Brad's NFL Picks - Week 13 - 2010

     Brad's Picks was 11-5 last week. Here's the good, bad and ugly from that:

     the good: (as always, the home team is designated by City or State, Visitors by team name).

Patriots 45, Detroit 24. Patriots were behind 14-3 late in the second quarter, but Tom Brady finished with a perfect QB rating of 158.3.

Saints 30, Dallas 27. Saints went ahead with 1:55 to go on a 12 yard TD pass to Lance Moore. Dallas then tried a 59 yard FG that was long enough but just wide.

New York Jets 26, Bengals 10. Jets are 3-0 over the Bengals in the last 11 months.

Houston 20, Titans 0. Actually an interesting game to watch, with a fight thrown in for fun.

Atlanta 20, Packers 17. - Packers need a run game - they only gained 77 on 23. Didn't help that they fumbled 4 times, losing possession once.

Vikings 17, Washington 13. - A week after firing HC Brad (Old Baldy) Childress, the Vikings stopped a nine game road losing streak. Vikings held the Reds to 29 yards on 13 carries.

Steelers 19, Buffalo 16. OT. Ryan Fitzpatrick threw a a beautiful TD pass to Stevie Johnson in OT. Right in his hands, in the end zone, no one near him. But he dropped it. Then the Steelers managed a FG to win.

Cleveland 24, Panthers 23. Peyton Hillis had three TD's for the Browns. This was closer than most people anticipated, but consider this just for fun: Browns QB Jake Delhomme played 7 years for the Panthers, before being released after last season, largely because he threw so many INT's. He then signed with the Browns for 7 million dollars. But he's still getting paid 12 million dollars by the Panthers. Then consider that he threw his only TD pass last Sunday to a Panther, a 37 yard INT return for a TD by rookie CB Captain Munnerlyn, a 7th round pick out of South Carolina. This is why we watch the NFL?

Chicago 31, Eagles 26. Jay Cutler had a very nice day - 14/21/247 with 4 TD's and 0 INT's, despite being sacked 4 times. Bears' defense pretty much kept Vick in check.

Baltimore 17, Buccaneers 10. - A lot of defense in this game. Ravens had a 17-3 lead at the half.

Forty Niners 27, Arizona 6. Cardinals QB Derek Anderson was criticized after the game for laughing on the sideline, but sometimes laughter is the best medicine.

    the rest after the jump:

     the bad:

Rams 36, Denver 33. - Denver mounted a furious 4th quarter rally to come from a 20 point deficit. Or was the rally just a case of the Rams playing prevent?

New York Giants 24, Jaguars 20. - A close game ended a two game losing streak for the Giants and also ended a three game win streak for the Jags.

     the ugly:

Dolphins 33, Oakland 17. - Chad Henne returned from injury to pass for 307 yards and two TD's.

Chiefs 42, Seattle 24. - Score was Chiefs 21, Seattle 17 after three quarters.

Chargers 36, Unplace 14. - Peyton Manning was intercepted four times, and two of those were returned all the way.

     AFC 4, NFC 2 last week, so on the season it's AFC 28, NFC 22. Visiting teams did good, winning 9. On the season it's Homers 100, Visitors 76. Brad's Picks is 104 - 72. 176 games have been played, 80 to go.

     this week: the Thursday night game:

Houston (5-6) at Philadelphia (7-4) - Texans have very little defense, and no pass defense. Take the Eagles at home.

     the 11:00 MST Sunday games:

New Orleans (8-3) at Cincinnati (2-9) - Both teams played on Thanksgiving Day. Gotta help the road team a bit, but I don't think the Saints need much help, at least not against the Bengals.

Chicago (8-3) at Detroit (2-9) - Division game. Detroit played on Thanksgiving Day, and the Lions were crushed by the Patriots. Jay Cutler had a nice game against the Eagles - 14/21/247 with 4 TD's and 0 Int's. Cutler leads the league in sacks with 37, 4 of those last week by the Eagles. Lions are down to Drew Stanton at QB. Not that bad a QB really, but you gotta go with the Bears here.

