BRANDON LANG
100 DIME - INDIANAPOLIS COLTS - Peyton owns the Ravens.
Back in November he took his Colts into Baltimore and engineered a 17-15 Colts win and cover.
In that game the Ravens were driving and were in field goal range, when Flacco threw a terrible pick and Indy secured the win.
It was a weird game from the standpoint Indy was up 14-12 and going in for another touchdown early 3rd quarter when tight end Santi fumbled at the Ravens 2 yard line keeping those 7 points off the board.
The Ravens did move the ball well but settled for 5 field goals, and also missed a 30 yarder as well.
Last year he was rusty when he faced them at home in week 6 and lit them up 31-3 like it was nobody's business - and how did Joe Flacco do against Indy's cover two defense?
The Ravens only crossed into Colts territory on three of their 12 drives and turned the ball over five times.
Not enough for you, let me take you back to the 2006 season when the Ravens met the Colts in the 2nd round of the NFL playoffs in Baltimore.
Ravens were off a bye week. They had the # 2 run defense. The # 6 pass defense. The # 1 overall defense. They were ready.
Peyton Manning and the Colts won the game 15-6 on the way to their Super Bowl victory.
Let me break it down a little easier for you.
Throw out the performance of Tom Brady last week, the fact of the matter is Tom looked like he didn't want to be there as did the rest of the Patriots.
On the road at San Diego, Rivers was 25 for 45 for 421 yards and if not for a horrific 4th and 1 play call, they don't beat Philip Rivers. Aaron Rogers had a big day. Brett Favre had a big day. Rothliesberger had a big day.
The weakness of this Ravens defense is their secondary and if you don't get pressure with your blitz, your man to man coverage behind it is going to get lit up like a Christmas tree at night.
Prior to beating the Patriots last week the Ravens had only 2 road wins, the Browns and the Raiders. Most alarming is the fact if the Raiders had a Quarterback other than JaMarcus Russell, I believe the Ravens don't win that game.
Question, who is the best QB in the NFL at handling the blitz? Answer is 100% without a doubt Peyton Manning.
This is as bad a matchup for the Ravens as you can ask for, and I fully expect Peyton to do what he always does versus this Baltimore team and that is execute his offense to precision and get the win.
I am aware of the fact Indy is 0-3 in the playoffs coming off a bye week and if they were playing anybody else other than the Ravens I might be inclined to look the other way.
Fact of the matter is Ray Lewis and this Ravens defense could match wits with Peyton 100 times, and I would go with Peyton all 100, unless the Ravens made a drastic change in their defensive philosophy.
That is not happening in mine or yours lifetime.The Ravens do what they do. Blitz, and play man behind it. If you can protect and beat us.Congrats. You beat us but it still won't stop us from blitzing.
It is who they are.
Honestly, beating a team once or twice in a row, or even 3 times in a row maybe considered lucky...but 7 times in a row? With the same QB and the same basic defense this QB has seen all 7 times? My point exactly.
Do you really think the Ravens can come up with anything in this game Peyton hasn't seen from them before? And he faces them at home.
The Colts have a lot to prove today. All this talk of about sitting starters and not going for 16-0 and having to answer questions about it and defend their coach and what they did.
Bottom line is an emphatic win today at home silences everyone and trust me, behind closed doors, Indy is on a mission today to quiet the critics and with an impressive performance today announces to the NFL world we are the team to beat.
I am getting great line value with Indy laying less than a touchdown at home against a team they just flat out match up well against and I will gladly grab that value and sit back and watch the Indy machine show up and flat out get the job done.
Indy rolls by double digits Saturday night.
25 DIME - ARIZONA CARDINALS - (If line is 7 you buy the 1/2 to +7 1/2 if line moved down to 6 1/2 you buy up to +7. Line value with the underdog.)
I'm gonna ride them.
Could they get blown out? Absolutely but until somebody does blow them out, I will gladly grab a touchdown with a red hot playoff QB working in an offense he loves.
When you start going 29 of 33 in a playoff game against a top 3 defense, you have to take notice. Even more impressive is the fact you put up 29 of 33 without your # 2 wide receiver.
