*NFL Week 4 and an NSFL Comparison

[ddrector]

Back again with the next week of NFL games. Last week was one of the worst weeks I've ever had picking, so that's fun. Hopefully week 5 my picks will be back on track. Unfortunately, I already started the week with a loss as I had the Rams beating the Seahawks last night.

Packers over Eagles
These are two teams that are hard to predict, and it also seems like Thursday night football is hard to predict. I have yet to correctly pick and Thursday night matchup. Have I mentioned how much I hate Thursday Night Football? It's idiotic to make players play after only 3 days off. It's half the time that they normally get. Leave Thursday nights for college. NFL should only be Sunday and the one Monday night game. Anyway, this was a pretty high scoring game, especially in the 2nd quarter with 34 points being scored. The Eagles are now 2-2 and the Packers move to 3-1.

This would be a battle against the Wraiths (Eagles) and Hawks (Packers). The two teams split this past season. That seems likely in the NFL if that were to happen.

Falcons over Titans
As a Panthers fan it gives me nothing but joy to see a fellow NFC South team lose. The Falcons might be the worst team in this division even with a hurt Cam Newton. The defense is getting injured again and the offensive line is just terrible. I can't wait to see what the Panthers pass rush can do against this offensive line. The Titans are a team that I feel can simultaneously win or lose against almost any team in the NFL.

I definitely gave the Falcons too much credit comparing them to the Outlaws and vice versa not enough credit to the Titans who I compared to the Seawolves. Should be the other way around.

Patriots over Bills
The Bills defense did everything they could to keep them in this game, but quarterback Josh Allen getting hurt late made it tough for the Bills to score the needed touchdown to win the game in the 4th. This Bills team is really good, and as long as Josh Allen doesn't miss much time with the concussion they should definitely be a playoff team.

The Wraiths (Patriots) actually lost to the Copperheads (Bills) in their lone matchup this past season. A surprising result.

Chiefs over Lions
The Lions are one of the bigger surprises so far this season. After giving up a big lead and settling for a tie against the Cardinals in week 1 they won 2 games in a row and barely lost this game to the Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes didn't have a great game, but the Chiefs were still able to find a way to win on the road.

The Outlaws (Chiefs) actually lost to the Yeti (Lions) in their lone matchup last season. Another result that shocks me. Would not have guessed that.

Colts over Raiders
What happened to the Colts in this game? Are the Raiders better than I thought they were? A lot of questions that will be answered in the coming weeks. The Raiders dominated the majority of this game and only late in the 4th did the Colts get close to a comeback, but it didn't happen.

The Hawks (Colts) would never play the Solar Bears (Raiders) and I was probably a bit harsh on my comparing the Raiders to a DSFL team. They are actually better than I thought they would be. Also, fuck Vontaz Burfict. I'm glad he is suspended for the rest of the season. He is pure scum.

Chargers over Dolphins
The Dolphins continue their quest for 0-16. Not much else needs to be said. Austin Ekeler is very good and I think will continue to be a part of this offense even after Melvin Gordon gets back to his usual self. The Chargers are a talented team that seem to get in their own way quite often. I'd love to see Rivers get a ring before he retires, but I don't see it happening this year.

This is a matchup between an NSFL team and a DSFL team and it would probably be similar as will most if not all of the Dolphins matchups this season.

Washington Football Team over Giants
The Giants did it again. Dwayne Haskins got a chance to play in a significant portion of this game, but didn't look good at all. So much so that Colt McCoy is getting the starting nod this week. Gruden probably won't be coaching this team next season, and hopefully they find a coach that likes Haskins or that will be a waste of a first rounder. For the Giants, they seem to be very happy with their quarterback choice in Daniel Jones. Now they just need to get Saquon Barkley back and they might surprise some teams and spoil some teams playoff chances. Will Eli retire now or will he try and play for a quarterback needy team?

The Second Line (Giants) lost to the Yeti (Washington) in their single matchup last season. I don't know about the Yeti, but I know the Second Line just had a huge draft and will be on the up and up coming next season. Watch out for those party animals in NOLA.

Ravens over Browns
The Browns came out and really surprised me with a huge win in Baltimore against the Ravens. This defense is really good. One of the best in the NFL right now. Myles Garrett is a monster at defensive end and seems to be constantly improving. The Browns had this game well in hand before the Ravens scored a couple garbage time touch downs to make it a bit closer. Putting 40 points up on the Ravens is impressive. The Ravens did cough up 3 turnovers, so that's definitely a big part of that.

The Otters (Browns) beat the Butchers (Ravens) last year. Guess I should have stuck with my comparison when I predicted this one.

Texans over Panthers
Woo buddy this defense is smothering. Deshaun Watson didn't have time to throw much at all in this game. The Panthers lost one of their best defensive line players for the year in Kawaan Short before this game, but it didn't seem to matter much in this one. Kyle Allen showed he has a long way to go still as an NFL quarterback. He fumbled 3 times in this game, and doesn't seem to know how to hold on to the ball when pressured. He's still 3-0 in his first 3 NFL starts though, and that is impressive. It's nice to have a team that is talented enough to win games without its starting quarterback. This allows Cam to get fully healthy before he comes back and is ready to dominate in the second half of the season. The Texans will struggle all year to keep Watson upright. The offensive line needs a lot of help.

