Seth's 50 Centers

As in, Where dey defense?

What a pathetic display by the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday. Less than a week after after praising them on this very site for a job well done, the Bengals went out and stunk up the joint in a 51-45 loss in Cleveland.

The game was a joke. Carson Palmer threw for 400 yards and six touchdowns and the Bengals still lost!

Now the one game of the first four that should have been a gimmee is a loss, and the Bengals (1-1) will have to somehow win at Seattle and/or at home against unstoppable New England to remain at or above .500.

People jump to conclusions too much in the NFL. A lot can happen from week to week, hence the solid performance against the Ravens followed by a dud against a team that looked like a junior high squad the week before. Therefore, it’s possible the Bengals can get things tightened up and play better on D, but I’m not sure they can fix it completely. They’ve been exposed and other teams will try to do the same thing to them.

You think Sean Alexander didn’t see Jamal Lewis run all over that defense? Or that Matt Hasselbeck doesn’t believe he’s 10 times the quarterback as Derek Anderson?

Add in the fact the Seahawks lost to Arizona last week and it’s going to be a match up of two desperate teams Sunday.

The glass half-full side of me wants to rationalize it like this: My friend Ben put it great when he said that if a bad team is allowed to hang around they start to believe they can do the job. The Bengals were in that spot a ton in the 1990s. These good teams would roll into town thinking it would be an easy win and all of a sudden they had a dogfight on their hands because they thought they’d roll their helmets out on the field and win.

Even in the first quarter when the Bengals had established a lead it was apparent they weren’t going in for the kill. Rudi Johnson’s fumble gave the Browns and opening and they took it.

Credit to the Browns for the win. Hopefully it never goes down like that again!

NFL Picks

Well, another week in the cellar for me. I don’t really like the view from down here, but what are you going to do? My distaste for the Steelers cost me a win. The fact I thought Carolina actually had a team has cost me two wins.

Here are the results from Week Two:

Brian wins again despite a tie with Jessica. The Monday Night point total was 32 and Brian had 33, while Jessica had 34.

Brian 11-6
Jessica 10-6
The CPA 9-7
Big Game 9-7
Seth 8-8

Oh, and latecomer Diesel submitted his picks in my comments section and actually did better than any of us (11-5). He didn’t pick last week so he’s not in the official contest, but I’ll put his record up against the rest of us. We’ll see if it takes more than a week for him to catch my win total!

Overall standings look like this:

Brian 26-8
Jessica 23-9
Big Game 21-11
The CPA 19-13
Seth 17-15
Diesel 11-5

Week Three

San Diego (1-1) at Green Bay (2-0)
Minnesota (1-1) at Kansas City (0-2)
Buffalo (0-2) at New England (2-0)
Miami (0-2) at NY Jets (0-2)
Detroit (2-0) at Philadelphia (0-2)
San Francisco (2-0) at Pittsburgh (2-0)
St. Louis (0-2) at Tampa Bay (1-1)
Arizona (1-1) at Baltimore (1-1)
Indianapolis (2-0) at Houston (2-0)
Jacksonville (1-1) at Denver (2-0)
Cleveland (1-1) at Oakland (0-2)
Cincinnati (1-1) at Seattle (1-1)
Carolina (1-1) at Atlanta (0-2)
NY Giants (0-2) at Washington (2-0)
Dallas (2-0) at Chicago (1-1)

Monday
Tennessee (1-1) at New Orleans (0-2) Pts.______

Submit your picks through the comments section.

Picks

Jessica
Green Bay (2-0)
Kansas City (0-2)
New England (2-0)
NY Jets (0-2)
Philadelphia (0-2)
Pittsburgh (2-0)
St. Louis (0-2)
Baltimore (1-1)
Indianapolis (2-0)
Jacksonville (1-1)
Cleveland (1-1)
Cincinnati (1-1)
Carolina (1-1)
NY Giants (0-2)
Chicago (1-1)
New Orleans (0-2) (Pts. 31)

The CPA
Green Bay
Minnesota
New England
Miami
Detroit
San Fransico
Tampa Bay
Baltimore
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Oakland
Seattle
Carolina
Washington
Chicago
Tennessee (34)

Brian
Going for a three-peat:

Chargers
Vikings
Patriots
Jets
Eagles
Steelers
Rams
Ravens
Colts
Broncos
Raiders
Seahawks
Panthers
Redskins
Bears
Saints: 22

Big Game
San Diego
Minnesota
New England
Jets
Philly
Pitt
St. Louis
Baltimore
Indy
Jacksonville
Cleveland
Cincinnati
Carolina
Giants
Dallas
New Orleans 43

Seth
San Diego
Minnesota
New England
NY Jets
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Tampa Bay
Baltimore
Indianapolis
Denver
Oakland
Cincinnati
Carolina
NY Giants
Dallas
New Orleans (37)