Saints just aren't the team we saw early on. Their defense isn't getting turnovers like they were earlier in the year and the reason why is they are banged up.
This game may very well come down to who has the ball last but this Cardinals bunch is a hard bunch to blow out with the offensive weapons they have.
Am I a bit concerned about their defense? Yes but understand, their defense wasn't as bad as they looked last week.
When a team gets down 3 touchdowns in the 2nd half, the game becomes a run and gun affair, the offensive game plan is out the window and everything is a scramble.
There are alarming things that force me to back the Cardinals here.
After their loss to Dallas the Saints still had to play hard to secure the home field in the NFC when they faced Tampa Bay the following week and to watch them lose that game at home 20-17 sets off warning signs to me.
The bottom line is until somebody plays well enough to cover a playoff game versus Kurt Warner and Ken Wisenhunt, I will gladly grab the value with the hot underdog and let the chips fall where they may.
I am counting on the Cardinals to win the turnover battle and if they do, chances are they win the game outright. I like my chances with Kurt Warner, indoors, on a fast track, against a suspect defense.
If Jason Campbell can have a career day against this Saints defense and Chris Redman can throw for over 300 yards on this Saints defense, I will let the good times roll with Warner.
25 DIME - ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE - Keep an eye on this Anthony Grant squad.
After leading his team to the NCAA tourney a couple of times at VCU, Billy Donovan's lead recruiter bolted for the SEC with this Alabama job this year.
He has gotten them off to an 11-5 mark, but within those 5 losses you will see 5 quality losses.
They lost to Cornell to start the year, Kansas State, Purdue, Vanderbilt and Florida State.
The bottom line is this Alabama squad has been competitive all year long and off a tough, hard fought home loss to Vanderbilt, they will be looking to get right back on track versus a struggling Razorbacks team.
Arkansas comes into this game today losers of 4 in a row, and 8 of their last 13.
The red flag for me about this Razorback team is their 5 wins were against Mississippi Valley State, Delaware State, Alabama State, Missouri State and Stephen F. Austin Staste.
Not exactly any SEC teams in there now is there?
To give you an idea about the differences in these two ball clubs just look at their common opponent, the Baylor Bears.
The Crimson Tide went into Baylor and won a hard fought 79-76 game while Arkansas got drilled by Baylor at home by 23 points 70-47.
This is a game about two teams going in opposite directions and the right side of this game is to jump on the one going the right way, the Alabama Crimson Tide.
FREE SELECTION - ARIZONA-NEW ORLEANS OVER
ATS LOCK CLUB
4 UNITS Colts/Balt Over 44
3 UNITS New Orleans -7
4 UNITS New Orleans/Cards Over 57
4 Units Baltimore +6.5
ATS HOOPS
8 UNITS New Mexico St.
7 UNITS Ohio St.
7 UNITS Baylor
6 UNITS Arkansas
5 UNITS Wyoming
4 UNITS James Madison
ANTHONY REDD
20-Dime - Iowa
20-Dime - Virginia Tech
20-Dime - Portland
5-Dime - Colts
how about charlie picks he is on fire... 8)
Tom Freese
10* LINESMAKERS ERROR
Tyreke Evans is averaging 20.4 points a nght. The sky is the limit for this kid. Jason Tompson chips in with 14.3 points a night. Ben Udrih scores 13.7 points a night and dishes out for assits a game. Andomri Casspi scores 12.7 points a night while Spencer Hawes 10-8 points a night. The underdog in this series is 4-0 ATS the last 4 meetings. The loss of Gilbert Arenas and his felony gun possesion hurts the Wizards big time. Antwan Jamison is now the go to guy. He averages 22.8 points a game. Caron Butler scores 16.8 points an night while Brendan Haywood, Randy Foye, and Mike Miller all average just under 10 points a game. The Wizards are 1-9 ATS their last 10 home games vs. a team with a losing road record LINESMAKERS ERROR PLAY ON SACRAMENTO +
Marc Lawrence
College Basketball Underdog GOM
Colorado
Dennis Hill
500* New Orleans Saints -7
300* New Orleans/Arizona Under 57
300* Indianapolis -6.5
how about charlie picks he is on fire... 8)
Please don't post requests for picks. If they are available they will be posted. You have made 2 posts here and they both were exactly the same.
