Brad's Picks was 12-4 last week, good when the Raiders lost to San Diego 34-7; when Arizona beat the Rams 34-10; when Denver beat the Chiefs 24-17; when the Vikings beat Detroit 20-16; when Indeepus beat the Bengals 35-3; when the Browns lost at Tennessee 28-9; when the Dolphins beat the Toronto Bills 16-3; when Pittsburgh took advantage of five turnovers by the Cowboys to eke out a 20-13 win; when Chicago beat the Jags 23-10; when the Patriots patiently came from behind to beat Seattle 24-21; when Baltimore beat the Redskins 24-10 on SNF; and when Carolina beat the Bucs on MNF 38-23.

   Brad's Picks was not good when the Texans won at Lambeau on a walk-off field goal 24-21; when the Falcons lost to New Orleans 29-25; when the Eagles beat the New York Giants 20-14; and when the Jets lost at San Francisco 24-14.

   Brad's Picks is 133-74-1 on the season.

   Home teams were 11-5 last week, and are 116-91-1 on the season. That.s 55.7 % for the home teams, compared to 54.7% for all of 2007.

   There were two coast to coast games last week, Pats at Seattle and Jets at San Francisco. Visitors were 1-1. On the year, the visiting team is 11-21.

   George was 8-8 last week, and is 97-108-1 on the season.

   NFC 2, AFC 2 last week. On the season, it's 25-22 NFC.

   Teams coming off a MNF game were 1-1 last week, as the Jags lost and the Texans won. Teams off a MNF game are 18-9 on the season.

        With home wins last week by New Orleans and Carolina, the NFC South has increased it's collective record at home this year to 24-2, and the two losses were by 3 and 4 points. Do you know which visiting teams have the two lonely wins? See below.

   this week: the TNF game:

New Orleans (7-6) at Chicago (7-6) - Weather should be decent, at least for Chicago this time of year. In the 20's, a bit breezy. Saints still have a prayer of making the playoffs, but they'd have to win out and get some help. Bears have a better shot at the playoffs, but need to win this one also. Makes for a good game on prime time, if you have enough prime to watch the game on nflhognetwork. These teams have the same record, but the Saints play in the tougher NFC South, and their offense is much better than the Bears O, while the D's are about equal. George likes the Saints also.

   the 11:00 MST Sunday games:

Tampa Bay (9-4) at Atlanta (8-5) - Division game. Should be a great game. Tampa was leading the division until Monday night, when they got run over by Carolina. Still, Tampa's four losses were at New Orleans, at Denver, at Dallas, and at Carolina. So, oops, here they go at Atlanta. As you all know, the NFC South is a collective 24-2 at home this year. Bucs didn't get a lot of ground yards at Carolina, but Garcia and friends torched the Panthers for 299 in the air. But the Bucs gave up 299 on the ground to the Panthers on MNF, and here come the Falcons with a great ground game. Off a short week, playing AT ATlanta, you gotta take the Falcons. George likes the Falcons.

Washington (7-6) at Cincinnati (1-11-1) - Redskins started 6-2, then went 1-4. But they can stay in the race for a NFC wild card spot with a win over the Bengals, which should be a done deal. Carson Palmer is still out for the Bengals. Take the Redskins. George likes the Bengals at home.

Tennessee (12-1) at Houston (6-7) - Division game. Very interesting. Matt Schaub came back from injury to lead the Texans to 549 yards at Lambeau, and a 24-21 win. Meantime, the Titans were taking care of business by brushing the Browns aside. This is maybe the toughest call for me this week. So I'll just go with the hot Texans at home. George likes the Titans.

Detroit (0-13) at Indiup (9-4) - Colts have won 6 in a row, behind Manning and Harrison and a very good pass rush. George idiotically takes the Lions.

Green Bay (5-8) at Jacksonville (4-9) - Jags have lost their leading receiver, Matt Jones, for the next three games (suspension by the league), which sort of means the rest of the season. But the Packers have lost the ability to stop the run, and the Jags are good at running the ball. Packers haven't been running the ball so good.Both teams started the season with high hopes, but both are out of the playoffs. Hard to call this one. I'll take the Packers because I think the Jags have given up a little, and they are without Matt Jones. George likes the Jags also..

San Diego (5-8) at Kansas City (2-11) - Division game. Weather should be decent for mid December at Arrowhead. Chiefs put up a good fight at Mile High last week, a couple days after the Chargers thrashed the Raiders on TNF. Division games are always a bit different. Chargers started the year all but anointed the AFC Champs. They can still do it, IF they go 3-0 and the Broncos go 0-3, and then they win out in the playoffs. Not likely, but they'd still like to try. Chiefs on the other hand are playing loose, and playing pretty good with rookie Tyler Thigpen at QB. I'm taking the Chiefs at Arrowhead. George likes the Chiefs also.

San Francisco (5-8) at Miami (8-5) - Dolphins are playing as good on D as just about anyone right now. And their O behind Chad Pennington and Ronnie Brown is pretty good also. Niners have been playing pretty good since Mike Singletary took over as interim Head Coach (3-3) with Shaun Hill at QB instead of J.T. O'Sullivan. But only one west coast team has won on the east coast this year (which, incidentally, was the Niners two weeks ago at Buffalo). But the Fins are a lot better than the Bills. Take the Dolphins. George likes the Niners.

Buffalo (6-7) at New York Jets (8-5) - Division game. Two weeks ago, everyone was talking about a Giants/Jets Super Bowl. But then the Jets lost at home to the Broncos, and lost again at San Francisco. But the Bills have gone from good to bad in a hurry, and I'll take the Jets at home. George likes the Bills.

Seattle (2-11) at St. Louis (2-11) - Division game. Who knows? Who cares? I'll take the Rams at home. George likes the Hawks.

   the 2:05 MST game:

Minnesota (8-5) at Arizona (8-5) - Vikings lead the NFC North, but the Bears are just a game behind. Vikings had trouble beating the Lions last week. Gus Frerotte went down with a sore back, but Tarvaris Jackson came off the bench and went 8-10-105 and a TD. Cardinals have won the NFC West, but still have a shot at the number two seed in the NFC, although Carolina has a two game lead right now. Still, the number three seed might be better than the four, so the Cardinals have a lot to play for. D's are about equal statistically, Arizona has the better O and is at home. George likes the Vikings.

   the 2:15 MST games:

Pittsburgh (10-3) at Baltimore (9-5) - Division game. Should be a tremendous game. Pittsburgh won the first round when the Ravens gave up a ten point half time lead and lost in Pittsburgh 23-20 in OT on MNF in Week Four. Two of the best defenses in the league should make this a tough, low scoring game. Young qb Joe Flacco has been getting better and better for the Ravens. Ravens have improved more than the Steelers since Week Four. George likes the Ravens also.

New England (8-5) at Oakland (3-10) - This is the second game in a row for the Patriots on the west coast, for the second time this year. In Week Five, the Patriots beat San Francisco 30-21, then lost the next week to San Diego 30-10. Last week, they came from behind to beat the lowly Seahawks 24-21. In their first go-around on the west coast, they stayed there between games, and it didn't help for the second game. Tthis time, they also stayed west, in the Bay area. Does all this mean they'll lose the second western game? Maybe. The Patriots have injury problems - LB Adalius Thomas is out with a broken arm, and they signed (a week ago) aging Rosevelt Colvin and even older Junior Seau. Both have played with the Patriots before, but neither played a lick all this year until last week in Seattle. Patriots are fighting for a playoff spot, and are a veteran, poised team. George likes the Raiders, who might surprise the Pats.

Denver (8-5) at Carolina (10-4) - Carolina won a huge game on MNF, taking over the NFC South lead from the Bucs in the process. Panthers ran wild over the Buc D, gaining 301 yards on 34 carries (between DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart). Oh yes, the Smash-N-Dash boys also scored 4 ground TD's against a Buc D that had only given up one ground TD all year. And WR Steve Smith added a TD and 119 yards on 9 catches. But the Panther D did give up 298 passing yards and 86 run yards to the Bucs, not to mention 23 points. So, can the Broncos win another road game? Broncos are 3-0 vs. the NFC South this year (two of those games were at Mile High). It really hurts the Broncos run game that Peyton Hillis, the rookie who'd been having a sensational year, went down with a hamstring tear. Broncos are down to Tatum Bell, just signed a few weeks ago, and Selvin Young may be back after missing most of the year with a groin injury. Otherwise, the Broncos are looking to P.J. Pope, activated from the practice squad a few weeks ago, and Cory Boyd, activated just this week. Weather should be decent, mostly cloudy, in the 40's. Panther's pass D is suspect, so I'll take the Broncos and Air Cutler. These guys have been very good on the road this year. George likes the Panthers.

   the SNF game:

New York Giants (11-2) at Dallas (8-5) - Division game. Giants looked real flat last week at home against the Eagles, while the Cowboys looked good for awhile at Pittsburgh, until they started turning it over. Marion Barber didn't play at all last week (toe) but should be good to go. Guess I'll take Dallas at home. George likes Dallas also.

  the MNF game:

Cleveland (4-9) at Philadelphia (7-5-1) - Eagles looked hot last week at the Meadowlands. George likes the Eagles too.

             The two losses by NFC South teams at home this year were when the Vikings won in New Orleans 30-27 on MNF in Week Five, and when the Broncos won in Atlanta 24-20 in Week Eleven.