Match wits with the Pigskin Prognosticator
Peyton Manning and the Super Bowl Champion Colts kick off the 2007 NFL Season vs. New Orleans
The National Football League comes to MiltonSearch.com
Are you ready for some football?? Well tonight, the defending Super Bowl Champion Indianapolis Colts kick off the 2007 NFL Season tonight at home vs. the New Orleans Saints. MiltonSearch.com is pleased to announce that our resident NFL expert, the Milton Pigskin Prognosticator, will be featured weekly here right up until Super Bowl Sunday in late January. He’ll provide his thoughts on all things NFL including his picks for the upcoming week’s games vs. the spread, as well as a weekly ’survivor’ – one team every week he’s guaranteeing will win outright (the same team cannot be chosen more than once in the regular season).
As always, we encourage you to chime in with your opinions and weekly picks.
Come on! Take on the Milton Pigskin Prognosticator (MPP) and see how you do!
Week 1
New Orleans at Indianapolis (-6)
What a great game to kick-off the 2007 season! The defending Super Bowl champs against America’s 2006 sweetheart team (following the hurricane Katrina devastation). Mind you, the Saints are more than a sentimental favourite – their 10-6 record last year was due largely to their #1 ranked offense. Take the Saints.
Saints
N.Y. Giants at Dallas (-5.5)
The Giants won round 1 last season over the Cowboys, and lost by a only a field goal in their rematch later last season. The key differences in this great rivalry this year are that the Giants made no big improvements in the offseason, instead losing the likes of Tiki Barber to retirement. The Giants #25 ranked defense will be no match for the Cowboys 5th ranked offense – take the ‘boys to cover.
Cowboys
Denver (-3) at Buffalo
A treat from the odds-makers – you can take Denver to the bank on this one. While Buffalo did nothing but lose veterans in the offseason (Fletcher, McGahee, Spikes), the Broncos improved with former Buffalo Bill RB Travis Henry and two large pick-ups for defense with Patrick Ramsey and Simeon Rice.
Broncos
Kansas City at Houston (-3)
Dumping Trent Green directly after their playoff loss to Indy last year will finally allow Damon Huard a chance to prove whether or not he’s got what it takes to be a starter. Last season Huard played very well in relief for the then injured Green with a 61% completion percentage and 11/1 ratio for TD’s to interceptions. Houston dumped underachieving QB David Carr and picked-up RB Ahman Green from Green Bay – both in an attempt to cure their impotent 28th ranked offense. Take the lesser of two evils – the Chiefs.
Chiefs
Tennessee at Jacksonville (-6.5)
Jacksonville ranked in the top 10 last season for total defense and for the rushing portion of their offense – all they had to do in the offseason was improve their 24th ranked passing game – only addressed very late in the pre-season by dumping QB Leftwich and handing the starting position over to last year’s back-up Garrard. Mind you the Jags’ 3rd ranked rushing offense should be plenty over the Titans last place defense. The Titans’ 27th ranked offense got no better from last year – losing their starting RB Travis Henry and their top WR. Take Jacksonville.
Jaguars
Minnesota (-3) at Atlanta
To state that Atlanta’s season has gone to the dogs (pun intended) may be too early to predict yet – but the suspension of Michael Vick has cut this team deep. This severely weakens the Falcons offense and against the #1 run defense from 2006 spells trouble. New Vikings QB Kelly Holcomb should have a great start against the Falcons D – ranked 29th against the pass last season. Minnesota will cover.
Vikings
N.Y. Jets at New England (-6.5)
Many an analyst feel the Patriots are in a strong position to give the Colts a run for their money as top dog in the AFC this season. Jets fans have to be pleased in signing RB Thomas Jones (from the Bears) to add some clout to their running game and this should take some of the oppositions’ defensive focus off of QB Pennington. The Patriots won the series last year 2 games to 1 over the Jets, including a convincing 37-16 win in the playoffs. The Patriots are determined to have a strong start out of the gates this season and will definitely thump the Jets by more than a TD to cover the spread.
Patriots
Detroit at Oakland (-1.5)
Both of teams spent the off season re-tooling their ineffective offenses. These two teams combined for just 5 wins last season, but then both teams have shown a bit of promise with productive pre-season games. The team with fewer turnovers and fewer penalties will win this one – take Detroit.
Lions
Philadelphia (-3) at Green Bay
Philly thumped Green Bay last year by a score of 31-9, and Green Bay’s offense will be no stronger this time around with the loss of RB Ahman Green and QB Favre getting no younger – take Philadelphia to cover.
Eagles
Pittsburgh (-4.5) at Cleveland
The changes to these teams in the off season are very minor in regards to having immediate impact/improvements over last year – as a result Pittsburgh’s Top 10 offense and defense should make quick work of Cleveland’s 31st ranked offense and 27th ranked defense – not to mention Pittsburgh swept Cleveland last year. Take the Steelers.
Steelers
Chicago at San Diego (-6)
This will be a great match-up of two top teams. With the Bears losing RB Thomas Jones in the off season they’ll need to rely more on their great D to keep them in this game – and the Bears normally hang tough when playing other high-calibre teams, so take da Bears to cover.
Bears
Tampa Bay at Seattle (-6)
Jeff Garcia will add some much needed life to the Bucs offense, while their once great defense continues to get older. With the Bucs losing 9 games by 7 or more points last year a talented Seattle team will have no trouble matching this feat – take Seattle.
