week 17

The final week of the NFL season is here and I plan to finish off strong with some games having  playoff implications and others with teams just finishing off their disastrous seasons which leads me into my first pick.
Bills 14 Jets 13 (2). The Jets have become the most talked about team this season for absolutely no reason.
Saints 20 Panthers 17 (1). If only the Saints could have played better earlier this year.
Falcons 24 Bucanneers 14 (13). Falcons will surge for the playoffs.
Bears 28 Lions 14 (10). Changes in the Lions coaching staff are forthcoming.
Eagles 21 Giants 17 (4). Giants are fallling fast.
Titans 14 Jaguars 6 (3). The total score is 20. That's also the number of people that will watch this game .
Ravens 21 Bengals 20 (5).
Steelers 14 Browns 13 (6). It's very tough to pick a game with teams that have nothing to play for.
Colts 24 Texans 17 (7). Houston struggles in Indianopolis
Packers 28 Vikings 17 (8) Peterson almost sets the rushing record.
Broncos 35 Chiefs 3 (16). Chiefs have been consistently the worst team this year.
Chargers 24 Raiders 13 (14). Norv Turner will finally get fired.
49ers 24 Cardinals 7 (12).
Patriots 28 Dolphins (11).
Seahawks 30 Rams 10 (15). Seattle may be the best team in the NFC right now
Redskins 24 Dallas 21 (9).It won't be Tony Romo's fault

week 16 Christmas games

Christmas time is here, snowflakes in the air. Not often when you live in Texas. Still with Christmas right upon us it is time for my predictions on which teams will have a merry christmas and which teams will have a lonely blue one. Below with more Christmas references are my picks.

Atlanta 35 Detroit 14 (16). Detroit has been giving away victories since September. With Christmas being  the season of giving, why should they stop now.
Colts 28 Chiefs 3 (14). Andrew Luck has made Colts fans feel joyful and triumphant again.
Patriots 35 Jaguars 10 (15). It may be fun to ride in a one horse open sleigh but after they play the Patriots, the Jaguars will feel like they've been run over by one.
Houston 24 Vikings 13 (5). Matt Schaub will have funica throwing touchdowns to Andre Johnsonica. It was Hanukkah season last week folks.
Steelers 21 Bengals 17 (2). I just can't pick a team with a quarterback that looks like a young Kris Kringle.
Buffalo 20 Miami 17 (1). Why not try an upset pick. Christmas is the time of miracles.
Bucaneers 21 Rams 20 (11). Bucs defense won't be giving tidings of comfort and joy to Sam Bradford.
Chargers 20 Jets 7 (3). (to the tune of rudolph the red nose reindeer). Sanchez the New York quarterback, soon will have a broken nose and when you watch him play football, you will surely say he blows! (I really went too far with that one).
Carolina 24 Raiders 7 (4). If the all of the other reindeers wouldn't let rudolph join in any reindeer games, why do the Raiders let Carson Palmer join in their footballl games .
Redskins 24 Eagles 14 (8). All is calm in Washington and as long as RG3 is playing quarterback alot will be bright too.
Green Bay 35 Titans 10 (12).Silver bells will be ringing. Unfortunately for the Titans they will be ringing in their heads.
Dallas 30 Saints 20 (9). 11 pipers piping can play better defense than the saints can. 10 lords a leaping and 9 ladies dancing probably can too.
Broncos 35 Browns 10 (13). Broncos deliver a knockout blow to the Browns who will be out longer than the bear that slept through christmas (That reference is probably way too obscure).
Giants 30 Ravens 14 (6). The once mighty Raven defense can now at best deliver the pain you get when you're shot by a bee bee from an official red rider carbonated bee bee gun. That's of course as long as it doesn't shoot your eye out.
Chicago 24 Arizona 14 (7). I'm dreaming of a white christmas and Arizona can only dream of winning football games.
Seattle 21 49ers 17 (10) . Best game of the week with two heavy weight teams going at it. The 49ers are the abominable snow beast and the seahawks are the winter warlock. I'm going with the warlock.

Merry Christmas everybody!

