BlitzBandit
Friend of CTG
First off I want to say thanks to all the ctg mods and members for helping make the transition for us from sportsharks over here go smoothly... hopefully it will pay off for us all in the long run having one site with one same goal... afterall.. we all just want to win....
now that that's out of the way, its on to the matchups....
Playoff Record - 6-4
sides - 3-2
totals - 3-2
Well.. got screwed by Martyball last weekend... I was so close to not playing the SD spread, then at the last second I said FUCK IT.. and then got screwed of course... thanks Marty.. lol.. I bet LT is saying the same thing.. lol.. not that Marty was even out there on the field fucking up the plays.. lol... anyway.. time to shake things off and move on to this week where we have some serious matchups.... I can see both games going either way, but hopefully I got a good grasp on things and things play out like they should.... well.. I least how I hope they should.. lol.
so here we go... kicking things off with the early game...
New Orleans @ Chicago -1.5
If you can get -1 somewhere, do it.. but I will settle for what I got. It seems everyone seems to be on the Saints here. Pretty strange how one season can change alot. If this game would have been played early on in the season like week 2 or 3, the public would be all over the bears here... and the line would have been much heavier... but that's what one season can do when you make the right changes in staff and players. Well.. I'm sure starting off the season the first 5 weeks against teams that didn't make the playoffs helped build momentum for the Saints, but either way, Peyton has done a terrific job in utilizing Brees, Bush, Colston, Horn, and McAllister this season. This team is definitely for real and has become a scoring machine. I can see why the public is drooling all over them... specially when we have seen the Bears defense going the opposite direction.
The Bears won their first seven games by a combined score of 221-69. In their final nine games, they outscored opponents just 206-186, and last week they needed overtime to beat a subpar Seattle team that backed into the playoffs by virtue of playing in the NFL’s weakest division. It's bad enough Rex Grossman has not been consistent at all this season and you don't which Grossman will show up to play, but now the Bears also need to worry about which defense will show up. At about midseason, the bears lost Mike Brown. Then in week 12, his replacement Todd Johnson hurt his ankle. The following week, defensive tackle Tommie Harris tore a hamstring and was lost for the year. Without Harris providing pressure and having a third string safety in the lineup, the Bears defense lost its mojo.. lol. The Cover 2 defense that Chicago uses would depend on the front line to provide the pass rush... that was just not as easily to do without Harris. The Bears went from having 21 ints in the first 12 games to only 3 in the final four. Against the Seahawks last week, Johnson returned and things looked a bit better again.
On the flip side, The Saints had a helluva pass rush themselves.. probably better statistically than the Bears. The Bears had 40 sacks.. only two more than the Saints this season, but actually played against 100 more pass plays than the Saints. One thing I see is the fact that New Orleans has a weak spot in the secondary that CHI has a potential to take advantage of. Even though McKenzie and Craft did good this year, Fred Thomas was burned by alot of top receivers this season... including a 75 yard touchdown to Donte Stallworth last week. If they do not get him some safety help, Bernard Berrian may just have another nice game. I still see this game going low in the total.. Even though I think the first half would make a better under play, I would probably take it for the entire game if I were forced to make a total bet. But I'm not.. so I won't.. lol. I don't really see Bush and McAllister being able to do too much on the ground this week as I think the bears will step things up, but I do see Bush having a good game anyway... probably more as a receiver in the flats.. the Saints will probably have to use some screen passes to him here.. after all, he is what helped them get past the Cowboys when other things were not working out well.
The Bottom line is the Bears can and should win this game... they have a better defense and a better special teams. Even though Bush is a great return man, you can't quite say they have the advantage in that department when the Bears have Devin Hester.
The key will not be Grossman in this game.. although he does need to play mistake free.. I think the key is going to be how the Bears defense plays. If they can bring back their early season form for this one, the Saints are going to have some problems. Kinda reminds me when the Bears plays the Panthers during the regular season last year.. the entire public was all over Steve Smith and the Panthers... but in the end, even though Steve Smith had about 100 yards.. hell more if I remember correctly.. lol.. he did not get in the endzone and it was a 13-10 type Chicago win. I have no reason to think New Orleans cannot be shut down here. Maybe not fully, but enough for the Bears to run with Thomas and Benson as needed and win the game... probably off a Robbie Gould field goal.... either way.. I'm taking the Bears and considering the Under...
coming back in a bit to throw out my AFC game...
comments welcome...
gl to all who are on this game.
now that that's out of the way, its on to the matchups....
