NFL Column: Playoffs Pictures Presented

Thoughts

I watched a quarter and a half of football this weekend. And you know what? I appreciated it a lot more. Besides having more time to spend on other things, I didn't spend my weekend zoning out watching a crappy Seattle game. I watched a couple of good quarters of Baltimore - Pittsburgh.

I think that's going to be a good new rule for me. If the game on sucks, I'm just not going to watch it. Why spend 6-8 hours in front of the TV on Sunday watching Pete Carroll acting like he has a soul?

That's my random NFL thought for the week. On to the rest of the column!

Week 13 Review

I correctly predicted that the Eagles, Saints, Packers, Chiefs, Vikings, Giants, Rams, Seahawks, Falcons and Patriots (lock) would all win. I also incorrectly predicted that the Bears (upset), Jaguars, Browns, Raiders, Cowboys, and Steelers would lose. In one note of pride, I did predict that the final score of the Ravens / Steelers game would be 13-10. It was close to being my lock.

Week Record: 9-6

Overall: 110-80

Lock: 9-4

Upset: 3-9

I know my records don't add up, but I'm not sure why. I'm certainly not going back to try to add it all up. This is my best guess at what my records are.

Week 14 Picks

A week of spoiler games! Lots of chances to sort out the playoffs, for crappy teams to rise up and have an impact on the postseason! By my count, 48 teams could be eliminated with a loss this week. Let's get right to it.

Colts at Titans - Whoever loses this game is effectively out of the playoff race. I have no idea what to expect here... If Manning posts another game like that last one, how can Indy win? But what are the chances that he does? And the Titans have been terrible since 'winning' Randy Moss. I'll take the Colts, I guess.

Browns at Bills - Two teams that play to their competition's level, which means that this should be a horrible game, right? I think I'll take Cleveland; Peyton Hillis should have a good game.

Packers at Lions - First playoff spoiler alert! If the Pack doesn't win, they have a hard road to get to the playoffs, because they probably wouldn't catch Chicago. Ultimately, good teams win these games and bad teams lose them. I'll take Green bay.

Giants at Vikings - Another potential spoiler. Giants need to win. And I think they will; their pass rush should knock Favre out on the first drive.

Bengals at Steelers - Let down game for Pittsburgh? Another spoiler game? If Pittsburgh loses this, but Baltimore wins (likely), then Pittsburgh's statement game last week means nothing. Should be a smashmouth game either way, and I like Pittsburgh's chances.

Buccaneers at Redskins - Crappy good team takes on good crappy team? Note: this is potentially a spoiler game, but probably not. Tampa won't make it to the playoffs, but if they lose this one, it's definitely goodbye for that pipe dream. I'll take the Bucs.

Falcons at Panthers - Not a spoiler game, because the Falcons are going to the playoffs regardless. But Carolina can salvage a little bit of pride by giving New Orleans a shot at the 1 seed if the Panthers were to win here. I'm going to say that probably won't happen. Atlanta.

Raiders at Jaguars - Saw what I wrote about Indy/Tennessee above? Probably the same here. The loser doesn't get a playoff berth. I think Oakland has the letdown game here, and Jaguars hang on to their division lead.

Rams at Saints - Tough road for Sam Bradford. To get into the playoffs, he'll need to beat the reigning Superbowl champions, who certainly aren't shoo-in's for the playoffs themselves. The Saints have started to look like they have some of that Superbowl Mojo back, so I'll stick with them.

Seahawks at 49ers - So far, I've picked all the favorites. Time to switch up things, because I'll take the 49ers as my upset. Seattle can't play on the road, we all know this to be true.

Patriots at Bears - How many more teams must the Patriots beat to prove they're the best? I find it absurd that they're listed 2nd in the ESPN Power rankings. Patriots by a mile in this game.

Dolphins at Jets - Jets can beat teams that aren't any good, so they should win this one.

Broncos at Cardinals - Cardinals can't score touchdowns! You have to pick Denver in this game, right? They can at least score.

Chiefs at Chargers - This isn't as exciting a game, because San Diego might have blown their chance to make it to the playoffs last week. If SD wins this, they're still a game behind. I'm jumping off the SD bandwagon - past performance is no indication of future success. San Diego follows their absurd 48 game December/January win streak by an 0-2 December streak this year.

Eagles at Cowboys - Cowboys can save themselves some respect by trying to knock the Eagles out of the playoff race. Don't think they'll succeed. Eagles.

Ravens at Texans - Here's one thing I'm realizing - exactly what type of offense is Baltimore? They have some great receivers, but Joe Flacco doesn't pile up stats. Their running backs are solid, but not spectacular. They just don't seem to have a personality in the way that New England or Pittsburgh or Indy do. That being said, I'll take Baltimore (as a lock even) because Houston has a terrible pass defense. (also, this is a spoiler game!)

Spoilers: I counted 11 teams that can basically knock other teams out of the playoffs this week. (For your records, I counted Texans, Cowboys, Raiders, Jaguars, Rams, Saints, Colts, Titans, Lions, Vikings, and Redskins). So we have two scenarios that could be interesting. All the favored teams win, and we basically know the playoff picture, eradicating a lot of the bottom feeders. Or (my personal favorite) underdogs all win, and we basically set the playoff picture on hold for a week and make things even more muddled.

Week 14... Are you ready for some football?