Wine Spotlight (February 2011)

I had a couple wines that I purchased from BWI Liquors in Hanover, MD that I figured I'd share with ya'll.  Both are sweet wines, probably enjoyed best with chicken, fish or seafood, not really made for a steak or a red/meat sauce pasta.  But I'm not wine connoisseur so ask the owner of the liquor store before you buy it or read the back of the bottle it might tell you a lil better than I can.

The first picture, the Cantamessa is a sweet red wine.  It was a little bubbly but very sweet.  Comparable to Jam Jar but had a better taste.

The bottle in the picture on the right made by the Four Cousins is a Natural Sweet White wine that was very good.  It tasted like a dessert.  This was my second time enjoying this wine. It has a great price on it but doesn't taste cheap at all.

I'm actually going to get a couple bottles, including both of the wines below, this evening.  My wine rack is completely empty.  Well it only holds 6 bottles at a time so as soon as its full it ends up empty after a few good meals.  Enjoy!

  

Old School Love Song that Goes Wrong...

When this song comes on it has a great feel, the beat takes you away to an island or somewhere relaxing.  The title of the song just screams about being in love.  Seems like a song you should play on your wedding day or something, right.  Wrong... Ok I can get past the singers loud moments of scream singing that remind me of Biggie's Player Hater song, but at about 1:30 this song just goes wrong for the first time of many times.  Its hilarious to me, dude is keeping it real.  I just think he could've used some other words instead of saying.

"I have never met someone like you, so unpretentious and so kind, All I want to do is be with your baby, and DO IT to you all the time"

LOL, make love, hold you, something a lil less bold would've kept the song loving and chill.  But I guess to each his own.  For me I cracked up everytime he told her just wants to be with her and DO IT to her all the time.

The song is still a nice song, but because of word choice his intentions are less subtle than R.Kelly's 12 Play.

Here's another Four Tops Song for your entrainment and amusement.  This joint had good intentions too, but its no way I'm going to be excited about a chick name Catfish, no matter what you try to tell me. LOL



"Catfish, makes my, nature rise"

My NFL Week 17 Picks & Playoff Predictions

My NFL Week 17 Picks 

& 

Playoff Predictions

Ok here we go with the quick rundown and just so you know my picks are submitted into a pool every week so I do think about my picks before I make them because at the end of the games I like to collect money.  I have only won once this year, but I've been amongst the people battling for the pot on Monday Night several times.  With that said he's the quick rundown.

Atlanta over Carolina: They are in Atlanta, yeah they lost to the Saints but the Saints are the Superbowl champs, who are the Panthers? Road Kill.

Pitt over Cleveland: This will be a tough matchup but I think the Steelers will have the most heart and the most to play for to pull this one out.

Minnesota over Detroit: This could be a close joint, but the Viks looked good last week if they can keep that going they should be able to win without any issues.

Oakland over KC: Oakland has been amazing against divisional opponents this year and they will be the first team to be undefeated in their division but not make the playoffs.

New England over Miami: The Dolphins can't beat the Patriots, unless they decide not to show up today because they got their #1 seed clinched.

New Orleans over Tampa Bay: this was a hard pick for me but I think the Saints will be able to pull this one out mainly because they are at home.  I have a feeling it will be down to the wire though...

NY Jets over Buffalo: The Jets know they need this to make the playoffs and I think they won't allow the Bills to come into NY and play the spoiler role.

Baltimore over Cincy: Cincy has played the Ravens hard in the past few years but I'm confident that the Ravens who are now aware that they have the best WR core, will run the Bengals out of town.

San Diego over Denver: Honestly I picked this because Rivers said its a privilege to play in the NFL and even though his team won't make the playoffs he's going to play today.  And because in one of my fantasy football leagues I'm in the championship with Rivers as my QB (I added Tebow on the bench to give Rivers some encouragement to do better, it worked for Aaron Rodgers in my other Championship I won last week).  

Green Bay over Chicago: The Packers at home will show the Bears why they were predicted to win the division before all of the injures and what not.  Aaron Rodgers has been amazing this year and he will show his talent today against the Bears to give his team playoff hopes.

