Week 14 picks

A great thought has suddenly struck me.... I haven't done my Sunday picks for week 14 yet. Cleveland Browns @ Buffalo Bills: As odd as this may sound, I'm really looking forward to this game. Had someone else said that at the start of the season I would have laughed. But the fact is that despite their records, the Browns and the Bills are on the up. Ryan Fitzpatrick is taking control of the Bills offense and pushing hard. The Bills defense is gradually finding a way to make a difference in games. The Browns have poured their faith into Peyton Hillis and that faith has been repaid. Defensively they may not be the fastest or the most talented in the league, but they are working hard, fighting, and reaping the rewards. Someone has to lose though. One team will be forced to endure the cat calls from their own fans, accompanied by a week long barrage of criticism because their team couldn't be xyz. But the loser in this game will have little shame, barring a total on-field meltdown. The harsh reality for the NFL is that two of its least "sexy" teams are on the rise and may be making playoff bids a lot sooner than people think, providing they can keep their key players on board. Which one gets the head start though? I'm guessing that it'll be Cleveland. When you look at their depth compared to Buffalo, I think they have the edge. Last week, Jake Delhomme proved me wrong and put up some reasonably good numbers while his opposite number (Chad Henne) collapsed. When their quarterback plays a stable game, the Browns tend to grind out the victory so if Delhomme can just hold that form for one more week, then it's looking for the boys from Ohio. Browns win Atlanta Falcons @ Carolina Panthers: Ba ha ha ha ha!! John Fox is an ass, I hate the Panthers and the Falcons win. Next! Green Bay Packers @ Detroit Lions: As much as I like the Lions and their semi-recovery this year, I like the Packers even more. They've worked out many of the kinks in their offensive line and that was basically their sole offensive weak point from last year. It's still not perfect, but it's good enough. Of course it helps when can look at your defense and know in your head that any of those individuals would not be out of place on the NFC Pro Bowl team this year. The Packers are just that damn good. The Lions... not so much. It is a lot better than last year. But QB Matthew Stafford is rapidly developing a reputation as a fragile, injury riddled nightmare. The running game still doesn't have the kick that the lions need in short yardage spots. The defense brings pressure, that's not a problem. But the secondary has trouble holding up long enough for the pressure to get home. As well as tackling receivers. And covering the deep ball. And playing run good support.... So yeah, Packers win. Oakland Raiders @ Jacksonville Jaguars: It appears I went to bed just before the pre-season and have subsequently woken up in a parallel universe where the Raiders and Jaguars are actually good. Sort of. The Jaguars have been quite handy at beating bad teams and the Colts. The Raiders are quite handy on any given Sunday, until they suffer a collective organisational memory loss which leads them into doing silly things like forgetting how they were able to win games with their (potentially) powerful running game. Memory loss or not, I think the Raiders are just better than the Jaguars on paper. So, Raiders win. Just a brief pause to indicate that I'm now pressed hard for time, so the remaining picks will be brief. Very much so. Cincinnati Bengals @ Pittsburgh Steelers: The Bungals did ok last week. The Steelers however pulled through in a seriously tough battle against Baltimore. Steelers win. Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Washington Redskins: Washington sucks. Buccaneers win. St. Louis Rams @ New Orleans Saints: Despite improving, St. Louis is still not a match for the Saints at home. Saints win. Seattle Seahawks @ San Francisco 49ers: The Seahawks suck on the road. Thankfully. 49ers win. Denver Broncos @ Arizona Cardinals: The Broncos are in turmoil. They look bad and lack direction. The new Head Coach has no experience above being an assistant. The... oh wait... oh I see, they're playing the Cardinals. Broncos win. New England Patriots @ Chicago Bears: The Bears defense has a good match up here against the Patriots new look "dink and dunk" offense. Shame the Bears offense will struggle. Patriots win. Miami Dolphins @ New York Jets: The Jets took a pounding last week. But the Dolphins aren't the Patriots. Sadly for Miami fans they're the Dolphins. Jets win. Kansas City Chiefs @ San Diego Chargers: God help me for this... but I believe in Brodie Croyle. Yes, I did just say that. Chiefs win. Philadelphia Eagles @ Dallas Cowboys: Hmm. The Cowboys are looking good lately. Good enough to beat the Eagles. A little voice at the back of my head says yes. Which is why I'm going to drown it out with noise and take the Eagles. Eagles win. New York Giants @ Minnesota Vikings: The Giants are stuck somewhere in Kansas I believe, so this game wont take place till 8:00pm Eastern. Which is handy for the Vikings because it delays their inevitable collapse under the pressure of the Giants D-line. Giants win. Baltimore Ravens @ Houston Texans: The sad thing about the Texans D is that they just might make the Ravens offense look good. No such luck the other way around. Ravens win. Have a great day everyone.

