Friday, December 03, 2010

NFL 2010 Week 13 Picks

Ok, we started the week off with the Eagles and a win, so let's see if we can keep it up.

New Orleans @ Cincinnati - It's time for the movers and shakers to move and shake.  The better teams (the Saints) are trying to shore up their playoff position in the NFC, while the terrible teams (the Bengals) are quietly doing quarterback and head coach searches.  The Saints are starting to get their backfield in order and healthy and I imagine that the Bengals won't put up much of a fight.  Carson Palmer, this is your audition for your next team.  Winner - Saints.

Chicago @ Detroit - The Bears, as a collective unit should play the lottery because they have been THE luckiest team this season.  They get to go against another 3rd string quarterback in Drew Stanton.  The Bears are positioning themselves to win their division and this is a division game.  The Lions have played well, but I don't think they have enough bullets in their guns to pull off this upset.  Cutler will make this interesting though.  Winner - Bears

San Francisco @ Green Bay - The Packers are trying to keep pace with the Bears and they get a softie this week with 49ers coming to town.  The 49ers are without Frank Gore for the year, but they do have Troy Smith who has played well.  I expect that Smith will see lots of blitzes and the Packers have the corners to cover the 49ers receivers.  Both teams are essentially pass oriented at this point and without a decent ground game on either side, always go with the best defense.  This should be a blow out by the Packers, but I think I'll just take a nice win.  Winner - Packers

Jacksonville @ Tennessee - The Titans have to do better than last week.  Chris Johnson has to get more than 10 yards.  Jacksonville took an 'L' last week, but this is their bounce back week.  A win here could almost guarantee that the Jaguars will be going to the playoffs.  The pressure is on.  Winner - Jaguars

Denver @ Kansas City - Which team will show up?  The Broncos have been playing well, led by Kyle Orton of all people.  The Chiefs have been playing well due to the play of Dwayne Bowe (and to a lesser extent, Matt Cassel).  The game is in Denver and the Broncos normally play well there.  I told the fellas that I would pick the Chiefs, or at least I was leaning that way, but for some reason my hands want to type,......Broncos.  Bad hands.  Winner - Chiefs.

Cleveland @ Miami - Tough game to pick.  Cleveland is the team that Miami should be, a grind it out running team.  Miami will have problems (as do most teams) with Peyton Hillis and a healthy Jake Delhomme.  Somebody from Cleveland has to beat a Miami team this year,....at least once.  Winner - Browns.

Buffalo @ Minnesota - Why do I still like the Vikings?  Favre is declining, AP is coming off  a sprained ankle, and Buffalo has played pretty decently as of late.  The Bills re one dropped pass from beating the Steelers last week.  Maybe the Vikings' defense steps up at home and makes this game tough for the Bills?  Winner - Vikings.

Washington @ New York Giants - This should be an easy game for the Giants.  The Redskins offense is unimaginative and mostly ineffective, but with a wily QB (McNabb) and an opportunistic defense (sometimes), the Redskins COULD win this game, but I think that the Giants are just too good to let that happen, especially at home.  Winner - Giants.   

Oakland @ San Diego - Well the Raiders were hot for a second, but now they aren't even lukewarm.  Somehow this team fell off (maybe the constant switching of quarterbacks can do this you) and I don't see them getting it all back together any time soon.  The Chargers are starting their regular late season push as they are concentrated on making the playoffs after their terrible start.  Antonio Gates will probably play again in this game but he won't be 100%, and even that didn't hurt them last week.  If the Raiders do wake up, this would be the game to do it.  Winner - Raiders

Carolina @ Seattle - Two bad teams.  The Panthers have to travel across the country and the Seahawks need a win.  This one should be easy.  Winner - Seahawks

Atlanta @ Tampa Bay - This one ought to be interesting.  Both teams are playoff bound and this is a division game.  The Bucs have played well most of the season and they will sneak up on you if don't watch them.  The Falcons are one of the most complete teams in the NFL and they will need that balance to beat this Bucs team at home.  Winner - Falcons

St. Louis @ Arizona - Derek Anderson ought to try and hit a few more receivers instead of blowing up on the media.  That will be harder with the Rams defense coming at him.  The Rams offense will have some problems with a motivated Cardinals defense.  I have no confidence in anyone the Cardinals put under center, sorry.  Winner - Rams

Dallas @ Indianapolis - No Marion Barber for the Cowboys, which may not be a big issue, but the Colts are missing a lot of players too.  The Colts offensive line doesn't allow Manning to get touch most of the time, so it will be up to the Cowboys defensive front to get to Manning.  The Cowboys offense will have to find Dez Bryant again, because he's too good to go catchless in a game.  Winner - Colts

Pittsburgh @ Baltimore - If you like football, you should like this game.  Two teams who don't like each other and love show that dislike on the field.  This game is a divisional game and a rematch which the Ravens won earlier in the year.  Normally I go with a split between these teams, but if Big Ben can't move, he'll definitely be a sitting duck.  Winner - Ravens

New York Jets @ New England - The game of the week and it's fitting that it's on Monday Night.  The Jets get a chance to get a crack at the suddenly hot Patriots.  The Jets seem to have lost some of their mojo as of late or they actually have stopped all of the talking.  The Patriots are slowly killing teams with Brady making lots of short passes and then every now and then going deep.  The Jets are looking good because they are leaning on the veteran legs of LT, their defense and their QB who isn't turning the ball over a lot.  Tough game to pick, but I gotta go with,.......Winner - Patriots.  

Who you got?

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