12/13: NFL Sunday Wrap!

Greetings all... will likely be shorter than normal today (and sparse for the whole week) due to work constraints... let's get to it...

• Bills 13, Browns 6 - Why did I start here? Because it was on the top of the scoreboard I was looking at... laughter... anyway, this was ugly football at its finest, but Buffalo made the most plays (cough, one play) and were able to keep Hillis from completely going off... Fred Jackson is a ballplayer for Buffalo too...
• Lions 7, Packers 3 - Pretty much all you need to know here is Aaron Rodgers got dinged up with a concussion in the 1st half, and Matt Flynn is pretty bad... combine Flynn with a bad running game and it's a disaster... Congrats to the Lions on their first division win in about 2 decades...
• Steelers 23, Bengals 7 - Carson Palmer is an abomination... He kept throwing the ball to Troy Polamalu, and Pittsburgh's D won this for them... the Steelers offense isn't very good right now though...
• Bucs 17, Redskins 16 - Graham Gano can't possibly be employed anymore by the Redskins... he missed 2 more field goals of chip-shot variety, and while the botched XP for the loss wasn't his fault, if he knocks one down earlier, they win... Josh Freeman, son...
• Falcons 31, Panthers 10 - I tweeted this on Sunday night... "I smell Jimmy Clausen from here"... that says enough, right? He is quite bad... and Atlanta dominated even while sleepwalking through the last 35 minutes or so... Classic good team taking care of business type of game...
• Jags 38, Raiders 31 - Probably the best onfield action all day... Darren McFadden went nuts for Oakland with 3 long TDs, but MoJo, David Garrard and company made the last play when MJD went to the house from 30 yards late in the 4th... Crippling loss for Oakland who played pretty well, but the big story is the 8-5 Jags who everyone (me included) wrote off to start the season... in the driver's seat in the AFC South...
• Saints 31, Rams 13 - Watch out for the Saints... 6 straight wins and they took care of business against a decent team... Brees is playing more efficiently now, and their defense turned up the heat on Bradford... all roads lead to Saints/Falcons on Dec. 27th for the NFC South title...
• 49ers 40, Seahawks 21 - #1A in the most shocking result all day category IMO... not that San Fran won... but 40 points?! Alex Smith played (gasp) well for the majority of the day, and they got nice contribution from Dixon and Westbrook... bad times for Seattle, but they are still tied with the Rams for division lead at 6-7...
• Pats 36, Bears 7 - Domination... New England is the best team in the league, and they seem unaffected by the snow... I made a friendly wager that I didn't think the Bears would go better than 1-3 in their last 4 and this was a nice start... Tom Brady is the MVP, and they can't be rationally picked against for the time being...
• Dolphins 10, Jets 6 - Remember when I said I could smell Jimmy Clausen? Mark Sanchez is picking up some steam in that category... he went 17 of 44 (wow) with 4 fumbles and an INT... and lost a homegame to the mediocre Dolphins on a day when Chad Henne threw 18 passes and completed FIVE of them as the only QB during the day... I don't know what to think of the Jets... the defense looked like they were back to form (Miami had only 131 yards), but 6 points at home is bad...
• Cardinals 43, Broncos 13 - #1B in the shocking result category... again... Arizona scored 43 points? with John Skelton?!?!?!... It's kind of funny... they put up 43 with Skelton going 15 of 137 for 146 yards and no TDs... that's impossible right?... Well, Tim Hightower went off (18 for 148), Jay Feely kicked 5 field goals AND ran a fake FG in for a TD, and they got a late defensive score... just how they drew it up... Denver's offense (Orton especially) looked putrid under the new regime too...
• Chargers 31, Chiefs 0 - It's kind of funny when you think that KC is still in the AFC West lead outright after this beatdown... SD is the better team and I don't think anyone would dispute it, but put an asterisk on this one (a small one at least) because of Brodie Croyle... they clearly didn't trust him... he threw 17 passes in a 31-point blowout, and it changed that offense...
• Eagles 30, Cowboys 27 - The Desean Jackson show... 4 catches for 210 yards (52.5 yard average!), and that was the difference... Dallas continues to play better, but Philly won a game they probably had no business winning, and that's a good sign if you're an Eagles fan...

THE PICKS! 44-36-2 Entering...

• NYJ -5.5... Yikes...
• STL +9.5.... whoops...
• Pittsburgh -8.5... winner!
• Seattle +5.5... Jeez...

1-3 week... ugly... 45-39-2 on the year and still up though... Enjoy the day!