Thursday Night Football pick, plus a rant (or two).

Some stuff to get through today, so cracking on would seem the best course of action: -- The NFL has convened a meeting of it's Head, Neck and Spine committee. And no, I didn't know they had one either. I'll get into the details in a minute but first; why the simple and all encompassing name of "Player Safety Committee" couldn't be used is a mystery. Well not exactly. It seems an odd and beauracratic thing to do, because it is. The NFL is worried about its image in the public (and political) eye and wants to be seen to be doing everything it can to get safe. It also has to show the players that it "cares". If the league wants the players to agree to an 18-game schedule it has to prove it's trying to make the game safer. Now if all this sounds like me being rather cynical then that's because I am. You should try reading my info thingy to the right >>> What jumped off the cynicism scale for me though was the apparent schedule juggling by Commissioner Roger Goodell. We're told that he was very busy yesterday, but in the name of player safety and showing that he "cares", he put all that other stuff to one side so he could come and listen to the folks recommendations. What a nice guy huh? Bullshit. In a season where concussions are the hot topic, and fines and penalties are being dished out left, right and center, does anyway honestly believe that Goodell didn't have this date ringed on his calender in big red pen? I can't stand it when people like Goodell try and make it out like they went out of their way to drop a bunch of important meetings in order to find time for this. It just serves to further reinforce my belief that Goodell is the slimiest of the slimy, a true snake. All smiles and "we're clean as a whistle Governor, honest", when in fact Goodell is as dirty and rotten as anybody walking the halls of power in Washington. But I digress. The point of the meeting was to allow helmet manufacturers to come forward with new ideas and research that they'd come up with. Now what intrigued me the most were two designs. One was a helmet with a soft outer shell designed to absorb impact and the other was a helmet that appeared to contain a two-fold layer of concussive protection; a series of transparent cells that appear to be filled with air/water/some fluid, who knows. This was topped by a layer of soft, squashy foam (it's the second helmet shown in the clip I'm going to link to, the one where you can see inside). In fact, here is the link. I bring this up only because I'm an intolerably smug individual who suggested these ideas for helmets not so long ago. Thinking about it, I actually think the helmet with the hard exterior and the crush able foam interior padding might be the best choice. -- Jason Pierre-Paul, DE, New York Giants. I bloody knew I'd missed someone yesterday. Pierre Paul is another player that in hindsight should have been on the watch list but I missed completely. Why? Only a single year playing at the highest level of college football, coupled with a concern that his game was all about his physical skills and not about technique. Ooops! -- Tim Tebow. With the sacking of Josh McDaniels comes the speculation that Tebow will be following shortly, traded away or even cut by the new Head Coach. As a result, many are already labelling Tebow a bust, berating Daniels for drafting him and for not having a plan for his development. All of which I find laughable. I think Tebow, quite apart from his rushing skills, is just straight up a very good quarterback. Very good. I think a first round pick for Tebow was fine. And I believe his development was coming along nicely. The trouble is though we're in an age when everybody wants everything now. They want Tebow on the field, winning games single handedly, and they want it yesterday. But that's not how things work. McDaniels's use of Tebow in short yardage and goal line situations reminds me of the story of a another quarterback during his development phase; Joe Montana. Despite what some peoples glossy memories may recall, Montana started his career in San Fransisco as Mr. Fill In. He was brought in for the odd play here, a drive or two maybe towards the end of game etc, but for his first season he was nothing more than a situational quarterback. Montana subsequently went on to be a half decent quarterback (I have no smilies, so I'm literally going to have to type *wink*). Cast your mind back as well to last season. Remember the name Michael Vick. Remember that in Philadelphia he was worked back into the team largely through his use in short yardage and goal line situations. That story didn't turn out too bad now, did it? (*wink*. So far...). In fact, the parallels between Tebow and Montana are more than you'd think. You're going to have to trust me on this one but you need to go back and watch Joe Montana throwing. In a bit, I'm even gonna lay on a video for you. What you'll see is very much a Tebow-esque release (or is Tebow using a Montana-esque release?). Montana's dipping motion with the ball isn't quite as pronounced and he sometimes uses a much faster motion, but trust me it's there, on film, on game day. So all this utter nonsense about Tebow's motion being unacceptable in the NFL is ridiculous. It's analyst speak for "we need to cover our butts in case he doesn't pan out". Well I for one have no intention of covering on this. I think Tebow is someday going to be a great quarterback. There it is. In writing. If I'm wrong, then damn it, I'm wrong. But I vehemently believe that Tebow deserves a chance and I think people are wrong about bashing Josh McDaniels for having the courage and audacity to pick him and try to develop him. Now here's your film clip, part of a seven part series that I probably have already posted on here before. Ah well, it's definitely worth posting again. You'll have to nip over to YouTube yourself to watch the other six parts : Right, time to get my pick in for tonight's game. Indianapolis Colts @ Tennessee Titans: Colts win. Job done. Allow me though to explain. I know that Peyton Manning threw four picks in week 14. I get that, he's having a bad year. But even though he threw four interceptions, and even though two were returned for touchdowns, the fact remains that the Colts still took the Cowboys to overtime. Manning completed 36 of 48 passes for 365 yards and two touchdowns. Freeney and Mathis both had sacks. The Colts had a rushing touchdown, and they made a big play on special teams as well. But let's not forget the most convincing reason that they should win; They're playing the Titans. The Titans. And yeah, I know the Titans have Chris Johnson, but that doesn't matter. This is the Titans we're talking about. I've learned that just because I would cram the ball down Indy's throats with the running game until they started puking up stitches, doesn't mean that the Titans will actually do that. Last week against the Jaguars they handed the ball to Johnson just 13 times. That was it. Now do you think Kerry Collins is going to tear up the Colts secondary instead? I don't see it. The best hope the Titans have is if their D-line can get back to making big plays against the pass. Like the Chargers and Cowboys before them, they need to get to Manning. Anything less will not suffice. That could be a problem though given the Titans recent knack of leaking rushing yardage. The Colts may not exactly be the masters of the rush, but against a 6-man front they can block to a reasonable degree, enough at least to victimise the wobbly looking Titans defense. All in all, I just can't see the Titans offense being able to keep up. As the score mounts the Colts options on offense get more flexible while the Titans offense becomes more one dimensional. As a result, the Titans let the game slip away and give Colts fans some hope. At least for now. Colts win. Have a great day everyone.

