2012 TransGriot NFL Picks-Week 3

Well TransGriot sports fans, even though I'm in RG3 country and handling my OUT on The Hill activist business, it's Thursday and the prognostication contest between myself and Michael Watts of the Michael's Rant blog continues.

Got off to a great Week 1 start for the season but precipitously fell off due to all the Week 2 games that didn't go quite the way I expected. 

But the good news is that even with an 8-8 record I still erased a two game deficit and Mike and I are tied again   Season is still early, but after two weeks I have a little better idea of which teams are headed in the direction of being playoff contenders and which ones will be competing for the number one pick.in the 2013 NFL Draft.   Week 3 will be another piece of that playoff and 2012 season narrative that is unfolding.

And yeah NFL, y'all need to settle the lockout with the NFL officials.

Enough jibber-jabber, on to my picks.  Mike's are here, mine will be in underlined bold print.

Last Week's records
TransGriot    8-8
Mike Watts  7-9
 
2012 Season Records
TransGriot    18-14
Mike Watts   18-14

Thursday, September 20
Giants at Panthers

Sunday, September 23
Buccaneers at Cowboys
Rams at Bears
49ers at Vikings
Lions at Titans
Bengals at Redskins
Chiefs at Saints
Jets at Dolphins
Bills at Browns
Jaguars at Colts

Afternoon Games
Eagles at Cardinals
Falcons at Chargers
Texans at Broncos
Steelers at Raiders

Sunday Night
Patriots at Ravens

Monday, September  24
Packers at Seahawks

2012 TransGriot NFL Picks-Week 2

Kickoff weekend of the 2012 NFL season is over and I actually accomplished my goal of doing better than the 9-7 I started the 2011 prognostication contest with and grabbed an initial two game lead..   

I went 10-6 to open the season and that wasn't bad, but Michael Watts went 11-5 so he has an initial one game lead on me (for now)   

If it weren't for the upsets I could have done even better.   Upsets such as RG3 and the Redskins marching into the Superdome and marching out with a huge 40-32 win against the Saints.  The NY Jets after having an anemic offense all preseason exploding for 48 points on a Buffalo Bills team that spent all those free agent megamillions on their defense.  

Mario who?  

I also didn't expect the Cowboys to walk into Met Life Stadium last Wednesday and walk out with a win and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers played better than I expected in their win against the Panthers.  

But the first week is over and NFL Week 2 rapidly approaches, so let's get to my Week 2 Picks.   Mike's are here.  Team I'm picking to win will be in underlined bold print. 

TransGriot Week 1 Record  10-6
Mike Watts Week 1 Record 11-5

2012 NFL Season Records
Mike Watts  11-5
TransGriot    10-6

***

Thursday, September 13
Chicago at Green Bay

Sunday, September 16
Noon CDT Games
Houston at Jacksonville
Kansas City at Buffalo
Cleveland at Cincinnati
Minnesota at Indianapolis
New Orleans at Carolina
Arizona at New England
Tampa Bay at NY Giants
Baltimore at Philadelphia

Afternoon Games
Washington at St Louis
Dallas at Seattle
Oakland at Miami
NY Jets at Pittsburgh
Tennessee at San Diego

Sunday Night
Detroit at San Francisco

Monday,  September 17
Denver at Atlanta

NFL Official Shannon Eastin Makes History Again

Because of the ongoing NFL officials lockout, an opportunity door was opened for others to get the chance to show what they could do at the professional officiating level.  

Many of those locked out officials of the NFL Referees Association have decades of experience doing NFL and BCS collegiate football games, and it isn't easy to become one. 

For those of you who had the opportunity to watch the St. Louis Rams-Detroit Lions game yesterday, you got to witness a little sports history in addition to the thrilling 27-23 game the Lions eventually pulled out.

When Shannon Eastin stepped onto the turf at Detroit's Ford Field yesterday she became the first woman ever to work as a official in an NFL regular season game when she served as a line judge   

It's also interesting to note this groundbreaking NFL moment happened during the 40th anniversary year of the passage of Title IX   

The Tempe, AZ resident already made history last month when she became the first female official to work an NFL preseason game.  Eastin served as the line judge during the Green Bay Packers-San Diego Chargers game in San Diego as well. 

