Darius Rucker, CMG

Darius Rucker is spilling his guts at Country Music Goodness. I'm just the medium through which it flies. 

Week 8

There some really intriguing match-ups this week. As usual, it will come down to which inconsistent team shows up and which one lays an egg. Who knows this year?

Tampa Bay at Dallas: Brad Johnson has to start again this week. Brooks Bollinger is number two in Dallas. Please refer to this 2006 Vikings-Bears game, when BB filled in for BJ after four interceptions. Note that neither quarterback finished that game. Bucs 20-9.

Washington at Detroit: Don Banks thinks the Lions just might go winless this season. I'm not sure about that, but they will be 0-7 in a few days. Washington 31-17.

San Diego at New Orleans: could go either way, any way. Saints 41-31.

Buffalo at Miami: The Dolphins have snuck up on a few teams with the "Wildcat" offense, but Baltimore seemed to have in under control last week. Buffalo continues to win any way they have to. Bills 24-21.

St. Louis at New England: The Patriots are the most up and down team in an up and down league, so it is near impossible to guess what will happen when the Rams come in, hot off two big wins against good teams. I'll go with Bill Belichick, 27-24.

Kansas City at New York Jets: Ah, the long-awaited Chiefs-Jets match up. Uh.. Jets 34-20.

Atlanta at Philadelphia: Flip a coin. 

Oakland at Baltimore: There is no doubt that the Raiders play hard every week, but Baltimore should win this. Ravens 20-10.

Arizona at Carolina: Flip a coin.

Cleveland at Jacksonville: Jaguars 27-17. By the way, if three of your players have staph infections, and you are suspending them for talking about it, there is something terribly, terribly wrong.

Cincinnati at Houston: Probably will be one of the more exciting games this week. Texans 31-27.

New York Giants at Pittsburgh: Probably the best match-up so far of the NFL's elite. Neither team will suffer much from a loss here, but it is a chance to assert themselves. I love the Steelers balance, and I love Plaxico Burress on 3rd downs. I'll go with the home team, 27-20.

Seattle at San Francisco: Not sure I care... 49ers 31-21.

Indianapolis at Tennessee: There is no reason why the Colts can't win this game... if they actually show up this week. Tennessee is due for some humble pie, but the Colts aren't the team to serve it up. Titans 34-21.

Rankeroo

No changes in the top seven this week. They didn't all win, but none lost. The middle continues its muddled ways, and the bottom has a few new-comers. Excitement!

1. Tennessee Titans: Another big win. How will they handle the up and down Colts?

2. Pittsburgh Steelers: They play a consistent and balanced brand of football, something that most teams could learn from this year.

3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Like the others in the Top 5, they took care of business.

4. New York Giants: Too bad they lost to such a bad team. They'd still be in the top spot otherwise.

5. Buffalo Bills: I was wrong about this team. Will they continue to prove me wrong?

13. Chicago Bears: A win's a win, but they have a lot of work to do if they want to get out of the wildcard round.

17. Green Bay Packers: I need to see more. Two dominating wins in a row, though.

22. Minnesota Vikings: Huge day on offense, but you can't win when you give away points.

28. Cleveland Browns: They are better than the four teams below them, but they just aren't going to win a lot of games this year.

29. Kansas City Chiefs: One week they show some fight. The next they get completely embarrassed.

30. Seattle Seahawks: Another team that just isn't very good.

31. Cincinnati Bengals: There's a lot of fight in this team, considering.

32. Detroit Lions: With Roy Williams gone, they have nothing to even remotely scare opposing teams. Calvin Johnson can't do it all.

Experts: Silver continues to love the NFC North (at least relative to the rest of 'em).

ESPN.com: G.B.-10, CHI-13, MIN-22, DET-32

CBS Sportsline: G.B.-11, CHI-18, MIN-24, DET-32

Michael Silver (Yahoo!): G.B.-9, CHI-13, MIN-17, DET-32

Jeff Sagarin (USA Today): CHI-6, G.B.-16, MIN-17, DET-32

Quite Wrong

Every week, I'm bound to get a few predictions wrong. Sometimes they will be really wrong. 

Prediction: Dallas will beat St. Louis 24-13.

Reasoning: The Cowboys are simply a better team, and will be able to outplay the Rams in all facets of the game, even without Tony Romo.

Reality: Brad Johnson was awful. The Cowboys could have played a solid game in all areas and still not have overcome Johnson's ineptitude. But they didn't even play a solid game. They were awful all around. Marion Barber even tarnished a nice effort with an early fumble. Marc Bulger can still throw the ball, and he has a couple threats at the wide receiver position. Rams won this one 34-14.

Prediction: Miami will beat Baltimore 27-24.

Reasoning: Baltimore is old. they haven't really put together a complete game all season long. 

