The Kicking Tee

The Kicking Tee

By Bobby G

Week 9



We got our mid-season Super Bowl. The Patriots and Colts are undefeated half way through the season. The Colts have been here before and the Pats are looking like a team for the ages. The Patriots have looked so good that they will be the favorite on the road against a Colt team that is the reigning champ and going on 13 straight wins. They have also beaten the Pats 3 times running. The Hype on this game is in overdrive and I have had my fill already. Is Randy Moss really having a good season?

The squad that will be overlooked the most, if that will be possible, is Colts D. Bob Sanders is healthy and he is the cog that makes the machine run in Indy. Of course the Patriot offense will be their toughest test ever. They are not only a great team, but they are firing on all cylinders. No team is as good as they look on their best day, so we will see if Sanders et. al. can slow the tsunami. The game should be a shoot out with those top dollar QB’s looking to impress. In that environment it might be a defensive play that wins the game.

Brady has been as protected as any QB could dare to wish for. Dwight Freeney will have to earn his big contract. The New England passing game that has been all-world will come back to earth in a game where Brady is pressured and harried. Ron Meeks will have to pull out all the stops and devise a Defensive Game Plan that confuses and most importantly knocks Brady on his can. If not expect more of the same and Peyton Manning taking a swipe at stealing the game with 15 seconds left.

So do you take the Pats until they lose or do you go with a winner in Indy? Indy and New England both have winning pedigrees. The Colts are at home, getting points and have clipped Bill in their last three meetings. Bill looks like a man possessed after that embarrassing Spygate episode. Brady has to be chomping at the chance to take a big league in the best QB ever argument. He is well ahead of the pace on Peyton’s TD record. Peyton, I am sure, does not want to abdicate so easily. It this the year that somebody else takes a run at Miami and their champagne bottles? What a game!

Colts at home with the points put an end to this madness.


Is anybody else playing this week?

The Pack had a rousing win on Monday night and are 6 and 1. That has to be the most unlikely start to this season . Their running game is on their third rookie. Farve is, as Greg Jennings put it, 70. I, for one, am glad to see that a gunslinger can still get it done in the NFL. This week they get an almost as surprising Kansas City crew that is 4 and 3 and atop their division.

I was killing Herm at the start of this season and he has shut this naysayer up. They beat Cincy and Oakland and took a week off. The friction with Larry is long forgotten as he has run for over a hundred and a TD in the last two games. Dwayne Bowe has emerged as a receiving threat to go along side Tony G. The Chiefs are always better at home and Green Bay is the visiting club. The spread is 2 and a half for the Pack so you can get points with a 6 and 1 team in this game. This week is freak week, no doubt.

I am going to diversify my picks this week and lay these points. KC at home to put a bump in the Lambeau fairy tale road.

So the nightmare came true in New England. Worst Joe Gibbs loss ever. Press conferences about running it up and embarrassing a HOF coach. No Candy on Halloween for the Skins.

As far as the running up thing goes, Belichick did. But the QB sneak on 4th and almost 3 screams stop me. When a defense, and a good one, just folds, who is to blame? Al Saunders that is who. Even after that disaster the Skins are 12th in Total Defense. They are 28th in Total Offense. At 4 and 3 the good news is that they can make a move in the NFC. The bad news is the Al Saunders is still working for the team. If he can’t get it rolling against the 1 and 7 Jet squad then a change must be made. Gibbs deserves better then this, even if it is his fault. I am almost at the point that I want a loss just to turn up the flame on this administration. Problem is the Jets can’t win. And 5 and 3 is alive in this division. Come on Al. Make me eat my words.



Happy Halloween. Dress up like the 52X at grazianimal@columnist.com