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Payton’s Plays: NFL Week 11

Gary Payton

by Gary Payton in Gary Payton Picks

Updated Jan 17, 2018 · 9:39 AM PST

Well last week was so-so. The Falcons dropped the ball in Philly, but the Seahawks came through in New England. You’d think Philly’s good start with Carson Wentz would scare me away from betting too hard against rookie QBs. You’d be wrong! Sorry, Jared Goff. I’m all-in against your rookie a**.

What else do I have for ya this week? Sorry to my boys down in the Bay Area but things ain’t looking so good right now, and seeing Tom Brady on your doorstep isn’t making them look any better.

Enough chatter. Let’s get right to it.


Miami (-1) at Los Angeles

Remember that rookie QB thing I was talking about? The Rams are finally making the switch from Case Keenum to Jared Goff, the no. 1-overall pick in last year’s draft. Keenum has been awful almost all season. He only managed nine points last week against the Jets. That’s the fifth time this year the Rams haven’t scored more than ten points.

Can things really get any worse with Goff? Yes. Did you see him in the pre-season? Now he gets his first career start against a Miami team that’s won four straight.

Ndamukong Suh, Cam Wake, and the rest of the Dolphin D-line are gonna feast on LA’s awful O-line and give Goff a rude intro to life in the pros. On the other side of the ball, Jay Ajayi is gonna get his. LA has a beauty front-seven with Aaron Donald, who might be the best defensive player in the league. But Robert Quinn is probably out, and Miami was able to push around the Jets’ league-best rush defense. They’ll get enough push against LA to outscore the Rams’ brutal offense.

Gimme Miami to make it five straight. (Wow that sounds weird.)

Pick: Miami (-1)


New England (-13) at San Francisco

This hurts to write but the Niners are real bad this year. They kept it close against the Cardinals last week, but that was ’cause Carson Palmer kept throwing them the ball. Guess who doesn’t turn the ball over much. If you guessed Tom Brady, congratulations. You know something the rest of the world also knows.

The Pats are going to be hungry after they lost to Seattle at home last week. They looked almost unstoppable before that game and they’re just in another class than San Fran right now, especially since the Niners don’t even have my boy Navorro Bowman anchoring the defense.

Guess what else the Pats do really well right now. If you said run the ball, you’re right! That one’s actually surprising. They haven’t really had a reliable ground game in a long time. LeGarrette Blount found paydirt three times against the Seahawks last week — the Seahawks! What’s the NFL’s touchdown leader gonna do against San Fran’s league-worst rush defense? That’s scary to think about.

You can also bank on Bill Belichick doing a better job of game-planning to stop Colin Kaepernick. Kaep’s had a couple ok weeks now, but Belichick knows what it will take to turn him back into the guy that lost his starting job to Blaine Gabbert — Blaine Gabbert!

Pick: New England (-13).


 

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