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Another day of winners for PRO INFO SPORTS clients on Saturday, despite missing on our OPINION SELECTION. PRO INFO SPORTS swept our top 3 rated Money Plays including another easy 7 STAR winner. Read the highlights of our superior information, analysis, and advice on Saturday’s 5, 6, and 7 STAR SELECTIONS below. These Money Plays are now a sizzling 7-1 for the NFL Preseason.
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Here are the highlights of the information, analysis, and advice provided to our clients on Saturday:
7 STAR SELECTION (5% of Bankroll)
MINNESOTA -3½ over Arizona
In what promises to be one of the more intriguing games of the exhibition seasons, new Cardinals head man Dennis Green gets a look at his former team Saturday night, when the Arizona coach takes his club into Minnesota to face the Vikings in the first preseason tilt for both squads. Green was the Vikings head coach from 1992 to 2001, leading the franchise to eight playoff appearances. Current Vikes’ coach Mike Tice served as an assistant under Green and took over the top spot at the end of the 2001 season. The return of Green is actually on the undercard of a heavyweight factor in this contest. Arizona scored a memorable 18-17 win in the 2003 finale for both teams. The Viking loss, which came on a last-second pass from McCown to Nathan Poole, denied them a share of the NFC North title and a trip to the postseason.
McCown expects a raucous welcome. “For me and us, we were excited about winning,” McCown said. “But you just go, ‘Gosh, they missed the playoffs.’ So I'm sure their fans will be pretty excited about us coming in, and have some choice words to say, but this is just a preseason game.'” Just a preseason game? Don’t tell that to the Vikings. Several players have made clear they carry a “special” motivation for defeating Arizona. “I want to kick the crap out of them,” running back Michael Bennett told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. "I really want to beat them bad, and I’m hoping coach Tice leaves the starters in all four quarters so we can do it ourselves. It’s at the point where, every time I see a Cardinals sign somewhere, I get offended." No, you won't see Daunte Culpepper on the field in the fourth quarter. And Randy Moss won't be available to run a Hail Mary route on the game's final play, but that should be far from necessary. Minnesota has had to live with their collapse in the desert for more than 7 months. It left an awful bad taste in their collective mouths and they are ready to spit it out.
When we handicap games, we take as many factors into consideration as possible. Occasionally, however, a contest comes along that we call a “single factor game”. In these types of meetings, an overwhelming advantage is enjoyed by one team. It’s usually an emotional factor and not a statistical one, so the edge is rarely built into the pointspread. This provides us with great line value and very strong investment opportunity. Although revenge is often overused and rarely applies in the preseason, we have an extreme revenge situation here that heavily favors the fired-up Vikings.
Even without the revenge motive, Minnesota would be worth a long look here. The first and main factor to handicapping the preseason is usually the coach of each team. The coaching factor in preseason, unlike the regular season, is the strongest single factor. It’s good to know the personalities and attitudes of the various coaches. Some coaches do not care if they lose a preseason game, while some coaches hate to lose any game at all – even exhibition games. Minnesota’s Mike Tice has not stressed winning in the preseason before, but he has changed his tune. Make no mistake about it – not only do the Vikes want this game in the worst way, they just flat out want to win during this preseason. Every game. "Check out what New England and Carolina did last year," Tice said a couple of days ago. Indeed, last season's Super Bowl participants each produced 4-0 preseasons. Coincidence? "I don't think so," said Tice. "Winning breeds more winning. Because of how the season ended, because of the shock and the depression we were in as a football team, winning is the only thing that's going to cure that. So it's important for us to have an exceptional preseason. Winning's a habit. It needs to become a habit." These are by far the strongest comments we have heard this preseason regarding the desire to win exhibition games.
