Predictions For Week 12 In The NFL

Welcome back to Touchdowns and Kicks with Jimmy G on the team990.com

Last week I was 11-5 with my picks, making me 63-35 for the season (64.3%). Not bad, could be better.

Well, here I go with my picks for Week 12.

Packers over the Lions: The absolute biggest game in the NFC this week. Why? Because of the playoff standings.

If the Lions lose, they fall to 6-5. This means that if any of the following teams win this week, they would be tied with Detroit for the final playoff spot: Redskins, Cardinals and Eagles.

And let us not forget all those teams at 4-6 that desperately need a Lions loss to keep them in contention: Bears, Vikings, Panthers and Saints.

Yes, readers, the Lions are the attraction this Thanksgiving.

Saints over the Panthers: The second biggest game in the NFC this week. Both New Orleans and the Panthers are fighting to get into the wild card race, and barring a Tampa collapse, perhaps even squeezing into the South divisional battle.

Sad to say, only one team can stay in the hunt after this week and that team will be New Orleans. Quarterback play will be key and I cannot envision any scenario which would indicate that Vinny Testeverde can turn back the clock.

Many will blame Panthers coach John Fox for not having the foresight to get a better backup quarterback than the ancient Testeverde. However that isn’t the case. Fox brought in the very capable David Carr in the offseason to compete with incumbent Jake Delhomme. What happened? Delhomme: out for the season. Carr: too banged up to play.

What does all this mean? Goodbye John Fox and Hello Bill Cowher.

Cowboys over Jets: Kellen Clemens has impressed with his 4th quarter come from behind drives against the Redskins and Steelers, although the Jets ended up losing in OT to Washington. But I just don’t see how the Jets can match up against Dallas on the road.

Colts over Falcons: After losing to the Bucs last week, the Falcons are done. The NFL Network should look into having a flex schedule for their Thursday night games the way NBC does.

Browns over Texans:
Jaguars over Bills:
Titans over Bengals:

The three absolutely huge AFC games to watch this week.

Why? Playoff implications. The Texans and Bills must win in order to have any chance of making the playoffs. Lose and it is light out, party’s over, build for next season.

Look at the math: Jags hold first wild card at 7-3, Titans and Browns tied for the second wild card at 6-4. Texans and Bills are both one game back at 5-5. If the Texans and Bills fall to 5-6 they will only have 5 games remaining to make up the difference, and we have not even calculated the tiebreakers that are currently not falling their way.

So how will the AFC playoff picture look like on Monday morning.

Wild Card 1: Jacksonville 8-3
Wild Card 2: Tennessee and Cleveland 7-4

The Bills, Chiefs, Ravens, Chargers and Texans will all be at 5-6, 2 games out with 5 to play.

Chiefs over Raiders: Speaking of the Chiefs, Brodie Croyle should get his first win as a starter, although word just got out that Priest Holmes has retired for a second time. How will that affect the Chiefs? Still, this is a 2-8 Raiders team they are facing, one which cannot hold on to a second half lead.

Giants over Vikings: The 7-3 Giants are two wins away from clinching a playoff spot. This will be one of them.

Cardinals over 49ers: The Cardinals need this game to get to 6-5. A 6-5 record will do 2 things: it will keep Arizona one game back of the wild card at worst (depending on the Lions Packers result) and it will keep them in the NFC West title hunt. If the Seahawks beat the Rams, as I suspect, then the Cards absolutely cannot afford to lose this game.

Seahawks over Rams: see above. The Rams 2 game winning streak will end.

Steelers over Dolphins: The Dolphins 10 game losing streak will not end however. I can only imagine the blowout that will take place on Monday night, expecially when you factor in how embarrassed the Steelers must feel after blowing a 4th quarter lead to the now 2-8 Jets. This game is a great example of why ESPN should ask the NFL to allow flex scheduling for its Monday night games.

Patriots over Eagles: Blowout, regardless of who plays quarterback for the Eagles.

Ravens over Chargers Can’t they both lose? A tale of two coaches: Brian Billick, an egomaniac whose play calling on offense has potentially cost his team three games this season and Norv Turner, a man with a career record 24 games under .500. Ravens should come out fired up after last week's controversial loss to the Browns.

Broncos over Bears: both teams can still make the playoffs. The Broncos because they play in the AFC West and the Bears because they have to catch the Lions, who seem to be going backwards, as everyone predicted and expected. I expect Jay Cutler to continue playing well, as one would expect from a young quarterback playing under Mike Shanahan’s tutelage. Cutler will not end up like Brian Griese, who, hey hey, is playing for the Bears.

Redskins over Tampa Bay: Every week is a week closer to retirement for Joe Gibbs. How to avoid retirement? By winning enough games to make the playoffs. A loss to the Bucs won’t eliminate the Skins but it won’t help. In any case, the Skins should win this game.


Well, that’s it for me. I’ll be back Monday morning with my analysis of the week’s action.

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