The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, OH already has the hat and whistle she used during that historic preseason game, and I don't doubt they probably asked for the cap and whistle she used during yesterday's Rams-Lions game for a future display, too.   She has worked as a referee in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and has 16 years of officiating experience.

MEAC officials declined comment on Eastin, and the NFL declined to make Eastin available for interviews during the week leading up to the historic game.   They also didn't allow media access to her following the Rams-Lions game, but did set up a conference call with her in August.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said having Eastin on the field is a great opportunity for her and the league.  "She's well prepared for it, and I think she'll do terrific," Goodell said in an interview last month. "So we're excited about that"  

"And there are more coming, by the way. We've been working along this path to try to properly train and prepare a female official, and now we have the opportunity."

Eastin said during last month's conference call, "I hope to show it really doesn't matter if you are male or female."

The only way it matters is in terms of inspiring others to join you in the officiating ranks as you were inspired by longtime NBA official Violet Palmer 

Congratulations on making NFL and sports history again.

2012 Texans Watch-Bulls On Parade Run Over Dolphins

In yesterday's season opening game against the Miami Dolphins the Houston Texans had Arian Foster, Andre Johnson and Matt Schaub on the field in their liberty white uniforms for the first time since 2011. 

My favorite NFL ballers are considered by some pundits as serious contenders to be the AFC representative for Super Bowl XLVII that will take place down I-10 east in New Orleans February 3. 

The Texans players have embraced the heightened expectation of the media and long suffering Houston area NFL fans and adopted a 'Super Bowl or Bust' mantra.  They wanted to get the chase for Super Bowl XLVII and their second consecutive AFC South title off to a fast start in front of the 71,566 people at Reliant Stadium.

It was the second-largest crowd ever for a Texans home game (largest was last year's Pittsburgh game) and the sold out Reliant Stadium crowd got to enjoy the unveiling of the 2011 division championship banner.  But it was the Dolphins that looked more like the team that went to last year's AFC playoffs thanks to Ryan Tannehill, their rookie quarterback from Texas A&M.  

The Dolphins took an early 3-0 lead and stymied the Texans offense for most of the first quarter.  The Houston natives were getting restless over the missed tackles and dropped passes from our hometown NFL ballers and gave the Texans some boos for it.. 

Then the 'Bulls On Parade' Defense took over in the decisive second quarter.   Johnathan Joseph got the first of three interceptions off of Tannehill that led to the game tying 35 yard Shayne Graham field goal.  

On the next series JJ Watt tipped a Tannehill pass to the waiting arms of Brian Cushing.  That led to a drive capped off by a 14 yard sprint by Arian Foster for the go ahead touchdown.  

Watt then swatted Tannehill's next pass from scrimmage and cornerback Kareem Jackson came down with it at the Miami 27. Richard Marshall then was called for pass interference and Foster plowed into the end zone from the 1 yard line for his second touchdown of the day. 
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Tannehill handed off on Miami's next play from scrimmage, but that didn't work either because Glover Quin forced a Daniel Thomas fumble which Danieal Manning recovered at the Dolphins 31 with 28 seconds left before halftime. Schaub threw a pinpoint pass to the end zone to Andre Johnson, who made the acrobatic catch over the Dolphin defender for a 24-3 halftime lead.

After the 72 yard third period Thigpen punt return that chopped the lead to 24-10, the Texans got busy and added two more Graham field goals to secure the 30-10 win.   It also extended the Texans record against the Dolphins to a perfect 7-0 and made it the third consecutive year they've opened the NFL season with a win.

"It wasn't pretty," Schaub said. "Anyone in our locker room can tell you that we can play much better than we did today."   We fans know y'all can play better than this and I'm glad the Texans feel the same way. . 

Next up is a trip to Jacksonville to play our first road and AFC South Division game of the young season with the Jaguars.  But getting better is mandatory because your schedule isn't going to get any easier.

Trans Athlete Playing On His HS Football Team

I've been saying that all the work of trans athletes coming out and breaking barriers would one day lead to a trans athlete wanting to play on their high school team if they desired to do so, getting the opportunity to make that team and nobody tripping when it happened.  .

