A reminder: Thursday night games suck. That was my refrain last year, and it's my refrain this year. They aren't good for the players: they get three off days, rather than the typical six, to heal and recover. They aren't good for the fans: most of us have real world jobs that entail us getting up at a normal time on Friday, making a late game Thursday night an inconvenience if our favorite team is playing. What's more, if you're a huge NFL fan (guilty) then you are already sacrificing Monday morning (due to Sunday night football) AND Tuesday morning (due to Monday night football) to the NFL. The difference is that on Monday and Tuesday you are still a little rested from the weekend. By Friday morning you are generally spent. And, further more, Thursday night football makes you make decisions on picks and your fantasy football lineup much earlier. The only group this benefits are the rich owners, and their boss, Beelzebub ... er, Roger Goodell.
So I'm writing to give the POV "Thursday Night Football Sucks" pick. But before that, Boomer Esiason versus Jay Cutler.
Esiason, who has been an outspoken critic of Cutler's before, said on the Sunday pre-game show that he and his expert friends would take 20 quarterbacks in the NFL ahead of Cutler. Simply put, I wanted to see if I agreed with Esiason (who is far from my favorite talking head ... if Cowher wasn't on the CBS pre-game there would be no reason to even think of changing over to their program). Before this exercise my gut was telling me that Boomer was way off base, and that Cutler would easily be inside the top 20. Is he? Consider:
Group One: Guys You'd Absolutely Have Over Jay Cutler, But Who Will Retire Before Him
1. Aaron Rodgers
2. Drew Bree
3. Peyton Manning
4. Tom Brady
Group Two: Guys You'd Absolutely Have, And Will Play Longer Than Him
5. Cam Newton
6. Colin Kaepernick
7. Robert Griffin III
8. Russell Wilson
9. Andrew Luck
10. Matt Ryan
Group Three: Guys You'd Probably Take Over Cutler Without Much Thought
11. Eli Manning
12. Joe Flacco
13. Tony Romo
Group Four: Getting Into Toss Up Territory
14. Matt Stafford
15. Michael Vick
16. Matt Schaub
17. Ben Roethlisberger
18. Andy Dalton
Group Five: Guys You'd Say No To Today Over Cutler
19. Sam Bradford
20. Terrelle Pryor
21. Carson Palmer
22. Josh Freeman
23. Phil Rivers
24. Alex Smith
25. Ryan Tannehill
26. E.J. Manuel
27. Blaine Gabbert
28. Jake Locker
29. Christian Ponder
30. Geno Smith
31. Brandon Weeden
...
2,100. Rex Grossman
So, with those in no particular order, Cutler by my count is no lower than 19, but probably 14. I may try to rank them in my personal order some time, or maybe not. But I disagree with Boomer. And I hope he liked the Bears beating his Bengals Sunday.
On to the pick
Season against the spread: 10-5-1
Season straight up: 13-3
Thursday Night Football
Jets (+12) over Patriots / Patriots straight up
The reasoning: too many injuries early in the year for the Pats, and the Jets D is sneaky good. I expect that the Pats can overcome this for a win, but I don't think it will be by 2 TDs or 1 TD and 2 FG.
Remember everyone: Thursday night football sucks!
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