Posts like these contribute nothing and bog the site down for others who are trying to get on to contribute.
Kikki-Sports
2* Lock GOM Saints
ATS
Hockey Lock of Year
TB/Flor Over 5.5
Bob Balfe
Saints -7 over Cardinals
Colts -6.5 over Ravens
Heat +4 over Thunder
Pittsburgh -2 over Louisville
WAYNE ROOT
BALTIMORE vs. INDIANAPOLIS -6
The Indianapolis Colts coaching staff led by Jim Caldwell received a ton of criticism for resting their players and seemingly throwing away the opportunity at a perfect season a few weeks ago. However, now the time is here to see if resting the starters was indeed the correct call. Possibly anything less than an AFC Championship would be a waste considering the Colts had a great chance to become just the 5th team in history to end the year undefeated. However, moving forward the Colts will put their focus to the visiting Baltimore Ravens this Saturday night. The Ravens just flat dominated the New England Patriots last week on both sides of the ball. Running back Ray Rice, who has been the heart of the offense, busted the first play from scrimmage open with an 83 yard touchdown run. The damage inflicted by the Ravens never let up as Rice rumbled for 159 rushing yards to lead efforts in a 33-14 victory over the Patriots.
To make matters worse, the Ravens pass defense played incredible constantly filling the passing lanes, making quick cuts to the ball, and disguising the defense very well. Baltimore shut down Patriots superstar quarterback Tom Brady who just threw for just 132 yards while forcing 3 interceptions during the contests. If those numbers do not head warning for Peyton Manning and company, they definitely should. The Ravens defense is playing extremely well. They are getting excellent pressure up front playing even better in the secondary which will match-up very well against the Colts offense. If they keep Peyton Manning moving and limit the big plays to WR Reggie Wayne, the Ravens will have a good chance at scoring the upset once again.
Of course keeping Manning contained like trying to tame a wild animal. Manning perhaps the best play caller in the league, threw for an NFL 2nd highest 4,500 passing yards this season. WR Reggie Wayne posted over 1,200 yards this season while tight end Dallas Clark was equally effective racking up 1,100 plus yards as well. So needless to say the Ravens secondary will be in for yet another task to stop the Colts passing game. However much like the Patriots, the Colts are fairly a one dimensional offense. Joseph Addai tallied 828 yards this season, but the Colts are anything but a rushing offense. If the Ravens can shut down the air attack, they could have very similar success. Of course that will be a bit more difficult this week as well.
On the Ravens offense, QB Joe Flacco has had a decent 2nd year as starter. Flacco was banged up with a right hip injury last week in the battle with the Patriots. Luckily, Flacco was not needed often attempting just 10 passes throughout the evening. Flacco finished with just 34 yards on 4 completions, but again remember he was rarely needed at all. If the Ravens offense does need to move the ball down field in a hurry, they definitely have the tools to get it done. Flacco completed 63% on the year for 3,613 yards and 21 touchdowns. The Ravens have a lot of confidence in his arm and the playmaking ability of WR Derrick Mason who reached the 1,000 yard receiving mark this season for the 8th time in 9 years. However, the Ravens remain a rushing team.
Baltimore has put major focus on running the ball with Rice in the last few weeks and has been a better team as a result. Rice can also produce a lot of damage catching balls out of the backfield so look for them to utilize the play calling around the newfound star very early in the game. WAR SAYS TO LAY THE POINTS AND TAKE INDIANAPOLIS COLTS AS a Millionaires Club pick. BALTIMORE RUNNING THE BALL WILL NOT BE ENOUGH TO OUTSCORE MANNING!!
ARIZONA vs. NEW ORLEANS -7
The Arizona Cardinals appeared to have magic on their side yet again as they took down the Green Bay Packers in one of the highest scoring games in postseason history 51-45 in overtime. The Cardinals appear to be carrying the perception they did last year at this time as a dangerous underdog. The Cardinals offense has been its best in the postseason over the last two years, but now Arizona will take on the NFL’s top offense in the New Orleans Saints. The Saints had a first round bye so they will be plenty rested after finishing the year with the best record in the NFC at 13-3. However, all of the Saints defeats came in the last 3 weeks of the season and it will be interesting to see if they can relocate their swagger.
