This is my first post for my weekly picks but I’ve been picking games for a long time. I’m currently 79-23 with my picks on the EA Forum “NFL Talk”. Here are a few of my picks with a breakdown of each game:
Tampa Bay over New York Jets
Now I know that the Buccaneers are only 1-11 but I have a feeling Tampa Bay can pull off an upset. I’m not going crazy I just can see a good game with the Bucs coming up on top against the Jets. New York will be starting Kellen Clemens, an unproven quarterback. The main battle will be the Jets offence against the Bucs defence and more importantly, New York’s 1st ranked rushing offence versus the Buccaneers 31st ranked rush defence. If the Buccaneers can shut down or at least slow down the massive Jets run game, they’ll be at an advantage. They’ll also need Josh Freeman to play well and lead this team but facing the #1 pass defence will be hard. This could be a one point game.
Denver over Indianapolis
Another gut feeling, but I believe a little more reasonable than picking Tampa Bay over the Jets. Denver has been surging again and their offence is lighting it up. The Colts defence has been pretty good but I think this week they’ll have some trouble. Can anyone in that Colts secondary stop Brandon Marshall? Of course not and the Broncos should recognize that. I also think the Broncos run game can get going against an average run defence. Another key factor is that Denver has the 2nd best pass defence. I can see the Broncos taking an early lead and holding the lead for the rest of the game.
Minnesota over Cincinnati
This is the first time I’m picking against my Bengals but I just don’t think that they can win. Vikings are at home, got a great run defence and are probably more of a complete team. All of these factors are why I believe that the Bengals are going 9-4. I do however think that Cincinnati pass attack will have a great day. I just don’t see it going well against that dominate Vikings run defence and the Bengals have seemed to rely more on the run. Expect a good game with the Vikings winning by a TD.
Dallas over San Diego
I can already see xXTheEddYXx shaking his head in disgust. I can see the Cowboys winning this game for two reasons: 1. they’re at home and 2. because all streaks end! I think the Cowboys do well in this game. Tony Romo did throw the ball 55 times but he also completed 41 of them. As long as they have further success with the pass and run the ball more often, I think they can win. The Chargers are streaking right now but it’s really hard to keep a 7 game win streak going. This should be an exciting game to watch and should be close.
New York Giants over Philadelphia
The Giants had a good game against the Cowboys last weekend and now they’re facing another divisional foe in the Eagles. The only reason I’m choosing the Giants is because they’re at home. Otherwise, this game is a tossup. Both teams need a win and both teams can win. An exciting game for Sunday Night Football on NBC
Here are the rest of my picks:
Pittsburgh over Cleveland
New Orleans over Atlanta
Green Bay over Chicago
Jacksonville over Miami
Baltimore over Detroit
Houston over Seattle
Buffalo over Kansas City
New England over Carolina
Oakland over Washington
Tennessee over St. Louis
Arizona over San Francisco
We’re four weeks away from playoff football and there are many teams fighting to make it. Here’s a look at the teams on the bubble and who I believe will make it.
Cowboys
Remaining Schedule: San Diego, @ New Orleans, @ Washington, Philadelphia
Dallas is 5-9 in December since Tony Romo started at QB. The Cowboys got a hard schedule ahead and with their history of flops in December, not many people have faith in the Cowboys. The fact is, Dallas kept with the Giants until the fourth and played a pretty good game. But if they think that passing the ball more than 50 times and only running it 23 times, they’re going to be in trouble. December football is where the running backs should get the ball a lot, especially with the depth of Dallas’ backfield. I’ll give the Cowboys a 2-2 record for the rest of December because I believe they can beat San Diego. They should be able to beat Washington but you never know what kind of collapse Dallas might have in that game. I believe Dallas will make it to the playoffs but after that? Well, is that something we can even predict?
Broncos
Remaining Schedule: @ Indianapolis, Oakland, @ Philadelphia, Kansas City
Do you remember when the Broncos were the talk of the NFL when they were 6-0? I do (I also remember Brandon Stokley taking a tipped pass for the game winning TD against my Bengals). Well now they’re 8-4 and don’t necessarily have an easy road ahead. Two divisional games, one game against an undefeated team, and the other against a good December team. If Denver can win at least two games, they probably will clinch a playoff spot. My prediction: Broncos win three out of four, one of those wins will be this week against the Colts. Why do I believe that? You’ll have to check out my blog tomorrow with my Week 14 picks to find out.
Patriots
Remaining Schedule: Carolina, @ Buffalo, Jacksonville, @ Houston
The Patriots are still a good team. They’re 7-5 and can win all four of their upcoming games. Their game week 16 against the Jaguars is big for playoff implications in the AFC. I expect to see Tom Brady playing January football again this year, it’s just unclear how long his team will be playing for.
