Tap's Thursday Night Picks

NFL 

Kansas City (2-0) at Philadelphia (1-1) 7:25 pm NFL Network - The first time playing against a former coach is always a little bit strange especially when the coach had been there for a long time with the team. For the Philadelphia Eagles and their fans, they will see Andy Reid in a new color coaching from the opposite sidelines as Kansas City takes on Philadelphia in a great Thursday night matchup.

As a Packer fan, I only have dealt with this with one coach, Mike Holmgren. Things did not end on great terms with him as some people felt Holmgren was a foot out the door in 1998 when the Pack fell to San Francisco. In 1999, the schedule gods blessed them with a Seattle-Green Bay matchup in Holmgren's first year. This became a Monday Night Football game only to see the Packers lose by 20 at home with their new coach, Ray Rhodes.  Although the Packers got the last laugh with winning five of the last six games against Holmgren including two playoff wins. 

Kansas City and Philadelphia will not be meeting very often unless they will face off in multiple Super Bowls against each other. The game itself should be a fun one. Alex Smith looks good thus far in the Reid system, and I know he will try to drive his point across with him tonight. The Chiefs defense gets slept on. They did last year even as a 2-14 squad and it will be fascinating to watch Tamba Hali, Justin Houston and others against Chip Kelly's system. The same cannot be said for the Philly defense. They look troublesome right now and I cannot ride with Kelly's bunch until the defense can improve. Reid like his old coach Holmgren wins his homecoming. Kansas City 35-27 

College Football 

3. Clemson at NC State 6:30 pm ESPN - The Tigers play their first real competition since their first game against Georgia. Once again, it is on the road, but I have no seen anything from the Wolfpack to make me think they can beat Tajh Boyd and the boys.  Clemson will roll. CLEM 45-20  

Charlie. 

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NFL Week 2 Liquor Cabinet

For the entire NFL season, we will be breaking down the rest of the NFL not named Green Bay by looking at it like a liquor cabinet. Why did we choose this method? I like to booze and it makes things really easy to determine what's great, average and poor.  

TOP SHELF
Seattle looks decent - I talked about Seattle's struggles last Sunday and felt like San Francisco would make a statement in Seattle. The Seahawks made a statement and dominated all facets of the football game on Sunday. Russell Wilson did not have the best day, but he did not need to with how the defense played plus the rushing attack was solid. To think, they are missing four top flight stars as well makes Seattle pretty scary for the rest of the season.

Cutty comes back - 4th quarter comebacks are overblown, but I am impressed overall with the Chicago Bears offense. Jay Cutler finally has a tight end who can catch the football. Remember Cutler went to his tight ends fairly often even last year with Kellan Davis who dropped at least half of them last season. Cutler stayed protected for the most part as well.  Additionally, the worries about the Bears defense might be overstated.  Minnesota's defense and special teams both had a touchdown meaning Chicago only allowed 16 points.  

Denver just going to blow everyone out? - It looks like it right now.  Who cares if the Denver defense might not be that good, but their second half against New York was eye-opening. The Broncos had a slow build with it too. They scored a late third quarter touchdown with Knowshon Moreno who somehow is still on the Broncos, force the Giants with a three-and-out and they get another touchdown with Peyton Manning throwing to Julius Thomas. Trindon Holiday delivered the knockout punch with the punt return to put the Broncos up 21 points somehow in game that was close for three quarters.

Miami... Sneaky good or too early? - I sold low on Miami to start the year, but they are playing well so far this season. The Dolphins started out the season with consecutive road games and won both of them holding both Cleveland and Indianapolis under 20 points. Ryan Tannehill went for over 300 yards and got Mike Wallace's season started with a 100 yard game. One thing the young quarterback has to cut it is the fumbles. He lost three balls but thankfully, Tannehill recovered two of them.  We shall see how they look at home though as they have been worse there in years past.  

MIDDLE SHELF
Texans pull another one out of their asses - Everyone is talking about the Patriots being the worst 2-0 team right now, but why not Houston? They played one good quarter against San Diego and then they trailed Tennessee by eight with four minutes left in the game yet found a way to win the game in overtime. People will say the cliche line of 'Good teams find a way to win football games' but still, Houston seems a bit overrated to me.  

