Week 3: Holy $%#& !!

Wow. This week was nuts.

Three overtime finishes in the early games. A whole lot of comebacks and near-comebacks. The insane debacle that was the Patriots-Ravens game looked like it was going to be the biggest bucket of crazy and absolutely ridiculous we would see.

via Fake ESPN

But then Monday Night Football came, and THIS happened.

Complete insanity.

This should be a fun week to talk about.

Before I get to the post though, I have a question for anyone who reads my blog. I believe that referees should be held as accountable to the media as players are, meaning referees should have to do postgame interviews if it is requested by journalists covering the game. I have felt that way ever since U.S. soccer was screwed during the World Cup. MLB umpire Jim Joyce owned up to his bad call a couple seasons ago when he cost a pitcher a perfect game.

My (hugely hypothetical) question: If the policy was in effect, should these replacement referees be held accountable to the media so they can explain their decisions, even though they are not the actual employed officials? Just wondering.

Anyway, my thoughts on each game after the jump.

Week 3 Picks and Everything that matters (to me) in the NFL

So after a crazy Week 2, due to both results and terrible calls, most of the talk now is about the scab replacement referees. Their inability to control the games and the fact that every player and coach can intimidate them, along with some highly questionable calls, has led to many a fan saying things like "they're going to make the real refs VERY wealthy."

A common opinion is that the performance of the replacement refs plays a big role in the negotiations between the NFL and the referees. After Week 1, the replacements did a sufficient job, leading some to believe the NFL had the advantage. After this past week, the belief is the referees have the upperhand because the league needs them back. If the lack of control in games continues, there will be more fights, more uncalled dirty plays and, potentially, more injuries.

Well my opinion may not be so common. My belief? The NFL does...not...care. The NFL cares about as much when it comes to the replacements' performance as Jay Cutler does about Bears fans. Fans can whine and moan; coaches can complain; players can keep starting fights and calling other players "dirty." As long as ratings stay good (which they have been over the past couple weeks), and the money keeps rolling in (which it will), the NFL will not give ground in their negotiations.

My advice? As long as your team is not affected by the bad calls and none of your fantasy players get hurt, enjoy the replacement refs. They do add some chaos and humor to the games that do not involve your team. Call it optimism, call it being a terrible fan, call it whatever. They're not going anywhere.

Anyway, Week 3 picks, extra points, and belated division/playoff picks after the jump.

Week 2 Reaction ("Where is Week 1?" - no one)

So out of the eight divisions, I managed to preview just one. I also had an idea to post my own "Overreaction Monday" segment after the Week 1 games, but that did not happen either. Hey, you know whose blog this is.

Amen

So basically I'm going to stop promising future posts. For now, let's talk about the quasi-weirdness that was Week 2 in the NFL.

Week 1 Pick 'Em (Probably won't even be close)

NFL Week 1:
Home team in bold

NY Giants over Dallas

Yeah I got that one wrong. Not a good start.

Chicago over Indianapolis

- It's going to be a rough start for the Andrew Luck era having to avoid Julius Peppers in his first regular season game.

Philadelphia over Cleveland
New England over Tennessee
Kansas City over Atlanta

- I think the Chiefs will surprise some people this year. That includes Matt Ryan and the Falcons in Week 1.

Minnesota over Jacksonville

- Wow. This game is going to be terrible. 

New Orleans over Washington

- Poor, poor Robert Griffin III. The Saints felt angry and targeted by Roger Goodell before this game. Now, the suspended players won a major battle with the appeals panel. The Superdome and the Saints are going to be in a frenzy, and RG3 is in the warpath. 

Buffalo over NY Jets

- This joke of a season for the Jets starts with a home-opening loss to the improved Bills. T-minus four weeks before Tebow takes over for Sanchez?

Detroit over St. Louis
Houston over Miami
Green Bay over San Francisco

- In my opinion, this is hands-down the game of the week. The two best teams in the NFC last year (record-wise) face off in the first week? Awesome.