Tice says he will not accede to any nontraditional requests for playing time, and the Vikings plan to remove most of their starters after two or three series Saturday night. "But we're a deeper team now," Tice said. "So our second team is better now, and so is our third team. That should help get us where we want to go." They are indeed blessed with tremendous depth. QB Daunte Culpepper is 100% after playing much of last year injured, and he has a very sound back-up in Gus Frerotte. Shaun Hill should also see some action behind center. The Vikings are almost too deep at running back. Michael Bennett has regained all of his explosiveness from his Pro Bowl season of two years ago. Onterrio Smith looks more defined in his running decisions. His style is like Emmitt Smith. The old Emmitt Smith, anyway. Fourth-round choice Mewelde Moore is quick and explosive. Moe Williams is a solid veteran backup who is invaluable to winning teams. Larry Ned may be the fifth back, but he'd be a good backup on some team.
Compare this to what the Cardinals have to work with. Josh McCown is the green starter, Shaun King is a decent back-up, but then rookie John Navarre will play the 4th quarter. We try to stay away from teams that use a rookie QB to mop up exhibition games, as he is usually the one getting mopped up by the defense. The running game is paper thin, as Marcel Shipp and Larry Croom are out, while Emmitt Smith has not had a considerable exhibition load to carry in quite a few years. The Cards are even thin at WR. Bryant Johnson, expected to be a starter, is out with a stress fracture in his right foot, and Anquan Boldin, the other starter, has a knee injury and is out. How about the offensive line? Offensive, indeed. On the eve of training camp, center Pete Kendall was packing his car in Phoenix for the trip to Flagstaff, Ariz., when he got the call. He was told to not bother showing up. Many considered Kendall the Cardinals' best offensive lineman. There is speculation that Green made the move as retaliation because he suspected Kendall of blowing the whistle on Green's grueling workouts that led the NFL to take away a week of Arizona's offseason conditioning. Kendall's replacement is rookie fourth-round draft pick Alex Stepanovich, who played guard last year in college. Green has also benched L.J. Shelton and promoted guard Leonard Davis to first team. With Davis moving from guard, the Cardinals now have four players who didn't play their current positions last season…we expect Minnesota to crush the Cardinals...
ACTUAL FINAL SCORE: MINNESOTA 23 ARIZONA 6
6 STAR SELECTION (4.75% of Bankroll)
Oakland -1 over SAN FRANCISCO
The Bay Area gridiron rivalry will be renewed on Saturday evening, when Oakland crosses the bridge to visit San Francisco in the preseason opener for both teams. Both the Raiders and 49ers fell on hard times last year, with Oakland coming off a miserable 4-12 season and San Francisco fresh off a disappointing 7-9 campaign. Both franchises will begin new eras, as the visiting Raiders will play their first game under head coach Norv Turner, while the host 49ers begin life without Jeff Garcia, their starting quarterback of the past five seasons who is now with Cleveland.
Quarterback will be a position of focus for Turner and his staff here. Rich Gannon, who led the Raiders to the Super Bowl in 2002 but missed nine games with a shoulder injury last season, will try to hold off veteran signal-caller Kerry Collins to retain his starting job. Gannon is expected to play the first quarter before yielding to Collins, Marques Tuiasosopo, and Tee Martin under center. As we consider the QB depth of the 2 teams, we see a decided advantage for Oakland. Gannon and Collins are both Super Bowl QBs, while Tuiasosopo and Martin have been with the team for several seasons. Again, we look to go against teams playing rookie quarterbacks in the 2nd half. These young QBs are often late round picks and undrafted free agents, not the cream of the quarterbacking crop. Their unfamiliarity with the offensive scheme and the speed of NFL defenders often give rookie QBs trouble, which could well be the case here with San Fran. Niners’ starting QB Tim Rattay is sidelined due to tendonitis in his forearm, so head coach Dennis Erickson will hand starting duties to Ken Dorsey. The ex-Miami Hurricane Dorsey will get the early time, and should be succeeded by backups Brandon Doman and rookie Cody Pickett. First-round draft pick and wideout Rashaun Woods will also be out with a hamstring problem.
