Category Archives: NFL

NFL Week 7: The Couchletes Pick ‘Em

If you’re not a girlfriend or wife you just have to love Thursday night football. For me, it’s the best of both worlds. We get one game in primetime, which is totally manageable for people with kids and a career. In being just one game, we’re not overwhelmed trying to take in game action from across the country, flipping channel to channel or settling in for a long Red Zone viewing stint. But it’s still football and it makes it feel like the weekend, reminding us all that, yes, there is still one more business day in the week left but ONLY ONE!

Last week’s games threw our experts for a loop. The “any given Sunday” mantra could be heard loud and clear. Starting with last Thursday’s game where the Titans, yes those Titans, defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers by a field goal. I know, twilight zone material right there. The Browns, YES THOSE BROWNS, actually won a game – the first of 29-year-old rookie quarterback Brandon Weeden’s career and a shameful display by a 2011 playoff team, the Bengals.

Some weekly standbys s***t the bed, including the 49ers, Cowboys (though we knew they’d find a way to lose), Patriots, and Texans; not to mention the incredible comeback by Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos (I hate you, Phillip Rivers). Since we do a weekly power ranking of the top five teams in the league, these outcomes were all noteworthy to us and things we didn’t necessarily anticipate; though, they’re what make us love the sport so much.

The question we’re asking these days is: How good is your good?

Regardless of a recent loss or not, the rest of this season will be dictated by overall strength and consistency, not to mention health, not a few good performances against bad teams. Parody has never been greater in the league.

With that, here are week 7 picks from the rest of my fellow Couchletes.

Match-up Kevin Ryan Rahul Hoa Mark
@SF vs. SEA SF SF SF SF SF
@BUF vs. TEN BUF TEN BUF BUF BUF
@IND vs. CLE IND CLE IND IND IND
GB vs. @STL GB GB GB GB GB
@MIN vs. ARI MIN MIN ARI MIN MIN
@NYG vs. WAS NYG NYG NYG NYG NYG
NO vs. @TB NO NO NO NO TB
DAL vs. @CAR DAL DAL DAL DAL DAL
@HOU vs. BAL HOU HOU HOU HOU BAL
@OAK vs. JAX OAK OAK OAK OAK JAX
@NE v. NYJ NE NE NE NE NE
PIT vs. @CIN PIT PIT PIT PIT PIT
@CHI vs. DET CHI CHI CHI CHI CHI

The Seattle Seahawks: Top of the League or Overrated?

On Sunday the Seattle Seahawks improved to 4-2 by beating the New England Patriots 24-23. After the game, Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman made the following comment to Yahoo! Sports:

“Any time you run a gimmick offense, you’re a little bit afraid — you’re not sound in what you’re doing in your base stuff. You’re running this hurry-up stuff, and there’s a reason it’s not effective, because there are great defenses out there who will stuff it. We figured out early in the game what the calls were, what they were doing, and what the adjustments were. We started executing better, and that’s why they got only six points in the second half.”

Sherman jawed back and forth with New England quarterback Tom Brady throughout the game, and following it, he and Seahawk safety Earl Thomas confronted Brady. As Sherman told the Tacoma News Tribune, the two Seattle defenders communicated to Brady, “We’re greater than you. We’re better than you. You’re just a man — we’re a team.”

Here’s a photo of Sherman approaching Brady following the game.

Classy and respectable approach to one of the game’s greatest players, huh?

Lil Jon Richard Sherman also asserts that Seattle has the best defense in the league. He tweeted about the game and the two teams as well: “Patriots fans mad lol… Talking bout Super Bowl rings…. What have u done lately? Oh ur 3-3 lol”.

The guy does a whole lot of talking, especially for only being a second year player. Richard, the Patriots offense has been one of the league’s best over the past six or seven seasons. It’s not a “gimmick.” Tom Brady was schooling the league while you were still a little freshman in high school. You should also know that you didn’t ‘stuff’ the Pats no huddle offense. In fact, go back and look at your game tape. They ran a no huddle for 25% of their plays or less.

Also, learn some respect. Brady’s a first ballot Hall of Famer. You’ve done nothing in your short career thus far. You’ve won four three eh, we’ll say three and a half games. Brady is a legend with three Super Bowl rings. Were you looking for respect with your comments and actions after that game? I hope not. All you really did was show your immaturity and intelligence. Or actually lack thereof. Typically Stanford people present themselves much better. You really need some perspective (this was ONE game against a non-division opponent) and some self restraint.

But now, Lil Jon Richard, let’s go back to your tweet about the Pats only winning three games. How many games have you and your Seahawks won and lost? And what’s the real strength of that record?

You’ve beaten a Dallas team that’s struggled heavily on offense and on the road this year. You beat Carolina, a team that’s having difficulties in Cam Newton’s second year and coached by Ron Rivera (we’re now seeing why he never got any of those head coaching jobs he had been interviewing for when he was the Bears defensive coordinator). Then you beat New England in a game where they really seemed to beat themselves more than you beat them. You lost on the road to an Arizona team that doesn’t look quite as good now as it did after the first three weeks of the season. You also lost on the road to St. Louis, which I would say is an average team. They have a solid defense, but no playmakers on offense. You also of course had a loss win loss against the Packers. Some people put an asterisk next to that “win.” I’m one of those people since it led me to write a letter to Roger Goodell that resulted in the reinstatement of the NFL’s official referees.

I looked into the Seahawks defensive stats and had planned on listing them in this post to analyze. But then I realized, why bother? Look at these teams – Dallas, Carolina, Arizona, St. Louis. Those are some poor, poor playing offensive teams. Seattle played the Packers when Green Bay was struggling to really figure out what it was doing. Packers coach Mike McCarthy actually put a game plan together that seemed to be better suited for Seattle’s defense than Green Bay’s offense. Russell Wilson earned a win for throwing an interception, maybe the NFL should give McCarthy a win for the brilliant game plan he devised…for Seattle.

The only team Seattle has played that has a good offense is New England. Sherman and his teammates on the Seahawks D gave up 475 yard of offense to Brady and the Patriots in that game. That’s a top tier defense? I don’t think we’d see the Niners, Vikings or Bears doing that. The Ravens only gave up 396 yards to New England in week three.

I feel like the media has greatly exaggerated how “great” Seattle’s defense is because they’re looking at stats against sub-par opponents. They’re also looking too heavily at that eight sack first half against Green Bay where McCarthy and the Packer offensive line did everything short of rolling out a red carpet leading to an already prone Aaron Rodgers.

Look at the broader picture here, mainstream media. What would you say is the strength of this defense? Pass rushing is what I think most would respond with, citing Chris Clemons and Bruce Irvin. I think many forget, or don’t even realize, that Irvin isn’t a starter. Red Bryant is the starting defensive end opposite Clemons. Why? Because Irvin is undersized. He’s a liability against the run. Irvin is closer to the size of an outside linebacker in a 3-4, but Seattle plays a base 4-3 with Irvin on the line as an end. The problem is he’s smaller than nearly all defensive ends in a 4-3. He’s also smaller than a number of outside linebackers in a 3-4. He’s a tweener and Seattle is essentially playing him as a one down defensive end in more obvious passing situations. Bryant is the regular end because he’s bigger and stronger and can stop the run.

So if pass rushing isn’t Seattle’s real strength, maybe it’s stopping the run. They haven’t allowed a 100 yard game yet after all. The most they’ve allowed is 87, which came on Sunday against new England. Look again at who they’ve played though. None of those teams is a strong running team. We’ll see how their run defense stands up against San Francisco this coming Sunday.

So it has to be pass defense. That’s their strength. I guess by default, you’d call it their strength right now since no one besides Brady lit them up. But then again, none of those other quarterbacks have really lit it up against anyone this year, minus Rodgers this past Sunday against Houston. That one doesn’t count though since McCarthy developed his first half game plan from the Seattle point of view rather than Green Bay’s.

Seattle has had a fairly favorable schedule through the first six weeks and to their credit, they’ve made the most of it. However, looking at the rest of the schedule, I see an 8-8 team. The Seahawks play much better at home than on the road (see: struggles against Carolina, Arizona and St. Louis) and they have some tough road games remaining.

The team lacks leadership and I have a feeling Sherman’s comments may be the tipping point into that becoming more obvious. They don’t seem to have veteran leadership. A team like the Ravens would never allow Sherman or any other rookie to get away with that kind of criticism of Tom Brady. Pete Carroll has never been a good leader of professionals. It’s why he largely failed in previous NFL stints. He’s a college guy. Ra! Ra! Ra! That works in college. He’s comfortable with it. Why do you think he’s surrounded himself with a lot of young players. Because older veterans may not buy into the philosophy as much. But we’re seeing the kinks in the armor. A team that’s really strong at home, but struggles on the road with inferior opponents? That’s the making of a college football team.

Seattle is 4-2, yes, but let’s not make them into world beaters just yet. Talk to me when they’ve won something. Like a playoff spot or even better, a playoff game. Until then, Lil Jon Richard Sherman, Seattle fans and the short sighted media…give me a break.

Photo Credit: Elaine Thompson, AP

By Kevin York
Follow Kevin on Twitter at @kevin_york

NFL Week 6: The Couchletes Pick ‘Em

While Cam Newton may love him some him, we love us some FOOTBALL. It doesn’t get much better than football in the fall – the crisp, colder air, the smell of fire, pumpkin spice latte’s (which means we’re close to egg nog season!), seasonal beers (Kevin is frothing at the mouth) and baseball almost out of the way. It’s a great time of year.

Don’t get me wrong, I love baseball and my Oakland A’s, but the MLB is doing it wrong with scheduling whereas the NFL has really figured out how to dominated year-round, but I’ll save that for another post. Oh, and the NHL is practically done for the year. Well done, guys.

As we look back now on a very gutsy, inspired and Chuckstrong performance by the Indianapolis Colts led by RoY frontrunner Andrew Luck, yet another trouncing by the 49ers, and solid performances by the Texans and Falcons to remain unbeaten, it’s hard not to get misty-eyed at the thought of being more than a quarter of the way through the season. I think we all kind of smiled when the Jets lost again, though. Good job, good effort, guys.

Last week’s picks surfaced yet another champion, or should I say championS. Kevin, who is clearly trying to be me (the leading picker this season so far), tied me for the most correct picks with 10 out of 14. This week is shaping up to be a great one with a couple of our experts taking fliers on a few teams and others seemingly picking against the grain hoping to hit it big.

Will the pick risks be worth it? Will the Jets actually win a home game before they have to start Tebow over Sanchise? Only time will tell. Here are Week 6 picks.

Match-up Kevin Ryan Rahul Hoa Mark
PIT vs. @TEN PIT PIT PIT PIT PIT
@ATL vs. OAK ATL ATL ATL ATL ATL
CIN vs. @CLE CLE CLE CIN CIN CLE
@MIA vs. STL MIA MIA MIA MIA STL
@NYJ vs. IND NYJ NYJ IND IND IND
@PHI vs. DET PHI PHI DET DET PHI
@TB vs. KC TB TB TB TB KC
@BAL vs. DAL BAL BAL BAL BAL BAL
@ARI vs. BUF ARI ARI ARI ARI ARI
NE vs. @SEA NE NE NE NE NE
@SF vs. NYG SF SF SF SF SF
@WAS vs. MIN MIN MIN MIN WAS MIN
@HOU vs. GB HOU HOU HOU HOU HOU
@SD vs. DEN DEN DEN DEN DEN DEN

Choose Me as Your Fantasy Football Commissioner

Fantasy football the way it should be run in 2012…

I’ve been playing fantasy football for ten years. I’m currently in two fantasy football leagues. One is with a group of guys I work with and used to work with. The other is with a group of guys (and a couple girls) that I’m friends with. There aren’t that many differences in the two leagues. They’re run similarly, the scoring is comparable, rosters are built in the same fashion.

For some reason I’ve been thinking about fantasy football a lot more this year. Not my team. Not trades or waiver wire pick-ups or analyzing player stats. I’ve been thinking about the actual structure of fantasy football. It seems that most leagues are run the same way they were ten years ago. Yet the game has changed greatly from the way it was played in 2002 to the way it’s played now. Technology has improved. Statistical analysis has improved (and is much more readily available). So why are we still playing this game the same way when we could be playing it in a way that lines up much closer with the way the game is played in the NFL?

This is an open letter recruiting people to be in a fantasy football league with me next year, where as commissioner, I will bring the game into the year 2012. Want to join the league? Read my proposal and let us know by dropping us an email at TheCouchletes@gmail.com. If for some reason there’s huge interest, I’ll have to limit it to the first 11 people I hear from.
——————————————

Dear fellow Fantasy Football player,

The time has come for change. A change from the norm. A change in the way we’re playing fantasy football. A change to a model that more closely resembles the way the NFL works and an NFL franchise is run. It’s being done on Madden. Why don’t we do it with a fantasy league?