Seahawks
Carolina at St. Louis (-1)
The Carolina D blanked St. Louis last year by a score of 15 to nothing. These teams match up fairly even, so safest to go on recent history (last year’s game) which means take Carolina.
Panthers
Miami at Washington (-3)
How will Washington’s RB Clinton Portis fair against Miami’s 8th ranked run defense? In early weeks of the season it’s more risky to take teams which have done more tinkering with their offense and/or defense – with Miami having a new QB this season it’s safe to take Washington to cover this spread.
Redskins
Baltimore at Cincinnati (-2.5)
There is a God – and he’s giving us two Monday night games in week 1 – thank you Lord! Last year these two teams split their series – with the home team winning both games – both times by 6 points. Cinci should have an easier go over the Ravens at home this year – with the Ravens D not as strong as last year – so take the Bengals.
Bengals
Arizona at San Francisco (-3)
There is a hell – why must a Monday night game have two sub-.500 teams squaring off? The Cardinals offense began to click towards the end of last season, specifically QB Leinart, RB Edgerin James and WR Boldin – this included a 26-20 win over the 49ers on their home turf. The Cards also beat San Fran in week 1 last year by 7 points – so take the Cards on this one.
Cardinals
Survivor
(Pick one team to win outright each week, the goal to put together the longest streak of consecutive winning picks, while not able to pick any given team more than once during the season.)
For week 1 in the Survivor Pool I’ve got to go with Denver over Buffalo – I see Buffalo as one of the underdogs in week 1 which are least likely to pull off an upset – even though they have home field advantage.
Week 1 Survivor: Broncos
Now Milton, what do you think?
September 6th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
Good stuff, MPP!
Okay, now here are the CORRECT picks:
Indy
NYG
Denver
KC
Tennessee
Atlanta
New England
Oakland
Philly
Pittsburgh
Chicago
Tampa Bay
Carolina
Washington
Baltimore
San Fran
Survivor: Pittsburgh
There you go: take it to the bank.
September 6th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
Ok, gimme:
N’Owleans
Dallas
Denver
Houston
Tennesee
Atlanta
New England
Oakland
Philly
Pitts
San Diego
Seattle
Carolina
Washington
Baltimore
Arizona
Survivor has to be Seattle, and yes that is a direct shot at the Bucs!!
I’d add some banter, but know very little about any of the teams thus far…
Capper
September 6th, 2007 at 10:51 pm
Give me ……Indy tonight…. I’ll send the rest tomorrow.
September 6th, 2007 at 10:51 pm
Colts. More later.
September 10th, 2007 at 8:53 am
The following is from Chris Zelkovich, Media Reporter for the Toronto Star:
NFL provides enough hot air to fill a blimp
Admit it, a small part of you missed the Global blimp yesterday.
There were things both familiar and unfamiliar about the return of the NFL’s regular season. Most conspicuous by its absence was the abominable virtual Global blimp, along with the equally abominable Global virtual ads that papered stadiums across America.
The new Canadian rights holders – CTV, Rogers Sportsnet and Omni2 – seem to have learned from the sins of their predecessor. They also managed to get back to the games on time for the most part.
With Omni and Sportsnet airing different games at 4 p.m., NFL fans should have more choice of games, which is always good. There were a few new faces on the NFL scene, though little else was new.
There was the same old denial of reality we’ve come to expect over the years and much of the same old blather. ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown opened with some lovely images of players, among them a felon and a steroid abuser.
Later on, Fox trumpeted San Diego linebacker Shawne Merriman’s feat of leading the league in sacks despite playing only 12 games last year. Of course, it neglected to mention that he missed games, not because of a hamstring injury, but due to a suspension for steroids.
Forgiveness, I guess, is an admirable thing.
All of the NFL broadcasters delved into the Michael Vick incident, which they should have. On ESPN, most panellists agreed it was an isolated case, which is what the NFL would love us to believe.
Thankfully Emmitt Smith disagreed. “The players are not getting the message,” he said of the league’s numerous lawbreakers.
There was the usual locker-room jocularity and baiting among panel members, all of whom were probably having a lot more fun than the viewers. As for the games themselves, again there was denial mixed with silliness.
On Fox, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman seemed to think a painfully dull Chicago-San Diego game was a titanic defensive struggle instead of a battle of inept offences.
With Buffalo and Denver quarterbacks J.P. Losman and Jay Cutler apparently trying to out-bumble each other, CBS announcer Gus Johnson preferred to focus on the “high drama.” His sidekick, Randy Cross, did get on Cutler for almost throwing away the game with a fourth-quarter lateral that would have resulted in a benching in peewee football. “I can’t believe he did that,” Cross said. But moments later, when Denver pulled out the victory, Cross suddenly forgot that bone-headed play. “For all the mistakes, Jay Cutler executed a perfect drive,” he crowed.
For all the mistakes George Custer made, he planned a pretty good battle, too.
Remember, folks, this was just the first weekend.
September 10th, 2007 at 9:34 am
Yuck.
The Milton Sports Guy sits at a pathetic 5-8-1 after Sunday’s games (Washington/Miami is a push).
Even if I get both games tonight correct, I’m still under .500 for the week.
September 11th, 2007 at 8:36 am
Okay, the MNF double-header results are in. The MSG goes 0-1-1 with the Bengals defeating the Ravens by a touchdown and a Niners/Cardinals push, bringing my Week One record to a dismal 5-9-2.
At least I got the Survivor pick right…. My streak: One game. Yesssssssss!
How did everyone else do?