Indy over Tennessee: The Titans stink and Indy knows if they lose this and the the Jags win, then they are out of the playoffs, its not going to happen.

Philly over Dallas: Vick will use this game as a bounce back game to prove to the people that have started to talk and doubt him based on last weeks performance that him and his young teammates can take this all the way.

San Francisco over Arizona: The Niners beat them in Arizona, I expect nothing less than that from them at home.  Plus I think this year every first game for the new coaches that take over teams, they have won, I expect this to continue for this last game of the season.

NY Giants over Washington: The Giants are an up and down team and have looked more down than anything lately, but I think they will win this game today but it won't be a blow out. I think it will be a game that has a difference of one score in the end.  The win will mean nothing because they still won't make it to the playoffs.

Houston over Jacksonville: If MJD isn't playing I don't think the Jaguars will have what it takes to beat Houston for the 2nd time this year.  They need this win and Indy to lose to make the playoffs, the chances of both happening are probably Vegas odds that could win someone their whole salary by betting just a weeks worth.  

Seattle over St. Louis: I'm only picking this because of home field advantage and as most people know the 12th man in Seattle has helped them win plenty of games.  On top of that the Rams have been horrible on the road this year.  But on the other hand if the Seahawks are smart they will throw this game so that they don't go down in history as the worst team to ever make the playoffs at 7-9, in my opinion.

My NFL Playoff Predictions as of Week 15

NFL Playoff Predictions

as of week 15

My Predictions are exactly the same after week 15, the only thing that is a flip flop, based on week 17 games. I now have Oakland beating KC in week 17 which allows the Chargers to become the #3 seed in the AFC.   Everything else remains the same.

NFL Playoff Predictions

as of week 14

My friend put me on to this playoff predictive page that ESPN is on, and my quick predictions as of now look like this...

click on the image to enlarge

The 49ers will be the first team to enter the playoffs at below .500 based on this prediction.  This is with them losing on Thursday against the Chargers in San Diego but winning in St. Louis then beating the Cardinals in San Francisco to end the season.  Of course in my weekly picks I'm still picking the 49ers to win the game on the Thursday but for this Playoff Predictions page I went with a little more logic than faith.  But honestly the Chargers have lost to a few teams this year that people didn't think they would lose to, and we have had close games with with NFC 3 NFC teams that are for the most part playoff bound.  Greed lost us the game against the #1 seeded Falcons.


No matter how I picked the games the following teams were in it no matter what, Patriots, Steelers, Ravens, Jets, Falcons, and Philly.  The teams that need the most from their own teams and loses by other teams were the Packers, Jacksonville, and Kansas City.  There was one way that I picked it where the NFC playoffs included Atlanta, Philly, Chicago, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, and SF.


The Giants, Chargers, Colts, and Buccaneers were the teams that seemed like they were really on the bubble depending on several factors.

My Week 15 NFL Picks - Playoff Hopes...

My Week 15 NFL Picks

Although I knew it would be a tough game to win against the #1 rated defense in the league, as a fan I can't pick against my team.  I picked the 49ers to win against the Chargers.  It would've been an amazing win, and would've put out playoff hopes in our own hands, now we need to win our last two games at St. Louis and at home against the Cardinals as well as for the Rams & Seahawks to lose the rest of their games in order to make the playoffs.  Thats a tall order, but not impossible. Both the Rams & Seahawks have tough remaining schedules.  I think our toughest will be the divisional matchup against the Rams in St. Louis next week.

The game on Thursday could've turned out a lot less of a blow out if it wasn't for one series of plays.  We made a field goal, but a Chargers player got called for leaping, so we get the ball back with a 1st and goal. Alex Smith makes a run for it and dives... TOUCHDOWN!!! Wait Norv Turner challenges it, the ruling is overturned. Now its 4th down and inches.  We run the ball, get stopped, turn over on downs. On defense a shoving match breaks out, the ref tries to break it up and Justin Smith accidentally pushes him, then he gets ejected out of the game. So with in a matter of 5 minutes, we get 3 points, lose 3 points, get a TD, lose the TD, get on defense, lose our #1 defensive linemen.