This is my proposal. This is my recommendation. This could be our 2013 fantasy football league…

—The league will be a dynasty league. We’ll keep all players from 2013 to 2014 and the years following. If, for some reason, someone decides to not play the next year, someone will inherit a current team.

—The exchange of money will be handled via PayPal and posted to a site like Splitwise so everyone in the league can see the status of money owed. Seems like handling physical money and trying to keep track of it always gets messy, so we’ll be doing it completely online.

—Draft order for the first draft will be determined randomly. The order for all drafts following the first will be determined by the previous year’s finish. The team that finished last will draft first, the champion will draft last. It will operate this way for all rounds. There will be no snaking.

—The draft will be done online. People within close proximity of each other will be encouraged to draft together at one physical location (though it’s not mandatory), but you will make all your selections online yourself.

—All drafts following the inaugural draft, we will only draft players that were taken in that spring’s NFL draft. So we’ll be drafting college players. There will be 6 rounds for each year’s ‘college’ draft.

—All drafts after the inaugural draft will be held in late summer. The inaugural draft will be held after the first two pre-season games of 2013.

—We will use the pre-season to determine our final rosters. Team owners will have the option of keeping players from their past season’s team or keeping newly drafted rookies. Either is fine, but teams will be cut down to a maximum roster size of 26 players following the final pre-season game, which means everyone will drop 6 players.

—The rosters will look like this:

Offensive Starters
QB:
Offensive Flex (RB, WR or TE):
Offensive Flex:
Offensive Flex:
Offensive Flex:
Offensive Flex:

Defensive Starters
DT:
DE:
DE:
Defensive Flex (DE or LB):
LB:
LB:
LB:
FS:
SS:
CB:
CB:

Special Teams Starters
K:
P:

Bench
7 bench players

That’s right. We won’t be forcing you to play a running back in this passing era. After all, it’s not 2002. The days of Shaun Alexander, Priest Holmes and Marshall Faulk racking up huge fantasy weeks is gone. It’s a passing league. A number of teams rarely use a RB in their offensive scheme, more and more are using two TEs. Of course there are others, like San Francisco or Baltimore, that focus on the run (it’s a Harbaugh thing, I guess). It should be your choice how you want to build your team.

We also won’t be forcing you to pick one defensive team. That system is flawed and dated. A team could allow 20 points and lose, but have 2 INTs, 3.5 sacks and 2 fumble recoveries and still give you a good number of points. Meanwhile, another team could win, allow 3 points by just playing solid defense, have no INTs, no fumble recoveries and maybe 2 sacks and give you less points than a team that lost. A poor system – so we won’t be dealing with it. Individual players will give you tackles, sacks, tackles for loss, INTs, fumbles forced, fumble recoveries, etc. No defensive ‘team’ also means that punt and kick returns will count for the individual players.

The Defensive Flex position will allow you to build your defense as you like – either a 3-4 or a 4-3.

Yes, you see a punter included. Punters will receive points for pinning opponents within the 5 yard line, within the 10 yard line and on a sliding scale based on length of the punt. If a punt goes a short distance and isn’t a pinning situation, you could lose points.

—Each owner will be allowed one in-game substitution. So if your QB gets hurt in the first quarter and you have another QB on your bench you can sub that player in. Or, let’s say you have Reggie Bush and he’s resorted to playing like 2009 Reggie, you have the option to replace him. However, you can only substitute using a player on your bench at the beginning of that week’s games. So if your QB gets hurt and you don’t have one on the bench, you’re screwed. You can’t go pick one up.

So that’s it. A fantasy football league for 2012. A league that will allow for more strategy. A league for us. Who’s with me?

Your future commissioner,
Kevin

By Kevin York
Follow Kevin on Twitter at @kevin_york

NFL Week 5: The Couchletes Pick ‘Em

Week 4 of the NFL season was one to remember. The 49ers absolutely steamrolled an injury- and inept-quarterback-prone Jets team despite having to travel cross-country for the game. The surprising Arizona Cardinals took care of business against the Eagles to remain unbeaten. The Patriots looked shaky in the first half but righted the ship and destroyed a hopeful Bills team with 31 4th quarter points; a Bills team that Kevin maintains was “built to beat the Pats.” The Raiders were, well … The Raiders were the Raiders and got their asses handed to them by Denver. And the Packers. Ohhhh, Packers. You are going to drive Kevin to the bottle if you keep this up.

