11 Picks for NFL Week 13, Steelers at Patriots
Published Friday, November 28, 2008 at 01:00:00 PM
This week I picked a very tricky game: Pittsburgh Steelers at New England Patriots. I honestly have no idea which way people are going to lean on this one. (Except for Eric Allen who always picks the team that's favored. I know exactly how he's going to go.)
The line is New England -1.5, but we're all just picking the game straight up.
This list was published on Friday, November 28, 2008 at 01:00:00 PM under the category NFL Picks.
It currently has View Comments.
Published Friday, November 28, 2008 at 01:00:00 PM
This week I picked a very tricky game: Pittsburgh Steelers at New England Patriots. I honestly have no idea which way people are going to lean on this one. (Except for Eric Allen who always picks the team that's favored. I know exactly how he's going to go.)
The line is New England -1.5, but we're all just picking the game straight up.
Accuscore. (5-7 on the season) With the line as close as it is, I'm surprised that Accuscore, running its thousands of computer simulations, is this definitive. It really likes the Patriots this week, 63 percent to 36 percent.
Accuscore heavily favors the Patriots.- Former NFL star Eric Allen. (5-7) I'm so sick of this guy. He's banned next year. As I said in the prologue up there, naturally, Allen is going with the Patriots. So predictable. If this was an 11 points list of me guessing which team each of the 11 methods would take, I would be 1.000 on predicting Allen.
- Random number generator. (4-8) I use Random.org's coin flipper. Heads means home team, tails means away. In this case, it flipped heads, so it's going with the Patriots.
- Homeless guy outside my office. (5-7) I grabbed him back on Tuesday to get his pick. "You're early," he told me... which is kind of awesome that I've become a part of his weekly routine. He was really unsure on this one but ended up going with the Patriots when I pressed him.
Battle of the mascots. (8-4) Not too tough. While a Patriot is fighting FOR something, I feel like a steel worker could make much better weapons. The good weapons would be enough to overcome the patriot's motivation. The winner here is the Steelers.
A steel worker outdoes a patriot, even if the patriot has an ethos.- Adam, the early '90s fan. (8-4) "Easy call here. The Steelersare just getting better every year. Neil O'Donnell? Barry Foster? Rod Woodson returning punts and playing in the secondary? They walk all over the Patriots, just like everyone else."
- Fatter offensive line. (6-6) The Steeler O-line is large, checking in at 1,597 total pounds, or an average of almost 320 pounds per dude. The Patriot O-line is much lighter, at 1,531. But hey, I was watching the Patriots game last Sunday and one of the O-linemen really beat down a guy on the Dolphins. He got ejected, but at least he was scrappy. Still, the pick is easily the Steelers.
- A model who may or may not know football. (9-3) Karmen, like myself, is out of town for this week. I also speculate that she's got nothing to do, because she got back to me with her pick of the Patriots mere seconds after I e-mailed her.
- Just picking the home team. (5-7) Going with the Patriots. Last week, much-maligned ESPN Page 2 columnist The Sports Guy wrote a huge piece about how home field advantage doesn't exist in the NFL any more. And he backed it up with evidence, only about 94 percent of which was anecdotal.
- "Sports Illustrated" legend Peter King. (10-2) King is buying into the Cassel hype train, so he's picking the Patriots. He believes that "Cassel willl have enough gumption to lead four scoring drives." And there's a big fat [SIC] there on the three ls in willl. Peter King can pick football games but he sure can't type! There! I finally found something to make fun of him for. It's taken all season. And he's way too far away to try a SCORE! BOARD! chant.
- My pick. (5-7) Hate to go against everyone here, but my gut is telling me to pick the Steelers. I still believe in them. I also don't find myself drinking the Matt Cassel Kool-Aid and I can completely see him collapsing against a tough opponent.
This list was published on Friday, November 28, 2008 at 01:00:00 PM under the category NFL Picks.
It currently has View Comments.
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