Well the wheels might have officially came off the old pick ‘em train after another miserable performance last week. In my defense, it was impossible to see upsets coming like Dallas over the G-Men. Raise your hand if you had that one. This week, I see some tough ones that might simply come down to home field advantage. Then on the other hand, I see potential for a few massive blowouts as well. All I know is I have 7 short weeks to get this train back on track and headed towards at least .600, or it’s going to be a bitter pill to swallow in the 9 month-long offseason. I can’t remember the last time Nimrod stooped to this level of prediction horror. Let’s make it a distant memory, shall we?
**Last Week: **5-9
**Season: **76-68 (.528)
**MNF: **5-6
**No-Brainers: **6-4
**Teams Used: **Dolphins, Packers, Patriots, Colts, Saints, Steelers, Ravens, Titans, Giants, Chiefs
Thursday, November 18th
8:20
Chicago @ Miami
Both the Chads are on the shelf for Miami, and Tyler Thigpen will get the start. He’s 1-10 all-time as a starter. Ronnie Brown did literally nothing against the Titans’ defense last week. He won’t do much more tonight. The Bears have things coming together at the right time and will battle Green Bay to the very end of the season for the NFC North Crown.
Chicago 20
Miami 13
Sunday, November 21st
1:00
Buffalo @ Cincinnati
Can the Bills make it 2 in a row after finally getting in the win column against Detroit last week? If there’s anyone who could fall prey, it’s certainly the Bengals. Despite Terrell Owens’ great comeback season, the team as a whole has been awful and the defensive line cannot get to the opposing quarterback. I think Cincy wins at home, but neither result would come as a shock.
Buffalo 19
Cincinnati 27
Detroit @ Dallas
The Cowboys finally played up to their talent level in their first game under new interim head coach Jason Garrett. The Giants didn’t know what hit them, and neither did any of us who watched the game. Detroit suffered an equally shameful loss to previously winless Buffalo. Dallas has momentum now, and keeps rolling against the Lions who just aren’t the same without Stafford.
Detroit 17
Dallas 31
Washington @ Tennessee
Randy Moss seems indifferent to whether his team is on the winning or losing side of the final score. It might be up to Chris Johnson to put the Titans on his back and carry them to a necessary win at 5-4, which he’s more than capable of. Donovan McNabb needs to come out and prove the naysayers wrong and show that Dan Snyder made at least a somewhat decent decision with the huge contract extension he signed him to this past Monday.
Washington 10
Tennessee 14
Arizona @ Kansas City
The Chiefs and Cardinals were two very unprepared teams last week. I think the Chiefs come out angrier after the embarrassing loss to Denver and pound the rock with Jamaal Charles and Thomas Jones to get at least a 2 score win. They lost the division lead (Oakland has the tiebreaker) and San Diego is hot on their heels. Too much for them to lose for them to come out stale again.
Arizona 7
Kansas City 28
Green Bay @ Minnesota
Last year, Favre made the Packers pay by sweeping them in the regular season. Just a few weeks ago, they were beaten by Green Bay and all the Favre/Childress feud began all over again. Then the quotes from anonymous Minnesota players stating they hated their head coach. It’s all about the blame game because they know their playoff chances are over. Make it official after Sunday when Green Bay returns the favor from last year and makes it a clean sweep.
Green Bay 24
Minnesota 16
Houston @ NY Jets
Both of these teams had amazing finishes last week. The Texans losing to Jacksonville on a hail mary deflection caught by Mike Thomas for a touchdown with the time expired. Then you have the Jets, who maybe played the game of the year against Cleveland so far, winning it with 16 seconds left in overtime on a pass to Sanchez pass to Santonio Holmes. The Jets’ secondary does just enough to contain Andre Johnson and Sanchez exposes Houston’s awful pass defense.