All in all, it was a great week of NFL football. It was also one that saw a new champion emerge among us Couchletes. With the help of some picks that seemed straight up illogical at the time of publishing, Rahul took this week with 14 of 15 correct picks. Despite this momentary burst of brilliance, Ryan snatched the overall lead with a total of 20 out of 31 correct picks. Don’t hate, Rahul.

With that, I think we all agree that we’re looking forward to Week 5 where the slimmest of margins will likely produce yet another weekly winner. It was tough to pick against the favorites this week but as they say, any given Sunday.

Match-up Kevin Ryan Rahul Hoa Mark
ARI vs. @STL ARI ARI ARI ARI ARI
@CIN vs. MIA CIN CIN CIN CIN CIN
GB vs. @IND GB GB GB GB GB
BAL vs. @KC BAL BAL BAL BAL BAL
@NYG vs. CLE NYG NYG NYG NYG NYG
@PIT vs. PHI PIT PIT PIT PIT PHI
ATL vs. @WAS ATL ATL ATL ATL ATL
@CAR vs. SEA CAR CAR SEA CAR SEA
CHI vs. @JAX CHI CHI CHI CHI CHI
@MIN vs. TEN MIN MIN TEN MIN MIN
@NE vs. DEN NE NE DEN DEN NE
@SF vs. BUF SF SF SF SF SF
@NO vs. SD NO NO SD SD SD
HOU vs. @NYJ HOU HOU HOU HOU HOU

NFL Week 4: The Couchletes Pick ‘Em

Today is a great day! Not only is it another football day (yes, ladies, football in on TV Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays and sometimes Thursdays), it’s the first day back for the real referees. A glorious day to be sure and one we know our very own Kevin York will be celebrating by continuing to watch NFL games. Kev – We all knew that quitting the NFL was just an empty threat anyway.

That said, I think we all will join Kevin in soundly and wholly, with authority and anger, rejecting the commissioner’s apology for the referee lockout. Suck it, Roger. You’re no one’s homeboy now.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, without further ado, I present Week 4 of The Couchletes’ NFL picks.

We have some great split decisions from our experts this week. The games with the most differing opinions to keep an eye on are: Detroit vs. Minnesota, San Diego vs. Kansas City, Seattle vs. St. Louis, and Dallas vs. Chicago.

Match-up Kevin Ryan Rahul Hoa Mark
@BAL vs. CLE BAL BAL BAL BAL BAL
@ATL vs. CAR ATL ATL ATL ATL ATL
NE vs. @BUF NE NE NE BUF NE
@DET vs. MIN DET DET MIN MIN DET
@KC vs. SD KC SD SD SD KC
SEA vs. @STL STL STL SEA SEA STL
SF vs. @NYJ SF SF SF SF SF
@HOU vs. TENN HOU HOU HOU HOU HOU
@DEN vs. OAK DEN DEN DEN DEN DEN
@ARI vs. MIA ARI ARI ARI ARI ARI
CIN vs. @JAX CIN CIN CIN CIN CIN
@GB vs. NO GB GB GB GB GB
@TB vs. WAS TB WAS WAS WAS WAS
@PHI vs. NYG NYG NYG PHI NYG NYG
@DAL vs. CHI DAL CHI CHI DAL CHI

Kevin is the leader after Week 3 with nine correct picks. He’s somehow under the impression he wins something for that, and I think we’re all content to continue letting him believe that. There’s only one champion, Kevin.

By Ryan Lack
Follow Ryan on Twitter at @ryanlack

Dear Roger Goodell

Dear Roger,

I’m a huge fan of NFL football. I have been my entire life. I’m a Packer fan, but I’ll watch any NFL game. I’ve just always enjoyed the final product that much. My dad’s a Bears fan, but I can remember as a kid watching lots of different games with him Sunday afternoons and Sunday nights – Broncos, Steelers, 49ers. As a family, we always had the Lions and Cowboys games on TV during Thanksgiving gatherings. Me (a Packers fan), my dad and brother (Bears fans) and my uncle (a Colts fan) would watch the games together, regardless of who was playing. You see, it didn’t matter who was playing. We just loved football.

