Here are my locks (locks, ha!) for Week 11 in the NFL:

Chargers (6-3) at Broncos (6-3), 4:15PM ET
Denver quarterback Kyle Orton is questionable this week with an ankle injury, which means Chris Simms could make his first start of the season. Simms looked Brady Quinn-like bad in a loss to the Redskins last week and I wouldn’t expect much out of him if I were a Broncos fan. If Simms starts, I fully expect the Chargers to load up to stop Knowshon Moreno and force the former Bucs’ QB to beat them through the air. It’s not going to happen and even if Orton does start, how effective can he be on a bum ankle? About as effective as he was last year for the Bears on a bum ankle? The Chargers are hot, have revenge on their minds and are eyeing sole possession of first place in the AFC West. Plus, Philip Rivers is playing just as well as Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Kurt Warner. I’m taking the Chargers to win outright and to cover.
Odds: Chargers –2.5.
Prediction: Chargers 31, Broncos 16.

Redskins (3-6) at Cowboys (6-3), 1:00PM ET
Now that the Cowboys have once again established that they’re still the same inconsistent team under Wade Phillips as they’ve always been, I’m wondering if the Redskins can pull off a huge upset this week in Dallas. Then again, without the brutal play of Chris Simms’ aiding them in victory, I can’t see Washington winning this weekend. In fact, I see this game being a blow out since the Redskins will once again be without running back Clinton Portis and Albert Haynesworth is doubtful to play as well. The Redskins have shown the ability to stop the pass, but if the Cowboys can control this game with Marion Barber and Felix Jones then Washington doesn’t stand a chance. Dallas’ offense should rebound from its horrid performance last week as long as the ground attack can help set things up for Tony Romo and the passing game. Washington just doesn’t have the players to compete with Dallas for four quarters and given how bad the Redskins’ O-line has played this season, they’re going to have trouble stopping the Cowboys’ solid pass rush.
Odds: Cowboys –11
Prediction: Cowboys 34, Redskins 13.

Falcons (5-4) at Giants (5-4), 1:00PM ET
I would love to predict a victory for my Falcons this Sunday in East Rutherford, but I just don’t see it happening. Michael Turner is out with a high ankle sprain, Matt Ryan is in the midst of a complete funk and the defense can’t stop the run. Throw in the fact that the Giants are at home and should be well rested coming off the bye and I see trouble for Atlanta. Ryan and backups Jason Snelling and Jerious Norwood are certainly capable of leading the Falcons to victory this weekend and the road team has won the past seven games in this series. But “Matty Ice” just hasn’t looked like the same player as he did earlier in the year and if he can’t cut down on the turnovers than the Giants will prevail. Since both of these teams are desperate for a win, I envision a tight game throughout. But all the intangibles are in the G-Men’s favor and I see them ending their four-game skid.
Odds: Giants –6.5.
Prediction: Giants 20, Falcons 16.

Eagles (5-4) at Bears (4-5), 8:20PM ET
Looking at both of these teams’ records, one might suggest that they’re both on the same level as one another. But nothing could be further from the truth. Outside of Lance Briggs and the struggling Jay Cutler, the Bears simply don’t have the talent to match up with the other contenders in the NFC Wild Card race – including the Eagles. Matt Forte is a good, young running back but he’s useless thanks to an inept offensive line filled with veterans whose better days are behind them (Orlando Pace, Olin Kreutz), fringe starters (Frank Omiyale, Josh Beekman, Kevin Shaffer) and one underachieving youngster (Chris Williams). The Eagles may be struggling at the moment, but they’ve got better overall talent than the Bears and I think they’ll prove that this Sunday night at Solider Field. Cutler has been brutal in night games (not that necessarily means anything) and continues to think that he has to do everything on his own (which means a lot). If Chicago can’t run the ball (they haven’t all year) then Philadelphia should soundly beat them on their own turf.
Odds: Eagles –2.5.
Prediction: Eagles 20, Bears 10.

Photo from fOTOGLIF
]]> http://www.scoresreport.com/2009/11/20/2009-nfl-week-11-picks-predictions/feed/ 2 http://www.scoresreport.com/2009/11/19/is-orton-about-to-make-the-same-mistake-twice/ http://www.scoresreport.com/2009/11/19/is-orton-about-to-make-the-same-mistake-twice/#comments Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:05:01 +0000 Anthony Stalter http://www.scoresreport.com/?p=29350

According to ESPN.com, Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton has torn ligaments in his left ankle, but wants to start Sunday when Denver hosts the Chargers in a battle for first place in the AFC West.

When Orton was still a member of the Bears last year, he played on a right ankle injury and wound up doing more harm than good. The ankle didn’t allow him to plant correctly on his back foot and that hindered his throws, which led to turnovers and accuracy issues.

