Posts Tagged ‘matt schaub’

2011 NFL Week 3 Preview & Predictions

September 22nd, 2011 by Scott Dargis | 1 Comment | Filed in Eagles, Football, General

With two weeks under the belt, the 2011 NFL season has looked more like a 7 on 7 two hand touch game. That’s not to take away from the great drama that has taken place on the gridiron especially in prime time, but the offensive explosion is just flat out crazy at this point. Tom Brady is on pace for a 7,500 yard season, Cam Newton (CAM NEWTON!) is on pace for just over a 6,800 yard season. Obviously both will come back down to earth, Brady maybe not as quickly, but still we are in store for a memorable and a very unpredictable season. Who would have thunk that the Bills would be 2-0? The Chiefs would have been this unlucky/bad and that the Lions would have lived up to the hype? I’m going to do my best to predict this weeks games.

Carolina Panthers at Jacksonville Jaguars 1:05 pm

The battle of the two expansion teams in 96′ comes full circle as both franchises will be starting rookie QBs. Jaguars QB Blane Gabbert will be making his first NFL start. He saw some action last week in the 4th quarter against the Jets in what was a blowout, so obviously we didn’t get to see what Gabbert had to offer. After a full week of preparation he will be ready to go. This really should be his third start, beginning the season with Luke McCown behind center. The safety valve that is known as Maurice Jones Drew will be used often in the Jags attack, but don’t be surprised to see Gabbert air the ball out early. The Panthers have given up the 7th most yards through the air this season.

Cam Newton gets his chance to try and go for a third consecutive 400 yard game and he might come close. It might be only a small sample, but the Jags have been very tough against the run so far (5th in the NFL) and average against the pass. Carolina has shown that they are obviously not afraid of airing it out and I expect them to do just that early and often. This game will be a fun shootout that will have fantasy football owners buzzing.

I’m taking Carolina 35-27, we have seen that Cam Newton can be a productive passer in the league and that question mark lingers above Gabbert. The Panthers may go down early, but Newton will be able to bail them out.

Detroit Lions at Minnesota Vikings 1:05 PM

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Johnny G’s Week 15 NFL Picks

December 19th, 2009 by Johnny G | 14 Comments | Filed in Football, General

Money Picks

After a rough loss on Monday Night, the updated record now stands at 13-6.

Houston Texans (-14) over St. Louis Rams/ 1pm Sunday

How can It get any worse for the Rams? They lose starter Marc Bulger to a broken leg, they lose back up Kyle Boller to arm soreness, and are left with Craig Null to start last week. The former back up to Ryan Leaf was nothing short of awful last week against the Titans. To top things off, the swine flu made its way around the locker room, causing head coach Steve Spagnuolo to cancel practice on Thursday. One of the many players affected by the swine flu is Steven Jackson, the best player on the football team. Add that to his balky back that has been bothering him for several weeks and this spells disaster for the Rams.

Look for Matt Schaub and the Texans to jump out early, and score quite often. It is sad what the Rams organization has become to this point and it will only get worse this afternoon. Take Texans minus the points.

Double Your Money Pick Of the Week

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Johnny G’s Week 13 Monday Night Pick

December 7th, 2009 by Johnny G | 3 Comments | Filed in Football, General

CASH-STACKS_t290

After my second straight Sunday split, my record now stands at 10-5 overall. Matt Schaub was injured on the first play from scrimmage, which largely contributed to the Texans losing outright to the Jaguars. Regardless, a loss is a loss and we will get back on track starting with this Monday night winner.

Green Bay Packers (-3.5) over Baltimore Ravens/ 8:20pm Monday
In the primetime matchup this Monday night we have two teams who are still in hot pursuit of a playoff berth. The Green Bay Packers are surging after an inconsistent start to the season and have now won three straight, after thoroughly dismantling the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving. After playing on Thanksgiving, the Packers also had an extremely long period to recuperate, having not played in almost two weeks. The Ravens on the other hand, have alternated wins and losses for the past five weeks and battled a Steelers team that had to desperately start former Oregon standout, Dennis Dixon into Overtime. While it was clear Dixon was not ready for the NFL quite yet, the Ravens still let the Steelers hang around in the football game and almost lost the game outright.

The Packers have one of the most underrated quarterbacks in the NFL, and with 22 TDs and only 5 interceptions, the Packers offense as a whole is extremely difficult to stop because of the consistency of Rodgers. The offensive line has also been protecting Rodgers much better of late, after leading the league in sacks allowed to start the season, that number has fallen back to the middle of the pack and the Packers have begun to win games. Ryan Grant does just enough on the ground to take some pressure off of Rodgers, and Donald Driver is having a career season very late into his career. Although the offense is a huge reason for the recent win streak, putting up 64 points in their last two games, their defense has also been a major contributor. During their win streak, the Packers have allowed a league-low 281.5 yards per game under new defensive coordinator Dom Capers.

