NFL Playoff Time - Gridiron Challenge

For anyone interested I am running an NFL playoff challenge of sorts.

This is a no cost to you contest. Up for grabs is the movie Heat starring Al Pacino & Bobby De Niro. You may have already seen it, but I got it cheap. Arguably the greatest shootout scene ever. It's on you to read the rules and get your shit figured out. Good luck!

To sign up go to:

http://games.espn.go.com/nflpc/en/frontpage

You will need to search the group name and then use a password to get in. One team per person although you can run as many as you like outside of this group if you wish.

Group Name: mrjackstrawSays
PW: letmein


You know I put my Sunday Selections up late so you don't get sucked into my thought process. Logical as it is, I just don't seem to be an up-and-coming handicapper. That being said, I ain't going anywhere. I will continue to make my plays and hopefully it will all start to click on a regular basis.

So yesterday I brought 16 of my precious units up to the window and I recovered 14. The bookies made a profit off me albeit a small one. Let's go through what happened on my selections from yesterday since I didn't have time then. This may be an exercise to convince myself I'm not retarded. OK, Chicago -3.5 over Detroit. If they can win in Minny they can surly win in Detroit. This should have been a multi-unit bet but that's always hard for me vs. the Lions. I may have to ignore all Lion's games in the future especially if they ever get good.

My next bet was JAX +1.5. A couple of reasons for this. First, and this was the big one, it seemed impossible to me to lay any points taking the Browns. Vegas must have cleaned up on this game. Second, how hard would the Brown's players play for Mangini after learning Mike Holmgren was coming in. Weren't they all supposed to hate Mangini? Would they bust it if his job was on the line? This victory may not have saved Mangini's job, but the Cleveland effort really surprised me.

NE +7. I pushed this one. It looked like I was going to sweep my NE bets when my Moneyline pick was coming through too. Then Houston came back and won A Big Game. Houston never wins big games where there's anything important on the line. I ended up getting really screwed here. I also had the Giants +9 @ Minny. I though the Giants would want to show their fans something after last week's debacle and I thought Minny was falling apart. Nope and nope. OK then. Next....

ARI/GB: Under 44. I hit this one. The points weren't allocated quite the way I thought they'd be, but that doesn't matter. My thinking here was that there would be nothing but back-ups in and no one would want to show too much going into next week's rematch. Staying out west, I took both OAK & KC as double digit underdogs and both came through. I played OAK for one unit vs BAL. The Raiders really aren't that bad when they get average QB play. Plus they've played teams tough at home. With the KC/DEN game you have that rivalry component along with the Bronco's free-fall and no Brandon Marshall. I'm wondering where Jamaal Charles will be selected in Fantasy Football next year? That was a 2 unit play. I guess we all should have played the Moneyline too.

PHI +3. I shouldn't have bet this game. Retarded move by a retard. That's just fair warning for the weeks ahead :~) The last play I made was for 1U and I was getting nearly 4:1. It was CIN +9.5 parlayed with Under 34. I waited to make this afer the NE/HOU game to make sure CIN had something to play for. As it turns out they did. The #3 seed which is important should both them and NE get to the AFC Championship game. Plus Ochocinco was shooting his mouth off about Revis before the game. That was my Cincinnati motivation angle. Oops.. I took the under because of reported gale force winds. You know, a 10-6 or 13-7 game. Nope.

So the Wildcard Weekend schedule is out as are the spreads.

Saturday Jan 9th, 2010

New York Jets @ Cincinnati Bengals(-3)
Philadelphia Eagles @ Dallas Cowboys (-4)

Sunday Jan 10th, 2010

Baltimore Ravens @ New England Patriots (-3.5)
Green Bay Packers @ Arizona Cardinals (-2.5)

The line on the Patriots/Ravens game has already moved a half point. It opened with NE (-4), but I think the public has been jumping on the points with the Wes Welker injury. It may even come down to -3 before all is said and done but remember the Ravens didn't really stomp the Raiders in a must win game and they are flying back from the west coast. NE is a much different team at home vs. on the road.

Don't forget about the NFL Playoff Gridiron Challenge presented by mrjackstraw where you could win the movie Heat.