Playoff Record - 6-4
sides - 3-2
totals - 3-2
Well.. got screwed by Martyball last weekend... I was so close to not playing the SD spread, then at the last second I said FUCK IT.. and then got screwed of course... thanks Marty.. lol.. I bet LT is saying the same thing.. lol.. not that Marty was even out there on the field fucking up the plays.. lol... anyway.. time to shake things off and move on to this week where we have some serious matchups.... I can see both games going either way, but hopefully I got a good grasp on things and things play out like they should.... well.. I least how I hope they should.. lol.
so here we go... kicking things off with the early game...
New Orleans @ Chicago -1.5
If you can get -1 somewhere, do it.. but I will settle for what I got. It seems everyone seems to be on the Saints here. Pretty strange how one season can change alot. If this game would have been played early on in the season like week 2 or 3, the public would be all over the bears here... and the line would have been much heavier... but that's what one season can do when you make the right changes in staff and players. Well.. I'm sure starting off the season the first 5 weeks against teams that didn't make the playoffs helped build momentum for the Saints, but either way, Peyton has done a terrific job in utilizing Brees, Bush, Colston, Horn, and McAllister this season. This team is definitely for real and has become a scoring machine. I can see why the public is drooling all over them... specially when we have seen the Bears defense going the opposite direction.
The Bears won their first seven games by a combined score of 221-69. In their final nine games, they outscored opponents just 206-186, and last week they needed overtime to beat a subpar Seattle team that backed into the playoffs by virtue of playing in the NFL’s weakest division. It's bad enough Rex Grossman has not been consistent at all this season and you don't which Grossman will show up to play, but now the Bears also need to worry about which defense will show up. At about midseason, the bears lost Mike Brown. Then in week 12, his replacement Todd Johnson hurt his ankle. The following week, defensive tackle Tommie Harris tore a hamstring and was lost for the year. Without Harris providing pressure and having a third string safety in the lineup, the Bears defense lost its mojo.. lol. The Cover 2 defense that Chicago uses would depend on the front line to provide the pass rush... that was just not as easily to do without Harris. The Bears went from having 21 ints in the first 12 games to only 3 in the final four. Against the Seahawks last week, Johnson returned and things looked a bit better again.
On the flip side, The Saints had a helluva pass rush themselves.. probably better statistically than the Bears. The Bears had 40 sacks.. only two more than the Saints this season, but actually played against 100 more pass plays than the Saints. One thing I see is the fact that New Orleans has a weak spot in the secondary that CHI has a potential to take advantage of. Even though McKenzie and Craft did good this year, Fred Thomas was burned by alot of top receivers this season... including a 75 yard touchdown to Donte Stallworth last week. If they do not get him some safety help, Bernard Berrian may just have another nice game. I still see this game going low in the total.. Even though I think the first half would make a better under play, I would probably take it for the entire game if I were forced to make a total bet. But I'm not.. so I won't.. lol. I don't really see Bush and McAllister being able to do too much on the ground this week as I think the bears will step things up, but I do see Bush having a good game anyway... probably more as a receiver in the flats.. the Saints will probably have to use some screen passes to him here.. after all, he is what helped them get past the Cowboys when other things were not working out well.
The Bottom line is the Bears can and should win this game... they have a better defense and a better special teams. Even though Bush is a great return man, you can't quite say they have the advantage in that department when the Bears have Devin Hester.
The key will not be Grossman in this game.. although he does need to play mistake free.. I think the key is going to be how the Bears defense plays. If they can bring back their early season form for this one, the Saints are going to have some problems. Kinda reminds me when the Bears plays the Panthers during the regular season last year.. the entire public was all over Steve Smith and the Panthers... but in the end, even though Steve Smith had about 100 yards.. hell more if I remember correctly.. lol.. he did not get in the endzone and it was a 13-10 type Chicago win. I have no reason to think New Orleans cannot be shut down here. Maybe not fully, but enough for the Bears to run with Thomas and Benson as needed and win the game... probably off a Robbie Gould field goal.... either way.. I'm taking the Bears and considering the Under...
coming back in a bit to throw out my AFC game...
comments welcome...
gl to all who are on this game.
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