I made the mistake of thinking the Titans-Jaguars Thursday Night matchup would be a good game. Never making that mistake again.
Week 11’s Primetime games are the best on paper in a year that’s been lacking in anticipated matchups. Covered are Cincinnati vs. Arizona and Buffalo Vs. New England
Sunday Night Preview: Carson Palmer Meets Some Old Friends
The same can be said for Jermaine Gresham, who was on the Bengals last year, but the main story is MVP Candidate Carson Palmer facing off against his former team.
Luckily, public reception won’t be an issue for the signal caller, as the game takes place in Phoenix. The Bengals and Cardinals are two of the best teams and offenses this season, showing plenty of excitement in the pass and run (Jeremy Hill excluded).
Despite Palmer’s recent excellent level of play, I can’t blame the Bengals for moving on from him back in 2011. The relationship was getting stale, and both parties needed to go their separate ways. Palmer’s coming off a tough but thrilling Sunday Night performance at Seattle, continuing his MVP caliber season.
Palmer’s also doing stuff like this on the deep ball.
The key to this matchup for Arizona is shutting down Tyler Eifert. Aside from a lousy Monday Night effort (pun?) in which he dropped 3 passes, he’s been fantastic this season. Of course, that just means more attempts for accuracy eraser AJ Green, so it’s another problem. Dalton has been off to the best start of his career, but he and the Bengals offense were off sync Monday. On the road makes it tougher.
In order to prevent themselves from “SUCKING IT”, Cincinnati must force the Cardinals to pass underneath. Palmer has been terrific on the deep ball this season, and his display of weapons in Larry Fitzgerald and Michael Floyd confirm this. Preventing the deep ball is huge for Cincinnati if they want to win this game.
With homefield advantage and BB guns in mind, I think the Cardinals have the edge. This should be a very good game between two great offenses though.
Monday Night Preview: Rex Ryan’s Gotta Say It, Not Spray It
The Buffalo Bills haven’t been this relevant in forever, and the New England Patriots hope to make their playoff hopes troubling on Monday Night in Foxboro.
The Patriots barely escaped last week against the Kryptonite of the New York Giants. Julian Edelman is out for some time, and Brady, having one of the best seasons of his future HOF career, nearly gave the game away at the end on a dropped interception.
And that’s the story of how New England is 9-0.
Tyrod Taylor hasn’t been great, but when asked to do things has played well this year, possessing solid scrambling and touch on the deep ball as well. In week 2 against NE, he threw 3 INT to 3 TD, but played fine, as 2 of those picks should have been caught.
LeSean McCoy has looked better this year than last, and the promise of Karlos Williams, in addition to Sammy Watkins, makes this Bills offense quite exciting. The defense has been solid, but the real story is the sensational rookie CB Ronald Darby, whose shut down play has been a key for BUF’s secondary.
They’re going in a tough environment, but one that has a few cracks in it. The loss of Edelman and Dion Lewis will be challenging for the Patriots to overcome, as they already have Roger Goodell going NSA on them. Brady’s connections with Rob Gronkowski, as well as good pass protection, are a must at this point.
Bills head coach Rex Ryan is no stranger to the Patriots (duh), and his interviews are famous for being bold (and stupid). I got to hand it to Rex; he just doesn’t give a shit about what the press says, and I can dig it.
A win would be as tempting as Rex’s foot fetish, but this is still New England. Buffalo made it close after nearly coming from behind in week 2, but that was at home. Foxboro is the toughest place to win in the NFL.
Patriots win this one.
Brick Wall Blitz 