The
race is on.
Mike
turned in a stellar 12-4 mark for week 14, vaulting him into second
place… with the top three positions separated by only 2 games
and changes in order happening just about every week. At 10-6,
Dad remains a constant out in the front. He took it over in week
6, dropped out of it by a game in week 11, and then in week 12
went right back to the top.
While
treading water with an 8-8 mark last week… the Dogs are still
sitting just out of the top three… all of 7 games out. They could
still be a factor in this. In fact…
Molly
has the best winning percentage of all. At 55-48-1, she’s hitting
on roughly 53% of her picks. Dad… the overall leader… is closer
to 52%. If she had any clue this was going on, she’d probably
smack Gus for dragging her down.
Terry
is running out of time, but could still work her way back into
respectable territory with three weeks and 48 selections left
to go. Her biggest problem is that since she is around 16-games
behind, she needs to make a huge move this week and follow that
up next week… you aren’t going to gain 16 in the standings when
there are only 16 left to play, so the move has to begin.
Last
week was cold and heartless. Denver plays a decent game… they
lose the game by 12. (Indy covers.) Patriots play miserably… they
win the game by 10. (Carolina is the winner.) Philly defeats New
York in a fireworks display that proved the Giants… despite the
focus on their defense, and rightly so… are capable of turning
in some incredibly ugly efforts from the special teams.
And
heck… did you read what I said about Philly and New York last
week? Here it is…
There
is zero that I can tell you about this game that I would feel
good about. We could examine it fifteen different ways, using
the most important topics, and the reality is, fifteen other
things could easily become more important in influencing this
game. It could be the line play. It might be the running games.
And perhaps one of the quarterbacks has a career passing effort.
I could see an unheralded player getting a late turnover. Or
maybe it will be rainy and windy and carry the late, last-second
field goal attempt just wide. Look, King Kong could show up
at this game and I really don’t think he would create any more
of a strange event than what eventually does happen. So, with
both teams turning in good and bad efforts in recent weeks,
and even though Philly is probably playing better, I’m just
going to take the home team here and move on. And is that really
what I think? Nope. One, two, three or more wacky things are
going to happen in this game to decide it, and there is no way
to feel good about that.
Now…
did you see the game? Because if they didn’t broadcast the game,
just a screen with my text for the audience to read, and then
told everyone the final score… well… I pretty much summarized
it perfectly.
And
that leads us into week 15. Who is going to sit? Who is going
to make a run at the record books? Will seeding matter? Three
weeks of games left to go. Lots of questions to answer. And we’ll
have some more thoughts on the playoffs in these previews.
This
week we’ve got all sorts of holiday quotes… it’s National
Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation…
Indianapolis
(3) at Jacksonville
– “Dad, this tree won’t fit in our
back yard.” “It’s not going in the yard, Russ. It’s going in the
living room.” I honestly though that Indy would
lose in recent weeks… and I’ve been getting kicked for betting
against them. I don’t care if they call a towel boy in to play
quarterback this week… I won’t pick against them just because
they’re due to lose, the club against them needs the victory,
or any other unfounded reason. Let’s look at the Jaguars. At 7-6
things don’t seem impossible for them and the postseason… but
honestly, it’s a mirage. Last week they lost to Miami, which will
be a very important tie-breaker if Jacksonville even wins enough
to make that a consideration. More importantly… the Jaguars have
been outscored by 50+ points this season. For their 7 victories
they have: Houston (beat them twice), Tennessee (split the two
games), St. Louis, Kansas City, New York (Jets) and Buffalo. So
while Indianapolis may have been the most difficult opponent on
their schedule so far (they lost to the Colts in the season opener),
the wins and loses don’t really show us much of anything. They
are a very average team with a potentially above-average running
back in Maurice Jones-Drew. Since they may sit everyone by halftime,
there is no compelling reason to take Indianapolis. And, given
their season history, there is no compelling reason to take Jacksonville.
