9-7, not too shabby, especially with some tough games I picked thinking starting Quarterbacks’s would play, dang. Anyhow, those are the breaks, this is how I came out on top in Week 14. I also won 3 out of my top 4 gimmie games, I’ll take it.
Gimmie-Games
Falcons over the Bucs (win)
Seahawks over the Cardinals (loss)
Saints over the Cowboys (win)
Ravens over the Chiefs (win)
Patriots over the Dolphins (loss)
Thursday:
Cleveland (+9) at Pittsburgh: LOSS! “Name the last time the Steelers dominated in back to back games?” Ugh… the week before last, and last week Thursday Night against Cleveland. Looks like that whole, “follow the trend” BS came back to bite me in the rear, eh. To be honest, I thought Charlie Frye would play, but I’m not sure how much he would have helped.
Sunday:
Atlanta (-2) at Tampa Bay: WIN! It was a closer game than I thought it would be, but I guess when your top two running backs fail to finish the game because of injury, things like that will happen. But Atlanta still covered easily.
Baltimore (+3) at Kansas City: WIN! The safest bet panned out, making me victorious once again. Steve McNair broke a touchdownless game with a deep toss to Mark Clayton, as the Ravens did just enough to sink the Chiefs.
Buffalo at N.Y. Jets (-3.5): LOSS! The Jets struggled a ton when it counted most. Buffalo brought the beat down stick, smacking the playoff searching Jets right in the chops. Pennington didn’t do much, and the Jet running game did even less as Buffalo worked New York all over the field.
Indianapolis at Jacksonville (+2): WIN! Am I the only one that thinks this is good for Indianapolis? Usually they get into this little slump the last couple games of the season, and into the playoffs. This little streak of crappy play should end soon, getting them primed for a couple wins in the post season. Say it ain’t so Peyton.
Minnesota (+3) at Detroit: WIN! Brad Johnson played for the Vikings, to my dismay, but it was an old Lion, Artose Pinner, who came to the Vikings rescue, rushing for 125 yards and 3 touchdowns against his old team. He, alone, and Jon Kitna’s 3 interceptions, assured me yet another win.
New England (-3) at Miami: LOSS! Shut out by Miami in the 2nd half of the season isn’t as bad as it would have been in the first 8 games, but the effort by the Patriots can’t get too many people in New England excited for the playoff push.
New Orleans (+7.5) at Dallas: WIN! “I just think the Saints are flat out better than the Cowboys. Dallas is riding high off of their 4th straight win, a 23-30 nailbiter against a struggling Giants squad. But they are ready to take a step backwards, I can feel it. Plus, New Orleans loves to play ball as the underdog, losing only once as a dog all season. When will the cappers come to love the Saints? Dallas is hot right now, so I’d stay away from betting on them.” What can I say, when you feel it, you just feel it. It doesn’t hurt that the Saints are just flat out good.
N.Y. Giants at Carolina (-3): LOSS! To my credit, or at least defense, I thought Jake Delhomme was going to play. On the other hand, I also thought the Panthers’ coaching staff was smart enough to hand the ball off to DeAngelo Williams and DeShaun Foster at least half as many times as (I figured more than) Chris Weinke threw the ball. I was wrong, about many things, but mostly about the Panthers as a collective whole.
Oakland at Cincinnati (-11): WIN! The Raiders continued down their path to the first overall pick, and after watching a little bit of the game, I hope it’s a lineman. Yikes. Their O-Line is terrible. No offense to the big strong guys blocking for the Raiders, but it’s not looking so hot. Anyway, this game was closer than I expected, but an easy 6 point cover happened anyway.
Philadelphia (+1.5) at Washington: WIN! “The Eagles are still better than the Redskins.” What can a guy do? When the better team is getting points, you wonder, why is the better team getting points? As a money maker, you have to take advantage of situations like this and roll the dice on the better team. This time, I win again!
Tennessee at Houston (even): LOSS! “Vince Young has been for real, and he is playing in Texas this weekend. But I still have to go with the Texans.” What was a guy thinking? Obviously Vince loves to explode in front of his home fans, so how didn’t I know that he’d roll the Texans in overtime? Well, this game was just about as ‘even’ as it gets.
Green Bay at San Francisco (-4): LOSS! The Niners struggled down the stretch, leading to another San Fran loss, and a win for Big Brett and the locally owned Green Bay Packers? Did I mention a loss for Lucky Lester? Ah yes, right at the top there. LOSS!
Seattle (-3) at Arizona: LOSS! “The Cardinals aren’t good, don’t be confused by last weeks win over the Rams. The Hawks aren’t nearly as bad as they looked in that 3 point win over Denver on Sunday Night.” Well I was right about one thing, the Cardinals, they aren’t good. But I was definitely wrong about the other thing, the Hawks aren’t “nearly” as bad as they played against Denver last week, they’re twice as bad. Freaking Hawks. How do you get better at every position other than Offensive Guard, and look this much worse? I just don’t get it.
Denver at San Diego (-7): “With Jay Cutler running things, the Broncos have a chance in this one. But LT, running against a Bronco team that struggles defending marquee players (Peyton – 345yds 3 TD, LJ – 157yds TD, and LT 105yds 4TD) only makes me have to go with the Chargers, especially in San Diego. And the last time the Broncos hosted San Diego, Shawn Merriman wasn’t even on the field. Welcome to Shawn’s world Jay.” Jay didn’t give them a chance, but LT sure did set the touchdown record, with 3 scores (2 late that absolutely ended the Broncos) and Shawne Merriman made his presence felt, assisting on one of LT’s touchdown by causing and recovering a fumble on the Bronc’s 6 yard line.
Monday:
Chicago (-6) at St. Louis: Thanks to a decent game by Rex, and a dominating (remember Donte Hall a couple years back – just like that) performance by return man extraordinaire Devin Hester, the Bears covered easily, even thought the Rams put up an offensive fight late.