The Blog Of Football Guesses is a weekly homage to a former Clear Channel iHeartMedia Director of Digital who once informed me, in all seriousness, that "football picks drive web traffic, especially if you toss in a picture of a cheerleader."
What guidance.
These are for entertainment purposes only.
I am going to be painfully transparent with you.
A) I'm actually writing some of this as a game that I'll make a guess for is kicking off.
B) I'm doing this much later than I'd intended because I've been kinda busy.
You're welcome for the update.
BENGALS V. COLTS
I typically don't make picks for preseason games, but I'm doing this today, the Bengals are playing tonight, so what the hell?
Two things, and really only two things matter to me tonight.
1) Will tonight influence the decision-making about kicker?
2) Can AJ McCarron actually, you know, play well?
That the main storyline tonight involves kicking is both an indictment against the turd bowl that is the fourth preseason game as well as a statement about how good the competition has been between Randy Bullock and Jake Elliott and how important it is the for the Bengals to ultimately make the right call.
They have no margin for error. Part of the reason - not THE reason - why last season went the way it did was that the margin for error shrunk because of the lousy kicking.
Whomever doesn't win the gig has a decent chance (although I haven't handicapped this) to catch on somewhere else.
If they get this wrong, no move will be second-guessed more.
One kicker is an unproven rookie. The other is a journeyman whose one pressure kick as a Bengals was no good, ruining Christmas.
The other thing isn't just me picking on AJ - I'd still feel more than comfortable if the Bengals had to turn to their backup in a game, or for multiple games - but he hasn't played well this month, and I do wonder what his mindset is given his desire to start and how he might have felt about his chances of being somewhere else when the offseason began.
Maybe I'm reaching. I just know that I'd like to see him play better. That is all.
Bengals 6 Colts 3
NFL FAN FIGHT OF THE WEEK
Preseason fight. Midseason form.