Let’s have a weekend! Friday I will be heading to Long Beach Island for my Fiance’s cousin’s wedding. I grew up spending my summer’s in LBI, as my parents had a beach house there until I was about 16. I won’t be exploring too much before or after the wedding as it’s the offseason, but I’m thrilled just to get back there for the memories. Sunday we have another wedding to go to, and I’m blessed to officiate this one! Gian is one of my first friends and he’s a guy who is always there for others, so it’ll be great to be there for him conducting his ceremony. It’s going to feel great taking off work Monday playing the new call of duty, but first we have weddings to go to and bets to hit!
Recap
Steelers -3.5 v Titans – HIT! Steelers 20-16
Season record 11-8-3
NFL 8-4-2
NCAAF 3-4-1
Rutgers +1.5 at Iowa
We can poke fun of Iowa’s offense all we want but the reality is they are 7-2, 4-2 in the Big Ten, and their loses are at Penn State and a game where there was high referee controversy with the fair catch call. Their defense is baller and their punter is a weapon. They really play a territorial game. I believe the last time rutgers beat a ranked team was all the way back on November 12, 2009, when they hosted #23 South Florida. I like Coach Schiano’s chances of ending that streak. Rutgers is missing linebacker Tyreem Powell but the boys are still flying around on defense. Iowa will try and over power teams but Rutgers has a fun combo of size and speed to stop the run, and they shouldn’t have to worry too much vs the pass. Since Deacon Hill became the starter five games ago he is averaging 88.6 yards. The linebackers will be key for Rutgers asI’m sure they’ll be told to pursuit the run. Mohamad Toure and Deion Jennings combined for 21 tackles, 1 sack, and 1 interception last week vs Ohio State and we’ll need similar productivity this weekend in Iowa. Let the DLine hold up, let the five in the secondary play tight, and give these two linebackers the green light to make plays. Ultimately to win a game you obviously need to score more points. Gavin Wimsat has thrown below 40% the last four games and has 4 interceptions. Rutgers likes to run the ball and take deep shots with the pass, but we’ll need QB#1 to play a clean game, and I have confidence that he will. His legs have been a huge threat, complementing Kyle Monangai and the OC will have to keep dialing that up. At times Coach Schiano can be conservative, and at times aggressive. Points will be hard to come by, so it is my hope that when they are in field goal range to trust Jai Patel and settle for 3. Rutgers is a good team, Iowa is a good team, but I believe we will chop to victory
Rutgers 16 Iowa 13
UTSA -14.5 v Rice
UTSA started off rocky, with QB Frank Harris not fully healthy, than getting injured. Since conference play started though, they are a perfect 5-0 averaging 40.8 points. One of our first Korner picks this year was UTSA over Houston, because when this offense gets going its a steamroller. Rice will play this game without journeyman QB JT Daniels, and it’s between two freshmen who will start at QB. Unless Rice is bluffing, both QBs are taking reps with the ones which I believe is a mistake. Get one quarterback as ready as possible, because both are inexperienced. Which is why I’ll side with UTSA because they are clicking and Rice has some serious adversity. Frank Harris is one of the best QBs of all time at UTSA and he has two more home games in his career. Two games ago he threw for four touchdowns, last game the team ran for four touchdowns. The team is due to bring it collectively now and I do not think Rice will be able to match. Give me three in the air, three on the ground, in what they are hoping is a sold out AlamoDome.
UTSA 42 Rice 21
Steelers -3 v Packers
We are going back to the well with the Steelers! But first let’s look at the Packers season. The Packers beat the Rams last week where Stafford did not play. Before that week they lost four in a row. The week before that? They were down 17-0 to the Saints than Carr gets hurt and they win 18-17. This is a bad Packers team, and Jordan Love might not be the answer. The Steelers run game got going last week vs the Titans with Warren going 11 for 88 and Najee going 16 for 69, nice. The Packers rush defense has some skewed stats because they’ve played some real bad rush attacks, and I think the Steelers will have an easy time rushing on them. This keeps Kenny Pickett in a flow since there will be a nice balanced attack and the game won’t be reliant on him. George Pickens wants to be more involved and probably should be, but the Steelers alpha is back in Diontae Johnson and he is off a 7 catch 90 yard game with a touchdown. Jaire Alexander is a star corner but he is not practicing yet this week so that is something to monitor. The Packers also traded their CB #2 Rasul Douglas to the Bills. The Steelers offense is struggling, that’s no secret, but they play good defense and have been limiting turnovers. It’ll be a grind but I like their chances.
Steelers 21 Packers 14
Browns +6.5 at Ravens
A few weeks ago the Browns were big underdogs vs a Niners team and the Browns won outright. The Ravens are probably the best team in football these past few weeks, but this Browns defense is amazing. The Browns are on the road this time, unlike when they played the Niners but defense travels. If CB#2 Greg Newsome plays for the Browns, they will have a fully healthy defense, which should give the midseason MVP in Lamar some troubles.
Now, these two teams played week 4, but Dorian Thompson Robinson played for the Browns. He was immediately benched for PJ Walker, who is back to being a backup with Deshaun Watson playing. Week 4 was Kareem Hunt’s second game of the season and Jerome Ford wasn’t clicking either, so we have a totally new Browns offense. DTR threw two interceptions that the Ravens took advantage of and scored touchdowns on the short field. Watson did look relatively healthy last week, but he’ll go up against a strong Ravens defense this week who are sacking quarterbacks 3.9 times a game which leads the NFL. Coach Kevin Stefanski is no dummy, he did win coach of the year in 2020. The Browns might be without their two starting tackles so I know he’ll dial up quick game passes. Watson, who I mentioned is now healthy, is a very accurate quarterback, and he’ll need to dial it back to his Houston days. This time though, he has a run game to help him out with the combo of Jerome Ford and Kareem Hunt. This will be smash mouth football, Ravens Steelers esce, and should be a field goal game either way.
Ravens 21 Browns 20
Chargers +3 v Lions
The Chargers beat two struggling offenses, which may have masked the bad Chargers defense, but I think they have their swagger back. One thing that I like in this matchup is that the Chargers are winning and playing with Ekeler not running the ball efficiently. He is still catching passes, and Herbert is racking yards, but the run game isn’t there. I greatly respect the Lions front and run defense, so attacking Detroit in the air is the angle I prefer. It wouldn’t be the Korner if I didn’t highlight Rutgers players, but maybe the most key matchup is a Rutgers v Rutgers showdown. Nose Tackle Sebastian Joseph Day has to win his battles, including vs Left Guard Jonah Jackson (who spent his grad year at Ohio State). Detroit gets David Montgomery back, and they run a very different offense when he is healthy. Detroit loves to be physical and give Monti 20 touches for 3 yards a pop. Joseph Day will have to clog the middle that the Lions will try and exploit. The ball should not be in Goff’s hands that much since the Lions will look to run Monti, but Jared Goff will have to make plays and he’s struggled on the road to do that. Goff has always seemed timid on the road, throwing for less yards a completion, raking up more interceptions, and taking way more sacks. The building might be familiar as he started his career in LA, but if the crowd noise cranks up, Goff tends to fold. The Lions got a needed bye week rest, but the Chargers are rolling off a two game win streak.
Chargers 28 Lions 24
Thank you,
Goose
Kowal's Korner 
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