As we have stated often, the first and main factor to handicapping the preseason is the coach of each team. The coaching factor in preseason, unlike the regular season, is the strongest single factor. While Erickson doesn’t exactly enjoying losing, he has more pressing matters than trying to ring up exhibition wins. Trades, free agency, and injuries have ravaged the ‘Niners offense and the team so he has little choice but to see how some unproven youngsters fare. The 49ers had 42 players listed on their injury report recently! The team already has determined several won't play against the Raiders. “We'll have 15 out, which is the last I counted for this game,”' Erickson said. “`It is disruptive as far as getting things done. The good part is we're going to have most of those guys back (before the regular season).” Again, we have a coach here who is just looking to survive more so than win. On the other hand (or other side of the Bay), Norv Turner has stressed the importance of winning the practice games to rid the team of that nasty habit called losing that they acquired last year.
Again, with a QB duel in Oakland we should see the Raiders benefit. When a coach has to make a choice between 2 quality QBs, he should give both of them a chance to perform well so he can find out who will be his starter in the regular season. In fact, he may use the rest of the 1st-string offense for BOTH QBs in order to fairly compare them. If so, you’re looking at 2 good QBs behind a 1st-string offensive line, working with 1st-string backs and receivers. Also, the 2nd QB and 1st-string offense may go against an opponent’s 2nd-string defense, creating a huge mismatch. Added to that, both QBs will be highly motivated.
We don’t mind laying a point on a road team when it’s just a short bus ride to the stadium instead of a long flight, and there will be many of their fans in attendance. Some numbers back us up here as well. Oakland is 14-7 ATS as a favorite, 10-4 ATS in Week 1 and early pre-season games, and Turner is a perfect 4-0 ATS as a road favorite. When playing on a Saturday, San Fran is a poor 7-13 ATS and figure to have more than their hands full here, as the Raiders build a first half lead that the Niners are unable to erase in the 4th quarter.
ACTUAL FINAL SCORE: OAKLAND 33 SAN FRANCISCO 30
5 STAR SELECTION (4.5% of Bankroll)
DETROIT -3 over Pittsburgh
Two teams looking to improve on disappointing 2003 campaigns will try to find the road to respectability on Saturday evening, when the Detroit Lions host the Pittsburgh Steelers in the preseason opener for both clubs. The Lions and head coach Steve Mariucci were 5-11 last season, while the Steelers' 6-10 mark was their worst since the 1999 season.
Lions fans will get their first look at a number of new faces, though first- round draft pick and running back Kevin Jones is unlikely to be one of them. Jones has been bothered by a nagging hamstring problem and will probably be held out. Capable backups Artose Pinner, Shawn Bryson, and Avon Cobourne are likely to see a wealth of time in the backfield. QB Joey Harrington is slated to start the contest, before giving way to backups Mike McMahon and Rick Mirer. Of all the good signs during the first dozen practices of training camp, none can be more encouraging to Lions fans than the increased accuracy of quarterback Joey Harrington. He's not just hitting his receivers, but he's hitting them in full stride, something he didn't do regularly during his first two years. And it's not just one sharp practice. Harrington has been getting consistently better with each workout. Mariucci wants Harrington to play with the receivers and backs in game conditions, but he doesn't want to overdo it. "We're going to try to use the old balancing act - play them in the preseason games, but not go crazy with it," Mariucci said. "They're going to get most of their work in practice.” If we play them in the first half together, I don't know that that first unit is going to finish the first half. It probably won't. Hopefully, we can put a couple drives together so we're not three-and-out. "It's going to be a balance between the number of snaps and the number of minutes left in the half." In other words, he expects Harrington and company to put some solid points on the board early.
Pittsburgh will receive its first opportunity to watch first-round pick and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, as the former standout from Miami, Ohio is expected to succeed starter Tommy Maddox early in the game. Roethlisberger and Brian St. Pierre should get plenty of snaps with No. 2 quarterback Charlie Batch out due to injury. Joining Batch on the injured list for this contest are starters such as cornerback Chad Scott, safety Chris Hope, cornerback Deshea Townsend, and linebacker Clark Haggans. The Steelers will also get a chance to watch newly acquired running back Duce Staley, who will see his first work in a Pittsburgh uniform after spending seven years with the Philadelphia Eagles, although he is nursing an injury and his time will be limited, as will the playing time of Jerome Bettis.