Monday Night Football round up

Monday night has been and gone, kind of, so it's time to recap the Monday night game and check my last pick of Week 14: Cardinals 9 @ 49ers 24 -- Well I'll be damned. You have to love the Arizona Cardinals. One week they basically dominate the Vikings, shutting down Adrian Peterson on the ground and making life a nightmare for QB Brett Favre. Then they come back next week and let Frank Gore tear them apart while Alex Smith picks some holes through the air! For weeks I've been bemoaning the need for Gore to get more action. Well, the call has been answered my friends! 25 carries for 167 yards and a TD is just what the doctor ordered. Tack on 144 yards through the air plus 2 more TD's and we have us a ball game. Of course, the real victors here are the 49ers defense. 2 interceptions and 6 forced fumbles (5 recovered by the 49ers) is quite the tally. Patrick Willis especially stood up to be counted by his team, leading the unit confidently with 9 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble. If the 49ers can keep this up they still have an outside shot at making the playoffs (probably through a wildcard). It's unlikely, but not impossible. The question is can they keep this up each week, especially with Philadelphia next on the schedule (!!). As for the Cards, they can probably recover from this and go on to take the division, but Head Coach Ken Wisenhunt must be mad as hell!!! So with that pick gone, it leaves me 11-5 for the week, which I think is my best so far. There were some fundamentally stupid picks this week (Seahawks, Broncos) but you can't argue. If they'd gone right I wouldn't be bitching so hey, ho, and away we go. That now leaves me 78-41 since starting in Week 7. That leaves me with a win percentage of just over 65%. Ok, but must try harder I think. Need to make less stupid picks.

