Matt Ederer: 1-0 this week, 7-10 overall, 5-11-1 v spread lol
Dolphins fan, rough start last week, but sometimes you come out too hot. We make adjustments and regroup. That’s what winning organizations do.
*Promptly goes 0-16*
*starts CFL picks column*
*CFL promptly folds*
Fleet: 1-0 this week, – 11 – 6 – 0 overall. Wait what week is it again?
Sunday September 19, 2020 – 1:00pm
Jacksonville (1-0) @ Tennessee (1-0)
Line: TEN (-7.5)
Matt: In week 12 of 2019, Derrick Henry went off for 159 yards and two TDs against a Jacksonville defense that was much better than this one. Jacksonville appears to be much friskier than anybody thought they would be this season, but I don’t trust them yet.
Matt’s Pick: Tennessee to win and cover -7.5
Fleet: Gardner Minshew III gets taken to football class by Mike Vrabel and co.
Fleet’s Pick: Tennessee
Carolina (0-1) @ Tampa Bay (0-1)
Line: TB (-9)
Fleet: I really hope Tampa Bay goes 4-12. Hence, this pick. Jameis Winston catches a lot of flack for his awful season last year. But Bruce Arians was his coach. I have always felt some bad QB play can’t entirely fall on the quarterback. While it’s not like Bruce was out there tossing pick sixes, he did scheme up 626 passes last year for Winston.
Fleet’s Pick: Carolina
Matt: Tom Brady is done. Washed up. He was done last year. We’ve been saying it in this space (ugh) for a year now, and we will continue to say it until Bruce Aryans inevitably big-leagues Tom Brady and benches him in week 6.
Matt’s Pick: Carolina to win, Carolina +9
Denver (0-1) @ Pittsburgh (1-0)
Line: PIT (-8.5)
Matt: Drew Lock’s Career stats, extrapolated over a 16 game season:
3296 yards, 21 TDs, 8 Ints, 56 Rush attempts, 205 rush yards.
That’s not bad, but it’s hardly Pat Mahomes (not that every QB needs to be or can be that level). Drew Lock is a solid young QB who is improving, but I don’t think he’s going to be enough on beat this Pittsburgh team. Don’t love the 8.5 spread either way but I think Denver will keep this relatively close. Pittsburgh by a touchdown.
Matt’s Pick: Pittsburgh to win, Denver +8.5
Fleet: Benny Snell Jr!
Fleet’s Pick: Pittsburgh
L.A. Rams (1-0) @ Philadelphia (0-1)
Line: LAR (-2)
Fleet: Poor Carson Wentz :’(
I do foresee 50+ carries for Miles Sanders and crew after last week, Rams eventually win.
Fleet’s Pick: LA Rams
Matt:
Matt’s Pick: LA Rams to win and cover -2
San Francisco (1-0) @ N.Y. Jets (0-1)
Line: SF (-8.5)
Matt:
Matt’s Pick: San Francisco to win and cover -8.5
Fleet: I won’t take this time to rip Adam Gase and his Jets team. I will instead be taking this time to remember the always lovable Hamtaro.
Fleet’s Pick: San Francisco
Buffalo (1-0) @ Miami (0-1)
Line: BUF (-7)
Fleet: Ex-Browns Coaching Tree Battle of the Week! Or: six degrees of Browns-eperation
The Miami Dolphins are represented by ex-Browns offensive line coach (2007-2008) Steve Marshall, who currently holds the same position with the mammals of the sea.
He will be going up against Brian Daboll of the Bills. Currently the Bills offensive coordinator, Daboll also held the same position with the Browns (2009 – 2010)
Miami did not stand a chance this week. Not only did Daboll hold a higher position while with the Browns (coordinator > o-line coach). He also has an ex-Brown partner in crime on the Bills in Ken Dorsey! Dorsey is currently the Bills quarterback coach, and was once a Browns QB — which is probably the highest honour this league has to offer. During his stint with the Browns the always electric Dorsey went 0 – 3 – 0 with a 0:7 TD:INT ratio and 26.4 qbr rating. Allowing the two overwhelming advantage over Marshall as 2 > 1.
Fleet’s Pick: Buffalo
Matt:
🙁
Matt’s Pick: Buffalo to win and cover -7
Minnesota (0-1) @ Indianapolis (0-1)
Line: IND (-3)
Matt: The problem with small sample sizes is that you can find stats to back up pretty much any insane opinion you might have. Example: last week, the Colts averaged the 2nd most yards per drive (that’s good! Colts are good!), but then Phil Rivers threw two picks, and had a sub-90 passer rating (wait, is Phil Rivers terrible now??).
I just think Minnesota is the outright better team, and Kirk Cousins is a significantly better QB than Rivers at this stage of the game. Minnesota’s defense is much better, and if it becomes a shoot-out, I’ll take 2020 Cousins over 2020 Rivers 100 times out of 100.
