Week 15 round up

With Monday Nights game wrapped up, it's time to see how I got on pick wise with my Week 15 round up. So far I'm 1-1 this week: Patriots 17 @ Bills 10 -- Two words. Pass. Interference. I consider myself quite a grouchy, cynical person. And I've noticed that better teams certainly do get the rub of the green. The Colts basically live off a large number of 'pick' or 'rub' plays, which are supposed to be illegal. And anytime the Pats need a helping hand it seems all they have to do is throw a bomb to Moss and watch the little yellow flags fly. It's a joke and both of those big calls resulted in touchdowns. 2-1. Browns 41 @ Chiefs 34 -- Wow. Having laughed at this fixture for it's seemingly poor quality, it turned out to be quite the game. Special teams certainly made their mark as Josh Cribbs set a new NFL single season record for kick returns for TDs. But it was Jerome Harrison, in his 4th season now, who really stole the show. 34 carries for 286 yards and 3 TDs. I keep saying it to people but no one seems to listen. That production from Harrison is equal to what many of the best QBs in the league produce passing when they get 34 throws. And it's a whole lot more productive than what the worst QBs in the league get out of 34 throws. Credit to Brady Quinn though. He only got 17 attempts but still managed to complete just 10 of them and throw 2 picks. On a more positive note he did turn 4 scrambles into 39 yards. Maybe he just missed his calling. 2-2. Falcons 10 @ Jets 7 -- And from one exciting game to..... an abomination of the footballing kind. And to top matters, the 'Sanchise' was back from injury. Which meant the Jets rushing attack that has been trying to sustain this team all year long was once again dumped on. And predictably in the cold weather Sanchez completes just 18/32 and throws 3 picks. But worse was to come for the New Yorkers, as they botched no less than three field goal attempts well within range. One muffed hold, one wide right and one botched snap that led to a block. Then to cap a great game for the Jets, on 4th and goal for the Falcons with time ticking away, they let Tony Gonzalez practically walk into the endzone and sit down for the game winnning catch. 2-3. Texans 16 @ Rams 13 -- Not a lot to say about this one except that Matt Schaub to Andre Johnson has to be one of the most fun combinations to watch in the NFL, as Johnson went 9 for 196 yards. Maybe next year Houston.... 3-3. Dolphins 24 @ Titans 27 -- Somethings been driving me nuts about Miami for ages now. They've lived a lot on the strength of the 'Wildcat' this season. But as soon as Ronnie Brown went down injured, they just tossed it aside. Even though they've already shown themselves that with Pat White in the backfield they gain another two dimensions (legitimate throwing and option football). Ah well, they only have themselves to blame. The Titans were good but on 29 carries Johnson was held to just 104 yards. Vince Young got the offense going through the air but somehow the 'Phins rallied to take it to overtime. Then threw a pick. Stupid. 3-4. Cardinals 31 @ Lions 24 -- The Cards nearly got the shock of their life against the Lions. Only some hard running by Chris 'Beanie' Wells and a tough catch and run by one of my favourite players, Anquan Boldin, got it done for Arizona. Having seen how effective his team was on the ground, former Steelers coach Ken Wisenhunt looks like he's leaning more on becoming a power football team. I think the Cards chances in the playoffs just went up a notch. 4-4. Raiders 20 @ Broncos 19 -- Prior to having the chance of watching highlights for this game, I read repeated accounts of how great the Raiders were and how they pounded the Broncos into submission in this one. Then I watched the film. The Raiders scraped a win in the last 30 seconds or so. That is not what I call dominating or pounding anyone into submission. That's what I call slipping through the gap in the final seconds. 4-5. Bengals 24 @ Chargers 27 -- There are two things you can't really do against the Chargers. One is make costly mental errors that the Chargers will happily exploit. Two is to keep feeding the ball back to the Chargers and Phillip Rivers. Unfortunately for an emotional Bengals, they did both. Whether it was the pressure of the game or the loss of Chris Henry, the Bengals did not look alert at times and these lapses ultimately cost them. In addition, after weeks of successfully driving the ball hard on the ground, the Bengals picked an inopportune moment to ignore their rushing attack. In a game that was decided by a last minute Chargers drive, some burning of the clock might just have come in handy. 5-5. Bears 7 @ Ravens 31 -- Sometimes there are bigger things going on when a QB throws a lot of interceptions. God only knows what's happening with Jay Cutler. 