For the Ravens, Joe Flacco has been much more shaky and inconsistent after surprising many last season with his poise and overall calmness, after being drafted out of the University of Delaware. He has started to stare down receivers, leading to costly interceptions and has held the ball much longer this season, leading to more sacks. He is also fighting through a mildly sprained left ankle that has bothered him for several weeks now. The defense will also be without Terrell Suggs, who reportedly did not make the trip with the team to Green Bay, and Ed Reed is questionable with an ankle injury. After watching the Ravens struggle against a Steelers team without a quarterback to throw the ball down the field, there is no way I could back this team on the road coming into Green Bay against a quarterback of Rodgers’ caliber. Take the Packers minus the points on Monday night

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Johnny G’s Week 13 Picks

December 5th, 2009 by Johnny G | 1 Comment | Filed in Football, General
This is my image do not take down

Houston Texans (-1) over Jacksonville Jaguars/ 1pm Sunday
Coming off a monumental collapse against the undefeated Indianapolis Colts and Peyton Manning, the Texans enter this game on a three game losing streak after teasing their fans with what many thought would be their first winning record in franchise history. Now Matt Schaub and the Texans come into Jacksonville against a Jaguars team that has also had their fair share of struggles recently. Just last week the Jaguars struggled mightily against a very average 49ers team in which they were outplayed in every facet of the game.

One thing the Texans have not struggled to do is move the football and with a beleaguered secondary for the Jaguars, Matt Schaub should have an absolute field day throwing the football against this defense. Last week the 49ers also recognized this weakness and ran mostly a spread offense, only giving Frank Gore seven carries, with Alex Smith throwing the ball frequently and effectively. Now that Steve Slaton has regained the starter’s role, he has protected the football and has run with a strong desire that was missing earlier in the season. Chris Brown is now the back up and is used almost as frequently as Slaton in the offensive system for Gary Kubiak. He has rejuvenated his career and has also been extremely effective, especially in short yardage situations.

The Jaguars come into this game having lost four of their last five contests and their red zone struggles have been almost comical. Their defense has also been unable to stop the pass whatsoever, putting a lot of pressure on their offense. David Garrard has played decent but is not the type of quarterback who is going to win you games by himself. For Garrard to be effective, the offense must mix the run with the pass and let him use the play-action fake. With the defensive struggles, the Jaguars have simply been too far behind to develop their running game and the responsibility falls solely on Garrard.
I look for the Texans to move the ball effectively and to keep the Jaguars offense from getting too much done on the ground. Take the small road favorite, with the better quarterback here and take the Texans.

Double Your Money Pick of The Week

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Johnny G’s Monday Night Football Pick

November 23rd, 2009 by Johnny G | 9 Comments | Filed in Football, General

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Houston Texans Vs. Tennessee Titans 8:30pm on ESPN

After going 7-1 with my first 8 picks, starting with a (4-0) sweep in week 10 and following that up with a (3-1) showing in Week 11- Here is my analysis and pick for Monday night.

The Houston Texans enter this game fresh off their bye week and are in hot pursuit of the best record in franchise history, which is not as prestigious when your franchise has never had a .500 record. The Texans currently sit at 5-4 and although there are many question marks on both sides of the ball, they have an extremely dangerous and explosive offense even with the absence of emerging TE Owen Daniels. Matt Schaub is in the midst of a career season and is clicking on all cylinders with All-pro WR Andre Johnson, while also spreading the ball around to his solid group of secondary receivers in Kevin Walter, and Jacoby Jones. On the other side of the ball, the defense is improving but still would not intimidate anyone in the NFL and they will have a daunting task ahead of them, by having to contain the NFL’s leading rusher, Chris Johnson.

On the other hand, you have the Titans who started the season 0-6 with Kerry Collins at the helm. Since that horrendous start, Collins has been replaced by former first round pick Vince Young and the offensive scheme is now run almost exclusively through Chris Johnson. At this point in the season, you are looking at the best 3-6 football team in the league and by all accounts are the same team that went 13-3 in 2008. With Vince Young now managing this offense and not trying to win games all by himself, Tennessee is suddenly very dangerous to play every week. Now that the defense is also playing similar to last season, this is a team that could conceivably run the table and finish at 10-6 if things fell their way.

This game will come down to if the Texans can deal with the wear and tear throughout the game of the Titans offensive line pounding away at them. The Titans will not abandon the run if it does not work early, they will continue to pound away at the Texans and mix in plenty of play-action fakes. At the end of the day the overall wear and tear on this defense will be too much for the Texans to handle. Look for Vince Young to play well but he will not win this game on his own by any means and the game will be shortened by the Titans running game, preventing Schaub from spending too much time on the field. The mess in the Texans backfield will not help matters, as Steve Slaton recently regained his starting job after losing it to journeyman and former Eagle, Ryan Moats because of a fumbling problem. This game will be at least be worth watching, unlike the pitiful game that the NFL put on primetime last week between the Browns and the Ravens. Take the Titans on the road in this contest plus the points.

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