NFL Dog House for Week 10

Its alright to get upset at individual coaches, certain players, ridiculous play calls, or entire organizations for costing us wins against the NFL point spreads that we so desperately deserved. Here's what I'm ranting on after watching the football betting affairs from Week 9.

HC Mike McCarthy, Green Bay Packers: What an uninspired effort your Packers put out there on Sunday afternoon, McCarthy! The little things cost Green Bay in a big way, whether it was missing an assignment on the blocked punt that gave the Bucs a touchdown, getting overpowered at the line of scrimmage to force an extra man into QB Aaron Rodgers' face, narrowly missing a sack of QB Josh Freeman on the final meaningful drive of the game... The list could go on and on. The Packers have a ton of work to do in the second half of the season if they hope to make the playoffs, or McCarthy may be answering a lot of questions about why his team has missed the postseason in back-to-back seasons.

The Toughness of the Baltimore Ravens: Yeah, I'm allowed to be ticked off at how tough a team really is. The Ravens may be a battle-tested team having gone up against San Diego, New England, Minnesota, Denver, and now Cincinnati twice this season, but this 17-7 loss at Paul Brown Stadium was a disgusting one. Not only did RB Cedric Benson smack Baltimore in the mouth 34 times for 117 yards and a touchdown, but its own running game only mustered 17 carries for 55 yards. That's not Baltimore Ravens football, and that won't get them back to the playoffs any time in the near future.

QB Matt Stafford, Detroit Lions: Five picks in a game, huh kid? Welcome to the NFL, rook. Stafford did a fantastic job in the first quarter against the Seahawks at Qwest Field, leading his team to a 17-0 lead out of the blocks. He had to be feeling good, especially with the way he continued to remain on the same page with WR Calvin Johnson and TE Brandon Pettigrew. However, 22 of 42 passing isn't going to cut it at the NFL level, no matter how ferocious the opposing defense is. His 203 yards and two TDs thrown were quickly wiped out by those five picks. The final one proved to be the dagger to Lions' backers, as the spread that should've easily been in hand was suddenly lost with the 61-yard pick six with just 22 seconds left in the game.

The New York Giants' offense for not being able to put away the Chargers: San Diego handed this game to the Giants on a silver platter. QB Philip Rivers threw an INT that was returned to the SD 4 with less than four minutes to play, and it looked like New York was going to march right into the end zone and secure the victory. However, a holding penalty, a short pass, and two runs later, the G-Men had to settle for three. That left the door wide open for Rivers to go from being a goat to a hero, as he marched the Bolts right down the field and threw the game-winning TD pass with less than a minute to play. HC Tom Coughlin has a lot of explaining to do about the way he handled that drive to both the brass of the Giants and their betting backers that laid the five points.