Jaguars
Remaining Schedule: Miami, Indianapolis, @ New England, @ Cleveland
Jacksonville is doing pretty well for a team with attendance issues. They don’t have that much talent but are making the most out of every game. They can win at least two games but is that going to be good enough? Possibly not. I think that the Jaguars should rely on Maurice Jones-Drew to carry the team. All four teams they face have average rush defences and Jacksonville can take advantage of that.
Ravens
Remaining Schedule: Detroit, Chicago, @ Pittsburgh, @ Oakland
The Ravens haven’t impressed like they did last year as they’re defence hasn’t been as dominating as last year. Sitting at 6-6, they’ll need a lot of help and probably will have to win all four games. Luckily, none of the teams they face have a better record than them. Pittsburgh will be the tough task especially since it will be in Pittsburgh. Don’t count the Ravens out quite yet.
Dolphins
Remaining Schedule: @ Jacksonville, @ Tennessee, Houston, Pittsburgh
One of the most surprising teams of 2008 is having a sub-par season. 6-6 and now has a tough last four games. Three out of the four games they play are against above average rush defences. Without success on the ground, Miami will have to turn to first year starter Chad Henne and their 26th ranked pass offence to pull out wins. My advice to Miami: hope that you can win all four games and pray that your make it in the playoffs. Maybe next year Miami, you won’t be playing at home for the Super Bowl.
Jets
Remaining Schedule: @ Tampa Bay, Atlanta, @ Indianapolis, Cincinnati
Let’s look at this Jets team: 30th ranked pass attack, 1st ranked rush attack, 1st pass defence, and the 17th ranked rush defence. They lead the league in two categories yet they’re only 6-6. Now it’s being said that Kellen Clemens will start this week against the Bucs. Other than the Bengals, the other teams they face have below average run defences. I hope the Jets keep the ball on the ground and keep it out of Clemens or, when he returns, Sanchez’s hands. 8-8 looks like a strong possibility.
Steelers
Remaining Schedule: @ Cleveland, Green Bay, Baltimore, @ Miami
There is no doubt that it is a surprise that the Steelers are 6-6. Even more surprising is that the Steelers are only 1-3 in the division. They play Cleveland tomorrow which should be an easy win but then they play Green Bay and Baltimore, two teams that can cause some problems. Will the Steelers go 8-8 and miss the playoffs? I doubt that strongly. Expect them to go either 9-7 or 10-6 but already it’s been a disappointing season for the defending Super Bowl champs.
Eagles
Remaining Schedule: @ New York Giants, San Francisco, Denver, @ Dallas
A tough end to a pretty good season. All of these games will be hard to pull out a win. Could the Eagles go 10-6? Yes I believe so but can they also go 8-8? Absolutely. Anything is possible right now especially in that weird NFC East. We’ll see how the Eagles do but I think they’ll need a little luck on their side.
Packers
Remaining Schedule: @ Chicago, @ Pittsburgh, Seattle, @ Arizona
One divisional game followed up by three tough games. The Packers have some difficult games ahead but they can definitely finish up at 10-6. They have their defence coming together and their offence is going strong. They could sweep all four games if they play good enough. All of these games will most likely be close though. But in the end, we’ll probably be seeing more of the Packers in the postseason, except this year with a quarterback whose name is not Favre.
Giants
Remaining Schedule: Philadelphia, @ Washington, Carolina, @ Minnesota
What if I were to say that the Giants weren’t going to make the playoffs? Well, it just might happen as six teams with better records than them. Looking at their schedule, they can pull off maybe three out of four. After last week’s game, it looks like the G-Men are going back in the right direction. Washington might shock but it is very doubtful and I think they can handle Carolina. The real test is this week against the Eagles and week 17, possibly a ‘win and in’ game, against the Vikings.
Falcons
Remaining Schedule: New Orleans, @ New York Jets, Buffalo, @ Tampa Bay
This week’s game is pivotal if the Falcons want any chance at making the playoffs. If the Falcons get Matt Ryan and Michael Turner back from injury, they’ll definitely get a boost. But this Falcons pass defence is below average and they’re facing one of the best quarterbacks and one of the best offences in the league. This doesn’t look good for the Falcons. If they were to win, then it would be on to New York to face the Jets then the Bills at home and the Bucs in Tampa Bay, all games they can win. They will most likely be favoured in the last three games so a loss would be very disappointing
Just one month away from the playoffs and it’s starting to get exciting. We still got two undefeated teams, the defending Super Bowl champs are declining fast and the playoff picture is starting to take shape. Here are some notes as we look back on Week 13
Still Perfect
Colts and Saints are still unbeaten through twelve games. Colts played great against a surging divisional rival beating the Titans 27-17. Pierre Garçon opened the game with a 27 yard reception and ended up leading the Colts receiving with six catches for 136 yards for the game. The Colts were up 21-3 at one point and just never seemed like they were going to lose. The Saints however had quite a scare against the Redskins. Down by ten with 12:55 left in the fourth quarter, the Saints started their comeback. After scoring on a field goal earlier, Drew Brees led the New Orleans offense downfield ending the drive with a 53 yard touchdown pass to Robert Meachem with 1:27 left in the fourth. In overtime, Mike Sellers lost a fumble, giving New Orleans good field position. They drove the ball down to Washington 1 where kicker Garrett Hartley knocked through the game winning field goal. With the win, the Saints locked up the division and are now only 4 games away from a prefect regular season.
