Would you believe it, the season is already almost over. This portion of the year is always difficult because either your team is poised for a playoff run, or already knows the season is finished and they’ll be watching the games on TV come January. It’s also a tough time because of the fact that the season is close to ending and then we have a sports drought until the fall of the following year. Well, at least that’s the difficult part for me, because I don’t really pay attention to other sports. It is exciting though when you get to December already knowing that you’ll be in the playoffs, and the only thing that matters now is the seeding. Green Bay holds the #2 seed at present, but we have a stretch of three division games to close out the year, and that means if we win out we’ll hold on (or if the niners catastrophically fall off we might even steal the top seed). The Bears seem to have come around, but they do have to play at Lambeau this weekend, so I think we have the advantage. Next week it’s the Vikings who are trying to keep their wildcard spot, so that should be one of the most important games of the year. Lastly we play the Lions who don’t have anything to play for statistically, but I don’t see them letting us walk all over them either. Let’s see how I did with my picks last week:

Cowboys 21, Bears 20
Panthers 20, Falcons 17
Ravens 28, Bills 21 – Correct
Browns 21, Bengals 13 – Correct
Packers 30, Redskins 14 – Correct
Texans 31, Broncos 17
Vikings 28, Lions 23 – Correct
Saints 24, 49ers 21
Dolphins 17, Jets 10
Colts 21, Buccs 20
Jags 27, Chargers 23
Steelers 28, Cardnials 21 – Correct
Patriots 24, Chiefs 20
Titans 21, Raiders 16 – Correct
Seahawks 27, Rams 13
Eagles 24, Giants 10 – Correct

Week Score: 7-9
Season Score: 124-84

Another middling week sets my score back a little bit, but that’s okay. Green Bay’s win over the Redskins gave us our tenth of the season, and we’ll absolutely be in the playoffs come January. Will we be a one and done team though? That’s the real question. Another big question is how crazy was that 49ers – Saints game? I really expected our game against the 9ers to be more like it, but we got trounced. I think it will be a different story in January if it comes down to it, but they have been our achilles heel in the past. Time will tell I suppose. Let’s make picks for Week 15 and get out of here, eh?

Ravens 28, Jets 14
Seahawks 30, Panthers 7
Patriots 31, Bengals 10
Buccs 27, Lions 20
Packers 31, Bears 24
Chiefs 27, Broncos 13
Giants 20, Dolphins 17
Bills 20, Steelers 19
Titans 21, Texans 16
Eagles 24, Redskins 10
Browns 17, Cards 13
Raiders 25, Jags 13
Rams 23, Cowboys 17
49ers 27, Falcons 24
Vikings 28, Chargers 21
Saints 35, Colts 14

We’ll check back in next week with more picks and scores and commentary. Until then.

I didn’t watch much football this past week. My game landed early on the first and by the time I got home from work it was mostly over. I did watch the highlights but that was about it. I watched bits and pieces of games during Thanksgiving, but seeing as how family and friends were around I spent more time socializing and eating food than paying attention to games. I didn’t watch the Monday night game either. But I did accomplish one thing that I hadn’t done to this point in the season, I finally got the score of a game right on top of picking the correct victor. As such I’m awarding myself a bonus point for the feat. Here’s my picks from last week:

Bears 24, Lions 21 – Correct
Cowboys 23, Bills 20
Saints 28, Falcons 13 – Correct
Ravens 20, 49ers 17 – Correct – score was correct too, bonus point
Panthers 27, Redskins 14
Jets 21, Bengals 10
Colts 20, Titans 10
Buccs 17, Jags 13 – Correct
Chiefs 24, Raiders 21 – Correct
Eagles 27, Dolphins 16
Packers 28, Giants 13 – Correct
Rams 27, Cards 13 – Correct
Browns 21, Steelers 17
Chargers 24, Broncos 21
Patriots 30, Texans 24
Seahawks 23, Vikings 19 – Correct

Week Score: 8 + bonus = 9-8
Season Score: 117-75

I would have had a middling week but that additional point helped keep my score higher. I came pretty close in the Packers/Giants game as well, missing by only a field goal on the Packers side. Let’s see if I can’t get something like this going again for week 14.