So… I defer to the gaming gods. Favorites are 98-108-2 on the
year. I’ll take the underdog here… and I suppose I’m setting myself
up to get burned again.
Bob: Jacksonville
Terry: Jacksonville
Dad: Indianapolis
Mike: Indianapolis
Molly: Indianapolis
Dallas
at New Orleans (7) – “Hey
Griswold. Where do you think you’re gonna put a tree that big?”
“Bend over and I’ll show you.” “You’ve got a lot of nerve talking
to me like that Griswold.” “I wasn’t talking to you.”
(And we have our first bonus quote…) “I
give you the Griswold family Christmas tree… Lotta sap in here!
Looks great! Little full. Lotta sap.” Picking
the Saints is really easy here… and I will. But it’s very dangerous
and foolish to do it just because they’re explosive and Dallas
sucks in December. Consider: the Cowboys have lost 5 games this
year… and every one of those teams may make the playoffs. (San
Diego, New York (Giants) (twice), Green Bay and Denver) Consider:
the Cowboys defeated Philly on the road in a huge game, controlled
Atlanta in a game played when the Falcons still looked every bit
like a playoff-bound club, and, even though some have been tougher
than they should have been, Dallas has won every game they should
have won. New Orleans has been favored all year, and has gone
9-5 against the spread. I’m going to pick the Saints for a few
reasons, and here are two of the bigger ones: (1) I like they
way they controlled New England, so I don’t expect the Cowboys
to significantly establish a passing game. (2) Dallas got banged
up last week.
Bob: New Orleans
Terry: Dallas
Dad: New Orleans
Mike: New Orleans
Gus: Dallas
Green
Bay at Pittsburgh (2)
– “Do you sleep with your brother?
Do you know how sick and twisted that is?” “Well, I’m sleeping
with your father. Don’t be so dramatic.” Wow,
should this be a tough one. Normally I would tell you that the
Steelers are due for a statement game. The problem is… it isn’t
tough at all. Green Bay is playing great… and Pittsburgh isn’t.
They showed no effort against Cleveland last week… didn’t respond
to their coach talking about them unleashing a world of hurt in
December… and have basically stumbled around like a quarterback
with a concussion. (And I make that last statement with incredibly
intended thoughts on how this team seems to have lost it, and
behind the scenes when you consider Roethlisberger’s concussion
and the events in the locker room, it may be a divided group that
is incapable of winning.) Green Bay got stunned by the Bucs… and
that was obviously a huge wake-up call for them. The other three
losses came to Minnesota (twice) and Cincinnati… two clubs that
will win their divisions.
Bob: Green Bay
Terry: Green Bay
Dad: Green Bay
Mike: Pittsburgh
Molly: Pittsburgh
Miami
at Tennessee (4)
– “Oh, I was just smelling… smiling.
I was just blouse – browsing. I… uh… heh heh. Well, I guess it
just wouldn’t… oh hee hee… it wouldn’t be the Christmas shopping
season if the stores were any less hooter than they – hotter
than they are. Whew, it’s warm in here.” “Well you have your coat
on.” “Ah yes I do. Why is that?” “Because it’s cold out.” “Yes
it is. It’s a bit nipply out. I mean nippy out. What did I say,
nipple? Huh. There is a nip in the air.” I don’t
know what to tell you here except that I think the Dolphins are
going to the playoffs and the Titans are not. Remember the roll
the Titans went on… and everyone started talking about them again?
Would you believe all 7 of their losses came in the conference,
and only 1 of their victories came against an AFC club outside
of their conference? It’s true. They defeated the Rams, Cardinals
and 49ers to set-up a potential sweep of the NFC West (they close
the year against the Seahawks). They defeated Jacksonville and
Houston for the AFC South wins. And the only AFC game they’ve
won other than against AFC South teams was over Buffalo. They
lost to Pittsburgh, New York, and New England, and 4 other times
in the division. Yeah… yeah… I know… almost all of those games
were early. Fine. But last week you had a St. Louis team that
has no offense. Literally. Stephen Jackson may not practice for
the rest of the year… and they only score 10 a game to begin with.
