Sunday picks & more - Week 9

Last week:  9 - 5

Overall:  71 - 48

Denver over Cincinnati - Peyton Manning is on a roll.  Yes, I've read all the nonsense about how the Broncos are too slow in the first half and that Peyton needs time to warm up.  Pfft.  It is what it is and so far in the last two weeks it has worked.  I don't think they will have any trouble this week either.

Baltimore over Cleveland:  Not seeing the Browns beating the Ravens.  Ever.

Green Bay over Arizona - Arizona started out the season flying, but since then they are free falling.  Don't see them coming into Lambeau Field and getting some wind this week either.  They need coach Ken Whisenhunt to use some of his trick plays that he used in Pittsburgh.  Next week they play the Falcons.  Whew.  Not looking good for the Cardinals.

Tennesse over Chicago - This is one of my wild card games where I'm just blowing out some smoke in the hopes of picking something someone else isn't.  

Indianapolis over Miami - I keep ignoring Miami and I keep losing this bracket.  I'm not sure now why I went with the Colts.  They are very up and down, pulling out some close ones and playing on pure emotion for their coach.  I think because they are playing at home with the crowd behind them is the reason I went with them.  We shall see....

Washington over Carolina - The rookie against the experienced rookie.  Cam Newton is going to come out explosive I predict, but the Skins are playing at home and coming off of a loss last week to Pittsburgh.  That tends to motivate a team.  The skins defense sucked last week and some of the plays called for their offense, well, sucked too.  But Carolina may be without their wide receiver Brandon LaFell due to a concussion and there locker room is still in disarray so I'm going with the Skins this week.

Detroit over Jacksonville - Hey, the Jags made a play last week and fell short.  I suppose that could happen again this week...which is why I picked the Lions.

Houston over Buffalo - Another game where the Texans will run away with the ball and the score.

Tampa Bay over Oakland - Ah, Tampa.  The past two weeks have been magical for our local team, although I still think the offense makes some odd calls and quarterback Josh Freeman throws some odd balls.  But the little team is still chugging into some wins and if they play as well as they did last week then I've got to go with them this week.  The problem with the Bucs is you never know which team will show up on the field and with them traveling to the other side of the country I have some worries, but rah, rah home team!

Minnesota over Seattle - This should be a good game.  I'm sort of rethinking my pick on this one since I think Seattle's defense is killing it, but Minnesota got a whupping last week so they won't want to lose again this week.

Pittsburgh over New York Giants - I don't bet against my team, I just don't.  I'm a fan. That being said I'm hoping the Pittsburgh of last week shows up for this game this week.  Because if not....goodness gracious.  New York the city is looking for something to cheer about, as is New Jersey, the home site for the Giants' games so the Steelers have a hard road this week battling Eli Manning as well as all the emotions. 

Atlanta over Dallas - The Cowboys are looking for a win, but the Falcons aren't looking to lose especially not at home.

New Orleans over Philadelphia - These teams are both in trouble, but I think the Eagles troubles are more recent and raw so I'm going with Drew Brees & Co. to win at home.

Steelers/Giants Game - There was some question about whether it would go on as planned or not, but as most NFL decisions, and New York as well, hello marathon going on as scheduled, games must be played as not doing so creates more issues.  The Steelers can not find a hotel to stay in so they are flying in the morning of the game and and flying home after the game.  This frees up hotel space for people who need it and the players were more than happy to make that sacrifice. 

"When you look at it, it's a minor inconvenience considering what those people in New York and New Jersey went through,'' Former University of Florida Gators and current Steelers offensive tackle Max Starks said Friday. ''You have seven million people without electricity, and a football game pales in comparison to that. You just hope you can do your best to take their minds off such a travesty for a couple of hours by playing some football.''

New York Marathon - Well, I make my picks early in the week and write my picks over the course of the week to post on Sundays so the above comment about the marathon is now inaccurate as New York finally came to their senses and canceled it late yesterday.  Some of the athletes grumbled about fees and airfare, but most of them understood.  They wondered now what to do.  Uh, how about pitching in and helping the city in their clean up, their doling out of food and water, and maybe shacking up with others to free up hotel rooms for the people displaced from their homes?  And really, this race should have been canceled at the beginning of the week.  Some people came from other countries for it so now they are here and taking up space needed for residents.  Someone dropped the ball on this one.

Penn State charges - Finally.  Finally the people who really are the core of this whole scandal are  going to get their due.  Penn State administrators Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, along with former president Graham Spanier are now facing accusations that they covered up the abuse allegations against Sandusky.  Curley and Schultz were arraigned on charges of endangering the welfare of children, obstruction and conspiracy and bail was set at $50,000 on Friday.  Spainer will be arraigned on Wednesday.  The accusations came in the form of a 39 page document that detailed how the men did not report the alleged abuse to police and instead attempted to cover up the entire incident.  They, of course, maintain their innocence.  Pfft.