The Cardinals defense come up big on a few key plays intercepting Aaron Rodgers very first pass and Karlos Dansby recovered a fumble while running it back for a touchdown on the final play of the game. In between those big plays, the Cardinals secondary gave up plenty of big plays as the game turned into a quarterback dual between Rodgers and Kurt Warner. Rodgers was sensational after the pick racking up 422 yards against the Cardinals defense that just looked very confused too often. The pass defense will be the main concern this weekend as everyone knows that the Saints attack through the air more often than any team in the league. The Saints offense led the NFL for most of the season before sliding in their final few games to 272 yards per game. However, their passing attack led by Drew Brees is among the best there is and they will surely give the Cardinals defense tons of trouble if they play like they did last week.
Even if the Cardinals defense struggles, they still have QB Kurt Warner on their side. Warner proved again last week why he should be Hall of Fame bound as one of the best quarterbacks when it comes playoffs time. Warner completed 29 of 33 passing for 379 yards and 5 touchdowns. That is 88% passing with more touchdowns than incomplete passes, which is simply amazing. The Cardinals will definitely need a lot of offense again this week to pull of the upset. WR Anquan Boldin is still hampering an ankle injury that kept him out of last week’s win against the Packers. While that definitely hurts, it is manageable if the Cardinals get WR Steve Breaston to have another big game. Breaston caught 7 passes for 125 yards to pick up the empty space by Boldin and they need another similar effort. Of course you can never forget about Larry “Mr. Playoffs” Fitzgerald as well, Fitzgerald caught 6 passes for 82 yards and two touchdowns. Those numbers may be a bit off from his record setting pace from last year, but as long as he continues to grab touchdown passes the Cardinals will be fine.
The Saints offense as previously mentioned made defenses look like really bad earlier this year, but the passing offense burned out a bit down the stretch. Brees threw for 4,300 plus yards while completing 70% passing with 34 touchdowns and 11 interceptions on the season. However, the passing offense was not as efficient in their last few games. Hopefully the Saints can dial up the high power offense again and provide some fireworks. They definitely have the wide receivers to cause all kind of trouble for the Arizona defense.
WR Marques Colston eclipsed the 1,000 yard mark this season along with 9 touchdowns. Also, receivers Devery Henderson and Robert Meachem both combined for 1,500 additional yards and 11 scores. If these guys can find holes early and keep the Arizona safeties on their heels they can really do some damage. However, their success will likely ride on the play of the offensive line. Brees has been protected very well this year, but the Cardinals defensive front is playing well. It is imperative that Brees have time to throw the football or they are doomed. Remember the Cowboys defensive pressure up front ended their shot at a perfect season and they do not need to let another solid defensive front have their way again. WAR SAYS THE BYE WEEK REALLY WAS EFFECTIVE FOR THE SAINTS IN TERMS OF REST AND HEALING. HE SAYS THIS TEAM HAS RE-GROUPED AND HAS MADE THE SAINTS HIS NO LIMIT DIVISIONAL GAME OF THE YEAR.
NHL Pro Picks
Colorado +105
Edmonton +265
Tampa Bay +115
Ottawa +143
Atlanta +113
Minnesota +125
The Boooj
15 Units on Arizona (+7) over New Orleans
25 Units on Indianapolis (-6.5) over Baltimore
25 Units on Washington (-2.5) over California
Tony George
Kansas St. -5.5 vs Colorado
Take the red hot Wildcats on the road here against a average Colorado team who will get beat to death on the glass here. K State has a 15 rebound advantage on the offensive glass versus the Buffs in this game, and have ben scoring 84 ppg their last 5 games while the Buffs in their last 5 games have averaged 76 ppg allowed on defense. K State 11-5 ATS last 16 meetings and the Wildcats have covered 7 out of their last 8 games overall. Play 1 Unit on Kansas State