NFL picks week 16

With two weeks in the regular season left I need to make a move, Loren is now up 6.

San Francisco at St. Louis
Derek - St. Louis. I'd like to pick the 49ers here but I just don't see them winning on the road when they can't even decide who should play QB.
Loren – St. Louis. Really, Derek? I know this is a game with division title implications, but that doesn’t mean it’s worth picking. I guess when you’re somewhere between 6 and 47 games down, you have to throw a few toss-ups into the mix. Why am I taking the Rams? Because I think Sam Bradford has responded well this year and they’re playing at home. If I had my way, though, both of these teams would lose and none of the NFC West teams belong in the playoffs.

Tennessee at Kansas City
Derek - Kansas City. The Chiefs will be able to run the ball on Tennessee and with Cassell back in action I expect to see Bowe have a big day.
Loren – Tennessee. KC won’t be able to stop the ground game. The final two weeks will show that KC is an average football team in a subpar division. Tennessee, meanwhile, won’t make the playoffs but just might finish .500 if they win here and against Indy in the final week.

NY Jets at Chicago
Derek - Chicago. Chicago has the home game and have wrapped the division I think they'll still try to play hard since they can still get a bye the first round. Bears special teams will win it.
Loren – NY Jets. How do the Jets lose to Miami then come back and thump Pittsburgh? I feel like the Jets are the football equivalent of the Wookie defense; they just don’t make sense. They are 4-3 at home but 6-1 on the road. Huh? They only have a +36 point differential but have managed a 10-4 record. Huh? Since Chicago is only 4-3 at home as well, I’ll take the Jets and their stingy D, but I won’t be happy about it.

Houston at Denver
Derek - Houston. Yeah the Broncos are a plain bad team. Houston has nothing to play for but their talent should be enough.
Loren – Houston. Ugh. I think Derek put this game on here hoping I’d take the Broncos and he could get an easy win. No such luck. I’ve abandoned all hope for this god-awful excuse of a team. I hope they win, but I sure won’t be picking them.

NY Giants at Green Bay
Derek - Green Bay. I'm going with the home team on this one. The Giants had a bad ending to the game last week and I think there might be some carry over. The Pack need a win to stay in playoff contention.
Loren – NY Giants. The G-Men were awfully close to knocking off Philly last week, but close only left them with a gut punch headed into their match up against GB. Still, I like the Giants’ resolve. This is a tough team and I wouldn’t want to take out their frustrations from last week on me.

New Orleans at Atlanta
Derek - New Orleans. The Saints have some of their impact players back and should start gelling now. These teams know each other well and I'll be surprised if it's a high scoring game.
Loren – Atlanta. I told everyone Atlanta would be good this year. Granted, they have wins against SF, Arizona, Seattle, Carolina and St. Louis, but they also have wins against NO, Tampa (2), Green Bay and Baltimore. One of their two losses was in OT against the Steelers in the first week of the season. Since that game, they have gone 12-1. The Saints are giving up too many yards on the ground and Michael Turner is going to make them pay this week.

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NFL Picks week 15

For crying out loud! Loren and I split again, so I'm still 5 back.

Philadelphia at NY Giants
Derek - Philadelphia. I don't see the Giants putting too many points on the board. The Eagles continue to score in bunches and hold on late.
Loren – Philadelphia. With Steve Smith done for the year, Manning has even fewer offensive options. Meanwhile the Eagles continue to roll along. I don’t think the Giants can match the Eagles’ speed for the duration of the game.

New Orleans at Baltimore
Derek - New Orleans. The Saints have a better offense and won't get behind like the Texans did agasinst the Ravens. The Ravens D looked tired at the end and seeing all the stats about games given up in the last quarter makes me think the Saints will win a big game on the road.
Loren – Baltimore. After seeing the way the Texans came back again the Ravens last week, I had to think twice about this one. However, Ray Rice is a wrecking machine to complement the bulldozers on the Raven’s D. I think they’ll wear the Saints down with the help of the home crowd.

Houston at Tennessee
Derek - Houston. Collins hasn't be able to open up jack this year for CJ. The Texans will stick with throwing it to Johnson and running it with Foster, that'll be enought to beat the Titans.
Loren – Tennessee. I never thought I would say this, but now that 65 year old Kerry Collins is under center, I think the Titans have a much better chance to win. He knows how to manage games and should be able to open the field back up for CJ.

Jacksonville at Indianapolis
Derek - Indianapolis. Last year Miami lost to the Colts even though the Fins held the ball for 45:07 and ran for 239 yards. Those stats mean little to the Colts. Every week Manning feels more and more comfotable with his WR.
Loren – Jacksonville. The Colts are giving up 141 rushing yards/game. Jags are second in the league in yards gained on the ground. Unfortunately for them, the roles are almost exactly reversed for the Colts passing vs the Jags secondary. I’m counting on the Jaguars being able to control the clock and keep Manning off the field just enough.