After that point Phillip Rivers, who is a top 3 QB this year and definitely the best out of his rookie class of Big Ben and Eli Manning, seemed to have an abundance of time in the pocket.  You don't give a great QB that much time.  Prior to losing Justin Smith we were able to get to Rivers, and stopped them on a couple possessions.  Afterwards there was no stopping them.

Here's the accidental push that got Justin thrown out of the game and below it is that same ref tackling a running back in a play that he could've gotten a good amount of yards.  I wonder if the ref threw himself out of the game after that...





Read more about this situation here http://www.ninersnation.com/2010/12/16/1881380/justin-smith-ejection-video-referee-garth-defelice-overreacting-again

But here we go with the quick run down on my week 15 picks.

Cleveland over Cincy - The Bengals are playing for a QB next year via the draft obviously and the Browns have looked decent enough to win this game.

Dallas over Washington - I hate to make that pick but the Cowboys offense has come alive and the Skins offense has been in turmoil as of lately.  Not to mention the benching of McNabb, that really doesn't seem to help this situation, in my opinion.  I'm picking Dallas, but I would LOVE to be wrong on this pick.

Houston over Tennessee - the Titans seem lost.  The Texans have an explosive offense, so even with their suspect passing defense they should be able to beat the Titans and beat them early.

Jacksonville over Indy - eh... I want the Colts to miss the playoffs thanks to the Jags winning the division.  My future Parents-In-Law live in Jacksonville, so I'm going for the Jacksonville in this game.

Kansas City over St. Louis - KC got Matty back to run their offense after a week off.  The Chiefs have been a pretty good time this year, plus they need to win to win the division thanks to the Chargers win on Thursday. Chiefs all the way.  I think it will be close most of the game though, the Rams have proven to be good at home this year.

Buffalo over Miami - I picked the Bills FTW last week and I'm doing again this week.  Miami is also a confused team, I think the Bills can win this game based on the tougher games that they have played with better teams.

Philly over the NYG - Tough one to pick but I like Mike Vick and the Eagles better in this match up.  Thats all...

Tampa Bay over Detroit - Tampa is just a better team to me, and I think they still have playoff chances.

Arizona over Carolina - The Panthers stink.

New Orleans over Baltimore - Baltimore's defense has been horrible against the pass and against elite QBs as well as a few slightly above average QBs like Ryan Fitzpatrick.  Drew Brees is hot right now, I expect for him to give the Ravens secondary a run for their money.

Atlanta over Seattle - Atlanta wants to clinch that playoff victory as well as home field advantage w/the bye week.  They will do that this week in Seattle.  Bird GAME!  The Seahawks don't stand a chance in my opinion.

Oakland over Denver - The Raiders are just a better team than the Broncos, I don't think they will demolish them like last time, but they will win by at least 2 scores.

Pittsburgh over NYJ - This game is in Pitt and Pitt wants to clinch the victory and win their division, they need to do it here.  The Jets have been on a slump and I don't think they can get out of that slump this week against the Steelers.

New England over Green Bay - even if Rodgers was healthy my pick would be the same, but I would just call it as a close game.  The Patriots are the best team in football right now and they will put up 30+ points again this week.  The Packers might get 14.

In this weeks MNF outdoor game in below freezing temperatures I'm going with Chicago over Minnesota.  The Vikings are using their 3rd string QB and the Bears can win the division with a win here.  I think it will mainly be a running game but it might be sloppy, neither team is used to the cold weather.

My NFL Playoff Predictions as of Week 14

NFL Playoff Predictions

as of week 14

My friend put me on to this playoff predictive page that ESPN is on, and my quick predictions as of now look like this...

click on the image to enlarge

The 49ers will be the first team to enter the playoffs at below .500 based on this prediction.  This is with them losing on Thursday against the Chargers in San Diego but winning in St. Louis then beating the Cardinals in San Francisco to end the season.  Of course in my weekly picks I'm still picking the 49ers to win the game on the Thursday but for this Playoff Predictions page I went with a little more logic than faith.  But honestly the Chargers have lost to a few teams this year that people didn't think they would lose to, and we have had close games with with NFC 3 NFC teams that are for the most part playoff bound.  Greed lost us the game against the #1 seeded Falcons.


