# NFL Predictions - Week 16 **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 14, 2000, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-predictions-week-16/45536 "2000-12-14T15:10:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gazoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ce73a5/32.png) [@Gazoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazoo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-predictions-week-16/45536/1 "2000-12-14T15:10:08Z")
Hey, Hey!! 11-4 last week!! 143-75 overall. (Sporting News now at 142-76 for those scoring at home.) Luckily no one has clinched home field yet, so I don’t have to worry about teams sitting their stars in the second half. As an added feature this week, I’ve added _italics_ to indicate my pick against the spread. And away we go… **Saturday** **Redskins 17 at _Steelers_ 20** (Okay, last week we went over my lack of faith in the Steelers. But the Redskins looked pathetic last week and this is the last game at Three Rivers.) **_Raiders_ 27 at Seahawks 20** (The Seahawks are just resilient enough o make it look close. It won’t be.) **Sunday** **Falcons 17 at _Saints_ 30** (I’m sorry, but I just freakin’ love watching a team of Aaron Brooks, Willie Jackson, and Terry Allen go hog wild over their opponent.) **_Broncos_ 31 at Chiefs 16** (Just think what the Broncos can get in trade for Gary and Anderson if Davis proves to be healthy in the off-season.) **Lions 13 at _Jets_ 20** (Tough one. Two teams scraping for the playoffs, both coming off losses. The Jets have the players to bounce back. The Lions, well, I covered that last week.) **Packers 24 at _Vikings_ 35** (This game will tell a lot about Mike Sherman and his staff. They’ve had a week to break down how the Rams obliterated the Vikings. Problem is Freeman and Schroeder aren’t Bruce and Holt, and Green’s not Faulk.) **Jaguars 20 at _Bengals_ 18** (Both are out of the playoffs. The Jags have been high on playing spoiler. Can a team that’s out of the playoffs _have_ a sandwich letdown game? I think so.) **_Patriots_ 19 at Bills 20** (Boy, you’ve got to think that, in hindsight, the Bills would’ve rather just forfeited that Tampa game. I just can’t understand the decision to play Johnson over Flutie – it has to be politics.) **_Chargers_ at Panthers 17** (Brad Hoover? Meet Junior Seau. Hurts, don’t it? Welcome to the NFL.) **_Titans_ 30 at Browns 6** (This just in, _Courtney Brown_ will be taking snaps for the Browns this week.) **Bears 17 at _49ers_ 26** (Last week the Bears were saying McNown would be the back-up for the rest of the year. Matthews has his best game last week. Now they’re saying McNown might start. Go figure.) **_Ravens_ 20 at Cardinals 0** (Look, if Baltimore wanted to they could score more. I think they want to give Lewis some easy carries though.) **Colts 13 at _Dolphins_ 17** (I still can’t understand why Fiedler was trying to throw in those torrential downpours last week. Poor, poor play calling.) **_Giants_ 24 at Cowboys 16** (Does anybody else think of Aikman as another Phil Simms or Jim McMahon? An average QB who walked into the perfect setting. I _cringe_ at the Steve Young comparisons I’m hearing.) **Monday** **Rams 13 at _Buccaneers_ 19** (What’s this? Two teams still in the playoff hunt on Monday Night? How’d that happen? Lynch is the key. As long as he plays, you’ve got a replay of last year’s NFC Championship. Except it’s outside. On grass. In Tampa.) Hopefully I can string together two good weeks in a row. But, you never know. That’s why they play the games… ---
**Author:** ![Gazoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ce73a5/32.png) [@Gazoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazoo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-predictions-week-16/45536/2 "2000-12-14T15:12:06Z")
That should be: **_Chargers_ 20 at Panthers 17** (Brad Hoover? Meet Junior Seau. Hurts, don’t it? Welcome to the NFL.) ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-predictions-week-16/45536/3 "2000-12-14T15:24:38Z")
Last week was rough for me. In my fantasy league, I won the conference title game 95-50 (Daunte Culpepper, Eddie George, and Mike Anderson combined for nine touchdowns) but in the pool I fell to third place- and the two people above me are tied for first! So if I want to obtain the title of “football guru” in the office, I’ve gotta pull out the stops in these last two weeks and regain first place. Thus, my hesitant-tentative-Thursday picks, ranked in order of how confident I am that I’m right and thus how valuable the prediction is to me. Also, I’ll happily take advice and recommendations, assuming it’s not “The Bengals are going all the way!” 15: Tennessee over Cleveland 14: Baltimore over Arizona 13: Jacksonville over Cincinnato 12: New Orleans over Atlanta 11: Oakland over Seattle 10: Denver over Kansas City 09: New York Giants over Dallas 08: Carolina over San Diego 07: Minnesota over Green Bay 06: Buffalo over New England 05: Miami over Indianapolis 04: New York Jets over Detroit 03: San Francisco over Chicago 02: St Louis over Tampa Bay 01: Pittsburgh over Washington Looks like Gazoo and I have the same picks, except for the Monday Night Game, in which I took St Louis and bet two points on them. (Still berating myself for picking with my heart and not my head in regards to Vikes vs Rams last week) ---