That scenario I described has finally happened in Michigan.  Seth Knop is a varsity running back on the Grosse Pointe South High School football team who wanted to play last season but was afraid to try out. 

Since it was his senior year Seth took the 'why not' attitude and decided to go for it.  He approached both varsity coach Tim Brandon and junior varsity coach Brian Shelson about his desire to play football and was told that the school's athletic policy permitted coed sports teams.  He tried out and made the squad.

He's gotten respect from his classmates not only for his transition, but being a member of the team.

"The kids in my grade respect me a lot for it," said Knop of his being an out transgender athlete. "They treat me just like everybody else, which is what I wanted."

It's why the NCAA policies on trans athletes were enacted.   It's why the IOC has policies that allow trans athletes to compete in the Olympic Games. And it's also what those trans athletes who took those slings and arrows so that future generations of transkids could play their favorite sports without drama wanted for you as well.

Good luck this season Seth, and have a wonderful senior year. 

2012 TransGriot NFL Picks-Week 1

New year, new season and going into this 2012 NFL prognostication competition with Mr. Watts with the determination to win it. A tie, and especially in the way I had to do it last year to get to that 164-92 record is not an option.

I want to get off to a solid start and better than the 9-7 I started Week One off with last year. 

But the first week of a new NFL season and trying to pick winners is always a crapshoot because the pretenders vs contenders don't usually shake out until about the 4th week. 

You have to factor in all the old faces in new places.  What will be the effects of rookies such Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III and Andrew Luck be to their new teams?   Training camp injuries?  How will the season long suspension of Saints coach Sean Payton affect them?.  Will we see the locked out regular officials soon instead of the replacement ones and when will the replacement refs blow a call or two that costs a team a game?   What 2011 NFL playoff teams will fall by the wayside this year and what teams who didn't make the playoffs in 2011 surprise us and do so this year?  

And will my Texans not only win the AFC South for the second consecutive year but actually make it to New Orleans for the Super Bowl as the NFL pundits are predicting?  

Enough jibber-jabber, it all starts tonight     Mike's picks are here.   Team I'm picking to win will be in bold print and underlined. 

Here's mine to kick off our 2012 NFL prognostication battle and may the best Texan (pun intended) win.

NFL Week 1    Last year's TransGriot record 164-92    
No Byes

Wednesday, September 5

Dallas at N.Y. Giants
Sunday, September 9
Noon Games
Indianapolis at Chicago
New England at Tennessee
Buffalo at N.Y. Jets
Washington at New Orleans
Jacksonville at Minnesota
Atlanta at Kansas City
Philadelphia at Cleveland
St. Louis at Detroit
Miami at Houston Afternoon Games
San Francisco at Green Bay
Seattle at Arizona
Carolina at Tampa Bay Sunday Night Game.
Pittsburgh at Denver
Monday, September 10
Cincinnati at Baltimore
San Diego at Oakland

2012 UH Cougar Watch-Kicking Off Season Against Texas State

My fave collegiate football team kicks off their season in moments against the Texas State Bobcats at 'the 'Rob'.  It'll be the last season they play at Robertson Stadium before it is demolished and the new football stadium begins to be constructed on that site and completed by September 2014 .  

It's also the last season we'll play as a member of Conference USA before we move on to the challenge of playing football and other sports in the Big East in 2013.

After coming off a 13-1 campaign and a Ticket City Bowl win against Penn State,  the Coogs have a chip on their shoulders as usual because Case Keenum, Tyron Carrier, and Patrick Edwards have graduated and it's David Piland's chance to operate the potent UH Air Raid offensive attack and they are getting no media love once again.   

Well, they'll get their opportunity to prove everyone wrong tonight against Texas State 

Texas Stare is in its first season in the WAC and the FBS, but has a long history of competitive football at the FBS/Division I-AA level in the Southland Conference.  It won two NCAA Division II national championships in 1980-81 and made it to the FBS semfinals in 2005  before falling to eventual national runner up Northern Iowa. 

Translation: UH can't sleep on them especially since Texas State is anxious to prove they can play at this level and are playing this game in one of the top areas for high school football talent in Texas.

Should be fun to watch.  .  Eat 'em up!

Shannon Eastin, First Female NFL Referee

While ignoring the last night of the Republican National Convention Klan Meeting discovered the Texans were playing their last preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings which they won 28-24.

