After blowing their team's chances for a victory last week, brand new scapegoat Marion Barber III (left) and Caleb Hanie are going to try to keep the Bears slimming playoffs hopes alive in a must-win game against the Seahawks.
It's week 15 everybody! Boy, can you believe that we're just three weeks away from the playoffs starting? Just seemed like yesterday this country was honoring the 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, and simultaneously were just about to begin the first real Sunday of NFL action this season. But now, we've got the holidays, the start of winter, and the kick-off to the most important slate of games in the NFL season (the final three).
Currently, only three teams (the Packers, the 49ers and the Texans) have clinched themselves a playoff spot while four (the Ravens, the Patriots, the Steelers and the Saints) all look like locks to get one of their own in the near future.Twelve teams between 5 and 7 losses (Denver, NY Jets, Oakland, San Diego, Tennessee Cincinnati, Dallas, NY Giants, Atlanta, Detroit, Chicago, Seattle, Arizona) are fighting for the remaining undecided playoff spots up for grabs, as well as for divisions such as the NFC East and the AFC West. The Packers are still undefeated and three wins away from the first 16-0 season in NFL history since the Patriots did it in 2007, while the Colts are chasing history of their own (albeit an unwanted one) as they're three losses away from becoming the third winless team in NFL history. Overall, it should be a thrilling conclusions to what has been a terrific year of football, and I for one can't wait to see how it unfolds.
But enough of the ramblings. Let's get straight to the picks! Last week was a pretty terrific slate of predictions for mj50 and myself, as we both finished week 14 with a 13-3. As it stands, I continue to hold a slim seven game lead heading into the home stretch of the season, with 147 wins out of 208 to mj50's 140 wins. What will our results look like by the end of the week? Read the rest of the post, and then come back later to see the results.
Let's begin (Note: starting game times are based on the Central time zone):
Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Atlanta Falcons (-11.5): Thursday- 7:25 p.m.
mj15's pick: Atlanta
Last week saw the first truly dominating game played by the Jacksonville Jaguars this season. Everything just seemed to click for this team that had previously lost four out of their last five. Maurice Jones-Drew had his best game in a while with four different trips to the endzone, the defense stripped the ball six different times (recovering four times), and Blaine Gabbert actually wasn't terrible. I say this because we will not see this same Jacksonville Jaguars later tonight, not when they're up against on the road (where they've only won once this season) against the playoff-potential Falcons.
mj50's pick: Atlanta
Dallas Cowboys (-7) vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Saturday- 7:25 p.m.
mj15's pick: Dallas
And the team that allowed the awful Jacksonville Jaguars to play their best game of the season? The Tampa Bay Buccaneers! Unless you truly believe that the month of December really is Dallas's kryptonite, I see no reason as to why the Cowboys won't win this matchup. In no way does the Buccaneers have the defense to pull off something similar to the Cardinals' upset two weeks ago.
Also, Saturday NFL football is back, y'all! And thank God for that, as I love watching NFL football in between the December college hiatus. Shame that the NFL has basically made it non-existent since NBC took over Sunday Night Football in 2006 except when Christmas falls on a Sunday and they go all out with Christmas Eve games (like this year!).
mj50's pick: Tampa Bay
Carolina Panthers vs. Houston Texans (-6.5): Sunday- 12:00 p.m.
mj15's pick: Houston
As was proven in last week's win against the Bengals, the Texans have the capabilities to make a deep run this season no matter how handicapped the offense is as long as they continue to have a great running game and a stellar defense. This week, I expect the Texans to go 3-0 in the T.J. Yates era (and closer in their goal to a #1 seed) taking on a Carolina Panthers team with plenty of flaws to take advantage of. The Panthers rushing defense continues to remain one of the league's worst, so expect the duo of Arian Foster and Ben Tate to find many running lanes to go through all day. Meanwhile, on the other side of the ball, I have a good feeling that the exciting Cam Newton will sadly prove no match against the hard-nosed Texans defense (still ranked #1 in the league).