Week 14 round up

All the action from Sunday is done, which means it's time for a recap of the days games: Saints 26 @ Falcons 23 -- A friend of mine (yeah, I have some) recently called me out on the fact that I don't believe the Saints are the best team in the league. This result goes a long way to showing why. In their last two games the "Best team in the NFL" has ridden it's luck almost to the point of exhaustion. And to beat who? The Vikings, the Cardinals, the Colts, the Packers? Nope, the Redskins and the Falcons, who are essentially among the bottom feeders this year. Last week the Redskins went out of their way to give the Saints as many second chances as possible, including a missed chip shot field goal that would have won the game in the dying seconds. This week they got the luckiest of lucky pass interference calls. What should have been an interception on a 3rd and 10 instead became a near enough 30 yard gain which set up a score for Reggie Bush. Then later in the game Darren Sharper, the "Best safety and/or ball hawk in the league right now" got absolutely toasted ("victimised" to use a commentators turn of phrase) for an easy TD. I'm happy that I got the pick, but I'm gutted a little about the way it's happened and that the Saints will still be hauling in the plaudits tomorrow morning. Lions 3 @ Ravens 48 -- I'm a huge fan of running the football. It takes a certain degree of determination and physicality to pull it off, but when you do, it can be just as explosive as any passing attack. Run the ball, play great defense. That's the motto. That's Ravens football. And the Ravens made a point of that today. Ok, so it was against the Lions, but who else has trashed Detroit by 45 points this season? On 40 rushing plays they generated 308 yards of offense and 5 touchdowns. If you exclude receivers and QBs, 4 different Ravens had carries which helps take some of the load off Ray Rice. And all this largely dictates the type of looks you're gonna get from the defense and subsequently makes life so much easier for Joe Flacco. He completed just 13 of 20 passes, but notched 230 yards, a TD, and crucially no picks. All this helps to keep the Ravens D off the field where they can rest and talk with the coaches, which is bad news for a Lions team missing Matthew Stafford. His replacement Daunte Culpepper completed less than half of his 34 passes and threw 2 INTs as well. This Ravens team has an outside shot at a wildcard place and if they get it, and continue to play like this, they will go far. Packers 21 @ Bears 14 -- The Packers just keep on rolling. They threw, they ran and they picked the ball off. It's the big 'M' word. Momentum. That's what the Packers are taking with them as they make a late run for the postseason. The Bears on the other hand combined for just 17 total rushes and Cutler handily turned the ball over twice. They just look poor right now. Worse, they look like Seattle...... Seahawks 7 @ Texans 34 -- ....... And speak of the devil. My upset pick for the 'Hawks was based on the premise that lately they've been very keen to develop a ground game to make themselves less predictable. Oops! The Texans ran it more, and better, as well as passing for 365 yards and 2 TD's. Of course it helps when you have a guy like Matt Schaub throwing to a guy like Andre Johnson, who turned 11 receptions into 193 yards and 2 TDs. The Texans are a good team, they just don't always play like it. Broncos 16 @ Colts 28 -- I'm a big believer in playing to your relative strengths and getting the ball to your play makers. 21 receptions for Brandon Marshall may be taking that idea a little literally though. But that was far from the Broncos biggest problem. Two thinks you need to understand. 1) In the redzone, you need to score. You need 100% efficiency. The Colts were 4/4, the Broncos 2/4. No surprises then that the Colts won. 2) Peyton Manning does not throw 3 interceptions per game on a regular basis. That means that when he does, you have to punish him. The Broncos failed to do that. On a side note, I'm just wondering if the Colts will ever be called this season for running what are supposedly illegal 'pick/rub' plays. I counted at least three, two for touchdowns. Dolphins 14 @ Jaguars 10 -- There is a simple logic to this game. The Dolphins looked at Ricky Williams and said "yeah, you're pretty good. We'll run it and set up some play action". And they did, giving Williams 28 carries for 108 yards and a TD. The Jaguars meanwhile looked at Maurice Jones-Drew and said "We don't have a god damn clue what we're doing, so how about just 18 carries for the day". And they did, giving him 18 carries for 59 yards and a TD. Meanwhile, Rashad Jennings had his mandatory 2 carries slashed in half this week, but he took it on the chin and clocked 10 yards. Chad Henne played his part for Dolphins, and despite throwing a pick and no TDs, managed to put 220 yards on the board to help things along. Bills 16 @ Chiefs 10 -- The Bills passing game sucked and their rush defense was practically non-existent, but never fear Bills fans, luckily Matt Cassel has arrived to save the day! No-one seems to have cottoned on yet that much of Matt Cassels success last year was down to a certain receiving combination by the name of Moss and Welker Ltd. That would explain why he went 26/43 for 224 yards, no touchdowns and a handsome 4 interceptions. Jamaal Charles must have been seething, as his 20 carries for 143 yards and a TD went unnoticed. One day people will wake up and realise that even the worst rushing attack in the league could take the Bills defense for at least 200 yards if given the chance. As it stands, the Bills slip through another game. Bengals 10 @ Vikings 30 -- I love teams that run the football, but it has to be understood that one of the reasons for running the ball so much is to try and get the defense to play with 8 in the box and man coverage on the outside. When that happens, you have to take your shots down field. You have to use play action and try and get big chunks of yardage/scores off of a relatively fewer number of passes. Not 94 yards off 25 passes. The Bengals lacked a down field game whereas the Vikings didn't. That pretty much sums this one up. Panthers 10 @ Patriots 20 -- I give up on the Panthers. I hate them with a passion now. I can't blame Panthers fans who simply refuse to go and watch games. 