We here at Sports Minded hope you all are having a Happy Holiday season and I bring you seasons greetings from in front of my computer.
With that said, the Guru went 10-6 last week and I think that qualifies for yet another successful week. The final week of the NFL’s regular season is upon us and I know you guys are busy with family and traveling so I will spare you a long monologue and dive straight into the picks for Week 17. Enjoy.
Overall Record (152-87)
Last Week (10-6)
GuruDAMNtee (15-1)
Upset Special (4-12)
Buffalo 17 @ New England 26
Cleveland 14 @ Baltimore 28 GuruDAMNtee
Chicago 20 @ Minnesota 24
Dallas 28 @ Washington 20
Jacksonville 22 @ Houston 31
Indianapolis 36 @ Tennessee 17
San Diego 30 @ Kansas City 13
New York Jets 17 @ Miami 16 Upset Special
New Orleans 33 @ Tampa Bay 17
Philadelphia 27 @ New York Giants 35
Carolina 31 @ Atlanta 28
Oakland 17 @ Denver 32
Detroit 23 @ Green Bay 30
Arizona 10 @ San Francisco 21
St. Louis 16 @ Seattle 27
Cincinnati 26 @ Pittsburgh 27
I’ll take Baltimore over Cleveland for my GuruDAMNtee this week. The Ravens are playing for their playoff lives and will surely need some help from San Diego to get into the dance. But, first things first, they must take care of the Browns and they should do that with ease.
Give me the Jets over the ‘Fins on Sunday in my Upset Special. Hmmm, I seem to remember correctly predicted that the Dolphins wouldn’t go to the playoffs this year earlier in the season when they were (lukewarm) “hot”. Andy Dalton is the measure of mediocrity in the NFL. If your starting QB isn’t better than him, then you’ve got serious problems. Yo, Ryan….Yo, Ryan. Come talk to me big guy.
The Houston Texans are still hanging onto some playoff hope by the hair of their chins. They’ll take care of Jacksonville with ease. If they do in fact make the playoffs, I think that’s grounds enough to seriously consider giving J.J. Watt the MVP award. SERIOUSLY.
I like Luck and the Colts over the Titans this week. They got embarrassed by Dallas last week. That’s just a reminder for us all that the Colts still don’t have enough to be real contenders to make noise for a run at a title.
The Philadelphia Eagles will drop one on the road to the Giants this week. OBJ will seek vengeance on everyone for not voting him to the Pro Bowl. All I know is that there isn’t ANYTHING innovative about not making the playoffs. Hello, Chip Kelly.
For the NFC South title, I’m going to roll with Carolina on the road. The Falcons have the worst defense in the NFL and Carolina held them to 19 points the last time these teams met, in a game Carolina really should have won. The Panthers defense is coming into form and Cam is always an “X” factor. The winner is going to get a home playoff game most likely against Arizona, who will come backpedaling into the playoffs with a 3rd/4th string backup. Yup. Winning your division is THAT important.
Green Bay will enter Sunday as the 5th seed in the NFC. By the time the day is over, they could very well be sitting on home field advantage throughout the playoffs. On the flipside Detroit could end up anywhere from seed 1 to seeded 6th in the playoffs depending on how it all goes down. Stafford and company won’t have to worry about that one seed. Detroit will not beat the Packers on the road.
Finally, I have no clue what to expect from the Steelers. I’m picking them this week, but this team seriously scares me. They have so much talent. Yes, enough talent that at times they look like a team that could seriously compete for and win a Super Bowl. Then there are times when they fall flat on their face and you look at yourself and say “SELF, Did I just say this team could win a Super Bowl”. Anyway, Pittsburgh edges out a close one over the Bengals and Andy Dalton throws an interception in the last two minutes of this ball game…YUP
Sports Minded 