The question for aging athletes is always when to hang them up. Percy Harvin is apparently considering retirement (although there are conflicting reports) because of another injury to his hip. Steve Smith says he’s still retiring despite success on the field this season. One reason for it is likely the crushing injury he sustained on the field in Pittsburgh a couple weeks ago. Lord knows I’m even considering retirement from my rec league soccer team after years of grinding out playoff appearances because I’m not sure how many more injuries I want to put up with.
Then you go see a Rugby World Cup match and your perception of injuries change. Players seem to get hurt every couple of minutes with team trainers running out on to the field during every stoppage of play to treat someone different. One guy got hit by his own teammate above his eye and refused to even get bandaged up in the middle of the game. These guys go to though a ridiculous amount of punishment. Even if there are supposed to fewer head injuries than in the NFL, it seemed as if there are plenty of injuries in general. Moral of the story: hang them up when the time comes and don’t over-extend your career. You’ll want to be able to walk down the street without assistance when the time comes. Just bet the games instead for a piece of the action. Now can anyone get me money line odds on my soccer team’s game tonight?
Survivor Pick of the Week:
ARIZONA over Baltimore
It’s an interesting week for survivor since the two biggest favorites are teams you may have already used. If that’s not the case Arizona should be your number one option this week. They come home after a tough loss to Pittsburgh, but return to the friendly confines of their home field. They shouldn’t have any problem this week against Baltimore because Arizona is prolific in the passing game and Baltimore’s pass defense is in the bottom third according to Football Outsiders DVOA. Baltimore will also struggle to score as their receivers will be bottled up by Arizona’s elite secondary most of the day.
Elsewhere, you may want to take the Patriots against the Jets, but I think the team from New York has the defense to potentially pull the upset this week. At the very least they’ll keep it close and divisional games are always ones to avoid. Speaking of divisional games, we’ll soon get to why I don’t think Seattle will blow out San Francisco. The Colts saw a healthy Andrew Luck perform well last week and should have enough offense to outscore New Orleans if you’re looking to go slightly down the board. Miami and Washington are two other home teams in good shape to pull off a victory.
Thursday Night Pick:
SAN FRANCISCO +6.5 over Seattle
On the surface it seems as if the Seahawks would be the easy answer to who covers tonight’s spread. Just like how the Falcons were the easy answer last week when they traveled to New Orleans last Thursday night. Or how the Texans were the easy answer when Matt Hasselbeck had to start for the Colts in Week 4. San Francisco has been a little frisky in the past two weeks. They took the Giants to the wire at home before beating the Ravens at home last Sunday. Colin Kaepernick looks much more viable, but the catch here is that neither of these two teams has been good in pass coverage this year. Don’t look now, but the Seahawks defense hasn’t exactly be intimidating this year. Sure it was without Kam Chancellor for a few games, but he was back last week when Carolina came back from down 20-7 in the second half. Cam Newton threw for 269 yards in Seattle with a bunch of bum receivers and Greg Olsen. That never used to happen. We always knew Seattle’s defense was worse on the road, but every opponent in those games this year has scored at least 27 points.
San Francisco is also playing much better defense at home than they are on the road. They allowed three points to Minnesota, 17 points to Green Bay, and 20 to Baltimore. Their defensive numbers are inflated by poor road efforts. They won’t let this game get out of hand. Seattle certainly doesn’t have the offense to blow through San Francisco. Their offensive line has struggled most of the year, which limits how explosive they can be. It’ll be tough for Seattle to get out in front and run away with this. Expect an ugly, low-scoring game (take the under) in another Thursday night mediocre match-up.
J.Camm’s Pick: Seattle (they can’t suck dick forever, right?)
Last Week: 7-6-1
Season: 48-40-4
Locks: 14-5
Survivor: 4-2
JCamm: 47-41-4