Being sick, 'The Dark Knight', easy schedules, hard schedules, and much more...

Welcome back to Touchdowns and Kicks with Jimmy G on the Team990.com

I’d like to thank all the readers who emailed me to ask "where’s your analysis for Week 5 in the NFL?" Well, as I wrote to all of you, I’ve been sick since Monday, so my faculties were not all operational. However, courtesy of a good friend, I received a copy of ‘The Dark Knight’ which I was able to watch over and over again as I was convalescing, so all was definitely not lost.

I had seen ‘The Dark Knight’ twice in the cinemas the week that it was released and, obviously, I thought it was fantastic (or else I wouldn’t have paid twice) Seeing it again a few months later has not diminished my opinion one iota. ‘The Dark Knight’ is as perfect a movie as can be produced: great cast, dialogue, production values, story, etc...You name it, ‘The Dark Knight’ has got it, in spades.

I will, health permitting, be posting a super blog this Thursday, answering more questions, many of which are queries about NFL rules and regulations.  I was surprised at how few people actually were aware of how both the game and play clock work, how the sidelines affect the game, and which penalties stop the clock.  

jimmy.garoufalis@team990.com is the email address for everything you need to know about the NFL.

It’s Football time

Last week I was 7-6 once again. Barely above .500. For some reason I did not include the Vikings Saints matchup, just like I forgot the Broncos Saints game two weeks prior. No excuses, just an oversight. Thanks to the readers who noticed.

My overall record for 2008 is 43-29, for a winning percentage of 59.72%. In the prognostication business, anything below 61% is frowned upon.  Heck,  65% is where everybody wants to be.

On to Week 6 and my observations slash predictions.

Vikings over Lions:

Incredibly Big game for the Vikings. A win over Detroit sets them up for an even bigger game in Chicago next week, a contest that could deliver first place to either team. Hopefully the Vikes don’t look past the Lions because these divisional games, even against a weak sister like Detroit, are hardly gimmes.

Eagles over 49ers:

Both teams are 2-3 and in need of a win, but the Eagles are in the more desperate spot. Picture this scenario, and believe me, Eagles fans who live near me have nightmares about it.

(A)the Eagles lose to the 49ers

(b)Cowboys beat the Cardinals

(c)Redskins beat the Rams

(d)Giants beat the Browns

If these 4 elements occur, the NFC East standings would look like this

Giants 5-0

Cowboys 5-1

Redskins 5-1

Eagles 2-4

That’s right. Philly would be 3 games out of THIRD place in their own division WITHOUT including the tiebreaker. That would mean that the Eagles season would be pretty much done before it even got started.

But have no fear: the Eagles will win. I just wanted to put a little fear of God into Philly fans.

Redskins over Rams

The Rams will be hungry now that they have (a) a new coach roaming the sidelines and (b)Marc Bulger back at QB. Emotion and rah-rah energy is always fine to have but the fact is that the Redskins are on a four game winning streak because their offense has not turned the ball over even once and Jason Campbell is maturing into an elite QB.

For all you Redskins fans out there, this part of the schedule is pure heaven. You’re already 4-1 and your next three opponents should be, I repeat, SHOULD be, walkovers: Rams, Browns and Lions. One win among the three and that was the Browns beating an 0-5 Bengals team. Can you say 7-1?

Giants over Browns

I cannot see the defending Super Bowl Giants losing this Monday nighter. I can definitely see myself falling asleep watching this game but somehow I’ll manage to stay awake since I’ll be working with Simon Tsalikis and George Caperis on "The Ministry of Sports" which begins once Team 990's coverage of the Monday night game ends.

I may be sounding a bit too harsh. Two weeks in a row the Monday night game has gone to the wire, with the Ravens-Steelers OT thriller and last weeks Vikes-Saints affair (the one I forgot to predict) So let’s cross our fingers for a three-peat shall we?