The Lions and Steelers will be meeting for the sixth time in the preseason, with Pittsburgh holding a 4-1 all-time edge; however, the clubs met last prior to the 2003 season, when Detroit picked up a 26-13 victory. We expect a similar result in this game due to several important factors.
Rookie Roethlisberger just got into uniform a few days ago and now is expected to enter this game by the second quarter due to the injury to Charlie Batch. He will very likely struggle, while the experienced Detroit QBs are putting points on the board against a decimated Steelers secondary. Three of the four secondary starters will not play because of injuries. The Lions have one of the deepest QB rotations in the league which is very significant as we strongly consider QB depth. Since the 2nd, 3rd, + 4th-stringers will see most of the minutes, we look to bet against teams playing rookie quarterbacks, especially in the 2nd half. Their unfamiliarity with the offensive scheme and the speed of NFL defenders often give rookie QBs trouble.
The Steelers had a poor training camp last summer and it looks like some old habits die hard. About 90 minutes into a recent practice, coach Bill Cowher had seen enough. He called for a meeting of his players at midfield and ripped into them like a bolt from the blue. "Oh yeah, he was a little riled up," guard Alan Faneca said. "Today practice was good for three plays, bad for two, good for two plays, bad for three. Cowher continually screamed at his team to "come off the ball." Cowher himself said, "It wasn't a very good day, not a good practice in any sense of the word," he added. "I think there was good reason (for Cowher's anger)," a player said. "We didn't come out today ready to play. It probably had to do with the rain delay, but that's unacceptable and that's why we were not good last year, because we let things like that distract us.”
During exhibition season it’s common for a team with an excellent passing attack to practice their running attack. Likewise, last year’s excellent running teams are likely to be doing a lot of passing. Where is the logic in a coach going over and over his team’s strongest stuff while ignoring its weaknesses? Of course, teams struggle when trying to do what they aren’t good at or accustomed to doing yet. Pittsburgh used to run the football. And then run some more. The last couple of years they have gotten away from that and saw their wins decline, so they are trying to resurrect the dormant rushing game. Cowher said the Steelers have devoted more time to it as they attempt to lift the ground game from its worst NFL ranking in franchise history, No. 31. It's too early to determine what kind of success they might have. "It's hard to assess that, it's going to take some of the preseason games," Cowher said. "Just like the passing game sometimes, it takes time and with timing involved, and getting involved in doing things at full speed. It's getting good work against our defense because we've been pretty good against the run defensively, so the more we work against our defense it's going to help us on offense."
Of course, Mariucci will be looking at more than just the offense. The defense has its share of new starters, but the lineup for Saturday night has been shuffled because of injuries. "I'd like to see some production out of our starting group," he said. "Not just production in yards or points or stopping them and making them punt, but in terms of communication, our substitutions. I’'d like to start getting that smoothened out. It's practice for the coaches, too. Don’t look for the Lions first-string defense to disappear after one series.
A big edge that a coach can gain vs. an opponent is to gameplan. Most coaches don’t do this for a preseason game, but if a coach is studying films of an opponent’s schemes and plans plays to attack those specific schemes, he is playing to win. Steve Mariucci won't devote a lot of time to the game plan for the Lions' opening exhibition Saturday, but he's going to make sure his players are as fresh as possible for the Pittsburgh Steelers. After reviewing the offensive and defensive installations last Wednesday night, Mariucci and the coaches turned their attention to the Steelers. "We will actually talk a little bit about the Pittsburgh Steelers and their personnel, and some of the things they're going to do," he said. "We have an abridged version of a game plan to play on Saturday."
