Week 2 is done and over with and was just as “interesting” as the kickoff weekend. The biggest shocker is horrible showing The House has posted in the initial two weeks. The House wasn’t beaten, even with a poor set of picks in week 1, but such was not the case in week 2. By a score of 8 to 7, the collective membership Beat the House for the first time this season. The Madden 09 Xbox 360 simulation went from first last week to worst this week, earning only 6 correct picks. Remember the Ravens at Houston game was canceled so all picks were out of a possible 15… but that’s no excuse. It’s a three-way tie on the season so far. The results to-date are as follows:
| * | The House | Madden Sim | Members |
| Week 2: | 7-8 | 6-9 | 8-7 |
| 2008 Overall: | 16-15 | 16-15 | 16-15 |
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The Challenge
Three picks were disagreed-upon in week two, and as mentioned, two of the three were correctly guessed by the members. The House called for a reality-check for the “Favre-like” Packers that never happened as they rolled on the Lions 48-25. The other two picks featured the saddest sacks of last year in the Raiders and Dolphins. The House correctly picked the Oakland Raiders to beat the Chiefs on their own turf, but fell short as Miami put up little fight against the Arizona Cardinals.
Since the House was Beaten, we owe a DVD prize pack to one of our members. The pick leader for week 2, as well as the king of the overall leaderboard is Speng. Speng has been a longtime friend to the site and has played Beat the House since it’s inception quite a few years ago over at TheManRoom. I believe this is his first win in the contest. Congrats! He’ll be receiving: The Love Guru, Foot Fist Way, Muhammad Ali: Made in Miami and MANswers: The best of Season One.
Whether the House is beaten or not, each week we also issue a game ball to one of our members. Member JonN1011 actually tied Speng both in week 2 and the overall leaderboard so he earns the Nerf Pro Grip Football for this week. Nice work guys.
Tune back in on Thursday morning to once again agree or disagree with the House’s NFL week 3 picks and predictions.
The League
One of the big stories in week 2 was how 19-year veteran Ed Hochuli erased a win by the San Diego Chargers by botching what appeared to be an easy fumble call by ruling it an incomplete pass. We’re all familiar with what went down, but its nice to see that the Referees Association came out to fully support him though. Accountability is lost.
I mentioned in the Week 2 picks article that there were a whopping eight inter-division games this weekend. Some of the scores, for being division match-ups where the two opponents are very familiar with each other, are pretty shocking. 48-25, 33-30, 39-38 and 41-37… that’s an average score of 40 to 33, again, those were division games. Did those teams not dress their defenses for week 2? Yes, some of those were some pretty damned exciting games, but let those be the games played by opponents in separate conferences who only play twice a decade. A division game should be like the Pittsburgh Steelers / Cleveland Browns game was on Sunday: 10-6. Maybe this is just my old, traditional soul talking. I know you crazy kids like offense these days and the NFL has been doing it’s darndest to get rid of defense for years now. They may have succeeded. Stay tuned, I’m sure we’re in store for many twists and turns over the next few months.
Fantasy Land
In the past, we have always brought you the top weekly fantasy point-earners at specific positions. I’d like to change that up a bit and honor the top five point-earners, regardless of what position they play. With all the ridiculously high scores listed above, we had quite a few big fantasy scores this week. Let me note that the top two scorers earned their final points due to Mr. Hochuli and his laser-accurate eyes.
The top five fantasy studs from week 2 were:
Jay Cutler
Quarterback – Denver Broncos
In 39-38 win over the San Diego Chargers
– 36/50 for 350 yards, 4 TDs, 1 INT.
Brandon Marshall
Wide Receiver – Denver Broncos
In 39-38 win over the San Diego Chargers
– 18 catches for 166 yards, 1 TD.
Anquan Boldin
Wide Receiver – Arizona Cardinals
In 31-10 win over the Miami Dolphins
– 6 catches for 140 yards, 3 TDs.
Aaron Rodgers
Quarterback – Green Bay Packers
In 48-25 win over the Detroit Lions
– 24/38 for 328 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INT.
Brian Westbrook
Running Back – Philadelphia Eagles
In 41-37 loss to the Dallas Cowboys
– 18 carries for 58 yards, 2 TDs. 6 catches for 45 yards, 1 TD.
To review the Week 2 picks, visit the Beat the House main picks page. The week 3 picks and predictions will be up early Thursday morning. Make sure you get your picks in early to move up the leaderboard and get another shot at beating the house. Check in often, the board can drastically change over the remainder of the football season.
Stay tuned to see who will be named the Visionman Players of the Week and if any members have won the gaming PC this week. We’ll update you as soon as the players of the week are announced.
For all other NFL and sports updates, check out the TMRzoo Sports Zone.
See you next week.
