There is a reason why I called the last week of the regular season in the NFL the second-hardest to pick; so many teams treat this as a 5th exhibition game. Let’s review the random carnage:
Detroit 13 @ Green Bay 34 (-5) – No word yet whether Craig Nall is done for his career.
New Orleans 25 (-1.5) @ Chicago 33 – And the ‘Aints go marching out.
Minnesota 19 @ Denver 22 (+3) – Wall 1, Rookie 0
New England 38 (-14-LOSS) @ NY Giants 35 – Once again, the Pats were fit to be had. Don Shula last spotted with a 5-quart pail of ice cream hoping somebody, anybody plays 60 minutes of ball against them.
Buffalo 9 (+8-TIE) @ Philadelphia 17 – McNabb played like his contract was up.
Carolina 31 (-3) @ Tampa Bay 23 – Real smooth, Chuckie. At least you made the Carolina contingent on my roll happy.
Cincinnati 38 (-3) @ Miami 25 – The Deadfins were as lifeless as their fans after the G-men let the Pats off the hook.
Jacksonville 28 (+6.5 – game currently crossed out at Bodog) @ Houston 42 – And the award for the toughest division in the NFL goes to – the AFC South, which edged out the NFC East in wins 42-40 (both boast no losers and both wild-cards from their respective conferences).
Seattle 41 (pick’em) @ Atlanta 44 – Turnover, turnover, turnover.
San Francisco 7 @ Cleveland 20 (-10 – game currently crossed out at Bodog) – The Dawg Pound is really wondering why they wasted money on AJ Hawk’s brother-in-law.
Dallas 6 (+9) @ Washington 27 – Either Wade Phillips is a genius for realizing that it’s nigh impossible to beat the same team 3 times in the playoffs, or he won’t survive to play in Jerry Jones’ doll house.
Pittsburgh 21 (-3.5) @ Baltimore 27 – The Steelers treated this as an off-week, with predictable results.
San Diego 30 (-9) @ Oakland 17 – How appropriate that Plastic Pelosi is from San Fran. The top 2 net punting averages in NFL history were set in the Bay this year; Oakland’s Shane Lechler had a 41.1 net and San Fran’s Andy Lee had a 41.0 net to shatter the old record of 39.9 net.
St. Louis 19 @ Arizona 48 (-6) – Like Lambs to the slaughter.
Kansas City 10 (+6-WIN) @ NY Jets 13 – Jimmy Hoffa was deeply saddened.
Tennessee 16 (-4.5) @ Indianapolis 10 – Can anybody answer the question, why there are any ex-Badger quarterbacks in the NFL?
9-6-1 against the spread and 1-1 on the over/unders closes out the regular season at 123-120-13 ATS and 20-13-1 O/U. Wild card picks will be up momentarily.