Why is it important for the Lions to win? They are a young team and the coach wants to instill a winning attitude. He especially wants his team to be practically unbeatable at home. Detroit does enjoy tremendous fan support and Mariucci wants to use that in his favor. With Ford Field fired up, look for the Lions to roar here for the SU & ATS win.
ACTUAL FINAL SCORE: DETROIT 27 PITTSBURGH 21
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7 STAR SELECTION (5% of Bankroll)
MINNESOTA -3½ over Arizona
In what promises to be one of the more intriguing games of the exhibition seasons, new Cardinals head man Dennis Green gets a look at his former team Saturday night, when the Arizona coach takes his club into Minnesota to face the Vikings in the first preseason tilt for both squads. Green was the Vikings head coach from 1992 to 2001, leading the franchise to eight playoff appearances. Current Vikes’ coach Mike Tice served as an assistant under Green and took over the top spot at the end of the 2001 season. The return of Green is actually on the undercard of a heavyweight factor in this contest. Arizona scored a memorable 18-17 win in the 2003 finale for both teams. The Viking loss, which came on a last-second pass from McCown to Nathan Poole, denied them a share of the NFC North title and a trip to the postseason.
McCown expects a raucous welcome. “For me and us, we were excited about winning,” McCown said. “But you just go, ‘Gosh, they missed the playoffs.’ So I'm sure their fans will be pretty excited about us coming in, and have some choice words to say, but this is just a preseason game.'” Just a preseason game? Don’t tell that to the Vikings. Several players have made clear they carry a “special” motivation for defeating Arizona. “I want to kick the crap out of them,” running back Michael Bennett told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. "I really want to beat them bad, and I’m hoping coach Tice leaves the starters in all four quarters so we can do it ourselves. It’s at the point where, every time I see a Cardinals sign somewhere, I get offended." No, you won't see Daunte Culpepper on the field in the fourth quarter. And Randy Moss won't be available to run a Hail Mary route on the game's final play, but that should be far from necessary. Minnesota has had to live with their collapse in the desert for more than 7 months. It left an awful bad taste in their collective mouths and they are ready to spit it out.
When we handicap games, we take as many factors into consideration as possible. Occasionally, however, a contest comes along that we call a “single factor game”. In these types of meetings, an overwhelming advantage is enjoyed by one team. It’s usually an emotional factor and not a statistical one, so the edge is rarely built into the pointspread. This provides us with great line value and very strong investment opportunity. Although revenge is often overused and rarely applies in the preseason, we have an extreme revenge situation here that heavily favors the fired-up Vikings.
Even without the revenge motive, Minnesota would be worth a long look here. The first and main factor to handicapping the preseason is usually the coach of each team. The coaching factor in preseason, unlike the regular season, is the strongest single factor. It’s good to know the personalities and attitudes of the various coaches. Some coaches do not care if they lose a preseason game, while some coaches hate to lose any game at all – even exhibition games. Minnesota’s Mike Tice has not stressed winning in the preseason before, but he has changed his tune. Make no mistake about it – not only do the Vikes want this game in the worst way, they just flat out want to win during this preseason. Every game. "Check out what New England and Carolina did last year," Tice said a couple of days ago. Indeed, last season's Super Bowl participants each produced 4-0 preseasons. Coincidence? "I don't think so," said Tice. "Winning breeds more winning. Because of how the season ended, because of the shock and the depression we were in as a football team, winning is the only thing that's going to cure that. So it's important for us to have an exceptional preseason. Winning's a habit. It needs to become a habit." These are by far the strongest comments we have heard this preseason regarding the desire to win exhibition games.
Tice says he will not accede to any nontraditional requests for playing time, and the Vikings plan to remove most of their starters after two or three series Saturday night. "But we're a deeper team now," Tice said. "So our second team is better now, and so is our third team. That should help get us where we want to go." They are indeed blessed with tremendous depth. QB Daunte Culpepper is 100% after playing much of last year injured, and he has a very sound back-up in Gus Frerotte. Shaun Hill should also see some action behind center. The Vikings are almost too deep at running back. Michael Bennett has regained all of his explosiveness from his Pro Bowl season of two years ago. Onterrio Smith looks more defined in his running decisions. His style is like Emmitt Smith. The old Emmitt Smith, anyway. Fourth-round choice Mewelde Moore is quick and explosive. Moe Williams is a solid veteran backup who is invaluable to winning teams. Larry Ned may be the fifth back, but he'd be a good backup on some team.
