Detroit Lions (1-0 SU, 1-0 ATS) vs. Arizona Cardinals (0-1 SU,1-0 ATS)
College Football Week 2
Date and Time: Sunday September 15th, 2013 4:05 pm EST
Where: University of Phoenix Stadium, Phoenix, AZ
TV: FOX
by Tim, Football Handicapper, Predictem.com
Point Spread: Det -2.5/AZ +2.5
Over/Under Total: 48
The Lions push their way into the University of Phoenix Stadium looking to pluck the feathers from the Cardinals this Sunday. The Lions come in after beating the Vikings last week 34-24 in Detroit. Phoenix—as usual—fell to the Rams 27-24 in a hard fought battle featuring ex-Steeler and Conspiracy Junkie Rashard Mendenhall at RB for the Cards. Mendenhall averaged over 3 yards per carry but the blame for the loss was placed on the Government and the Posse Comitatus. The Posse Comitatus was not available for comment because they dont exist. The Lions look to sever all ties with the Conrad Dobler Disease plaguing their defensive lineman (notably: Ndamukong Suh) by enlisting a Glee Club to sing Christmas Carols outside the teams hotel. Lets take a look inside this matchup and see who might overcome the other in The Place with No Water andLots of Sun; Plethora of Sun!
Lets face it: Can you blame the Lions for Suhs behavior? The Lions have been the perennial junk-heap of the NFL since the Carter Administration and exercising a little bit of freedom from ineptitude is thoroughly understandable. In our over-protective and Environmentally Friendly culture, we are trying to turn football players into respectable citizens on the field. Guess what?! They players arent supposed to be respectable citizens on the field! Football is violent, unrepentant, dangerous, and crazy exciting! Most watch football for the big hits, the cheap shots, and the Lions are delivering both in bunches the past few years! Its precisely why they are winning! Take the Lions violence away and what to do you have? Figure skating in Lake Placid and NECKCAR at a 1 mile oval!! Matthew Stafford is playing great football and this Lions Team is for real. Sure, having Eminem as your De facto Fan Spokesman has drawbacks, but the Lions are all Slim Shady up in errbody!!! The Lions can do it all and most who criticize the team want the Lions to go back to the 5-12 or 3-13 Hood. Thats not going to happen. These Lions Players have tasted victory and want more. Offense, defense, running game, covering, tackling, blocking, receiving, and running this 2013 Lions team can do it all; and they do it often!!!
The Cardinals seem to be following the 1990s Washington Redskins Plan. The Plan: Get a nice collection of veteran rejects and hope they can play 1 year pretty good! Carson Palmer sliced up a pretty inept Rams team only to lose last week 27-24. The Cardinals covered as a Road Dog but didnt take anyones breath away doing it. Mendenhall is a waste of money at RB for the Cardinals. In the end, Mendenhall was a waste of money for the Steelers! Mendenhall will be a non-factor in this game as hes swallowed up by an angry Lions Defense. Larry Fitzgerald can play with the best of them but Carson Palmers true commitment to competing will be tested this week as the Lions will crack Palmer over and over again! The Lions have lost their last 6 going to Phoenix but that stat is like flipping a coin and hitting Heads 40 straight times; it happened but the actions are an improbability—an outlier! Theo Riddick and Reggie Bush are both healthy for this game adding relentless pressure for the Cardinals defense to scheme against. Joique Bell and MegaTron, along with Burleson is entirely too much for the Cardinals defense to handle this Sunday.
Just like the Chargers on Monday Night Football, the Cardinals showed they cant close games by allowing the Rams to out-score them 13-0 in the fourth quarter. The Cardinals could only deliver 67 yards of offense and 4 first downs in the final quarter against a pretty porous Rams defense. The Rams also had 4 sacks on Palmer and Arizona had ZERO sacks against immobile QB Sam Bradford. What does this all add up to? A Cardinal defense that is suspect, a reject QB that is playing out the string, an ineffective running game, and a Cardinal Team willing to submit rather than fight. The Detroit Lions are the polar opposite of the Arizona Cardinals. This game will be a Lions blowout win.
Tims Pick to Cover the Point Spread: Detroit Lions -2.5
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