NFL Week 12

[cabbageboy 0]

Here's the schedule for the NFL in Week 12 starting with Thanksgiving games and ending on the usual MNF game. And of course predictions.

 

Thanksgiving 12:30:

 

Miami (4-6) at Detroit (2-8): It's Thanksgiving tradition to suffer through a Lions game. The Dolphins are on a trademark Jobber Roll (as in a crappy team that gets on a streak that overall will mean nothing). I'll take Miami by 7.

 

4:15:

 

Tampa Bay (3-7) at Dallas (6-4): Cowboys look to have really improved and the notion of a short week letdown is silly considering the Bucs have the same short week. Dallas by 14.

 

8:00:

 

Denver (7-3) at Kansas City (6-4): Can you feel the Broncos starting to tank a bit? I can. I'll take the Chiefs and home by 4, and the Cutler talk intensifies in Denver.

 

Sunday 1:00:

 

Jacksonville (6-4) at Buffalo (4-6): Jacksonville has followed solid wins with baffling road losses this season, so expect that trend to continue. Bills aren't as bad as predicted. Buffalo in an ugly game 14-10.

 

Houston (3-7) at NY Jets (5-5): The Jets are an up and down team but they should get a win at home here. Jets by 10.

 

Pittsburgh (4-6) at Baltimore (8-2): Well, one Jobber Roll has to come to an end and that looks like the Steelers here. Ravens win it in close fashion 24-20.

 

Cincinnati (5-5) at Cleveland (3-7): The Browns tend to play people tough only to lose it late, and I think something like that will happen here as well. Bengals by 6.

 

Carolina (6-4) at Washington (3-7): Panthers have been back on track since the Cowboys squashed them. They should continue here with a road win over the Skins by about 10.

 

Arizona (2-8) at Minnesota (4-6): The Vikings have been puzzling this year, but the Cardinals are wretched. Vikings will win this at home by 7.

 

New Orleans (6-4) at Atlanta (5-5): The Saints are starting to tail off and the Falcons are in free fall. Can't help but think the Falcons will pay back the Saints from earlier. Atlanta by 4.

 

San Francisco (5-5) at St. Louis (4-6): Okay, this crap with the Niners is getting a bit out of hand, haha. Rams bring them back down to earth 31-17 since they need the win.

 

4:00:

 

Oakland (2-8) at San Diego (8-2): Oh God, can you say total squash? Chargers by however much they want. I'll say 21.

 

Chicago (9-1) at New England (7-3): This should have been the NBC game of the week. I am honestly on the fence here, it depends on what Grossman does. I'll say the Bears win this by 7 but it wouldn't shock me if NE won.

 

NY Giants (6-4) at Tennessee (3-7): Giants are reeling right now and the Titans have improved. But the Giants pretty much have to win this, so I'll take them by 3.

 

8:15:

 

Philadelphia (5-5) at Indianapolis (9-1): Without McNabb everyone will predict a Colts squash, but the Colts can't squash much of anyone this year. Indy by 10.

 

Monday 8:30:

 

Green Bay (4-6) at Seattle (6-4): Packers are a very up and down team, and who knows what the Seahawks are like health wise. I'll say Seattle wins either way, probably by about 9.

[2GOLD 0]

Farve is on Monday Night Football? That game is going to give 20 additional reasons to hate ESPN.

Every pass he completes will start with, "That's what makes Farve so great", and every incompletion or interception will start with, "And that's why Farve needs to walk away from the game and give a young quarterback a chance".

[KingPK 0]

Miami (4-6) at Detroit (2-8): It's Thanksgiving tradition to suffer through a Lions game. The Dolphins are on a trademark Jobber Roll (as in a crappy team that gets on a streak that overall will mean nothing). I'll take Miami by 7.

 

I'm going to my sister's for Thanksgiving this year, so at least my suffering will be in glorious HD.

 

This is the first week in a while where both prime time games are probably going to suck. Granted, the MNF game sucks more often than not itself, but most of the NBC games have been pretty entertaining this season. Though we're getting Denver AGAIN December 3rd? What the hell?

[Guest Princess Leena]

I hope Favre doesn't play, because I want to watch Ingle Martin. I'm a sucker for the next Tom Tupa.

 

Otherwise, yeah, the Thanksgiving games are awful. Fuck Denver.

[Black Lushus 0]

Denver is in Primtime again on 12/3??? is that what you just said??? W...T...F???