The Otters (Panthers) lost to the Outlaws (Texans) last season. Not what happened here.

Rams over Bucs
The Super Bowl slump is real folks. The Rams don't look the same. They're not the dominant team they were last year. The Bucs are decent, but no way are they as good as the Rams. This all has to do with the hang over from losing the Super Bowl. It's happened to most of the teams that lost the Super Bowl recently. The one exception is the Patriots. The Rams defense just gave up 55 points to the Tampa Bay Bucs. That is just something that shouldn't be happening. They need to get it together fast or they won't even make the playoffs.

The Wraiths (Rams) actually lost to the Copperheads (Bucs) this season. I should align my votes with NSFL results I guess.

Seahawks over Cardinals
The Seahawks are better than I thought they would be (especially after they beat the Rams on Thursday night). They are now 4-1 with their only loss being to the Saints who are one of the best teams in the NFL. The Cardinals and Kyler Murray still have a lot of learning and growing to do before they will be competitive. I expect them to find a win or two this season and end up with a top 5 pick again that will hopefully help them get to that next level with the Kilff Kingsbury offense.

The Seahawks (Butchers) never would play the DSFL Solar Bears (Cardinals), but we can assume any NSFL team would beat any DSFL team, so this works out here.

Bears over Vikings
When I was picking games last week this was one of the harder ones for me to pick. Luckily, I got it right and I learned quite a lot. The Vikings are terrible right now. Their defense is fine, but it doesn't matter because their passing game is one of the worst in the NFL, which is baffling when you have two great receivers in Theilin and Diggs. Cousins has not looked good at all this year and is quickly plummeting on my NFL starting quarterback rankings. In one of the many NSFL related discords before the season started we had a big discussion ranking the quarterbacks and one of the biggest areas of contention was where to put Cousins. I was on the side that the Vikings vastly overpaid him and he isn't very good. Right now I think my argument is proving to be valid.

The Butchers (Bears) beat the Sabercats (Vikings) this past season. A good comparison.

Jaguars over Broncos
Will Nick Foles get his job back when he comes back from injury? Right now it is the Gardner Minshew show and he is probably the biggest story line in the NFL right now. The Jags had to come back in this game to win it and they did it mostly on the back of Leornard Fournette who had 225 yards rushing, a career high. The Broncos defense isn't what it was a few years ago when they beat the Panthers in the Super Bowl. Joe Flacco had over 300 yards passing, but it wasn't enough.

I compared the Jaguars to the Yeti and Broncos to the DSFL team the Coyotes. I stand by that and it matches with this result.

Cowboys over Saints
Fucking Drew Brees gets hurt for an extended period of time and the Saints have some tough matchups in that span and yet they keep fucking winning. Are you kidding me? What the fuck Dallas? You were supposed to dominate and win this game, but you only managed 10 damn points and gave up 4 field goals. I'm so shitty about this. I hate the Saints and they seemingly continue to find ways to win without Brees. I just want to see them fall apart and never be good again, that's all I ask. The Cowboys after a hot start came back down to earth in a big way in this game. They'll probably still be fine, but I don't think they are in the upper echelon of NFL teams right now.

The Wraiths (Saints) and Copperheads (Cowboys) only played once and the Copperheads actually beat the Wraiths. Not what happened here unfortunately.

Steelers over Bengals
Andy Dalton's time as a starting quarterback in the NFL is most likely almost over. The Bengals are now 0-4 and only managed to score 3 points on Monday night against the Steelers who were starting Mason Rudolph at quarterback. Who would win in a matchup between the Bengals and Dolphins? Probably the Bengals, but it would probably be close. They actually play each other in December, so maybe we'll have the battle of the winless teams in week 16. I doubt it, because the Bengals will get AJ Green back and probably get a couple wins they shouldn't in that span, but one can only hope. The Steelers right now seem like the 3rd best team in their division. I don't see them making the playoffs, which will have lots of fans calling for Mike Tomlin to be fired.

The Sabercats (Steelers) would never lose to the DSFL Coyotes (Bengals), so that matches what happened here.

And there is your recap of everything that happened last week. Sorry this is out later than I would like it to be, but I had a busier than usual week. Now onto my picks for Week 5. I already got the Thursday night game wrong, which is par for the course. Hopefully I do better tomorrow than I did last Sunday.

Bears over Raiders
Bengals over Cardinals
Saints over Bucs
Vikings over Giants
Eagles over Jets
Ravens over Steelers
Patriots over Washington
Jaguars over Panthers
Texans over Falcons
Chargers over Broncos
Cowboys over Packers
Chiefs over Colts
49ers over Browns

[Dylandeluxe]

Always look forward to these!