Mr. Irrelevant........

In what might be viewed as a last ditch effort to galvanize their fan base and flatline their struggling team, the New York Giants will honor their past legends this Sunday night at halftime of the game. While the greatest of them all, LT will have his number retired, management decided it would be best if Mr. Taylor stayed as far away from the new Meadowland Stadium as possible. Meanwhile, the always chipper Bill Parcells offered a curt "thanks but no thanks" reply and will not be among those basking in the limelight come Sunday night.

Worry not, Tiki Barber will be there and will use this opportunity to remind fans and foes alike, just how great he was. Despite being the proud owner of Giant rushing records and having had a stellar career, Mr. Barber has become best known for his critical comments of his former coach. However, due to Mr. Barber's intelligence level, he has been able to "trash the coach and the team" in such a way that it almost sounds innocuous. Sound familiar? Harken back to 2006 when Mr. Barber declared "I am retiring at the end of the season", prior to week one. Again, sense of timing appears to have eluded Mr.Barber.

Fast forward a few years and now Mr. Barber has traded in his pregnant wife for a younger blond toy and managed to disappear from his television gig quicker than one could fathom. I think an interview this morning on WFAN summed up the teams feelings quite succinctly. When asked about Barer's comments, a current Giant player said "yeah coach has not lost the locker room. Barber's a good guy and all but maybe he's just bitter that he wasn't around to win a Superbowl that next year". Ouch! Enough said.

Now for this week's NFL Winners.....

Giants -4 over Chicago. This is purely a "situational" play. Indicators have the Bears as a small favorite. Matchups, let down situation,etc. all point to the Giants.

Browns +3 over Cincy. This line stinks worse than Albert Haynesworth's jock. Home divisional dog against a Bengal team that is suspect away from home. This game will be a pig. Unless you are a diehard fan of either team there is no excuse to be watching this, except of course if you are a degenerate gambler.

Ravens +1 over Pittsburgh. These games are low scoring bare knuckle brawls. Steelers are the better team but do not have the services of their starting quarterback. While they have been able to win their first three games, beating the Ravens should prove more difficult. Charlie Batch looked good against a soft Tampa Bay Defense. The Ravens didn't play well defensively against a bad Browns team (looking ahead to this game?). Expect Baltimore to shut down the run and force Batch into forcing throws, thus creating turnovers. This game also means more to the Ravens who will run the risk of being two full games behind the Steelers within their division, if they were to lose Sunday.