to be one of the best RBs in the league but drafting him #2 overall is a spot where most people assumed the Giants would take a QB, you know, cause Eli sucks for all the reasons listed above. I don’t blame the Giants for passing on a QB to take Saquon but they are getting what they deserve. Eli throwing 15 check down passes a game to Barkley and putting up 13 points a game in a must win game. OBJ didn’t handle losing well either. Mid way through the third quarter he got in another fight with an inanimate object, sticking his facemask into a fan on the sideline and yelling at it. Is Odell really upset with another random object on the Giants sideline? No he might as well be yelling at that inanimate object to pass him the ball downfield cause we know Eli isn’t able to.
Week 6 NFL Picks
All Lines used from Las Vegas Westgate Supercontest
Colts +2.5
Steelers +2.5
Titans +3
Colts +2.5
Indy is coming off an impressive 14 point loss to the Patriots. Any time you go into New England and only lose by 2 TDs it sort of is a moral victory. Either way the Colts played last Thursday so they are getting a nice 10 days rest before going back east to New Jersey to take on the little brother of New York football teams the Jets. (Seriously how ironic is it that the “Eli Manning little brother” of New York football is the team that the real Eli Manning doesn’t play for.) The Jets are playing their second straight home game after destroying the Broncos last week 34-16. Take away last week and the Jets have been terrible all season. Last Sunday they had the benefit of facing the Broncos on a long trip in a tough spot. This week is the opposite where the Colts have the benefit of the extra rest. The Jets will come back to earth this week and play like they have most of the season.
Steelers +2.5
The Bengals have been a surprise team this season starting 4-1. Last week they beat the Dolphins at home 27-17 thanks to two 4th quarter pick sixes from Miami. (Side note: I picked the Dolphins +6 and they were ahead 17-0 and somehow didn’t cover. Ryan Tannehill is forever dead to me after those pick sixes). The Steelers have had a rough season so far but last Sunday found the cure for their problems, playing the Falcons garbage defense. Big Ben has been great in his home state of Ohio and has owned the Bengals and Browns during his career. Sure the Bengals have surprised teams this season, but this is week everything goes back to normal. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Water is wet, fire is hot, and the Steelers beat up on the Browns and Bengals. Its just the way things are.
Titans +3
how? HOW?!?!?!? How is it possible the Titans are home underdogs again?! Who is setting these lines? Sure the Titans lost to the worst team in the league last week the Bills but they dropped a TD in the endzone and it was on the road. The Titans are still a good team especially on defense. They also happen to be playing the Ravens who are playing their third straight road game. Both these teams have great defenses with average offense who want to run the ball. Both teams want to kick long field goals and hold the opponents to long field goal attempts. They are almost copies of each other with similar results throughout the season. So again how is the home team a +3 point underdog instead of a -3 point favorite. This line is completely off and I will take the Titans as a home dog any week. In case you’re still worried the Titans have been money as a home dog and haven’t lost a home game to an AFC team since 2016. How is this line the way it is? I still don’t have a good answer but I don’t care I’m taking advantage.
Double COVERage 