Dolphins over Texans

You have to feel for the Texans you really do. They had the Jags at fourth and goal with under two minutes to play: all they needed was a stop and the win was in the pocket. But no, David Garrard scrambled out of the pocket for a TD and the Texans ended up losing in OT.

And last Sunday against the Colts, fuhhgetaboutit. Leading by 10 with 3;30 to play and the Colts having only one timeout, all the Texans had a third down at the Colt 39. All Houston needed was

(A)to keep the ball in bounds

(b)punt the football into the end zone the worst case scenario

(c)stop Peyton and the boys on one drive or at the very least give them a TD after a long drive

(d)recover an onside kick since the Colts wouldn’t have the option of kicking away

Seriously when you consider the timeout situation (Colts had one) the score (the Colts needed TWO possessions) the field position (already in Colt territory) would any sane person have gambled that the Texans would lose this game?

But lose the Texans did indeed, courtesy of two monumental blunders by backup QB Sage Rosenfels.

Do you know what the irony is? As I was watching the fourth quarter of the Colts-Texans game, I was also preparing a written text which would show, beyond any reasonable doubt that Rosenfels should remain the starting QB for the Texans, regardless of Matt Schaub’s health.

I guess I can put those words back in the files: hopefully I can use them at a later date.

For this game, I cannot see how the Texans can recover. They have two ways to go. (A)they can overcome the two blown fourth quarter leads and roar back into playoff contention or (b)they can slowly fall into a lull where they expect something negative to happen in every game.

Colts over Ravens

I think that the most telling sign for the Ravens season will have been their unwillingness to give Joe Flacco a chance to beat the Steelers two weeks ago.

Look back: the Ravens were 2-0 and tied at 20 with the Steelers. Ball at their own 15 with 1:40 to play, two timeouts in the bag.

Coach John Harbaugh had two choices. (A)let his young QB open fire or (b)run out the clock and take his chances in OT.

Harbaugh chose (b), lost the game, and now he’s 2-2 after last week’s excruciating loss to the Titans.

Maybe karma is biting the Ravens? If they had been willing to take a risk against the Steelers, perhaps they could have used the result, good or bad, to build the foundation of their franchise (i.e. Joe Flacco’s confidence)

Chargers over Patriots

The Chargers are in a must win situation. A loss to the Patriots drops them to 2-4 with the Bills next on the agenda. Can anyone say 2-5?

Packers over Seahawks

Speaking of teams in a must win situation, let’s look at the once 2-0 Packers shall we?

If the Packers lose to the Seahawks, they’ll be 2-4 and everyone (admit it) will be saying how the decision to jettison Brett Favre was the wrong one. Most people are saying it anyways, so another loss will just add fuel to the fire.

But worse than falling to 2-4 would be what comes next. The Colts and the Titans will be the Packers opponents. It is safe to guess that the Packers will be underdogs in both games.

The Pack simply cannot afford to lose to the Seahawks.

The Seahawks are also in a must win, but the difference is that they play in the weak NFC West, and they haven’t played the leading Cardinals yet, so they have time on their side.

Jaguars over Broncos

Even if the Jags lose this game to drop to 2-4 they can still look on the bright side.

Their next three opponents: Cleveland, Detroit and Cincinnati. The only win for these three teams is the Browns beating the Bengals.

You’d have to figure the worst the Jags will be after this stretch is 4-5: not great but in a position to make a run.

Jets over Bengals

If Brett Favre is going to make the playoffs, this will be the stretch that makes it happen.

The Jets are 2-2 and check out their next three opponents: the 0-5 Bengals, the 1-3 Raiders and the 1-4 Chiefs.

Favre should be licking his chops at what might turn out to be a 5-2 start to his 17th season.

Anything less than 4-3 and the Jets are looking at a non playoff season.

In the other games

Cowboys over Cardinals

Bears over Falcons

Saints over Raiders

Bucs over Panthers

That's it for me.  Health permitting, I'll be back Thursday.