Two weeks ago, a 19-year-old kid from Florida tried to jump over a moving car to impress college football scouts for recruiting purposes. A look at the tape shows that he failed miserably and ended up in the hospital with 89 stiches in his leg. He was trying to recreate a stunt done by Kobe Bryant last year when Kobe jumped over an Aston Martin.
As luck would have it, a viral video was released this week of Brandon Lloyd jumping over a smart car to promote the smart car. Lloyd, like Kobe, is able to jump over the car without being injured. Maybe the difference between them and the teenager is because their professional athletes and he’s not. Maybe they were able to succeed because they did standing jumps, probably had some people run the numbers on where to stand, when to jump, and how far the car should be driving. The teenager attempted to do his on the run.
Or maybe Kobe and Lloyd’s jumps were fake because their videos involved companies who could afford to create the videos with CGI. I’m not saying Lloyd couldn’t jump over the car. I’m saying I don’t think he’d be dumb enough to risk his NFL career doing it. What’s your take?
Nice work by Oscar Contreras and Dave Narkewicz for the high scores in the BroBible Pickem Challenge during Week 8. Jonah Flint put up a massive 13 out of 14 effort in Week 9 to be the best of the week. Gabe Regan leads at this point of the season with 72 games correct with Jerry Rivera one point behind him.
Locks of the Week:
BALTIMORE -7.5 over Oakland
The Ravens' offense plays much better at home than they do on the road. Joe Flacco has a 106.6 quarterback rating at home as opposed to a 62.7 mark on the road. The Raiders will be very one-dimensional without their two best running backs, so the Ravens will be able to maintain their defensive focus and win handily.
San Diego +3.5 over TAMPA BAY
For some reason the inept Norv Turner is able to get his teams to play well in November. Tampa Bay is also a little over hyped after back-to-back double-digit wins. San Diego has the fourth-best rushing defense in football, so they should be able to control the "muscle hamster" Doug Martin to a certain extent.
NEW ORLEANS +3.5 over Atlanta
Is it possible all New Orleans needed was to get Joe Vitt back in order to fix their defense? They looked rather impressive last week against the Eagles. All the Saints need is a little help from their defense because they're offense is scoring 28.75 a game in the dome. If Atlanta continues to play close games, they'll eventually lose one to a team that can execute their offense in the fourth quarter.
Trap Game of the Week:
Tennessee +6.5 over MIAMI
Like every trap game of the week, I've gone back and forth on which side to take here. Miami's the third-best defense in the league against the run, so Chris Johnson should look very pedestrian in this contest. The Titans' defense has given up a league-high 34.2 points per game this year, which should allow Miami's offense to succeed. Those two points alone should push you towards the Dolphins, but six and a half points are a lot for a team only scoring 21.3 points a game. Before the meltdown against Chicago last week, Tennessee had actually won two of their last three games with the loss coming in overtime.
Rest of the Picks:
Detroit -2.5 over MINNESOTA
These are two teams headed in different directions. Minnesota has lost three out of the last four games after early season talk of a playoff run. Detroit's won three of the last four games and their offense is finally playing at the level we expected. There's a lot of talk over what Minnesota should do at quarterback since Christian Ponder has throw up three duds in a row. He's still young, so there's progress that can be made, but that’s not happening with Percy Harvin likely out this week.
CAROLINA +3.5 over Denver
Despite the injury to Chris Gamble and middling talent at safety, the Panthers are actually 12th in the league against the pass. They've also played in many a close game this year, only getting blown out by the Giants. They're better than their record shows and there's just a little too much love for the Broncos right now.
CINCINNATI +4.5 over N.Y. Giants
Eli Manning has certainly struggled in recent weeks. He tended to go into a late season swoon earlier in his career, mostly due to cold weather and heavy winds, but that trend was bucked last year. Is he back to that or is this something that will be fixed? It likely will get some attention during the bye week, but the Giants have to win in Cincinnati this week to avoid talk of a typical second half collapse. It probably helps Eli that his brother just played the Bengals, but that won't assist a Giants' defense which has looked rather brutal this season. They're creating turnovers, but they've struggled to stop the run, get to the quarterback, and defend talented wide receivers many times this year. They're a bit too banged up with injuries to be laying more than a field goal.
NEW ENGLAND -11.5 over Buffalo
The Patriots' offense should be back at full speed with Aaron Hernandez among those who healed up during the bye week. The Bills continue to lose by double digits to the best teams they play, so I don't expect this weekend to be any different.
N.Y. Jets +6.5 over SEATTLE
Don't look now, but the Jets have a chance to make the playoffs. Ok, I'm only half-serious because they've played at such a mediocre level this year, but their schedule from here on out is surprisingly easy. This week they'll head to the toughest place to play in the league. Seattle will hope to buck the trend of team's struggling in the game before their bye week. Their defense should be able to keep the Jets' offense at bay, but Rex Ryan's defense, which has been playing reasonably well, had an extra week to create issues for Seattle's rookie quarterback, Russell Wilson. The Jets probably come up short here, but I wouldn't say Seattle is powerful enough of an offense to deserve close to a touchdown against this defense.
Dallas +2.5 over PHILADELPHIA
Both teams have quarterbacks who turn the ball over too much. Both teams have head coaches known for mismanaging game situations. Both teams have a bad offensive line, but the Cowboys’ front seven is playing better than the Eagles’ right now.
St. Louis +11.5 over SAN FRANCISCO
Both teams are coming off the bye week, so there's no advantage there. It did, however, allow St. Louis to heal their injuries and their defense is strong enough to keep San Francisco's offense in check. Again it's hard to take a team with a mediocre offense (23.6 points a game) to win by more than double digits, especially if they're playing a respectable defense.
CHICAGO -1.5 over Houston
Finally we have a great Sunday Night game on the schedule. This one could be a Super Bowl preview with as well as these two teams are playing. The winner of this game will be the team that plays mistake-free football. While I know Jay Cutler is prone to making mistakes, Matt Schaub isn't exactly mistake-free and the Bears defense leads the league in turnovers forced.
PITTSBURGH -12.5 over Kansas City
If you've watched the Chiefs play this season, you can't put a reason on the table for why they'd be able to cover a large spread. Maybe the Steelers will let down after a big Giants win, but when you're worried about an offense scoring double digit points, it's hard to pick them to cover a double digit-spread.
This Week: 1-0
Last Week: 10-4
Season: 63-67-3
Locks: 13-13-1
Survivor: 7-2






























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