Tap's Thursday Picks

Thursday night football can be entertaining, sloppy, and everything else under the sun honestly. I make picks to help clear your head. 

NFL
Seattle (5-1) (-7) at Arizona (3-3) 7:30 pm NFLN - Woof.  Arizona gets the daunting task of playing San Francisco and Seattle in back-to-back weeks (Same for Tennessee!) but to make matters worse, the Cardinals have to do it on Thursday night. Thankfully, they are at home and will have the support of the Bryd Gang in their only nationally televised appearance of the season. This will be a true test of the turnover machine that is Carson Palmer.

Palmer's season can be described as a lovable trainwreck. As mentioned on the NFL Liquor Cabinet Tuesday, Arizona is the NFL team who can beat the bad teams, hang around yet lose against the good ones. Palmer has a lot to do with the Cardinals success and why they have the moniker I gave them above. Palmer needs to avoid careless turnovers against an opportunistic Seattle defense. A banged up Larry Fitzgerald will have some problems against the Hawks secondary, and Palmer needs to look to Michael Floyd more tonight.

Russell Wilson will have the same sort of problems. Granted he is not Palmer, but the Arizona secondary is so slept on, the hipsters in Brooklyn all wear their jerseys (No source on this one, still developing). Related, the band Sleigh Bells had a music video where one of the band members is rocking a Honey Badger college jersey. They will give this Seahawks' trouble on Thursday, I can guarantee that one. I see this as a defensive struggle with the Hawks grinding it out in a very defensive Thursday night game. SEA 17-9

CFB
10. Miami at North Carolina 6:30 pm ESPN - It is hard to believe the ACC has three teams in the top ten, and no one is talking about it all. We mention PAC-12's depth, obviously talk about SEC football but no one likes to recognize ACC's sudden good teams (Also Virginia Tech has got their shit together lately, looks real good). Miami is one of these teams. They have not played in 12 days so I would expect maybe a little rust but The U should be prepared for North Carolina. The Tar Heels have fallen on hard times this year with a 1-4 start including a loss to East Carolina. They have the talent to be a good team yet their defense is anemic as it was last season. North Carolina could turn it around, but until they show more of a fight, I will go with Miami in a big win. MIAMI 38-30

Charlie.