You really want me to take the pounding Tennessee gave them last
week seriously? Because I can’t.
Bob: Miami
Terry: Tennessee
Dad: Miami
Mike: Miami
Gus: Tennessee
New
England (7) at Buffalo
– “You surprised to see us, Clark?”
“Oh, Eddie… If I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet,
I wouldn’t be more surprised than I am now.” (Bonus
Eddie quote…) “So, when did you
get the tenement on wheels?” “Oh, that uh, that there’s an RV.
Yeah, yeah, I borrowed it off a buddy of mine. He took my house,
I took the RV. It’s a good looking vehicle, ain’t it?” “Yeah,
it looks so nice parked in the driveway.” “Yeah, it sure does.
But, don’t you go falling in love with it now, because, we’re
taking it with us when we leave here next month.”
There’s a part of me that thinks maybe I’m being too optimistic
in thinking this will be a snap for New England. Is it really
as simple as saying Buffalo is averaging about 16 a contest and
even when struggling, New England puts up 20 in the first half?
Yes… to a degree… it is. In the past five weeks, Buffalo has scored
17, 15, 31, 13 and 16. That’s 18 a game. I sense an improvement
in the club in recent weeks… I sure don’t see it though. But get
this one… on the road New England is 1-5. The victory was in London
against Tampa Bay. They are barely scoring 22-points per game
total on the road. They’ve lost their last 3 road games, all in
horrible fashion… by getting outplayed late (Indy and Miami) or
just getting outplayed (New Orleans). The Bills killed Miami…
and got killed by Miami. Their other two divisional losses were
by 6 and by 1. I sense you starting to see that I don’t trust
New England to win by 7. Is there hope? Sure… last week they looked
awful and won by 10 points over Carolina, a club that I think
can be viewed as somewhat Buffalo’s equal. Ahh… but here’s one
more interesting thing… the city of Buffalo itself. Take away
the Cleveland game (the 6-3 score and the worst NFL game of the
year), and no game in Buffalo has been close this season. 33-20
over Tampa, 27-7 loss to New Orleans, 31-10 loss to Houston, 31-14
win over Miami. Every one 13-points or more. (Anyone think it
will be New England getting blown out this week? Ok… so they have
that going for them.) History? New England won 13-0 last year…
56-10 in 2007… 28-6 in 2006 (when they lost by 2 to New England
to open the year)… 35-7 in 2005… and you get the point. The Patriots
win big against the Bills in Buffalo. The Patriots need to straighten
out some problems… or they will end their playoff run fast. I
don’t believe their problems will hurt them this week.
Bob: New England
Terry: Buffalo
Dad: New England
Mike: Buffalo
Molly: Buffalo
Arizona (11½) at Detroit
– “Every time Catherine revved up
the microwave, I’d piss my pants and forget who I was for about
half an hour or so.” (Is there a better Randy
Quaid quote than that one when you consider his recent headlines?
Probably not. Because as he avoids court appearances, and stories
and rumors spread, it sure seems like Catherine revved up the
microwave. Since Eddie deserves another quote… a bonus bonus quote
about Eddie…) “What are you looking
at?” “Oh, the silent majesty of a winter’s morn. The clean, cool
chill of the holiday air. An as***le in his bathrobe, emptying
a chemical toilet into my sewer.” The Lions are
being outscored roughly 2 to 1 on the year… 406 points against,
209 points for. And now arriving to face that team… a ticked off
Arizona club that wanted to wrap up their division last week,
and instead watched an outside shot to earn a bye week go buh-bye.
