More Week 16 Stuff!!

OK, I want a rule change implemented immediately. As fans, we should sign a petition and send it to commissioner Roger Goodell for league ratification. It should read “No player from the University of Miami should EVER be interviewed on the sidelines after an NFL football game.” Did you see the interview with Steelers RB Najeh Davenport after their win over the Rams last night?? It was brutal!! I watched it three times on TV this morning and still have no idea what he said. I’m kidding about the “U”, of course, but I’m not kidding about the interview.

So, here are the rest of this weeks picks. Enjoy!!

Oakland at Jacksonville
The Raiders trek cross country to get their butts kicked by the Jaguars in Jacksonville. Make no mistake, this will be a “whoopin”!! The Jags are 10-4 and not one player of theirs made the Pro-Bowl. Head coach Jack Del Rio will make that a rallying cry for his team and Raiders will be caught squarely in the crosshairs. Musical chairs at QB for Oakland will continue, and the Jags will take this game 34-16.

Philadelphia at New Orleans
This is gonna be a war!! The Saints need this game to keep their playoff hopes alive and the Eagles were beaten two times last year by the Saints in the Superdome. They will not want it to happen again. The key to the Saints winning is simple. The offensive line has to slow down the forty different blitzes the Eagles will run. If Drew Brees can play like he normally does and gets rid of the ball quickly, the Saints will win. If he is sacked more than twice, they will lose. It’s as simple as that!! I look for the Saints to come up big to keep the pressure on the Giants and Vikings for the final wild card spot in the NFC playoffs. The score will be 24-20.

Tampa Bay at San Francisco
The Buccaneers travel to the left coast to take on the 49ers. The Bucs have sewn up the NFC West title while the 9ers are just playing out the schedule. I have to say, I was impressed the 49ers were able to pull it together last week and beat the Bengals. On paper, Cincinnati is a much better team than San Francisco. I think that says a lot about the locker room and the veterans on that squad. In this game however, I believe that Tampa Bay has too many weapons for the 49ers to shut down all day. It will be a better game than most of you probably think. I have the Bucs winning it, 23-21.

Atlanta at Arizona
The Falcons need a break!! They just need something, …anything to go right!! Well, …it ain’t gonna happen here. The Cardinals were eliminated from playoff contention last week and the Falcons have been out since last June. The basic fact is, the Cardinals have better players on the field than the Falcons do right now. This game will be pretty close until DeAngelo Hall realizes he can’t cover both Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin. My crystal ball tells me the score will be 27-13.

Miami at New England
I predict that Bill Belichick will rest his starters in this game. At least some. Mind you, he’ll have his foot on the neck of the Dolphins while he’s doing it, but he’s going to do it. The Patriots will fly out to a big lead and we’ll start to see the “studs” sitting when they normally wouldn’t. Keep in mind, we’re talking about the Dolphins here. If New England was playing a team that could mount a threat, I wouldn’t be talking about this. Just a thought!! By the way, the score will be 42-13.

Baltimore at Seattle
I can’t believe the Ravens are going to fly from one side of the country to the other to get shut out. They shouldn’t even bring their offense with them. Just give the ball to the Seahawks all day and see if the defense can score some points. I’m pretty convinced Baltimore would have a better chance of winning that way. I just saw the injury report for the Ravens and it said “QB Kyle Boller- Did Not Practice- Head” and I thought, they got the reason right. Seattle is playing pretty good football despite losing at Carolina last week. I think the Seahawks right the ship here and win this one, 24-10.

New York Jets at Tennessee
QB Chad Pennington is back at the helm of the Jets this week. Woo Hoo!!! Of course, he’s probably treating his start as an audition for a job next season. The Titans are equally average at home and on the road while the Jets are terrible wherever they play. In the end, Tennessee will prove too much and win it, 20-13.

Washington at Minnesota
The biggest game of the week will be played Sunday night. There are playoff implications all over this game. The Saints and the Redskins need the Vikings to lose and fortunately for both, Washington gets to have a say in it. The Vikes are peaking at the right time, but I’m still not going to say that QB Tarvaris Jackson won’t kill them in a big spot. The emotion of Sean Taylor’s death earlier this year isn’t a state of mind for the Redskins. I feel it’s bigger than that and so that’s why I think the Redskins will keep winning, at least in the near future even with their backup QB starting the rest of the way. The ’skins take this one, 21-17.

 

Denver at San Diego
The underachieving Broncos head west to take on the “Jeckyll and Hyde” Chargers. I can’t tell if San Diego is any good or not. Sometimes they seem like it, but then they lay an egg. I understand a lot of teams are like that , but not very many of them had the expectations the Chargers had. I do think they will beat Denver this week, but I don’t really expect much out of them on the AFC side of the playoffs. The score here will be 31-13.

Thanks for reading and I’ll blog at you again later!!