After watching the Saints take apart Atlanta last night, I am looking forward to a NO/GB matchup somewhere along the line. Should be a great game.

Not everyone, just The (6-9) Chiefs.

GAT_00: Titans lose to the Colts, drop 7 spots. Texans lost to the Colts, drop 2 spots.

Makes total sense.

One team is 10-5 and has a playoff berth locked up, the other is 8-7 and doesn't. Makes perfect sense.

I love my Falcons and all, but they should be lower. Last night just showed what happens when they play a good team. They got beat in every facet of the game.

My Bengals have to win and they're in.

Or have the Jets and either the Broncos or Raiders lose and they're in.

From there, they'll naturally roll through the playoffs, winning the wild card game, divisional game, and AFC championship. Then Lewis will craft the greatest game plan ever devised and implement it against the Packers. Only to have it fail miserably and the Pack goes on to win 42-6.

/WHO DEY?!

The Chiefs did it, I would assume New Orleans, San Fran, New England, Baltimore and Pittsburgh are as good as the Chiefs.

It's easy: you kill the Batman Aaron Rogers

Based on how the Saints and Packers are playing recently the only safe bet in that game is the "over."

Hey, uh, the Jets actually do suck. Let's just swap 'em out for the Giants, see if anyone notices.

Wasilla Hillbilly: I know this is all meaningless but I don't see how Seattle drops three places when they had won 5 of 6 and gave SF a tough game.

Because they lost, while Philadelphia, Tennessee and Oakland all won and improved their own positions. These aren't grades or ratings; they're sequential rankings, where position is mutually exclusive. If Team A at position 5 improves substantially and jumps up the list, then all the teams it jumps over automatically lose a place in the rankings. This isn't rocket surgery.

The Falcons are too damn high.

So, barring a miraculous upset of the Steelers in Cleveland on Sunday, the Browns will actually finish with a worse record than they did in either of Eric Mangini's two seasons in Cleveland.

Time to start looking forward to the draft. Unfortunately, it looks like Colt McCoy's time as a starter is probably over. Fortunately, it's a deep Quarterback draft and it looks like the Browns could go after RG3 with one of their two first round picks (thanks, Atlanta).

I'm here to boo the joke in the url.
And also to say that the Cowboys defense should be ranked 35th, two spots behind the ghost of Al Bundy's high school career but 1 spot ahead of a snow-covered barn.

Fell asleep before the game ended last night, so I wasn't able to do this then. The strong finish prevented me from suffering my second losing week (and second losing week in a row).

Harv72b: After three straight weeks with at least twelve correct picks, last week was...shall we say, less than optimal. I missed getting my pick in before kickoff of the Thursday night game, which sucks because I was totally going to pick Indianapolis & even had the final score at 19-16 (that's my story, dammit). Week 16 super-happy-fun-fun picks follow:

Cleveland Browns at Baltimore Ravens:
The Ravens have won nine straight at home, seven straight against the Browns, and three straight on Christmas weekend. All that means that with opposite week over and done with, this should be a relative lock.
Two things worry me as a Ravens fan, and both were on display in this game: first, with the exception of the week one victory over the Steelers, the Ravens have not shown the kind of killer instinct which teams like the Packers and Saints possess in putting games away; maybe it's the backlash over Rice's lack of touches earlier in the season, but they shut down the offense too early for my tastes. Second, the defense appears to be playing better without Ray Lewis in there. I don't want to be the one to tell him, but he has lost a step this season, and it shows on the field.

Denver Tebows at Buffalo Bills:
The Bills defense gave up over 200 yards rushing to Reggie Bush last week. Show of hands: how many people think they can shut down McGahee, Tebow, and company?
I am far less surprised by Tebow's poor showing than I am by the fact that the Bills actually came to play in this one. Buffalo did a good job stuffing the run, made Tebow look even worse than all but his biggest critics claim he actually is, and to add insult to injury the Bills actually out-rushed Denver. The good news is that this makes for a couple more interesting week 17 games with playoff implications.


Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Carolina Panthers:
Two bad teams with god-awful defenses square off in a "who cares" match-up--the difference maker will be that Carolina has a functioning offense. Meanwhile, Raheem Morris gets a nail in the coffin that is his head coaching career this Christmas.
No team has played worse this season than the Buccaneers have during their current nine-game losing streak. Even the Colts were still in many of their games during the 0-13 start, whereas Tampa has lost by an average of over 17 points per game during their string of defeats. Perhaps most embarrassing is that the Bucs were not only swept by the Panthers this season, they were outscored 86-35 in the two games.

Arizona Cardinals at Cincinnati Bengals:
The Cards come in riding a four-game winning streak, while the Bengals have struggled against tougher opponents, particularly of late. With both Detroit and Atlanta facing tough games this week, Arizona will keep their slim playoff hopes alive with the win.
Skelton and the Cards came up just short during their usual fourth-quarter comeback attempt, making this one appear closer than it really was. The Bengals find themselves in a very unusual (for them) scenario where a win in week 17 puts them into the playoffs. With that amount of success, you'd think the team wouldn't need to offer two-for-one tickets to the game.

