Behind the 8 ball

It takes balls for a guy with a lowly eight wins in the football pool to talk smack. But, what the hell -- I'm laying it down here and now.

 

Before I get there I should let loose with a couple of excuses for my miserable performance:

 

• Who would have thought that Pittsburgh with former Detroit Lion Charlie Batch at the helm could have pulled out the Thursday night game against a fairly decent Miami team? Actually, in picking I didn't give enought credit to the Pittsburgh D -- and ultimately Joey Porter and Troy Polomalu (sp?) sunk that game for me and the Fins.
• Atlanta- Carolina .. what happened to the Panther's offense? Clearly something is not right there.. I can't still can't believe Michael Vick is a better quarterback than Jake Delhomme, we'll see if his performance (96.8 QB rating) holds up through the season.
• Denver-St.Louis.... Jake Plummer falls back to earth. Vegas touts predicted a 10-win season and division championship for the Broncos.....Guess suckers (like me) that took the overs are going to be crossing their fingers for the next five weeks. Maybe Denver won't get a win until they get Chokeland at home in week six...
• Speaking of Oakland ... didn't pick them this week (fortunately) Is it possible they will go winless and scoreless for the entire season How funny would it be to have a Raider team with a perfect record like that?? Committment to Excellence indeed.

Gotta let loose with a little ego here. As a guy who used to get paid to make predictions on NFL games against the spread, I figured participating in a straight up pool with several relative novices would be as easy as catching the clap on a day cruise with the Minnesota Viqueens.

 

I was wrong -- you all seem pretty damn good. So where, you ask, am I going with all this? I predict a 13-win weekend for duffbeerlvr in Week 2,  including a shocking upset at San Francisco as the Niners outscore the Lambs.

 

Here's the rest of my winners -- 13 of 'em better be right or I'm really going to look foolish:

Miami, Carolina, Cincinnati, Chicago, Indianapolis, Green Bay (uggh that was stupid), Giants, Baltimore, Atlanta, Seattle, Denver, New England, San Diego, Dallas and Pittsburgh.