Atlanta holds on - The Falcons jumped out to a 24-3 lead on Sunday afternoon against St. Louis yet they could not stomp the foot on the throat.  Atlanta kept letting St. Louis come back in this game and thankfully got a big drive from Matt Ryan and Jacob Snelling in the fourth quarter. But the Falcons are going to be without Kroy Biermann, Sean Weatherspoon and Steven Jackson next week, all three are vital to the team's success. Biermann is done for the year, Weatherspoon is on selective IR but that's not a guarantee he will be back this season. Atlanta is much more of a mess than people are talking about right now.  

Joe Flacco does not catch flak... Surprising? - I am somewhat surprised Joe Flacco did not receive much backlash for not being there for the birth of his second child. I asked both my mom and dad about it because they had two kids. Both of them said the same thing, 'Well it's not the first child, the second child, it's more of a been there, done that.' If my sister Annie is reading, please take this up with them, not me.

Eagles score points but cannot stop anyone - Philadelphia might be a year away. It is still super early to say something like that, but it seems like there are some significant holes in that defense. Sure, they can put up 30+ points with the best of them, but their defense cannot stop anybody. I realize San Diego has some tools on offense yet I would never expect them to have 33 points on the road.

BOTTOM SHELF
Oh noooo Dez - Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant balled out on Sunday with nine catches for over 150 yards, but he made two vital errors. Bryant had a crucial drop that probably cost the Cowboys a game. We can have a discussion about Dallas's inabilities to win on the road, but I feel that might be overstated. Dez also retweeted a picture of a vagina, not a great moment in social media.

Ron Rivera or Greg Schiano... Who gets fired first? - Oh boy, I think both of these coaches might be getting the pink slip before November 1st. Let's remember Carolina had the toughest schedule in the NFL before the season started this year.  The Panthers play New York Giants at home this week and then a bye week before two road games in Arizona and Minnesota. If they get blown out by New York, it becomes a real awkward two weeks for Ron Rivera. As for Tampa Bay, the chemistry seems completely off with Schiano and yes, they are two field goals away from being 2-0, yet it does not seem like a good situation.  They play in New England this week before heading home to play Arizona before a bye week.  I will take Rivera.

Poor Jacksonville - I just feel bad for Jacksonville. Just struggling. I am not really going to go in what's wrong with them because it does not matter as they have all sorts of problems. Also they have all the Tim Tebow shit, it is entirely annoying and I feel for the fanbase. Shock the world this week in Seattle.

Detroit remembers they are Detroit - Everyone started to get real excited about Detroit in Week 1 forgetting how much the Lions struggle on the road.  They had a 14-10 lead at halftime, but their offense went silent in the second half. DeAndre Levy netted them an interception return in the third quarter, but that was it for scoring from Detroit. Arizona's defense is good, but if Detroit is as good as everyone wanted them to be in Week 1, their offense does not go scoreless in the second half.

Charlie.

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Tapping The Keg Podcast Episode 54

We are back in the saddle for another edition of Tapping The Keg podcast. Mitch and I are going to try and have it for you every Wednesday from now until at least the football season is over. We begin discussing the Green Bay Packers from the game itself talking about Clay Matthews, the safeties and the offense a bit then we touch on Packers fans being ridiculous about Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. We move on to talk about the NFL ranging from the Philadelphia Eagles to the struggles of the AFC.  Mitch and I preview Texas A&M and Alabama, and ask can the Aggies defense keep up with the Tide? We finish the podcast talking about college football headlines including the Oklahoma State story and if Michigan is a national title contender.

Charlie.

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NFL Picks Week 1: Don't Let Peyton Manning Ruin your Weekend

I find Facebook annoying probably more times than I find it enjoyable. There is always something people can complain about and the flavor of the day is how they are playing Peyton Manning in fantasy football this week.  If you did not hear, Manning went off for seven touchdowns and had 63 fantasy points.  Now, this puts a lot of people at a sizable disadvantage for Week 1 but it should not damper your weekend. It is just fantasy football and it is just week one. If he did this to cost you 500 dollars then I understand a little bit better (For the record, I have Manning in one league so maybe that's why I feel this way, shut up).  There will be some great games this weekend and I am here to pick them with the spreads. My record this year will be Straight Up and Against The Spread.

