As long as it keeps happening, I’ll keep writing about it. The good news is that, this time, “it” was on our side.
The “it” to which I am referring is the all-famous ‘obvious outcome.’ Sure, the Bills were a rather obvious pick to demolish the Jets, but there were other reasons as to why that didn’t come to fruition. Two other ‘obvious’ plays included the Chiefs and Chargers winning easily. Even with some struggles by Los Angeles, it happened.
And that’s important.
It’s important because it makes it sting that-much less when the Falcons blow another lead — I know, I shouldn’t be shocked — or the Seahawks allow ten points with less than five minutes left in regulation only to lose in overtime. Those are the bad breaks. The bad beats. And they are amplified in bad weeks. They are perfectly fine when many of the games go as they should.
The other reason why I will continue to highlight this is because it’s growing into a more comfortable trend for this otherwise uncomfortable season. We need something on which we could rely, even if the answer is more ‘obvious’ than we would like. Because, in the end, we only like winning.
Below are predictions for each game against the spread. Spreads have been taken from various websites and are subject to change. The spread in parenthesis denotes the selected team. An asterisk denotes a confidence pick.
*Confidence Picks – 2020 Season: 19-21-1 (Last Week: 2-3)
(2019 Season: 57-43-3) (2018 Season: 63-48-4) (2017 Season: 53-48-4) (2016 Season: 53-67-3) (2015 Season: 69-45-2) (2014 Season: 61-46-2) (6-Year Total: 356-297-18)
All Picks Against Spread – 2020 Season: 49-54-2 (Last Week: 7-6-1)
(2019 Season: 142-118-7) (2018 Season: 137-118-12) (2017 Season: 137-119-11) (2016 Season: 123-136-8) (2015 Season: 143-117-7) (2014 Season: 149-114-4) (6-Year Total: 831-722-49)
Atlanta Falcons at Carolina Panthers
I generally enjoy taking the ‘contrarian’ route — or, at least, exploring the opposite side of every coin. Here, I’m not opposing the common argument for the sake of opposition. I genuinely believe that Atlanta Falcons running back Todd Gurley was right to score a touchdown with the team trailing by two points and a little over one minute remaining in regulation.
There are a few reasons why.
Mainly because there were plenty of other opportunities to win the game.
Atlanta could have maybe stopped the Lions from marching down the field and scoring a touchdown as time expired. Maybe? I don’t know. That one seems fairly obvious.
Atlanta could have also scored more than twice in the first 58 minutes of gametime against a defense that ranks 22nd in yards-allowed-per-game. That probably would have helped.
Or most importantly, Atlanta could have looked at itself in the metaphorical mirror, recognized that it was 1-5, and go for the win as soon as possible. Because the team was losing. Imagine if the kicker misses the field goal or it gets blocked or quarterback Matt Ryan slips when trying to center the ball and fumbles it. Can we really rule out anything with this Falcons team? Take the points because points are fleeting.
Why did I bring this up? Why did I start the first writeup of Week 8 with my own personal opinion on what a now-1-6 team should have done?