And a perfect season for either of these teams is very possible. The Colts face possibly their toughest test in Denver next week. However, the Colts are at home. Their last three games are at Jacksonville, at home versus the Jets and finish up on the road against Buffalo. Keep an eye on the Jacksonville game, the Jags might shock. They are divisional rivals that have faced each other before. Back in week one, the Jags kept the Colts to 14 points and only lost by two. As for New Orleans, their road to perfection starts against a divisional foe in the Falcons. It is unclear whether Matt Ryan or Michael Turner will play in this pivotal game as the Falcons need a win to keep in the hunt. The following games for the Saints includes a home game against Dallas on Saturday, then two divisional games against the Bucs at home then the season finale at Carolina. A loss to Tampa Bay or Carolina would be quite a shock but not unreasonable. As for the Cowboys, well we all know their history for the month of December.
On The Road of Greatness
LeDainian Tomlinson added two more records to his already impressive, Hall of Fame resume as he is now the fastest player to reach 150 touchdowns. It took him only 137 games to reach the feat, 23 games faster than previous record holder Emmitt Smith. He also passed Marshall Faulk and Jim Brown to claim eighth place on the all-time rushing list. Jim Brown, arguably one of the best running backs of all time, was in attendance to see LT surpass him on the rushing list. Tomlinson is now 418 yards away from passing Tony Dorsett for seventh on the list and 6034 yards from first, currently held by the aforementioned Smith. Expect to see LT pass Dorsett next season barring some kind of injury. But don’t expect to see Tomlinson passing Emmitt though. Tomlinson has rushed for a disappointing 561 yards this year and has been averaging 3.3 yards a carry.
Vick’s Return
After all the controversy, Vick finally got his chance to play in the Georgia Dome once again. Two questions were asked before the game: How would the crowd react to Vick and will Vick get a chance to take more snaps? Well the crowd, for the most part, cheered Vick and he got enough snaps to score a rushing and passing touchdown. Vick’s best performance so far this year came against the team he led through the highs, and the very lows. The question now: Is Matt Ryan better for the Falcons than Michael Vick? I guess we’ll see in a couple of years. It does help that the Falcons have Michael Turner running the ball.
Upsets!
If I was Jerry Seinfeld, I would probably ask ‘So what’s the deal with the Steelers?’ But then again if I was Jerry Seinfeld, I probably wouldn’t be writing blogs for this website. But seriously, what is going on with them? Does Troy Polamalu make that big of an impact for their defence? If you’re a Steelers fan, you got to be scratching your head. This is their third straight games where they have lost in a close game. That just doesn’t happen to the Steelers. Now they’re sitting at 6-6, with the Bengals three games ahead with the divisional lead and the tie breaker. But don’t worry Steeler fans, you got Cleveland next week.
There might also be a few Patriot fans that are wondering what’s wrong. Losing to an unbeaten team isn’t bad, but losing to a 5-6 team? Chad Henne threw 55 passes, completing 29 of them while Ricky Williams was held to 75 yards. The one surprise of this game: Brady’s late interception. One of the most clutch quarterbacks in the game made a poor decision and it cost his team the game. But no need to panic for Patriot fans, New England is 7-5 and their next two games are against Carolina at home and then at Buffalo, two games they should be able to take care of.
Playoff Picture
AFC
1. Colts (12-0)
2. Chargers (9-3)
3. Bengals (9-3)
4. Patriots (7-5)
5. Broncos (8-4)
6. Jaguars (7-5)
In the hunt: Ravens (6-6), Dolphins (6-6), Jets (6-6), Steelers (6-6)
NFC
1. Saints (12-0)
2. Vikings (10-2)
3. Cardinals (8-4)
4. Cowboys (8-4)
5. Eagles (8-4)
6. Packers (8-4)
In the hunt: Giants (7-5), Falcons (6-6)
by 
by 
Loading ...