It was also (arrgh!) preempted in the fourth quarter by Mittbot's speech.

Since the NFL officials have been locked out by the league, the preseason has been played with replacement refs on the field for these games and it looks like the lockout will last through the first week of the season. 

This lockout has also resulted in some sporting history being made. 

One of the people who has gotten a chance to.officiate during these games is 42 year old line judge Shannon Eastin.   On August 9 she became the first woman to work an NFL game of any kind in the league’s 97-year history when she served as a line judge during the San Diego Chargers-Green Bay Packers preseason opener in San Diego, CA. 

Eastin said when the NFL selected her, “Knowing that I’m a female in a man’s world, I’ve always put the most pressure on myself. Pretty much everything I do is going to be magnified. I know what I signed up for. I have to be bigger, stronger, know that I understand the rules. I have to do things even better than the men that are working. And I’m OK with that.”

The 5-5 Eastin was part of the officiating crew in the Texans-Vikings game last night and has 16 years of officiating experience, including four in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, made up of HBCU schools..

With the lockout extending to the first week of the season, Eastin has the possibility of making more history becoming the first woman to officiate in an NFL regular season game.  

And once the officiating lockout is settled, hope she gets the chance to stick around and become an NFL offical on a permanent basis.

2012 Texans Watch-The Schedule Is Out

The NFL released the 2012 regular season schedule yesterday evening and one of the things I was wondering about was how much national television exposure would my hometown NFL franchise get this year.

Winning the AFC South for the first time, making the playoffs, beating Cincinnati and losing an agonizingly close game to the Baltimore Ravens with our rookie third string quarterback does wonders for your NFL TV credibility.

Turns out five Texans games will be nationally televised, and for the first time in franchise history the Texans will play on Thanksgiving Day against the Detroit Lions.

Here's the 2012 Texans schedule

	Sun, Sept. 9	vs. Miami Dolphins	CBS	1 p.m.
	Sun, Sept. 16	at Jacksonville Jaguars	CBS	1 p.m.
	Sun, Sept. 23	at Denver Broncos	CBS	4:15 p.m.
	Sun, Sept. 30	vs. Tennessee Titans	CBS	1 p.m.
	Mon, Oct. 8	at New York Jets	ESPN	8:30 p.m.
	Sun, Oct. 14	vs. Green Bay Packers	NBC	8:20 p.m.
	Sun, Oct. 21	vs. Baltimore Ravens	CBS	1 p.m.
	Bye
	Sun, Nov. 4	vs. Buffalo Bills	CBS	1 p.m.
	Sun, Nov. 11	at Chicago Bears	NBC	8:20 p.m.
	Sun, Nov. 18	vs. Jacksonville Jaguars	CBS	1 p.m.
	Thu, Nov. 22	at Detroit Lions	CBS	12:30 p.m.
	Sun, Dec. 2	at Tennessee Titans	CBS	1 p.m.
	Mon, Dec. 10	at New England Patriots	ESPN	8:30 p.m.
	Sun, Dec. 16	vs. Indianapolis Colts	CBS	1 p.m.
	Sun, Dec. 23	vs. Minnesota Vikings	FOX	1 p.m.
	Sun, Dec. 30	at Indianapolis Colts	CBS	1 p.m.

It is not going to be easy   Since we won the AFC South last year we get a schedule heavy with first place and playoff teams.   In addition to that, the interconference division rotation this season has the  AFC South matched up against the tough NFC North, which is why we got the Thanksgiving game with the Lions.

They also have a December game with the AFC champion New England Patriots, a rematch with the Baltimore Ravens in Reliant Stadium, and face our old nemesis Peyton Manning when they travel to Denver in Week 3 of the season.  

And yeah, our annual AFC South division hatefests with the Tennessee Titans Traitors.

If you're wondering if Michael Watts and I will be having our NFL prognostication battle in 2012, we sure are.  

Last season I erased a 4 game deficit in the final two weeks of the season to tie him for regular season pigskin prognostication bragging rights, and my goal is to wear the crown in 2012.
 
If any other bloggers want to join us, let either one of us know by August and we'll lay out the prognostication ground rules for you.