[2GOLD 0]

I guess they are hoping in one of the Denver games that Mike goes nuts on Jake, hits him with is helmet and tells Cutler to Romo Up and save them from the crash.

 

Either that or Denver is a really big prime time market.

[sfaJack 0]

Maybe somebody forgot to tell the schedule-maker that John Elway quit 8 years ago.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Green Bay just signed some random dude as the new backup QB. Sorry Ingle-berries.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Oh, fuck Green Bay then, also.

[Red Baron 0]

They can have Denver vs Houston or even Denver vs Arizona and it'll be on prime time.

[CanadianChris 0]

They can have Denver vs Houston or even Denver vs Arizona and it'll be on prime time.

We'll find that out on December 17th.

 

If you have a good record and you play a tough schedule, you're going to be on TV a lot. Deal with it.

[Guest Princess Leena]

There's no reason Denver should have more primetime games than Indy or Chicago.

[CanadianChris 0]

I'm guessing that Indy/Dallas would have been the NBC game this past week, but it was protected by CBS.

[KingPK 0]

I would have thought the easy choice would be NE/Chicago, but I guess FOX protected that game as well. And here I thought I would be rid of Joe Buck until baseball season. You just KNOW he's going to mention the Red Sox and/or Yankees about 5 times just to piss us off up here.

[Star Ocean 3 0]

San Francisco (5-5) at St. Louis (4-6): Okay, this crap with the Niners is getting a bit out of hand, haha. Rams bring them back down to earth 31-17 since they need the win.

 

How insulting. Like the 9ers don't need a win to continue their Gold Rush Playoff Push.

[Guest Felonies!]

I would have thought the easy choice would be NE/Chicago, but I guess FOX protected that game as well. And here I thought I would be rid of Joe Buck until baseball season. You just KNOW he's going to mention the Red Sox and/or Yankees about 5 times just to piss us off up here.

I'll be on the lookout for terrible Joe Buck work as well. God help me if the Bears squander a late lead: not only does that mean my team loses, but Joe is going to say "this could be the game-changing moment, much like Steve Bartman in the 2003 NLCS, when the Cubs were five outs away. Roll the footage!"

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Oh god now more than ever, Go Bears. The Colts being my AFC team, I almost feel myself getting more emotionally involved in this game simply because the Bears are my favorite team, despite them having no rivalry with New England to speak of, except for pushing the Patriots stool in twenty years ago.

[Guest Felonies!]

What worries me about this game is that you could argue that Chicago's last two wins were sparked by remarkable coaching boners, like Coughlin ordering a 52-yarder into the wind, or Mangini opening the second half with an onside kick. Belichick isn't going to make dumb mistakes like that. Furthermore, the weakness of the Bears defense is the run, which means Maroney could potentially just torch this defense. I'm not worried about the Bears being a road team here, as that clearly hasn't been a concern up to this point. I'm just worried about not being able to stop the run on defense, and Grossman-via-Turner being so conservative (read: trembling with fear) that we go back to the Kyle Orton system, which isn't going to be enough to outscore Tom Brady.

[Brett Favre 0]

I like the onside kick call. Sure as hell better than doing nothing.

[Guest Felonies!]

I like onside kicks when you're down a touchdown in the closing minutes of a game.

[Brett Favre 0]

Boring ass conservative Herm Edwards play not to lose book eh?

[MFer 0]

My picks:

 

Lions(show some pride please!)

Cowboys

Chiefs

Jags

Texans(upset of the week)

Ravens

Bengals

Panthers

Vikings

Panthers

49ers

Chargers

Patriots

Giants

Colts

Seahawks

[Guest Felonies!]

Boring ass conservative Herm Edwards play not to lose book eh?

I don't think the second half kickoff in a 0-0 game is the time and place for an onside kick, sorry.

 

Uneducated week 12 predictions:

Miami @ Detroit: Miami can't be stopped, which is funny. Dolphins by 6.

 

Tampa Bay @ Dallas: Cowboys will get a decisive win here and the Booyah Network will not let us forget for ten days. Cowboys by 17.

 

America's Team at Kansas City: I don't buy that the Broncos are fading, but the Chiefs should get a win at Arrowhead. Hey, remember Chiefs-Broncos early this year? Was that game just the worst shit ever or what? Chiefs by 3

 

Jacksonville at Buffalo: Jaguars stay mediocre with a dumb loss to Buffalo. Bills by 10.