'Cos I can at least understand the thinking behind why you would throw so much with Jake Delhomme. You're the coach, it's your responsibility to do what you think is best for your team. If that means throwing the ball 40 times a game and hoping Steve Smith will break off a big play or two, then so be it. It's a fatally flawed strategy (Delhomme + 40 throws = muchos interceptions) but at least you believe it's the right one. But when Delhomme isn't playing through injury, how in Gods name can you justify giving the ball to backup Matt Moore and asking him to throw 30 passes? There isn't a way in hell that you could possibly believe that to be a superior strategy to running the ball with Williams and Stewart. Or to put it another way, when you have one of the best running back tandems in the NFL, it's inexplicable that they should combine for less carries than Laurence Maroney. The Panthers deserve to get beaten for this. It's a shame it wasn't by more than just 10 points. I hate the Panthers. Jets 26 @ Buccaneers 3 -- 33 pass attempts, 93 yards, 0 touchdowns, 3 interceptions. That pretty much sums up the Buccaneers day on offense. The Jets took a more grounded approach and it paid dividends today. Rams 7 @ Titans 47 -- Steve Spagnuolo must be wishing he'd stayed with the Giants. His defensive unit played woefully, but not as bad as backup QB Keith Null who managed to turn 43 pass attempts into 1 touchdown and 5 interceptions. On the other side of the ball Vince Young went down injured, so no doubt many Titans fans were looking rather edgy to see Collins enter the game. Luckily for them the Titans limited him to 19 throws which produced a TD and no picks. Johnson had another big day on the ground but probably not enough to keep him on course to break Eric Dickersons record. Redskins 34 @ Raiders 13 -- Gradkowski is hardly the Messiah of Oakland, but at least he's not JaMarcus Russell. So I bet Raiders fans were in shock to see their much maligned, multi millionaire signal caller trot out onto the field for the second half...... only to promptly get sacked 6 times as well as throwing an interception. The truth is that the Redskins D is pretty handy. Helps though when you're playing the Raiders. Quinton Ganther got 14 carries for Washington, notching up 50 yards and 2 TDs, proving yet again that it's the Redskins O-line and not Clinton Portis that's been working so well all this time. Chargers 20 @ Cowboys 17 -- Literally a field goal divided the two teams. Having picked off Philip Rivers the Cowboys had a shot at a field goal from about 42 yards and they miss. That ultimately costs them the game. That, and their inability to finish one drive by stuffing the ball in the endzone despite having 4 shots at it from close range. On the opposite side of the field, Norv Turner consistently built drives and used his two backs as pass protectors to allow Rivers to take deep shots down the field. When it came to the crunch he handed the ball to no.21 LT who did what he does best and stuffed that rock in there. The Chargers look impressive, but bizarrely so do the Cowboys, if they could just iron out some of the wrinkles. Eagles 45 @ Giants 38 -- This game was without question the finest game of football I've ever watched. It was open and dramatic and just simply phenomenal to watch. DeSean Jackson is crazy good. The kid has out of this world talent. Well either that or like Chris Johnson he's just realised that when you only weigh around 170 pounds then no safety in the country has a chance of catching you. And the fact that the Giants secondary was appalling. Leonard Weaver continued to impress for the Eagles as well. Brandon Jacobs continues to make a case for why he should get more carries. And Tom Coughlin will want to know how his team scored 38 points and racked up 512 yards of total offense, yet still managed to lose the game. The stats for certain individuals also don't tell the whole story. Take for example Trent Cole. 4 tackles, 2 assists and a forced fumble. He was everywhere in this game and he made plays at crucial times. His hustle set the tone for his entire team. Then we have Hakeem Nicks. 4 catches, 110 yards and a TD. But honestly, he was bad. He dropped two clangers first then later caught a pass in the endzone... but couldn't keep his feet in bounds, largely due to drifting so wide through poor route technique. Michael Vick only threw two passes and ran the ball 3 times, including a TD, but he always looked a threat and his 32 yard completion was thrown near enough flat. Whoever gets him next year gets a big time weapon. So, there we have it, that's all the games from this week so far. Tomorrow my superstar 49ers (yeah, ok) play host to the Cardinals in that frozen wasteland otherwise known as Candlestick Park. And I'm backing the Cardinals in that one. As for this week, so far I am......... 11-4!!! If it wasn't for the damn Steelers losing to the Browns, the Panthers being idiots as usual (I hate them), and me picking the Seahawks and the Broncos for upsets that were less likely than a JaMarcus Russell league MVP, then I could have swept clean so far!! Hopefully the Cards will carry me to 12 wins tomorrow. And if they don't I win anyway.

