Tuesday Morning QB For 11-29-2006 - NFL News, Tips And Picks

Tuesday Morning QB For 11-29-2006
By Ronald Glover
Posted: 3:00 am PDT 2006-11-29

This past Sunday, we saw the maturing of Vince Young and the unraveling of Michael Vick. While Young used his arm and legs to lead the Titans out of a 21-point fourth-quarter deficit against the Giants, Vick's two middle fingers let the home crowd know what he thought of their booing the Falcons being done dirty by the Saints.

Young reminded us why he was the first quarterback taken in last spring's draft. Young's heroics will be needed again this Sunday as the Titans travel to Indianapolis to face Peyton Manning and the Colts, who literally ran all over a porous Philadelphia Eagles defense. Rookie Joseph Addai carried 24 times for 171 yards and four touchdowns. The Eagles, playing without Donovan McNabb, were outplayed from the opening drive. The Eagles face an uphill climb the rest of the way as they play their next three of four on the road.

The Carolina Panthers will come to Philadelphia looking to take out their frustrations on the Birds after coughing up a winnable game to the Washington Redskins. Quarterback Jason Campbell, in his second start, did justenough to pull this one out. The Panthers looked flat the entire day and just couldn't find a rhythm. The Redskins' secondary did an exceptional job containing receivers Steve Smith and Keyshawn Johnson. The Panthers have struggled running the ball all season, so that may bode well for the Eagles' defense.

Thursday night, the Ravens will try to increase their three-game AFC North lead over the Cincinnati Bengals. This is a game that should be a physical battle as well as verbal -- watch to see how the Bengals WR trio of Chad Johnson, T.J. Houshmanzadeh and Chris Henry fares against an exceptional Ravens secondary. The Bengals have lost backup RB Chris Perry for the remainder of the season with a broken right fibula.

One thing is for certain: Rex Grossman has been figured out, and if the Bears make it to the Super Bowl they'll have their defense to thank. The offense is a big-play offense only -- it can't grind it out because the Bears don't have a running attack that scares anyone. Those receivers are serious burners, but once they face a Cover 2 scheme or anything resembling it, Grossman starts to rush things and you have a performance like Sunday's against the Patriots. The Bears should rebound against the Vikings at home, but Grossman will be under heavy scrutiny if he doesn't have a strong outing.

The Patriots are, to me, the team that no one wants to face in the playoffs, simply because Bill Belichick will come up with scheme to take away a so-called strength (i.e. the Bears' deep threat receivers) and expose a weakness (i.e. Grossman's inconsistency). On Sunday, when the Patriots face the Detroit Lions in Foxborough, it will not take long for the Lions' shortcomings to reveal themselves. As the Matt Millen job watch intensifies.

The Green Bay Packers, who face the N.Y. Jets, need to shake off Monday night's loss to the suddenly all-together Seattle Seahawks. With QB Matt Hasselbeck and RB Shawn Alexander back in the lineup, the Seahawks overcame a 21-12 third-quarter deficit, led by three-second half touchdowns by Hasselbeck. Shawn Alexander had a season high 210 yards. The Packers are facing a Jets team still in the playoff hunt; the Jets trail only Kansas City and Denver for a wild-card spot. Eric Mangini is doing a lights-out job and is my choice for coach of the year if the Jets get in the playoffs.

Another game of interest this week will be the Denver Broncos at home against the Seahawks, renewing an old time AFC rivalry. Jay Cutler makes his first NFL start as the Broncos try to gain some momentum going into the playoffs. I just hope Cutler can handle the pressure he's about to face. This ain't the SEC kiddo!

The next game is the war in the Meadowlands between the Giants and the Cowboys. Expect plenty of salt on the wound in this one. A poor performance here will cost Giants coach Tom Coughlin his job; he has lost the locker room, and his team blew a 21-point fourth-quarter lead to a bad Titans squad. The only thing left is for Tuna, T.O. and Tony Romo to come into East Rutherford and put the nails in the coffin of the G-Men's season.

It's a good thing that Vick and the Falcons are in D.C this weekend facing the 'Skins; the Falcons are done, and so may be Vick's tenure in the ATL.

L.T. and the Chargers go up into Buffalo to face the Bills -- it's not a matter of when L.T. will score anymore, just how.

San Francisco looks to stay in the NFC wild-card picture, but the 49ers have to get past the red-hot New Orleans Saints.

K.C.'s Larry Johnson is on a serious tear, and it should continue against a Cleveland Browns team that is coming apart without anyone's help. The battle for Florida is between two of the league's bigger disappointments this season. The 5-6 Dolphins take on the 6-5 Jaguars, who lost a very winnable game in Buffalo last week. In addition, for all of that talk about David Garrard replacing Bryan Leftwich, well, it hasn't meant much.

Houston vs. Oakland would've been a helluva game 20 years ago, but don't look for much here on Sunday. The prize here is the loser gets closer to the No. 1 pick in next spring's draft.

Finally, we have Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh. I'm intrigued to see which coach can make the uglier face during the game: Jon Gruden or Bill Cowher. If either team's play from the past week is any indication, we should have plenty to chose from. Even worse, the Steelers will be without safety Troy Polamalu and wide receiver Hines Ward at least for this week.

NFL Football Betting Line, Upcoming Game Previews & More

Online NFL Football Betting Sites