Compare this to what the Cardinals have to work with. Josh McCown is the green starter, Shaun King is a decent back-up, but then rookie John Navarre will play the 4th quarter. We try to stay away from teams that use a rookie QB to mop up exhibition games, as he is usually the one getting mopped up by the defense. The running game is paper thin, as Marcel Shipp and Larry Croom are out, while Emmitt Smith has not had a considerable exhibition load to carry in quite a few years. The Cards are even thin at WR. Bryant Johnson, expected to be a starter, is out with a stress fracture in his right foot, and Anquan Boldin, the other starter, has a knee injury and is out. How about the offensive line? Offensive, indeed. On the eve of training camp, center Pete Kendall was packing his car in Phoenix for the trip to Flagstaff, Ariz., when he got the call. He was told to not bother showing up. Many considered Kendall the Cardinals' best offensive lineman. There is speculation that Green made the move as retaliation because he suspected Kendall of blowing the whistle on Green's grueling workouts that led the NFL to take away a week of Arizona's offseason conditioning. Kendall's replacement is rookie fourth-round draft pick Alex Stepanovich, who played guard last year in college. Green has also benched L.J. Shelton and promoted guard Leonard Davis to first team. With Davis moving from guard, the Cardinals now have four players who didn't play their current positions last season…we expect Minnesota to crush the Cardinals...
ACTUAL FINAL SCORE: MINNESOTA 23 ARIZONA 6
6 STAR SELECTION (4.75% of Bankroll)
Oakland -1 over SAN FRANCISCO
The Bay Area gridiron rivalry will be renewed on Saturday evening, when Oakland crosses the bridge to visit San Francisco in the preseason opener for both teams. Both the Raiders and 49ers fell on hard times last year, with Oakland coming off a miserable 4-12 season and San Francisco fresh off a disappointing 7-9 campaign. Both franchises will begin new eras, as the visiting Raiders will play their first game under head coach Norv Turner, while the host 49ers begin life without Jeff Garcia, their starting quarterback of the past five seasons who is now with Cleveland.
Quarterback will be a position of focus for Turner and his staff here. Rich Gannon, who led the Raiders to the Super Bowl in 2002 but missed nine games with a shoulder injury last season, will try to hold off veteran signal-caller Kerry Collins to retain his starting job. Gannon is expected to play the first quarter before yielding to Collins, Marques Tuiasosopo, and Tee Martin under center. As we consider the QB depth of the 2 teams, we see a decided advantage for Oakland. Gannon and Collins are both Super Bowl QBs, while Tuiasosopo and Martin have been with the team for several seasons. Again, we look to go against teams playing rookie quarterbacks in the 2nd half. These young QBs are often late round picks and undrafted free agents, not the cream of the quarterbacking crop. Their unfamiliarity with the offensive scheme and the speed of NFL defenders often give rookie QBs trouble, which could well be the case here with San Fran. Niners’ starting QB Tim Rattay is sidelined due to tendonitis in his forearm, so head coach Dennis Erickson will hand starting duties to Ken Dorsey. The ex-Miami Hurricane Dorsey will get the early time, and should be succeeded by backups Brandon Doman and rookie Cody Pickett. First-round draft pick and wideout Rashaun Woods will also be out with a hamstring problem.