No matter how I picked the games the following teams were in it no matter what, Patriots, Steelers, Ravens, Jets, Falcons, and Philly.  The teams that need the most from their own teams and loses by other teams were the Packers, Jacksonville, and Kansas City.  There was one way that I picked it where the NFC playoffs included Atlanta, Philly, Chicago, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, and SF.


The Giants, Chargers, Colts, and Buccaneers were the teams that seemed like they were really on the bubble depending on several factors.

My NFL Week 14 Picks - Peyton's Plight

Peyton's Plight

Well right now the Colts are a team actually in the playoff hunt instead of having their division secured at this point in the season for the first time in what seems like forever.  They are 1-2 in their division and the Jacksonville Jaguars are on top of the division.  Good thing for the Colts they have 3 more divisional games left starting with this week against the Titans.  The Titans are in complete disarray, they don't pose a threat to many teams at this point in the season.  The Texans have a good team, but their defense hasn't been great and they have allowed too many points.  So when they score a lot their opponents score more, you can't win anything like that. Now the surprising Jaguars have been winning close games and the recent games they have lost to good teams have been close as well.  Their team is playing like the franchise is on the line.  

I've always been a Brady over Manning fan except for when it comes to commercials, Peyton is definitely better than Tom when it comes to that.  But I do have a good feeling that the Colts will make a turn around in their season with 4 games left, 3 divisional games and 1 game against the Raiders.  They are the better team in the division but they are also very injured.  Peyton has been finding himself forcing passes that he might not have done before, this leads to interceptions, which leads to their team losing.  It seems like the teams in the AFC South have below average defenses so it will be their offense that wins the games. I have a feeling they will lose to the Raiders (sounds crazy right?) but if they can win the 3 divisional games they are playoff bound.  The Wild Cards in the AFC will go to the North and the East, so winning the division is necessary.

Lets start with tonight. Indy over Tennessee with ease.  Now Peyton won't put on the QB clinic that Mike Vick did against the Skins or that Tom Brady did against the Jets, but he will look more like the Peyton we knew last year in tonights game.

Buffalo over Cleveland: This is oddly enough a tough pick. If Buffalo gets their air game going they can win the game against a Cleveland team that will depend on the ground game and their defense/special teams.

Green Bay over Detroit: Do I need to explain this?  If Green Bay loses this game they don't deserve to make the playoffs this year.

Minnesota over NYG: this was a tough pick too but I just went with the home team.  I got a feeling Favre will take one snap to keep his streak going, then let Tarvaris Jackson & AP take over.  But if Favre plays the whole game the smartest thing he can do is just let AP control the game so that the Giants don't McNabb him.

Pitt over Cincy: Cincy is the bust of the year, they might as well just play for draft picks at this point.

Tampa Bay over Washington: Tampa is a good team and have shown it against some of the best, I think their defense and young offense will be too much for the beat up Skins on Sunday.  Plus the Skins have failed me in the picks too many weeks recently.

Atlanta over Carolina: Is it wrong for me to reference someone referencing me? Well like Mike said I said that Atlanta is due for a loss, it aint happening this week.  Actually only the Saints in week 16 have a chance to beat them. They play Carolina, Seattle, New Orleans, then Carolina again sounds like 13-3 to me.

Oakland over Jacksonville: Oakland has been playing tough football since getting beat by the 49ers in week 6 and they look like they want to sneak in and win the division and the Jags have been playing good football as well.  I just think the Raiders are a tougher team. The Jags have a good chance at home but I'll say it will come down to the last play and the Jags just won't get it this time.

New Orleans over St. Louis: I think the Saints are back on top of their game and the Rams suck on the road they won the last two on the road, but this one won't be as easy. I'm calling NO by at least 2 scores.

San Francisco 49ers over Seattle: The Seahawks have beaten us in the past two matchups, they were are only divisional loss last year, and the season opener will be the only divisional loss for the 49ers this year. The 49ers will win this one at home.  The Seahawks also appear to be confused at the running game and their WRs are dealing with injuries. Either Smith QB should be able to manage this game with no mistakes and get a 10 point win. My actual prediction is 27-16.

