Week Twelve Picks, Part 1 — Thanksgiving
Today, I’m thankful that the whole ridiculous Terrell Owens/Philadelphia Eagles ordeal is finally over with. Now maybe we can start talking about football again. But probably not. I anticipate there will continue to be a T.O. story a week (maybe one a day) for the rest of the season? Where will he be next season? Who will be fool enough to think they can work with him? How is his court case against the Eagles (can there be any doubt that there will be one?) progressing? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It’s never, ever gonna go away, is it? Well, OK, then, lemme start again. Today, I’m thankful that there’s actually a game worth watching being played on Thanksgiving. One out of two ain’t bad, I suppose.
Happy Thanksgiving. I’ll check back in with the rest of my week twelve picks come Friday.
Atlanta (-3) at Detroit
This much is clear: Atlanta is not making it to the post-season this year. The Falcons showed in their loss to Tampa Bay on Sunday that they simply cannot beat good teams. They’re 3-3 at home this season (and headed for 4-4; they’ve got New Orleans and Carolina coming in), and while they’ve made up for that on the road a bit, they’ve got a tough slate of road games ahead of them (they’ve gotta travel to Carolina, Tampa Bay and Chicago). The way I see it, they’re headed for 8-8, which doesn’t get you anywhere near the playoffs this season in either conference. All that said, you’ve still gotta like the Falcons to get by the absolutely awful Detroit Lions. I’ll take Atlanta and give the points.
Denver (-2) at Dallas
I’m looking at this game as a possible Super Bowl XL preview. I’m quite certain Denver is headed to Detroit Feb. 5 (sorry, Colts fans, I don’t expect you to accept it, but your team just isn’t getting past the Broncos). And I’m starting to really believe Dallas could get there too. I’m quite sure Dallas will come out on top in the NFC East, though I’d much rather see the Giants win the division. The Cowboys are getting better as the season goes on, and my gut says that dickhead Bill Parcells will find a way to coach them to a conference championship. Once they get to Detroit, well, it’s all a matter of whom they face. I think they’d beat the Colts (who still don’t have the D to win a championship) and I think they’d play Denver tough, but just lose. This week, I think the Cowboys are in for a very tough game. The teams are close to being evenly matched (Denver’s been a bit more productive on offense, Dallas a tad stronger on defense) and under normal circumstances you’d expect what minor advantage Denver has on a neutral field to be erased by the fact that the game is being played in Dallas. But the circumstances aren’t normal. Dallas will be playing it’s third game in 11 days, which ain’t easy (even if the game in the middle of the three was against Detroit), while Denver is coming off a cakewalk of a matchup with the softer-than-soft New York Jets. So I like the Broncos to edge the Cowboys here, though I expect the game to come down to the last couple of minutes.
