My last post was about all the games that I guess right last week while this blog post is about the ones that I guess wrong and trying to understand how I got them wrong. Normally I would not make a whole post about this, but I had a lot wrong this week and I felt it needed to be put into a separate post.
Panthers against Lions, I got this one wrong mainly because I have trust in the Panthers that they are a good team, but in recent weeks they have looked awful with not being able to complete drives and score. The Lions played a good game with lots of big catches that put them in the lead by one point to win the game with 19-20. Cam Newton still had a great game, but it was not enough for the Panthers to close that one point difference. They lost the game because of the early missed field goal by the Panthers kicker Graham Gano which he is usually on point with his kicks. After the Panthers marched down the field in the last bit of the fourth quarter they scored the touch down they instead went for the two-point conversion which was quite honestly a stupid decision. Extra points are hard to miss and you have a better chance making the extra point off a kick even if your kicker is having a rough game. They did not have trust in Gano making them lose the game because they did not want to push the game into overtime. If they played again I would still pick the Panthers.
Bengals against Ravens, I got this game wrong mainly because it is a 50/50 toss up between these teams they are almost identical in who has the most skills and playmakers. This was just a random guess and If I had to pick this game again I would not be able to choose because of how similar they are. I leaned towards the Bengals because I thought that their star running back Joe Mixon could get the job done, but he had 12 carries with only 14 yards, that’s a 1.4 yards per carry average! (NFL). Ravens won and my guess was wrong.
The next game I got wrong was the Broncos against the chargers. In my opinion, the Chargers were looking like one of the top teams for a while and they have a lot of hidden talent. The winner of this game was whoever had the most defensive plays with 2 interceptions and 3 sacks which is a great defensive effort by the Broncos. Philip Rivers did all he could this game with throwing for 401 yards and two touchdowns according to NFL. The Chargers could not get a running game going meanwhile, the Broncos had no problem running the ball with Philip Linsay getting 70 yards with two touchdowns (NFL). The game was only decided by a one-point differential and if I had to choose who would win this game I would have to go with the Chargers because of what they have done in the recent weeks.
Raiders against the Cardinals was a pretty expected boring game with both teams not having a chance at playoffs and seemed like this game would be the only game for either team to win the game. The Cardinals are still struggling with poor coaching with not giving the ball to David Johnson every down because he is averaging 5 yards a carry which is excellent for the poor team around him. The Raiders are just a bad team with even worse coaching. Jon Gruden has thrown away every good player on their team making them a very bare and weak team, but somehow still better than the Cardinals I guess.
The Vikings against Bears was a good game this week, but underwhelming in terms of how the Vikings came to play. The main thing that makes the Vikings good about their defense is that they have a top three defensive line with a great secondary making them impossible to score on. The defensive line could not get pressure making it hard on the secondary to make plays, although one defensive back stepped up with two interceptions it still was not enough to win the game. The Vikings also only rushed for 20 yards which can’t happen if you want to win the game, especially against a good Bears team. Those two variables were the deciding factor of that game with no rushing attack and not great defensive line play which is usually very good.
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