New England over Chicago: This is still a tough game no matter what happened against the Jets on Monday.  The Bears have proven to be a contender this year, but I think the Patriots will just show that they are the better team in this match up.

NYJ over Miami: Miami is still confused and the Jets practiced hard all week and they will show up on this game to prove to their fans that they should still be in the playoff/superbowl conversation.  Defense will win the game and make it a little more comfortable for Sanchez.

Denver over Arizona: I'm a little shakey about this pick.  Josh McDaniel's pass heavy team would mow over the Cardinals, I'm not sure which way they will go on Sunday.  If it becomes the Tebow show and Orton doesn't get the same chances he's had before it will be close.  Regardless Denver will win, their defense will pick apart the horrid Cardinal offense.

San Diego over Kansas City: Matt Cassel is out this week. Rivers knows he needs wins, its December, all that means a win for the Chargers.  Yeah they lost last week, but the Raiders showed up the Chiefs are at a disadvantage.

Philly over Dallas: I just can't pick Dallas, but they have a good chance to win this game based on the way they have been playing.  Dez Bryant being out made a slight difference in my pick.  I think this game will play out much like last weeks Thursday night game between Philly and Houston.  Philly 35 - Dallas - 31

Baltimore over Houston: Defense vs. No Defense... Defense will always win.  The Ravens might let this game get scary or close, but I think they will win it in the long run and make it look good. 28 - 17, Ravens.

My NFL Week 13 Picks - AFC Playoff Preview Week

AFC PLAYOFF PREVIEW WEEK

Had a busy week, a busy day, and this weekend will be even more busy, so here's my quick rundown on my picks for week 13.  

First of all last week we got a preview of some possible NFC Playoff/Championship Match Ups with the Eagles vs. the Bears and the Packers vs. the Falcons.  This week we are getting the same but even more important from the AFC.  With the current standing in the AFC South and AFC West its most likely that the wild card teams will be from the North and East with that being said. Patriots vs Jets on MNF is a huge game, the best record in the NFL at 9-2, and after this regardless of winner or loser they will still be in the run for the playoff with a great record.

I'm taking the Patriots over the Jets on MNF.  I like both teams but the Patriots seem more solid.

This big game for the Marylanders this week would have to be other divisional rival/playoff preview of the two teams tied at 8-3 which is the 2nd best record in the league.  This is the 2nd time the Ravens and Steelers meet.  The first time Big Ben was serving his suspension.  This time Big Ben has a broken foot but plans to still play.  For that reason I'm going to take the Ravens.

The Ravens offense has been stronger this year, but the defense hasn't always looked as solid, but I think they can beat the Steelers.  Hopefully this will be a hard hitting and exciting match up for Sunday Night.  Hopefully for both playoff bound teams they don't get too many key injuries that they can't heal from before the post season.

I picked Philly over Houston, I made sure I announced this on Facebook and Twitter so that no one would say I switched my pick after the game, since I knew that I wasn't going to post these picks last night.  It was a back and forth game, but in the long run my Thursday pick was right again.

New Orleans over Cincy - Cincy should be playing for a 1st round pick now... Batman & Robin can return to the Batcave...

Chicago over Detroit - No need to explain

San Francisco 49ers over Green Bay - Thats my squad.  This was be amazing, a miracle, a huge win for us.  But its not impossible.  It will come down to turn overs and Special Teams, mark my word.  By the way I practically called that win and score for last week, I said 21-6 it was 27-6 and that Crabtree TD should have been overturned.

Jacksonville over Tennessee - who knows...  I don't trust Tennessee though and Jacksonville ALMOST won that game against the Giants last week like I predicted.

KC over Denver - Denver is flip floppy, KC knows that they could win the division but with San Diego so hot right now they can't afford to slip up anywhere.

Cleveland over Miami - this is just an upset I'm choosing.  Cleveland has been playing decent football, I don't trust Delhomme, but Miami hasn't been solid.  Cleveland it is.

Buffalo over Minnesota - this is another upset I'm picking.  Both teams have had bad years, and if Adarin Peterson doesn't play Minnesota might have a tough day.  They will get points but I don't think they will be as deadly as they need to be.  Buffalo has been playing good football against better teams.