WEEK 15

Unfortunately I tried for an upset with the Thursday game picking the Eagles. Brain freeze moment there. This is the hardest week to pick games . Here we go
Falcons 24 Giants 20 (3). Atlanta at home will rebound after last week's loss
Bucaneers 21 Saints 17 (11). Brees is throwing too many interceptions.
Texans 28 Colts 14 (15). Texans won't have two bad games in a row.
Broncos 30 Ravens 17 (16). Ravens defense is not near enough for Peyton Manning.
Miami 17 Jaguars 14 (8). Who cares
Cleveland 20 Redskins 14 (12). Cleveland is playing well and I don't think Cousins can make up for the loss of RG3
Rams 17 Vikings 14 (4).
Packers 21 Bears 10 (14). Bears are reeling.
Seattle 27 Buffalo (13). I think Seattle has figured out how to play on the road. If so they may be the best team in the NFC right now.
Chargers 14 Panthers 13 (5).I'm guessing.
Lions 24 Cardinal 10 (10). Pick your poison. Lions are less toxic.
Dallas 21 Steelers 20 (1). I'm picking the Cowboys with a great deal of hesitation.
Oakland 21 KC 14 (7)
Patriots 21 49ers 17 (9). 49ers have a great defense but Tom Brady is the best QB in football right now.
Titans 20 Jets 7 (6). There is no way I can pick a team quarterbacked by Mark Sanchez to win 3 weeks in a row

week 14

I picked the Broncos to win with a confidence of 15 and below are the rest of my picks.
Buffalo 17 Rams 14 (2). Boring!
Bengals 28 Cowboys 17 (8). Bengals lead the league in sacks. Against the Cowboys offensive line that lead will go way up.
Browns 14 Chiefs 13 (1).
Colts 21 Titans 14 (13). Luck is improving
Bears 20 Vikings 13 (7). If only the Vikings had a better quarterback
Steelers 28 Chargers 7 (16). Chargers are playing with a lame duck coach. This will be ugly.
Bucaneers 20 Eagles 10 (9). Eagles in same situation as Chargers.
Redskins 28 Ravens 20 (6). Redskins keep improving and Ravens defense keeps struggling.
Atlanta 24 Carolina 17 (11). Falcons always win close.
Jets 17 Jaguars 13 (3). Even hardcore Jets fans are admitting the Jets are hard to watch but somehow they will pull this one out.
49ers 24 Dolphins 14 (12). I have a feeling Alex Smith will get to play in this game.
Giants 20 Saints 17 (4). Giants rebound.
Seahawks 27 Arizona 10 (14). Seahawks are almost unstoppable at home.
Packers 24 Lions 14 (10). The Lions are reeling and finding every way to lose.
Patriots 21 Texans 17 (5). Tough one but I give Brady the edge to figure out Houston's defense

week 13

I texted Mr. Slag and Brad my pick of Atlanta beating the Saints with a confidence level of 2 and below are the rest of my picks with some good matchups and some between pathetic teams that can barely call themselves a professional football team.
Buffalo 20 Jaguars 17(5). Home team wins and who cares.
Bears 28 Seahawks 14 (11). Seattle hasn't won on the road all season and there's no reason to see why they'll start now.
Colts 20 Lions 17 (3). I suggest the Colts have Luck wear a couple of cups if Suh is on defense.
Packers 28 Vikings 10 (10). Rodgers is too much for the Vikings.
Houston 30 Titans 17 (16). Texans keep rolling.
Carolina 20 Chiefs 7(12).
49ers 20 Rams 7 (14). The 49ers surge continues.
Patriots 28 Dolphins 13 (15). Brady is playing great right now.
Jets 20 Cardinals 14 (4). The Jets are now the but of a joke (bad pun) but they will get one more victory this season.
Broncos 30 Bucaneers 14 (13). I think it's safe to say now that Peyton is back.
Browns 14 Raiders (1). This game represents what I put in the last part of the first sentence of this blog.
Bengals 20 Chargers 13 (9). Bengals get better each week.
Ravens 20 Steelers 10 (7). Rothlisberger's out and Batch is in. More interceptions coming.
Cowboys 27 Eagles 7 (8). A game of dumb versus dumber. I'm taking dumb.
Giants 21 Redskins 17 (6). RG3 is progressing fast but the Giants pass rush should be enough to stop him.

