Note: Due to the format limitations on blogspot blogs, I publish the full versions of my weekly previews and picks column on HubPages.com. HubPages is an online article publishing platform and as such it allows me to incorporate images and video much easier than blogspot does. The full versions of my weekly previews and picks are available here on HubPages.

In addition, most of the other posts on this blog are also published on Bleacher Report, a sports writing site. They can be found here on my Bleacher Report profile

NFL Week 16 Picks

I'm usually not a morning person, but things got off to a fast start with my straight up picks last week .

In the early games, I won seven out of eight. Which means I hit eight out of the first 10 games counting the Thursday and Saturday games.

Things didn't quite go as well in the afternoon however and I ended up finishing with a respectable, but not spectacular, 10-6 weekly record picking straight up.

It was also a bit rougher against the spread. For the week, I had a 7-8-1 record against the bookies.

It actually could have been better. I thought about switching my picks for the Dallas and Carolina games, because I had a feeling they might be close.

Unfortunately, I backed out and it cost me, since both of them not only covered, but won as underdogs. I guess that just goes to show you that betting isn't for the faint of heart.

As long as we are talking about those upsets last week , what significance will they have on this week's games? In the grand scheme of things, probably not much.

For the Saints, if anything, it is a good thing they lost. With the exception of the Patriots game they have been coasting since week seven. This will probably serve s a badly needed wake up call going into the playoffs.

As is typical for the Cowboys, they came up big in a game few people expected them to win. The other thing they typically do is lose a big game they are supposed to easily win right after that kind of win.

That and the fact there is a huge chance for them to be looking ahead to the Eagles game next week is why I am picking them to lose to the Redskins this week.

It's admittedly hard to put a lot of faith in Washington after the way they laid down against the Giants last week, but this pick is based more on the Cowboys than the Redskins.

In regards to the Vikings, all you can really say is what a difference a few weeks makes. At this time four weeks ago, it was a foregone conclusion that the Vikings had the No. two seed sewn up and were a legitimate threat to grab the home field advantage away from the Saints.

Many people were even arguing that the Vikings were the best team in the NFC, if not the entire NFL.

Since then, Minnesota has lost two out of three games and word has leaked out about internal strife between Brett Favre, who has begun looking very ordinary, and Coach Brad Childress. At this point, they are even in danger of losing the No. two seed to the Eagles.

Things may get very interesting for the Vikings even though I'm pretty hard pressed to envision them losing to Chicago and the turnover machine they mortgaged their future to get from Denver (Jay Cutler).

My other big upset pick this week is the Titans over the Chargers. By all rights the Chargers should win this game, but I just have one of those feelings about the Titans.

In fact, there are going to have to be a lot of stars aligning just right over the next two weeks, but I think somehow, someway Tennessee is going to make it into the playoffs. Call it a Christmas miracle, but I believe in them.

For the year, my record now stands at 138-83 straight up and 113-107-3 against the spread.

My Picks for the 2009 Week Sixteen NFL Games

Fri, Dec 25
4:30 PM (PST)
5:30 PM (MST)
6:30 PM (CST)
7:30 PM (EST)
Favorite
Underdog
Point Spread
Straight Up
Against the Spread
@Tennessee
San Diego
3.0
Tennessee
Tennessee
Sun, Dec 27
10:00AM (PST)
11:00 AM (MST)
12:00 PM (CST)
1:00 PM (EST)
@Atlanta
Buffalo
9.0
Buffalo
Buffalo
@Cincinnati
Kansas City
13.5
Cincinnati
Cincinnati
@Cleveland
Oakland
3.5
Cleveland
Oakland
@Green Bay
Seattle
14.0
Green Bay
Green Bay
@Miami
Houston
3.0
Houston
Houston
@New England
Jacksonville
8.0
New England
New England
@New Orleans
Tampa Bay
14.0
New Orleans
New Orleans
@New York Giants
Carolina
7.0
New York Giants
New York Giants
@Pittsburgh
Baltimore
2.5
Pittsburgh
Baltimore
Sun, Dec 27
1:00 PM (PST)
2:00 PM (MST)
3:00 PM (CST)
4:00 PM (EST)
@Arizona
St. Louis
14.0
Arizona
Arizona
@San Francisco
Detroit
12.5
San Francisco
Detroit
@Indianapolis
New York Jets
5.5
Indianapolis
New York Jets
@Philadelphia
Denver
7.0
Philadelphia
Philadelphia
Sun, Dec 27
5:20 PM (PST)
6:20 PM (MST)
7:20 PM (CST)
8:20 PM (EST)
Dallas
@Washington
6.5
Washington
Washington
Mon, Dec 28
5:30 PM (PST)
6:30 PM (MST)
7:30 PM (CST)
8:30 PM (EST)
Minnesota
Chicago
7.0
Minnesota
Minnesota

2 comments:

000 said...

The NFL is creating a partnership with researchers at Boston University who are studying the long-term effects of brain injuries on players, the Associated Press reported. “It’s huge that the NFL Draftactively gets behind this research,” Robert Cantu, the co-director of the school’s research program, told the AP. “It forwards the research. It allows players to realize the is concerned about the possibility that they could have this problem and that the NFL is doing everything it can to find out about the risks and the preventive strategies that can be implemented.”
Merry Christmas! And have a good time!

Kelly W. Patterson said...

That's definitely a step in the right direction, although there is so much more that could be done to address concussion risk and the NFL has a history of fighting against it. Hopefully, they'll continue along this path.

I hope you had a great Christmas, too!

Post a Comment

Related Posts with Thumbnails