Lucky 13

Happy Thanksgiving!

Green Bay 17, Detroit 40 – It’s time for one of those games where the Lions look like a legitimate playoff team.

Oakland 20, Dallas 31 – Quite a bit of revisionist history written after Romo’s game-winning drive against the Giants. Romo is clutch after all. We have the data. I know I acknowledged in a recent post that I actually felt sorry for Romo but somehow this feels like the set up for some poke your eyes out level pigskin tragedy. It looms just over the horizon, dark but not yet fully formed. It won’t be this week or next. Losing the NFC East and being eliminated from the playoffs on the last Sunday of the season, at home, to the Eagles; that seems more like it.

Pittsburgh 24, Baltimore 23 – Maybe there’s no such thing as momentum or clutch when it comes to sports. The outcome from one event is independent of the events that precede and follow it. Still, hard to ignore the Steelers’ three-game winning streak. Also, hard to ignore the Ravens’ 4-1-0 record at home. Both of these teams are long shots for a playoff spot and one of them will be an even longer shot when this game is over so this is pretty much a must win game for both teams. One of them, then, will be terribly saddened by the outcome. 

Jacksonville 17, Cleveland 13 – Speaking of sad.

Tennessee 23, Indianapolis 29 – The Titans inexplicably have a better plus/minus than the Colts (+5 to +3 which is really not impressive from any perspective, even side by side). What’s happened to the Colts team that authored wins over the Seahawks, 49ers and Broncos? They beat the Seahawks and 49ers but lose to the Rams and Cardinals? Does that seem right? Anyway, the Colts just beat the Titans in Nashville a couple of weeks ago, they’re coming home off an embarrassing road loss and Andrew Luck has never lost back-to-back games as a pro. Q.E.D.

Chicago 27, Minnesota 17 – That’s right. I like career backup Josh McCown (of The Flying McCown Brothers) over Christian “I am too the starting QB” Ponder. On the road. With the possibility that Joe Forte may not be able to go.

Miami 14, NY Jets 16 – Remember when the Jets looked like a mortal lock for a wildcard spot? Okay, mortal lock is probably too strong. Remember when the Jets were in an “if the playoffs started today” wildcard spot? Well, if the playoffs started today, the Jets would be about five tiebreakers out of the playoffs. The Dolphins would be six tiebreakers out of the playoffs. Remember when the Dolphins were going to challenge the Patriots for the AFC East? Good times, huh? The NYJ have been decent at home and yeah that’s all I got.

Arizona 34, Philadelphia 30 – I wouldn’t bet on this game if I were you. 

Tampa Bay 27, Carolina 24 – So, what does Buccaneers management do with Greg Schiano if the Pewter Pirates win out to finish 8-8-0 and Mike Glennon continues to look like a franchise quarterback? They probably fire him, anyway, right? It has to be hard not to look ahead to the road trip to New Orleans in Week 14. New Orleans will likely be coming off a loss in Seattle. Carolina could take the NFC South lead with a win in the Big Easy. But first they need to take care of business at home against the until recently woeful Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Anyway, it seems to me the Panthers have been dodging bullets for a month now and eventually fate’s aim will be true.

New England 34, Houston 17 – Classic trap game for the Patriots. They’re coming off a game that cost them in blood and treasure. They’re facing a team they’ve handled pretty easily in their last two meetings, a team that is working on a 9 game losing streak. Weaker-minded teams might well succumb to this scenario. Football is a game of emotional commitment as much as it is a game of physical commitment; perhaps more so. Is there a team in the NFL that is mentally tougher than the Patriots? Let’s just say the Texans will need to have at least a 31-0 halftime lead if they’re going to win this game.

Atlanta 7, Buffalo 30 – A dome team with nothing left to live for playing in Buffalo. [Oops! Toronto! The part about the team with nothing left to live for stands.]

St. Louis 27, San Francisco 19 – Do the Rams still have the 49ers’ number? Maybe not but the Frisco Kids seemed way to satisfied with themselves after beating Crimson Dermas on MNF.

Denver 45, Kansas City 24 – The Chiefs’ defense that couldn’t put any pressure on Peyton Manning two weeks ago is now missing their two best pass rushers, Tamba Hali and Justin Houston. Well, Hali may play but he’ll be playing on one leg. To make things worse for KC, the Broncos will be out to prove that their embarrassing collapse in Foxborough was simply an aberration, a slip and fall that could happen to anyone and not the result of an ingenious game plan that Andy Reid and his assistants have been busily studying since Monday.

Cincinnati 20, San Diego 24 – Philip Rivers is like a crazy girlfriend you keep dumping and getting back together with and dumping and getting back together with. Why does she look better when you’re split up? I mean, she doesn’t just look better; she looks totally hot like the newest Victoria’s Secret supermodel hot. Then when you’re together she stops showering and won’t shave her armpits or legs and insists she’s a vegan now and that means she can’t have sex with you after you eat a bacon cheeseburger and you hate broccoli and all your friends are like, didn’t you dump her before? Like three times? Andy Dalton is never going to make you feel like that.

NY Giants 23, Washington 17 – Does this Washington team look like they’re pulling together or pulling apart? Has Mike Shanahan lost it or would anyone look good coaching John Elway (meaning he never had it so he couldn’t lose it)? Is it fair to blame Robert Griffin III for everything that has gone wrong for Washington in 2013? If this game fell in a forest and nobody was around would it make a sound? This game is one huge rhetorical question mark. At the end of the day, I like Tom Coughlin a lot more than Mike Shanahan when it comes to preparing his team for a meaningless game in Week 13.

New Orleans 27, Seattle 31 – Do the Saints have an aversion to fresh air? Well, they’re 2-2-0 this season. They’ve won in Tampa Bay and Chicago and lost in New England and New York (to the Jets). Hmm. Maybe the Saints aren’t allergic to open air stadiums so much as to elite quarterbacks and aggressive, physical defenses. Oh. Okay. Well, I’m not sure Russell Wilson is elite (yet) but he does have a flair for the dramatic. Seattle’s defense is definitely aggressive and physical. Did I mention Seattle is 5-0-0 at home? Did I mention they were undefeated at home last year? Did I mention what happened the last time New Orleans traveled to Seattle?