Friday, December 18, 2009

Week 15 picks: Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow




We did much better last week, coming in at 9-6. We definitely need to keep up a better pace these last three weeks if we want to finish the regular season at our goal. What is our goal? 56%. All you got to do to be in the black is hit 56%. Anything over that is gravy. Ummm....gravy. Anyway, the Jags made a game effort last night, but not quite enough to keep us from starting the week out in a 0-1 hole. Let's hope the Saturday night game gets us even and we run the table color-of-money style on Sunday. Meantime...the big story this weekend is the snowstorm moving up the east coast. One game, Chicago at Baltimore, has already been pushed from 1pm to 4pm and there were serious concerns of whether or not all the teams could get to their destinations on time.


Colts -(3) v. JAGS = BTPC picked Jags taking the points.


Cowboys (+8) v. SAINTS = Wade Phillips is coaching for his job. Quick review: How has that worked out in the past? New Orleans, Denver, Buffalo, Atlanta. At all those stops, Wade had games where he was coaching for his job. Wade now coaches in Dallas. Answer: Apparently...Wade must lose a lot of those games. BTW, Wade's worst head coaching winning percentage? .250%, when he went 1-3 with the New Orleans Saints back in 1985.


The Cowboys ain't America's team anymore. The Saints are. And yes...I'm going to go ahead and jinx it: We could have two unbeaten teams facing each other in the Super Bowl.


BTPC pick = Saints laying the points.


RAVENS (-10.5) v. Bears = Seeing as how the Bears are having trouble even getting to Baltimore, this one seems pretty easy. How is it that the team from Chicago doesn't appear to know how to set up travel when the reports call for inclement weather?

For the Ravens, Michael Oher gets another start on the "blind side" and none other than Jonathan Ogden has weighed in saying the kid has the goods.

BTPC pick = Ravens laying the pick.


BILLS (+7) v. Patriots = Our Dolphins could really use the Bills help this weekend. Meanwhile, the Pats are looking for their first road win of the year. I think the Pats will look to get Moss off early. But can Brady make it happen? The rumor is that the early hit during the Dolphins game from Randy Starks broke a rib and he certainly has not looked the same since. Our heart is telling us to take the Bills and the points. We're going with our head. And this is in no way meant to be a reverse jinx *wink*

BTPC pick = Pats laying the points.


Cardinals (-12) v. LIONS = Dante Culpepper is getting the start. I repeat...Dante Culpepper is getting the start. At least that's the word. The last time that happened, Schwartz decided to roll with a hurt Matthew Stafford who had not practiced all week for the Thanksgiving game and that did not work out too well. Between Culpepper getting the start, Kevin Smith being out for the year and 'Zona blowing their revenge game against San Fran, the Cards look pretty good.

BTPC pick = Cards laying the points.


CHIEFS (-3) v. Browns = The big news out of Cleveland is that Mike Holmgren has been offered a Tuna-like position with the Browns. The second biggest news it that Holmgren said on his radio show that he would NOT rule out coaching. The more important news is that the week after his team's biggest win, Eric Mangini subjected his team to a 3.5 hour practice in full pads on Thursday. The pretty surely outgoing coach of a 2-11 team beating up his team with physical practices in December. I'm thinking the Browns players aren't ruling out Holmgren coaching either. They're probably praying for it.

BTPC pick = Chiefs laying the points.


Falcons (+6) v. JETS = UPSET SPECIAL. The folks in Atlanta at least know how to check the weather channel better than the Bears administration does. Atlanta flew in early to beat the the weather. Ryan may be back for the Falcons, while the Southern California Boy Wonder has been cleared to play and will get the chance to start in the snow. We're betting he doesn't play to well in the white stuff.

BTPC pick = UPSET SPECIAL: Falcons taking the points.


EAGLES (-8) v. Niners = Hell...them folks in San Francisco know crazy weather. That's why they flew into Philly on Friday.


Texans (-12.5) v. RAMS = As if being 1-12 wasn't bad enough, now the Rams have to figure out who's going to be their QB this week, what with Bulger being out and Kyle Boller being one of several players who were hit with the swine flu this week. Meanwhile, the Texans are out of the playoff hunt and the only question left for them this week is are they out of the running for Mike Shannahan. However, we tend to go with teams who actually know who their QBs are and who are not suffering from outbreaks.

BTPC pick = Texans laying the points.


TITANS (-4) v. Dolphins = The big story on this game was Chris Johnson saying Joey Porter started running his mouth down on South Beach this summer and it led to a Johnson and Ginn showdown race on the street which Ginn backed out of. No doubt, Johnson is bad. But so is Pocket Hercules, who the Dolphins shut down last week. The real story for the Titans is whether or not Vince Young will play and if so, will be be Vince Young. If you watch this game, check out two Dolphins players, DE Randy Starks and FB Lousaka Polite. Both deserve to go to the Pro Bowl this year, but probably won't.

BTPC pick = Miami taking the points.

BRONCOS (-14) v. Raiders = Charlie Frye is in that house. With Gradkowski going down, you would think Tom Cable would go back to the #1 pick they invested millions in. You would be wrong. Apparently, even Tom Cable wants to save his job. My question is how does Davis sign off on Cable benching the superstar if Davis really thinks JaMarcus is going to be the guy next year? He certainly can't have Cable as the coach next year to turn JaMarcus around if he's willing to go with Frye, right?

BTPC pick = Broncos laying the points.


Bengals (+6.5) v. CHARGERS = The Bengals have been through some shit this year. First Defensive Coordinator Mike Zimmer's wife passes and now Chris Henry. If you saw the video of Chad Johnson talking about Henry, you saw how this has hit the team. Johnson has vowed to wear Henry's #15 and the NFL, being the wonderful, compassionate entity it is says it will fine him. The NFLPlayers union has vowed to pay the fine.

The Chargers seem more like the legit contender for the AFC crown right now, but you wonder if the Bengals will take their grief and once again use it to play inspired ball. We started out the season running with the Bengals. We're going back to that well again--take note Reino.

BTPC pick = Bengals taking the points.


Packers (+2) v. STEELERS = Pitt is in trouble. And they're not going to get Troy P back this game.

BTPC pick = Pack taking the points.


SEAHAWKS (-6.5) v. Bucs = The Seahawks have the best home field in the league. And Tampa Bay is a very long flight away.

BTPC pick = Seahawks laying the points.


Vikings (-9) v. PANTHERS =John Fox is fighting for his job and he's doing it without "his" guy, Jake Delhomme, as Matty Moore gets the start again. A week after calling out Randy Moss, the Panther's CBs get a crack at Sidney Rice. We think the former Gamecock isn't going to be criticized for not giving effort. Look for Rice to benefit from Favre being out to prove he does not suffer from a December swoon and Percy Harvin being hampered by migraines.

BTPC pick = Vikes laying the points.

REDSKINS (+3) v. Giants = Will Mike Shannahan officially be the coach of the 'Skins by kickoff? Normally, this would be a bad sign for a team, but let's face it...Daniel Snyder castrated Jim Zorn quite some time ago. Defensive Coordinator Greg Blache has reported "interviewed" for the job. Last time out, Blache's D only managed 1 sack on Eli Manning. We're thinking he's gonna be pretty motivated to turn in a better performance.

BTPC pick = Skins taking the points.

This week = 0-1
Last Week: 9-6 Upset specials 1-1
Season to date: 103-94-5 Upset Specials 6-9-1

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