I’ve never understood my dislike for Tom Brady. Is it the eight-figure salary, the smoking-hot wife or the cameos on Entourage?
Probably all of the above, but those things are just part of the overall reason why I’m no fan of Brady.
He was easier to root for in the beginning. He worked his butt off in college to hold off golden boy Drew Hensen and he worked even harder in the pros to ready himself when he got his shot.
But now he’s a different guy. He’s someone who’s grown accustomed to preferential treatment. It was revolting to see him point at the back judge in Week 4 against the Ravens - when Terrell Suggs almost hit him below the knee - and signal for a flag.
“We’re (quarterbacks) holding onto the ball. We’re unprotected. You’re sitting there defenseless… They deserve to get flagged.”
That’s what Brady said after the game. We here at underdogs can’t pull for a guy who has to take a silver spoon out of his mouth before he can defend himself.
I took the Dolphins out of principle in staff picks this week, but they’re not one of my favorite plays of the week. Even though the Fish always seem to give the Patriots headaches, their piss-poor secondary could be in for a long day against New England’s passing game.
I’ve got this feeling that double-digit dogs are going to start paying (4-2 last week). I took all of them this week except for the Redskins. Cleveland and Washington are two teams I won’t back regardless of the pointspread.
Time for this week’s picks:
Arizona Cardinals (+3) at Chicago Bears
The Bears didn’t win last week so much as Cleveland flat out lost it. There isn’t much of a big play element to Chicago’s offense. Most of this team’s scoring drives come off turnovers or 15-play variety.
The Bears are 3-0 straight up and against the spread at Soldier Field, but all of a sudden the Cards can’t lose on the road.
Kurt Warner’s confidence won’t be diminished after last week’s five interceptions. Most of those came off deflections and Warner’s never been a quarterback who lacks confidence.
Chicago owns just one quality win this year and that only happened because Pittsburgh kicker Jeff Reed missed a couple gimmes. Arizona, on the other hand, has wins over the Giants and Texans.
The weather looks pretty good, which means the Cards’ passing game shouldn’t be slowed down because of Mother Nature.
Pick: Cards
Houston Texans (+9) at Indianapolis Colts
This might be the biggest game in the Texans’ history. They’ve never been two games above .500, so this is unchartered territory for them.
Meanwhile the Colts are off to a 7-0 start for the fourth time since 2005. They also have a huge game against the Patriots next weekend on NBC.
Losing tight end Owen Daniels will hurt Houston, but Matt Schaub trusts his receivers and won’t hesitant to dump it off to a back. This offense is good enough to keep pace with Peyton Manning’s crew.
Pick: Texans
Baltimore Ravens at Cincinnati Bengals (+3)
I understand why the Ravens are the favorites in this game, but that doesn’t mean I have to agree with it.
The Bengals can run the football and their defense can get key stops. That’s two things this team couldn’t do in years past.
Cincy’s coming off its bye which means its players are well rested and have been thinking about the Ravens non-stop for two weeks.
And, as good as Baltimore’s defense looked against Denver, I’m not ready to say the unit is back to business. The Bengals will go vertical and expose Baltimore’s sluggish secondary.
Pick: Bengals
Last week: 2-1
Season record: 12-12-1