3 more interceptions this weekend now takes his season tally to 25. That's five more than rookies Matthew Stafford and Mark Sanchez, and 7 more than even the pick master Jake Delhomme (though granted with more starts). The Bears only touchdown came on a special teams return and their defense just looked shocking. Even 'Air Flacco' was able to muster 4 TDs against them and that's probably the most damning indictment you can have. 6-5. Buccaneers 24 @ Seahawks 7 -- Maybe I should just toss a coin to decide my picks more often. The Buccaneers didn't just win, they stormed the Seahawks. And amazingly, Seattle could learn a thing or two from Tampa. Such as how to defend against the passing game. And understanding that good QBs are best used with a supplementary run game. Derrick Ward and Cadillac Williams hardly set the world alight, but they made solid games that helped keep the offense on track and kept it from becoming predictable. The Seahawks largely discarded a run game that has done them good service lately and instead went airborne 46 times, generating 4 interceptions in the process. Poor. 7-5. 49ers 13 @ Eagles 27 -- Let me just point something out for the sake of those who aren't aware. When the Eagles have more rushing attempts than you, not even yards, just rushing attempts, then I'm afraid you have serious problems my friends. So guess who has serious problems? Yep, my poor 49ers. Poor them and poor play. On a happier note, credit to the biggest playmakers of the day; the Eagles ground staff. Somehow they managed to find the pitch under all of that snow and get the game on. Well done. 8-5. Packers 36 @ Steelers 37 -- Did someone order a shootout? Big time game through the air and the NFL executives have probably all wet themselves just a little at the thought of this (I notice this is the game that has been chosen for NFL Replay on Tuesday and not the higher scoring and just as dramatic Browns @ Chiefs). Ultimately it was a missed field goal in the first half that came back to bite the Packers, along with a string of penalties in the fourth quarter alone. Who says a good kicker isn't worth the investment. There are a few teams in the league right now whose playoff aspirations have been variously hindered by just a few simple missed field goals. 8-6. Vikings 7 @ Panthers 26 -- After checking in on my total pick tally for the day I realised things had not gone well. I was boosted by the thought of the Vikings visiting Carolina. With the Saints losing on Saturday to fellow conference team the Cowboys, the door had been kicked open ready for the Vikings to make a charge on the number 1 seed in the NFC. I expected them to walk right into the Bank of America stadium and then walk out again with another win. Instead they strolled in and just barely crawled out, taking a big L with them. But the biggest surprise I've had is watching, listening to and reading the reactions of, various highly respected football analysts. Because somehow, somewhere, they've all become just a little mentally unstable. Take for example Michael Lombardi of NFL.com, who proudly stated, and I quote "Quarterback Matt Moore looked like a Pro Bowler in only his third start of the season... " Are you F*%$ing kidding me? Is this for real? Moore looked awful. Between them, Steve Smith and Gary Barnidge made Moore look good. They saved him from two, possibly three potential picks and chalked up most of Moores passing tally after the catch. The real heroes of the day were Jonathan Stewart who stepped up after DeAngelo Williams went down injured, and the in particular the Panthers D. They truly did dominate someone, namely Favre. Favre went 17/27 for 224 yards, but that doesn't tell the whole story. His biggest gain of the day was a short pass to Adrian Peterson who then turned up field and notched 63 yards. But that wasn't until the 4th quarter and was followed by Favres only pick of the game on the next play. That's how bad a beatdown the Panthers layed on the Vikings. And as for Peterson in the ground game? 12 carries for 35 yards and a TD. Only 3 of those carries came in the second half. It's the classic "Who cares that we have a great RB, we just want to air it out" mentality coming back again. Unfortunately for the Vikings fans, Favre-aggeddon may just blow up in their face this year. 8-7. Giants 45 @ Redskins 12 -- Signs that your team is in trouble #45: your QB gets more yards on two scrambles than any of your proper RBs. So yeah, the Redskins are in trouble. The Giants meanwhile found a nice balance to their offense which the normally quite stout Redskins couldn't cope with. This is a big win for the Giants. 8-8. I don't believe it, what a shocking week pick wise. 8-8 is by far my worst showing so far and it takes my overall tally since Week 7 to 86-49. Big time blow this week. Next week will need a big lift to recover some picking pride. But before I rush off anywhere, I just want to bring one truly dumb decision to light (and for a change, it's not mine). The Dallas Cowboys have had enough of Nick Folk and have released him. That's understandable. But who do you bring in to replace him? Maybe Jason Elam, he's out there on the free market isn't he? Hasn't he got 2 Superbowl rings? Isn't he tied in 1st place with Tom Dempsey for the longest field goal kick in NFL history? Doesn't he have a career 81% rating at kicking field goals? Yeah he does!!! So who do the Cowboys take? Shaun Suisham. WTF? The same Shaun Suisham who missed a 23-yard chip kick field goal for the Redskins against the Saints, a field goal that would have won them the game and ended the Saints undefeated streak even faster? Yeah, the same Shaun Suisham. Nice work Dallas, slick move. Slick move. No Superbowl dreams for you this season then.