2012 Gobble Gobble

Happy Turkey Day to everyone!  It's the earliest possible Thanksgiving date, so it really snuck up on most of us.  Especially Jason, who didn't know Thanksgiving was this Thursday as early as last Saturday.  How time flies.  Well, on to the three games for Turkey Day.

Fav	Spread	Dog	Final		Dre	Jay
	Thanksgiving
Hou (9-1)	3	DET (4-6)			Det	Det
DAL (5-5)	3½	Wash (4-6)			Wash	Dal
	Thanksgiving Nite
NE (7-3)	7	NYJ (4-6)			NE	NE

• We're going for the surprise in Motown to start off, which screwed us last year when we picked the undefeated Packers to have trouble in Detroit.  They didn't.  Houston isn't undefeated, but they're similarly mowing down the opposition as they enter this game.  The difference is, the Texans showed some ass this past Sunday as the D got shredded by the Jacksonville Jaguars, of all teams.  So we're paying attention to that eye-opening game and picking the Lions to knock off Houston.  I just can't imagine Houston going through the physical demands of that game, playing for their lives the whole way, playing nearly the entire overtime period, then hopping on a plane and playing another NFL game four days later against the top-ranked passing team in the league.  And I like this point from Matt Williamson of the ESPN Football Today podcast:  If the Texans don't get more help rushing the passer from someone other than J.J. Watt, then Matthew Stafford could really go off.  Even the undisciplined Lions can't screw this one up.  Can they?
• In our only head-to-head pick of the day, Jason will back the dumbest team in the league at home giving 3 and a hook.  He says he's learned that if he's going to pick a favorite, usually they're going to cover the number, so he's not half-assing it or getting cute.  He's backing the Cowboys to win and cover.  That's great.  Give me the Redskins to win.  I'm fed up with the Cowboys stumbling around trying to find their way.  Washington is still running the ball with the rookie Alfred Morris and still flinging it with the rookie Bob Griffin, and I thought by now that both would have hit a rookie wall.  It might happen in this very game, but Dallas seems to have the type of defense that will let them continue to perform.  I thought Griffin wouldn't be able to make his long throws once Pierre Garcon injured himself, but as the Philly game just showed, RG3 will throw it up for anyone to go get it.  I think the athletes on both sides are some of the best in the NFL, I think it will be a shootout, but I think Washington will prevail.
• We like the Pats squoosh over the Jets.  Anything we like this much usually goes against us, so keep that in mind.  But yeah, there's no reason Gang Green should be able to sniff New England.  Aqib Talib arrives just in time to get a pick-6 last week, and I wouldn't be surprised if he did it again versus Total Fraud.