San Francisco (4-7) at Green Bay ((7-4) - Packers are glad to be back at Lambeau after two road games (Minnesota and Atlanta). Aaron Rodgers has thrown 8 TD's and 0 INT's in the last three games. Niners are 3-1 with Troy Smith at QB (they lost to the Bucs at home in Week 11, 21-0). Greg Jennings has a bum foot but will probably play. Packers haven't been able to run the ball very well - they only gained 77 on 23 at Atlanta last week (but you knew that). Niners will be without stellar RB Frank Gore, who broke a hip last week and is on IR. Brian Westbrook came in for him, though, and was pretty good - 136 yards on 23 carries and a TD. Niners can make a decent game out of this, but you gotta take the Packers at Lambeau.

Cleveland (4-7) at Miami (6-5) - Dolphins are 1-4 in Miami. Jake Delhomme will probably get the start for the Browns, although Colt McCoy could play if needed. Delhomme still throws INT's - 6 in the last 2.5 games. Chad Henne did pretty good last week in Oakland, after missing a couple games due to injury. Let's suppose that Miami gets win number two in Miami.

Buffalo (2-9) at Minnesota (4-7) - Look at those records. In their last six games, the Bills have lost two OT games, then lost another by three points, then won two games, then lost another OT game. In nine games this season, Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick has 2,226 passing yards on 58.2 percent completions, 19 touchdowns, 10 interceptions and a quarterback rating of 85.2. He's looking like a keeper. But the Vikings are playing loose now that they are out of the playoffs, and I'll take them at home.

Washington (5-6) at New York Giants (7-4) - Division game. Take the Giants. They're at home and are the better team. Maybe not by much though.

Atlanta (9-2) at Tampa Bay (7-4) - Division game. Bucs still haven't beaten a team with a winning record, while the Falcons are 4-0 lately against teams with a 27-17 combined record. Weather should be very nice, so not a problem for the Georgia Dome players. Bucs run D is not good at all, and here comes Michael Turner. I'm taking the Falcons.

Jacksonville (6-5) at Tennessee (5-6) - Division game. I'm just gonna take the Jags. Titans have lost 3 in a row, and this will make 4.

Denver (3-8) at Kansas City (7-4) - Division game. Chiefs are playing really good, while the Broncos aren't. Broncos are also drowning in distractions. Chiefs will likely avenge the 49-29 beating at Mile High three weeks ago. Weather should be around 40 degrees but cloudy.

     the 2:05 MST game:

Oakland (5-6) at San Diego (6-5) - Division game. Raiders have lost big the last two weeks, Chargers have won big. It was Oakland 35, Chargers 27 in Week 5.

     the 2:15 MST games:

St. Louis (5-6) at Arizona (3-8) - Division game. Arizona is off an MNF game, but at least it was in the desert. Arizona has lost 6 in a row, and they have no quarterback. Rams have a good quarterback in rookie Sam Bradford.

Dallas (3-8) at Undeep (6-5) - Cowboys played on Thanksgiving Day, so they've had a few extra days to get ready. Colts played on Sunday night. Colts may get Austin Collie back, and TE Jacob Tamme has actually out produced Dallas Clark since Clark went out. But Manning has been in a real slump lately (4 INT's last week) and the Boys have been playing well since Wade Phillips left town and took with him the pressure of going to the SB this year (which will be in the big D) so I guess I'll take the Boys to win at the Lucas Oil Drum, which is located in Lucas, Oildiana.

Carolina (1-10) at Seattle (5-6) - I know that Seattle got trounced last week by the Chiefs, and I know that the Panthers came very close to upsetting a strong Cleveland team, but I'll take the Seahawks at home here.

     the SNF game:

Pittsburgh (8-3) at Baltimore (8-3) - Division game. Ben the R has a sprained foot and may not play. If he can't, Byron Leftwich will get the start. Steelers showed they can win without the R, going 3-1 during his suspension because of, well, you know, the R thing. Weather should be fine, maybe a little wind. Steelers O line has suffered a lot of injuries, and so far has weathered the storm. But this is Baltimore with it's stout defense. I'm taking the Ravens at home, whether or not the R plays - Baltimore is 8-0 at home this year. Slobberknocker game, should be fun to watch them beat each other up.

     the MNF game:

New York Jets (9-2) at New England (9-2) - Division game. Both teams played on Turkey day, so no advantage there. I'll keep this simple - take the Patriots at home, although I expect a good, tight, well played game.