When you became NFL commissioner, I thought you were a great choice. I may have been slightly biased. I’m a PR guy. You started as a PR guy. It gave all of us PR guys the thought, the hope, that we could actually have a sports management job at some point in our career. Of course we were dreaming, but you gave guys like me hope. Your first few years as commissioner, you showed that my initial instinct about you was right. I thought you did a great job.

Through three games of this season, you now have me questioning you as a good commissioner. Actually it’s not a question. You’re blowing it. You’ll now be remembered for this more than any of the good you’ve done for the league. This situation with the lockout of the NFL refs has shown a different side of you. It’s not an issue of bettering the game. It’s an ego situation for you (and your owners).

Last night was the most embarrassing situation I’ve seen from the NFL, ever. Worse than bountygate, even worse than when you locked out the players last summer. Last night directly affected the outcome of a game. It affected records. It affected standings. It could affect the playoff picture. And you caused all of this by allowing it to get to this point. Sure, you answer to owners, but you’re also supposed to be a negotiator, someone who looks out for the best interests of the league when owners get focused only on themselves and their team.

Roger, I’m not just talking about that final play, when I say it was an embarrassing situation. You remember, it though, right? The final play? Green Bay safety MD Jennings intercepted Russell Wilson’s hail mary, but your officiating crew gave the touchdown to Golden Tate, a receiver who shoved Packer cornerback Sam Shields to the ground (I believe that’s offensive pass interference, but what do I know?), then got one hand on the ball that Jennings held in both hands and cradled against his chest (that’s possession based on my understanding of football…). No, I’m going further back – the roughing the passer call against Green Bay linebacker Erik Walden (he hit Russell Wilson as the ball was leaving Wilson’s hands – clean hit) and the pass interference call against Shields when he was defending Sidney Rice against a pass down the sideline (Rice actually interfered with the pass on that one, grabbing Shields’ collar and pushing off his head). Those were both blown calls that extended and influenced (via field position…) Seattle’s penultimate and final drives of the game. And it’s not just me saying those were the wrong calls. Jon Gruden, Mike Tirico, Steve Young and Trent Dilfer agreed with both. The whole game was poorly officiated, but those really stuck out as having great influence over the outcome.

It was a slow buildup to this point over the course of the season. The first two weeks showed mistakes, some being fairly large; however, this third week of the season was by far the worst. The replacement refs have affected game momentum (and by extension, games, to a degree) and last night they finally affected the outcome of a game. You affected the outcome of a game.

What you’ve done, what you’ve allowed, and your owners have allowed, is an erosion of the integrity of the game. This isn’t the game we all came to love. Sure, last night’s game directly affected me as a Packer fan, but it goes beyond the Green Bay fan base. The NFC West will be very competitive this year, so so an extra win for Seattle has implications for San Francisco and Arizona. And who knows which team will be affected by poor officiating next week? They had a noticeable affect on the Baltimore-New England game Sunday night too.

You’ve also insulted our intelligence as fans. Don’t tell us there’s no noticeable difference between the real refs and the replacements. We’re smart enough to see it. That’s a slap in the face.

But what can we do as fans? You have all the power. You and your owners. We can’t stand up to that. Or can we?

We actually can, to a degree. As long as you see no change from the fans, you won’t feel any need to change – “they keep watching, why change? Why cave in to the refs?” Well, guess what? I’m not watching anymore. Not until you bring back the real refs that we, as fans, deserve. I’ll read about games online or in the newspaper. I’ll get my information from sources where you don’t get a cut of the advertising money. Christmas is approaching. I have a lot of fans I typically buy NFL merchandise for as gifts – brother, dad, fiancee, future father in law, future nephews, friends, friend’s kids. They won’t be receiving anything having to do with the NFL from me. They’ll get other gifts this year. Maybe I’ll put my money toward the NBA or Major League Baseball. You won’t be receiving any of my money until this ends.

Sure, I’m only one guy, and even with encouraging my friends to follow my lead and take a stand, it won’t be noticeable to you. It’s a small group, not even a blip on your radar. But that doesn’t matter to me. The integrity of the game matters to me. The professionalism. The accuracy. The accountability. I won’t be a part of this mockery. Call me when you bring the real refs back.

