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2009 NFL Football Picks Preview: Cleveland Browns
Published: August 1, 2009
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As far as NFL football betting is concerned, the Cleveland Browns lost people a lot of money last year. Following up on the heels of their surprising 2007 campaign, they were expected to come out on all cylinders in 2008. Many people believed they could win the division and challenge in the playoffs.
However, they immediately came out and started losing. Their surprising star in Derek Anderson had a terrible year and their incumbent in Brady Quinn didn’t do much, either. Can the Browns rebound in 09?
The Good News
There really wasn’t a whole lot of good news in the offseason for the Browns. I guess, if you consider bringing the coach who failed to take a talented Jets team to the playoffs last year good news, then the Browns are doing great.
Maybe the change of scenery will help Mangini get his genius status back. He brought with him a bunch of Jet castoffs to rebuild the defense. However, if it didn’t work in New York, what makes anyone think it’s going to work in Cleveland?
The Bad News
The bad news is a lot more lengthy than the good news in ’09 for the Browns.
To begin with, their top-three pick from a few years ago, Braylon Edwards, was at the top of the league leaders in dropped passes. The supposedly “can’t miss” wide receiver prospect has been doing a lot more missing than expected. He’ll have to step it up if he wants to regain the promise that he showed in previous seasons.
Their emerging tight end in Kellen Winslow got shipped off in a trade that made absolutely no sense. In addition to that, their other big acquisition, Donte Stallworth, might not even play this season after killing a man in a car accident. The aerial attack is a huge question mark going into the season.
They don’t know if they have a legitimate quarterback, wide receiver, or tight end on the roster. They also reached in the second round on wide receiver Brian Robiskie, who many considered to be a third or fourth round pick, because of their troubles at receiver. The running game is nothing to write home about either, with Jamal Lewis on the tail end of his career.
The defense has a lot of young play-makers already in the fold. Kamerion Wimbley, Eric Wright, and Brodney Poole have showed flashes of brilliance in their young careers. However, the trick is whether or not they can all come together as a unit.
Outlook
As far as free NFL picks go, the forecast doesn’t call for sunny skies in Cleveland this year. Expect the Browns to battle it out with Cincy for last place in the division, while the Ravens and Steelers fight it out for the top spot.
Mangini has shown nothing that should make anyone believe he can right the ship in Cleveland and the additions they made are marginal improvement, at best. Maybe they’ll benefit from addition by subtraction without a distraction like Winslow in the locker room.
Just don’t expect much in the win department this year.
Make sure you check out Vernon Croy’s Expert NFL Picks this season.
2009 NFL Football Picks Preview: Cleveland Browns
Published: August 1, 2009
No Comments
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }
As far as NFL football betting is concerned, the Cleveland Browns lost people a lot of money last year. Following up on the heels of their surprising 2007 campaign, they were expected to come out on all cylinders in 2008. Many people believed they could win the division and challenge in the playoffs.
However, they immediately came out and started losing. Their surprising star in Derek Anderson had a terrible year and their incumbent in Brady Quinn didn’t do much, either. Can the Browns rebound in 09?
The Good News
There really wasn’t a whole lot of good news in the offseason for the Browns. I guess, if you consider bringing the coach who failed to take a talented Jets team to the playoffs last year good news, then the Browns are doing great.
Maybe the change of scenery will help Mangini get his genius status back. He brought with him a bunch of Jet castoffs to rebuild the defense. However, if it didn’t work in New York, what makes anyone think it’s going to work in Cleveland?
The Bad News
The bad news is a lot more lengthy than the good news in ’09 for the Browns.
To begin with, their top-three pick from a few years ago, Braylon Edwards, was at the top of the league leaders in dropped passes. The supposedly “can’t miss” wide receiver prospect has been doing a lot more missing than expected. He’ll have to step it up if he wants to regain the promise that he showed in previous seasons.
Their emerging tight end in Kellen Winslow got shipped off in a trade that made absolutely no sense. In addition to that, their other big acquisition, Donte Stallworth, might not even play this season after killing a man in a car accident. The aerial attack is a huge question mark going into the season.
They don’t know if they have a legitimate quarterback, wide receiver, or tight end on the roster. They also reached in the second round on wide receiver Brian Robiskie, who many considered to be a third or fourth round pick, because of their troubles at receiver. The running game is nothing to write home about either, with Jamal Lewis on the tail end of his career.
The defense has a lot of young play-makers already in the fold. Kamerion Wimbley, Eric Wright, and Brodney Poole have showed flashes of brilliance in their young careers. However, the trick is whether or not they can all come together as a unit.
Outlook
As far as free NFL picks go, the forecast doesn’t call for sunny skies in Cleveland this year. Expect the Browns to battle it out with Cincy for last place in the division, while the Ravens and Steelers fight it out for the top spot.
Mangini has shown nothing that should make anyone believe he can right the ship in Cleveland and the additions they made are marginal improvement, at best. Maybe they’ll benefit from addition by subtraction without a distraction like Winslow in the locker room.
Just don’t expect much in the win department this year.