As we have stated often, the first and main factor to handicapping the preseason is the coach of each team. The coaching factor in preseason, unlike the regular season, is the strongest single factor. While Erickson doesn’t exactly enjoying losing, he has more pressing matters than trying to ring up exhibition wins. Trades, free agency, and injuries have ravaged the ‘Niners offense and the team so he has little choice but to see how some unproven youngsters fare. The 49ers had 42 players listed on their injury report recently! The team already has determined several won't play against the Raiders. “We'll have 15 out, which is the last I counted for this game,”' Erickson said. “`It is disruptive as far as getting things done. The good part is we're going to have most of those guys back (before the regular season).” Again, we have a coach here who is just looking to survive more so than win. On the other hand (or other side of the Bay), Norv Turner has stressed the importance of winning the practice games to rid the team of that nasty habit called losing that they acquired last year.
Again, with a QB duel in Oakland we should see the Raiders benefit. When a coach has to make a choice between 2 quality QBs, he should give both of them a chance to perform well so he can find out who will be his starter in the regular season. In fact, he may use the rest of the 1st-string offense for BOTH QBs in order to fairly compare them. If so, you’re looking at 2 good QBs behind a 1st-string offensive line, working with 1st-string backs and receivers. Also, the 2nd QB and 1st-string offense may go against an opponent’s 2nd-string defense, creating a huge mismatch. Added to that, both QBs will be highly motivated.
We don’t mind laying a point on a road team when it’s just a short bus ride to the stadium instead of a long flight, and there will be many of their fans in attendance. Some numbers back us up here as well. Oakland is 14-7 ATS as a favorite, 10-4 ATS in Week 1 and early pre-season games, and Turner is a perfect 4-0 ATS as a road favorite. When playing on a Saturday, San Fran is a poor 7-13 ATS and figure to have more than their hands full here, as the Raiders build a first half lead that the Niners are unable to erase in the 4th quarter.
ACTUAL FINAL SCORE: OAKLAND 33 SAN FRANCISCO 30
5 STAR SELECTION (4.5% of Bankroll)
DETROIT -3 over Pittsburgh
Two teams looking to improve on disappointing 2003 campaigns will try to find the road to respectability on Saturday evening, when the Detroit Lions host the Pittsburgh Steelers in the preseason opener for both clubs. The Lions and head coach Steve Mariucci were 5-11 last season, while the Steelers' 6-10 mark was their worst since the 1999 season.
Lions fans will get their first look at a number of new faces, though first- round draft pick and running back Kevin Jones is unlikely to be one of them. Jones has been bothered by a nagging hamstring problem and will probably be held out. Capable backups Artose Pinner, Shawn Bryson, and Avon Cobourne are likely to see a wealth of time in the backfield. QB Joey Harrington is slated to start the contest, before giving way to backups Mike McMahon and Rick Mirer. Of all the good signs during the first dozen practices of training camp, none can be more encouraging to Lions fans than the increased accuracy of quarterback Joey Harrington. He's not just hitting his receivers, but he's hitting them in full stride, something he didn't do regularly during his first two years. And it's not just one sharp practice. Harrington has been getting consistently better with each workout. Mariucci wants Harrington to play with the receivers and backs in game conditions, but he doesn't want to overdo it. "We're going to try to use the old balancing act - play them in the preseason games, but not go crazy with it," Mariucci said. "They're going to get most of their work in practice.” If we play them in the first half together, I don't know that that first unit is going to finish the first half. It probably won't. Hopefully, we can put a couple drives together so we're not three-and-out. "It's going to be a balance between the number of snaps and the number of minutes left in the half." In other words, he expects Harrington and company to put some solid points on the board early.
Pittsburgh will receive its first opportunity to watch first-round pick and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, as the former standout from Miami, Ohio is expected to succeed starter Tommy Maddox early in the game. Roethlisberger and Brian St. Pierre should get plenty of snaps with No. 2 quarterback Charlie Batch out due to injury. Joining Batch on the injured list for this contest are starters such as cornerback Chad Scott, safety Chris Hope, cornerback Deshea Townsend, and linebacker Clark Haggans. The Steelers will also get a chance to watch newly acquired running back Duce Staley, who will see his first work in a Pittsburgh uniform after spending seven years with the Philadelphia Eagles, although he is nursing an injury and his time will be limited, as will the playing time of Jerome Bettis.