NY Jets at Pittsburgh
Derek - Pittsburgh. This is a classic case of one team playing well and the other ramming their heads to the ground, or is it knees. Plus I can jump back on my early season the J E T S sucks bandwagon.
Loren – Pittsburgh. With all the alternating hype and drama surrounding the Jets, it’s masked the fact that they at a couple of bad plays/bad calls/missed tackles from a 6-8 record. Without a last minute INT against Denver or their OT wins against Detroit and Cleveland, we could be talking about how far out of the playoff picture they are. All that to say I like the Steelers’ chances at home.

Green Bay at New England
Derek - New England. The Pats are good.
Loren – New England. See my comments about the Jets above. Plus, the Pats are taking no prisoners and you couldn’t get me to bet against Brady right now.

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NFL Week 14 picks

Loren and I split our games last week. He got Jacksonville over Tennessee and I got New England's thrashing the Jets. Heck I even said it'd be lopsided win. But that doesn't matter, I remain 5 games back.

Tampa Bay at Washington
Derek - Washington. The Bucs have a lot of starters out for this one and suffered a bummer of a loss last week, I think they'll drop this one on the road.
Loren - Tampa Bay. The Bucs have a below average rush defense and a great pass defense. Who better for them to play than the Redskins who have no rushing attack? And with the Redskins ranking near the bottom in both run and pass defense, this one probably won't even be close.

Oakland at Jacksonville
Derek - Jacksonville. Oakland has to travel all the way across the country in an effort to stop MJD from his getting his 6th 100 yard game in a row.
Loren - Jacksonville. The Raiders want to pound away with the ground game but the Jags have been great lately at plugging holes. The Jags are second in the league in yards on the ground and the the Raiders front line D has been suspect. This will be a war of attrition and I expect the Jags to win at home and stay in 1st place.

Denver at Arizona
Derek - Arizona. This could be one of those games where a team loses their coach and goes on to play better. Unfortuantly the Broncos are just no good.
Loren - Denver. Okay, with the likelihood that Arizona will be starting a rookie QB, I feel fairly confident picking the Broncos. With Josh McDouchebag gone, I think the team will feel that a weight has been lifted from their shoulders and play to have some fun.

Kansas City at San Diego
Derek - San Diego. The Charges will get back on track with their late season surge. KC has a chance to control the ball but without Cassell it's going to be difficult to score TDs.
Loren - San Diego. If the Chiefs had trouble with the Broncos passing attack, they're gonna get floored by what the Chargers bring. I just don't think the Chiefs have the talent to carry themselves to a division title.

New England at Chicago
Derek - New England. This could be a let down game for the Pats. But they are playing too well to lose this one.
Loren - New England. Is there really any reason to pick against them at this point? Well, if you're several games down in a contest with a friend and are desperate to reverse the trend...come on Derek, take the Bears!

Baltimore at Houston
Derek - Baltimore. This could be a good game, high power offense up against a strong D. The Ravens are going to have to score more than 20 but they'll get there.
Loren - Baltimore. The Ravens D shuts down the ground game of the Texans and the Texans don't have enough firepower on defense to keep the Ravens out of the end zone.

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NFL Week 13 picks

Well well well, I was able to pick up a game last week, that leaves me 5 games back. Getting to desperation time.

San Francisco at Green Bay
Loren – Green Bay. No Gore, no chance.
Derek - Green Bay. Yeah uh see, Green Bay is a much better team playing at home.

Denver at Kansas City
Loren - Kansas City. Okay, so the Broncos have finally let me down enough this season that I’m picking the frickin’ Chiefs. Of course, this means the Broncos will inexplicably destroy KC 63-0.
Derek - Kansas City. Loren is supposed to take the Broncos here, oh well. The Chiefs are a suprise team this year and it's not going to stop here.

Jacksonville at Tennessee
Loren – Jacksonville. The Jags mediocre record and negative point differential doesn’t reflect it, but this is a good, hard-nosed football team that is currently tied for 1st in a tough division. Tennessee is a game back, but moving in a different direction with a rookie QB. Jags big in this one.
Derek - Tennessee. The Titans have it at home and have to rely on the running game, not sure if you know this but they have a good running back. The Jags know this too which is why we'll all be surprised by the passing game, Moss will score his first Titans TD.

Atlanta at Tampa Bay
Loren – Atlanta . I’ve been riding ATL all season and they are living a charmed life right now. The Bucs are better than anyone thought, but not as good as the Falcons.
Derek - Atlanta. I wasn't THAT high on the Falcons, but I might be now. They'll win a close one but a win is a win.

Oakland at San Diego
Loren – San Diego. I’m taking the Bolts at home against a team with future aspiration but current lack of talent.
Derek - San Diego. What a shock the Chargers are making a late season surge. They'll control this game through out.

NY Jets at New England
Loren – NY Jets. They beat the Pats once already this year and they are getting more confident with every hard won game. If any secondary can slow Brady down, it’s this one. Jets in a squeaker.
Derek - New England. It's hard for a team to beat the same team twice in one year. The Pats are going to pull this out in normal Pats style, by beating the Jets big.

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