2010 Week #16

Here are our picks for Week 16 on this Christmas weekend.  If the spreads are a little stale, it's because we picked this week's games on Thursday night, but I'm just now posting them.

Fav

Spread

Dog

Dre

Jay

	Thu. Nite
PIT (10-4)	14	Car (2-12)	Pit 27-3		Pit	Pit
	Sat. Nite
Dal (5-9)	6½	ARIZ (4-10)			Dal	Dal
	Sunday
MIA (7-7)	3½	Det (4-10)			Det	Det
STL (6-8)	1½	SF (5-9)			SF	StL
CHI(10-4)	1	NYJ (10-4)			Chi	Chi
NE (12-2)	9	BUF (4-10)			NE	NE
JACK(8-6)	7	Wash (5-9)			Wash	Wash
KC (9-5)	5	Tenn (6-8)			Tenn	KC
Bal (10-4)	3½	CLE (5-9)			Bal	Bal
Ind (8-6)	2	OAK (7-7)			Ind	Oak
Hou (5-9)	2½	DEN (3-11)			Hou	Hou
SD (8-6)	9	CIN (3-11)			SD	SD
TB (8-6)	6	Sea (6-8)			Sea	TB
GB (8-6)	3	NYG (9-5)			GB	GB
	Sun. Nite
PHI (10-4)	14½	Min (5-9)			Min	Phi
	Mon. Nite
ATL(12-2)	2	NO (10-4)			Atl	NO

Some of our abbreviated thoughts and observations included:

• Arizona blows.
• Jason says Detroit will win SU over Miami because that's how pathetic the Dolphins are at home.  It's hard to imagine a team that contended for the playoffs going 1-7 at home, but that's what Miami would accomplish if they fell to the Lions.  I'll just take Detroit to cover that 3 and a hook and leave it at that.
• Coach Psycho or Sam Bradford?  Coach Psycho or Sam Bradford?  What to do, what to do...well, Jason's had enough of Coach Psycho and he will go with the Rams to finally eliminate San Francisco from the playoff picture.  Me?  I'll ride with Coach Psycho once more.  Troy Smith had some success a few weeks ago, so maybe he'll provide a spark.  They've had 10 days to get ready for this.  Plus, I hate Sam Bradford.
• Yet another QB is banged up going into a game against Chicago.  The good vibes just keep rolling the Bears' way.  We'll take the overrated home team over the overrated road team, the Jets and their foot-fetishist coach Rex Ryan.  God, I want all of Soldier Field to be filled with people holding placards five feet tall displaying full-color pics of Rex's wife's feet.  He wouldn't be able to concentrate on the game.  He'd have to keep ducking into the tunnel for about a minute and a half to take a "personal break."
• It breaks our hearts to go against the IMLD mascot, the Buffalo Bills, but New England is aiming to lock up home field, and they had an off game last week, so they should be looking to make a statement in Buffalo and win by about 30.
• We took the Redskins and the 7 points at Jacksonville before learning that Maurice Jones-Drew looks like he'll be inactive.  That shouldn't hurt too much because you fantasy geeks know that his backup, Rashad Jennings, has been the truth.  But the Jags seemed to be overwhelmed last week by the moment.  They dropped a turd in Indy, and we think they'll continue the choke job against Team Shanahan, who get to face yet another subpar secondary in their attempts to make the world believe that Rex Grossman is ever the right choice over Donovan McNabb.
• I'm blinded by my opinion that Kansas City isn't as good as their record, and I'm picking Tennessee to cover 5 at Arrowhead.  Jason will smartly take the better team to win and cover.  I admit, my pick is dumb.  But I've won dumb picks many times before.
• We love Baltimore to rout the Browns in the Art Modell Bowl because the Ravens have to keep pace in the AFC playoff race, and the Browns have to be keeping pace only with their tee times.
• Jason specifically says that he loves Oakland to smash Indianapolis because they should run the ball down the Colts' throats, and my easy response to that is, wasn't Jacksonville supposed to run the ball down Indy's throats last Sunday?  I would never suggest that the Colts can make their bad run defense good with just a little more effort, but what I saw last week was a defense that knew they had to suffocate the Jags' ground attack to have any chance at all to save their season.  They really looked like they were selling out to stop the run.  Nothing's changed this week except they're on the road at the Black Hole.  They still will have to sell out to stop the run and make the opponent throw to win.  The Jags couldn't do it last week, and I don't think the Raiders can do it this week.
• Houston's dead, Gary Kubiak's fired, and we still want them over Denver and Tim Tebow.
• Cincinnati's dead, Marvin Lewis is fired, but the Chargers still have life, so we'll take them to rout the Bungles.
• Tampa Bay's not dead, so Jason likes them to bounce back from last week's loss to the Lions.  I wanted to go against them knowing about their defensive injuries, but I fucked up.  So I'll pick Seattle because it feels like the Bucs are headed for a losing streak to murder their once-promising season.
• We both laugh at the prospect of the Giants bouncing back from their epic collapse simply because Eli Manning gave a pep talk to the team.  Really?  That's gonna rally the troops?  No, that squad has always been mentally weak from coach to players, and Tom Coughlin showed his weakness by ripping the punter on the field last week against Philly almost while the last play was still going.  He was so scared of the postgame questions of how he could let his team piss away that game that he put the spotlight on the poor punter immediately.  You know, that punt was such a line drive that DeSean Jackson booted it initially.  So what happens if he doesn't recover the muff and a Giant scoops it up and goes the other way to the house, and the Giants win?  Is there any ripping of the punter?  Is there any Eli pep talk?  The punter's a hero, and no one mentions the collapse that put the game in jeopardy in the first place.  Yeah, we love Green Bay to whip the Giants.
• Can't argue Jason taking the Eagles off of that comeback to steamroll Joe Webb and the Vikings.  But I'll take the 14½ points because, well, I guess I'm not the biggest believer in Andy Reid and Philadelphia's mental toughness either.  Plus, it still looks like Michael Vick is ripe for getting that one good shot, legal or not, that puts Kevin Kolb under center for the playoffs.  Gaaah!!
• Jason has a theory about the Saints-Falcons tilt on Monday night:  He believes that Atlanta, knowing that they only need to win one of the two remaining games to clinch NFC home field, will basically throw this game against New Orleans so that they don't waste energy on the tougher of the two games.  Instead, they will host the Panthers in Week 17 and laugh their way to victory.  He thinks that they don't need to make the statement against the World champs on Monday night because they're above that.  I think they're the epitome of a team that gets off on a moment like this, vanquishing their division foe and clinching home field in front of their fans and a primetime audience.  I can't think of a more obvious spot, and a team that wants to beat the Saints to send a message that if they meet again in the playoffs, the Dirty Birds will be ready.  I won't commit to picking Atlanta if that playoff matchup occurs.  But in this Week 16 battle, I think the Falcons will win by double digits.

Happy Holidays to all those that are entertained by this blog!  And those that are readers despite not being entertained!