{"id":252,"date":"2008-12-14T02:05:14","date_gmt":"2008-12-14T07:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/2008\/12\/14\/nfl-week-15-picks-2\/"},"modified":"2008-12-14T02:05:14","modified_gmt":"2008-12-14T07:05:14","slug":"nfl-week-15-picks-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/2008\/12\/nfl-week-15-picks-2\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Week 15 Picks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>First, a long-overdue standings update. Week 13 I went 9-7 and Week 14 I went 8-8. Amazingly, Al also went 9-7 and 8-8. Week 14 is particularly striking because we made many different picks, and yet still ended up with the same record. So, for the season, I\u2019m 94-95-4 (with a +4 week in the bank) and Al is 92-97-4. <\/p>\n<p>And, of course, the Thursday game was a push, so it doesn\u2019t matter that we weren\u2019t on top of it&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>So, without further ado, the Week 15 picks:<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"letter-spacing: 0.00pt;\"><strong>Sunday 1:00<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"letter-spacing: 0.00pt;\"><em>Buccaneers @ Atlanta(-3)<\/em><br \/>\nTampa&#8217;s too beat up, I have to go with the Falcons here.<\/p>\n<p>Redskins @ Cincinnati(+7)<br \/>\nUgh. The Bungles are indeed awful, but I&#8217;m not real impressed with the Redskins of late, either. No, no, I can&#8217;t be taken in by this\u2014the Cincinnati suckage is such a strong force, I can&#8217;t go against it. Washington.<\/p>\n<p><em>Titans @ Houston(+3)<\/em><br \/>\nHow is the spread only three? Bizarre. Titans easily cover this.<\/p>\n<p><em>Lions @ Indianapolis(-17.5)<\/em><br \/>\nI firmly believe the Lions will indeed make it to 0-16, but that&#8217;s a crapload of points. The Lions have been keeping it closer than that, and I think a late, garbage-time TD from Calvin Johnson keeps them within the spread.<\/p>\n<p><em>Packers @ Jacksonville(+1.5)<\/em><br \/>\nBoth teams just aren&#8217;t good. However, the Packers are especially bad against the run, and the Jags at least know how to do that. I&#8217;ll take Jax.<\/p>\n<p><em>Chargers @ Kansas City(+5.5)<\/em><br \/>\nThe Bolts are better, but I think they&#8217;re only about a FG better in KC, so I&#8217;ll again take the points.<\/p>\n<p><em>Niners @ Miami(-6.5)<\/em><br \/>\nLately, the Niners have looked pretty good and the Dolphins are not as good as their record. However, Gore is going to be out this game, and I don&#8217;t see the Niners doing much without him\u2014they&#8217;ll see a lot of zone this week and it won&#8217;t go well. Fish cover (even though dolphins aren&#8217;t fish, I know&#8230;).<\/p>\n<p><em>Bills @ New Jersey Jets(-7.5)<\/em><br \/>\nWow, the Jets have been reeling lately and they have to give more than a TD? Oh, yeah, because Losman is starting for Buffalo. Ugh. Yeah, OK, give the points.<\/p>\n<p><em>Seahawks @ St. Louis(+2.5)<\/em><br \/>\nCombined record of these teams: 4-22. Ouch. I think that Seattle is somewhat less bad, so I&#8217;ll give the points.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sunday ~4:10<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"letter-spacing: 0.00pt;\"><em>Vikings @ Arizona(-3)<\/em><br \/>\nTwo words make this pick easy: Tarvaris Jackson. I&#8217;d like one serving of Cardinals here, thanks.<\/p>\n<p><em>Steelers @ Baltimore(-2.5)<\/em><br \/>\nAnd how about that Steelers game last week? I turned it on, it was 13-3 in the 4th, and Pittsburgh almost immediately got stuffed on the one on 4th down. Looked over. But no, the Cowboys gave it away, and now they&#8217;re imploding again, which is always sweet. Oh, now, this pick. Well, my &#8220;Willie Parker policy&#8221; has been very effective lately, and he&#8217;s supposed to play, so I&#8217;ll take Pittsburgh here.<\/p>\n<p><em>Broncos @ Carolina(-7.5)<\/em><br \/>\nOh, look, the Panthers at home against another team that can&#8217;t stop the run. The only worthwhile wager here is on which of the Carolina RBs will have more yards. Panthers all the way.<\/p>\n<p><em>Patriots @ Oakland(+7)<\/em><br \/>\nNew England is figuring things out, and the Raiders are still the Raiders. Give the points.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SNF<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"letter-spacing: 0.00pt;\"><em>Giants @ Dallas(-3)<\/em><br \/>\nOK, so did the Giants get the stupid out of their system last week? And how much fun is it to see Dallas implode? Personally, I&#8217;m hoping T.O. takes a swing at Witten on the sidelines this week and then Witten beats him senseless. Oh, yeah, and I&#8217;ll take the points.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MNF<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"letter-spacing: 0.00pt;\"><em>Browns @ Philadelphia(-14)<\/em><br \/>\nThe Eagles seem to be putting it together again, and Wesbrook finally seems healthy. I don&#8217;t see any way the Browns win this game, but 14 is a heck of a lot. I have to take &#8217;em.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>First, a long-overdue standings update. Week 13 I went 9-7 and Week 14 I went 8-8. Amazingly, Al also went 9-7 and 8-8. Week 14 is particularly striking because we made many different picks, and yet still ended up with the same record. So, for the season, I\u2019m 94-95-4 (with a +4 week in the &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/2008\/12\/nfl-week-15-picks-2\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">NFL Week 15 Picks<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[16],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}