week 12

I hit on 2 out of 3 picks on the Thanksgiving day games. The 1 miss of course was the Cowboy Redskin game. I thought that RG3 would be a Cowboy killer in future years but as Thursday's game showed and unfortunately for Cowboy fans, it looks like he's getting an early start. Below are my picks for the rest of the games this week.
Denver 24 Chiefs 7 (16). Peyton Manning against Brady Quinn. Give me a break.
Titans 20 Jaguars 14 (6). Will they even televise this game
Colts 28 Bills 14 ( 14). Luck will get back on track.
Bengals 24 Raiders 10 (15). Are you glad you left Cincinnati now Carson Palmer
Steelers 14 Browns 10 (3). I'm tempted to pick the Browns for an upset but can't quite do it.
Bears 17 Vikings 14 (9). Bears at home win with defense.
Seattle 20 Dolphins 17 (11) . Seattle finally figures out how to win on the road.
Falcons 21 Bucs 17 (12). Atlanta knows how to win the close ones.
Baltimore 28 Chargers 10 (13). The Ravens defense is struggling but Phillip Rivers can make any defense look good.
Arizona 17 Rams 14 (2).
49ers 21 Saints 20 (10). I like Colin Kapernick
Giants 24 Packers 20 (4). This is not an  upset pick. The Giants play at their best when they're on the ropes.
Carolina 28 Eagles 14 (5). I don't see the Eagles decline stopping this week

thanksgiving picks

Turkey Day is tomorrow and now there are 3 games we get to watch. I guess all those games with Detroit and Dallas were putting everyone to sleep after their thanksgiving dinner so why not add another night game. Below are my picks for tomorrow's games.
Houston 27 Detroit 20 (7). I'm worried that Houston struggled to beat Jacksonville last week but they should rebound against a team that almost always disappoints. Speaking of disappointing
Dallas 21 Redskins 17 (1). These two teams have been disappointing their fans for years and both teams are pretty average this year.RG3 will be owning the Cowboys soon but not tomorrow.
Patriots 20 Jets 14 (8). Patriots will have trouble without Gronkowski but I'm banking on Brady to find a way to win.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving everybody

week 11

I am 1 and 0 picking Buffalo with a confidence level of 3 but this week is the hardest week to pick with close matchups and multiple injuries to key players.
Dallas 21 Cleveland 14 (5). I would have a higher confidence level if Dallas played to their abilities but they never do.
Houston 30 Jaguars 10 (14). Texans keep rolling.
Rams 20 Jets 14 (7). I think the Jets will spiral downward the rest of the season.
Bucaneers 21 Panthers 10 (9). Bucaneers have definitely improved since the start of the season.
Falcons 30 Cardinals 20 (13). Falcons take out their only loss of the season last week on the Cardinals.
Green Bay 27 Lions 24 (6). Without Clay Matthews Aaron Rodgers will be on the top of his game.
Redskins 20 Eagles 14 (1). I've gone back and forth on this one.
Bengals 20 Chiefs 7 (10).
Saints 27 Raiders 14 (12). The Saints are getting back on track.
Patriots 24 Colts 17 (11). Luck is improving every day but it won't be enough to match how Brady will play.
Broncos 28 Chargers 7(8). Peyton has struggled against the Chargers but Denver is surging.
Ravens 20 Steelers 17 (4). Close game in Pittsburgh but Rothlisberger's injury is too much for the Steelers to overcome.
49ers 17 Bears 14 (2). Two very good defenses going at it facing 2nd string quarterbacks. 49ers have the home field advantage and squeak this one out due to Cutler being out.

week 10

My rivals can verify that I picked the Colts to beat Jacksonville with a confidence level of 7 (I should have made it more . Below are the rest of my picks.
lions 21 vikings 13(4). Adrian Peterson can't carry his team forever.
Falcons 20 Saints 17 (5). Saints are improving but Atlanta knows how to win the close games.
Giants 24 Bengals 13 (8). Eli has been terrible the last two weeks. He gets back in his groove tomorrow.
Ravens 27 Raiders 17 (9). Big day coming for Flacco.
Patriots 30 Bills 7 (14). The Patriots will surge in November.
Dolphins 21 Titans 17 (10).
Bucaneers 20 Chargers 14 (3). Tampa Bay will create turnovers which isn't difficult with Rivers at quarterback.
Broncos 30 Carolina 10 (13). Peyton is close to his original self.
Seahawks 28 Jets 7 (12). Same reason I gave for the Bucs Chargers game applies here multiplied 5 times over. Sanchez will have the worst game of his career.
49er 24 Rams 10 (11).
Cowboys 23 Eagles 14 (2). Both teams have been disappointing but the Eagles decline looks more severe.
Bears 17 Texans 14 (1). Great matchup. Two teams with outstanding defenses. Home team barely prevails.
Steelers 17 Chiefs 7 (6).

