The Weekend in Football

In the spirit of my favorite sport to watch on television and my favorite time of the year, I bring you my weekly column, The Weekend in Football. Designed like Mike Tunison's Designed Rush column, I give you a look at the upcoming weekend in football from my view. 

This is the vaunted weekend. My birthday weekend. In the past, there's been some big games played on this weekend. Somehow, I always felt that these games were being played for me. I know it sounds silly; but that's what I've always thought--that I'd see maybe just a little more magic on my birthday weekend just because I'm such a huge football fan and all that. More often than not; it hasn't worked out that way.

This weekend, it's Colt McCoy's first start at Cleveland Browns Stadium. Like Tim Couch and Brady Quinn before him (and to a degree Derek Anderson) a lot of people in Cleveland have excitement that the Browns might have finally found their young guy. A lot remains to be seen, but McCoy has handled himself adequately in facing the Steelers and Saints on the road. The Patriots will pose as another tough test for the youngster from Texas.

I'll be at Cleveland Browns Stadium to see McCoy's first home start as a Brown. I was there for Tim Couch's last home game as a Brown and Brady Quinn's first home game as a Brown (both losses). You have to hope that just maybe, things turn a little differently here and the kid continues to show accuracy and poise.

With all the people of Cleveland have dealt with lately; you would love to see them have one thing like this go right. McCoy panning out and getting a few big wins down the stretch for a success starved fan base would qualify without a doubt. So maybe, on my 28th birthday, Colt McCoy will make it a day when the sun shines on the Brown and Orange.

Saturday:
After a trip to the Anderson's and the dentist and before having my fiance's birthday dinner; I've got some time to fit in a few of the 3:30 PM ET games this Saturday.With the Buckeyes on a bye week, my watch list ill look something like this:

#6 Alabama vs. #10 LSU****
You have to wonder who is the lesser of two evils in this big time SEC match-up. I'd probably go with Les Miles. It would be nice to see big and mighty Alabama have two losses hung on them this season. But I think that Alabama will probably find away. They have so many big, talented, nasty players.

#3 TCU vs. #5 Utah****
I don't buy this as a five star game only because I don't buy either one of these as a true big time contender. Some could make a case for why the NCAA should have flex scheduling. I have no idea where ESPN's Gameday is going to head to this Saturday, but you wonder why they wouldn't have booked a trip to Utah because someone is about to gain major steam towards the national title why winning this one. Personally I hope it's not TCU.

#18 Arkansas vs. #19 South Carolina***


#15 Arizona vs. #13 Stanford***

Your classic college football throwback YouTube clip of the week:


Rocket Ismail was the man. Was he not? Take me back to my childhood and Rocket Ismail as a Raider and when the earth stood still because of it. I thought he would end up the next Jerry Rice or something. But there are other things that come into consideration like hands, route running, and the guy who is throwing you the ball. So Rocket just ended up having a decent career that saw him catch 363 balls. Many of which weren't for the Raiders.

Bathroom Reading:
-Check out the updated Mock Draft for 2011 over at Walter Football. 
-Drew Magary looks at the 10 worst tenured coaches in NFL history over at Deadspin. Romeo Crennel belongs on there somewhere.
-Good move for the Titans adding Randy Moss? National Football Post speculates.
-History lesson on Mangini and Belichick from the Canton Rep.



Sunday (Picks in bold):

New England (-4.5) at Cleveland ***
I would love to give this game the four or five star treatment because of what it means to me but I cannot. I know the Browns well, and I'll travel up to Northeast Ohio this weekend and they'll make it get dark and be Sunday night early. I want Colt McCoy to play well in this game. I want the Browns to make Bill Belichick do this:



I've always loved that video. Isn't little Billy B. so cute when he whines with his eyes facing the ground there? But lets face it. We know that a more likely scenario is the Patriots who are rolling to keep on rolling. The Browns have a one dimensional offense still to me. They don't get the ball outside to their receivers. Their leading receiver is Ben Watson. Little Bill will easy find a way to take Watson away and the Browns will have to pound it with Peyton Hillis. This is the kind of game where Belichick has over the years almost never lost. Tom Brady will get his yards and Colt McCoy is likely to have a stat line that reads 12 for 27 for 147. But I'd give anything to be wrong.

