Willis McGahee

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NFL 2013: Week #3-The Furnaces Five Best Bets

Posted by fantasyfurnace on September 20, 2013
Posted in: NFL. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . 16 Comments

Last week’s record: 3-2 Season to date: 6-4  Although we wanted to stay away from the NFC East given their total ineptitude this season,  we find ourselves with one selection from that putrid division. It’s our first Best Bet this week and we’re hopeful it will begin a winning trend this weekend.

Home team in CAPS

1. Giants over the PANTHERS- This is almost a deja vous game given that the G-Men went into Charlotte after a so-so 1-1 beginning to last season and completely overwhelmed Carolina 36-7. Fearing that they could conceivably be 0-3 after this meeting, we expect more of the same this Sunday. Several of the Panthers defensive backs are playing with some sort of handicap which will allow Eli to have his prototypical kind of game. If Ramses Barden can have a career day against Carolina last year, then imagine what a healthy Hakeem Nicks, Victor Cruz, and Reuben Randle can do. Expect the Giants to play a bit harder hoping to grab a win for their coach who lost his 63 year old brother John earlier this week in a freak accident while stepping out of a cab.

2. Chargers over the TITANS- San Diego, our second underdog selection in as many picks, has shown little defense over the first two weeks  but Philip Rivers has been off to one of his best starts in years throwing for seven touchdowns against just one lone interception. The Chargers have put up 61 total points in the first two games which were decided by 3 points each week. In his career Rivers has a 5-0 record against the Titans and we look for his sixth win on Sunday.

#17 Philip Rivers will need his offensive line to keep the Titans, and their 7 sacks on the young season, from disrupting his game. John R. McCutchen/San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty Images:

#17 Philip Rivers will need his offensive line to keep the Titans, and their 7 sacks on the young season, from disrupting his game. John R. McCutchen/San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty Images:

3. VIKINGS over the Browns-  The Vikes, looking for their first win of the season as they faced and lost to two of their division rivals on the road in Weeks 1 and 2, will have a much easier time of it in their home opener on Sunday against the “rebuilding” Cleveland Browns. The debut of newly acquired Willis McGahee will be overshadowed by what we think will be Adrian Peterson’s best game of the season to date. The Vikings need this game because they play their next contest across the pond in London vs the Steelers and then will have to play 12 consecutive games after their week 5 bye to end the season.

4. SAINTS over the Cardinals- Although the Saints have opened the season at 2-0, they haven’t shown the offensive explosiveness that they are accustomed to. Over their first two games this season they are averaging a pedestrian 19.5 points per game while last year, by the time game three rolled around, they were averaging 29.5 PPG. The Cardinals have two key players that have minor injuries going into this game in Larry Fitzgerald (hamstring) and Rashard Mendenhall (toe). The Saints who missed the playoffs last season for the first time since 2008, will have Sean Payton on the sidelines and their home crowd in the stands plus a healthy Drew Brees, which is all they’ll need to put away the Cards.

5. Bears over the STEELERS- All signs point to the Steelers winning this game. They have the home crowd, they’re hungry after losing their first two games, and Ben Roethlisberger is 15-1 straight up at home against the NFC in his career. However, we are sticking with the visiting Bears and sacks are one of the reasons why. For starters, the Steelers have only one sack so far this season while last year they averaged almost 3 per game. Jay Cutler on the other hand, a quarterback that usually ends up on his posterior, has only been sacked once in his two home games as the offensive line has been shored up and are protecting Cutler who has been effective and efficient with wins over the Bengals and the Vikings. If he can keep his interceptions down (he has 3 over his first 2 games and had 14 last season), then we think the Steelers can be had with a less than potent running game, the loss of Heath Miller, and a quarterback that’s been sacked 7 times in two games.

The Titans sacking Big Ben in one of their 5 Scott Boehm/Getty Images North America in Week 1.

The Titans sacking Big Ben in one of their 5 sacks in Week #1. Photo: Scott Boehm/Getty Images North America

NFL Week #8-The Week’s Five Best Bets

Posted by fantasyfurnace on October 25, 2012
Posted in: NFL. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 6 Comments

We’ve already reached the midway point in the season. After this week’s games you should be able to seperate the contenders from the pretenders as enough of a sampling will be available and you will have a better idea of who will make it to the post-season.

