After winning the Super Bowl last year, amidst all of the hoopla that surrounded the team with DeflateGate, the Patriots have come out and simply dominated this year.
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Start Steve Johnson (vs. Bears): With Keenan Allen out for the remainder of the season, Philip Rivers will seek a new target to throw the ball to.
Sit T.Y. Hilton (vs. DEN): See what I put down for Luck.
There’s nothing the Broncos defense can’t do at a high level. Hilton will be matched up against the league’s best passing defense. The Giants couldn’t cover Benjamin Watson and Marques Colston. Brady’s other favorite target, Rob Gronkowski, remains the best tight end in football with a 40/646 receiving yards/6 TD statline. “I have fought a good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful”. And the last time he saw the Bills, he barely scored at all. It is hard to recommend any of them as daily fantasy options against the Broncos’ stout defense. Let that sink in for a minute, and remember the bust he once was in Jacksonville. Despite the fact that his 40th birthday will come next season, Manning has miraculously kept Denver undefeated at 7-0. The very first game in 1972, 24-23 and the last game in 2007, 52-7. That basically cancels out any hope of offense for the Browns. Also, Cam Wake is out, and their defense will likely suffer from the loss of his presence.
And, the team that won?
Packers (-2.5) at Panthers: There’s trouble in Cheese-ville. This game holds more importance to the Packers.
CHARLOTTE, NC – OCTOBER 25: DeMarco Murray #29 of the Philadelphia Eagles runs the ball against the Carolina Panthers in the 1st quarter during their game at Bank of America Stadium on October 25, 2015 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota are still too green for anyone to know what they can do.
Player to watch: Todd Gurley.
But they still have nothing to show for it: 0-4 in four straight postseason visits with Dalton, an above-average QB on a fraud team flirting with contention.
According to data collected by Priceline.com and TiqIQ.com, the estimated “all-in” cost (airfare, hotel, food, game ticket) for out-of-town fans is close to $2,000 per person.
Washington vs. Patriots: Do I even have to say it? How else do you explain him looking like Brees circa 2011.
That’s not all that uncommon when it comes to the National Football League and their trade deadline, but it seemed like there were a handful of teams willing to host a fire sale this year. There is something nearly perverse about his insistence on continuing to play at this point; he is smart enough and charming enough and successful enough that you might argue pro football needs him at this point more than he could ever need pro football. A win for the Vikings would give them their seventh consecutive win at home, the third-longest streak in the NFL.
The ground game was strong last week, picking up chunks of yardage on seemingly every carry.
Giants (-2.5) at Buccaneers: How bad was the Giants defense against the Saints?
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La Canfora also talked about the state of the Tennessee Titans, who just fired head coach Ken Whisenhunt on Tuesday, and the possibility of Peyton Manning joining that franchise in a front office role when his playing days are over. The Rams, who are 4-3, are 3-0 against the NFC West for the first time since 2004. In this case it was Justin Tucker who kicked a 39-yard field goal on the final play of the game in Baltimore’s 29-26 victory. Not many people thought that Brady would even be able to play for the first four games of the season before he appealed the deflatgate allegations (Brady successfully appealed the four game suspension). The Saints got rid of their best offensive weapon, but now all of a sudden Willie Snead and Brandin Cooks are on pace for more than 1,000 yards and Ben Watson isn’t far behind them. Another loss will drop them out of the top 10. They have benched quarterback Colin Kaepernick and will start Blaine Gabbert on Sunday against Atlanta. But the Broncos still need to be more consistent on offense to prove they’ll top the Pats. The Colts underwhelming season has a lot to do with their offense. The AFC South title was supposed to be a lock for the Colts this season. Perhaps, with a few more talent around him, his career will take the path or Roethlisberger, with the eye-popping stats coming later in his career.
