Week 7 and NFL happenings

Happy Sunday everyone!
We are now coming up on week 7. Here are the games to watch for the weekend and what's going on around the league.

Morning games:
Atlanta Falcons @ Detroit Lions (1pm ET, FOX)
These are two exciting offensive teams and Detroit is coming off its first loss of the season last week to the San Francisco 49ers. Should be a great game.

Tim Tebow

Denver Broncos @ Miami Dolphins (1pm ET, CBS)
All eyes will be on Broncos QB Tim Tebow as he makes his first start against Miami who hasn't won a game yet.

San Diego Chargers @ NY Jets (1pm ET, CBS)

Rex Ryan

Norv Turner

Head coaches Norv Turner and Rex Ryan have been talking smack to each other all over the media this week. Let's see who can walk the walk.

Chicago Bears @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1pm ET, FOX)
These are two tough "smashmouth" teams and the game will be played in London, England. The NFL usually hosts one game per season across the pond.

Afternoon games:
Pittsburgh Steelers @ Arizona Cardinals (4:05pm ET, CBS)
This will be a replay of the Superbowl three years ago when the Steelers won. Can the Cards come back to win the rematch?

Carson Palmer

Kansas City Chiefs @ Oakland Raiders (4:05pm ET, CBS)
Last week the Raiders lost their starting QB to injury and traded a bunch of draft picks for Carson Palmer, formerly of the Bengals. They gave up a lot for him so eventually, he will be scrutinized. This week, however, he probably won't play since he just joined the team a couple of days ago.

Green Bay Packers @ Minnesota (4:15pm ET, FOX)

Aaron Rodgers

Aaron Rodgers and his Packers should destroy the Minnesota defense. Donovan McNabb (who got traded from the Washington Redskins) got benched this week after a terrible play last week.

Night game:
Indianapolis Colts @ New Orleans Saints (8:20pm ET, NBC)
This game is also a replay of a Superbowl game from two years ago although it will probably prove much less exciting without Peyton Manning.

Monday night game:
Baltimore Ravens @ Jacksonville Jaguars (8:30pm ET, ESPN)
Baltimore should crush the Jaguars but you never know.

Other news:

Jerome Harrison

Jerome Harrison of the Detroit Lions was going to be traded to the Eagles, went in for his routine physical and doctors found a brain tumor. If he hadn't been about to be traded, he wouldn't have gotten the physical. Without the physical, doctors wouldn't have found the tumor. In this case, it probably saved his life! Read more about it here.

Until next time!

Week 6 + players to watch

Good morning, everyone. I'm staring at my computer screen with a cup of strong coffee clutched in my hand. I think it's light outside but I'm not sure. My husband and I now converse with each other in yawns and I'm starting to trip over things more. Sigh. Sasha Jane is one month old today (!) and my sleep deprivation status is also at one month.
HOWEVER, of course I'll still update you with what to watch in today's games! Even when I zone out in front of the TV on Sundays, it's still nice to have an idea of what's going on. Makes my brain hurt a little less. Time to have a beer and relax until Monday.

Newton

Morning games:
Carolina Panthers at Atlanta Falcons (1pm ET, FOX)
Atlanta is a great team and Cam Newton is still a superstar on the Panthers.
Player to watch: Cam Newton

San Francisco 49ers at Detroit Lions (1pm ET, FOX)
San Francisco is 4-1 and Detroit is 5-0 meaning that these are two good teams. What's also great is that in the recent past, both of these teams have been pretty terrible so it's a nice change. Read a cool article about  Detroit's unique stadium, Kid Rock and fans here.
Player to watch: Lion's WR Calvin Johnson (nickname "Megatron")

Buffalo Bills at New York Giants (1pm ET, CBS)
These two teams have exciting offenses and are fun to watch. Should be a high scoring game.
Player to watch: Bills RB Fred Jackson (my husband has told me that he's a "workhorse," whatever that means.)

Philadelphia Eagles at Washington Redskins (1pm ET, FOX)

Vick

The Eagles' record is a pathetic 1-4, (Washingtons is 3-1) so if they have ANY hope of making the playoffs, they'd better win this one today.
Player to watch: is obviously Michael Vick who signed that $100 million contract earlier in the season.

Afternoon games:
Houston Texans at Baltimore Ravens (4:05pm ET, CBS)
Ravens have been playing well and Houston is coming off of a tough loss to the Raiders last weekend.
Player to watch: Raven's RB Ray Rice (another workhorse according to Mike)

Dallas Cowboys at New England Patriots (4:15pm ET, FOX)

Brady and Ochocinco

Tom Brady has been playing "lights out" football (also according to Mike who is just full of random football terms today! Apparently this is a good thing. But we already knew Tom Brady is good, now didn't we?

Night game:
Minnesota Vikings at Chicago Bears (8:20pm ET, NBC)
Not a very exciting game but watch for the Vikings' Adrian Peterson.

Monday night game:
Miami Dolphins at New York Jets (8:30pm ET Monday, ESPN)
Miami is currently 0-4 (read: terrible) and will be desperately trying for the win against the Jets.
Player to watch: Loudmouth Brandon Marshall of the Dolphins was quoted as saying that he wants to play so hard on Monday that he wants to get kicked out of the game. Ummmm, ok.

