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Goal-Line Stand » All Tags » Picks (RSS)

  • Wild-card weekend picks

    Last week: 12-4 (7-4-5 against the spread) Season record: 161-94-1 (114-112-30 against the spread) 2007 season: 174-82 (118-105-33 against the spread) Falcons @ Cardinals Atlanta has all the momentum and is probably the more confident team, but the Cards were 6-2 at home and have the more experienced quarterback. But here’s the thing: when is the last time the Falcons outplayed a good team? New England beat them by 40 points two weeks ago, Minnesota by 21 the week before, and Philadelphia by 28 two...

  • Rear-View Monday: Karma makes things right in San Diego

    Karma is a concept that goes deeper than the intellectual class of this blog, but let’s humour ourselves for just a minute and try to explain why karma killed the Denver Broncos this season. We won’t get all theoretical on your asses, but the basic premise of karma is that what goes around comes around. In week 2, as we all know by now, a bad call from referee Ed Hochuli cost the San Diego Chargers a victory. The benefactor that day: the Denver Broncos. The Chargers went on to have a season that...

  • Sunday Preview: The healthy will prevail

    With 16 weeks under our belts, injuries have once again ravaged the National Football League. We kicked things off with a bang, literally and figuratively, to Tom Brady’s knee. Since then: Carson Palmer, Matt Hasselbeck, Derek Anderson, Brady Quinn, Jon Kitna, Damon Huard, Aaron Schobel, Keith Rivers, Laurence Maroney, Adalius Thomas, Tedy Bruschi, Rodney Harrison, Felix Jones, six Broncos running backs, Shaun McDonald, Nick Barnett, Atari Bigby, Rashean Mathis, Aaron Glenn, Reggie Bush, Rashard...

  • Sunday Preview: Losses won’t kill Giants, Panthers, Titans or Steelers

    Officially, the AFC and NFC Championship games will be held on Sunday, January 18. But the hype machine is working extra hours this week in advance of what many are calling the prequels to those big games. The Panthers and the Giants are playing for the first seed in the NFC, while the Steelers and Titans are essentially playing for the same spot in the AFC. But while some are making these games out to be make-or-break, there’s relief for the two teams that end up on the wrong end of things on Sunday...

  • Pickin' the Thursday game

    So our publishing application has this strange setting that forces us to make every title unique, which is why we're thankful these Thursday night games are finally coming to an end. Although coming up with titles has become a fun little challenge: Nov. 13: Thursday night pick Nov. 20: Thursday night pick (for some reason it let us get away with that) Nov. 27: Thursday picks Dec. 4: Thursday pick Dec. 11: Pick for Thursday Dec. 18: Pickin' the Thursday game If we were only as good at picking...

  • Sunday Preview: NFC South looks to continue home dominance

    It’s been quite some time since we’ve seen four teams from one division dominate on home turf like the representatives from the NFC South. Teams from that division are a combined 24-2 within friendly confines this season. The two losses: Atlanta fell 24-20 to Denver in week 11 and New Orleans lost to Minnesota, 30-27, in week 5. Seven points either way and the division could very well have been 26-0 at home at this point. What’s also amazing is that all 10 intra-divisional games in the South have...

  • Pick for Thursday

    We said earlier in the week that we felt sorry for NFL Network for its upcoming schedule of games, but as we look deeper, it isn’t that bad. New Orleans is still alive in the playoff race, while the Bears are trying to stay within reaching distance of the Vikings in the NFC North. We’re going with the Bears, for two reasons: 1) New Orleans can’t win on the road. The Saints are 1-5 away from the Big Easy and have struggled historically at Soldier Field . 2) The Bears, on the other hand, are 4-2 at...

  • Sunday Preview: Historic day for Canada

    Well, we’re less than a day away. Tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. ET, at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, ON, for the fourth time in history, the National Football League will play a regular-season game on foreign soil. Not flooded with excitement? Yeah, if Rogers Communications’ incomprehensible prices, the not-quite-sold-out preseason game and a violently rejuvenated rivalry between Buffalo and Toronto weren’t enough to dull your anticipation, Uncle Ted’s death -- just five days prior to the game -- provided...

  • Thursday pick

    We don't miss a lot of games, but if we have to miss one, Oakland - San Diego ain't bad. We're at The Score's Christmas party (nay, "festive party") Thursday night, and, oddly enough for a sports network, probably won't have access to the game (maybe people who work in sports are reminded of work at the sight of sports?). Anywho, as we were saying, if there's a game to miss, this is it. And since company holiday parties are quickly going out of style courtesy of...

  • Sunday Preview: Giants won’t miss Burress

    If it’s possible to go uphill after winning the Super Bowl, the New York Giants have done just that. The 2008 season has been a fairytale follow-up to their XLII upset of the New England Patriots. Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning have to think they’ve been dreaming. For Plaxico Burress, it’s been a nightmare. Burress was considered one of the most important members of the 2007 Giants. Most would bet that New York wouldn’t have won the Super Bowl without their top receiver. Which is why it’s been so surprising...

  • Thursday picks

    Happy Thanksgiving to our American readers! Welcome to work day number 228, Canadian readers! This is the single best day of the year to work in sports media. It was the day we all suddenly became sick in elementary school, the day we all cut in high school and the day we all … well everything stayed pretty much the same in college. And it has once again arrived! It’s so great it should be a holiday. Wait. It already is. For some of you. For the rest of you -- be thankful today for NFL.com’s Game...
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  • Sunday Preview: Falcons, Jets, Dolphins can send messages

    Last year, the Atlanta Falcons, New York Jets and Miami Dolphins were bad football teams. They had a combined record of 9-39. If the Jets and Dolphins weren’t already in the same division, they all would’ve been last-place finishers. This year, it’s been a different story. 2007: Nine total wins. 2008: 19 down, with 18 games still to be played. In all likelihood, they’ll at least triple their combined win total from last year. The Jets and Dolphins have flipped the AFC East upside down, with New York...

  • Thursday night pick

    Injuries will be the biggest factor when the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers get together for the third Thursday night game of the year. Adalius Thomas' injury played a big part in our successful choice to take the Jets over the Patriots last week, so we'll stick with the same system. Where's the game? In Pittsburgh, where the Steelers are only 3-2 this year. The Bengals haven't actually been too bad on the road; they came a touchdown short week 1 in Baltimore, took the...

  • Sunday Preview: Don’t forget about Clady

    Buried amid the hoopla surrounding rookies Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, Chris Johnson and Jerod Mayo, Denver Broncos left tackle Ryan Clady is having a stupendous rookie season. Clady, the 12 th -overall pick out of Boise State, didn’t give up a single sack in the season’s first two months, leading an offensive line that has surrendered only seven sacks on the year. Only the Tennessee Titans have allowed fewer sacks in ’08, but the Broncos have attempted 76 more passes than Tennessee. So why does Clady...

  • Thursday night pick

    Picking games this year has been a struggle for us here at the Goal-Line Stand. Just ask our new friend Lars . Last Thursday, we tried to right that trend by picking the Browns to beat the Broncos for the following reasons: "...seal brown and burnt orange are our favourite colours. Because 'C' comes before "D" in the alphabet. Because Cleveland is geographically closer to our hometown of Toronto. Because "Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe" said so. And because we've never...
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