It would be tempting to take Detroit and the points, but… well…
(1) Remove the Cleveland game. That great, exciting Cleveland
game. And since November 1st the Lions have played 6 other games,
with the closest being a 17-10 loss to the Rams. Playoff-bound
teams (New Orleans, Minnesota (twice), Green Bay (twice), Cincinnati
and Baltimore) have all won by at least 2 scores. (In fact, only
Cincy won by less than 14-points, when they won by 10. And Cincy
is a low-scoring, win the close games club.) I will repeat this
next one, so don’t worry. Arizona is 5-2 on the road. Again… as
promised… the 2009 Arizona Cardinals are 5-2 on the road, and
3-3 at home. (To be fair, they have lost their last 2 road games.)
I expect something between 27 and 34 from Arizona this week… and
can’t see any way the Lions score more than 14 to 16.
Bob: Arizona
Terry: Detroit
Dad: Arizona
Mike: Detroit
Gus: Detroit
San
Francisco at Philadelphia (9)
– “She falls down a well, her eyes
go cross. She gets kicked by a mule. They go back. I don’t know.”
Quick… don’t look it up… San Francisco’s road record and Philly’s
home record… do you know them? Here’s why I ask… the Eagles have
home losses against Dallas and New Orleans, and a close victory
over Washington. Just from memory, two losses and a squeaker.
So Philly might just have some question marks there. Right? And
San Francisco played that close contest against Minnesota where
they lost on a late prayer, and they played Indy incredibly well
in another tough loss. So Frisco might just have some hope when
they travel. Right? Umm… nope… and nope. Philly is 5-2 at home.
The Saints and Cowboys are the only bad marks. In fact, take out
that close Washington game and the 4 victories are each by about
20-plus. And the 49ers are 1-5 on the road, having only defeated
Arizona to open the season. Now… there is something to be said
here for San Francisco’s playoff hopes. If they can win their
last 3 games and Arizona loses 2, they would be tied with the
Cardinals and Frisco won both head-to-head games. Their final
two involve Detroit and St. Louis. So yeah… this may be the only
obstacle for them running the table. Philly doesn’t play amazingly
well against good teams. New York’s defense has been positively
brutal this year, so both of those divisional games are hard to
read. Their other 7 victories? Washington twice (by 10 and 3),
Carolina (yawn), Kansas City (yawn), Tampa (yawn), Chicago (seeing
a trend?), Atlanta… I’m not seeing the big victory. Yes… over
the Giants… twice… huge. But I think the 49ers can pull an upset
here… or at least force Philly to work for it. The Eagles do not
blow out teams with solid to above average defenses.
Bob: San Francisco
Terry: San Francisco
Dad: San Francisco
Mike: San Francisco
Molly: Philadelphia
Atlanta
at New York (Jets) (6)
– “Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Kiss my ass. Kiss his ass. Kiss
your ass. Happy Hanukkah.” Here’s the funny thing
about the Jets you may not have noticed… but I sure have been…
they kick alot of field goals. I know… who notices these things?
Well… I do. See, in the fantasy league, I happened to notice that
Jay Feely was almost routinely putting up 10+ per contest. And
to do that either the club is scoring alot of touchdowns… or…
the kicker is getting 2 or 3 field goals per game and a few from
long range, where fantasy scores give an extra point or two. So…
let’s look it up… and sure enough, Feely is seventh in scoring
with 101 points… but he’s not in the top ten for extra points
or extra point attempts. He is tied for third with 25 field goals.
And every other kicker in the top 5 in field goals plays for a
club that has about 70-points more scored than the Jets on the
season. They score a ton off of field goals. And you can see where
that matters… because for a team with such a good defense, 4 of
their 7 victories are by 8 or less. The 3 that aren’t… Houston
in the season-opener, Oakland and Tampa. They’ve also lost 4 games
by 5 or less. Leaving points off the scoreboard… not getting into
the end zone… is probably the reason this club won’t make the
playoffs. Now the Falcons come into this game pretty much dead
even on points scored versus points given up. But the Jets have
shut people down. Their defense has been solid all year. In fact,
they give up the least points in the NFL per game. Here’s the
final piece in this… the Jets haven’t beaten anyone at home by
more than 8-points, and they are 3-3 at home. I just don’t think
they’ll score enough to run away from Atlanta.