week 9

I already  texted my opponents that the Chargers would beat the Chiefs but my confidence level was 1. I need to solidify my lead and below are the rest of my picks.
Dolphins 20 Colts 13 (8). Miami's defense is rising
Houston 28 Bills 10 (14). Houston keeps rollling.
Browns 20 Ravens 17 (2). Might look like an upset but the Ravens defense can no longer stop the run. Trent Richardson will have a big game.
Broncos 24 Bengals 20 (5). Peyton will find a way to win.
Bears 27 Titans 14 (11). Cutler will have a big game.
Lions 20 Jaguars 14 (9).
Packers 35 Cardinal 17 (13). Cardinals are falling fast.
Redskins 20 Panthers 17(4). RG3 slightly better than Cam Newton is the difference here.
Seahawks 28 Vikings 7 (12). Seahawks are almost unbeatable at home.
Bucaneers 20 Raiders 17 (7).
Giants 17 Steelers 13 (6). I'm counting on another 4th quarter victory from Eli.
Dallas 27 Atlanta 17(3).I may look as stupid as Jason Garrett's 4th quarter coaching with this pick but Dallas historically plays good in the month of November and Atlanta is slightly overrated.
Saints 27 Eagles 14 (10). This will be Michael Vick's last game as starting QB with the Eagles.

I am kicking myself for picking a team with a quarterback named  Christian Ponder. The name alone tells you he's a lousy quarterback. Not to worry, I feel a strong weekend coming on.
Steelers 24 Redskins 21 (10). If RG3 could play defense as well the Redskins could be undefeated.
Seahawks 20 Lions 14 (4). Detroit is at home but Stafford is struggling.
Bears 35 Panthers 17 (13). Cam Newton is mentally coming apart and won't get any sympathy from the Bears.
Patriots 24 Rams 21 (6).Brady will be knighted after the game
Titans 20 Colts 14 (2).
Jets 24 Dolphins 10 (5). I hate picking the Jets but the Dolphins are about to decline.
Chargers 20 Browns 17 (3). Even Phillip Rivers can't lose to the Browns (I think)
Packers 35 Jaguars 7 (14). Packers roll continues
Eagles 21 Falcons 17 (1) . My upset pick. Atlanta tends to struggle on the road and the Eagles had the week off to show Michael Vick how not to turnover the ball.
Raiders 17 Chiefs 14(7). A great rivalry diminished with two lousy teams now.
Giants 27 Dallas 20 (9). I was planning on picking the Cowboys for the upset then I heard the news on Sean Lee. Huge loss.
Denver 28 Saints 17 (12). Peyton Manning remembers when he lost to the Saints in the superbowl. Here comes the payback
49ers 20 Cardinals 14 (11). Alex Smith is the QB of the 49ers, John Skelton is with the Cardinals. Smith is the lesser toxic of the two poisons.

week 8

Vikings 24 Tampa Bay 10 (8). ND alums Kyle Rudolph and Harrison Smith will lead the way

week 7

A new low . No one in our group could even finished with a 500 record last week. This is the most unpredictable season yet.
49ers 24 Seahawks 14 (5). Seattle struggles on the road and Jim Harbough has Pete Carroll's number.
Texans 28 Ravens 17 (13). Ravens defense is falling apart. Arian Foster will have a big game.
Packers 24 Rams 10 (11). Pack is finally back.
Titans 14 Bills 10 (2).
Colts 20 Browns 14 (1).
Saints 21 Tampa Bay 17 (7). The Saints can't afford to lose any more games.
Cowboys 20 Panthers 14 (4). If the Cowboys played to their talent I'd be more confident. The cowboys stupidity on offense will keep the game close but their defense should dominate.
Vikings 21 Cardinals 13 (8). Cardinals are weak at quarterback.
Giants 23  Redskins 17 (9). Last year the Redskins beat the Giants twice. Payback time.
Patriots 28 Jets 10 (12). Patriots won't lose two in a row and will look to punish the Jets.
Raiders 14 Jaguars 13 (3)
Bengals 21 Steelers 14 (6). Pittsburgh's offense has been struggling too much for me to pick them.
Bears 24 Lions 13 (10). The best team in detroit is playing baseball.

week 6

The Steelers let me down already and below are the rest of the picks for this week.