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-predictions-week-16/45536/4 "2000-12-14T15:56:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gazoo \* > **Redskins 17 at _Steelers_ 20 (Okay, last week we went over my lack of faith in the Steelers. But the Redskins looked pathetic last week and this is the last game at Three Rivers.)** Now that the Deadskins are pretty mcuh eliminated, I can safely side with you, Gazoo, and say that I think you got this one right: The Streak (should be) dead. Somewhere in eastern Pennsylvania, the **Eagles** are enjoying their bye week by whipping the '85 Bears in a computer game. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Crunchy\_Frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-predictions-week-16/45536/5 "2000-12-14T15:56:51Z")
Gazoo, Gazoo, Gazoo. You poor, misguided lad. The Rams do not suffer outside and on grass, especially in Florida, where they won’t have to worry about the freezing cold. Last Sunday the Rams showed that they could remember how they played all last year and trampled the Vikes. They will carry that to Tampa Bay, whose offense won’t be able to keep up. I’m predicting **Rams** 27, **Bucs** 16. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-predictions-week-16/45536/6 "2000-12-14T16:38:53Z")
Um, do I even have to say it? ---
**Author:** ![Gazoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ce73a5/32.png) [@Gazoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazoo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-predictions-week-16/45536/7 "2000-12-14T16:45:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Crunchy Frog \* > **The Rams do not suffer outside and on grass, especially in Florida, where they won’t have to worry about the freezing cold.** Ummm. At Carolina? At Kansas City? It wasn’t cold for those games. They’re 2-2 outdoors on grass this year (against weaker opponents than the Bucs). Oh, **Rysdad** - when you see this, **Sledman** said he _did_ want to take you up on a bet for the Packer-Vicking game. Busy time of year for him, so he hasn’t been able to check in on the board too often though. ---
**Author:** ![Falcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/49beb7/32.png) [@Falcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falcon)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-predictions-week-16/45536/8 "2000-12-14T17:55:26Z")
Streak ain’t dying. GO SKINS! ---
**Author:** ![LateComer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5ac83/32.png) [@LateComer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LateComer)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-predictions-week-16/45536/9 "2000-12-14T18:15:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Crunchy Frog \* > \*\*Last Sunday the Rams showed that they could remember how they played all last year and trampled the Vikes. They will carry that to Tampa Bay, whose offense won’t be able to keep up. I’m predicting **Rams** 27, **Bucs** 16. \*\* I believe that the only thing the Rams proved last week is that the Vikings defense is as bad if not worse than the Rams, as the two teams have, basically the same offense. I had been convinced that the Vikings had the edge at defense. I was wrong. Terribly wrong. I do believe that a good defense beats the Rams, especially on grass. If they can hold Faulk to, say, 120 total yards and not let them play “Throw the ball as far as I can and let the receiver run under it” they will lose. The Bucs can do this, and will the Rams be able to stop Dunn? I don’t think so. Look for a big game from him. As for the Steelers, your confidence in them this week against the Skins pretty much assures a loss. Lets hope that Three Rivers goes out with a Bang and not a whimper. I, for one, will be happy with the Steelers if they go .500, which means winning one more game. If they lose to both the disarray that is the Skins and the Chargers, it will be pathetic indeed . . . And for the Love of God don’t waste another draft pick on a mediocre Wide Receiver . . . Ah, the Cincinatti Bengals. The Washington Generals of the NFL. ---
**Author:** ![Crunchy\_Frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-predictions-week-16/45536/10 "2000-12-14T18:19:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gazoo \* > **Ummm. At Carolina? At Kansas City? It wasn’t cold for those games. They’re 2-2 outdoors on grass this year (against weaker opponents than the Bucs).** I am a Rams fan, Gazoo. Logic has no effect on me. So to this, I say: I am rubber, you are glue . . . ---
**Author:** ![Gazoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ce73a5/32.png) [@Gazoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazoo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-predictions-week-16/45536/11 "2000-12-14T18:56:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Crunchy Frog \*\*\*I am a Rams fan, Gazoo. Logic has no effect on me. So to this, I say: I am rubber, you are glue . . . \*\* You’re great. The best. Everyone loves you… 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-predictions-week-16/45536/12 "2000-12-14T19:23:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Ah, the Cincinatti Bengals. The Washington Generals of the NFL. and > [@](#): > > “Ah, the Luftwaffe. The Washington Generals of the History Channel.” -Homer Simpson. forces me to say: **Bill:** Let me get this straight: you took all the money you made franchising your name and bet it against the Harlem Globetrotters? **Krusty:** Oh, I thought the Generals were due! _[TV shows a Globetrotter spinning the ball as Generals watch]_ **Krusty:** He’s spinning the ball on his finger! Just take it, take the ball! _[The Globetrotter kicks it into the net behind him]_ **Krusty:** That game was fixed. They were using a freakin’ ladder, for god’s sake. I feel much the same way about some games this football season … ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-predictions-week-16/45536/13 "2000-12-14T20:33:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Falcon \* > \*\*Streak ain’t dying. > > GO SKINS! \*\* Falcon, Falcon, Falcon… You really don’t think that ol Black and Gold are gonna lose their last game in 3RS, do you? Seriously? ---
**Author:** ![Falcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/49beb7/32.png) [@Falcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falcon)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-predictions-week-16/45536/14 "2000-12-14T20:40:09Z")
MB - I’m a fan…I _have_ to believe. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-predictions-week-16/45536/15 "2000-12-14T20:58:46Z")