Bob: Atlanta
Terry: New York
Dad: New York
Mike: New York
Gus: Atlanta
Chicago
at Baltimore (10)
– “Can I refill your eggnog for
you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of
nowhere and leave you for dead?” “Naw, I’m doing just fine, Clark.”
Cutler… on the road… enough said. (You want more?
Chicago is out of the postseason hunt. The Bears are 1-5 on the
road, defeating only Seattle. The Bears average 13-points per
game on the road while giving up 18 turnovers and 23 sacks in
each contest. (Those last 2 numbers might be rough estimates,
but the scoring isn’t. That’s accurate.))
Bob: Baltimore
Terry: Chicago
Dad: Baltimore
Mike: Chicago
Molly: Baltimore
Cleveland
at Kansas City (2)
– “I hope he falls and breaks his
neck.” “Oh, I’m sure he’ll fall. But I don’t think we’re lucky
enough for him to break his neck.” (And here’s
a next-door-neighbor bonus quote…) “Obviously
something had to break the window, something had to break the
stereo.” “And why is the carpet all wet Todd?” “I don’t know Margo!”
You’re going to laugh at me… but I sort of like the way the Browns
have played the past four or five weeks. I know… crazy talk. But
in the last 5 games Cleveland has played Baltimore, Detroit, Cincinnati,
San Diego and Pittsburgh, and they have been outscored in those
games by a total of 24-points. That’s less than 5 per contest.
Only the 16-0 loss to Baltimore… when the Ravens scored a defensive
touchdown and put all their points on the board in the third quarter…
was by more the 7-points. The record confirms this Cleveland team
is bad. The stats say they can’t score. But I’ll be darned if
there aren’t a few moments when they look like they’re trying.
Kansas City has some good moments as well… like Cleveland, not
many… and like Cleveland, a victory over Pittsburgh. But in just
their past 2 games they’ve been outscored by 37 points, and if
we stretch it to the last 5 games they have been outscored by
57. One of their biggest losses was against Denver, and frankly,
the Jets club that kicks all those field goals is outscoring the
Broncos for the season. The only home victory for the Chiefs came
over Pittsburgh. (These two clubs are amazingly similar… Cleveland’s
only win at home was over Pittsburgh.) I’m going to take the Browns
here… living by that take the underdog when all else fails rule
we seem to be using this week, and combining it with some spark
that seems to be there as well.
Bob: Cleveland
Terry: Kansas City
Dad: Kansas City
Mike: Cleveland
Gus: Cleveland
Houston
(12½) at St. Louis
– “You set standards that no family
activity can live up to.” “When have I ever done that?” “Parties,
weddings, anniversaries, funerals, holidays, vacations, graduations…”
St. Louis has no quarterback, and their awesome running back should
take the rest of the year off to rest and recover. They are barely
scoring more than 10-points per contest, haven’t won at home this
year, and the AFC South is looking for a sweep over them for the
season. Not good. Last week Houston took care of Seattle and looked
much more like the team that people were considering for the postseason
than they have in several weeks. Now the playoff dreams are gone…
but the strong finish and an even or winning record might not
be. You have to take the Texans to win… and I think you have to
take them to win big.
Bob: Houston
Terry: St. Louis
Dad: Houston
Mike: Houston
Molly: St. Louis
Cincinnati
at San Diego (6½)
– “I don’t know what to say, except
it’s Christmas and we’re all in misery.” Normally
I’d try to make some argument for Cincy here… they score 20 per
game… San Diego gives up 20 per game… and Cincy’s defense has
played exceptionally well all year. Something like that, which
would tell you how close this game might be. And to be honest,
you probably could make a compelling argument by going down that
route. Because if you split the difference between San Diego’s
offense and Cincy’s defense, they’d be sitting in the 22 to 23-point
range and watching a field goal decide this contest. Two of the
San Diego losses have been when they were at home… against AFC
playoff-type teams (Baltimore and Denver). Heck… only against
Kansas City, 43-14, has San Diego won at home by more than 10-points.