Miami 20 Rams 14 (3)
Baltimore 27 Dallas 17 (2). Still can't trust the cowboys offense
Eagles 24 Lions 10 (8). Vick will turn the ball over but Detroit is a major disappointment so far.
Bengals 20 Browns 17 (4).
Jets 14 Colts 10. (5). I'm counting on a Tebow miracle.
Tampa Bay 13 Chiefs 6 (1). Josh Freeman against Brady Quinn. This game will be hard to watch.
Falcons 35 Raiders 10 (14). Atlanta dominates at home.
Patriots 20 Seahawks 17 (12). Brady pulls it out in the end.
Cardinals 20 Bills 3 (13). Cardinals rebound big.
49ers 20 Giants 13 (6). 49ers will get six sacks and get even for last year's playoff defeat.
Vikings 20 Redskins 17 (9). I'm off the RG3 bandwagon.
Houston 30 Packers 17 (11). Packers have Clay Matthews on defense and nothing else
Broncos 30 Chargers (10). Manning won't lose to Rivers

week 6

pittsburgh 21 Titans 7 (7)

week 5

I'm 0 and 1 but this weekend has game's that are easy to pick and I look forward to another strong week.
Giants 24 Browns 7 (12). Giants rebound.
Packers 21 Colts 10 (10). The Colts at home could keep it close but the Pack is finally discovering they have a defense again.
Steelers 17 Eagles 10 (2). Tough one but the Steelers should cause enough turnovers to win.
Falcons 20 Redskins 17 (6). RG will keep it close but Atlanta has too many weapons for the Redskin defense.
Baltimore 21 Chiefs 7 (13). Ravens are finding their groove.
Bengals 24 Dolphins 10 (8).
Bears 20 Jaguars 13 (9). Bears may have a let down but the Jaguars are not strong enough to take advantage .
Carolina 14 Seahawks 13 (1). Seattle doesn't know how to play on the road.
49ers 28 Bills 10 (11). 49ers defense will overwhelm Buffalo
Vikings 17 Titans 10 (7). Vikings offense keeps improving.
Patriots 24 Broncos 21 (3). Brady against Manning again. Manning has always had trouble in New England.
Saints 21 Chargers 17  (4). Upset pick. Saints have to win a game eventually and Phillip Rivers will help them along here.
Houston 38 Jets 3 (14). Gross mismatch. A team going in fifth gear against a team that can't even put it into first. Rex Ryan may get fired after this game.

week 5

Cardinals 20 Rams 14 (5). Cardinals are flying under the radar and will have just enough to win

week4

My season of mediocrity continues as I went 8 and 8 again with most of my high confidence level picks going down. This week will see the return of games with regular officials and thankfully gone are the long chaotic games with replacement officials. Commissioner Roger Goodell has apologized for those games and I wish he would have thrown in his resignation with it. I can't make excuses now for game losses because of poor replacement officiating so below are my picks.
Houston 31 Titans 14 (15). Ignore the DFW media football fans, there is a great team in Texas and it's 240 miles southeast of Dallas.
Chargers 27 Chiefs 13 (4).
Atlanta 28 Carolina 10 (14). Atlanta has stepped up their game from last season.
Rams 17 Seahawks 14 (3). May seem like an upset but Seattle has a rookie QB and is on the road.
49ers 31 Jets 10 (12). 49ers were embarrassed last year and the Jets without Reavis will pay this week.
Patriots 21 Bills 7 (11). I can't remember the last time New England lost 3 games in a row.
Detroit 24 Vikings 14 (7). Lions are overrated but the Vikings had their big win last week.
Cardinals 27 Dolphins 7 (13). The Cardinals under the radar have shown the most improvement so far from last season.
Denver 24 Raiders 14 (9). Peyton Manning gets back on track.
Bengals 21 Jaguars 17 (1).
Redskins 24 Tampa Bay (6). Redskins outside of RG3 haven't shown much lately but Josh Freeman is a QB that should be in the arena football league.
Packers 24 Saints 17 (8). Packers take out getting screwed last week on the Saints.
Giants 27 Eagles 17 ( 10). Vick is getting sacked and turning the ball over too much this season and it continues this week.
Bears 24 Cowboys 16 (2). Tough one to pick but the Cowboys offensive line is a real problem.

