Weekly Picks

My season started off great, then hit a snag, now completely blew up in the playoffs with a 1-7 record. If I had done the pool I'd be out of the money contention. But we're not going to phone in the season. There's three games left and we're going to get them all right.

ARIZONA +3 1/2 philadelphia
I'm going with the Cardinals here because they totally changed their style of play once the playoffs started, and I don't believe it's a fluke. They are running the ball and playing great defense, the formula you need to win in the playoffs. They also have Larry Fitzgerald who has the ability to make that one game-changing play. Getting more than a field goal at home they seem like a good bet.

BEST BET
PITTSBURGH -5 1/2 baltimore
The analysis leading up to this game by the idiotic talking heads has gone like this "it's hard to beat a team three times in a season." How many times have you heard that this week. Problem is, it's complete nonsense. 18 times since 1970 a team has had a chance to sweep 3 games against a division rival in the same season. They did it 11 times, for a 61% winning percentage. Not overwhelming, but certainly not even close to an indicator that the Ravens will win. You know what's hard than beating a team that you already beat twice? Beating a team that already beat you twice. Why? Because they're probably better than you are. Since both teams have great defenses it's the offenses that will make the difference in this one and I'll take Ben Roethlisberger and Willie Parker over Joe Flacco and the Ravens running back committee. I said the same thing when these two teams played last, and true to my prediction Roethlisberger made the play to win the game (albeit a controversial one), and I think he'll do the same thing again. Though admittedly, this spread is larger than I'd like.


Last Week: 0-4 (-1 point)
Season: 45-48 (48 points)
Best Bets: 0-1 (11-8)
Home Favorites: 0-3 (10-19)
Home Underdogs: 0-0 (4-2)
Road Favorites: 0-0 (20-9)
Road Underdogs: 0-1 (10-17)
Road Pickems: 0-0 (1-1)