So I’ll grant you that maybe last week’s Dallas game wasn’t nearly
as close as the 3-point margin of victory, but frankly this Chargers
team has been dominating on the road, not at home. This game could
easily decide the second seed in the AFC. Right now it belongs
to San Diego, but if Cincy wins they even up the records and earn
the head-to-head tie-breaker. Does the second seed matter? Yeah…
it does. Not just because of the week off though. It’s very possible
that the fourth, fifth and sixth seeds in the AFC will look like
this… New England, Denver, Baltimore/Miami. That’s a crappy opening
game for either of these teams when you look at the wild cards.
And you’d still have three other solid teams playing if you got
past it. The Bengals are bringing to this contest one of the best
defenses that San Diego will face all year. Worth noting.
Bob: Cincinnati
Terry: Cincinnati
Dad: Cincinnati
Mike: San Diego
Gus: Cincinnati
Oakland
at Denver (13)
– “Where do you think you’re going?
Nobody’s leaving. Nobody’s walking out on this fun, old-fashioned
family Christmas. No. No. We’re all in this together. This is
a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We’re gonna press
on, and we’re gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since
Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny f**king Kaye. And when Santa
squeezes his fat white ass down that chimney tonight, he’s gonna
find the jolliest bunch of as***les this side of the nuthouse.”
Denver lost last week to Indy, and that’s just not good. They’ve
also been shaky at home recently, even when you look at their
big holiday victory over the Giants. That said, Oakland has looked
dreadful on the road. They beat Pittsburgh… but this year, come
on, everyone seems to be beating Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh. They
got killed at Dallas, and they are coming off of a brutal loss
to Washington. They barely score more than St. Louis… and 47 over
the past 3 weeks is hardly a sign of improvement. Given Denver’s
record for the year and since Thanksgiving, and Oakland’s history
overall, the Raiders are likely to score no more than 13 to 16
points. Denver is unlikely to turn the ball over more than once…
if that. The Broncos bring a balanced attack with solid running
and efficient passing, which is likely to mean 24 to 27 points.
(Yeah… when it comes to the spread… this is going to be close.)
I think you have to take Denver to win… no doubt about that. But
they have scored more than 27-points in a game exactly twice this
year. And it’s simply impossible to take a club… even one routinely
cracking 20 week after week while giving up 15 or less… to win
by a couple of touchdowns.
Bob: Oakland
Terry: Oakland
Dad: Denver
Mike: Oakland
Molly: Denver
Tampa
Bay at Seattle (7)
– “It’s a membership to the Jelly
of the Month Club.” “Clark, that’s the gift that keeps on giving
throughout the entire year.” (Bonus quote…) “If
this isn’t the biggest bag-over-the-head, punch-in-the-face I
ever got… God damn it!” Does anyone care?
At all? I’ve got nothing here. Tampa beat Green Bay, and fought
with Miami and Atlanta, but got decked by New Orleans, Carolina
and New York (Jets). Seattle sucks on the road… but this is at
home. Sure… they’ve lost at home (Chicago, Arizona)... but they’ve
killed some teams at home as well (St. Louis 28-0, Jacksonville
41-0, Detroit 32-20). They’re 4-2 at home for the year, and they’ve
taken care of the teams they are better than by comfortable margins.
If the Bucs make a game of this, it will be for all sorts of things
that I can’t possibly find reasons to predict right now.