Make sure you check out Vernon Croy’s Expert NFL Picks this season.
Indianapolis Colts: 2009 NFL Betting Picks Preview
Published: July 31, 2009
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Overall, the Indianapolis Colts had another great year in 2008. They started off slowly with four losses in their first seven games. Then, as they always do, Peyton Manning and the Colts turned it on. They won out the rest of their schedule and made another run to the playoffs.
Last year, Manning got off to a slow start because of missing training camp with a bursa sack injury in his knee. This year, he should be in practice for training camp and they hope to get off to a sharp start to the season.
If you’re looking for free NFL preseason football picks, you might as well go ahead and put the Colts in the playoffs and as a Super Bowl contender right off the bat. They always are, and there’s no reason to believe they won’t be again this year.
The Good News:
The good thing about the Colts is that they always seem to keep most of their core guys. When they lose someone, they always plug in another body that will inevitably be successful in their system.
They even had a succession plan in place for when Tony Dungy stepped down from behind the wheel. They added some solid players in the draft to add more depth to an already deep team. Although they already had Joseph Addai in the fold, they went ahead and drafted running-back Donald Brown out of UConn for depth. They also picked up a good defensive tackle out of “pro-factory” USC in Fili Moala. They weren’t very active in free agency and they only picked up defensive tackle Ed Johnson.
They still have “All-World” quarterback Peyton Manning, who, along with Tom Brady, is still one of the best quarterbacks in the game. If you don’t catch any Colts games where you live, you’ll undoubtedly still get your share of Manning on TV, pitching every product under the sun.
The Bad News
The biggest loss of the offseason is future Hall of Fame receiver, Marvin Harrison. Manning to Harrison is the most successful combination in NFL history and it will be a difficult one to replace.
However, the last few years, Harrison has struggled to stay on the field with health issues. His numbers dropped and Reggie Wayne took over as the No. 1 option in the passing game. Therefore, his loss won’t be as big as it once might have been.
Because of their great drafting, they already have a No. 2 option on the team who is ready to contribute in Anthony Gonzalez. Losing Coach Tony Dungy will not be an easy thing to get used to either.
Outlook: As far as free NFL betting picks go, you’ll probably see many who think the Colts could win it all again. I have no reason to believe otherwise. While they might not be the Super Bowl favorite at this point, they are still contenders.
Losing Dungy and Harrison will hurt, but I think the team can get past it with all of the people that they already have. Expect the Colts to win the division and make a nice run in the playoffs.
Make sure you check out Vernon Croy’s Expert NFL Picks this season.
2009 NFL Betting Picks Preview: Denver Broncos
Published: July 31, 2009
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Where to begin with the Denver Broncos offseason this year? Does the word whirlwind mean anything to you? That’s probably the best word to describe the Broncos offseason up to this point.
If you’re looking for free NFL preseason football picks you might want to stay away from penciling the Broncos into the playoffs this year. Let’s review what happened in the offseason.
First of all, they fire their successful coach that has been there forever in Mike Shannahan. Some people thought it was overdue, but this is nothing in comparison to what happens later.
They then proceed to hire a first time head coach in Josh McDaniels, another assistant from the Patriots regime. Yes, the same regime that hasn’t pumped out a lot of successful coaches outside of New England, i.e. Charlie Weiss, Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini, etc. McDaniels then proceeds to trade off his mid 20-something Pro Bowl quarterback (Jay Cutler) to get Matt Cassell who he was familiar with from the Patriots.
This proceeds to anger Cutler to no end and he demands a trade. Amazingly they go ahead and give in to his demands in order to get two first rounders and Kyle Orton. Yes, that Kyle Orton.
The Good News: The good news is…well it’s really hard to pinpoint the exact good news here. I guess starting with a clean slate is fun sometimes. At least the Broncos didn’t relocate to another city! They were the most active team in free agency although they didn’t exactly bring in any great players.
The Bad News: In that free agency crop they managed to sign like 10 running backs and then drafted one with their first round pick. Are they really going to have that many running backs on the roster? Of course not! However, that doesn’t stop them from getting running backs on the team for McDaniel’s “pass-happy” offense.
They even traded one of those first round picks that they got next year for a second round pick this year. Has anyone ever done that before? Then on top of all the other drama that they’ve had, their star wide receiver Brandon Marshall demands a trade.
For some reason, they have declined to trade him as of yet. Why would you trade away a franchise quarterback and keep a disgruntled, law-breaking wide receiver that doesn’t want to be there? This offseason has defied logic and any convention.
Outlook: If you haven’t picked it up by now, I’m not big on the Broncos chances this season. In fact, if you’re looking for free NFL picks, you should know that the Broncos will battle it out with the Raiders for last place in the AFC West this year.
They might even take it away from the Raiders early on in the season. How can you replace a successful head coach with an unproven rookie and a Pro Bowl quarterback with Kyle Orton and expect to be successful right off the bat? Yes, it might work in the long term, but I don’t see it happening this season.
Make sure you check out Vernon Croy’s Expert NFL Picks this season.