Sincerely,
Kevin York

NFL Week 3: The Couchletes Pick ‘Em

In this my first full day in this high-paying role, I’ve been tasked with collecting the team’s weekly NFL game picks. With that I was also asked to whip up a nifty little table to provide some organization to what would otherwise be chaos on the page had I not. Done and done.

So here you have it. A bunch of picks from a bunch of dudes that clearly each think they know more than the other. We’ll be keeping score throughout the season, too, so there’s more at stake than making arbitrary decisions about whether a team will win or lose. These gentlemen will be judged, and harshly, on their ability, or lack thereof, to pick winners correctly.

Match-up Kevin Ryan Rahul Hoa Mark
NYG vs. @CAR NYG NYG NYG NYG NYG
@CHI vs. STL CHI CHI STL CHI CHI
BUF vs. @CLE BUF BUF BUF BUF BUF
@DAL vs. TB DAL TB DAL DAL DAL
DET vs. @TENN DET DET  DET DET DET
@IND vs. JAX IND IND IND IND IND
NYJ vs. @MIA MIA NYJ NYJ MIA MIA
SF vs. @MIN SF SF SF SF SF
@NO vs. KC NO NO NO NO NO
@WAS vs. CIN CIN CIN WAS WAS CIN
PHI vs. @ARI ARI PHI PHI PHI PHI
@SD vs. ATL ATL ATL ATL ATL ATL
HOU vs. @DEN HOU HOU DEN HOU DEN
PITT vs. @OAK PITT PITT PITT PITT PITT
@BAL vs. NE BAL NE NE BAL BAL
GB vs. @SEA GB GB GB GB GB

You may be asking yourself: “But it’s Week 3 and you’re just starting this now?” Yes, yes we are. What of it? We are the definition of men – we’re lazy, focused on things that don’t matter, and generally drink too much and eat poorly. All of those things combined means we were way too busy to worry about Weeks 1 and 2 and, besides, the first two weeks are more like an extension of the preseason anyway.

We’re still deciding on what the season’s winner gets, but so far I’m leaning toward clippings from Kevin’s beard and a fist pound.

By Ryan Lack
Follow Ryan on Twitter at @ryanlack

RE: Dear Kevin

Dear Rahul,

Thanks for your little “letter” to me. I have quite a bit to say in response, so thought it would be best to reply in a blog post rather than a lengthy comment.

Yes, the 49ers won the game. Yes, they looked good, better than the Packers. And yes, I did say the Packers would win.

To say San Francisco “ran all over” the Packers defense isn’t saying much though. You do realize that Green Bay had the worst defense in the league last year, right? Although there was a lot of pre-season hype about this year’s version of that defense being much improved, there wasn’t much evidence of that on Sunday. In fact, the defense actually looked worse. After a lot of thought put into it Sunday night, I came to the conclusion that the Green Bay defensive personnel may not actually fit the 3-4 scheme its playing. The defensive line isn’t taking up the space they’re supposed to and is making the two middle linebackers defend much more rushing territory than they should be.

Additionally, the outside linebackers, while solid pass rushers, simply can’t cover the flats. This is why Alex Smith looked like a Pro Bowler on Sunday. He was throwing a lot of slants and outs. Clay Matthews and Nick Perry simply aren’t quick enough laterally to adequately defend the flats. The runs and dinks and dumps by San Francisco dominated the clock.

Onto your comparison of the San Francisco running game against the Green Bay running game. Uh, there’s no real comparison there. The Packers really attempted nine runs in that game. The box score shows more attempts, but those additional ones were scrambles and broken plays, not real attempts. Comparing the two teams’ running games is like comparing my hair to yours. One is abundant and flowing. The other, well, is an attempt to be there, but…

Rodgers did throw for a ton of yards, but didn’t really look like himself until the final 8 minutes of the game. In fact, the entire Green Bay offense didn’t look like itself until the very end. Was this due to good defense? Somewhat, but not entirely…more on that later.

What I’m really saying with my responses to you is that you shouldn’t get too cocky. We discovered that the Packers were overrated going into the game. Very overrated. So enjoy it for now, but keep some perspective. Over the past few years, the teams that have been hot at the beginning of the year, were not so hot come playoff time – including my Packers last year.