Week 14 picks

As I type this right now, my 1 year old nephew is sleeping in his chair next to me, so in case he wakes up, this is going to have to be a little brief: Saints @ Falcons -- As over rated as I think the Saints are, even I'm not stupid enough to take the Falcons. Saints win. Lions @ Ravens -- This could be a trick game for the Ravens. Lately they've been abysmal, but luckily the Lions are just as bad. Ravens win. Packers @ Bears -- The Packers are flying right now. In the true fashion of many teams that have had deep playoff runs, everything is coming together for them just at the right time, in all phases of the game. The Bears are the Bears. Packers win. Seahawks @ Texans -- The Texans have been rubbish lately while the Seahawks are trying to run the ball and bring a new aspect to their game. I think the 'hawks might pull an upset special. Seahawks win. Broncos @ Colts -- Hmm, toughy. Indy has a habit of barely scraping through their games and the Broncos have finally learnt that they can still run their impressive zone-stretch runs. I don't think the Colts will take their foot of the gas, but I do think the Broncos can pull off an upset. Broncos win. Dolphins @ Jaguars -- Do I have to pick a winner? Both teams are too unpredictable for my liking. I think the Jags have a better run game but the Dolphins have a much better D. Dolphins win. Bills @ Chiefs -- God this game looks terrible on paper. Anyone that has to watch this game has my sympathy, more so if you're a Chiefs fan because I think the Bills edge it. Bills win. Bengals @ Vikings -- I think Brett Favre will watch game film from last Sunday night and think to himself "I can't let that happen again". The Vikings also get CB Antoine Winfield back from injury this week. Vikings win. Panthers @ Patriots -- The Patriots D sucks of late, especially against the run. This might be the chance the Panthers need to break out their running game. I actually think the Panthers might win it. Panthers win. Jets @ Buccaneers -- Another terrible game. Expect Rex Ryan to dial up some serious pressure on rookie QB Josh Freeman and either live or die by the blitz. Jets win. Rams @ Titans -- The Rams rush defense against Chris Johnson? Titans win. Redskins @ Raiders -- Bruce Gradkowski has a mean threat ahead of him with the Redskins coming to town. Their pass defense has been really good, and they were the first team (bizarrely) to take the Saints to overtime this season. I like what I'm seeing in Washington of late. Redskins win. Chargers @ Cowboys -- Tony Romo needs another huge game, as does the Cowboys D. And their rushing attack. And their special teams. And that's just to keep pace with the Chargers. Chargers win. Eagles @ Giants -- Have the Giants bounced back after stumbling recently? Nope. Meanwhile the Eagles are starting to integrate a rushing attack to complement their explosive pass game. Eagles win. Cardinals @ 49ers -- If the Cards win this one, they win the NFC West and book a place in the playoffs. See you in January then. Cardinals win.

