Easy Come Easy Gaughin

1) San Diego 2) Baltimore 3) Indianapolis 4) New England 5) Chicago 6) NY Jets 7) Philadelphia 8) Tennessee 9) Denver 10) New Orleans 11) Jacksonville 12) Kansas City 13) Cincinnati 14) Buffalo 15) Dallas 16) NY Giants 17) Pittsburgh 18) Seattle 19) Green Bay 20) Carolina 21) St Louis 22) Miami 23) Houston 24) San Francisco 25) Atlanta 26) Minnesota 27) Washington 28) Arizona 29) Cleveland 30) Tampa Bay 31) Detroit 32) Oakland

Tennessee is out of the playoffs by their own hands; everyone else who needed to lose to allow the Titans to sneak in obliged, but the Patriots were just too much for them. For once I am saying “wait til next year” and believing it. Cutler got hurt, Plummer came in, and the Broncos fell out of the playoffs as a result.

I have put together my NFL playoff bracket. My first week’s picks look like this.

Patriots win at home over the Jets

Colts win a squeaker at home over the Chiefs

Dallas wins a squeaker at Seattle

Philadelphia wins at home over the hapless Giants

Is it baseball season yet?

1) San Diego 2) Indianapolis 3) Baltimore 4) Chicago 5) New England 6) Tennessee 7) NY Jets 8) Denver 9) New Orleans 10) Jacksonville 11) Philadelphia 12) Dallas 13) Cincinnati 14) Buffalo 15) Kansas City 16) NY Giants 17) Pittsburgh 18) Seattle 19) Miami 20) Carolina 21) GreenBay 22) Atlanta 23) Houston 24) St Louis 25) Washington 26) Minnesota 27) San Francisco 28) Cleveland 29) Tampa Bay 30) Arizona 31) Oakland 32) Detroit

Titans up to number 6. It’s a shame how much better they are than many of the teams who will actually make the playoffs.

Can Jay Cutler rise up and carry Commodore power deep into the playoffs? Probably not, but it’s fun to see him playing well.

This week is a waste, game-wise. Most teams just don’t have anything to play for this week, and many of the best teams who have clinched important playoff advantages will be playing at half-speed. So it’s hard to tell what will happen (as opposed to most weeks when everything I say goes.) The best three games include Jacksonville finishing off Kansas City, Baltimore beating the Bills, and in what would normally be the game of the week, New England edging the ascendant Tennessee Titans. If the Titans could pull out a win in that one, they might very well finish the year in the 4th spot overall, with 9 teams below them in the playoffs.

1)Indianapolis 2) San Diego 3) Baltimore 4) Chicago 5) New England 6) Jacksonville 7) Dallas 8) Cincinnati 9) Tennessee 10) NY Jets 11) New Orleans 12) Denver 13) Philadelphia 14) Buffalo 15) NY Giants 16) Kansas City 17) Pittsburgh 18) Miami 19) Seattle 20) Atlanta 21) Carolina 22) Washington 23) Minnesota 24) GreenBay 25) San Francisco 26) Houston 27) Cleveland 28) St Louis 29) Tampa Bay 30) Arizona 31) Oakland 32) Detroit

Check out the top ten Titans! For once, they are favored, which, given my record of predictions, probably works against them, but they should beat Buffalo this week.

The Colts and Chargers were virtually tied last week, but the Colts win over the Bengals re-established some separation between them.

Best games this week include Dallas taking one step closer to the Super Bowl by beating the Eagles, Cincinnati beating Denver, sending Jay Cutler to 1-3 (Denver actually won this week but dropped in the overall ratings due to a bottoming out in their schedule strength; 2/3 of the teams they have played this year lost last week), and in the game of the week, New England squeaking out a win against the Jags.

You’ve also got a number of games that should be winnable for teams with playoff hopes or prospects:

Chicago over Detroit, Indianapolis over Houston, San Diego over Seattle, Jets over the Dolphins, Baltimore over surging Pittsburgh,  New Orleans over the hapless Giants, and as previously mentioned, Tennessee over Buffalo.

The Colts are making the system look foolish, losing by ever-increasing margins, yet still holding on to first place, but they eek out the lead by a very narrow margin on the strength of their schedule strength. Assuming the Bears win tonight, here’s the ranking.

1) Indianapolis 2) San Diego 3) Baltimore 4) Chicago 5) New England 6) New Orleans 7) Jacksonville 8) Cincinnati 9) Dallas 10) Denver 11) NY Jets 12) NY Giants 13) Tennessee 14) Buffalo 15) Kansas City 16) Philadelphia 17) Seattle 18) Atlanta 19) Pittsburgh 20) Miami 21) Carolina 22) Minnesota 23) Cleveland 24) Green Bay 25) Houston 26) Washington 27) San Francisco 28) St Louis 29) Tampa Bay 30) Arizona 31) Oakland 32) Detroit

It’s really sort of a dud week for games, one of those weeks when everything should be cut and dried, but if recent weeks are any indication, won’t be. I think the three best games are Kansas City losing at San Diego, Tennessee’s hot streak ending at home against the world-beating Jags (I hope I am wrong about that,) and the Colts getting back on a winning track over the visiting Bengals. Otherwise several playoff hopefuls should win in laughers (Buffalo over Miami, Giants over the Eagles, Jets over the Vikings, Denver over Arizona {finally, a win for Cutler?}, Dallas over the Falcons, New Orleans over Washington, the Patriots over Houston, the Bears over the Bucs, and the scary Ravens over the Browns. ) All other games are of absolutely no interest whatsoever.

Of course, last week my predictions were ridiculously offbase, so clearly I have no idea what I am talking about.

1 Indianapolis 2 San Diego 3 New England 4 Chicago 5 Baltimore 6 Cincinnati 7 Dallas 8 Denver 9 NY Jets 10 New Orleans 11 Jacksonville 12 Seattle 13 Kansas City 14 NY Giants 15 Tennessee 16 Philadelphia 17 Buffalo 18 Carolina 19 Atlanta 20 Pittsburgh 21 Miami 22 Cleveland 23 Minnesota 24 San Francisco 25 Houston 26 Washington 27 St Louis 28 GreenBay 29 Tampa Bay 30 Oakland 31 Arizona 32 Detroit

There are three very good games scheduled this week. Indianapolis should win at Jacksonville, the Saints should lose at Dallas, and in the game of the week, San Diego should beat the visiting, and sinking, Broncos. Jay Cutler will be 0-2 as a starter, and I will be very very sad. The Jets, Bengals, Ravens, Bears and Patriots should all win easily to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Of course, I have no idea what I am talking about.

TheTitans (5-7) beat the Colts (10-2) with the help of the fourth longest field-goal in the history of the NFL. Just before the kick, the entire region got eerily silent, the wind suddenly cranked up from 10 to 25 miles per hour, the kick sailed straight and true, and the wind immediately died back down. In the distance the howl of a lone wolf could be heard. The Colts are still the best team in the NFL, but the Chargers are, uhh, charging.