Now it appears that Orton is ready to repeat history, but it looks like he will play on Sunday. That might sound like good news to Bronco fans given how inept Chris Simms was replacing Orton last Sunday in Washington. But if Kyle has similar issues to the ones he had last year than Denver won’t be any better off with him under center instead of Simms.

Granted, the injury this time is on his left foot, which is not his plant foot. He’ll still be able to plant and throw and therefore might have fewer issues than he did last year when he battled the right ankle injury. Still, it’s a situation to keep an eye on because if he isn’t healthy, it could potential sink the Broncos’ once promising season.

Photo from fOTOGLIF
]]> http://www.scoresreport.com/2009/11/19/is-orton-about-to-make-the-same-mistake-twice/feed/ 0 http://www.scoresreport.com/2009/10/25/nfl-coach-of-the-year-power-rankings-through-week-6/ http://www.scoresreport.com/2009/10/25/nfl-coach-of-the-year-power-rankings-through-week-6/#comments Sun, 25 Oct 2009 12:30:33 +0000 Mike Farley http://www.scoresreport.com/?p=27346

Okay, so we can finally separate Josh McDaniels and Marvin Lewis after the former beat San Diego to reach 6-0 and the latter lost a tough home game to Houston. Here is our current power rankings for NFL Coach of the Year:

1. Josh McDaniels, Denver Broncos—Seriously, 6-0? The schedule keeps getting tougher, but it doesn’t seem to faze this team or their confident coach. Dude is a mini-Belichick, the first “offspring” to be worthy of that title.

2. Sean Payton, New Orleans Saints—After beating the Giants to reach 5-0, we can start talking about the very real likelihood of the Saints reaching the Super Bowl for the first time, and this guy is a big reason why. It’s still amazing that he managed to pay his defensive coordinator a quarter mil of his own cash to lure him, but it seems to have been worth it.

3. Jim Caldwell, Indianapolis Colts—Just like his QB, you can’t fault Caldwell for the bye week.

4. Brad Childress, Minnesota Vikings—Now 6-0, there should be no question that Childress did himself and the city of Minnesota a huge favor bringing back #4. He sure wasn’t going to be 6-0 with Tarvaris Jackson, was he?

5. Mike Smith, Atlanta Falcons—A tough win against the Bears, and this team is not fading any time soon. Really, the Falcons and Saints are two of the best teams in the NFC and it should be interesting when they meet.

Honorable mention: Tom Coughlin, Giants; Bill Belichick, Patriots; Marvin Lewis, Bengals

1. Royal is making his presence felt in other facets of the game
After hauling in 91 receptions for 980 yards and five touchdowns as a rookie last year, Eddie Royal has largely been a bust in his second year. But he proved Monday night that he could contribute in other areas, especially on special teams. He returned a 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the first quarter and a 71-yard punt return in the second quarter. As Denver’s offense sputtered in the first half, Royal provided a major spark.

2. The Broncos’ offensive line has been fantastic
Kyle Orton has turned out to be a great fit for Josh McDaniels’ offense, but he owes a lot of his success to his O-line. They’ve protected him like Fort Knox all season and did so again Monday night. Orton had all day to throw and was accurate when his receivers broke free from defenders. The Broncos’ front five continues to be one of the better units in the league.

3. The Chargers’ defense is a mess
One would have thought Ron Rivera would have fixed some of San Diego’s defensive issues during the team’s bye week. But the same problems that the Bolts had heading into the bye were evident again tonight: They couldn’t generate any pressure, they didn’t tackle well and they couldn’t come up with the big stop when they needed it. The Broncos did whatever they wanted offensively in the second half.

4. Turner needs to get Sproles a more active role in the offense
A player as explosive as Darren Sproles should never touch the ball less than 15-20 times a game. Yet tonight, Sproles had one carry for zero yards and one reception for four yards. That’s absolutely unacceptable and while Sproles can make his presence felt on special teams (which he did on a 77 yard punt return for a touchdown right before half time), Norv Turner needs to figure out ways to get him more involved. The Chargers have enough weapons to score 30-plus points a game. But if Turner isn’t going to use all of them, then San Diego’s offense will never reach its full potential.

5. Dumervil is a beast
Elvis Dumervil has emerged as one of the better young defenders in the game. He was almost a one-man wrecking crew in the second half tonight and finished with five tackles, two sacks, a forced fumbles and one tackle for loss. He’s already compiled eight sacks on the season.

6. Scheffler abused San Diego’s safeties
The Chargers’ safeties had no answer for Denver tight end Tony Scheffler tonight. He made an incredible touchdown catch over Eric Weddle in the second half and also had a 52-yard catch and run to set up a Brandon Stokley score in the fourth quarter. He could continue to see more opportunities in the Broncos’ offense as teams concentrate on doubling Brandon Marshall on the outside.

Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman is upset after general manager A.J. Smith described San Diego’s play this year has been “soft” at times.

