My Favorite Owen

I was talking with my son about the movie “Wedding Crashers” the other day. Got me thinking about Owen Wilson and his role in this excellent comedy. Also, got me thinking about the name Owen. Like Clive Owen, who has also had some awesome roles, like in “Children of Men.” Then there’s Owen Nolan of NHL fame, and I was left wondering who my favorite Owen was? After this weekend of NFL games, I have come to the conclusion that my favorite Owen is the Kansas City Chiefs at Owen 2. After what I felt was a rather lackluster Week #1, Week #2 started off with a lot of scoring and a few comebacks. If not for those comebacks, we may have seen a mass extinction event in the JT Eliminator Pool. Speaking of, I don’t have any numbers at current that’s not my job anymore, but I do hear that we should have some current data soon.

Week #2 ended with 3 primetime games that kind of ended the week on a whimper. Minnesota and Atlanta was a battle of two coaches who don’t have any confidence in their quarterbacks, Tampa Bay and Houston was a sloppy game masquerading as an exciting one, and if the Chargers had been playing anyone else except the Raiders the defense may not have been able to bail them out. Wins are wins, but the Chargers will have to tighten things up before Denver comes to town next week. As a Charger fan, it’s a nice prospect to potentially go 3-0 as well as 3-0 against the division.

A few comebacks this week; first we had Cincinnati who I thought was cooked after that late interception, but held the Jags on downs then precede to go 92 yards to get the go ahead touchdown with 18 seconds remaining. The Cowboys and Giants changed leads 8 times. I’m calling this a comeback win because the Cowboys needed a 64-yard field goal from Brandon Aubrey to send this game to extra time and have Aubrey win it at the gun. With how that game played out, it’s obvious Daboll is letting Wilson loose in hopes of saving his job. Remember this next week when Kansas City travels to New York with the Ravens on deck in what could be considered a classic “look ahead” game. Not calling an outright upset…yet…but the Chiefs can’t sleep on this game or my new favorite Owen will be Owen 3. The Colts made a comeback in their game against the Broncos. It took a Chiefs style suspect call to get a second chance at the game winning field goal to pull it off, but since it was against the Broncos I’ll look the other way. I guess you could call Tampa Bay a comeback, so I will. Good Baker showed up, bad Baker will also show up throughout this year.

In the second episode of my NFL soap opera that we will just call “Sam,” our hero is still looking for love, and after a first episode that saw Sam unable to woo the ladies with a not-so-stellar performance, he goes out and totally redeems himself, drawing the attention of the emerald lady. Nothing makes you more beloved in your hometown than a winning weekend in Pittsburgh.

Looking ahead to Week #3, I always take note of the teams that are 0-2. In the years that I ran the pool, teams that were 0-2 accounted for many of the upsets in Week #3. This is because these are desperate teams that do not want to start 0-3. Since the start of the Super Bowl Era, only 2.5% of teams that start 0-3 make the playoffs. Even that sounds like a lot, but it equates to 6 teams total. What’s even more incredible is only one team has done this since 2000. So, who is 0-2? New York Jets, Miami Dolphins, Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans, Tennessee Titans, NY Giants, Chicago Bears, New Orleans Saints, Carolina Panthers, and…the Kansas City Chiefs. Chiefs at Giants is the only matchup this week of winless teams and four of them are playing teams that are 2-0. My point being, that I think we’re going to see some real upsets this upcoming week. Who, you ask? The Colts traveling to Tennessee, Jacksonville hosting Houston, AND Kansas City traveling to East Rutherford. See, it only took me two paragraphs to get on board with a full-blown Chiefs upset.

I’m in unfamiliar territory. I have all 3 of my picks left after two weeks. If I have all 3 of my picks left, I have to imagine many of you do too and the upsets have been mild. But as many of us long-timers know, it only takes one week to take you from feeling pretty good to completely out. Who knows, I may be back after Week #3 to gloat about my Chargers, and if I’m not gloating, I’ll find a way to poop on the Chiefs.

Best of luck to everyone,

Eric

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