mj50's pick: Houston
Tennessee Titans (-6.5) vs. Indianapolis Colts: Sunday- 12:00 p.m.
mj15's pick: Tennessee
Is Peyton Manning returning? No? Just throwing the football around? Well that makes my choice in this game a whole lot easier. Expect to see a 0-14 Colts team by the time the weekend wraps up.
mj50's pick: Tennessee
Green Bay Packers (-13.5) vs. Kansas City Chiefs: Sunday- 12:00 p.m.
mj15's pick: Green Bay
Welcome back to head coaching, Romeo Curnell! After the Chiefs officially fired Todd Haley this week (that will teach him to no longer with your best running back's fantasy owners!), they announced that the man formerly known in his disappointing stint with the Browns was announced as the team's interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Last year was a pretty good year for interim head coaches, with Jason Garrett, Leslie Frazier and Jim Tomsula all finishing the years with winning records (and promotions to actual head coach in the case of Garrett and Frazier). With the Chiefs set to take on the league's sole remaining undefeated team three wins away from a perfect regular season, I do not see that same winning-luck rubbing off to Crunell. Greg Jennings may be out with a torn MCL this week, but at long as the Packers still have #12 under center, then they should be quite all right in this, their last home game before playing the rest of their games this season at Lambeau Field.
mj50's pick: Kansas City
Seattle Seahawks vs. Chicago Bears (-3.5): Sunday- 12:00 p.m.
mj15's pick: Chicago
In a suddenly big matchup in the race for an NFC Wild Card spot, the Seahawks go back to Soldier Field to take on the Bears for the first time since Chicago embarrassed them in the divisional playoffs last season. The Seahawks have won four out of their last five, with Marshawn Lynch suddenly turning into one of the ten best running backs in the league. The Bears yet to win without both Jay Cutler and Matt Forte, and are just coming off one of their most disastrous and worst-coached losses in the history of the Lovie Smith era. In other words, all signs seem to be pointing to a Seahawks victory. So why am I going with Chicago?
Well, for starters, the Seahawks are a significantly worse team on the road than they are at home, and are playing in the early 1 p.m./ET start, which hasn't been a good start time this year for any West Coast team not named the 49ers. As we've seen the last two weeks, the one things that the Bears have got going remains their stellar defense, so expect Tavaris Jackson and Beast Mode to have some troubles getting the same production as they've had over the past few weeks. And finally, I have a feeling that Chicago will be significantly motivated to prove that they're much better than the team that lost last week. Am I being a homer hopelessly deluding myself? Maybe, but I'm a pretty stubborn person, so I'm going to stick with this pick nonetheless.
mj50's pick: Chicago
Miami Dolphins vs. Buffalo Bills (EVEN): Sunday- 12:00 p.m.
mj15's pick: Buffalo
A close call, but in the end I ended up going with the home in this divisional showdown of under .500 teams. The Dolphins has been caught with the injury as of late (with Matt Moore and Jake Long not participating in practice this week), plus even as awful as the Bills have been late this season, they can't possibly finish the season losing all of their remaining nine game...can they?
mj50's pick: Buffalo
New Orleans Saints (-7) vs. Minnesota Vikings: Sunday- 12:00 p.m.
mj15's pick: New Orleans
Do you really want an explanation, or should I just move along? Move along? Great!
mj50's pick: New Orleans
HALFTIME! Here's Norm MacDonald bringing in the funnies for this week's comedy clip! As you can see, he hasn't lost much of his comedy touch in his many years on the job.