Cowboys 21, Bears 20
Panthers 20, Falcons 17
Ravens 28, Bills 21
Browns 21, Bengals 13
Packers 30, Redskins 14
Texans 31, Broncos 17
Vikings 28, Lions 23
Saints 24, 49ers 21
Dolphins 17, Jets 10
Colts 21, Buccs 20
Jags 27, Chargers 23
Steelers 28, Cardnials 21
Patriots 24, Chiefs 20
Titans 21, Raiders 16
Seahawks 27, Rams 13
Eagles 24, Giants 10

We’ll check back in next week to see how I did.

Well, that was a blowout. I thought the Packers would have been at least competitive versus the 49ers, and the only time they even looked like a decent team was during the only scoring drive and subsequent successful two point conversion. Otherwise we looked outclassed and outmatched. I thought the 9ers might have been a bit of fluke to this point, not really playing many challenging squads, but it seems they are the real deal. It was a little worrisome for our playoff look as well, given we’re likely to see them again when it comes down to it. But we’ve still got the month of December to see how playoff seeding goes. Anyway, let’s look at our picks for last week.

Texans 21, Colts 20 – Correct
Falcons 24, Buccs 17
Bills 28, Broncos 23 – Correct
Bears 21, Giants 13 – Correct
Steelers 27, Bengals 10 – Correct
Browns 21, Dolphins 14 – Correct
Saints 30, Panthers 20 – Correct
Raiders 24, Jets 17
Lions 27, Redskins 13
Titans 23, Jags 13 – Correct
Patriots 35, Cowboys 27 – Correct
Packers 28, 49ers 24
Seahawks 27, Eagles 21 – Correct
Ravens 31, Rams 27 – Correct

Week score: 10-4
Season score: 108-67

Not a bad week, but I would have preferred a win from my team over this personal scoreline. Whatever the case, it’s Thursday, and Week 13 has already begun. I know that the Bears and Lions are currently playing, and as such I’ll make my pick before the game’s over. A little late isn’t too terrible, right? Let’s make those picks now then.

Bears 24, Lions 21
Cowboys 23, Bills 20
Saints 28, Falcons 13
Ravens 20, 49ers 17
Panthers 27, Redskins 14
Jets 21, Bengals 10
Colts 20, Titans 10
Buccs 17, Jags 13
Chiefs 24, Raiders 21
Eagles 27, Dolphins 16
Packers 28, Giants 13
Rams 27, Cards 13
Chargers 24, Broncos 21
Browns 21, Steelers 17
Patriots 30, Texans 24
Seahawks 23, Vikings 19

Now let’s get back to watching some football, eating good food and spending time with our families! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

With last week being the Bye for the Packers, I didn’t watch much football. I kinda kept up on scores and highlights, but didn’t sit down and watch a whole game, save for most of the MNF match between San Diego and Kansas City. It was pretty sad to watch the Chargers put themselves into a position to win just to lose to themselves, but apparently that has been their Achilles heel all season. Whatever the case, I had a much better week with my picks this time, behold:

Steelers 21, Browns 20
Ravens 24, Texans 21 – Correct
Panthers 20, Falcons 13
Cowboys 28, Lions 23 – Correct
Colts 21, Jags 14 – Correct
Bills 30, Dolphins 21 – Correct
Vikings 27, Broncos 10 – Correct
Saints 35, Buccs 27 – Correct
Jets 17, Redskins 13 – Correct
49ers 24, Cards 13 – Correct
Raiders 30, Bengals 19 – Correct
Patriots 27, Eagles 24 – Correct
Rams 21, Bears 10 – Correct
Chiefs 27, Chargers 14 – Correct

