Week 13 Picks - Thanksgiving

It’s Thanksgiving week. That means two things. One, no one will read this, and two, I have to write this on Wednesday afternoon, so it will be short and less researched than normal. AND YES, I do research games at least a little bit most weeks – you can see the results it has gotten me.

One Thanksgiving question for you – why do we only eat stuffing and cranberry sauce once a year? They are both delicious and should be entered into the regular rotation of side dishes.

Last Week: 6-8
Lock of the Week: 2-9-1
Season: 75-95-7

Home team in CAPS

Packers (+6.5) over LIONS
Matt Flynn owns Detroit! Despite kind of wanting the Lions to win, I really want Matt Flynn to go off in this game and somehow turn that into another big contract and then be terrible wherever he plays other than with the Packers.

Raiders (+9.5) over COWBOYS
Just seems like too many points for a team with one of the worst defenses in football. But there is also a blowout every Thanksgiving, so I’ll probably be missing at least one of these first two picks.

Steelers (+3) over RAVENS
The last four games between these two teams have all been decided by exactly three points, so either it will be a push, or the Steelers will win by three and thus win the bet.

COLTS (-4) over Titans
No team is more schizophrenic than the Colts. They beat the 49ers in San Fran and Seattle and Denver at home, but they also lost to the Dolphins and Rams at home and did not show up at all in Arizona last week.

Jaguars (+7) over BROWNS
Lock of the Week
Brandon Weeden. That is all.

Buccaneers (+8.5) over PANTHERS
Break up the Bucs! They are on fire!

Patriots (-7.5) over TEXANS
Anyone think it was gonna be the Texans who ended up with the top overall pick in the draft? I’m positive more people had them in the Super Bowl than as the No. 1 pick.

Bears (+1) over VIKINGS
I know the Bears were bad last week, but the Vikings are still much, much worse.

Cardinals (+3) over EAGLES
The Cardinals have won four straight, but still only have two road victories on the year – over the Bucs and Jags. Meanwhile the Eagles have won three straight, but only have one home victory this year, over the Redskins. In conclusion, I don’t trust either team in the location they are playing, so I’m taking the points.

JETS (-1.5) over Dolphins
New York finally lost back-to-back games, but I expect them to bounce back and return to .500 here.

Broncos (-5.5) over CHIEFS
Kansas City free fall alert (but not really, they play the Redskins next week).

BILLS (-3) over Falcons
I finally pick against the Falcons last week and they cover the spread. Fuck those guys.

Rams (+8) over 49ERS
The 49ers didn’t do anything special on Monday, in fact I’m picking against them here just on the basis of how terrible the Redskins were.

Bengals (even) over CHARGERS
It seems like the Chargers should be favored, given the Bengals struggles on the road, but they are not, so I’m going to assume Vegas is smarter than me.

Giants (-1.5) over REDSKINS
On the plus side, the chances of the Giants making the Super Bowl are now severely diminished.

SEAHAWKS (-5.5) over Saints
Even though the Seahawks haven’t been dominating at home with quite the same veracity that I was expecting them to after their early season performance, I still think they are the pick. By the way, whoever wins this game will likely get home field and thus be heavy favorites to make the Super Bowl from the NFC.