We had 2 losses last week going 3-2. The Bills lost by one which hurt, and the Bengals lost by a touchdown, as Dalton to A.J. was just not working against the rigid Steelers defense even without Troy P. Our season record now stands at a decent 22- 13; better than most pundits but still room to improve. Here’s our top five picks for this week:

*Home team in CAPS

Giants over the COWBOYS-   We picked the Giants over the ‘Skins last week and see no reason why they shouldn’t repeat this week vs the ‘Boys in Dallas. After all, since the $1.2 billion stadium was built in Dallas in 2009, the Giants have had ‘home field advantage’, going 3-0 in their building! Injuries will have a greater impact on the Cowboys this week as RB DeMarco Murray will sit out for another game and RB Felix Jones is questionable. Dallas will also be without their starting center and their leading tackler Sean Lee who’s out for the remainder of the season (toe). The Giants will have Chris Canty, Prince Amukamara, and a healthy Hakeem Nicks, all of whom were missing in the season opening loss to the Cowboys.

#10 Eli Manning goes up vs #9 Tony Romo this Sunday in East Rutherford for the 2nd in their two-game season series. Photo: popscreen.com

JETS over the Dolphins- The 3-3 Jets beat the Dolphins in Miami 23-20 in week #3 and we think history will repeat itself at Met Life Stadium this Sunday. Although Miami boasts the receiver who came into last weeks games leading the NFL in receiving yardage, Brian Hartline, he was held to just one reception for 41 yards when these two teams last met. Could be because at the end of last week, the Jets have  given up the least amount of fantasy points to wide receivers in the league. That will mean a lot of Reggie Bush, something that the Jets are well aware of. Kerley, Hill, & Keller should all have a decent day against a Dolphins team that yields the 8th most fantasy points to wide receivers- if Sanchez gets the time. A victory gets the Jets another divisional win and evens their record at 4-4 going into their bye week. They’ll take it…

BRONCOS over the Saints-Coming off of their bye, the Broncos take on a Saints team that clearly is under achieving this season. They lost their first four games before defeating the Chargers and Bucs. Their defense is almost non-existent yielding the second most fantasy points to running backs in the league, making Willis McGahee a great play this week in what should be a high scoring affair. Peyton Manning will be throwing against a Saints team that gives up the 4th most FP to WRs in the league. The Broncos secondary can be scored upon as well but have a better overall defense and should pick up their 4th win in this one.

#18 Peyton Manning should put up some good numbers vs the Saints this weekend. RB Willis McGahee is a good play as well.

PACKERS over the Jags- The 4-3 Packers have been coming on since their stunning loss to the Indianapolis Colts in week #5. They beat the Texans and the Rams in their last two and hopefully will not have a let down in this potential ‘Trap’ game against the lowly Jags. The Jags have a fairly good defense but with Maurice Jones-Drew out this week their offense will take a huge hit. Aaron Rodgers completed 81% of his passes last week vs a pretty good Rams secondary and will be challenged a bit as Greg Jennings will sit this one out and Jordy Nelson (hamstring-hurt in practice) is questionable at this point until the extent of this latest setback is known. Expect a lot of Jermichael Finley in this one.

49ers over the CARDINALS- This is a tough game to call as these two teams are so evenly matched. Both have excellent defenses and they play in the same division. They split the season series last year with Arizona winning their game at home by 2 points. The Niners held Larry Fitzpatrick to just 41 yards and a score at S.F. but then he burned them for 149 yards and a touchdown in ‘Arizona. This season however, S.F. is 31st in FP to opposing WRs, just behind the Jets so Fitz might be in for more for a fight defensively this weekend. On the other side, Alex Smith will not be a great play this week as the Cards have given up the least fantasy points to QBs this season. We’re going with the Niners in another close one.

#11 WR Larry Fitzgerald will have to be slowed down if the 49ers are to win this contest vs the Cards. He torched them for 149 yards and 1 TD in Dec. ’11. Photo: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images