Matt’s Pick: Minnesota to win, MIN +3
Fleet: Going with the Vikings here. Kirk will run only play action this week, and it will go well.
Fleet’s Pick: Minnesota
Detroit (0-1) @ Green Bay (1-0)
Line: GB (-7.5)
Fleet:
Fleet’s Pick: Green Bay
Matt: It looks like I was wrong about Aaron Rodgers this year, and his “fuck you coach” energy has turned outward and is being expressed on the field. Detroit’s defense is much better on paper this year than it was last year, but then again, they did just make Mitch Trubisky look competent.
Matt’s Pick: Green Bay to win, Detroit +7.5
Atlanta (0-1) @ Dallas (0-1)
Line: DAL (-5)
Matt: This should be an entertaining game. Neither team wants to fall to 0-2. Julio has a chance to absolutely feast on this porous Dallas secondary, but I mean Julio has 157 yards through one week, and the Falcons are 0-1 now. Julio going off has never stopped the Falcons from losing before.
Dallas is going to win this game, the only question is how close it will be. The cop-out artist in me wants to pick ATL +5 and hedge my bet, but I do think Dallas wins by a touchdown + in the end.
Matt’s Pick: Dallas to win, DAL -5
Fleet: Dallas fans will panic as the Cowboys drop to 0-2. The dust will settle and one face will peek through thine dust, a face that says “I’m unwaveringly terrible at my job.”
Fleet’s Pick: Atlanta
N.Y. Giants (0-1) @ Chicago (1-0)
Line: CHI (-5.5)
Fleet: Barkley will have to get creative, as most teams are going to force good ol’ quirky Daniel Jones to beat them.
Fleet’s Pick: Chicago
Matt: There are very few teams I would say Chicago has a coaching advantage over, but Chicago has the clear coaching advantage over these New York Giants. That’s not praise for Matt Nagy as much as it is an open insult to Joe Judge and the Jason Garrett offense. Joe Judge looks like he’s headed to Cleveland in a year or two, fulfilling his destiny as Joe Judge: Brown.
A terrible joke for a terrible game. The Giants may keep it close and maybe even win the game, but that’s going to require strong coaching down the stretch, and I have a sneaking suspicion that their coaching staff is a flaming garbage barge.
Matt’s Pick: Chicago to win and cover -5.5
4:00pm
Washington (1-0) @ Arizona (1-0)
Line: ARI (-7)
Matt: Washington looked plenty scrappy vs the depleted Eagles last week, but as good as Washington’s D looked, Arizona took care of buisness vs. a much better San Francisco defense last week. Washington could keep it close for a while, and Chase Young might hit Kyler more than once, but Arizona will pull away down the stretch. Let’s call it 35-21, and even that may be very generous to Dwayne Haskins n’crew.
Incidentally, I’m expecting a huge game for Antonio Gibson and will be starting him in fantasy, which no doubt means James Connor will go off on my bench instead.
Matt’s Pick: Arizona to win, ARI -7
Fleet: Kyler to Hopkins wins this game.
Fleet’s Pick: Arizona
4:15pm
Kansas City (1-0) @ L.A. Chargers (1-0)
Line: KC (9.5)
Fleet: Oh yeah these teams are in the same division. See my write up on why I believe the Chargers are bad. Also conclusion: Kansas City is good.
Fleet’s Pick: Kansas City
Matt: It’s the defending Super Bowl champions vs Anthony Lynn and Tyrod Taylor.
Matt’s Pick: Kansas City to win and cover -9.5
Baltimore (1-0) @ Houston (0-1)
Line: BAL (-8)
Matt: It’s only week 2 and we’re already running out of ways to say Bill O’Brien is terrible.
Matt’s Pick: Baltimore to win and cover -8
Fleet: Baltimore looks great. They definitely handled a worse team not to be named in week 1. It should continue.
Sadly we have decided to discontinue the 2nd best tradition in Sportsfap NFL picks history, the Bill O’Brien chin pic. 🙁
Fleet’s Pick: Baltimore
8:15pm
New England (1-0) @ Seattle (1-0)
Line: SEA (-4.5)
Fleet: We get to see if the Cam Newton Patriots are for real this week.
Fleet’s Pick: Seattle
Matt: Vegas is daring us to take New England here, with the Pats moneyline currently sitting at +170, and Seattle’s at -205. Not that Vegas is always 100% accurate, but I think that’s a pretty big clue as to how this game ends up. I see something similar to the 21-11 the Pats laid on Miami last week. Growing pains for Cam and a New England Patriots team that is much better than I expected them to be this season.
Matt’s Pick: Seattle to win and cover -4.5