But I'm really looking forward to the kickoff of the 2012 NFL season  because my NFL squad is considered a favorite to win it all, and the Super Bowl will be played in New Orleans

How cool would that be for us long suffering Texans fans if it happened?

TransGriot NFL Picks-Super Bowl XLVI

Yes, I'm still bummed because my hometown NFL ballers aren't here in Indianapolis after a remarkable season, but did watch last Sunday's Pro Bowl.

In case you missed it, the Texans coached AFC squad beat the Green Bay coached NFC 59-41.

And next year's Super Bowl will be in New Orleans, so if the Texans do handle their 2012 NFL business, it'll be only a five hour drive on I-10 east to see my boys play.  

The teams that did make it to Circle City as I correctly predicted on Championship Sunday are the AFC champion New England Patriots and the NFC Champion New York Giants.

Mike's prediction will be here.   Here's Moni's

This game is not only a Super Bowl XLII rematch we will never forget because of the Giants memorable 17-14 upset of a perfection seeking Patriots squad, but like that 2008 game is a regular season rematch.

The Giants and Patriots met in Foxborough during Week 9 in a game the Giants won in dramatic come from behind fashion 24-20 and at the conclusion of it had them at that point in the season sitting atop the NFC East with a 6-2 record before embarking on the four game losing streak that nearly ruined their season>

The Giants eventually woke up and went 3-1 to clinch the division with two critical wins over the Arlington Cowchips sandwiched between an inexplicable loss to the Washington Redskins and a victory over the New York Jets, the team they share MetLife Stadium with.  

The reverse is true for the Patriots, who haven't lost since that November 6 game, got the number one seed for the AFC side of the playoff bracket and sent the Broncos and Ravens packing.

The Giants got to the NFC side of the playoff party and knocked off in succession the Atlanta Falcons, the number one NFC seeded and defending NFL champion Green Bay Packers and the number 2 seeded NFC West champion San Francisco 49ers in overtime..


So both teams are coming in hot and we'll have another game in which the NFL and football conventional wisdom will be but to the test.   It's long been said that offense sells tickets but defense win championships. 

But a highly ranked offense can put you in position to win a championship.

New England has the offense.  The problem is their number 31 ranked defense and a secondary who remind me of the Texans one in 2010 which got toasted more often than Quizno's subs.  

But because teams try to test them, they are capable of and do pick off passes from time to time or make a game saving play when they need to. Ask Tim Tebow and Joe Flacco about that

The Giants bring an imposing front seven anchored by Justin Tuck and Jason Pierre-Paul that comes after quarterbacks with speed, power attitude and athleticism.  It's also well known in the NFL that if you can get sustained pressure on Tom Brady and have him get frequently acquainted with the turf, he's not as effective a quarterback.

Speaking of Brady, as much as he has been saying this week that revenge isn't on his mind, you can bet it is.   This is a guy who uses the fact he was a sixth round pick in the NFL draft to motivate him, so I'm not buying that bull feces.



The Giants aren't slouches in the offensive department either.  Peyton's little brother Eli has had one of his best NFL seasons at quarterback, has a talented group of wide receivers to toss the ball to and wants to prove to the world he is an elite quarterback.


Eli has to be sitting in the film room salivating as he looks at the video and contemplating the opportunity to turn Victor Cruz and company loose on deep go routes and repeatedly burn this porous Patriots secondary.

Yeah, I expect to see Victor Cruz doing his samba in the end zone in this game at least once.    

Okay, enough jibber-jabber.  Here's my Super Bowl pick. 

It's hard to beat a team twice in the same season.  Unlike the last Super Bowl meeting, it's the Giants that come into this one at Lucas Oil Stadium with the regular season victory over the Patriots and being favored because they knocked off the NFL champs. 

The Patriots will be motivated to avenge that regular season defeat, but I believe the Giants front seven will be too much for them.   Rob Gronkowski's high ankle sprain takes a major offensive weapon away from that high octane offense and doesn't help the Patriots chances either.  

But it will and should be a close game that may even go to overtime or be decided by the kickers. 
 