THURSDAY'S GAME

RAVENS 17 BROWNS 10 (5). I'd like to give it a higher confidence level but Baltimore seems to always let down after big wins

Ouch! Rough start for week 1. I now know Carson Palmer is a bigger loser than Phillip Rivers and Green Bay's defense remains awful (should have thought of that before my superbowl picks). Week 2 has some very close matchups. Here are my picks.
Packers 21 Bears 17 (3). Can't see the Pack losing two in a row at home.
Chiefs 28 Bills 10 (4). By making Mark Sanchez look good, Buffalo showed they have the worst defense in football.
Bengals 20 Browns 14 (9). Bengals have a more experienced quarterback.
Vikings 20 Colts 17 (1). Vikings need another big game from Adrian Peterson
Raiders 20 Dolphins 10 (10). If Carson Palmer can't beat the Dolphins, he is the biggest loser in the history of football.
Patriots 28 Cardinals 14 (16). Another easy Patriot victory.
Giants 30 TB 14 (14). Giants get back on track.
Baltimore 27 Eagles 10 (13). A surging Joe Flacco beats an injured Michael Vick.
Saints 24 Panthers 13 (11). Cam Newton is overrated. Good statistical numbers and few wins.
Houston 31 Jaguars 7 (15). Houston keeps rolling.
Redskins 27 Rams 14 (12). I doubt I've ever had a confidence level this high on a team with a rookie quarterback but I've never seen a rookie quarterback with the confidence and skill of RG3.
Dallas 24 Seahawks 14 (5). Dallas's improved defense will dominate.
Steelers 21 Jets 7 (6). The real Mark Sanchez shows up in this game.
San Diego 24 Titans 14 (7).
49ers 23 Lions 10 (8). 49er defense dominated Aaron Rodgers and will do the same to Matt Stafford.
Atlanta 20 Denver 17 (2). Tough one. Peyton is back but Atlanta's offense will control the ball just enough to win

START OF WEEK 1

In another bizarre move by Roger Goodell the NFL is starting on a Wednesday night. The Cowboys and Giants is the first game of the season. It's amazing in New York how the Jets get all the media attention when the Giants are the team that wins superbowls. Below are my  picks for that game and the rest of the games to start the season.

Giants 28 Cowboys 17 (6). Dallas will play with early intensity but their offensive line is not strong enough to keep the Giants pass rush from getting to Romo.
Bears 21 Colts 10 (12). Andrew Luck will be good later this season but not this weekend.
Eagles 27 Browns 10 (15). Eagles will finally live up to their potential.
Lions 30 Rams 13 (14). Jeff Fisher will have the dirtiest team playing and one of the worst ones too.
Patriots 28 Titans 20 (13). Patriots will cruise through this one.
Chiefs 20 Falcons 17 (2). May look like an upset but the Falcons are lousy on the road.
Jaguars 17 Vikings 13 (1). Thinking of this game is putting me to sleep.
Saints 30 Redskins 17 (11). Even without a bounty the Saints will give RG3 some trouble. Don't worry Redskin fans, you have a great quarterback in the making.
Ravens 20 Bengals 14 (10). Ravens are a little too strong for Andy Dalton
Bills 20 Jets 10 (4). Jets are all talk and  have the two worst quarterbacks in football.
Houston 30 Dolphins 3 (16). Houston will roll over a team that will be lucky to get two wins this year.
Packers 24 49ers 17 (3). Great matchup. I'm taking the home team.
Arizona 20 Seahawks 14 (5). Cardinals were improving last season.
Panthers 21 Bucaneers 7 (9). Cam Newton needs to show last year's start was not a fluke.
Broncos 17 Steelers 14 (8). Broncos will get just enough from Peyton and win at home.
Oakland 20 Chargers 14  (7). Phillip Rivers found almost every way to lose a game last year and he'll find the rest on Sunday

Welcome back NFL

New season

The upcoming NFL season is upon us and once again myself along with my rivals, John, Brad and Deran will be making our weekly picks to see who is the best NFL prognosticater. Last year Brad, through mostly lucky guessing, won but this season I plan to rebound and crush the competition through my wisdom, insight and performance enhancing drugs which are perfectly legal in this contest. Like I did last year I will give my superbowl prediction. 

