A Look at Week 14

Time for this week’s football column.  We’ve got crappy teams playing crappy teams, good teams playing crappy teams, and even a couple of games that could be good.  Let’s get started, shall we?

Let’s start with the easy ones:

The Pats will roll over the Bills.  The Bengals will embarrass the Browns if that’s still possible.  The Titans will bring Houston one step closer to the top draft pick (which will be Reggie Bush, and that means he’s playing in Texas.  Ugh.)  The Vikings will continue their improbable playoff run, taking out the Rams.  The Raiders (not as bad as their record) will beat the Jets (hey—on the bright side, if the Texans pick up another win, the Jets are in the running for the top draft pick).  The ‘Skins will take out the Cards (though Arizona could make it interesting at home).  Shaun Alexander will rush for 3 billion yards against San Francisco.  The Chargers will keep winning and smack the Dolphins around.  The Lions are probably better than the Packers, but they’re in such a tailspin right now that Green Bay will beat them in Lambeau.  The Falcons will beat the Saints in a stinker on Monday night. The only reason to watch that one would be to see if Vick puts on a show.  That can be entertaining.  

Now let’s move on to the interesting games (some are interesting anyway).

Bears at Steelers:

The Steelers match up well against the Bears, since their offense can usually get it done, and their defense should be able to give Chicago’s less than stellar offense some problems.  The problem with Pittsburgh is that Big Ben is just not the same lately.  They could surely pull this one off, especially after a tough loss at home to Cincinnati.  I just don’t think the offense will be able to score on Chicago.  At least not enough.  

Bucs at Panthers:

Carolina should essentially wrap up the division with this game.  Chris Simms will still be a player in Tampa, but he’s not going to be able to get it done for them this week.  This should be a pretty good game, but it’s one of those games that could also be a blowout.

Colts at Jags:

The Jaguars are the popular pick to end the Colts’ perfect season, but I just don’t see it happening.  I think they’ll lose to the Chargers and Seahawks (yes, both).  A division team just isn’t going to be able to give them enough of something they haven’t seen.  Jacksonville’s defense is just not going to be able to stop Manning.  He’s playing like a man possessed.  That having been said, if David Garrard can put on a good performance, it should be a fun game to watch.  

Giants at Eagles:

I could have put this one up at the top, but I’ve got some things to say.  I know the Eagles are not good right now.  That’s fine.  But it’s got nothing to do with a Super Bowl hangover.  It’s got something to do with a wide receiver that disrupted an entire season, five Pro Bowl players out for the season, a much-improved division, etc.  Now I’m a die-hard Philadelphia sports fan, and I think the fans there are great.  But the talk about running Andy Reid out of town is ridiculous.  This guy has gotten the Eagles to the playoffs every year since 2000.  I don’t need to go into detail here because we all know it.  But for the ever-impulsive Philly fans, I just want to know a few things.  Do you remember the years of Rich Kotite?  Ray Rhodes?  Anyone?  Hello?  Yeah.  I remember it too.  Remember the years of Buddy Ryan?  That defense that he built was amazing, but what about the offense?  You saw what Randall Cunningham did in Minnesota with players around him.  If Buddy had given any attention to the offense whatsoever, I guarantee you right now we’d have gotten a Super Bowl trophy in the early-mid 90’s.  What about Andy’s teams?  Did you see last year?  That Super Bowl was ours and we lost it on a couple of bad plays.  That’s closer than anyone ever got us, including Dick Vermeil.  Give me a bad year, a long off-season to rest the players, and a high draft pick over a new coach any day of the friggin’ week.  And quit talking about trading up for Reggie Bush, because it’s just not going to happen.  No team in position to take that guy is stupid enough to trade it away.  What exactly would we trade to get up that high?  I’ll be happy with a top-ten pick.  Maybe.  I’ve heard the badmouthing of McNabb, too, and I’m not even going to dignify that garbage.  You want T.O. on your team at the expense of Donovan?  Get out of my face.  

Chiefs at Cowboys:

Kansas City made the AFC West mighty interesting last week.  The Chiefs need this one desperately to stay in the playoff hunt (just like they’ll need every game for the rest of the year).  The Cowboys need it to, but the Chiefs will be too much for them here.

Broncos at Ravens:

If Denver loses this game, forget it.  They’re out.  Forget the division.  They’ll be out of the playoffs.  I’ve got them winning this one, but it comes down to Jake Plummer.  Is he the Plummer of earlier this year, or is he the same as every other year when the pressure is on?  We’ll see.

That about wraps it up for this week.  Enjoy the games, and I’ll be back with you next week.