week 5 "What we learned" post

[FishNChips]

1 - The Chargers are a good team, but they are not the ATS monster that they were last year. They have very large holes in the 2ndary (3 plays, 71 seconds, TD for the Steelers???). I'm a fan of the Chargers so I'm staying away anyhow, but I'm having a really hard time figuring out who the real Chargers are? The Champ Killers of last week or the self killers of this week (no offense Steeler fans, your guys played a fantastic game, but the Bolts had WAY too many penalties in the game and still almost won the game) - they are an enigma and I'd stay away here.

2 - the Patriots are a bigger mystery. They ran like hell against an (allegedly) very good defensive team IN Atlanta. The week before the Chargers owned them. The week before that they beat the Steelers. Again, I'm staying away from the champs unless a line jumps out and bites me.

3 - Vinny Testeverde is old and he can still chuck it. In other news, Tampa is still not very good north of the Mason/Dixon line. Can someone please chime in about what to do with the Jets? Also, paying close attention to Carnell Williams health is pretty important right now, though I'm on the "fade the Bucs" bandwagon right about now (they've lost 3 strt ATS).

4 - Houston might be getting heavy "FADE ME TILL I PROVE OTHERWISE" action. 0-4 ATS and have only been close 1 week (at Bengals in wk4). This includes being favorites twice and getting run out of the building in both weeks. They still can't protect Carr, or he still takes too long to get rid of the ball, but whatever, he's getting killed again.

5 - Denver might be for real. Other than the turd in week 1 AT Miami (can an NFL team take another NFL team lightly and if so, would that actually affect the outcome? If so, that's what I'm blaming the week1 debacle on) the Broncs have posted 4 SOLID wins. The problem is that they are only 2-1-1 ATS in that stretch (though I really think the Redskins line was a bad one). I think I'm staying away in wk6 because they host the Pats, but otherwise I'm looking for good things from them (god help me, I just showed confidence in Jake Plummer).

other thoughts?
FishNChips