Week Score: 12-2
Season Score: 98-63

The ratio improves a bit as a result. I’m on pace to at least match last year as long as I keep up weeks like this and don’t fall back into bad habits as far as predictability goes. Honestly with the only two incorrect picks, I’d have thought the Steelers would have beat up the Browns and that the Panthers could have held their own against the lowly Falcons, but any given Sunday, right? Let’s make picks for week 12:

Texans 21, Colts 20
Falcons 24, Buccs 17
Bills 28, Broncos 23
Bears 21, Giants 13
Steelers 27, Bengals 10
Browns 21, Dolphins 14
Saints 30, Panthers 20
Raiders 24, Jets 17
Lions 27, Redskins 13
Titans 23, Jags 13
Patriots 35, Cowboys 27
Packers 28, 49ers 24
Seahawks 27, Eagles 21
Ravens 31, Rams 27

This week is a big one for the Packers. We’re heading into San Francisco, and though the 49ers are no longer undefeated, they are still the #1 seed in the NFC with a 9-1 record, while we are sitting at 8-2 and hold the #2 seed. Either seed comes with a first round bye and home field advantage, but it would be huge for the Packers to get a quality win on the road against the top seed and there by taking that top seed. We could then be in control of our own destiny and would only lose it with a major stumble down the stretch. We’re a cold weather team though, so this is when the defense and run game become even more important, and both have been much improved over prior years, despite what stats may say. We’ll check back in next week to see how that goes. I’m looking forward to a good game!

I was thankful that Cam Newton was out of this week’s game, as the Packers were facing the Panthers who have had an okay year. It turns out, his backup is actually pretty good, and there were times I thought we might actually lose that one. Thankfully we did not, and we were able to go into the bye week 8-2. It’s been a good season, and I don’t see how we can’t still be competing come January. For a few weeks there it was getting pretty easy to choose who was going to win in games, but at this point in the season it’s anyone’s guess. I had my worst week of the season so far with my picks, and some of these weren’t a reach either. Take a look:

Chargers 27, Raiders 24
Lions 21, Bears 20
Ravens 31, Bengals 10 – Correct
Bills 24, Browns 10
Packers 28, Panthers 17 – Correct
Saints 35, Falcons 20
Giants 27, Jets 21
Cards 21, Buccs 19
Chiefs 28, Titans 17
Colts 25, Dolphins 13
Rams 21, Steelers 14
Cowboys 24, Vikings 21
Seahawks 31, 49ers 27 – Correct

Week Score: 3-10
Season Score: 86-61

Ouch. I think this might be one of the worst weeks I’ve had the entire time I’ve been doing this column. Seriously, 3-10? Looking at my picks prior to Sunday, most of these games looked like a lock. Sure the Chargers/Raiders game could have gone either way, same goes for the Lions/Bears, but the Browns beat the Bills? The FALCONS beat the Saints? Jets got another win, the Titans beat the Chiefs. The fucking Dolphins beat the Colts. Didn’t they beat someone pretty good earlier in the year? Anyway, I guess it’s coming out pretty random now, and my score has been affected. I’ll try better for this week, but it’s sort of a bye week for me too. My birthday is in a couple of days and I started celebrating already. My team doesn’t play so I may not watch football at all this weekend. Let’s make those picks.

Steelers 21, Browns 20
Ravens 24, Texans 21
Panthers 20, Falcons 13
Cowboys 28, Lions 23
Colts 21, Jags 14
Bills 30, Dolphins 21
Vikings 27, Broncos 10
Saints 35, Buccs 27
Jets 17, Redskins 13
49ers 24, Cards 13
Raiders 30, Bengals 19
Patriots 27, Eagles 24
Rams 21, Bears 10
Chiefs 27, Chargers 14

Let’s see if I’m any luckier this time. We’ll check back in next week to see how I did. Until then.