FortKnox's Journal: Week 12 Picks

Yum. Time for week 12. The guy that runs the poll at my office moved to a different floor, so I'm not ordering them by confidence anymore.

Falcons at Panthers Julius Peppers is back in. This is good news. Steve Smith is suspended. This is VERY bad news. Only one good wideout means triple coverage. The dirty birds have a hayday. Atlanta by 10

Bills at Jets I still am stubborn about the Bills. Chad Pennington has played great against poor defenses. The Jet defense hasn't dealt with a passing attack like the Bills have in a while. Buffalo by 3

Bengals at Steelers Tricky game. This game is usually won by the bengals, but by this time, the steelers are rocking and rolling. Also, the second game is usually in cincy, not pittsburgh (they flipped the games this year). This game will be either steelers dominating early, or a fight for the finish and the bengals winning. If Kordell does poorly, the fans will let him have it, so expect Charlie Batch if one interception is thrown. Pittsburgh by 3

Browns at Saints The Browns only need a running game. The saints secondary is brutal. The browns special teams are brutal. The saints O is balanced. The browns can't find a running game. New Orleans by 7

Lions at Bears This should be a fun game, but da bearsss are up for a good, solid win. I'd go have a beer at Ditka's lounge this Sunday, everyone will be happy. Chicago by 10

Jags at Cowboys The 'boys are playing around with their offense, and lost woodson. Jacksonville by 7

Viks at Pats The Vikings upset the packers, but only seem to do well at home. The patriots will bring them down to earth... HARD. New England by 14

Chargers at Dolphins Lucas is trying to show he can do the QB thing. Now he faces the toughest D in the NFL. Sorry, lucas, this week is gonna hurt. San Diego by 7

Rams at Skins I like how the skins D is starting to get a feel for Lewis' system. Next year they should be solid. But I don't know if they'll be able to handle Warner. Not yet, at least. St Louis by 10

Titans at Ravens The ravens are done. Tennessee by 10

Chiefs at Seahawks Seattle's LB's are all banged up. Unfortunately, I'm playing against priest holmes in one of my FF leagues. Afterwards, I'll need a priest. Kansas City by 21

Raiders at Cards Oakland keeps on like their lives depended on it (pun completely intended). Oakland by 14

Packers at Bucs Brett Favre is pissed. He is out for total blood. This is the game when the TB D will break down in frustration. Donald Drivers hands will be hurting from Favre's bullets. Green Bay by 10

Giants at Texans The giants do bad against mediocre teams. I'll give this one to the Texans (and if they win this game, Cincy will most likely get the first pick next year. Isn't that SAD? Not as sad as the QB cincy picks...)Houston by 3

Colts at Broncos Colts are on a hot streak, and the air at mile high will sap that heat right off them. Denver by 10

Eagles at 49ers No Nabb? Against the 9ers? Who's Koy Detmer? Yikes, I'd hate to be in his shoes... San Fransisco by 24

Bengals? Hmmm

[Tattva]

That would be an interesting pick. The Bengals aren't so bad that the couldn't beat Kordell, and they are really desperate. On the other hand, with Cleveland knocking on the door in the division, Pittsburgh has to be feeling the heat as well. This may be one of the more surprisingly interesting games of the weekend.

You favor the blowouts

[Tattva]

I've noticed that you usually have teams winning by large margins. I don't think actual NFL scores tend to be as far apart as you predict. That said, I expect the Saints to beat up on my poor Browns by at least 7.

Did you not read my JE.

[biohazard99]

Cinci is just commiting suicide again by picking another of the Golden Boy QB's from this year. Their best bet is to try to trade the number 1 pick and their entire offense, for 3 1st, 3 second and 2 picks in the rest of the rounds. Dillon's playing like a big pussy right now (It could be the line, but 4 cracks from a yard out should be good enough for an NFL feature back). They can wait for late 1/early 2 and pick up a real QB (Ragone, Clausen might never get healthy), not another Akili Smith. Unfortunately, I need to edit it thinking about it now, they have to lose the bad blood flowing around the team, which they've been trying (Pickens, Blake, now Warrick and Dillon need to go). They need to find some team (Minn, Mia, Dallas, TB) willing to mortgage their future on getting that no 1 overall (Dorsey).

Spurrier - Defenses & Offenses

[Cliff]

Yes, the 'Skins defense is looking better and better, but saying that they will be solid next year is assuming they can keep together the core of the crew they have now, next year. This is liable to not be true of Daryl Green and Bruce Smith, both of whom were due to retire this year and agreed to play because of Spurrier.

I am Jack's sense of dealing with an overrated coach. I wonder if Smith and Green are feeling the same thing. (Jaquez Green is...he was released this week after complaining about lack of play time...)

Seriously, having a good defense is one thing, but for your defense to perform you must have an offense that can hold the ball, and as loathe to admit this as I am, I don't think the 'Skins have that offensive ability at all. Spurrier obviously didn't do a good job at the QB position which is the key position to his much vaunted offensive system.

This team should NOT have a 4-6 record. They have too much talent for that, and yet here we are, near the end of the season and Spurrier is looking worse than Marty, in my opinion. By this time, last year, the 'Skins were on a roll, and the improvements were showing. Fast forward to now where we have Spurrier picking a new QB for the 4th time this season and you begin to see why the offense isn't clicking.

I love this team, however I hate the owner, and Snyder's willingness to break a winning system to make even more wins (and all to pay a freshman [read: untested in the NFL] coach more than any NFL coach in the history of the game) shows that Snyder has no clue as to how the game works, and I'll have to go back to reminiscing about the Gibbs years when my Skins were a force in the NFC East to be reckoned with.

God, I never thought I'd admit to missing something from the 80's and 90's. Time to act like an ostritch and plonk my head in the sand!

VICTORY

[sulli]

Loved the game today - definitely felt like the Skins of old, down to Darrell Green's gutsy smackdown of the final end zone throw. Of course the Gibbs days were the best.