Seattle over Arizona
Carolina over Tampa Bay
Denver over Pittsburgh

- The Steelers are going to fall a bit this year. Like many football fans, I'm anxious to see what Peyton Manning can really do after his year-long hiatus from the field.

Monday Night Football
Baltimore over Cincinnati
Oakland over San Diego

NFC East: The Hype Division?

Color me impressed, Cowboys fans.

I went into Wednesday thinking the result of the Cowboys-Giants game would play no factor in my picks for the NFC East and the playoffs as a whole. The main reason was because I was convinced the Giants were going to win that game. After all, no Super Bowl champion had lost the opening regular season game since 1999 when Elway retired from the Broncos.

But I was also convinced the Giants were the better team. Last time the Giants won the Super Bowl, they went from wild card team to division winner. It seemed to me they were going to do that again. After all, the main pieces of the team are still there, and the Giants' defense is top-notch right?

Now I'm not saying the Giants defense isn't top-notch, but Dallas reminded me of something very important: just because you have incredible talent in your defensive line doesn't mean your defense as a whole will be good. But more on that further down.

I can say before I was going to pick the Giants to win the NFC East, or at least be a wild card team. Now ... I may have to change my mind. Division preview after the jump.

Why the NFL is King

Three cheers for laziness. Hip, hip ... I don't feel like saying the last one.

Yeah, it was July when I last posted, but I'm back with a new post. I'm hoping to get an NFL Preview posted over the next few days going division by division. To get things rolling, I want to talk about how great (American) football is.

Better late than never?

This is a good start to me blogging again. I'm three days late on this blog. My bad.

For starters, I want to say my thoughts and prayers are with those affected by the terrible shooting in Aurora, Colo. It reminds us that there are things far more important in this world than sports. Luckily, we still have sports to escape from terrible events like that.

After watching the video where media members try to ask questions to the shooter's dad, I remember one of the big reasons why I chose to be a sports journalists rather than another kind of journalist. Sports journalists (almost) never have to ask the tough questions in the terrible situations

Anyway, this week I'm taking it a little lighter due to my tardiness and Internet problems, so here are my thoughts on the Penn State sanctions.

Penn State Sanctions Levied 

So it appears the Freeh Report was not the last bit of news to come out of Penn State. The NCAA levied its penalties against Penn State today, and the university finally made a decision about Joe Paterno's statue ... before changing its mind a couple days later.

"About damn time"

It's been about 2 years since I posted here. In that time, all my sportswriting went to the Baylor Lariat, both as a reporter and the sports editor. Now I'm graduated and I feel like I need to get back to it. (And yes, I quoted LeBron James in the title. Don't judge me, I think it makes sense).

So here's what I hope to do from now on: I want to pick out five topics (insert catchy, clever name including "five" that I haven't though of yet) in the sports world each week and then make a post each Saturday, just putting down my thoughts on this page.

As I've said before on this page, I love getting feedback, either about which topics I should discuss, the presentation/layout of this blog, or my writing style.

Anyway, to get things rolling, this week I'm talking about everything Penn State, Queen Howard, the unnecessary and overblown Dream Team debate, Drew Breeeeeeess, and a former Baylor player jumping into the NFL.

Penn State Investigation

The Freeh Report was released Thursday, and while I don't have the complete details of the dozens and dozens of pages within the report, I think we all caught the gist of it. Penn State did far more than just ignore the crimes of former defensive coordinator turned convicted pedophile Jerry Sandusky; it appears they actually went to great lengths to cover it up. The late Joe Paterno, legendary head coach of Penn State, as well as the former president, vice president and athletic director were all involved in the coverup since 1998. They knew what Sandusky had done, and instead of doing the obvious and humane thing of turning the man in, they let him have access to the Penn State locker rooms and the youth charity where he found several of his victims.