From ESPN.com:

On Wednesday, Smith was quoted in The San Diego Union-Tribune as saying, “Everything is wrong with it right now. I’m not the least bit happy in a lot of areas. I’ve seen us be tough and physical to soft and bewildered.”

Merriman at first declined to comment, which would have been a first in his five-year career.

“I don’t know too much of that. That’s an opinion of a person, and it’s not needed,” Merriman said. “We know that we have to play better. We met for an extra hour and a half as a defense as a whole to discuss what we need to do and things we need to do to get better. And we’re going to make adjustments in this locker room as far as players and our attitudes and getting after people a little more. But all that extra [stuff] is not needed at all.”

Merriman said it would be easier to absorb such talk if it came from a teammate.

“The only opinions that matter to me are the ones in this locker room. Anything else, it doesn’t matter,” he said.

Merriman’s comments in reaction to what Smith said weren’t that bad. In some respects he’s right – comments from a GM regarding the play of a team aren’t needed.

That said, this Chargers have played soft. They allowed the Steelers to do whatever they wanted last Sunday night and even when Jacob Hester gave them new life with his touchdown fumble recovery, San Diego’s defense sat back as Pittsburgh strolled back down the field and put seven more points on the board. When they absolutely needed a stop, they couldn’t get one.

So no, Smith’s comments aren’t needed. Nor are they untrue.

Midway through the third quarter of the Steelers-Chargers game on Sunday night, I started pounding away at a post dedicated to how Pittsburgh silenced its critics with a dominating victory over San Diego.

Seriously, I was finished outside of adding the final score and some stats. And it was good too. It was about how the Steelers got back to their grass roots while running the ball down the Chargers’ throats, controlling the time of possession and finally playing four quarters. At the time, Pittsburgh was up 28-0 and the game was essentially over as San Diego was on life support.

Then Jacob Hester made an incredible play early in the fourth when he stripped Stefan Logan on a punt return and raced 41 yards into the end zone to cut Pittsburgh’s lead to 28-14.

No problem I thought, a couple extra sentences ought to cover me as the Steelers answered Hester’s touchdown with one of their own to make it 35-14.

Then the journalism gods decided to punish me for writing a recap when the freaking game wasn’t even finished, because the Chargers got within one touchdown of the Steelers late in the fourth before Pittsburgh iced the game with a 46-yard Jeff Reed field goal to give the Steelers a 38-28 victory.

Annnnnnnnnddddd delete.

In reality, not much changed from the time the Steelers were up 28-0 to the time they walked away with a 38-28 win. They still dominated a hapless San Diego run defense by racking up 177 yards on the ground (Rashard Mendenhall finally strapped on the big boy pants and rushed for 165 yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries) and kept the ball for 40 minutes and 20 seconds, compared to the Chargers’ 19 minutes and 40 seconds.

Pittsburgh dominated this game, but it can’t sit well with Mike Tomlin that his team nearly had another fourth quarter collapse. The Steelers can’t figure out a way to put their opponents away and I don’t know if that’s coaching or if the players are at fault for letting up. Either way, it’s a troubling sign so far for a defending Super Bowl champion that has split its first four games of the season and has looked rather mediocre.

Nevertheless, the Steelers earned their second victory of the year and did so by running the ball. Granted, Ben Roethlisberger looked great and the pass protection was outstanding, but this is a team that needs to run the football when the weather starts to turn and Pittsburgh did so tonight.

As for the Chargers, I applaud them for making it close in the end, but Norv Turner’s bunch didn’t show up until seven minutes left in the third when Hester gave them a spark. They were completely dominated in most phases of the game and all of a sudden they have zero running game. For a team that was supposed to walk away with the AFC West, San Diego barely looks like a .500 team right now.

The USA Today is reporting that LaDainian Tomlinson is officially listed as out for the Chargers’ home game this Sunday against the Ravens. But the good news for San Diego fans is that the NFL decided to lift its blackout for the game.

The team expects the effects of an ankle injury suffered in Monday’s win against Oakland to be too much for Tomlinson to overcome.

Darren Sproles and Michael Bennett will likely split carries for the Chargers in Tomlinson’s place when the Ravens arrive in San Diego for Sunday’s game.

The NFL also lifted the blackout for Sunday’s game in San Diego after the Chargers satisfied their ticket-selling requirements.

The Chargers had received a 24-hour extension to continue selling after Thursday’s deadline for games to sell out.

Darren Sproles will get the start against the Ravens, although Michael Bennett will also see some carries.

Glad to see the NFL lifted the blackout. It’s a ridiculous notion to make people pay hundreds of dollars to go to a game and then blackout a television broadcast if fans don’t fill the stadium. It makes me sick for fans in Jacksonville that all eight of the Jaguars home games won’t be shown on TV this season. People in this country work too damn hard not to be able to watch their favorite teams on Sunday.