Football Friday: Week 7

Through six weeks:

Standings.....GB....Last week's record
Ian 14-10.......... -- ..............2-2
Saj 11-13........... 3 .............2-2

Man, last week was such a terrible week for me. Nice week for you, though.

Your games:

Tennessee Titans at Houston Texans (Sunday, 1:00)
Kansas City Chiefs at Oakland Raiders (Sunday, 4:05)
Chicago Bears at Philadelphia Eagles (Sunday, 4:15)
Indianapolis Colts at Jacksonville Jaguars (Monday, 8:30)

Yes. Terrible, terrible week for Jimmy the Greek over there. I'm coming back up in this shit like J-Lo.

Yours:

New York Jets at Cincinnati Bengals
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Detroit Lions
Baltimore Ravens at Buffalo Bills
Minnesota Vikings at Dallas Cowboys


New York Jets @ Cincinnati Bengals: Is it safe to say that these were the two most overrated teams in football coming into the season? I think it's safe to say that. Many picked these teams to go to the playoffs. A majority of prognosticators picked them to finish second in their respective divisions. Their head coaches were lauded for their success reshaping the franchises. But now? No playoffs for either team. They're in the bottom two of their divisions. Thought, to be fair, the Jets, at 1-5, are only a half game back of second place. (Can I mention something else here? Is anyone paying attention to the AFC East Standings? The Patriots, after six weeks, have five more wins than the second place team. Doesn't this have to be a record after six weeks? I mean, the Pats could clinch their division by Week TEN, which also has to be some kind of record. Why is no one talking about this?) And, of course, these coaches are heavily criticized, from Eric Mangini's bungling of CameraGate which has made the entire league hate him, to Marvin Lewis apparently forgetting he's a defensive-minded head coach. Not a good job by these two one-win teams and coaches. I guess I'll go with the home team on this one. Pick: Cincinnati

Tampa Bay @ Detroit: This is a pretty important game for this early in the season. The Bucs, at 4-2, sit tied with Carolina atop the NFC South. The Lions, at 3-2, might be contenders, but are on the precipice of devolving back into the pack of also-rans. Which will happen? The latter. In fact, it's already begun. Detroit is 1-2 in its last three games. Pick: Tampa Bay

Baltimore @ Buffalo: I am of the sort that thinks Baltimore is not terribly good. They are not a championship contender. Their vaunted defense is a shell of its former dominant self that became so popular in the early part of this decade/century/millennium. But this is the Buffalo Bills. At least Baltimore can do a little something something on both sides of the football. Pick: Baltimore

Minnesota @ Dallas: The Cowboys' shellacking at the hand of the New England Patriots were the best thing that could have happened to the guys from the Big D. Without a match up against a quality team early in the season, Dallas would have coasted through the season with undefeated big heads who would have no idea the kind of talent it takes to win the whole thing. The Pats' slap in their face, however, brought them back to reality. Now they know, and I expect them to become a better team because of what happened last Sunday, and they'll make a run to the NFC Championship game. Pick: Dallas

Picking Dallas? After Adrian Peterson pulled a Walter Payton on the Bears last week? Interesting...

Tennessee Titans at Houston Texans

Vince Young should be starting despite a strained right quadricep (cue WebMD graphic... now) and that's bad news for the Texans. They love Vince Young in Texas. LOVE. A Houston native who won the Longhorns the national title over a higher ranked USC team, that legacy just doesn't disappear. Poor Texans. Not only are they second-fiddle to the Cowboys as professional franchise but they might be seventh or eighth fiddle to the glut of storied college and high school football programs in Texas. Anyway, long story short, purely for marketing reasons they should have drafted Young (or at least Bush) but they didn't. Also, the Titans gave up the most rushing yards per game last year and the Texans rank 29th in rushing yards per game so far this season. Something... has got... to give..... TITANS

