I'm figuring that the Steelers will whack the Fish tomorrow night, so...

- Patriots are 11-0. Hats off to the Eagles for showing that the Pats are indeed human, but now we see the reason why the Pats play 60 minutes of hard-noses football, regardless of the opponent.

- This Thursday night's game between the Pack and the Cowboys (in Dallas) is HUGE HUGE HUGE. Winner will most likely have home field in the NFC playoffs. Recall that last season, the Saints walked into Dallas and slapped the Cowboys silly in front of a national audience. This won't be a one-sided affair, but I still like the Packers.

- The NY Giants will still make the playoffs....but today's game just increases the odds that the Giants and Eli will do another choke job in the playoffs. You can't blame ALL the pick-sixes on Eli....apparently the Giants are the 2nd worst team in the NFL on dropped passes. I wouldn't want to be around Tom Coughlin this week.

- The Lions are leaking oil....and water....and gas....and oxygen. And now all the 5-6 teams (Washington, Philly, Vikings, Bears, Saints, and Cardinals) still have life. Good god, I was hoping we wouldn't have the ugliness that we had last year. Who is the best of these 5-6 teams? who knows...and truthfully, who really cares.

- Tampa is the best of a bad division. We'll see.. They have a soft schedule and could get in with an 11-5 or even 12-4 mark, without us really knowing how good they are.

- The Saints are like one of my high school girlfriends. One week, great....next week, forget it. My guess? The won't make it. No defense.

- The Panthers are now officially the saddest story in the NFL. That's really bad, when you consider what's happened to the Falcons this year.

- Geez...challenge the Seahawks manhood, and they win a few. But let's face it...had Bulger not suffered a concussion, he and the Rams would have won today against Seattle.

- The Cardinals choked today....really choked. REALLY CHOKED. That's three big losses this year where a critical play at the end went against them.

- I've already talked about the Pats. They rock. The rest of the AFC East sucks. next....

- The Cleveland Browns are just amazing. They'll probably get in as a wild card, and could be a difficult team in the playoffs. Given that Romeo's job was on the line earlier, I'd say he's going to be around for awhile.

- The Ravens are just plain bad. Sure, they've had injuries. Sure, Billick has several years left on his contract. But the Ravens have serious, serious problems.

- The Bengals? Too little, too late.

- The Jags have one final shot to show they can play on the same field with Indy. There has never been a better time to overtake Indy than now, given how much Indy has been hurt by injuries.

- The Chargers are finally putting a little separation beween themselves and everyone else. But I am far from sold on Phillip Rivers. This guy is like a mini-Rex Grossman....throws floaters, throws off the wrong foot, bad mechanics.

- Denver's loss today really hurt them.

- Today, KC had a four point lead, and then missed a 33 yard FG that would have put them up by 7. From that point on, they played like someone who had been kicked in the stomach. A tough season for the red and yellow. But as crazy as it sounds....if KC wins next week at home against the chargers, they are only 1 game back (and will have swept the season series).

If anyone wants some trivia....only one NFL team has ever made the playoffs after being 4-7 was the 1996 Jags, who won their last 5 to finish 9-7. The Jax won the final WC tie-breaker against?....you guessed it, KC ;)

- The Raiders, on the other hand, played gritty and won. LaMont Jordan (a.k.a. "Huggy Bear") made some big plays when it counted. Go figure.


My current picks:

Dallas
GB
Tampa
Seattle

WCs: Giants, Chicago


Patriots
Steelers
Indy
Chargers

WCs: Browns, Jax