It doesn’t get much better than a big start to a new season, and I nailed Thursday night’s NFL Pre-Season card. My top play was the Patriots, and I was also on the Raiders as well as Under Redskins-Ravens. That’s 3-0 the right way, so needless to say I’m pretty fired up right now.
A couple of important notes as I transition this blog from baseball to football. First off, I’m not going to ignore baseball but the emphasis will be on the gridiron. I’ll start getting into college previews shortly.
As for the free plays that I’ll be writing up here, please
bear in mind that these are NOT personal plays, unless otherwise noted.
That means they are games I like a little, but not enough to give out
to my paying customers. There will be the occasional exception but for the most part, if you want the stuff
I’m really high on, you have to pay the freight.
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Tonight’s free NFL play is on the Broncos-49ers tilt.
No coach had a worse off-season than Denver’s new coach Josh McDaniels — at age 33! He inherits a team that has been awful defensively the last few years. And while the offense had been very good, he ran Pro Bowl QB Jay Cutler out of town. So QBs Kyle Orton, Chris Simms and Tom Brandstater are learning the new offense, while the defense is switching to a 3-4. Since Denver has been so bad at stopping the run, it’s hard to see how a 3-4 scheme will help (plus DE Jarvis Moss, the Denver Broncos’ top draft pick in 2007, has been a bust and is learning to play outside linebacker. He missed 5 practices last week.) An interesting note is that the team’s top three receivers are listed as Eddie Royal, Brandon Stokley and Jabar Gaffney. WR Brandon Marshall, the team’s top receiver the last two years, is on the second-team, listed behind Gaffney. The best argument for the Broncos tonight is that a win might help get everyone on the same page mentally. But this is a Broncos squad with what appears to be a very fragile psyche right now.
San Francisco has a fairly deep/experienced preseason QB rotation of Shaun Hill, Alex Smith and Damon Huard (they also drafted mobile rookie QB Nate Davis from Ball State). Head coach Mike Singletary is a fiery guy and this is his first preseason, as he became head coach in the middle of last season. Through 16 practices over 10 days, both QBs Smith and Shaun Hill have been diligent at taking care of the ball and keeping interceptions to a minimum. Their competition for the starting job is a close one, too close for Singletary to call until later in the month. The only concern is the 49ers defense, which has battled injuries: Pro Bowl linebacker Patrick Willis sprained an ankle on the first day of practice and missed last week; Outside linebacker Parys Haralson has a hip flexor injury; LB Jay Moore cut his middle finger. Having several starters out means some players are getting more reps than they normally would. Tony Wragge stepped in for LG David Baas and Ahmad Brooks is getting time at Haralson’s outside linebacker spot on the weak side.
Singletary said he “liked the energy” in practice, so
it’s likely they will be into playing in front of the home fans,
especially against a Denver team that has a lot of holes and question
marks. There’s quite a bit of excitement in the Bay Area about
this team, and that is often a big plus in otherwise meaningless
exhibitions, as the players are more likely to buy into the positive
mindset. I like the fired up 49ers over the rebuilding Broncos.
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I’m heading to San Diego for a few days at Chargers training camp. One of the very cool perks of being in the sports media, as they roll out the red carpet for ESPN1100. I’m really not sure how much I’ll blog between now and the end of next week, but I’ll try and get some info up. Meanwhile, my daily free opinions can be obtained on tape at 1-888-567-7660.
Finally, for those of you who are playing for profit rather than recreation, I’ll guarantee you the best possible effort to make you a winner this football season with my personal plays. If you’re interested in obtaining these selections, just leave your contact info in the comment section (don’t worry, I won’t publish your info) and I’ll be in touch directly.
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