Kansas City at Oakland (-2.5)****
Kansas City has proven to be a good team and they've dodged a lot of bullets lately. This rivalry finally means something again. I always knew Jason Campbell wasn't that bad. And the Raiders are rolling by giving the ball to Darren McFadden and straight up hitting people in the mouth. I think the Raiders are going to win this game. And if they don't win, the Chiefs will get some serious hype from a lot of people around the league. This is a test for Todd Haley's bunch.

New York Jets (-4) at Detroit ***
I'll tell you right now that this is not the pushover game that so many expect it to be. The Lions have some serious players and I think they're going to be a really good team again here about a year from now. I think Stafford to Calvin Johnson is going to be the best combination in the NFL in a short while and of course the fact they have Ndamakong Suh, this Detroit team is really relevant again. The match up features the first two QB's taken in the 2009 draft facing each other. Mark Sanchez playing well coming off a disappointing performance is usually a good thing to bet on. I don't like the Jets by a touchdown but I do like them by the spread; and four sounds just about right.

Arizona (+8) at Minnesota **
Derek Anderson back at the helm for the Cardinals. I think the Vikings win; but I don't think that they have enough to win that big.

Tampa Bay (+8.5) at Atlanta *****
Uh, no. Matt Ryan is something like 17-1 all time at home. He's going to be in the MVP running. And just like I told you this Falcons team isn't going away anytime soon this year. They're for real. But Tampa is a spry little group. They'll fight your ass. They won't lose by two scores here.

Chicago (-3) "at Buffalo" aka Toronto

San Diego at Houston (+3) ***
One up, one down. That's how Houston rolls. Even though it's good to note that I don't think the Chargers have dropped a game in November or December in several years. This is going to be that day.

New Orleans (-6) at Carolina*

Miami (+5.5) at Baltimore***
You know what? Tony Sparano has that team ready to play more often than not. Joe Flacco has been so up and down. I changed my pick at the last second here. This is the type of game Vegas really wants you to have some investment in, though.

New York Giants at Seattle (+7)**
Oh yea baby. Give me this all day. You have over-hyped Giants team seemingly rolling along and flying cross country to play a Seattle team who has been getting it handed to them. I think that I remember all too well a few years back when Eli and the Giants went out to Seattle and couldn't put the game away because Jay Feely just kept missing kicks that would have won the game. Shit like that happens when you fly cross country to play a game.

Indianapolis (+3) at Philadelphia****

Green Bay (-7.5) at Dallas**

Pittsburgh (-5) at Cincinnati***
I respect the Bengals to play well here, I really do. But the Steelers got beat last week, and uh; well they're the Steelers and the Bengals are the Bengals. I think it's a good Monday Night Football game to have on the slate.

Your Classic YouTube NFL Clip of the Week:

Like I said my birthday is coming up. And while this doesn't feature any huge or exciting play, maybe it brings the Browns a little luck this weekend. And it's actually not about the Browns. It's about this guy's wife and the last game he and her ever attended together before she died. It kind of makes me sad. Brings back a lot of memories hearing Doug Dieken and company on the radio there signing off for the last time wondering if the Browns were gone forever. A happy ending could still be written but I don't got time to bleed. And I'm attending the game this weekend with the only girl I've ever loved. You get the picture.


Other Picks:
ESPN (Schefter picks the Browns over the Patriots. I love that guy and his soft spot for Cleveland)
Bill Simmons
Colin Cowherd took the Patriots 27 over the Browns 20 at lunch
Kissing Suzy Kolber
Walter Football
Incarcerated Bob

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