Going with the Giants in a close one

TransGriot NFL Picks-Championship Sunday

The script got flipped on me during the Divisional round of the NFL playoffs last weekend as I not only saw my hometown NFL ballers drop their second playoff game to the Ravens, I limped into Championship Sunday with a 1-3 record after going 3-1 the previous week  

Only game I picked correctly was the New England Patriots 45-10 blowout over the Denver Broncos.

So now we're down to the NFL Final Four and we will witness which teams get to punch their tickets to go to Indianapolis.  Mike's picks will be here and here we go with mine.
 
AFC Championship Game

The number 2 seeded Ravens know they are lucky to be in Massachusetts playing this game as badly as their offense stunk up M&T Bank Stadium and was manhandled last weekend by the Bulls on Parade defense. 

Flacco and the boys know they need to step it up and produce more than the 227 yards of total offense they did last week, but can they?  

These were the two best teams in the AFC all season and the number one seeded New England Patriots are clicking on all offensive cylinders right now.

The good news is that they are coming off a 45-10 divisional round blowout of the Broncos   The bad news is that they also have the league's 31st ranked defense. 

They are also keenly aware that a team that's built similarly to them, last year's Super Bowl champions is now sitting at home watching Championship Weekend.

Can they avoid the Packers fate?  Maybe.  The Ravens defense, great as it has been for the last decade is also aging and is compensating for a team with a so-so offense that was served two touchdowns on a short field platter by the Texans.   

The proud Ravens defense knows this is possibly their last chance as a unit to get to a Super Bowl and they are tantalizingly close to doing so for the first time since the knocked off the New York Giants in their 2001 Super Bowl appearance.  Inquiring minds wanna know how much did last week's playoff game take out of them, do they have one or two more shutdown defense performances left in them and can their offense score points without being aided by the opposing team? 

I say the clock strikes midnight on them because the Ravens offense lets them down again.

The Ravens defense bothers Tom Brady and company at times but don't forget New England's O-line has two All Pro's on it.   Even if they force some three and outs and sack Brady, it may not be enough to slow down the Patriots potent point producing passing attack especially if the Ravens offense can't keep up. 

The Patriots defense has a problem stopping the run, but managed to do it against Denver last week. 

However, Baltimore isn't the Broncos and has one of the best all purpose backs in the league in Ray Rice.   
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If the All-Pro Ray Rice shows up and Baltimore turns it into an ugly, boring grind it out game they have a chance since the Patriots don't have much of a rushing attack.  If the divisional round Ray Rice makes an appearance and the New England run defense has some success slowing him down while the Patriot offense turns this game into a big play laden shootout the Ravens are doomed. 

Who wins the AFC Championship game?   The New England Patriots in a close one will pick up the Lamar Hunt trophy.





NFC Championship Game

This game is a rematch of a November 13 regular season one in which the number four seeded Giants traveled to San Francisco and fell 27-20 to the 49ers.   Bear in mind that Ahmad Bradshaw didn't make the trip to the west coast for that game due to an injury and much of the now healthy Giants defensive front four was nursing nagging injuries as well.  

Ever since Bradshaw reentered the lineup the Giants have been on fire offensively.   He is Manning's safety valve receiver in their passing game and their offense since the playoffs started has been more efficient in the running game.  


Eli Manning has had the best season of his career throwing for almost 5000 yards.  The Giants are also a week removed from a confidence boosting playoff win in which they manhandled the 15-1 defending Super Bowl champions 37-20 last week at Lambeau Field.

The 49er defense is known for forcing turnovers, and the Giants forced four in their demolition of the Green Bay Packers..  

However, the number 2 seeded 49ers are also coming off a major confidence boosting win of their own in which they withstood a late burst of offensive fireworks from Drew Brees and got a dramatic Alex Smith to Vernon Davis 14 yard touchdown catch with 9 seconds left to subdue the NFC South champion New Orleans Saints

The Niners top 5 ranked defense like the Giants forced four Saints turnovers in that wild 36-32 game and are seeking to return to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1995. 

The Giants believe that like that 2007 championship team they are a team of destiny as well and a better squad than the struggling team they were when they last made an appearance in Candlestick Park

So who walks away with the George Halas Trophy and the trip to Indianapolis?  

It will be a close game, but as Green Bay painfully discovered last week, it's hard to beat a team twice in the same season, especially one that's got some momentum built up.   The New York Giants in a close one.