In other news, Chad Ochocinco has returned to Twitter after a 12 day break. (I KNEW it seemed quieter in the universe last week) Apparently he lost a bet related to a video game and was banned from Tweeting.

Have a great Sunday everyone!

Week 5!

Alright ladies and gents, here are the things to know for today's games.

Some general news:

Al Davis RIP

**Oakland Raiders owner, Al Davis, has passed away at the age of 82. This is a big deal because he owned the Raiders for almost 50 years! He was one of the NFL's greatest innovators. If you're interested on reading more about him, click here. 
This morning, the Raiders will battle the Texans and I'm guessing that they'll want a victory for Al. The players will be wearing stickers on their helmets to honor him and Al's son will be at the game in Houston.

**This week is the beginning of "bye" weeks, meaning that once per season each team gets a week off. Most teams would like their bye week towards the end of the season so that they can rest their players.

**Only two teams remain undefeated going into week 5. They are the Green Bay Packers (defending Superbowl champs), and the Detroit Lions. 

Morning games:
New Orleans Saints at Carolina Panthers (1pm ET, FOX)
(Just an FYI, when people say the Saints "at" the Panthers, it just means that the game will be played at the second team's (Panthers) stadium. That way you can tell whose home game it is. Another annoying thing is that commentators and websites only list the cities, not the team name when they talk about the matchups. I asked Mike about that because it annoys me and he said, "well, obviously you should just KNOW what team goes with which city. Duh." Well, yes dear, I SHOULD know, but it takes me a couple seconds. Deal. Therefore I will always write out the city AND the team name for you guys. You're welcome. :)

Brees

Newton

This will be a matchup of Drew "bad hair" Brees and rookie superstar Cam Newton. (Did you catch Brees and his bad hair on this week's episode of The Biggest Loser? Why, oh why does no one tell him to brush his hair??) This will be a high-scoring game with lots of passing (meaning throwing). When this happens, you'll usually see some of those amazing plays where receivers catch the ball wayyyyyy downfield and do crazy flips and stuff. This is my highly scientific observation.

Oakland Raiders at Houston Texans (1pm ET, CBS)
These teams both have exciting offenses. As previously mentioned, the Raiders will want to win this one for Mr. Davis and should be pretty fired up. Houston is playing without Andre Johnson (injury) who is one of the top three receivers in the league. Also, both teams have exceptionally good running backs, Texans' Arian Foster and Raiders' Darren McFadden.

Philadelphia Eagles at Buffalo Bills (1pm ET, FOX)
This should be a good game...Michael Vick is fun to watch and the Bills are doing great this season.

Afternoon games:
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at San Francisco 49ers (4:05pm ET, FOX)
Both teams are 3-1 and are both possible playoff contenders with young head coaches.

New York Jets at New England Patriots (4:15pm ET, CBS)
You know what's coming, don't ya? HOT QB TIME!!! Wooooo! I'll be watching this game and drooling alternatively between Mark Sanchez and Tom Brady. These teams pretty much hate each other and always play hard.

Night game:
Green Bay Packers at Atlanta Falcons (8:20pm ET, NBC)
These are both great teams. The Packers (Superbowl champs) dominated the Falcons in the playoffs last year, 48-21, so this is kinda like a rematch.

Monday night game:
Chicago Bears at Detroit Lions (Monday, Oct 10th 8:30pm ET, ESPN)
Detroit is undefeated and has a great offense. Should be a fun game to watch.

Alright kids, I'm feeling up for going back to posting a couple of times a week. Stay tuned next week! Until next time...enjoy this amazing fall weather and football!!

Week 4

Hi everyone!
Ok so I know I've been slacking over here...this little tiny baby is a lot of work! Thanks for all of the support and patience! Let's get right to the point and review what's going on today.

Morning games:

Chicago!

Cam Newton

Carolina Panthers at Chicago Bears
(1pm ET, FOX)
Cam Newton is coming off of his first win. Let's see what he can do against one of the best defenses in the league. Chicago is also one of my favorite cities. Maybe the background shots will make me nostalgic. :)

Detroit Lions at Dallas Cowboys (1pm ET, FOX)
3-0 Lions have an explosive and exciting offense. It's great to see this team finally winning some games!

San Francisco 49ers at Philadelphia Eagles (1pm ET, FOX)

Michael Vick

Frank Gore

Michael Vick will play but let's see how well he can do against a tough 49ers defense. 49ers Frank Gore is playing injured as well.

Pittsburgh Steelers at Houston Texans (1pm ET, CBS)
This should be a great game featuring two good teams.

Afternoon games:
New England Patriots at Oakland Raiders
(4:15pm ET, CBS)

Darren McFadden

The Raiders are playing great these days. Darren McFadden could be the best running back in the league.
New England is coming off a tough loss to Buffalo. This ones going to be a great game. Feel free to stare at Tom Brady as well.

Night Game:
New York Jets at Baltimore Ravens (8:20pm ET, NBC)
This will be a low-scoring, hard fought game between two playoff contenders.

Until next time...!