Week 14 Thursday night Recap

The dust has settled, the seats are empty and the teams are on their respective ways home, so it must be time for a recap of Thursday Night Football: Steelers 6 @ Browns 13 -- My god. Just, wow. I have to eat some humble pie here. I didn't think the Steelers D was as bad as everyone makes out. But some of the tackling I witnessed would make an 8 year old linebacker sick with embarrassment. It was terrible. Losing to the Browns is not a good sign. But only putting 6 points on the board is even worse. Couple that with losses to the Chiefs and Raiders and there is an argument to be made that the Steelers are the second worst team in the NFL right now, after the Lions. I'm just speechless. As I type this, I'm not thinking anything other than 'holy crap, how did that happen?'. Well, I can make some educated guesses. Take for example the Steelers offense. Their O-line drew a huge amount of criticism last year for not protecting Big Ben. Now some of that has to be put on the shoulders of the QB for constantly scrambling and extending plays past their lifespan. But this week I think both the line and the QB have to shoulder some of the blame for conceding 8 sacks. 8. That contributed a grand total of 60 negative yards. To the Browns..... But it's just another symptom of the Steelers overall. Their line is built for the run. Their defense is built to complement a running game. Their draft strategy has always assumed a heavy dose of the run. And yet here they are, in December, throwing 32 passes. 32. Tack on the 8 sacks and we have 40 pass attempts, out of 62 rushing/passing plays. And just to remind you, this is the Steelers we're talking about right. Rashard Mendenhall got just 16 carries. 'Fast' Willie Parker is fast becoming an unused asset, with just 3 carries. This is chronic. If I was the Steelers GM I'd be pulling Head Coach Mike Tomlin to one side after the game and suggesting that maybe it's time to ask the offensive co-ordinator what the hell he thinks he's doing. Not that Bruce Arians or any other offensive co-ordinator is gonna listen. This is the NFL right! The National Flag League, where only passing matters. Well tuck into your offense Pittsburgh, because it's killing your football team. Shame. So, that's me off to a now typical 0-1 start. Either tomorrow or Saturday I shall put up my picks for the rest of Week 14.

Thursday Night pick

Well, due to unforeseen circumstances involving buses, government paperwork, a defective computer and it's defective operator (not me I might add) Extra Credit was missed yesterday and will have to skipped this week unfortunately. What I can squeeze into my schedule is my Thursday Night pick for week 14: Steelers @ Browns -- This is an uglier pick than you might imagine. The temptation is to flatly anoint the Steelers as victors. But the Browns do have a few tricks up their sleeve. Take for example their return game. Josh Cribbs has a penchant for explosive plays on punt and kick returns. The Steelers meanwhile have a penchant for giving up big plays when covering punts and kicks. Even if any resulting score (or scores) don't contribute immensely to the points tally, the overall field position gains on each drive could. It makes it easier for the Browns, harder for the Steelers. And Brady Quinn and his offense hardly need much help of late. If I had got round to doing extra credit, Quinn would have got his fair helping. 3 TDs and nearly 300 yards of offense is pretty good for most teams. Given the Browns record of late, it's downright exceptional. They still haven't developed a proper and consistent downfield game to WR Mohamed Massaquoi, but they're getting there. Gradually. Very gradually. And just to make life easier, the Steelers defense is having a few troubles lately. I'm not entirely convinced by the doom and gloom predictions that a lot of people are touting, but it can't be overlooked that the Steelers Cornerbacks are yet to generate an interception this season. Looking at the Steelers scores over the their recent games, you can see how an interception or two might have helped them out a little. But there is hope. With change supposedly in the air in Pittsburgh, they may just be about to revive their running game and return to true Steeler football. That means less sacks, less interceptions, more time run off the clock and more rest for their defense. All these things could contribute to a much improved Steelers team. The playoffs are not completely out of sight, but they need to turn things around in Ohio this week. I think they will. Steelers win.