Week 16 Picks and Pans!

Congratulations to the Atlanta Falcons for a scintillating win in Motown last night. In defeating the Lions, Matt Stafford, and Tron 31-18 the state of Georgia can rejoice and lay claim to home field advantage for the  remainder of 2012. All well deserved and kudos to the Falcons family.

Does home field advantage guarantee a trip to the Super Bowl?

In a word, HELL NO!

Just ask the 2004 Pittsburgh Steelers, the 1998 Minnesota Vikings, the 1987 49ers, the 1986 Bears, even the 2011 Packers. Those teams mentioned from ’04, ’98, and ’11 were each 15-1. As a lifelong Viking fan, 1998 still stings. Why the mention of all this?

I do not see the Falcons advancing out of Georgia. Time and time again we will see teams that do well at one gearspeed in the regular season with all the peaks and valleys. Getting to a higher level in the playoffs is sometimes a tough adjustment. We saw this in 2010 when Green Bay invaded Atlanta and provided such a blitzkrieg of attack you half expected a coach named Sherman involved in the fray.

Based on what these eyes witnessed in October in Houston Green Bay and Houston are the two teams you should anticipate seeing in February…

While we see an array of playoff scenarios heading into Week 16 Dallas, Washington, New York all control their destiny. The wild card scenario gets a little dicey. While the Texans-Vikings game will draw attention for the Adrian Peterson rush record these eyes will be focused on what happens in Arlington this day.

When DeMarco Murray gets at least 15 touches in a game the Cowboys are a perfect 9-0. 14 touches or less a regrettable 3-9. Look for a mix of rushes and passes from the ‘undefeated In December’ Cowboys.

Call me crazy but I think the Saints pull off an upset today in Texas. Drew Brees and Darrell Sproles will create headaches all afternoon. In addition I also have no faith in he Bengals winning in Pittsburgh. Andy Dalton a perfect 0-3 against the Black and Gold.

NFL Lines For Week 16 – NFL Football Line Week Sixteen
NFL Line 12/23, 2012

Date & Time	Favorite	Line	Underdog	Total
12/23 1:00 ET	At Green Bay	-10.5	Tennessee	45
12/23 1:00 ET	At Carolina	-9	Oakland	46.5
12/23 1:00 ET	At Miami	-5	Buffalo	43
12/23 1:00 ET	At Pittsburgh	-3	Cincinnati	41
12/23 1:00 ET	New England	-14	At Jacksonville	51
12/23 1:00 ET	Indianapolis	-5	At Kansas City	41.5
12/23 1:00 ET	At Dallas	-3	New Orleans	54
12/23 1:00 ET	Washington	-5.5	At Philadelphia	45.5
12/23 1:00 ET	At Tampa Bay	-3	St. Louis	43.5
12/23 4:25 ET	NY Giants	-2	At Baltimore	47
12/23 1:00 ET	At Houston	-7.5	Minnesota	44
12/23 4:05 ET	At Denver	-11	Cleveland	43.5
12/23 4:25 ET	Chicago	-7	At Arizona	36.5
12/23 8:30 ET	At Seattle	-2	San Francisco	40
12/23 1:00 ET	At NY Jets	-2.5	San Diego	38.5

After a regrettable 7-9 week in picks (118-101-3 YTD) today can only get better as we wind down the regular season and prepare to get bowled over in the next three weeks. For a lock of the week I go to the great Northwest when the Seahawks have a statement game over the 49ers. Upset of the day may very well happen today in Arlington. The Saints to my recollection have won 6 of 7 games against the Cowboys since 1998.

Today I like: Green Bay, Carolina, Miami, Pittsburgh, New England, Kansas City, New Orleans, Washington, Tampa Bay, Giants, Minnesota, Cleveland, Arizona, Seattle, San Diego. With no Monday Night Game to speak of, here’s wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Remember last week when I told you to not be surprised about FOX getting screwed out of a great game due to the ‘Flex’ rule the networks have? Some of you dared to mock me! Last year NBC did that with the Cowboys-Giants game? It may happen again next week in the Nation’s Capital. I tried to warn you…

Happy Watching!

Over and out in Big D.

Mr. Will