New England (-10) at Buffalo 12 pm CBS - As a Packer fan, I wish I could be New England and start with a cupcake. They somewhat struggle in Buffalo, but with E.J. Manuel making his first appearance plus him being banged up, it seems like the Patriots should coast in this one. NE 38-14

Cincinnati at Chicago (-3) 12 pm CBS - Fun game for the first week of the season. The Bears new look offensive line will be tested with Geno Atkins and company coming at them. Andy Dalton handling Soldier Field with the wind is something that would concern me if I were a Cincinnati fan.  I feel like the Bears offensive line protects Cutler enough and his receiving core has a big day. CHI 21-17

Miami at Cleveland (-1) 12 pm CBS - This could set the tone for the year. Both teams are fringe playoff teams. I really do not think people recognize at least on paper how good Cleveland's defense can be this season.  Maybe it is my lingering Ryan Tannehill concerns, but I think the Browns win this one although it better not come down a field goal to win it.  CLEV 17-13

Minnesota at Detroit (-5.5) 12 pm FOX - Where did all the hype for the Lions come from? All the sudden, we have Mike Florio putting them into the NFC Championship and other people are talking about Detroit. It is like people forgot Minnesota made the playoffs last year. I still like the Lions at home, but this should be a close, hard-fought game.  DET 23-21

Oakland at Indianapolis (-10) 12 pm CBS - This will be a long, long year for Raiders fan. It starts in the Oil Drum and the Colts should have no problems in the first game of the year. Darrius Heyward-Bey will go off just to troll Raiders fans. IND 34-10

Atlanta at New Orleans (-3) 12 pm FOX - Another game where it could set the tone for at least the first couple months of the season. This will be an NFL shootout. The Saints defense is not the best in the league and I feel like the Falcons defense will be a real eyesore. It will come down to who has the ball last and I'm going with the Saints.  NO 42-38

Tampa Bay (-3) at New York Jets 12 pm FOX - The return of Darrelle Revis and I feel like everyone is against the Jets meaning they will find a way to win. Oh who am I kidding, Revis will probably have a pick-six against Geno Smith because it would not be the NFL season without people overreacting about the Jets. TB 27-15

Tennessee at Pittsburgh (-7) 12 pm CBS - The thing to watch is how the Steelers running backs will be as they try to replace Le'Von Bell. Now, Ben Roethlisberger is the man but a lot with Aaron Rodgers, he needs a nice compliment. I think they have no issue whatsoever with the Titans.  PITT 30-17

Seattle (-3.5) at Carolina 12 pm FOX - Here is the SnoTap upset of the week. This is a tough game for Seattle. They have all the hype in the world coming into the season. They have to play at 1 pm, 10 am their time and the Panthers are a fringe playoff squad. Cam Newton has a big day with his legs and they win this game. CAR 19-16

Kansas City (-4) at Jacksonville 12 pm CBS - The Chiefs will begin their comeback season in Jacksonville. Big days from both Alex Smith and Jamaal Charles. KC 28-10

Arizona at St. Louis (-4.5) 3:25 pm FOX - Just like Miami-Cleveland, this is game that could set the tone for the season.  Both are NFC West teams looking for an in this year.  I feel like Arizona's defensive backs will keep this close, but the Rams find a way to win with Daryl Richardson having a big day. STL 24-23

Green Bay at San Francisco (-4.5) 3:25 pm FOX - Here's our Packer Preview from earlier today.

New York Giants at Dallas (-3) 7:30 pm NBC - Do you know Dallas has never beat the Giants at Cowboys Stadium? Have you heard about that?  CRAZY RIGHT?!  The Cowboys are going to show why they are the cream of the crop in the NFC East this weekend.  Dez Bryant will have a massive opening weekend and the Cowboys pull away late. DAL 35-24

Monday
Philadelphia at Washington (-4.5) 5:55 pm ESPN - READ OPTION BOWL.  I am going to take Washington in this one because I have no idea what I am getting from Philadelphia yet. It should be a fun game to watch with all the different storylines. WASH 33-30

Houston (-4) at San Diego 9:15 pm ESPN - This will be the first of 17 weeks where you realize how bad the San Diego Chargers are going to be this season. Houston will make the first case. HOU 30-13

Charlie.

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32 in 31: Philadelphia Eagles

Another year of 32 in 31. Sports News on Tap takes the month of August to preview the National Football League. We spend every day of the month looking at a new team and how they will fare in 2013.

Truthfully, I cannot figure out the Philadelphia Eagles. I would love to tell you the Chip Kelly system will fall flat on its face or that it will be a great success leading Philadelphia back to the playoffs for the first time since 2010.  But right now, there is so much unknown with this team.  I could honestly see this team winning six games or winning 10. I will say this... If the Eagles win nine or more games, there will be a rush of teams looking for the next great college coach to make the transition to the professional ranks. If Kelly's system works in the NFL, most systems will be able to find a way to manage in the league. 

OFFENSE
Michael Vick will be running the show in Philadelphia at least to begin the year.  Vick is looking for redemption after struggling in 2011 and 2012. Kelly's system seems to be one where Vick would succeed in so maybe he bounces back yet again with a great season. I feel like this will be a huge year for LeSean McCoy.  Shady will fit right in to an offense where they want their running backs to not just run the football but also be a threat for catching the football. This is also why I am not that high on Bryce Brown to have another big year. He does not really do much except run the football and Kelly usually goes with strictly athletes.

To the athletes' point, could DeSean Jackson be made into a new player. Andy Reid never used Jackson like the Green Bay Packers use Randall Cobb or the Minnesota Vikings used Percy Harvin. Sure, he would get a reverse or two, but never anything creative. Jackson might be a sneaky player to keep an eye on this season with a mastermind like Kelly controlling the offense. I could see him having a bigger year than people are probably expecting.

For the Eagles, they have dealt with offensive line issues it feels like since Clinton was in office and last year, they lost nearly their entire line to injuries. They tried to fix some of their issues by getting Lane Johnson in the first round from Oklahoma, a tackle. People were varied his potential, but most felt like he could be a player to help the Eagles especially in the passing game. Additionally, they get Jason Peters back for the first time since 2011, I do not know how much Peters has left in the tank, but he could still be impactful going up against the rugged defensive lines of the NFC East.

DEFENSE
The Eagles are moving to a 3-4 with Kelly in town, and that can definitely cause some issues at least in the inception year. Teams find out guys they paid a bunch of money to might not fit into the new system. The biggest casuality to the new look is Trent Cole. He had a rough season last year and now is asked to stand up in his stance at age 30 something I am assuming he has not done in a long time. Cole might be a player whom gets Aaron Kampmann'd, a player not suited for the 3-4 although Cole has much more speed than Kampmann ever did. Brandon Graham should be a stud and everyone keeps talking about Mychal Kendricks. Do not worry about his size, folks.

Their secondary appears to still be a mess. They signed Kenny Phillips in the offseason from the New York Giants only to release him before the season even started due to consistent nagging injuries. They did get Patrick Chung too, but he cannot stay healthy for the life of him either. Their cornerbacks do nothing for me except for Brandon Boykin, an undersized speedster out of Georgia. I would not be surprised if he makes some big plays for the Eagles next season.

SPECIAL TEAMS
Alex Henery is as good as they come by in the National Football League for field goal kicking, he will be the go-to guy once again. Donnie Jones won the punter battle over Brad Wing. As we just mentioned, Boykin can be a vital game changer with his speed, excellent returner too.

KEY ADDITIONS
OLB Connor Barwin, TE James Casey, S Patrick Chung, P Donnie Jones, CB Cary Williams, NT Issac Sopoaga, LB Emmanuel Acho, OT Allen Barbre (THIS ISN'T A KEY ONE, HOW IS HE IN THE LEAGUE STILL?!) - The two pickups from the Houston Texans, Connor Barwin and James Casey, should be huge for this team in 2013.

KEY SUBTRACTIONS
CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, CB Nnamdi Asomugaha, OT King Dunlap, DT Cullen Jenkins, LB Akeem Jordan,

EAGLES DRAFT PICKS
OT Lane Johnson, TE Zach Ertz, DT Bennie Logan, QB Matt Barkley, S Earl Wolff, LB Joe Kruger, CB Jordan Poyer, DE David King - Ertz, Logan and Barkley were all fantastic mid-round picks. I feel all three could have an impact for Philadelphia in the upcoming years.

GAME TO WATCH
Sunday November 17th vs. Washington 1 pm:  In what figures to be an extremely tight NFC, the Eagles only play two divisional opponents in the last seven games.  Washington is one of those teams and if they could get a win here, it might set the Dirty Birds nicely for the rest of the season.

WIN TOTAL
7-9 - This had to be the assumption. I basically hedge my bets with the unknown here. I think the Eagles are not going to be bad this season and will get better as the season goes on.  

Charlie.

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