Week 15 NFL and Aspetta! to Mets Fans

Well, Week 14 worked very nicely, thank you. The weekly record was 10-5, making the cumulative a nice comfy 82-63-1. Oh, and did I mention going 4 for 4 on best bets, thus pocketing another ten big ones?

The first best bet was the Eagles to cover vs. the Giants. I said there was no way the G-Men should be favored and unfortunately for the Giants, Coughlin and especially Sheridan, I was only too right.

Miami beat the Jags who were favored in Jacksonville, and my thought was that there might be more Miami fans in the stands than one might think at any other stadium, and that the Fish would prevail, or swim faster or sumthin’. That worked out too.

I felt really strongly about the Skins running ALL over the Raiduhs and lo and behold, Quinton Ganther went nuts and the Silver and Black turned black and blue, 34-13.

Another line I thought was all messed up was the Boyz being favored over the Chargers. Even a 3-point spread was ridiculous. The Chargers proved me right by holding on for a 20-17 outright win.

On top of all that, my fantasy team, dem Crabs, won in the first round of the playoffs, romping behind Brees and Colston, Grant and Ganther, a late pickup.

So life is good, and there are some real nice matchups scheduled for Week 15. I’ve continued my practice of ignoring Thursday games so I’ll just say that the Jags defense really isn’t so super. The Colts couldn’t be stopped or even slowed down very much.

Week 15 resumes Saturday night, of course, with the big Cowboys-Saints matchup in N’Awlins and the Saints are favored by 7, a pretty big spread for a Boyz team backed up against the wall. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Here’s the picks for all the games, with spreads again from The Star-Ledger

Favorite Spread Underdog 4 Best My Pick Reason

SAINTS 7 Cowboys * Cowboys Boyz need the win
JETS 4 Falcons Falcons Falcons too good to end so badly
PITT 1 Pack Pack You are what your record sez, no?
TITANS 3 Mia TITANS Very strong run D and home cookin’..
Pats 7 ½ BILLS Pats Pats away not so hot but still….
Cards 12 LIONS Cards Schizo Cards come back big
EAGLES 8 ½ Niners Niners A real defense shows up
RAVENS 11 Bears Bears 11’s too much if Bears show up
CHIEFS 2 Browns CHIEFS Browns improving but road wins hard
Texans 10 RAMS * Texans Still a lot to prove for Texans
SD 7 Bengals SD Hard to weigh Henry loss
DEN 14 Raiders * DEN New QB in hostile digs
SEA 8 Bucs * SEA Hawks tough at home
Vikes 9 CAR Vikes What’s to recommend Car?
Giants 3 SKINS SKINS Giants just run around stupid


The best bets for Week 15:

Cowboys – It’s been almost painful seeing the Cowboys get roughed up. They may play better away from home and Saints defense can be had. Brees and Colston, Meachem, Shockey, all these weapons may have to score a LOT. Boyz may be able to control the ball for long stretches.

Texans – Texans HOT and Rams are NOT. Texans may be finally growing up and won’t have to do too much to pull away from a struggling Rams squad.

Broncos – Gigantic spread but the Raiders go with a veteran QB they pulled off the street. Seems like a punishment for Russell. Can’t imagine a team responding to that kind of thing. Broncs happy and they do have a running back or two to pound the ball.

Seahawks –All that noise in Seattle should rattle the young Bucs and 8 points doesn’t seem to even things up that much. This could be another blowout.

I’d just like to bid a fond farewell to Johnny Damon. It looks as if his Yanks career is over. He’ll wind up somewhere else at more years and money and wish he and his agent weren’t so greedy. Damon was as responsible as anyone for the Yanks resurgence to the top and they really don’t have anyone as clutch as he was, unless it was Matsui who’ll be hanging his hat in La-la Land.

Matsui will probably wind up being another great pickup for the Angels, much as was their one-year Bobby Abreu deal of last year. But his knees are very shaky and the Mets couldn’t realistically look to him for any long-term solutions.

I wish folks could show a little more patience with the Mets. I applaud their move back towards Holliday. Bay is over-rated and Mets shouldn’t tie up their long-term future with anyone, never mind a Jason Bay.

As for pitching, we’ll see how their Igarashi signing works out. He should be an adequate setup man for K-Rod. The Mets could see a resurgence from any one of their young arms, especially given the return of Reyes and Beltran to the lineup.

Free agency isn’t the only route towards acquiring a hitter and it seems to me that a trade may make more sense in the long run. I think they could offer any of several of their young pitchers as bait for a guy with power. They just aren’t all that rare.

So….as my Dad would often say….aspetta!