Houston 14
NY Jets 23
Oakland @ Pittsburgh
The Raiders would love nothing more than to come into Heinz Field and prove to the league that they’re officially for real by beating the Steelers on their own field. I can’t imagine Pittsburgh’s defense playing as bad as they did last week. Let’s face it, Jason Campbell is no Tom Brady. It’ll be interesting to see how Darren McFadden, who is averaging the league’s best per carry, matches up against that front seven of the Steel Curtain.
Oakland 17
Pittsburgh 21
Baltimore @ Carolina
This is one of those few potential blowouts I was talking about. Baltimore should come out fired up over the loss to Atlanta last Thursday, while there’s no disputing that the Panthers are the worst team in the NFL. And to top it all off, their best defensive player Jon Beason may not play. The Ravens win in run-away fashion.
Baltimore 38
Carolina 3
Cleveland @ Jacksonville
Flip of the coin here. Both teams are hot, even if Cleveland’s record doesn’t show it. Peyton Hillis is one of the league’s premier breakout players of 2010. He reminds me a lot of Mike Alstott, one of my all-time favorite players. This is one of the games where I have to rely on homefield advantage to pick a winner because I feel the teams are that equal. So the Jags it is.
Cleveland 24
Jacksonville 26
4:05
Tampa Bay @ San Francisco
Josh Freeman continues to impress in his 2nd season with the way he manages the game and avoids mistakes, but the Bucs’ record does not reflect their competition level. LaGarette Blount out of Oregon has emerged as their primary running back, but might have a faceful of Patrick Willis each time he sees a carry. The Niners have won 2 straight under new starter Troy Smith and Frank Gore is coming off a great game against the Rams. He should see success against the suspect Buccaneers run defense. Another tough one to call. Homefield gets it.
Tampa Bay 19
San Francisco 20
Seattle @ Nawlins
The Saints’ loss to the Browns in Week 7 seems like exactly what they needed. A reality check to help them understand the defending Super Bowl Champions aren’t impervious to overlooking “inferior” opponents. Since then they’ve won their last 2. Add to that, they had a bye week to prepare for the Seahawks. Unless Pete Carroll has Seattle prepared better than I can imagine, this should be a knockout win for the Saints.
Seattle 18
Nawlins 41
Atlanta @ St. Louis
The Falcons looked extremely impressive last Thursday in a game against Baltimore that I fully expected them to lose. Obviously the refs helped with not calling the push-off on Roddy White with the game’s winning touchdown, but in all likelihood, with their field position they would have won with a late field goal. The Rams are slumping as of late, going under .500 at 4-5. There doesn’t seem like a hotter team in the league right now than Atlanta, and if they haven’t proven they’re the NFC’s best, it feels like they’re at least right on the brink.
Atlanta 35 NO-BRAINER
St. Louis 16
4:15
Indianapolis @ New England
This rivalry might have lost some of it’s luster this time around with some of the key players being hurt or gone altogether from their respective teams, but it should still be a game worth watching. Peyton Manning played very average and didn’t go for the throat last week when they could’ve put Cincy away. New England should be riding that high of the victory over Pittsburgh and coming out confident.
Indianapolis 21
New England 29
8:20
NY Giants @ Philadelphia
It should be fun to watch if New York has any more luck stopping Mike Vick than the Redskins did this past Monday night. All Vick did was throw over 300 yards and 4 TDs, then run for 80 yards and 2 more TDs. He was a Madden animation come to life. I can’t imagine that performance can be duplicated, but I think the Giants have to be questioning themselves after the tough loss to Dallas and the Eagles will be ready to take full advantage.
NY Giants 27
Philadelphia 30
Monday, November 22nd
8:30
Denver @ San Diego
The Broncos caught Kansas City completely off guard last week, going up 35-0 before the Chiefs even realized the game had started. Lately, the Bolts have been red hot and Philip Rivers gets all the credit. I can’t see them losing at home with the chance to catch both Kansas City and Oakland looking them dead in the eye.
Denver 17
San Diego 28