Seachickens to Avenge Last Year's Monday Night Disaster

Type/Last Week/Season
NCAA/1-0/7-4
(Before MNF) NFL/2-3-1/12-11-1
Invest/+2*/-2.5*

INVEST
Notre Dame played a great game against Southern Cal but came up just short at the end. They almost got QB Matt Leinart down inbounds in the final seconds. Then they had a good defensive alignment called against the QB sneak but Leinart was able to slide left with the assistance of RB Reggie Bush and get into the endzone for the winning touchdown. Bush assisted Leinart, but not in an egregious manner that would have drawn a flag. A rules revision could be justified anyway. Since multiple defenders can tackle the ballcarrier, why shouldn’t offensive players be allowed to help the ballcarrier in a “pile” situation?

I’m tempted to take Green Bay over the NFL’s fastest sinking ship, Mike Tice’s Vikings, but it just looks too good to be true.

*Seattle (-3) 27 Dallas 20. The Cowboys just played 2 games against division opponents while the Seachickens didn’t let down too much against the lowly Texans after a road victory over the Rams. WR Joe Jurevicious has been a great pickup for the Seachickens and RB Shawn Alexander is the NFL’s TD leader. This time the defense will hold the Cowboys to less than 2 TDs in the last 2 minutes.

SATURDAY (All Times ET)
3:30 CBS HD #5 Alabama (-3 ½) 20 #19 Tennessee 13. The Tide squeaked by Ole Miss 13-10 with a game-winning field goal as time expired. This is the second of 4 games against ranked SEC teams. Alabama rolled over Florida 31-3 earlier this month but lost WR Tyrone Prothro to a knee injury late in the game. Tennessee’s running game has struggled in losses to Florida and Georgia and the Vols will need balance to win this rivalry game.

3:30 ABC Regional #2 Texas #7 45 (-16 ½) Texas Tech 24. The Longhorns got the big gorilla off of their back earlier this month with a 45-12 rout of Oklahoma. Texas Tech and Texas A&M are the two toughest remaining opponents on the regular season schedule. The Red Raiders have a potent offense, but were mauled 51-21 by the Longhorns last season.


8:00 FOX HD World Series Game 1. I have a hard time rooting for A. J. Pierzinski. I’ll take the Astros since SP Roy Oswalt and RP Brad Lidge were stalwarts on my champion fantasy baseball team.

SUNDAY
1:00 FOX HD Green Bay 37 (-2) Minnesota 0. The Vikings ship is sinking faster than the Titanic, but not fast enough for the corporate NFL. It’s scary to think that WR Randy Moss was one of the good guys holding that group together.

1:00 CBS HD Cincinnati 26 (-1) Pittsburgh 20. The Bengals are favored over the Steelers for the first time in 27 meetings! The Steelers saw enough of QB Tommy Maddox last week to bring Ben Roethlisberger back early from a knee injury. They’ll need better QB performance to get their running game back in gear. RB Willie Parker didn’t do much against Jacksonville with the Jaguar defense unafraid of Maddox’s throwing capabilities. The Bengals are off to a great start behind 3rd year QB Carson Palmer, RB Rudi Johnson, and WR Chad Johnson.

1:00 CBS Philadelphia 27 (-4) San Diego 20. The Chargers can’t win against both of last year’s Super Bowl teams on the road in the same month, can they? The Eagles really need this one coming off a rout at Dallas and a bye.

4:00 FOX HD. Seattle (-3) 27 Dallas 20.

4:15 CBS HD N.Y. Giants 30 (-2) Denver 20. The Giants will force Broncos QB Jake Plummer to make some plays with his arm, and some interceptions will result.

7:30 ESPN HD NFL PrimeTime
8:00 FOX HD. World Series Game 2.

9:00 ABC HD N.Y. Jets 20 (+7) Atlanta 24. Mike Vick or Vinny T. as QB?