Comedy Central Stand-Up
Get More: Jokes,Joke of the Day,Funny Jokes
Cincinnati Bengals (-6.5) vs. St. Louis Rams: Sunday- 12:00 p.m.
mj15's pick: Cincinnati
Simply another no-brainer this week, mostly because of the Bengals terrific record against under .500 teams this season, but also because this season the Rams have been...well, terrible. There's no simpler way to put it.
mj50's pick: St. Louis
mj50's pick: St. Louis
Washington Redskins vs. New York Giants (-7): Sunday- 12:00 p.m.
mj15's pick: New York
This should be a pretty close game throughout, mostly because the Giants defense has struggled in containing opposing offenses. Alas, not even the revelation of Roy Helu this past few weeks will save the Redskins from defeat this week. For starters, both teams are much different than their week 1 cuonterparts, when Washington beat New York 28-14. The Giants were full of critical injuries defensively, and Eli Manning and that entire offense has only gotten progressively worse ever since. Besides, the Giants are now at home this time around, and if that offense of theirs plays as good as they did last week against the Cowboys or two weeks ago against the Packers, then they should have no problem holding their current lead in the division.
mj50's pick: New York
mj50's pick: New York
Detroit Lions (-1) vs. Oakland Raiders: Sunday- 3:05 p.m.
mj15's pick: Detroit
This one was a really tough choice, as both teams appear to be pretty evenly matched on paper. The Raiders are pretty heavily bitten with the injury bug as of late, and have not looked like the same team that started out the season leading the AFC West, losing their last two games by an average of 25 points, and Ndamukong Suh is back to help a Lions team in need of a win to keep their current #6 playoff spot.
mj50's pick: Oakland
This one was a really tough choice, as both teams appear to be pretty evenly matched on paper. The Raiders are pretty heavily bitten with the injury bug as of late, and have not looked like the same team that started out the season leading the AFC West, losing their last two games by an average of 25 points, and Ndamukong Suh is back to help a Lions team in need of a win to keep their current #6 playoff spot.
mj50's pick: Oakland
New England Patriots (-6.5) vs. Denver Broncos: Sunday- 3:15 p.m.
mj15's pick: New England
This is arguably the first truly real test for the Denver Broncos since Tebow became their quarterback. Not only do the Patriots have by far the best coach they've ever had to compete against, but also the best quarterback in Tom Brady. The episode will be close (as all Broncos games have been since late October), largely thanks to the Pats' league-worst passing defense. However, when all is said it done, I believe that the team with the two-time MVP, and the wide receiving core of Wes Welker, Aaron Hernandez, Deion Branch and Rob Gronkowski (who now has the TE record for most touchdowns in a season) will be the one to come out on top. And thank God for that! I don't know about you, but the enabling of the media to go into Tim Tebow Verbal Fellatio mode has got to take a rest (and least for one week).
mj50's pick: New England
This is arguably the first truly real test for the Denver Broncos since Tebow became their quarterback. Not only do the Patriots have by far the best coach they've ever had to compete against, but also the best quarterback in Tom Brady. The episode will be close (as all Broncos games have been since late October), largely thanks to the Pats' league-worst passing defense. However, when all is said it done, I believe that the team with the two-time MVP, and the wide receiving core of Wes Welker, Aaron Hernandez, Deion Branch and Rob Gronkowski (who now has the TE record for most touchdowns in a season) will be the one to come out on top. And thank God for that! I don't know about you, but the enabling of the media to go into Tim Tebow Verbal Fellatio mode has got to take a rest (and least for one week).
mj50's pick: New England
New York Jets vs. Philadelphia Eagles (-3): Sunday- 3:15 p.m.
mj15's pick: New York
I think we've all seen enough Eagles games this year to know that they simply cannot be trusted to win against a tough opponent, no matter how convincing their previous victory was. Also, I think we've all seen enough Jets games this season to know when we shouldn't underestimate them. With these two things in mind, I'm taking New York to continue holding the AFC's tentative #6 seed.
mj50's pick: Philadelphia
Cleveland Browns vs. Arizona Cardinals (-6.5): Sunday- 3:15 p.m.
mj15's pick: Arizona
Because apparently the Arizona Cardinals are serious playoff contenders, all of a sudden. And because Cleveland is so bad, it would ruin a ruiners club, but I'm sure you already knew that.
mj50's pick: Arizona
Baltimore Ravens (-2.5) vs. San Diego Chargers: Sunday- 7:30 p.m.