Reality: Baltimore didn't dominate this game, but they pushed Miami around. They held the Dolphins rushing attack in check, and Joe Flacco protected the ball. The Ravens took this one 27-13, and the game wasn't really in question during the second half.

Prediction: San Diego will beat Buffalo 27-13.

Reasoning: The Chargers looked very good in stepping over the hapless Patriots last Monday night. Buffalo has looked a little shaky in beating some less-than-impressive teams.

Reality: The Chargers lost the turnover battle 0-3, and mustered only 263 yards. Buffalo looks good at home, and they don't appear to be slowing down as they head into a rough patch in the schedule. The Bills won 23-14.

Same old

There are two things that almost all poorly-coached teams have in common: Bad special teams play, and loads of penalties. Yes, that's you Brad Childress.

I never understood his challenges. Or his play-calling. Or his time-management. But these things seems minor after you watch the Vikings continue to give points to other teams. 14 free points from the Vikings special teams, gift-wrapped and handed to the Bears. Awful. Just awful. 

The Vikings offense somehow managed to score 41 points, without any help from great field position, and turn the ball over four times. Really? The Bears got 14 points on freak special teams plays, a last second field goal in the first half after a squib kick, and a scoring drive of six yards following an interception. That is the second six yard touchdown drive by a Vikings' opponent this year (Titans). That is frightening. 

This team is so difficult to watch. And it is something new every week. Sometimes it is excited, sometimes it is impressive; most of the time it is depressing. Childress cannot be the head coach of the Vikings next season. I understand that firing him right now is not going to do anything. This team is already doomed, whether they start over at Week 8 or let Childress stick it out. Unless you can get Bill Cowher to come in this week, it is a pointless move. 

For a team that (supposedly) has so much talent, they sure play ugly, and they sure play inconsistent. The only thing that can be said for this team is that they play hard. There is no quit and they hit the hell out of opposing players. Some were questioning all the money the Vikings put aside for free agents Bernard Berrian and Jared Allen. Well, they are both putting out now, and the Vikings still are finding ways to lose, and are still barely winning the games they do pull out. Adrian Peterson isn't breaking games open but you cant ask for anything else from him. The defense is stuffing the run. 

It is all about turnovers and terrible special teams. When Mike Tice coached the Vikings the special teams was perfectly boring. There were no blocked field goals, no touchdown returns. But they also contained opposing returners, punted well, made field goals. Special teams were not determining the outcome of games, either way. This year, Chilress' third with the Vikings? The Packers' punt return for a touchdown, for all intents and purposes, won them a Monday Night Football showdown with the Vikings in Week 1. Reggie Bush returned two punts for touchdowns in a game the Vikings barely won. And then this week against the Bears.

There's really nothing else to say. They'll probably go 8-8 and just miss the playoffs. I'll take that over being a Lions or Bengals fan, but it is going to sting.

Week 7

San Diego at Buffalo: Two teams that could go in very different directions in the coming weeks. Chargers 27-23.

Minnesota at Chicago: Adrian Peterson is really cranking out some yardage considering how stacked the line of scrimmage is with defenders. Vikings 20-17.

Pittsburgh at Cincinnati: The Bengals won't stop fighting. The Steelers will still beat them, 31-21.

Tennessee at Kansas City: The Titans have one more "easy" one before their schedule toughens up. Titans 20-7.

Dallas at St. Louis: Brad Johnson just has to play it safe. Cowboys 24-13.

Baltimore at Miami: Miami should be able to outlast the aging Ravens, 27-24.

San Francisco at NY Giants: Good chance for the Giants to bounce back from Monday night. Giants 30-10.

New Orleans at Carolina: These teams' momentum is going in opposite directions, but I like Carolina to slow down the Saints offense enough to win 28-24.

Detroit at Houston: Houston wins a nail-biter, 28-27.

NY Jets at Oakland: Brett Favre is a turnover machine. Also a touchdown machine; Jets 34-17.

Indianapolis at Green Bay: Colts offense is getting hot, they win this one easy, 31-21.

Cleveland at Washington: Washington gets back on track, 24-13.

Seattle at Tampa Bay: The Seahawks are terrible. Bucs 35-20.

Denver at New England: The Patriots need a quarterback. Where's Flutie? Broncos will score too much, 38-24.

dirty, stinking, rotten dishes

To make a new start, for the last time

And take her seriously, herself Seriously

To leave his dishes in the sink

And let them begin to accumulate

The mold of their love affair

And the stench of their future

If she leaves tonight, or Wednesday morning

She'll only end up somewhere else

And he'll still dirty all the dishes

Leaving a mess for someone new

The shoulder to blame is hers alone

And lonely she waits for him to see

When the plates and forks are spotless

He can only continue to eat

Away the feelings that once projected

Her happiness, her happy with herself

And if he comes home to a darkness

She'll only be in some new town

And he'll still dirty all the dishes

She'll just wash them somewhere else