Washington over New York - I jumped out the window with this one.  But hey you gotta do that sometimes. I'm not going to talk about it anymore, because I might change my pick if I think about it more.

San Diego over Oakland - The Raiders got hot, now they are luke warm. The Chargers are on Fire and they are 95% healthy now but all their weapons are on the field. I don't think the Chargers will lose anymore of their games this year, but I will pick against them when they face the 49ers out of  faith and loyalty for my squad.

Indy over Dallas - The Colts need to get it together, I think they can do it this week at home, it will be a tough one though.  Dallas is showing that they can be that team we assumed they would be.  Close call.

St. Louis over Arizona -The Rams are the better team, Arizona just got beat at home on MNF and they will get beat at home again on Sunday.

Seattle over Carolina - I would love if Carolina won this game to help move the Seahawks down the NFC West standings but Carolina just hasn't been able to get anything going.

Tampa Bay over Atlanta - The Buccs are due for this win.  The last game was in ATL and it was close and down to the wire.  I think they will pull this one off.  Atlanta is due for a loss as well.  But this will be their last lost for the season, the rest of their schedule looks like a cake walk, unless they start to sit starts to keep them healthy for the playoffs.

Why So Serious???

Lets start with Steve Johnson who last week had an excellent game and a great touchdown celebration against the Bengals directed at the self proclaimed Batman & Robin who have not been able save their city.  I picked Buffalo to win this game by the way...

Of course if you didn't see the Dark Knight you wouldn't understand why this was so great, but then again if you didn't see the Dark Knight you really don't understand greatness anyway.

But then this week the Bills played the Steelers and I predicted them to get handled by the AFC powerhouse team.  Nope, this one went to overtime.  The Bills had several chances to win, and Steve Johnson had several dropped passes, but none worse than that endzone drop in overtime with no one near him that would have made this a win for the ages.  But afterwards it seems as if Steve goes on twitter and blames God for his drops.  Good thing for him, he later came to his senses and cleaned the comment up a little bit, because I'm pretty sure the rest of his season would've gotten worse.

But enough about this dude lets talk about Derek Anderson! This sound bite has to get remixed by DJ Steve Porter into one of his songs or something.  Derek goes crazy on this reporter.  He was obviously laughing on the side, something had to be funny.  Even Gruden pointed this out during the game and expressed his disappoint in the fact that it didn't seem like he was taking it serious.  Regardless of what Anderson is still the starter, but I'm sure Arizona is playing for an early 1st round pick next year at this point.  They better hope the Panthers, Bills, and Bengals can win some games before the end of the season.




So Derek Anderson takes this serious? Rewind the video he doesn't look serious to me, lol.  The bad thing is he was a Pro Bowl QB not too long ago, lost his job, got a new job, lost it, got it back, and is still doing a piss poor job.  Other than Kurt Warner on the offense the Cardinals are missing only Boldin from last year, but were just a playoff caliber team and Superbowl contender.  Kurt was able to win games without Boldin.  I would've thought that any above average QB could step in and do at least half as good as Kurt Warner did last year.  I guess Derek nor Matt (or that other guy Max) are even a forth as good as Kurt Warner was.  He should come back, Favre is still playing, Warner seemed like he had a lot more in his tank than Favre does.

Why So Serious Derek? Your Career is OVER...

My Week 12 NFL Picks

Turkey Time!

I'm a little late with this post but I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving and enjoyed their Thanksgiving day football.  Thanks to TNF the past couple of years we've gotten more than the traditional two games featuring the Cowboys and the Lions facing various opponents.  The 8:30 TNF game always feels like a bonus.  The bonus for me this week is that my 3 picks for Thursday turned out to be correct.

New England over Detroit: Seemed like a no brainer, but at the end of the first half I was a little in shock, but at that point the family and I headed to our first of three dinners, by the time we got to my aunts house the Patriots had turned the game around full circle. Cha Ching!