 

Houston at NY Jets: Jets stay mediocre with an easy win against Houston. Jets by 18.

 

Pittsburgh at Baltimore: They're gonna fuckin' kill the Steelers. Ravens by 21.

 

Cincinnati at Cleveland: Cincinnati's offense shows up big time for this one, barring arrests. Isn't it weird how Chad Johnson seems to be the most reviled Bengal, yet he doesn't seem to do anything really dumb or illegal? Hmm. Bengals by 17.

 

Carolina at Washington: stevesmithstevesmithstevesmith Panthers by 13.

 

Arizona at Minnesota: This game will show the world who Denny Green's best team REALLY was! No jobber-roll for AZ, Vikes right the ship. Vikings by 9.

 

New Orleans at Atlanta: It should be similar to their last game. I don't remember the score, so meh, Saints by 10.

 

San Francisco at St. Louis: Rams are through, 49ers are looking impressive. Is it Frank Gore or Mike Nolan's suit? Is it both? 49ers by 3.

 

Oakland at San Diego: Trap game close call, Chargers by 6.

 

Chicago at New England: I have a bad, bad, bad feeling about what Maroney is going to do to us, and a similar feeling that the Rex Grossman from last week is the new Rex Grossman, which is the old Captain Neckbeard. Then again, he could wow us all and just tear shit up. This is the real game of the week, obviously, and Fox can really go fuck itself for protecting this from NBC. Now we need to be protected from Joe Buck. Biggest game of the year for the Bears, as this game can potentially stick it to the media and clinch a three-game sweep of the scary northeastern road trip. I don't want to jinx this game somehow. I'm not going to pick a score here.

 

NY Giants at Tennessee: The Giants won't lose this one, even if I'd love them to just for the look on Tom's face. Giants by 13.

 

Philadelphia at Indianapolis: Whatever, Colts by 35.

 

Green Bay at Seattle: This will be Brett Favre's big statement game of the year, unless he's had one that I'm not aware of. Statement in question is "I am impervious to pain, even without copious painkiller abuse." Last week was a message from God that Brett Favre will never be replaced, and the ensuing win is why Rodgers is gone. God, listen to me gush over Favre. I feel like I should be eating a cheddar-filled bratwurst and banging a cow. Goooooo paickers by 11.

[Brett Favre 0]

It worked with Indy in a tied game..why not again this week, if the team is confident they could get it done? Sometimes you have to take chances.

[CanadianChris 0]

What worries me about this game is that you could argue that Chicago's last two wins were sparked by remarkable coaching boners, like Coughlin ordering a 52-yarder into the wind, or Mangini opening the second half with an onside kick. Belichick isn't going to make dumb mistakes like that. Furthermore, the weakness of the Bears defense is the run, which means Maroney could potentially just torch this defense. I'm not worried about the Bears being a road team here, as that clearly hasn't been a concern up to this point. I'm just worried about not being able to stop the run on defense, and Grossman-via-Turner being so conservative (read: trembling with fear) that we go back to the Kyle Orton system, which isn't going to be enough to outscore Tom Brady.

That was Indianapolis' problem as well, and Belichick did nothing to exploit it. As long as Maroney is splitting time with Corey Dillon, I don't see a problem for Chicago.

[CanadianChris 0]

The NFL sure got this one right...

 

Tom Nalen was fined $25K by the league for diving at Igor Olshansky's knees during a spike play on the Broncos' final drive Sunday, while Olshansky was fined only $10K for throwing a punch at Nalen that drew a personal foul and an ejection.

 

I saw the replay of that incident, and it was disgusting. Nalen should have been suspended for that. I can't even condone that from someone on my favourite team.

[Guest Paul]

Where's the maps? I'm hoping the way CBS runs things, I'll get to see Giants @ Titans this weekend.

 

And if they lose...well, kiss their asses goodbye.

[devo 0]

 

Matchups are kinda lame this week. Besides the Jets game, the only contests I'd like to watch on Sunday are NO/ATL and CHI/NE.

[Red Baron 0]

Why doesn't the media just change the name of the Panthers too Steve Smith featuring the Carolina Panthers.

 

I bet there are more people who know who Steve Smith is over the Carolina Panthers.

[devo 0]

Good GOD these GMC-sponsored openings are terrible.