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| Can the Steelers get their first win of the season? Photo credit NFL |
Greetings my little explorers! It is a pleasure to meet you all and welcome you to the swamp where your favorite slimy creature lurks in the sludge. Please allow me to first formally introduce myself; my name is Gene Henke Jr. and I am an NFL enthusiast, analyst, writer, and blogger. I go by the codename: Swampthing. Strange, yes I know. I will explain this as well; I got my start a couple seasons ago during the North Jersey floods when I started posting my thoughts and opinions on NFL forums under that name for fun. Long story short, it is my passion and a hobby of mine which I thoroughly enjoy doing.
Swampthing’s point of view took off a bit and here I am.
Each week RFSports has been kind enough to allow me to come on here and bring you my top picks for the week as well as my reasoning behind them. In no time I will earn your trust and become your favorite swampy pal and somebody whom you can come to for advice on NFL selections every week. I will be summarizing my top five picks. They will consist of four of my favorite plays as well as a Bonus 5th.I have quite the bucket full of slimy spoilers as my selections are all in fact underdogs. Who doesn’t love some good doggies?! The SwampMan surely does, and this week they are barking! Without further ado, I bring to you Swampthing’s Muck of the Week! Enjoy.
PITTSBURGH STEELERS +2.5:
This Sunday the lowly Steelers will head to NJ where they will take on the high flying Jets for battle. Coming out of the bye week and desperate for a win, this is the perfect situation for the Steelers to bounce back. Big Ben and Co. will surely be prepared and focused Sunday while still searching for their first win of the season. They catch the Jets coming off an emotional and extremely shocking win over the Atlanta Falcons in the Georgia Dome on Monday Night Football. The Jets were 10 point underdogs in this bout and proceeded to take the Falcons and the rest of the country by surprise when they beat the pick straight from the Black Lagoon Dirty Birds straight up and in convincing fashion. Geno and the Jets looked great, no doubt about it, but take my word for it when I warn you that this game was a mirage. While the Rex Ryan gritty defense is surely back from the dead and did a number on the ATL offense, ATL is not who we thought they were. Let’s take a look a little deeper into this game shall we? The Falcons are severely banged up all around. They came into MNF with a 1-3 record and were expected to win being that they were a predicted Super Bowl contender coming into this season. They also were playing home where they are historically dominant and their opponent was a Jets team who had completely opposite preseason expectations. I can go on all day about the Falcon injuries but I will key in on a few major ones here. In a nutshell, Roddy White has not been himself since the season has started. The man is hurting his team more than helping while trying to keep his game started streak intact. He needs to grab some pine and sit his rear-end down on the bench until he is healthy if he truly wants to help his team at this point. Right now he is just a liability out there. While in the beginning of the season he could be used as a decoy, defenses have now realized his limitations and it has allowed them to key on other ATL studs; Julio Jones and Tony Gonzalez. The absence of Steven Jackson is also a severe hit to the threat of their run game. Without him, Jaquizz Rodgers isn’t much of a menace out of the backfield and it allowed the Jets to key on defending the pass more. The Jets defensive line is stellar don’t get me wrong. However they were able to shutdown the weak rungame with ease and locked Matty Ice in a freezer all game long. As far as the Falcon defense, where do I begin? They were absolutely atrocious and made Geno Smith look like the resurrection of Joe Namath. Not to take anything away from Geno, he played mistake free football which we have not seen from him yet this season. However, with injuries all around the Falcon defense, it was straight up Swiss cheese. I firmly believe any average QB would have had similar success against these guys last Monday Night. Geno is improving week to week yes, but this Sunday he will face a desperate veteran Steel Curtain that is well rested and pissed off. Troy Polamalu has been probably licking his chops the entire bye week with a chance to take advantage of playing against this rookie QB. He will get his Tasmanian Devil on for sure and confuse the crap out of Geno forcing him into the many mistakes that he is prone to making anyway. The Jet run game is also nothing special either. With the Jet receiving core also depleted, I anticipate a rough outing and what will be a long day for this offense. Big Ben, Antonio Brown, and a now healthy Heath Miller and Leveon Bell should be enough to give the Jets some problems as well. Long story short, the Jets come crashing back down to earth this weekend and The Steelers will get their first W, book it.
CAROLINA PANTHERS +2.5:
Here we have another team who is loaded with talent and who has yet to live up to their potential. Now they have their backs against the wall and are facing a perfect situation to help bounce back. It is no secret that Cam Newton and the Panthers have been a huge disappointment so far this season. While the offense and play calling has surely been questionable thus far, these are things that can be fixed. There is no denying that Cam Newton is a monster playing QB. Look for him to get back to his old ways and use his legs to impose his will against this weak Viking defense. It is time for Cam to put this offense on his back like he has always been most comfortable doing. Why they force this guy to try and stay in the pocket and throw to the little talent he has instead of unleashing him and letting him do his thing as he did his rookie year is beyond me. Not to mention the quality they have in the backfield in Williams and Tolbert, these guys can be a serious combination if used properly. I anticipate them to get back to moving the ball with their legs rather than trying to power it through the air. The Vikings on the other hand are just awful. As long as their QBs name is Christian Ponder, they do not scare me. Yes, they have an alien named Adrian Peterson who will get his despite defenses stacking the box against him. However Carolina in particular quietly has one of the best front sevens in the game and they will limit him. Bottom line is that as long as Ponder is under center, defenses can key on Peterson and force Ponder to beat them, and he won’t. The Vikings are through the first quarter of the season and still in the middle of a QB controversy. They just signed a complicated Josh Freeman to come in and eventually be the starting QB once he is “comfortable.” When Ponder fails yet again this Sunday, it will be Freeman’s turn next week to join the party. We saw what the Panthers are capable of when they faced a lowly team like the GMEN. Take the team with a better QB and defense by a landslide to come out strong and focused after another embarrassing outing last weekend.
TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS +2:
Surprise! Yet again, we have another disappointing team who is loaded with talent and in a perfect spot to turn it around. They finally made the wise decision that I knew was only a matter of time since day one in getting rid of the cancer that is Josh Freeman as the leader of this team. By doing so, they have chosen to give the reigns to their drafted rookie QB Mike Glennon. Glennon made his first start against a very stingy Arizona defense and faired pretty well, if not great up until the 4th a couple of costly interceptions that cost the Bucs the game. When you look at the two interceptions, both were made by Pro Bowl caliber cornerback Patrick Peterson, one of the top corners in the game. Even though there are never any excuses for a QB to throw interceptions, these two were somewhat understandable for a rookie getting his first real NFL action. It is just a shame that they came at such crucial moments in the game. The positive to take away here is that since they chose to start Glennon two weeks ago, it allowed him to get his feet wet and then head straight into the bye week to lick his wounds and correct his mistakes. I think playing the terrible Eagle secondary is the perfect situation for him to go out and have a day for himself utilizing the weapons he has in this offense. By pounding the rock with the muscle hamster Doug Martin, this should open up the field for Glennon to hit his big targets in Vincent Jackson and Mike Williams. Both of these guys have got to be starving for some passes to be thrown their way as they have had little production so far this season, understandably. The cherry on top is that Nick Foles will most likely be making his first start since Michael Vick was injured in their game last week. I love the matchup of Foles against this Buccaneer secondary. They will wreak havoc and smother Desean Jackson as well as load the box against McCoy without the fear of Foles taking off and running. I know Foles has a decent set of wheels but he is no Michael Vick threat. Take the Buccos at home with confidence this week.
ST. LOUIS RAMS +7.5:
Bear with me on this one for a moment and hear me out. I know the Rams have not been anything impressive on either side of the ball thus far but as long as the Texans make the stupid the decision to throw Matt Schaub back out there at QB, I will take a healthy heap of points against him any day. The guy is literally a walking pick-six. The Rams have enough talent on defense especially at the corners to capitalize on this in the best way. Sophmore cornerback Janoris Jenkins is a ball hawk and won defensive player of the year in his rookie season by leading the league in interceptions. Cortland Finnegan is Andre Johnson’s kryptonite as we know and can get into that guy’s head better than anybody. Andre is also banged up I believe so he will not be at his best. The Texans offensively have been a mess and it is all because of Matt Schaub. I never really was high on the guy. I mean he is a solid backup QB, that’s it. He will never take them to the Super Bowl. I think the Texans will find this out the hard way this weekend when he puts on yet another terrible performance for his team and maybe even cost them the game. It is time for Kubiak to hand the ball over to TJ Yates. He is nothing special, but better than Schaub. Once a QB gets in a rut like this and it seems like the whole world is against him including Texan folk, it is almost impossible to come out on top (e.g., Mark Sanchez). This will end badly for him for sure this weekend you can almost smell it. Fischer and the Rams must love the fact that Kubiak who may also be on the
hot seat in the near future, chose to stick behind Schaub after throwing a pick-six in each game of the season thus far. That is a disgusting stat for a QB to have, just gross. The poor Texan defense has been playing their best and should have done enough to win a couple more games, but it is hard to win when your QB is the best player on the other team. 7.5 points is a lot to back a QB dealing with inner demons like this. I think Schaub may have thrown an interception in the time that I was writing this. It is almost guaranteed this weekend that he will, unless they do not throw the ball whatsoever. Take the points and enjoy the show!
***BLACK LAGOON BONUS PICK: BALTIMORE RAVENS +3:
These guys are finally starting to gel. While it was a rough start and always is after a Super Bowl hangover and losing a lot of key personnel, it seems as though the Ravens are starting to take shape. They got off to a slow start this season since they practically have a new team to work with on both sides of the ball. It takes time for any team to form some chemistry between each other and get some mojo flowing. They were impressive last week beating the Dolphins in Miami who are another team that are much better than people realize and will make their mark later in the season. That being said each week the Ravens are in some character building battles. Ray Rice is finally back and healthy which is a HUGE part of this Raven offense when they use it in the right way. It opens up the passing game for Flaccenstein who is also establishing more of a repertoire with his speedy receiving core. He also has back his favorite little safety blanket in Rice out of the backfield. They should be able to have success against a depleted Packer defense that will be without their leader LB Clay Mathews AKA Fabio for a few weeks due to a broken thumb, which is a HUGE blow to their team. On defense, the Ravens have a very mean defensive line. Suggs, Ngata, Dumerville, and Canty just to name a few will surely get after Rodgers looking to lay a hit and make him uncomfortable. With the home crowd behind them, I think the Ravens will get up for this game and will treat it as a potential statement win that sends out a “we aren’t going anywhere” type of message to the rest of the league. I expect this game to be a great battle and extremely entertaining. A close call either way, take the points.
Well ladies and gents, that about does it for Swampthing’s first addition of The Weekly Muck. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it and I look forward to seeing you here again. If you would like my input on any other games that I have not mentioned above, feel free to tweet me at @swampy_swami and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Please cut me some slack as I have finally given in to the twitter universe and am brand new to it and vulnerable, a bit scared. Hahah I keed, I keed. But do forgive me if I “tweet” wrong… at…you? Not sure of the proper twitter lingo at this point but you know what I mean. Do not fret however, the SwampMan learns quickly and always prevails. Write that down. See you next week, same time, same place. Kick some butt this weekend and drop some knowledge on your family, friends, or enemies and impress the crap out of them when you look like a football genius. It will be our little secret. It is my joy to give you this power, now go and use it wisely my friends! Good talk, see you out there.
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