Eye on the Enemy: Week 6

So I had this little gig I had to DJ tonight, and Tuesday this week I realize my DJ software is out of date.  Oh, no big deal, I'll just upgrade it really fast and then get started on prep work.

Oops.

Two Windows installations later, one hard drive clone, at least 20 attempts to install the software upgrade, and probably a few hundred less hairs (which I can't really afford) and I did finally get it working (barely) in time to get prepped.  But it was a really fun week, let me tell you.

So last week I predicted the Ravens would handle the Broncos fairly easily, and they did.  And Ray Rice was finally worth starting in fantasy as well, which was nice for me.  I also predicted that the Browns would pull out the upset.  Well, they had a pretty good chance, until a ridiculously athletic play by that annoying DE slammed the door shut.  Seriously, the Falcons this year are basically last year's Colts.  They're winning lots of close games without actually playing that well overall (with some exceptions of course) or beating the tar out of anybody.  But they sure are a bunch of lucky bastards right now.  And unless something changes, we'll probably go face them next week and probably play them close and lose to some unlucky bounce of the ball late in the 4th again.  And that is really going to stink having to watch.  Hopefully I'm wrong about this.  Maybe the Eagles can show us a game plan that can win the game for us or something.  Guess we'll find out.  At any rate, going 1-1 in the week leaves me at 4-3 on the year.

This week two of our rivals play each other, so once again there are only two division games to preview.

Last week I had high hopes for the Browns.  This week I'm not going to bother wasting my breath.  The question isn't who'll win this game.  The question is just how ugly this game will get.  Colt McCoy may be a decent QB someday (maybe), but right now he's a rookie who looked so bad in training camp there were rumors he'd get cut.  If he stands even a snowball's chance in hell tomorrow, it will be a outright miracle.

Sure Ben may be rusty, and the Browns defense isn't horrid this year at 20th in yards and 13th in points against.  So I'm not expecting a 60 point blowout.  And Cribbs might manage to break a big one or two and help them score a few extra points.  But frankly it will be extremely impressive if Colt simply manages to keep them within 20 or so.  Sure I wouldn't mind being wrong at all, but I'm not wasting even a drop of hope on it.  Let's go with Steelers 38, Browns 14.

Baltimore Ravens @ New England Patriots

What's to like about these two teams?  One embarrassed us in week one, the other is in first place in the division despite the fact we beat them.  Pity both teams can't lose somehow.  Right now the weakest part of the Ravens appears to be their rush defense.  Which is flat out shocking, but their corners have stepped up big time and reality is what it is, not what you wanted or expected it to be.  And unfortunately the Patriots are decidedly average in this department.  And worse yet if you're rooting against the Ravens (and what Bengals fan isn't?), the Patriots passing game isn't all that great either.  And their defense has been decidedly sub-par against, well, basically everybody but us.

So despite the fact that the Patriots are favored (slightly), I'll believe it when I see it.  And while I'd love for them to win (especially to make our loss a bit less painful, as sexsalad pointed out recently), I don't see it.  This is a game I'd love to be wrong on, but until I see some defense from the Patriots I can't expect them to win.  I'm going Ravens 28, Patriots 24.