Pack is back in action
We get a sneaky great Thursday night game tonight, even if the play may not be all that good.
Eagles at Packers. Count me in.
Philadelphia is 1-2 and staring at a deep hole behind the sizzling Dallas Cowboys. The Eagles need this one.
Green Bay is 3-0, but in the crazy world that is the NFL, the entire NFC North is 2-1 or better. The Packers need this one.
But maybe the most interesting side story on this one way be Eagles receiver Nelson Agholor. Agholor has been plagued by the drops - a serious issue for the Eagles WRs since Alshon Jeffery and Desean Jackson have been sidelined with injuries. (In fact, if Agholor had caught a perfect pass streaking down the sideline in Atlanta, the Eagles win that game and the Falcons are bagel-and-3.)
Referencing those drops came one of the sound bites of the week.
This Philadelphia man was on scene at a fire at an apartment complex. In the emergency, people were throwing kids to people a man safely on the ground. When he was asked about the scenario he told a local TV crew, "We was catching 'em unlike Agholor."
Ouch.
Well, in this day and age of extreme pettiness and over-the-top bravado, Agholor showed some true grace in his response.
Agholor tweeted: "Thank you for being a hero in the community, would like to invite you and your family to the next home game. Twitter help me out and get me in touch with him."
Here's hoping the trend of responding with kindness really catches on. (Sorry.)
Fab 4 picks
It has been an uncharacteristically slow start to the college football harvest, which is sad because September is when you need to make your hay.
One of the speed bumps for the Fab 4 has been really liking too many games. Seriously. And to make matters worse, it feels like games 8-through-13 that we leave on the cutting room floor are almost perfect, but the ones we decide on are teetering at .500.
But pickers gotta pick, right? Right.
OK, let's make this really simple - as simple as we can when we are discussing entertainment hunting and such.
It's almost like the grade school playground rules, right? Find the weak and hang with the cool kids. Could it be that simple?
Let's try something this week as we try to get back on the proper side of the entertainment ledger and back the school-yard bullies in the top five/six who are crushing people. Those teams are a lot better than everyone else.
And I think it's tougher than usual for Vegas to give those teams enough points.
Take Alabama-Ole Miss for example. How many Rebels start for Alabama? How many Rebels crack the Tide two-deep?
If you can find an entertainment broker who gives first-half lines, well, the school-yard bullies of Clemson (minus-14 in the first half), Bama (minus-23 in the first half), THE Ohio State (minus-9 in the first half) and Oklahoma (minus-14.5 in the first half) are even more appealing.
We are going to play a couple of those for sure, and some of those are on the cutting room floor. In fact, and this is not a listed pick just an insight to my weekend plays. I will almost assuredly parlay all of those first-half numbers above.
Michigan minus all of it against Rutgers. We are more aware of the reverse end of these emotional swings, when after a big win, 18-to-22-year-old guys spend all week hearing how great they are and come out the following week and struggle. Well, Michigan is ticked. TEEEE-icked. The line is minus-27 and Rutgers is dreadful. TEEEE-icked.
- Alabama minus-37.5 over Ole Miss. And yes, if your guy takes a first-half wager all the better. I simply do not think anyone can slow down the Alabama passing, not even Nick Saban. The only concern is the backdoor, I not sure the Rebels can score enough to slide through it late.
- Clemson minus-27 at North Carolina. Again, another first-half play if you can get it. This feels like the break-out game for Trevor Lawrence, right? Something along the lines of 17-for-21 for 300-plus and at least four scores.
- Navy plus-11 at Memphis. This game is tonight, and while I respect what the Tigers have built in Memphis, this is the perfect spot for one of those classic, patented academy performances. Can't you just see this being a one-possession game and Memphis needing a stop late?
- Oklahoma minus-27 over Texas Tech. We told you we're riding the bullies this week. Texas Tech should have won this game last year, so I think Lincoln Riley has his team's attention. And a focused Oklahoma bunch is a scary group.
- SMU minus-7 at South Florida. South Florida stinks. Buy the half because, well you know. SMU quarterback Shane Beuchele - yes the Texas transfer - is far and away the bets player on the field.
- Oklahoma State minus-4 over Kansas State. Are we scared of the letdown possibility after a close loss at Texas? Yes. But Mike Gundy's offense is pretty dang good. Side note: There are four teams that are 4-0 against the number this season - Auburn, Louisiana-Lafayette, SMU and Gundy's Cowboys.
Last week: 4-3 against the spread (57.1 percent)
This season: 16-18 against the spread (47.1 percent)
College football items of interest
When you give up as many points as I am this week, you have to plan your watching schedule differently.
Here are some of the things I am watching for this weekend:
- Can Auburn continue to impress despite a below-average passing game? I thought Mississippi State would dip more considering all the talent lost last season from a MSU team that had several early NFL draft picks. The Tigers are in a sticky spot considering a trip to Florida looms next week after the big emotional win at College Station last week.
- Is this the worst game in college football history. I almost picked Akron minus-6.5 at UMass. Truly. But in a game this unpredictable, how can you pick either side? Why would you want to? The numbers are staggeringly bad. Akron is 128 in ESPN FPI; UMass is 130. Each team is bagel-and-4 - straight-up and against the number. We are picking against UMass for the rest of the season, and we should have been picking against them from the start. That ship sails this weekend. War Titanic.
- Monster blowouts across the board.
- And how in the world can Jeremy Pruitt underwhelm this week with the Vols on a bye?
This and that
- Man, the Jalen Ramsey stuff is hard to follow, no? He wants to be traded, he plays - and plays well - last Thursday against Tennessee, gets 'sick' this weekend, misses practice because of his back and now is missing time for the birth of his second child.
- In this day and age of players flexing their power, score one for management and ownership in the Melvin Gordon case. Gordon is set to report - without a new deal - to the Chargers today.
- Twins and Brewers clinched playoff spots with Minnesota securing the AL East and Milwaukee locking down a wildcard spot in the NL.
- Calvin Johnson admitted he smoked pot after every NFL game. Here's betting he's not alone.
Today's question
We're running late friends, so let's get to it.
Linda Hamilton is 62 today and Terminator 2 is just as good today as it was when it was released.
Rushmore of female leads in action movies. Go.