mj15's pick: Baltimore
By now, I think that anyone that has read every single one of my NFL predictions columns this seasons (and to the three of you that do, I say thank you) knows that in the past few weeks, I have like Baltimore in games against another formidable opponent, more and less in the same level of talented players. My favorability towards the team in these type of games extends itself this week, as they're going on the road against a Chargers team desperate for a win to keep their slim playoff chances alive. Baltimore has the defense to stop Phillip Rivers and Ryan Matthwes (who has played his best stretch of football ever, with three straight game rushing for 100+ yards), while Ray Rice should have another stellar game against a Chargers team struggling to stop the run this year. But then again, Phillip Rivers is supremely better than Joe Flacco as a quarterback, so my predicted outcome may not be such a lock.
mj50's pick: San Diego
Pittsburgh Steelers vs. San Francisco 49ers (-3): Monday- 7:35 p.m.
mj15's pick: San Francisco
San Francisco has lost only once this season at Candlestick Park, and they're going to come into this game trying to prove their legitimacy against other elite NFL teams, like the Steelers. Also, picking this game was made a whole lot easier knowing that Ben Roethlisberger had the bone in his legs broken into a million pieces last week and, as I write this, is still wearing a walking boot on his injured leg.
mj50's pick: San Francisco
mj50's pick: Philadelphia
Cleveland Browns vs. Arizona Cardinals (-6.5): Sunday- 3:15 p.m.
mj15's pick: Arizona
Because apparently the Arizona Cardinals are serious playoff contenders, all of a sudden. And because Cleveland is so bad, it would ruin a ruiners club, but I'm sure you already knew that.
mj50's pick: Arizona
Baltimore Ravens (-2.5) vs. San Diego Chargers: Sunday- 7:30 p.m.
mj15's pick: Baltimore
By now, I think that anyone that has read every single one of my NFL predictions columns this seasons (and to the three of you that do, I say thank you) knows that in the past few weeks, I have like Baltimore in games against another formidable opponent, more and less in the same level of talented players. My favorability towards the team in these type of games extends itself this week, as they're going on the road against a Chargers team desperate for a win to keep their slim playoff chances alive. Baltimore has the defense to stop Phillip Rivers and Ryan Matthwes (who has played his best stretch of football ever, with three straight game rushing for 100+ yards), while Ray Rice should have another stellar game against a Chargers team struggling to stop the run this year. But then again, Phillip Rivers is supremely better than Joe Flacco as a quarterback, so my predicted outcome may not be such a lock.
mj50's pick: San Diego
Pittsburgh Steelers vs. San Francisco 49ers (-3): Monday- 7:35 p.m.
mj15's pick: San Francisco
San Francisco has lost only once this season at Candlestick Park, and they're going to come into this game trying to prove their legitimacy against other elite NFL teams, like the Steelers. Also, picking this game was made a whole lot easier knowing that Ben Roethlisberger had the bone in his legs broken into a million pieces last week and, as I write this, is still wearing a walking boot on his injured leg.
mj50's pick: San Francisco
RECAP
The Undertaker at "WrestleMania" Lock of the Week: Atlanta over Jacksonville
The Villanova over Georgetown in the 1985 NCAA Tournament Upset of the Week: New York over Philadelphia
The "Community" vs. "Parks and Recreations" "I'm Not Sure" Pick: Detroit over Oakland
That's going to do it for this week's picks. Be sure to stop by next Thursday for my special Christmas-themed column for the games happening in week 16 (and to see how the two of us did this week, of course). It's mid-December, which means that interest in NFL football has never been greater. Enjoy the games everyone!
Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15
That's going to do it for this week's picks. Be sure to stop by next Thursday for my special Christmas-themed column for the games happening in week 16 (and to see how the two of us did this week, of course). It's mid-December, which means that interest in NFL football has never been greater. Enjoy the games everyone!
Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15
If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you just have any suggestions or tips for my next blog entry, e-mail me at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mails are greatly appreciated.
No comments:
Post a Comment