| Fav | Spread | Dog | Final | Dre | Jay | Coin | |
| PIT (7-8) | 11 | Cle (5-10) | Pit | Pit | Pit | ||
| CIN (9-6) | 1 | Bal (10-5) | Cin | Bal | Bal | ||
| Hou (12-3) | 7 | IND (10-5) | Ind | Ind | Ind | ||
| TENN (5-10) | 4 | Jack (2-13) | Tenn | Tenn | Jack | ||
| NYG (8-7) | 7 | Phi (4-11) | NY | Phi | NY | ||
| BUF (5-10) | 3½ | NYJ (6-9) | Buf | NY | Buf | ||
| Chi (9-6) | 3 | DET (4-11) | Chi | Chi | Det | ||
| ATL (13-2) | 3½ | TB (6-9) | Atl | TB | TB | ||
| NO (7-8) | 5 | Car (6-9) | Car | NO | Car | ||
| DEN (12-3) | 16 | KC (2-13) | Den | Den | Den | ||
| SD (6-9) | 10 | Oak (4-11) | SD | SD | Oak | ||
| SF (10-4-1) | 16½ | Ariz (5-10) | Ariz | Ariz | Ariz | ||
| SEA (10-5) | 10½ | StL (7-7-1) | Sea | Sea | Sea | ||
| GB (11-4) | 3½ | MIN (9-6) | GB | GB | Min | ||
| NE (11-4) | 10 | Mia (7-8) | NE | NE | Mia | ||
| Sun. Nite | |||||||
| WASH (9-6) | 3½ | Dal (8-7) | Wash | Dal | Wash |
Some of our thoughts and observations included:
- Don't know the name of the Cleveland starting QB, won't remember it after the game. Yes, Pittsburgh is eliminated from playoff contention, and yes, Mike Wallace won't play, but the Browns are definitely much more shorthanded than the Steelers, and Pittsburgh may be mad and ready to take out some frustration. Gotta go with the Steelers here.
- Cincinnati could meet Baltimore in the Wild Card round next weekend if they lose to the Ravens on Sunday and allow them to move up to the 3rd seed in the AFC. Jason thinks the bumslayers in Cincy will go down. They are locked in to the #6 slot, and Baltimore can still move up, so they have more motivation to play their guys. Imagine Cincy losing A.J. Green to injury trying to win this meaningless game. I waffled on this pick, but ultimately, I think Cincinnati is a team of emotional men who will want to prove something with this victory. They will risk pissing off the Ravens and having to go to Baltimore to beat them again.
- Chuckstrong's back! We'll take the Colts to put up a fight against the Texans in another AFC game where the home team is locked into position. This time, we're willing to back the underdog because Houston is so overrated and because Indianapolis almost came back to cover against Houston a couple of weeks ago. Surely, they can muster up the extra effort considering the inspiring return of their legendary longtime coach, Chuck Pagano. Jason has a stat, too--Houston's never won at Indy, not even last year when the Colts were running Dan Orlovsky out there at quarterback. Dan Orlovsky!
- Jason's through with Jacksonville the rest of the way, so he joins me for one week on the Tennessee bandwagon. I'm happy to pick Jake Locker to put together one good game and get a home win to end the year. A side note--Jesus, I'm glad I don't have to watch this game.
- Andy Reid and Michael Vick, reunited, and it feels so good. Feels good to Jay anyway, as he will take the Eagles to get a big road win to close out their disappointing season. Vick is showcasing himself for potential suitors, yes, but Jason just wants to bury the pathetic, choking-dog Giants once and for all, so he's picking Philly for the upset. I can't believe New York can still make the playoffs, but I think every other NFC team has to lose (or tie) in order for the champs to make it, so I don't mind picking the G-Men to cover. They get the gift of Vick on a platter, as he's sure to show the league what he does best at this stage of his career, which is hold on to the ball too long and get sacked, and also throw 99-yard interceptions.
- The other New York teams do battle in Buffalo, and we're going head-to-head on this pick, too. Jason's got the Jets over the Bills because Total Fraud can turn in a good game now that they're out of the playoff race and it doesn't matter. He picked the Jets to be "the most overhyped 7-9 team ever" before the season even started, so he needs Rex Ryan to put his (wife's) best foot forward and get this win. I'm not even pretending to like Buffalo for any legit reason, I just want the Jets gone from my football world. Go Bills.