New Orleans over Dallas: The Cowboys have seemed renewed since dropping their coach, but the Saints are looking to get back into the Superbowl contender conversation with their starting distraction Reggie Bush back, so the Saints seemed like an easy win for me.  But this one came down to the wire.  When the family and I were at our 2nd dinner it seemed like the Saints had complete shut down the Cowboys.  But once again during our travel time to the 3rd dinner something happened.  The game was now close, and this game went to the wire! I would like to thank Roy Williams for helping me to get this pick correct.  Maybe she should be carrying the whole teams shoulder pads in practice this week.

New York Jets over Cincy: The Bengals are the largest disappointment of the season to me.  The 49ers, Cowboys, and Vikings are also disappointments but neither of those teams have reality shows and "Superhero's" on their team.  At the end of the night, this was an easy pick.

Green Bay over Atlanta: Honestly, I'm picking the Packers because my money league fantasy team is headed by Aaron Rodgers.  But this game could go either way.  I assume it will be a shoot out.  Green Bay has the better QB, but ATL has the better running game and better WR.  So what will decide this game is the defense, whoever turns the ball over the most will lose.

Pittsburgh over Buffalo: Yeah I've picked the Bills in past weeks, but not against the Steelers.  The Steelers are top 3 in the AFC, this will be an easy win for them as long as they don't underestimate the Bills.

Cleveland over Carolina: The Panthers suck.  The Browns have actually shown that they can beat teams, plus they are at home.

Jacksonville over New York Giants: This sounds like a stretch but the Jags are at the top of their division that includes the Titans, Colts, and Texans.  They are on a natural high right now, and they will look to keep that going against a Giants team on the decline of their season and dealing with several injuries.  Peyton can get it done with any WR staff, I'm not sure that Eli can do the same...

Minnesota over Washington: I want to take the Skins at home against a disappointing Vikings team, but I'm going to take the Vikes only because the fired their coach.  Not that Chilly was a bad coach and neither was Wade, but I guess making that change lights some fire under whatever team.  The Cowboys looked like we thought they would and with a backup QB, I'm looking for the Vikings to come to life as well. This is actually an underdog pick too.

Houston over Tennessee: I just think the Texans offense will take over this game.  The Titans looked confused last week, now they have a 3rd string QB running the show.  I think the Texans will prove to be the better team in this game.

Oakland over Miami: They both have tough loses last week, but I think the Raiders were expected to lose, Miami didn't seem to be able to do anything last week.  This game could go either way, but I'm going with the Raiders, they are just the faster team and I think it will help them in a redemption victory this week.  Plus they are at home.

Kansas City over Seattle: The Chiefs are actually a good team both teams are at the top of their division, but as time has shown over the past few years the NFC West is probably the worst division in the NFL.  The 2nd worst this year would have to be AFC West, based on team records.  I look for KC to destroy the Seahawks in this NFL West Superbowl.

Philly over Chicago: The Bears defense seems to be getting close to being back in form, but I'm going to go with the Eagles.  Its hard for me to pick against them going forward this season.  This should be a good game and I do think it will be close but the Eagles offense is just so much more explosive than the Bears offense.

Denver over St. Louis: The Rams have been good at home, but bad on the road.  The Broncos have a high powered offense, The Rams have an above average offense.  The Broncos should have this game put away by half time.

Baltimore over Tampa Bay: Tampa Bay is looking good in the NFC, but the AFC is a different ball game.  The Ravens are a top 3 AFC and top 3 NFL team right now.  The game might be close at the beginning but once the Ravens get warmed up, I look for them to take complete control of the game.

San Diego over Indy: The Chargers are getting key weapons back, even though they are missing Gates again, they have some other great WRs back in place.  The Colts are dealing with too many injuries.  I think it will be a close game, but the Chargers will continue their 2nd half of the season run to make the playoffs.  I called 31 to 27 in the Chargers favor.  The Colts will need a TD to win, and won't get it to end the game.

San Francisco over Arizona: Both teams have the same record, but the Cardinals have lost twice in the division and the 49ers have only lost once.  Another issue for the Cardinals is that they have allowed more points against them than the 49ers.  The Cardinals will continue their losing streak to 6 games in a row after this Monday.  I look for the 49ers to bounce back with their first road win of the season which will move them to 2nd place in the division.  I'm calling a score of 21 to 6 in the 49ers favor.