NFL Week 5 picks against the spread Womens Frank Ragnow Jersey , totals: Meet my friend Graham Have you met Graham?In 2016 an Australian road safety program conceived of the idea of a modified human capable of surviving a car crash. The result is what you see in the link above—a hideous multi-nippled abomination with a concave face and all sorts of horrifying details. In spite of its grotesque appearance, the science appears sound, and Graham seemed quite capable of survival.Of course, the image quickly became a meme on Twitter. What doesn’t? You can still see it floating out there, conjured at times for amusement of small audiences. That’s where it resides now; I have no idea if Graham actually made roads safer in Australia.But I think about Graham now and then when I think about football. In the breadth of this insanely dumb sport, we still cannot fathom just how unthinkable it is to put bodies through the rigors of American football. There are any number of Olympic sports that could have caught on at some point in ancient times to become a popular sport for America—hell we were doing it for a good while with baseball after all—and instead we’re left with near-murder every Sunday and a legacy of broken brains, broken bodies and really stupid people governing it all.Anyway, in other notes on football being dumb, here’s a story about college football coach Mike Leach leaving a fake playsheet for the Texas Longhorns to find. I hate this story as much as I love it, for it confirms why football people have to be paranoid and delusional, but it’s also excellent because no sane, rational person should have fallen for such an obvious trap. Let’s make some picks.New York +1 vs. DenverI don’t know why I keep putting my trust in the Jets to do much of anything. However, Denver is coming off a short rest after throwing everything at Patrick Mahomes and failing in every which way imaginable. If there’s ever going to be a chance for the Jets to get back on the page and remind people how good their defense is Sam Martin Jersey White , this seems like a proper spot.Los Angeles -5 vs. OaklandI know I don’t like road favorites, and rest assured the Chargers are absolutely on the road here. The LA Galaxy stadium they’ve shacked up in is smack-dab in Carson and you better believe South LA is about the Raiders. What a dumb decision by the league. What a dumb, idiotic decision. But you know what? The Raiders still suck and their lone win of the season is an affront in the eyes of God. The Chargers may have struggled with a passionate 49ers squad, but they should be a touchdown favorite here. Take value.Houston -3 vs. DallasThe defining element of the Lions loss to the Cowboys was their inability to exploit the weaknesses of their opponents. Rest assured, there’s a lot of problems with Dallas right now, and Houston looks to have a better shot to match up well here. The Texans have their backs to the wall. Expect Deshaun Watson to keep looking like he’s been looking, but the Texans defense is more likely to clamp down on Zeke.Atlanta +3 @ PittsburghThe time for Steelers dominance in betting lines is over; that a three-point home field advantage is all they’ll get against this injured Falcons squad is telling. Anyway, the total at 57 is not worth taking, although it would be tempting to take the over; I’m just going to put my trust in Pittsburgh’s defense to continue to look atrocious.Arizona +4.5 @ San FranciscoI like the odds on the Cardinals here. They’re an awful team, but it’s hard to go winless in the NFL and the 49ers are vulnerable and without a proper quarterback. Let’s just see what happens. Might be a loss here, but I won’t fret it much. Not that I do the work of compiling my previous week records anyway; besides what good is that to you? Records are for chumps.Cincinnati vs. Miami UNDER 49.5I can’t believe Cincinnati is good. It took all these years, and still it feels like fool’s gold. I suppose there’s never been a better time to climb onto the extremely short Aggro Crag of the AFC North, which is why I’ll have a sensible chuckle when Baltimore takes it handily in December.Kansas City -3 vs. JacksonvilleI BELIEVE IN PATTY MAHOMES.All the restDetroit vs. Green Bay UNDER 51Carolina -7 vs. New YorkBaltimore -3 @ ClevelandMinnesota +1 @ PhiladelphiaNew Orleans -6.5 vs. WashingtonBuffalo vs. Tennessee UNDER 39.5New England vs. Indianapolis OVER 50.5Seattle +7 vs. Los Angeles ALLEN PARK T.J. Jones Jersey , Mich. (AP) — After a listless home loss this past weekend, Detroit defensive lineman Ricky Jean Francois called out his team."I just want everybody to lock back in. Lock in for these next 10 weeks, just lock in," Jean Francois said after Sunday's 28-14 loss to Seattle."Leave everything else alone outside of this building. I know you love your family, but tell them you will see them in February. Just lock in and do your job, nothing else is important to us right now." Time will tell whether Sunday's loss becomes a galvanizing moment for the Lions, but the frustration was understandable.For three straight seasons, Detroit has won between seven and nine games, and its fans have experienced occasional optimism followed by quick letdowns.After losing to Seattle, the Lions are again in a tough spot — alone in last place in the NFC North, heading into road games against Minnesota and Chicago."I think all of our process every single week as we move through the season here, it has to improve," said Matt Patricia A'Shawn Robinson Jersey White , Detroit's first-year coach."Everything does. The season gets harder as you go on and the process has to get better each and every week. So, we have to make sure we're doing that to the highest level."The Lions lost their first two games of the season but showed an appropriate amount of urgency after that, scrambling back to the .500 mark. They appeared to have fixed their long-dormant running game, and the home game against the Seahawks looked like another opportunity to show progress.Instead, Detroit (3-4) allowed three touchdowns in the second quarter and never recovered."We came out flat with no focus. We just weren't ready to go again," Jean Francois said. "That team came off that bus ready to go. They were ready to execute everything, they were ready to put their skills on display. We just came out there and weren't focused at all against this team and that's the weird part."Running back Ameer Abdullah, who fumbled while returning a kickoff, shared similar sentiments afterward."It's a long season, sometimes you kind of hit a cruise control and you forget the little things you do every single day," Abdullah said. "Like same foot, same shoulder, ball security Womens DeShawn Shead Jersey , hold tight, stuff like that. But you have to continue to focus on that stuff as the season goes on."Beyond the intangible notions of focus and intensity, the Lions were outperformed statistically as well. Seattle had a 176-34 edge in rushing — a step back for a Detroit team that ran for 248 yards in a win at Miami the previous weekend.The Lions fell behind 21-7 in the second quarter, and that probably played a role in the rushing disparity. Detroit finished the game with only 13 attempts on the ground."I think we talked about it all week last week about how good they are in the run game. They do a good job of loading the box and just put themselves in some really good positions to make some plays," Patricia said Monday."We have to execute a little bit better and obviously just try to get some more positive plays in the run game going earlier in the game and be able to stay with it and control the game from that aspect of it."Detroit also turned the ball over three times against Seattle, so the Lions have had eight turnovers in their losses to the Seahawks and Jets, but only two in their five other games.But two of Detroit's turnovers Sunday came in the fourth quarter when the team was already facing a double-digit deficit. The game began to slip away long before then."They out-executed us in all three phases last night and we did not execute up to par," Patricia said. "I just have to do a better job coaching and we have to do a better job of playing."