Since you decided to get arrogant about one win, one win….in the first week of the season…, I’ll bring a few things up that might want to make you think twice about how loud you brag about one win. Most of these are deeper issues that may not be obvious to a lot of people. They stuck out to me. I see things that you may not (During the Washington-New Orleans game I commented to my fiancee that the Redskins seemed to be running a modified version of RGIII’s college offense, helping him feel comfortable and leading to his great showing. On Monday, Trent Dilfer made the same comment, almost verbatim on ESPN).

-The referees. That officiating crew was without a doubt the worst one I’ve ever seen. There were so many missed calls, a number of which I’ll touch on lower down this list. Yes, they made bad calls both ways (indeed, they gave the Packers a free touchdown on that Randall Cobb punt return), but for the first 50 minutes of the game, they made (or didn’t make…) bad calls that greatly benefited the 49ers.

-Joe Staley and the referees part II. How many times was that guy allowed to false start? I counted four times on just one drive. A real officiating crew would’ve called those and put some kinks in those long Niner drives. But think beyond game one because, yes, it’s over and it doesn’t matter now. The strength of your offensive line might have some problems when he visits loud stadiums. Lambeau isn’t that loud compared with some other places. Good luck when you visit CenturyLink Field, the Edward Jones Dome and the Superdome. Those places are LOUD.

-Carlos Rogers and the referees part III. Rogers underperformed for his first six season in the league then suddenly had a pro bowl season in his seventh season. After watching his performance against Green Bay I have to ask, was last year a fluke? Did the rest of the defense make Rogers look much better than what he actually is? I ask because the 31 year old looked like he’s lost a step (or two). The wannabe referees missed countless pass interference calls against San Francisco. I felt like every couple minutes when Green Bay was on offense there was a missed call against San Francisco’s secondary. And if you really watched closely, you would’ve seen that a majority of those calls would’ve gone against Rogers – of course, if the referee crew had been a real one, these would’ve been called. If I were an opposing offensive coordinator, I would target Rogers.

-Alex Smith. You said you’re no Alex Smith fan. You probably don’t want to jump on that bandwagon just yet. As I mentioned earlier, Green Bay’s weak defense opened up the flats and also the middle of the field (one of Green Bay’s starting middle linebackers, Desmond Bishop, is hurt and missed the game) to be vulnerable to short slants and outs. That was where Smith did most of his damage – not on deep routes (still his weak spot). Most 3-4 defenses in the NFL are actually built to defend well against that type of passing attack.

-Injuries. San Francisco had remarkable luck in not facing any major injury issues last year. Their depth was never really tested. That type of luck rarely is seen two years in a row. As we get deeper into the season, let’s see how good the Niner reserves are.

I’m not trying to burst your bubble. Ok, yes I am. Coming from a formerly cocky fan, you may want to be careful how arrogant you get over one win in the first week of the season.

Sincerely,
Kevin
Your angry, bitter neighborhood Packers fan

Dear Kevin

Dear Kevin,

It was great to watch the second half of the Packers and 49ers game with you. My Sunday afternoon was awesome. Not only did the 49ers win their season opener against the top seed Green Bay Packers, I won the season opener in our fantasy league. What do Rahul and the 49ers have in common? They’re 1-0. I know you and I didn’t play each other in fantasy this week, but it was symbolic. I beat last year’s number one seed in our league just like my 49ers did. Not to mention, you love the Packers and told me there was no way the Packers would lose at home against the 49ers.

I really enjoyed watching the 49ers run all over the Packers D. If I’m not mistaken, even Kaepernick ran for 17 yards. That’s a little over a third of what the Packers rushed for as a whole. Benson ran for 18 yards. Oh, before I forget, I would like to thank the Packer that pushed Gore into the end zone. I don’t know who it was, but I want them to know that I appreciate it.

As expected Rodgers threw for a ton of yards. Weird though, Rodgers threw for 90 more yards but he ended the game with 1 turnover and a rating of 93. I’m no Alex Smith fan but, even you have to agree that something isn’t right when Alex Smith has zero turnovers against the Packers with a rating of 125. Right?

I have Greg Jennings on my fantasy team too. Unfortunately, he had a quiet game and suffered a groin injury. However, the true beauty of this game was that I could actually cheer for the Packers and Jennings without worrying about the 49ers losing the game. I think the 49ers lead by 2 scores for 75% of the game. Again, I had a great Sunday and Week 1.

Hopefully we can do this again soon. Good luck on Thursday.

Best,
Rahul
You’re friendly neighborhood 49er fan.