- Chicago cannot lose a must-win game to a Detroit team that discovers new ways to lose. Can they? We're guessing that the Bears will find a way to accomplish this first part of their playoff plan. But as stupid as the Lions are, I want to take this moment to shout down the various football pundits who have verbalized Matthew Stafford as "having a bad season." The passer rating is 79.2, which is very mediocre, I give you. But that passing offense has been #1 for most of the season and is likely to finish #1. Stafford himself has a 60% completion percentage and 4,695 yards. The rating is so low because he only has 17 TD throws vs. 16 picks. I'm sure he'd like to throw more TD passes, but his talent doesn't help much. He's got the best WR in the game, but in the red zone, Megatron's covered up, and Stafford has nowhere else to go. I can accept criticism of China Doll as tepid, lackluster, on the brink, or Jason's term, "slightly above average." But he's been called bad in several different places, and bad is just incorrect.
- I like Atlanta over Tampa Bay in a game completely meaningless to Atlanta because they're walking around with a fucking huge chip on their shoulders from the criticism of their success as flukish and not indicative of their certain playoff collapse. They're riled up enough that they'll probably rip the Buccaneers to shreds trying to secure a perfect home record, and the Bucs will let them because the players hate their college coaches and they're checked out. Jason's getting cute, calling the Falcons for the win but the Bucs to cover the hook.
- I like the Panthers to keep their recent great offensive play going, making them a contender for the Houston Texans Memorial Pre-Season Hype team of 2013. The Saints have to had quit now, right? They're officially out of the playoffs, it's been a long year, there's nothing left to play for...the same things I cited the last couple of weeks, when they were still technically in the playoff hunt. But Jason will go with New Orleans. Maybe there's still some pride there and they don't want to finish under .500.
- There's a 16-point spread and it's not the biggest of the week? Yep, must be Week 17. We like Denver to wipe the field with Kansas City because Denver needs to win to keep its bye for next week and because Kansas City is so totally done, Jamaal Charles kicking serious ass and passing Jim Brown as the NFL's all-time leading rusher in yards per carry notwithstanding.
- Two words why we like San Diego by double digits over Oakland: Terrelle Pryor.
- I admit that I'm not picking Arizona to win over San Francisco with my head. I want Arizona to win because I want Seattle to take the NFC West, as I predicted before the season. Yes, it's ridiculous, yes, it's selfish, no, I don't care. Jason's not taking the Cardinals to win, of course, but he can't resist such a large number. As for me, I can only say, go Brian Hoyer. Jay's going to ship me a Hoyer jersey if he pulls out the straight-up victory, so I'll be the biggest Cardinals fan in the country for one day only.
- Naturally, we'll go with Seattle to do their part on the other end and destroy St. Louis. The Seahawks are averaging so many points over the last few weeks, it makes it very hard to go against them when they only have to beat the Rams by 11 or more. And, of course, they're playing in the Meat Grinder, which Jason and I should trademark.
- Green Bay needs to beat Minnesota to get the Bears into the playoffs, provided the Bears figure out how to beat the Lions. But the Pack need to win for themselves as well, because they can take the #2 seed and a bye next week depending on how the NFC West shakes out. So despite Purple Jesus and his amazing rushing season--an MVP effort by Jay's judgment, and I wouldn't argue--we like the Packers to air it out and light it up in the Twin Cities.
- New England's trying to move up in the AFC seeding wars, so they'll be plenty motivated against the Fish, plus they have to be motivated to put a better effort together after they sleepwalked through their game last week in Jacksonville. The Pats should squoosh here.
- And of course, it's all about Sunday night for NFC East fans, with Bobby Three-Sticks prepared to lead his team to a perfect record after the bye and a division title. Amazing that Washington could do that after Mike Shanahan declared that he was using the rest of the year to evaluate talent. I'm not about to give him credit for that faux pas. He fucked up, that's all, and his team's bailing his wrinkled ass out. Good for them. I'm taking the Skins after waffling on this pick as well. I would not be surprised to see Tony Romo get it together and lead his Cowboys into DC and steal the division. But to actually pick that to happen in a rabid environment in prime time, well, I don't believe in Romo quite like that. Some wonder if Robert Griffin III will be his old self of a few weeks ago, considering how his hyperextended knee wasn't lending itself to many scrambles and option plays last week. I say, complete gamesmanship by the Shanahan Boyz and RG3. I bet he's running around and lighting it up against the Boys, just as he did on Thanksgiving.
No comments:
Post a Comment