Bob: Seattle
Terry: Tampa Bay
Dad: Seattle
Mike: Seattle
Gus: Tampa Bay
Minnesota
(7) at Carolina
– “Hey! If any of you are looking
for any last-minute gift ideas for me, I have one. I’d like Frank
Shirley, my boss, right here tonight. I want him brought from
his happy holiday slumber over there on Melody Lane with all the
other rich people and I want him brought right here, with a big
ribbon on his head, and I want to look him straight in the eye
and I want to tell him what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing,
low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant,
blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, dickless, hopeless, heartless,
fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack
of monkey sh*t he is! Hallelujah! Holy sh*t! Where’s the Tylenol?”
Even if Minnesota is playing starters for just
half the game… to keep them active and sharp, but try to avoid
injury… this spread is still too close. And for that, I give you
last week’s Carolina versus New England game. Randy Moss could
have stayed in his car and it would have contributed more to the
New England cause. (And since he wouldn’t have fumbled the ball
in his car, that’s true.) After the game, the Panthers were quoted
all over the place about how they knew they could play mind games
with Randy and beat him down. They were puffing their chests and
giving big quotes and all sorts of stuff. And… they lost. They
lost big. Moss did nothing… the Pats looked closer to hideous
than they did to bad… and the Panthers lost by 10. What the heck
would have happened if New England was playing good football?
Well… we can check the history out. Carolina lost to Buffalo at
home, 20-9, in a game where they dominated the offensive production
categories. Against teams we expect in the playoffs (or at least
in the hunt until the end)… Philly, Dallas, Arizona, New Orleans,
Miami, New England… they are 1-5 and all of the losses were by
7 or more, and usually alot more.
Bob: Minnesota
Terry: Carolina
Dad: Minnesota
Mike: Minnesota
Molly: Carolina
New
York (Giants) (3) at Washington
– “Our holidays were always such
a mess.” “Oh, yeah.” “How’d you get through it?” “I had a lot
of help from Jack Daniels.” I am convinced that
the only reason the Giants lost to the Eagles last week was special
teams play. I’m not saying they looked good. They didn’t. Heck…
if their defense came out of the locker room to play a series
or two, New York could have won even with the special teams mistakes.
But my point is, the offense is putting points on the board, and
I think they will score 28 to 34 here. The problem is… well, sit
down. Do you know how many teams have given up more points than
the Giants? Take a wild guess? 20? 15? I mean… the Giants are
routinely known for tough defenses. That’s how they beat the Patriots
for the title just two years ago. So middle-of-the-pack in a down
year? Maybe 10 clubs doing worse? How about a guess of 10 teams
giving up more points? (I told you to sit down.) Try 4. The New
York Giants have given up 330 points during the 2009 season. The
clubs that have given up more are: Detroit (406), Tampa Bay (356),
St. Louis (361), and Kansas City (342). Look at that again… the
only teams giving up more points than the Giants have won a combined
total of 7 games for the year. It also just so happens that this
is the last divisional game of the year for New York. Washington
has looked amazing recently. A victory over Denver, a 1-point
loss to Dallas, 3-point losses to Philly and New Orleans, and
they demolished Oakland. This has all the makings of a classic
NFC East battle. But I’m going to buck the trends here. I’m taking
the favorites. You have to go back to 2007 to find a Washington
victory over New York… and 2005 before that. (Uh-oh… odd years…
maybe I should stop and expect the split.) More importantly though,
Tom Coughlin seems to get his teams to give him what he needs
to make the playoffs. And the Giants can’t afford a loss here
if they want to make the postseason. 9-7 might get them in… but
10-6 almost definitely will get them in.
Bob: New York
Terry: New York
Dad: New York
Mike: Washington
Gus: Washington
~ ~
~ ~ ~
Dad
– Last week 10-6, season 109-97-2
Mike – Last week 12-4, season 108-98-2
Bob – Last week 10-6, season 107-99-2
The Dogs – Last week 8-8, season 100-106-2
Terry – Last week 9-7, season 91-115-2
Molly:
Last week 5-3, season 55-48-1
Gus: Last week 2-6, season 45-58-1