It is only Friday and we’ve already lost cbob9999 in the original survivor pool after he took the Pittsburgh Steelers to defeat the Cleveland Browns last night. It didn’t happen. I’m not sure who was wearing black and gold but that wasn’t yours or your father’s Pittsburgh Steelers.
Now if I was a betting man (I mean serious, not recreational), I would have bet more of you would have taken Pitt last night. Come on, admit it, you forgot about the Thursday game, didn’t you? Good thing, because I’m sure a longshot pick on the Browns – who absolutely everyone has available in both pools, shocking I know – was not on your minds.
I guess before I get into my recommended picks for this week, we still have last week’s recap to mention. Another baffling loss by the Steelers! That cost buddy basommerville and DrZaius7 in the original pool and cbob9999 (lightning can strike twice apparently), jaywinters and lyonn in the second half pool.
Everyone else made it through Week 13 with a variety of picks, most notably the New Orleans Saints and Cincinnati Bengals. The Saints were a hope and prayer away from getting dumped by the Washington Redskins.
Are they a team of destiny? I think not. In fact, mark me down right now in saying the Saints will not win the Super Bowl. I have my doubts they will even make it to the big game. The defense relied on a lot of turnovers early on but has been quite a bit more pedestrian in recent weeks. They are going to be exposed and stumble on their way through the playoffs, so all this “two undefeated teams in the Super Bowl” talk is just plain silly. That is my two cents.
Want another two? Okay, how about my recommended picks for this week. The Tennessee Titans, the Baltimore Ravens and, begrudgingly because I committed myself to making three picks each week, the New England Patriots. Read the writeup over a BleacherReport, and you can see why what once looked like a slam dunk Pats over Panthers pick this week, maybe is not so slam dunk.
Of course if you are stuck having already used the Titans and Ravens, there aren’t really any other picks standing out to me. Maybe the Saints, but I did just knock them down a bit. Maybe the Packers, but unfortunately I’m on “fool me three times…” with them and can’t trust them for the balance of the 2009 season.
If you are still alive, get your pick in before the deadline at 1:00 Eastern on Sunday, and good luck!