By Kyle Soppe
The final week of the NFL regular season is here. There are relatively few teams still fighting for a playoff berth, but many teams are still positioning themselves for a run at the Lombardi Trophy. This is the toughest week of the year for Vegas, as they must determine how much a team needs/wants to win. With that said, here are my week 17 picks.
Washington (+8) @ Philadelphia – Eagles 24-23 (Dream Team concludes nightmare with win)
Tampa Bay @ Atlanta (-10.5) – Falcons 31-13 (Bucs checked out weeks ago, Falcons beginning to peak)
San Francisco (-10.5) @ St. Louis – 49ers 27-10 (hate these big spreads, but SF is at least 17 points better)
Chicago (+1.5) @ Minnesota – Bears 24-17 (I don’t care how big of a fan you are, this is tough to watch)
Detroit (-4.5) @ Green Bay – Lions 27-20 (Matt Flynn against Suh)
Carolina (+7.5) @ New Orleans – Saints 28-24 (Newton wraps up ROY honors with solid performance)
Tennessee @ Houston (-1.5) – Texans 24-20 (Lots of running of the football. Texans want to gain momentum)
Baltimore (-2) @ Cincinnati – Ravens 23-20 (Bengals will battle, but Ravens win big games)
Pittsburgh (-6.5) @ Cleveland – Steelers 27-14 (Steelers want to win division)
Indianapolis @ Jacksonville (-3.5) – Jags 21-17 (Colts won’t win 3 in a row to lose Luck, will they?)
NYJ (+3) @ Miami – NYJ 24-17 (My lock of the week, Jets need a win and lotssss of help)
Buffalo @ New England (-10.5) – Patriots 35-20 (Brady challenges Brees’ record)
San Diego (+3) @ Oakland – Chargers 27-24 (Rare meaningless win over desperate team)
Kansas City (+3) @ Denver – Chiefs 20-17 (Would love to see Orton get revenge on Broncos)
Seattle (+3) @ Arizona – Seahawks 24-21 (Lynch on a role right now, Seattle is simply better)
Win and you’re in
Dallas @ NYG (-3) – Giants 31-27 (As a Packer fan, I’m rooting for Dallas, but Eli Manning has been to good)
1) The Broncos just lost their last three games, scored a measily 3 points in a 7-3 loss to their former QB Kyle Orton and the Chiefs, and still won their division and make the playoffs with a home game? This has been the ultimate tebow of them all!
2) What in the world is wrong with the Dallas Cowboys? They have a decent team every year with a more than average QB and can’t freakin’ win any big games. Put Romo and Rivers in the same category because both of them and their teams are strange. I hate the Cowboys as much as the next guy, but what is honestly keeping Jerry Jones from just blowing this team up??? They are currently down 21-0 at half to the Giants in the must win game.
3) Kyle – considering your lock of the week, you have to be disgusted with the Jets this season by now, right (even though I think the Jets covered. Score was 17-19?)? What would you do to this team? Get rid of the OC? Does Sanchez need to go? Does Rex Ryan just need to take the Mark Cuban philosophy and vow silence until his team wins?
My New Years resolution is to not watch a game in which Tim Tebow is a quarterback. That was painful today.
As Rey says: Romo is an average QB. When I hear the statement, as I did last night: is he going to be Danny White or Troy Aikman, I can only shake my head. Troy Aikman? How can someone put the two in the same sentence when discussing QB proficiency?
Anybody know where I can get an Eli Fathead? 🙂