Superbowl matchup:
Green Bay vs Houston

Winner
Greeen Bay

I picked Green Bay last year and it looked like they were on track until the playoffs came around but they still look to have the best team and I don't see their defense with Dom Capers as their coordinator having two bad seasons in a row. Aaron Rodgers will have another great season and will lead his team to another superbowl.
Houston's defense is young and determined and has the best defensive coordinator in football in Wade Phillips. I am counting on quaterback Matt Schaub to finally stay healthy for a season and if he does, the other team in Texas will reach the superbowl for the first time in their franchise history.

Another Season Over

My congratulations go out to Brad Mccandless for winning this season's NFL regular season picks even if he only beat me by one game. Still ,credit where credit is due, he did win the regular season but I take pride in the fact that I did well with some playoff picks and my crowning achievement was picking the Giants to beat the 49ers in the NFC conference final 20 to 17 which was the score when the game was over (check it out folks this is all documented). This is why I did not pick a winner or a score for the superbowl since there was no way I could top my perfection.
Sadly neither of my rivals Brad or John (a.k.a Mr Slag) will be able to take much out of this season as their beloved Dallas Cowboys once again failed to make the playoffs and could have ended the Giants season if they hadn't choked when they played them at home in December. Both will be haunted for a long time by the memories of Eli Maning or as John calls him the Great Gazoo (he does look like that character when he's wearing a helmet) raising another superbowl trophy. Both are dealing with their disappointment in strange ways leading to even more bizarre behavior. John has been watching almost nonstop his favorite other sport NASCAR racing. He now drives with a race helmet in his beat up car that he painted the number 3 on. When he is pulled over by the police for speeding he passionately tells them he is Dale Jarrett. Brad has also been watching TV almost non stop but he only watches reruns of "Three's Company" to see one of his favorite television characters Mr. Roper (this really is a character he finds awesome). Now when Brad goes out he wears a sweater, hangs out with middle aged curly read heads and turns his head to the right, smirks and laughs at unfunny lines that he says. I'm sure they'll both be ready for next season to watch the Cowboys disappoint them again.

Conference Finals

The teams I think will win and the teams I would like to see win are not going to be the same. I would like to see a 49ers vs Ravens superbowl because that is exactly what the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell don't want. For too long now the NFL has changed the rules that have completely favored the offense and have been a detriment to the defense. The most striking example is these recent stupid roughing the passer penalties which have gotten so out of hand, quarterbacks look to the referee to see if they have thrown a flag almost everytime they get sacked. The NFL has gone out of its way to make the NFL an offensive show with the quarterback as the star leading the way and has ignored the defensive side of the ball. The days of the steel curtain and doomsday defense are long gone and defensive players seldom get any recognition anymore. The only ones recently that have are Troy Polamalu and Clay Matthews, which in part is because of their long hair and Ndamankah Suh whic is in part due to his unsportsmanlike conduct on the field. The best example of great defensive players being overlooked is the San Francisco 49ers who have the 4th best defense in the NFL yet outside of maybe Patrick Willis few people can name you a player on their defense. With all that said, below are what I think will happen tomorrow.

Patriots 28 Ravens 17. The Ravens will start the game strong and the Patriots who have yet to beat a team this season with a winning record will face a Raven team loaded with energy but Baltimore only sacked the quarterback 3 times in the last 3 games of the season and did not even get one sack against Houston. Tom Brady will take advantage and New England pulls away in the 2nd half.

Giants 20 SF 17. These two teams have had great playoff games in the past and here comes another one. With a wet field the defenses should dominate. The 49ers did beat the Giants in the regular season but Osi Umenyora did not play and Justin Tuck played hurt. The Giant front 4 is healthier now and the pressure they will bring will be difficult for Alex Smith to handle. Both offenses will try to establish a running game and Eli (or should we call him Elite)Manning will make enough big plays to pull out a close victory.

confidence points

afc
patriots 6
baltimore 5
pittsburgh 4
houston 3
bengals 2
broncos 1

nfc
packers 6
saints 5
49ers 4
giants 3
detroit 2
falcons 1

NFL PLAYOFF BRACKET

AFC NFC

texans over bengals 14 to 10 Saints over Lions 31 to 14
Steelers over Broncos 17 to 7 Giants over Falcons 24 to 14

Ravens over Texans 20 to 7 Saints over 49ers 20 to 10
Patrioits over Steelers 24 to 17 Packers over Giants 27 to 21

Patriots over Ravens 20 to 17 Packers over Saints 30 to 27

Super Bowl
Packers over Patriots 34 to 20