Week 13 was an interesting week of football. There were several pretty interesting games. Detroit's heartbreaking loss to Indianapolis, St. Louis beating SF with .26 left in overtime, Dallas over Philadelphia, where Bryce Brown continued his phenomenal play, only to fumble late again, GB pulling out a win over Minnesota despite AP's amazing day running the football and none better in my opinion than Washington's win over the Giants.
I wound up going 10-6 for the week, bringing my season total to 129-63. If I want to beat last year's mark, which I do, I'm going to have to hit 11 or 12 wins a couple times over the course of the next four games and keep the other two around the 9 or 10 win marks. That said, on to the picks:
Thursday Night Football
Denver Broncos @ Oakland Raiders
Raiders are terrible on defense. Peyton Manning is shredding defenses. I look for a lopsided game where the score doesn't necessarily tell the whole story, as I do think the Raiders should get some garbage time scoring late in this one. Denver 34-24
Sunday Games
Baltimore Ravens @ Washington Redskins
Baltimore has a great record but they are winning ugly at points this year. Now, one can argue that this is a mark of a great team, which I do agree, bounces do tend to go to the better teams. Yet, I don't always think they've been the better team this year. 4th and 29 against San Diego is one and then losing to a Charlie Batch led Steeler team last week. Washington on the other hand is getting hot late. It's no coincidence to me that this resurgence of power is occuring right about the time RGIII got his main weapon back in Pierre Garcon. And wow, how fun is RGIII to watch. I think at home the Skins take this one. Close if Suggs plays but if not, I think they'll be some separation. Washington 23-20
Dallas Cowboys @ Cincinnati Bengals
This should be a decent game to watch. The Bengals are clicking right now, led by a defensive unit that's been downright monstrous the past month. Dallas has a pretty bad line so it'll be interesting how they fare agains the Bengals defensive pressure this week. I think things are slowly turning around for Dallas. Romo's playing some great football, Dez Bryant is one of the top WR's in the NFL this past month or so and now they have their star RB DeMarco Murray back for full duties this week. Now, he did have a full work load last week against Philadelphia but it was his first game back and I believe calls were tempered because of it. I don't think he'll be held back anywhere this week. I like a good game with Dallas pulling it off late. 31-27
St.Louis Rams @ Buffalo Bills
Well my Bills pulled off last weeks game against Jacksonville. I'm not really surprised. I expected a win, the blowout was extra. It's tough to watch games late in the year, as I know that technically their still alive for the postseason, but it's such an small percentage I'm torn. I want a win yet I see these games as meaningless at this point and wouldn't mind some more losses to help with draft positioning. It's sad how it's the same story every year. In this game, the Bills are starting two offensive lineman who have never started an NFL Game because of Injuries. There is also a host of minor injuries to keep an eye on as well. The weather is going to be wet and sloppy, so I think it'll be a run fest for both teams. I just don't think Buffalo can beat the STL defense on a consistent basis, bad weather or not. STL 17-13
Philadelphia Eagles @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Buc's at home against a bad Eagles team seems like the no brainer here but I'm going to take Philadelphia. Have a hunch here, nothing more than that. Philadelphia 20-17
Atlanta Falcons @ Carolina Panthers
Carolina will lose, they're a mess right now and losing to KC should be deflating enough that they'll either come out strong this week or just pack it in. I see their leader moping on the sidelines and that shows me all I need to know. Atlanta 28-18
Kansas City Chiefs @ Cleveland Browns
KC is not a good football team. They are pathetic. For them to come out and say that their LB who killed himself, after killing his girlfriend, was the motivation they needed to win against the Panthers, is really upsetting to me. These are NFL players making a lot of money and they actually had high hopes heading into the season. For them to need such a tragic event to offer motivation is pathetic in my book. Cleveland on the other hand is playing sound defense and running the ball well, which sets up the occasional deep ball. I like Cleveland big this week. 30-15
San Diego Chargers @ Pittsburgh Steelers
I'm going to have to use another Caveat this week. Still no word as to whether Big Ben will play or not. If he does I like Pittsburgh 33-20, if not I'll take the Chargers in a close one, say 21-20
Tennessee Titans @ Indianapolis Colts
This is going to be the best game to watch as a fan this week. I say this because, while the NE/Hou game will be a solid all around game between two powerhouses, this game will be all offense all the time. Both defenses are pretty bad and both offenses can move the ball. To make matters worse, or better in this case, both teams pass defense is really, really bad. Should be a field day out there Sunday for Andrew Luck and Jake Locker. I like Indy at home though. 35-34
New York Jets @ Jacksonville Jaguars
I should take the Jaguars here. Starting Sanchez probably shouldn't have been the call, but if you want to ignite your fan base to believe in him again, perhaps it was a good move. Jax defense isn't very good, so Sanchez should have time to throw. But he still doesn't have receivers and the ground game should come very easy for the Greene/Powell combo for the Jets. The Jets defense isn't living up to their reputation from previous years, so I do think Jacksonville will score some points, I just have a feeling the Jets pull out the win here. Jets 16-13
Chicago Bears @ Minnesota Vikings
Bears keep getting injury piled atop injury. It almost makes you feel bad for them. I still like them this week. Teams can score on the Vikings and unless Allen and Co. can knock Cutler out of the game, I think they'll handle the Vikings. 28-17
Miami Dolphins @ San Francisco 49'ers
I don't think highly of Miami. The niners defense is elite and I like what I've seen, for the most part, from their second year QB. I haven't heard anything to the contrary, so I'm assuming he'll start again this week. In which case I think he'll be able to bounce some roll-outs to the outside for some big plays. 49'ers big. 24-9
Arizona Cardinals @ Seattle Seahawks
Arizona is terrible. Seahawks are virtually unbeatable at home. Recipe for a Seattle victory. 19-3
New Orleans Saints @ New York Giants
Eli seems to be up one week and down the next. Everyone's up against the Saints defense and Eli was down last week so that meshes up perfectly. I do think the Saints will score some here, but I think NY scores much more. 34-24
Detroit Lions @ Green Bay Packers
This game could be ugly for Detroit. They are down to Mike Thomas and Calvin Johnson. The rest of their receivers are on IR so they'll be a lot of unkowns out there and a lot of Tony Sheffler and Pettigrew. GB should do fine, even without Jordy Nelson. I like a 35-24 GB win.
Monday Night
Houston Texans @ New England Patriots
Two of the best teams in the league square off. This game has Home Field Advantage importance to it. Neither defense stops too many offenses. The Texans actually were really good defensively against Tennessee last week and so were the Patriots against the Dolphins. Actually, the Pats have been pretty good since Talib came over, so while I do think they'll be plenty of points to go around, and I can't wait to see JJ Watt sack Brady a few times here, I do think NE, even with all their offensive injuries, should be able to score 40 and that should certainly be enough. NE 40-35
Hope you all have a great week of football. See you for week 15.
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