Is Colts-Pats the most entertaining rivalry in the NFL? It's hard to argue that it isn't.It feels way too early for Thursday football to be starting already, but the Bears and 49ers will kick it off tonight, so here are the picks for the weekend upcoming.
Chicago at San Francisco – Thursday football starts this week in Frisco. You can call this game the Desperation Bowl. The Niners once promising season has dissolved into a four game slide of almost wins. Almost wins still are bad in the standings, even if they are easier for the fan base to take than Rams style blowout losses. Since they play in the NFC West, hope is not gone for San Francisco, but they must win this home game to have a shot. The Bears keep seeing the Vikings jump further and further ahead in the North to the point that a division championship is a pipe dream. At 4-4 the Bears have to be special to get a wild card spot in the NFC. 49ers 21 Bears 17
New Orleans at St. Louis – You’re kidding right? The old, “Any given Sunday” adage doesn’t apply in this game. The Saints are cruising and the Rams can barely keep from drooling on their shoes. The Rams aren’t winning this game, in fact, it won’t even be remotely close. Saints 40 Rams 7
Tampa Bay at Miami – A return to pewter and a return to losing, at least the Bucs don’t have to travel too far for this loss, and South Beach is nice in November. (Or so I hear) Miami is a solid team despite their 3-5 record. Dolphins 31 Buccaneers 13
Detroit at Minnesota – I’m told there are still Lions fans out there. I say congratulations to you, and you have my pity. It takes a special type of person to live in the Detroit area and put your hope in this bunch. If you’re still a Lions fan in 2009, you don’t have to tell me you’re a die hard. That much is already painfully obvious. I wish I had better news for your hearty souls, but I don’t think Favre and company will get much resistance from the Honolulu Blue Pussycats. Vikings 23 Lions 3
Jacksonville at New York Jets – I can’t think of a single interesting thing to say about this game. Um, hopefully the weather is nice, and Matt Sanchez remembers not to eat a hot dog on the sidelines again. Look, if Jacksonville can’t bother to care about this team, I’m not going to get all worked up about trying to pretend like I care about David Garrard and crew. Although, I like a wide receiver with a hyphen in his name like Mike Sims-Walker; if Sims-Walker has a daughter and Maurice Jones-Drew has a son, and they grow up, fall in love, and get married and have a son. We are looking at the possibility of someone walking the earth with a name this is something like Jamaal Sims-Walker-Jones-Drew. If you don’t think I’m legitimately excited about that prospect, you don’t know me very well. Oh yeah, the game…The Jags stink. Jets 26 Jaguars 10
Buffalo at Tennessee – It has almost been ten years since Frank Wycheck threw an illegal forward pass on a kickoff to Kevin Dyson in the waning moments of the Titans-Bills wildcard playoff game. Yup, The music city miracle turns ten this postseason, and to commemorate the last time the Bills were in the playoffs and got jobbed out of wht should have been a win, just for fun I’m going to pick the exact same score. Only this time it will be a far less exciting game. Titans 22 Bills 16
Cincinnati at Pittsburgh – One of the best games of the weekend, and the biggest game for the Bengals since Kimo Von Oelhoffen simultaneously destroyed Carson Palmer’s knee and the Bengal franchise for four years in a playoff game in Cincy in the 2005 postseason. If the Bengals can pull the upset in the Steel City, they put a stranglehold on the AFC North division, as they will have swept away the two other relevant teams in the division. That’ll be tough, as the Steelers have definitely recaptured their swagger after struggling earlier this season. They put quite a licking on the Broncos on Monday Night, and I think they continue to put the hammer down. Even though I have been remarkably impressed with the Bengals so far this season, sweeping the Steelers is a tall order. Oh, and for the record…My official ruling on Chad Ochocinco’s attempt to bribe the reply official with a dollar bill to get the instant replay ruling to go in Cincy’s favor: Hilarious. Steelers 27 Bengals 24
Denver at Washington - There is no shame in falling to either the Ravens or the Steelers, losing a game to the Redskins is another matter altogether. I’m concerned about the Broncos on a two game losing streak. If they fall to the Skins, I’ll be horrified. Broncos 20 Redskins 9
Atlanta at Carolina – This is a huge game for the Panthers, as they are showing signs of adequacy so long as they don’t rely too heavily on the arm of Jake Delhomme. The Falcons are in decent position right now for the playoffs, but this would be a significant win to keep them that way. This might be a sneaky good game down in Carolina. Panthers 23 Falcons 20
Kansas City at Oakland – In this politically correct world we live in, it's probably not appropriate to say that the Raiders and Chiefs are both horrible jokes of football teams, so we'll just say they are Offensively AND Defensively challenged. Seriously though Chiefs, how bad to you have to be to be an underdog to the Raiders? Chiefs 9 Raiders 6
Seattle at Arizona – Last year Arizona couldn't buy a road win, going 2-6 away from rolling grass of University of Phoenix Stadium. This year the Cardinals are road warriors, going undefeated away from home, but stumbling to a 1-3 record at home at the halfway point. So not only are the Cardinals unpredictable from week to week, they are unpredictable from year to year. They walloped the Bears last week, which means they'll probably struggle against the lowly Seahawks this week. Cardinals 21 Seahawks 20
Dallas at Green Bay – Aaron Rodgers seems like a decent quarterback, but his complete inability to throw the ball out of bounds and avoid a sack is a huge detriment. The offensive line for Green Bay is dreadful, and I'm not so sure that this team isn't terrible. Let's just say that I'm off of my preseason prediction of Packers to win it all. They aren't even going to sniff the playoffs. The Cowboys win this rematch of the Ice Bowl easy, I say. Cowboys 29 Packers 13
Philadelphia at San Diego – Norv Turner versus Andy Reid is truly a goofy coaching match up. Norv seems almost entirely incompetent, and Andy Reid vacillates between brilliant and mentally retarded, and he can go back and forth between those two extremes on a minute by minute basis. This should be a pretty interesting game between two clubs who really need the win to keep up in their divisions. The Chargers have a look like they are about to put it together for a second half run, Phil Rivers is despicable, but he has been remarkably clutch. I think San Diego has an excellent chance to make a run at a decent playoff seed, it will be difficult for the Broncos to hold them off. Chargers 24 Eagles 14
New England at Indianapolis – As per usual, the Pats and Colts are hooking up for an important tilt in early November. New England had a couple of hiccups early on in the season, but they appear to be firing on all cylinders at the moment. The Colts have been winning ugly over the past few weeks, but undefeated is undefeated. As usual, this game is must see TV, and the winner will have a huge leg up in the race for top seed in the AFC. The Colts have been living on the edge of late, but I think this week it finally catches up to them. Patriots 31 Colts 27
Baltimore at Cleveland – What a woofer of a Monday Night game. Other than the Browns fans wanting to get revenge for Art Modell picking up stakes and moving to Baltimore and renaming the franchise the Ravens, there is little compelling about this game. And since it will probably be over by midway through the second quarter, there is little intrigue to this game. Ravens 38 Browns 10
My Picks Scorecard:
Last Week: 8-5
Season to Date: 82-47
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