by ryan on January 2, 2010
Ah, week 17. Without a doubt, this is the most difficult week to handicap. Several top teams are only showing up because they have to, which makes things pretty difficult to predict. I’ll try and do my best, and hopefully we can close out the regular season above .500.
Ryan: 100-102-6 (9-5-2)
Bills -8 over Colts. Indianapolis clearly didn’t give a damn last week, so there’s no reason to think they’ll bother showing up in Buffalo. What they pulled last week was an incredible disservice to their players, fans and the NFL as a whole. Oh, and it’s not going to help them win a Super Bowl.
Carolina -7 over Saints. Drew Brees is out, so Mark Brunell will take the ball for the Saints. Here’s another strategy I disagree with. The Saints looked terrible in December, and will enter their NFC Divisional Playoff game having not played well in six weeks.
Browns -1 over Jags. The Jags are done, and the Browns have actually played some inspired football down the stretch. They’ve gone from a near mutiny to having a chance to win their last four games. Good for team psyche, but not for draft position. I think the Browns get it done.
[click to continue…]
by ryan on December 26, 2009
Record to Date (Last Week)
Ryan: 91-97-4 (I don’t want to talk about it)
Happy Holidays everybody. Philip Rivers and the Bolts got Week 16 off to a winning start with an easy outright win as underdogs. Looking to get back on track after the disaster that was week 15. Good luck!
Packers -14 over Seahawks. Two weeks ago, we just assumed Seattle was mediocre. But after last week’s tank job, there’s clearly some internal turmoil as well. The Seahawks are 5-9 and fresh off an embarrassing home loss to one of the worst teams in football. Has Jim Mora lost his team just 15 weeks into his first season?
Browns -3 over Raiders. The Browns have won their last two and recently hired Mike Holmgren to take over as president. Not a bad couple weeks. Despite JaMarcus Russell’s last-minute drive in Denver, Charlie Frye will be getting the start. Derek Anderson will be starting for Cleveland.
Chiefs +14 over Bengals. The Bengals have failed to cover big spreads against Oakland, Cleveland and Detroit, so I hesitate to take them in this spot. Perhaps this one is a bit of a letdown after last week’s classic in San Diego. The Bengals should win this without a problem, but I can’t take them giving up two touchdowns.
[click to continue…]
