Week 11 in the books, except for MNF. Last week, still reeling from taking four road favorites and going 1-3 on them, I wrote:
"So no picks this week. Gun at the head, I like the Vikes and Pats at home and Indy on the road, but I managed to talk myself out of them all."
Arrrgghhh. Of course, they all covered easily. As for the rest of the league, what do KC,Buffalo, SF, Atlanta, Cleveland(!), St. Louis, Oakland and Washington all have in common? Answer: all covered as 'dogs. Just guessing, not a lot of money on a few of these.
Road win shoutouts a short list this week, Miami, Indy, NO, SD and Philly. Washington came oh so close, losing 7-6 at Dallas with two missed FGs to think about on the trip home.
Wildest game of the week was clearly the Clevland-Detroit matchup. Detroit won on a pass intereference call in the endzone on a last play Hail Mary. Who says those never work? QB Matt Stafford was injured on the throw, had to leave the game and could not return for the final untimed play after the penalty, except for the fact that Browns coach Eric Mangenius called a timeout. Stafford gamely returned with an injured left shoulder and threw the game winner. Probably a bit unfair to blame Mangini on that. In his situation I probably would have wanted a chance to set my defense for the game-decider. Tough way to lose.
The big upset of the day was provided by the hapless KC Chiefs, who stunned Pittsburg in OT. Another shocker took place in Oakland, as the AFC North leading Cincinnati Bengals dropped a close one ot the Raiders. Actually the entire North lost, with Baltimore going down to Indy and the aforementioned Browns losing as well.
Pretty good game last night as Philly did just enough to get by Chicaco, helped by Jay Cutler leaving four TDs on the field. As some of you recall, I was not a big fan of the Cutler deal, starting a thread here entitled "The Worst Deal in NFL History" to describe it. Would all the Bears fans who shouted me down please line up to apologize? Tell me you wouldn't like a do-over on this deal and also the massive Cutler contract? The key to last night's game, other than Cutler missing four wide open receivers for tDs, was the Philly O line totally dominating the chicago D line. Since the supposed strength of the Bears is their D line, this spelled disaster for them, as McNabb had all day to throw.
I will be out of pocket for the next couple of weeks and not able to update this thread. Good luck in my absence.