NCAA Football Picks: TCU Horned Frogs vs Baylor Bears NFL Picks

Baylor Bears vs TCU Horned Frogs NCAA Football Picks: The TCU Horned Frogs had a storybook season last year. TCU went 13-0 and finished second in the final AP college football standings. The team would have obviously liked to get a chance to play in the BCS Championship Game, but a hard fought win over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl was huge for the program.

Art Briles has done an impressive job turning around the program at Baylor, and they would like nothing more than to stop TCU’s winning streak at 13 games. TCU dominated Baylor 45-10 last year, but the circumstances are a little different this season. This game will be nationally televised by ESPN on Friday night.

TCU’s team will look a whole lot different this season. Only eight starters return from a year ago, and the team lost 26 lettermen from last year’s undefeated team. Andy Dalton was the offensive leader for TCU, but he’s now the starter for the Cincinnati Bengals. Casey Pachall appears to be the guy who will be the starter, but he attempted just nine passes in his freshman season last year.

The Horned Frogs lost three of their top four receivers, which will make life even more difficult for Pachall. On the positive side, TCU returns three terrific running backs. Ed Wesley, Matthew Tucker, and Waymon James should have another great year in the backfield. The strength of this TCU team will need to be the defense.

Tank Carder and Tanner Brock are both great linebackers, but the defensive front must replace four out of five starters from last year. TCU has plenty of talent on its roster, but they also have quite a bit of inexperience.

Baylor was destroyed by Illinois in their bowl game at the end of last year, but the team still had a very successful 7-6 season. This was a program that was a perennial doormat just a few short years ago. Art Briles has come along and made this team pretty competitive. Robert Griffin III is the team’s leader, and he is one the best quarterbacks in the country.

Griffin is a dual-threat quarterback who makes solid decisions with the football. He completed 67% of his passes last year, and he also ran for 635 yards. Griffin’s top five receivers from a year ago will be back, but the team will definitely miss star running back Jay Finley’s presence in the backfield. As good as the Baylor offense was last year, the defense was that terrible. Baylor’s defense allowed 30.5 points per game last season, and they lost some of their best talents on the defensive side of the football.

These teams know this is a great chance to show what they are made of on national television. I really like Griffin and the Bears offense, but Baylor’s defense is a real problem. TCU should still be able to run the football at will. I like the Horned Frogs to cover in this one.

Free NFL Picks: TCU -5

TCU Horned Frogs vs. Baylor Bears NFL Picks from BTB

NCAA Football Betting Favorite: TCU -5

Over/Under: 56

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Free NFL Picks: Philadelphia Eagles vs New York Jets Nets NFL Picks

New York Jets Nets vs Philadelphia Eagles Free NFL Picks: The New York Jets are just hours removed from playing their Week 3 preseason clash with the New York Giants. Now, Head Coach Rex Ryan and company have to get ready for the Philadelphia Eagles, who fly into town on Thursday night for the preseason finale.

Don’t expect to see a whole heck of a lot out of the starters for the Eagles this week, as they really have played well in the preseason and look prepped for the games that count starting next week. QB Michael Vick led his offense to a 24-0 lead last week against the Cleveland Browns before the backups conceded some late scores, but the team was still more than good enough to cover a hefty seven point spread.

Instead, expect to see a ton of work for QB Mike Kafka. Kafka only was in the game to hand off the ball and to take knees last week at the end of the game, but this week, you can be sure that Head Coach Andy Reid is going to let him fire away at the New York defense.

He has completed over 70 percent of his passes over the course of the preseason, and he has been one of the most efficient passers in exhibitions over the last two preseasons. Don’t be shocked if the former Northwestern Wildcat is in for a great game against a typically stout defense.

The Jets definitely have their share of problems right now. There is no way whatsoever that they are going to be using the starters at all in this preseason finale, especially after playing a half of ball against the Giants on just Monday night.

However, the real question is how the starters in this one, who were likely the backups on Monday, are going to be able to play on just a three day turnaround. It’s really an inhumane thing to do to these players, and though they aren’t starters, they are going to be important cogs to the puzzle for the Jets this year.

Head Coach Rex Ryan isn’t an idiot. He knows that to avoid unnecessary injuries in this one, he needs to use a bunch of players that are either fringe guys, practice squad guys, or guys that he knows that he is going to cut as soon as the game is over.

That being said, a large portion of this game is probably going to be quarterbacked by QB Drew Willy, which really can’t put any confidence into those making their Free NFL picks on the Jets.

Philadelphia Eagles @ New York Jets Free Picks: Sorry, New York. There will be better opportunities for you than this one. The Eagles, for what it’s worth, have gone 5-0 in this series in the regular season dating all the way back to 1987. Don’t be surprised if this one gets brutally ugly in a hurry causing the boo birds to come out in the Big Apple.

NFL Picks: Philadelphia Eagles OTB

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Dallas Cowboys Free NFL Picks: 2011 Dallas Cowboys NFL Picks

2011 Dallas Cowboys Free NFL Picks: Things did not go according to script for the Cowboys in 2010. In what was supposed to be a championship run that ended up with a victory in Super Bowl XLV in their home stadium, ended up as a total nightmare with a 1-6 start, a season-ending injury to quarterback Tony Romo, and a mid-season change at head coach.

Team owner Jerry Jones remains confident that everything is back in place for a return to the level of play his team put forth in the 2009 season when Dallas won the NFC East.

Former offensive coordinator Jason Garrett was promoted to the permanent head coaching position after salvaging a 6-10 record from such a dreadful start. The 2011 version of the Cowboys is already guaranteed to be better with the return of Romo to the starting lineup.

He was coming off is best season as a pro in 2009 and completing close to 70 percent of his passes last year before going down in Week 6 with a broken collar bone. Also back is WR Dez Bryant, who broke his ankle returning a kickoff in early December.

They will be joined by a crowded backfield that includes veteran RB’s Felix Jones and Tashard Choice, along with third-round pick DeMarco Murray. Romo will quickly look to reconnect with his two favorite receivers, Miles Austin and TE Jason Witten, while working rookie WR Dwayne Harris into the mix.

Even with backup Jon Kitna at the helm, Dallas finished the 2010 season ranked seventh in both yards and points per game, so with Romo back at the helm, the Cowboys have the potential to be one of the top offenses in the league.

The real fun could be on the defensive side of the ball with addition of Rob Ryan as Dallas’s new coordinator. He has already tried to stir things up in the division by calling Philadelphia the “all-hype team”.

In the same vein as his father Buddy and brother Rex, he looks to motivate his own players by antagonizing the competition. He has to hope that there is enough talent on this squad to back these words up, especially given the fact that Dallas finished last season ranked 23rd in the league overall and 31st in points allowed.

The addition of LB Bruce Carter in the second round of the draft along with DE Kenyon Coleman and DB Abram Elam through free agency will help to add some depth, but the Cowboys will be going with basically the same players as last year.

There is still a wealth of talent up and down Dallas’s roster, but the trick for guys like Garrett and Ryan is to get them to play to their potential on a consistent basis, which is something that previous head coach Wade Phillips could never seem to accomplish.

The good news for Cowboy fans is that Garrett has already seemed to win this team over with his performance as the interim coach last season and Ryan is the perfect guy to light a fire under a defense that tended to just smolder under Phillips’ direction. Overall, it will be a tall task to keep up with the Giants and the Eagles in the East, but this year’s Cowboys will be much more competitive than last year’s squad.

2011 NFL Prediction: 9-7 and third in the NFC East.

2011 NFL Team Betting Previews- Dallas Cowboys Odds by Free NFL Picks

NFL Picks to win the NFC East +300

NFL Picks to win the NFC +1200

NFL Picks to win the Super Bowl +2000

Win Total 9

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