WebMD sidenote: Thank God for the WebMD graphics. Last night, Fox showed me a perfectly healthy WebMD graphic guy for the purpose of telling me that Josh Beckett was not injured in any way shape or form. As my friend Jeff said to Chris Myers once at Fenway: "Hey Chris, Fox is ruining baseball"


Kansas City Chiefs at Oakland Raiders

You know what's funny about this game? If the Chiefs win, and with the San Diego bye week, they will be in sole possession of first place in the AFC West. I mean, wow. And if the Raiders win they will scare first place with the Chargers. I mean, wow wow. I'm glad I'm a Patriots fan. Speaking of Patriots, if I were to buy a Patriots jersey, which one do I buy? I was dead set on Maroney before the season but now I don't know. Ben Watson? Richard Seymour? Randy Moss?!?!? Maybe I should just go with the retro mid-90's Ben Coates or the even more retro mid-80's Irving Fryar. Or just get a custom number 12 jersey with "Model Fucker" on the back. I just don't know. RAIDERS


Chicago Bears at Philadelphia Eagles

Eagles at home? I'll take it! Sidenote: Brian Westbrook is fast. Faster than Adrian Peterson. I have no idea if that's true. EAGLES

Indianapolis Colts at Jacksonville Jaguars

You had to do this to me. I'm picking the Colts here, and for only one reason: When the Patriots play the Colts in week 9 I want both teams to be undefeated. And I want the Colts to lose by 106 points. Bill Belichick will make sure that happens. He will treat Week 9's game as the biggest game of his coaching career after last year's playoff loss. COLTS

Why Josh Beckett Must Start Game 4

If you don't know where you come down on the Beckett or Wakefield argument for tonight's Game 4, just consider this hypothetical scenario: If tonight's Game 4 were rained out, would Josh Beckett pitch tomorrow's game 4 on normal rest?

The answer is unequivocally yes.

And that's why Josh Beckett is the no brainer for tonight.

Is anyone questioning Beckett's effectiveness if he pitches tonight? He's 2-0 in his playoff career on three days rest. He threw one of the great World Series games on three days rest. He's completely in the zone. Sending him against Paul Byrd is the closest thing the Red Sox have to a sure thing in this series.

That is, except, Josh Beckett vs. Jake Westbrook in a potential Game 7.

And that's the crux of the issue, and neither of the WEEI guys acknowledged it in the debate this morning. The Red Sox have the potential to send Josh Beckett, head and shoulders their best pitcher, out to the mound three times this series, including a Game 7 where he'd be on FULL rest, thanks to scheduled offdays after Games 4 and 5.

I understand that the Red Sox don't want to push up Schilling and DiceK into games 5 and 6. I understand they want to give them longer than normal rest. Fine. Throw Wakefield in Game five instead of four. That's right, I'm saying let's go Beckett-Wakefield instead of Wakefield-Beckett.

The difference? Game 7.

Down two games to one means the Sox have to win three out of the next four. If Wakefield, on 18 days rest and a sore back and a cortizone shot and a terrible September, puts the Sox in a 3-1 series hole after tonight, then Boston needs to win three in a row, and that includes a DiceK Game 7 start. That's a tall order against a good Cleveland Indians club.

Finally, to really drive home the point, let's look a the four possible scenarios after tonight.

1. Wakefield starts, Red Sox lose, falling down 3 games to 1. Read the above paragraph.
2. Wakefield starts, Red Sox win, tying the series 2-2. The Red Sox still have to win two out of three, with two games coming against Sabathia and Carmona, and the last being another Matsuzaka start.
3. Beckett starts, Red Sox win, tying the series 2-2. The Red Sox have to win two out of the next three, but if they can win either Game 5 or 6, then they have Beckett on full rest against Westbrook in Fenway for Game 7. This is the most likely scenario.
4. Beckett starts, Red Sox lose, falling down 3 games to 1. Is there any possibility Beckett loses to Paul Byrd? I mean, at all?

Josh Beckett must start Game 4.