The Lions and Steelers will be meeting for the sixth time in the preseason, with Pittsburgh holding a 4-1 all-time edge; however, the clubs met last prior to the 2003 season, when Detroit picked up a 26-13 victory. We expect a similar result in this game due to several important factors.
Rookie Roethlisberger just got into uniform a few days ago and now is expected to enter this game by the second quarter due to the injury to Charlie Batch. He will very likely struggle, while the experienced Detroit QBs are putting points on the board against a decimated Steelers secondary. Three of the four secondary starters will not play because of injuries. The Lions have one of the deepest QB rotations in the league which is very significant as we strongly consider QB depth. Since the 2nd, 3rd, + 4th-stringers will see most of the minutes, we look to bet against teams playing rookie quarterbacks, especially in the 2nd half. Their unfamiliarity with the offensive scheme and the speed of NFL defenders often give rookie QBs trouble.
The Steelers had a poor training camp last summer and it looks like some old habits die hard. About 90 minutes into a recent practice, coach Bill Cowher had seen enough. He called for a meeting of his players at midfield and ripped into them like a bolt from the blue. "Oh yeah, he was a little riled up," guard Alan Faneca said. "Today practice was good for three plays, bad for two, good for two plays, bad for three. Cowher continually screamed at his team to "come off the ball." Cowher himself said, "It wasn't a very good day, not a good practice in any sense of the word," he added. "I think there was good reason (for Cowher's anger)," a player said. "We didn't come out today ready to play. It probably had to do with the rain delay, but that's unacceptable and that's why we were not good last year, because we let things like that distract us.”
During exhibition season it’s common for a team with an excellent passing attack to practice their running attack. Likewise, last year’s excellent running teams are likely to be doing a lot of passing. Where is the logic in a coach going over and over his team’s strongest stuff while ignoring its weaknesses? Of course, teams struggle when trying to do what they aren’t good at or accustomed to doing yet. Pittsburgh used to run the football. And then run some more. The last couple of years they have gotten away from that and saw their wins decline, so they are trying to resurrect the dormant rushing game. Cowher said the Steelers have devoted more time to it as they attempt to lift the ground game from its worst NFL ranking in franchise history, No. 31. It's too early to determine what kind of success they might have. "It's hard to assess that, it's going to take some of the preseason games," Cowher said. "Just like the passing game sometimes, it takes time and with timing involved, and getting involved in doing things at full speed. It's getting good work against our defense because we've been pretty good against the run defensively, so the more we work against our defense it's going to help us on offense."
Of course, Mariucci will be looking at more than just the offense. The defense has its share of new starters, but the lineup for Saturday night has been shuffled because of injuries. "I'd like to see some production out of our starting group," he said. "Not just production in yards or points or stopping them and making them punt, but in terms of communication, our substitutions. I’'d like to start getting that smoothened out. It's practice for the coaches, too. Don’t look for the Lions first-string defense to disappear after one series.
A big edge that a coach can gain vs. an opponent is to gameplan. Most coaches don’t do this for a preseason game, but if a coach is studying films of an opponent’s schemes and plans plays to attack those specific schemes, he is playing to win. Steve Mariucci won't devote a lot of time to the game plan for the Lions' opening exhibition Saturday, but he's going to make sure his players are as fresh as possible for the Pittsburgh Steelers. After reviewing the offensive and defensive installations last Wednesday night, Mariucci and the coaches turned their attention to the Steelers. "We will actually talk a little bit about the Pittsburgh Steelers and their personnel, and some of the things they're going to do," he said. "We have an abridged version of a game plan to play on Saturday."
Why is it important for the Lions to win? They are a young team and the coach wants to instill a winning attitude. He especially wants his team to be practically unbeatable at home. Detroit does enjoy tremendous fan support and Mariucci wants to use that in his favor. With Ford Field fired up, look for the Lions to roar here for the SU & ATS win.
ACTUAL FINAL SCORE: DETROIT 27 PITTSBURGH 21
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