Category: NFL General

By Alex Fitzsimmons, email [email protected]

It doesn’t have playoff implications. It’s not Marino vs. Montana. In fact, this game is about as meaningful as the NHL. But it’s the game I’ll be watching Week 17.

Is there any better early Christmas present than a whole slate of football games on Christmas Eve? What a great schedule.

Last week was a good week as most of us went 13-3 and only Trevor went 10-6. We’re looking to repeat that strong performance this week. Here we go with the Week 16 NFL picks.

Don’t forget the podcast to go with this week’s picks. You can listen/download the mp3 file directly here or you can subscribe to the podcast using this feed. If you have iTunes, go to your Advanced Menu, click on Subscribe to Podcast and enter this url: http://feeds.feedburner.com/nflpickspodcast

There’s one thing the Colts and Texans have in common, they’re both consistent. The Colts have been riding the top spot since week 2 and the Texans have been in the cellar since week 5. One loss and one win shouldn’t change this.

I know it’s Christmas week but I couldn’t resist a couple of shots at Michael Vick. Perhaps it’s just my way of countering the slobbering by Joe Theisman on Sunday night.

Some great games last week made the weekly picks more interesting. A respectable 70% correct last week (Dolphins over Chargers?!) but we’re looking to do better this week. Ryan is still running away with it and barring a monumental collapse like the ’64 Phillies, he will win the overall pick title. However, everyone else is tied for 2nd place at a .668 percentage.

Listen to the Week 15 NFL Picks podcast or subscribe via xml.

Haven’t we crossed this bridge already? Haven’t we passed over from raw ignorance and racial typecasting into a sophisticated understanding of individual talent? Haven’t we answered the questions about Donovan McNabb’s effectiveness, and about black quarterbacks’ abilities? Haven’t we erased the myth of non-athleticism in white quarterbacks? Apparently, and sadly, we may not have done any of the above.

The president of the Philadelphia branch of the NAACP recently wrote a column criticizing Donovan McNabb for not running, and for poor team leadership. He basically said that McNabb’s play, and leadership regarding his teammates contract disputes, relegates him to being the black, athletic equivalent of Benedict Arnold.

The National Football League, despite all of its excitement and popularity, is often cruel to its fans. This cruelty is extremely harsh to the league’s most optimistic fans.  Fans of the Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, and Philadelphia Eagles know all about this brutality.  

Prince made it famous.  
The Vikings made it infamous.
But it eventually became a Godsend.

Last week was almost too easy — 54-10 (.844) overall, with Boston Mac leading the way at 15-1. We’re coming down to the wire and looking to finish strong despite the bad karma from Trevor’s comment on Stevie Wonder in the podcast.

You can listen/download the mp3 file directly here or you can subscribe to the podcast using this feed. If you have iTunes, go to your Advanced Menu, click on Subscribe to Podcast and enter this url: http://feeds.feedburner.com/nflpickspodcast

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Since many of our actual newspaper columnists do this, I figured it’s good enough for Sportscolumn.com too. So, here goes my initial installment of a potpourri of unrelated sports comments entitled Passing Thoughts.

After watching the Philadelphia Eagles get slaughtered on Monday night, I heard about this new curse of the Super Bowl losers. The last 5, and 6 of 7, losers of the previous season’s Super Bowl have failed to make the playoffs, or even have a .500 record. That puts in perspective the incredible feat achieved by the 1990-93 Buffalo Bills of reaching a record 4 consecutive Super Bowls.

Seattle’s strong showing on national television puts them #2 in the power rankings. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh and Dallas’ playoff hopes are fading and they are dropping in the standings. Jacksonville remains at #9 but they might be the only current top 10 team not to make the playoffs. Here we go with the complete Week 13 Power Rankings: