Football Contest: Week 10

We haven't had a blaster since Week 1.  This time, we have a 2010 Panini Epix blaster.  For those of you not familiar with Epix, it's a throwaway Panini product. I picked up this blaster at a discount, which meant it was still too expensive.

8 packs, 10 cards each.  We should see 2 RC and a couple of inserts.  For the most part, these games are going to be base card battles.  One thing that should make this interesting is that the base veteran set is only 100 cards.  The base cards are distributed evenly, with 28 teams getting 3 cards and Dallas, Indy, NY Jets, and San Diego getting 4 cards. Since we should see around 75 base cards, we should have a number of close matchups. The teams that get all of their base cards should be successful.  Inserts and rookies will be very important.

Bye week teams: Arizona, Cleveland, Green Bay, Washington.

Let's see some games:

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS 3, INDIANAPOLIS COLTS 2
>>> Right off the bat we see a statistical upset.  The Jags got 3/3 base cards while the Colts only managed 2/4.

BALTIMORE RAVENS 5, OAKLAND RAIDERS 1
>>> In addition to all three of their base cards, the Ravens also hit the first RC:

DENVER BRONCOS 2, CAROLINA PANTHERS 1


NEW YORK GIANTS 3, CINCINNATI BENGALS 3
>>> Both teams got their three base cards, but the tiebreak goes to the Giants since one of the Bengals cards was "Ocho Cinco".

MIAMI DOLPHINS 3, TENNESSEE TITANS 2


DETROIT LIONS 3, MINNESOTA VIKINGS 1


NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS 13, BUFFALO BILLS 2
>>> The Patriots landed the surprise of the week with this Rookie Campaign jersey:

 

ATLANTA FALCONS 3, NEW ORLEANS SAINTS 2


SAN DIEGO CHARGERS 3, TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS 2
>>> The base card odds were in favor of the Chargers and they ended up winning.

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS 4, NEW YORK JETS 3
>>> The Seahawks were outnumbered on base cards, but pulled out one of the insert to get the win:

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES 3, DALLAS COWBOYS 2
>>> Just like the Jags-Colts game, the Eagles get all of their base cards and the Cowboys only get half of theirs.

ST. LOUIS RAMS 3, SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS 3
>>> The Rams had three base cards while the 49ers had a base card and a RC. I was tempted to give the tiebreak win to the Niners, but Taylor Mays didn't really pan out, so I'm going with "3 cards > 2 cards". Rams improve to 8-1.

CHICAGO BEARS 5, HOUSTON TEXANS 2
>>> The Bears had the victory in hand on base cards alone, but decided to pull an insert anyway:

PITTSBURGH STEELERS 3, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS 3
>>> Both teams completed their base sets, so it really came down to players.  The Steelers had Roethlisberger, Hines Ward, and Rashard Mendenhall.  The Chiefs had Matt Cassel, Dwayne Bowe, and Jamaal Charles. This is a tough matchup.  Even though Hines Ward has a longevity advantage over Dwayne Bowe, I'd say they are roughly even.  Jamaal Charles is considerably better than Mendenhall, though Mendenhall did have two 1,000-yard seasons.  The biggest margin, though, is between Big Ben and Cassel.  Big Ben is potentially a future HOFer and Cassel is miles and miles away from that.  Therefore, I have to give the victory to the Steelers.

The bye teams: Cardinals 2, Browns 3, Packers 2, Skins 2. Nothing special missed.

Updated Standings:

Check out that NFC Wild Card race.  The 49ers have the first spot right now, and then 4 teams are tied for the second spot.  There are 3 more teams after that who are a game out.  This should get interesting.