Oakland Raiders at Kansas City Chiefs:
Despite having just beaten the Packers and having won two of their last three, something bugs me about the Chiefs: namely, the fact that they haven't broken 20 points in a game since Halloween (and last week's win against Green Bay was the first time they'd scored more than 10 during that span). If for no other reason, I'm going with Oakland because that will further muddle things in the AFC West.
A win is a win, but Oakland fans can't feel too comfortable with a 16-13 overtime victory against Kansas City, nor with Carson Palmer throwing two more interceptions in the game. The Chiefs, meanwhile, continued to struggle offensively, indicating that perhaps Matt Cassell was a bigger benefit to this team than some thought.

Miami Dolphins at New England Patriots:
Hats off to the resurgent Dolphins, who are 5-2 after their horrid start. The Patriots, however, have won six straight while their offense is firing on all cylinders. Put that together with the game being in New England, and there's your winner.
Just when you think one team is pulling away from the pack in the AFC, the Patriots struggle to pull off a three-point victory at home against Miami. Combined with Buffalo's surprising victory above, suddenly New England's week 17 home game doesn't look as easy as it once did, giving hope to Baltimore/Pittsburgh in their quest for the #1 seed.

New York Giants at New York Jets:
Man these teams are hard to figure out. Both can look like championship contenders on a good week, but both can look absolutely dreadful as well. I go with the Jets because they wear green, which should be a good omen for a Christmas Eve game.
The New York Jets will draft a quarterback in 2012, bank on it. While Sanchez is serviceable at the position, it's games like this one which show that he might not be the guy who takes them to a championship. Perhaps the most entertaining aspect of this game was the fall-out afterward over the Jets' decision to cover up the Giants' Super Bowl logos outside the locker rooms.

St. Louis Rams at Pittsburgh Steelers:
I'd obviously love to see the Rams pull an upset, which combined with a Ravens win would clinch the division for Baltimore. And truth be told, there's reason to believe an upset could happen--Charlie Batch will start for the Steelers, and Pittsburgh's offense is 100% geared towards Big Ben being under center. But the Rams are just so bad that I don't think even Batch can lose against them.
Batch did a decent enough job in the game, while the Steelers showed that they can indeed run the ball...at least, they can against the Rams. I'm pulling for St. Louis to "win" the #1 draft pick, just for the drama and potentially insane trade that could create.

Jacksonville Jaguars at Tennessee Titans:
It's a hunch pick, which is often all that divisional games come down to. That said, the Titans have struggled to stop the run this year (23rd in the league), while Maurice Jones-Drew is having a stellar season. I believe he will be the difference this week, as the Jags complete a season sweep against Tennessee and effectively kill the Titans' playoff hopes.
The result of this game convinces me that the Jaguars are actually worse than I thought, rather than the Titans being better. Maurice Jones-Drew put together yet another good game in a losing effort.

Minnesota Vikings at Washington Redskins:
I saw a program titled "Viking Apocalypse" on the National Geographic channel the other night and thought it was about Minnesota's 2011 campaign. Interesting side-note: three teams went winless in inter-conference play this season, and these are two of them.
How do you figure out the Redskins, who go from beating the Giants in New York and giving the Patriots all they can handle, to losing to the Vikings after knocking out Minnesota's quarterback and their best offensive player? Answer: you don't.

San Diego Chargers at Detroit Lions:
Philip Rivers and the Chargers are pulling their usual late-season rally, while the Lions seem to be doing their best to continue the team tradition of nose-diving down the standings. Fortunately for Detroit, their wild-card competition isn't doing much better. I look for the red-hot Chargers to run away with this one.
As good as the Chargers had looked in their previous three games, that's how not-good they looked Saturday (I don't even remember where that line comes from, but it fits). Credit where it's due: the Lions played extremely well in clinching their first playoff berth since 1999.

Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys:
The one constant in the NFC East over the past two months has been that anything which could establish one team as the clear front-runner will not happen. Amazingly, the Eagles will keep their paper-thin playoff hopes alive with the win.
Losing Tony Romo and not having any reason to try to win this one certainly affected the outcome, but I'd like to think that the Cowboys would have lost anyway. This sets up almost a dream scenario for the league, with Dallas and the Giants squaring off next weekend in a single game to decide the division winner. I say "almost" because it's the wrong Manning, and no Tom Brady.

San Francisco 49ers at Seattle Seahawks:
While the Niners seemed to lose a bit of thier spark after locking up the division, they appeared to rejuvenate themselves with the victory over Pittsburgh last week. Seattle's late-season run has borne them back into respectability, but expecting a win here is a bit much.
In what turned out to be a thrilling game, the 49ers just did pull this one off and kept on track for a first-round playoff bye. Despite officially being eliminated from playoff contention, fans in Seattle have to be excited about the late-season push their team mounted, setting up higher expectations for the 2012 season.

Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers:
The good news for Bears fans is that they've finally pulled the plug on the Caleb Hanie era. The bad news is that means Josh McCown under center.
About the only bright spot for the Bears was Kahlil Bell's performance, as he nearly doubled his rushing total for the season. Having now clinched the #1 seed in the NFC, Green Bay will see if they can put away the game against Detroit by halftime, then rest Aaron Rodgers & company.

Atlanta Falcons at New Orleans Saints:
No team is playing better football than the Saints, at least on offense, and New Orleans is perfect this year at home. Atlanta won't be able to keep up in this one (and surprisingly, we get our second-straight interesting Monday Night game).
Atlanta should be pulling very hard for the Packers next weekend. If Green Bay beats Detroit while the Falcons take care of business against Tampa Bay, Atlanta will move up the 5th seed and not have to re-play this game in the wild card round of the playoffs.

9-6 ain't great, but it's a whole lot better than last week.

robsul82: The Falcons Rams are too damn high.

FTFY.

Treygreen13: I'm here to boo the joke in the url.

You're welcome. :p

Overfiend: MugzyBrown: NFL stinks this year.

The Packers have no running game and no defense, but are the clear best team in the league?

You must be a Bears fan.

Either that or you don't watch much football.

Green Bay ranks 27th in rushing and 31st in total defense. Even if you give them the "bend don't break" defense thing, they're only 20th in points allowed.

konigsforst: CavalierEternal: So, barring a miraculous upset of the Steelers in Cleveland on Sunday, the Browns will actually finish with a worse record than they did in either of Eric Mangini's two seasons in Cleveland.

Time to start looking forward to the draft. Unfortunately, it looks like Colt McCoy's time as a starter is probably over. Fortunately, it's a deep Quarterback draft and it looks like the Browns could go after RG3 with one of their two first round picks (thanks, Atlanta).

i haven't seen any browns games (live on the WC), but has Colt been that bad? i think they should keep him as a starter, but like i said . . .

Colt McCoy has put up better numbers than any Browns QB since the team returned (sans Derek Anderson's fluke Pro-Bowl season in 2007) and he's done it with a bunch of injured Running Backs, no blocking and receivers who can't catch. Unfortunately, offensive failures and inability to win have fallen back on Colt almost as much as they have Pat Shurmur and I'm not sure he'll be starting next season.

The plus side is that there wasn't a lot of risk involved in McCoy starting. He's a third round pick without a huge contract and would make a fine backup QB if they decide to draft a new franchise QB. I wish they'd get him some talent and stick it out with him for at least another season, but this is Cleveland and if a Quarterback isn't Aaron Rodgers by his third year, the fans will call for his head and the management will always cave.

Harv72b: robsul82: The Falcons Rams are too damn high.

FTFY.

Hey, uh...that's my temporary rooting interest you're talking about. Them's fightin' words.

/sad panda

Harv72b: Green Bay ranks 27th in rushing and 31st in total defense. Even if you give them the "bend don't break" defense thing, they're only 20th in points allowed.

Plenty of points are garbage-time points, though.

Wasilla Hillbilly: I know this is all meaningless but I don't see how Seattle drops three places when they had won 5 of 6 and gave SF a tough game.

Goddammit if only there weren't that false start that went uncalled but half the team seemed to expect to be called...and if Jackson had handed it off to Lynch, Lynch STILL would've scored and they would've won. :/

Harv72b: Overfiend: MugzyBrown: NFL stinks this year.

The Packers have no running game and no defense, but are the clear best team in the league?

You must be a Bears fan.

Either that or you don't watch much football.

Green Bay ranks 27th in rushing and 31st in total defense. Even if you give them the "bend don't break" defense thing, they're only 20th 12th in points allowed.

FTFM. Why would it sort worst to best???

Meh...they still don't have a running game. So there.

Why Would I Read the Article: Man, am I glad that the Niners (should, anyway) will get to play the Saints at Candlestick. They can beat them in San Francisco, as the Saints are very average on the road. If they played that game in the Superdome, the Saints win 38-14. The Niners should win in San Francisco, but it'll still be a real tough game.

Your red zone offense is only awful on the road?

Overfiend: I argue that they are clearly the best team in the league.

I concur, but methinks that the OP in this convo was decrying the fact that a team can be the best without a legitimate running game & with a suspect-at-best defense, not arguing that Green Bay isn't that team.

Harv72b: Meh...they still don't have a running game. So there.

Well, they aren't the Ravens where if they don't run it, they have to rely on Joe Flacco to lead them to glory. Instead, they have a great passing game that rarely gets stopped, so they don't really have to worry about running. If they have to, they might have problems...but I'm not aware of too many situations where you're forced to run the ball, especially when you have the most efficient passing game in the league.

Why Would I Read the Article: If the Packers replaced Rodgers with an average QB like a Flacco or something

As a Ravens fan, I'm all for that trade.

Wasilla Hillbilly: I'm not sure I'm ready to crown Rodgers as the Greatest Of All Time.

soon.jpg