Well, that is commendable. Would I be out of line to hope for a Deion Sanders injury in this game? No matter where that bastard goes, and no matter how much preaching he does, he’ll still be a loudmouth jackass Dallas Cowboy in my eyes. I don’t wish him any permanent harm. Maybe just get his bell wrung by Bettis and sit the rest of the game out? ---
**Author:** ![LateComer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5ac83/32.png) [@LateComer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LateComer)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-predictions-week-16/45536/16 "2000-12-15T15:52:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mouthbreather \* > \*\*Well, that is commendable. > > No matter where that bastard goes, and no matter how much preaching he does, he’ll still be a loudmouth jackass Dallas Cowboy in my eyes. \*\* Oddly, he’s always the loudmouth jackass Atlanta Falcon to me. Remember when Deion broke his aknle sliding into 3rd at 3 Rivers when he played for the Reds? Perhaps there can be a repeat performance . . . May he choke on a Terrible Towel. The Redskins, at this time, represent the worst in football. Trying to buy a championship, overpaying for Free Agents, Owners exerting too much control, I could go on. There is only one thing I like about the Redskins: Daryl Green. He’s a classy guy and a better defensive back than Neon Deion will ever be. Oh, yeah, 2 things. They are losing . . . mouthbreaker, this game scares me a little bit. The Skins have just suffered 2 humiliating losses. They may have some fire . . . On the other hand, they may have lost any fire that they might have had left . . . Go Stihlers! ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-predictions-week-16/45536/17 "2000-12-15T16:13:23Z")
I thought of that too, LC, but if Cowher can’t light a fire under the Steelers asses – for not only the fact that this is the last game at 3RS but also for any prayer of clinging to a Wildcard…then we are in some seriously bad shit. ---
**Author:** ![Falcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/49beb7/32.png) [@Falcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falcon)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-predictions-week-16/45536/18 "2000-12-15T16:47:46Z")
Can I say something? What the HELL is the difference between Snyder and Jerry Jones? If you hate both, fine. If not, explain to me why Snyder is so much worse. Thanks. (And I’m STILL glad they fired Norv.) ---
**Author:** ![LateComer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5ac83/32.png) [@LateComer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LateComer)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-predictions-week-16/45536/19 "2000-12-15T17:49:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Falcon \* > \*\*Can I say something? > > What the HELL is the difference between Snyder and Jerry Jones? If you hate both, fine. If not, explain to me why Snyder is so much worse. > > Thanks. > > (And I’m STILL glad they fired Norv.) \*\* Jerry Jones is worse, much worse. Snyder is his disciple. Dallas bought themselves a couple of Championships (as did San Francisco) and they are now suffering for it. Or, more specifially, the fans are suffering, as will the Redskins fans pay for this year’s indulgence. You, Falcon, are the victim, or will be, of this year’s failure. Jerry Jones is pure evil. PURE EVIL. Michael Irvin and Leon Lett? If they had been Steelers they would have been cut or traded after the first drug incident. Who remembers Bam Morris? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-predictions-week-16/45536/20 "2000-12-15T23:40:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gazoo \* > **Redskins 17 at _Steelers_ 20** (Okay, last week we went over my lack of faith in the Steelers. But the Redskins looked pathetic last week and this is the last game at Three Rivers.) Yeah, pick against 'em _now._ When it doesn’t matter in the least. Bitter? Nah. Not me. Sure, the Redskins can win this one. Just like they could improbably lose to the Cardinals, then improbably beat the Rams. Watching this streak is like watching a slow-motion train-wreck. Which describes perfectly the Redskins’ season. Like **Falcon** , I’m exceedingly glad Norv is gone. He was bad under Cooke, bad during the interregnum, and bad under Snyder. We can argue about Snyder, but there’s nothing to suggest that Norv was anything but part of the problem, not part of the solution. If he gets a head-coaching position somewhere else, that team will suck, too. And why should anybody give Norv a head coaching job when Art Shell can’t even get interviewed? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-predictions-week-16/45536.md?page=2)