NFL Picks - Week 7

In My Humble Opinion
21

Sigh…football, football…well, the whole league’s a bit of a crapshoot right now, so it’s hard for me to determine who I should pick. So I’ll just try to keep it simple this week:

1. Cardinals
This is one of those matchups that you can count on one team winning about 98% of the time no matter what. Well, call me a fool for backing Team Whoever, but I say they’re far more than due for a shellacking of America’s Former Team, which has been in a slow burn for years.

2. Panthers
Maybe it’s just me, but I find it distressing when any team loses squeaker after squeaker after squeaker…it just seems dishonest to me. I mean, you know the Jets have serious problems…is it really accurate to call the Panthers struggling or fading when their losses have been by a total 7 points? Just one win, any win, to stem the tide and give me a better read on how good/bad they really are. Just one.

3. Eagles
The Eagles and Buccaneers are both contending teams, and, yes, both quite due after years of seemingly neverending disappointment. I’m taking the Eagles here because…well, I think they need it more. Yeah, the NFC South is a tighter race, but, c’mon, would anyone really rather face the Giants in the playoffs than the Saints? (Yes, I know this isn’t a rational pick. It’s a bandwagon…it isn’t supposed to be rational. :slight_smile: )

4. Redskins
Likewise. This team has just suffered way too much crap in its recent history, and you really can’t lay a catastrophic breakdown in fundamentals at Steve Spurrier’s feet. A win over a contender should get them right back in the thick of things, and, given the scarcity of riveting division battles we seem to be heading toward, I think that’s a good thing.

5. Broncos
One, because this was, until recently, one of those 98% matchups. And two, because a Broncos wins moves the Chiefs another step toward a record where they couldn’t make the playoffs regardless of which division they were in, thus sparing us all a whole bunch of weird lamentations about how the Chiefs were robbed because they were in the Super Mega Elite Monster Division From Hell.

Besides, I never forgave them for finishing 13-3 and getting home field throughout the playoffs, whereupon they promptly proceeded to get stomped flat by the Broncos (did I mention the horses were a #4 seed that year and had just come off a grueling win over the Jaguars?).

Okay, maybe I’m a little tired…

Standings:
11 - Panthers
10 - Chargers, Eagles
8 - Cardinals
7 - 49ers
6 - Bills
5 - Saints, Vikings
4 - Browns, Rams, Steelers
3 - Colts, Dolphins
7 other teams with 1 or 2 points

Panthers jump to the top, but I don’t expect it to last. Both the Chargers and Eagles look ready to bust it open, and don’t ever discount the never-out of it 49ers. If the injury-riddled Dolphins find a way to win, count on them making a big leap.

22

That was sweet. :slight_smile: Ahhh, memories.

23

pepperlandgirl - Oh, you’re a Broncos fan. Will remember for future reference, thanks. (Actually, I’m just glad that no one’s blasting me halfway to Molokai for some tiny factual error I made completely tongue in cheek and fully realizing I might have gotten a number off.)

I just don’t like it when a team rolls in the regular season, only to drop dead in the big game (for additional reference, see Vikings, Minnesota). Sure, the Bears’ had just one brief, shining moment of greatness, but at least they made their one shot count. How the hell do you go 13-3 and lose in the division playoff to a team you owned in the regular season? Bad. Just plain bad.

everyone - Just a few observations to close out this Sunday:

  1. Jeeziz, can anyone in this league make a freaking 25-yard field goal??
  2. Losing Brett Favre is unfortunate, no question, but the Packers have enough weapons to stay competitive until his return (and he will return when it counts, make no mistake). Besides, at this point they’d have to forfeit half the remaining schedule to not win the NFC North. I’m actually looking forward to their next few games, where they’ll have to prove that they’re not just relying on one man.
  3. One week after the fact, and the Terrell Owens on-the-spot autograph signing flap is already incredibly old hat. I’m sure there are a lot of 49ers fans who don’t mind losing a critical conference game if it means never having to hear about this mountainized molehill ever again. (Oh, and the league should either ban it or condone it.)
  4. Gotta love those Cards. Even when they win, they find a way to put their fans through 50 kinds of hell. Even better, at 4-2, there’s actually a chance that they’ll make the playoffs, and won’t it be fun to see their terminal can’t-make-it-happen-itis get compounded by playoff pressure. (If you’re a fan of the other team, that is.
  5. Seriously, what is up with the NFC North? Can anyone explain how 75% of a division is almost completely out of playoff contention a little before the halfway point of the season? Was the NFC Central ever this bad?
24

San Diego Chargers @ Oakland Raiders 4:05 p.m. ET (Raiders by 7)
Raiders, but not by a lot.
Raiders 24-21

Actually this Would of been the score had romanowski forgot he wasnt on a good guy team like the broncos (where it would of probably been ignored) and on the bad ol raiders (where sneezing gets a penalty ) and got called on rolling on a guy a bit too long killing off what would of been a winning drive

But we play them again so well get revenge but the injuries sustained today might put ah urt on the season

25

You know why I will always, always love the Raiders. Because when a game really matters, you can count on them to lose. There are so few things in this world that are that consistent, that this is really refreshing.
I wonder how they will blow the playoffs this year? Doesn’t matter, I’m sure they will think of new, fun, and inventive ways to shoot themselves in the foot.

In other news, the Chiefs are 3-4, and isn’t that fine?

26

It pains me to say it, but the most consistant team in the division for the past 20 years or so has been the Vikings. It seems there has always been two good teams in the division and Minnesota has usually been one of them, and when they faltered one of the others usually picked up the slack. Somehow they are the backbone of the division, so as go the Vikings so goes the division, maybe? Ok, so it’s a stretch…

And in the 90s the division put 4 teams in the playoffs twice, I think, so the slide into this void is rather glaring. The way it looks now the Packers will run away with the division while on cruise control (which will not serve them well come the playoffs, unless they can get home-field advantage out of it). But then if Favre’s knee doesn’t hold up… Boy, you thought the AFC North was awash in mediocrity.