Week 12 Picks

Jay Hoppie	Bucs
Perry Pao	Broncos

Week 11 Picks

For the first time in weeks, we have no duplicate picks! Everyone picked a different team this week. We have one person for the Eagles over the Bengals, one person for the Dolphins over the Raiders, and one person for the Colts over the Texans.

Daniel Brooking	Eagles
Jay Hoppie	Dolphins
Perry Pao	Colts

Week 10 Picks

Well, at least we won't have a repeat of last week, when everyone picked the Bears. This week, two people did pick the Panthers on the road over a DeAngelo Hall-less Raiders team, and the third picked the Chargers at home over a talentless Chiefs team. I guess we'll see how this plays out.

Daniel Brooking	Panthers
Jay Hoppie	Panthers
Perry Pao	Chargers

Week 8 Picks

We still have three people left, and none of them are going quietly. This week, we again have two people who picked the same team and one odd man out. So we could potentially see a winner this week.

Daniel Brooking	Redskins
Jay Hoppie	Redskins
Perry Pao	Eagles

Week 7 Picks

We could have a winner this week! If the Texans somehow lose to the Lions and the Bucs beat the Seahawks, Dan Brooking will be taking home a cool $967.50.  Here are the picks for the three remaining people.

Dan Brooking Bucs

Jay Hoppie Texans

Perry Pao Texans

Week 6 Recap

In 2005, “Crash” won the Oscar for Best Picture. I, as well as millions of other people, found this surprising. Not because it was a bad movie — in fact, quite the opposite. Despite the fact that the interweaving of storylines seemed just a little too convenient, it was an extremely well-made movie with surprisingly strong performances from a cast that included Matt Dillon and Sandra Bullock.

And it broached a subject that plagues this country and hadn’t been examined in a film in this way since “Do the Right Thing.” (Speaking of which: Seriously, Academy? In 1989 “Driving Miss Daisy” was the race-related film that got nominated for an Oscar and not “Do the Right Thing”? Good call on that one.)

But I digress. The point is, although “Crash” was a great movie, there’s no way it was the best movie of 2005. Just look at what it was nominated against: “Capote,” “Brokeback Mountain,” “Good Night, and Good Luck,” and “Munich.” It was, at best, the fifth-best movie of 2005. But even though it wasn’t actually the best movie of the year, it won the Oscar anyway — and now Paul Haggis has a statue for his mantle.

In a way, the New York Giants are “Crash.” Last season, no one gave them a chance to win the Super Bowl. They were just a wild card, and they had to play at Tampa Bay (“Good Night, and Good Luck”), at Dallas (“Munich”), and at Green Bay (in January, that should probably make the Packers “The Godfather.” But we’ll just call them “Capote” for argument’s sake.). Then they had to face the undefeated Patriots — the “Brokeback Mountain” of the 2007 NFL season — in the Super Bowl.

Didn’t matter. The Giants knocked off the Pats and took home a statue of their own. Tom Coughlin was probably polishing the Lombardi trophy when the ESPN preseason Power Rankings came out, and he saw that, of course, his Giants were ranked first. Wait. What? Eighth?!

Doesn’t a Super Bowl victory get you a little leeway? If not the first spot, they should at least be fewer than seven spots behind the team they just beat in the Super Bowl. It kind of made sense, though. Michael Strahan, the centerpiece of the Giants defense, was gone, and the Patriots just finished 18-1 and were returning with pretty much the same roster, at least on offense.

But then Tom Brady got injured, and now the Patriots are sitting at 3-2, not even in first place in their division. And then the Cowboys came on strong and topped the power rankings. But then they lost at home to the Redskins, almost lost at home to the lowly Bengals, and lost to the Cardinals. Meanwhile, the Giants were a (somehow) quiet 3-0. Then 4-0, with struggling Cleveland next on the schedule. 5-0, right? Oops. With the loss to the Browns, the Giants went tumbling back off the top of the pile (well, to second place).

And thus is the NFL. I was recently asked who I thought would win the Super Bowl. My answer? I have no idea.

It could be the Giants, but getting to the Super Bowl two years in a row is difficult for any team, let alone one with Eli Manning at the helm.

Same goes for the Patriots, except replace Eli Manning with Matt Cassel.

It could be the Cowboys, but they’re now without Tony Romo and I think we’re about to see the NFL version of the U.S. economic crisis — with the loss of Romo, the Pacman Jones issue, injuries in the secondary, Patrick Crayton calling out the coaches (really?), and the signing of yet another diva receiver (three on one team?!), the Cowboys are on the brink of an utter meltdown. Also, they play in one of the toughest divisions in the NFL, and they’re already in third place.

The Colts are looking better, but they have an uphill battle in the toughest division in the AFC.

It looks like the Chargers are sticking to the pattern they’ve established the past few years: start slow (check), finish strong (getting there), lose in the playoffs (probably). Also, in addition to meeting in the AFC playoffs the past two years and being ranked first and second in the preseason Power Rankings, the Patriots and Chargers share something else: They have both been beaten by the Dolphins this year, which accounts for Miami’s only two wins of the season and two of its three wins in the past 24 games.

A quarterback carousel never helps a team. Hear that, Tampa Bay?

I’ll believe in the Bills when they beat someone tough. Their opponents have a combined 10-17 record, and they lost by 24 to the only team they’ve played with a winning record.

The Broncos have a great offense, but a terrible defense that constantly puts their offense in tough spots.

The Titans have a great defense, but a terrible offense that constantly puts their defense in tough spots.

So who does that leave? Which teams don't have a glaring weakness? I settled on the Steelers from the AFC and, somehow, the Redskins from the NFC. I know! I was surprised that I came away with the Redskins, too. But here’s an interesting stat: There are only two teams that are in the top eight in the NFL in both total offense and total defense — the Giants, who I’ve already covered, and the Redskins. So maybe it will be the Skins. Or maybe it will be the Giants again. And maybe “Crash” really deserved that Oscar.

MVP
While we’re making predictions, I’ll go ahead and throw a name out there for MVP: Drew Brees. Look at his stats: 71 percent completion percentage (second in the NFL); 1,993 yards (first); 9.02 yards per attempt (second); 12 touchdowns (fourth), 105 quarterback rating (second).

Philip Rivers may be ahead of him in a couple stat categories, but think about this: Brees has been playing without his top three receivers. His go-to guy is Lance Moore. Lance Moore sounds like a hairstylist or a DJ, not a football player. There has been a lot of talk about the Seahawks injured receivers (and deservedly so — they have no one left), but look at what Matt Hasselbeck has done this season compared to Brees: 49.2 completion percentage; 656 yards; 5.2, yards per attempt; 2 touchdowns; 57.7 quarterback rating.

Also, Philip Rivers is totally classless. I rest my case.

Worst This Season? Or Worst Ever?
Here's a question that's almost as difficult to answer as the Super Bowl favorites question: Which team is worse — Cincinnati or Detroit?

In this week's ESPN Power Rankings, the Bengals and Lions occupy the 31st and 32nd spots, respectively. One of these two teams has occupied one of the bottom two spots 39 times since the beginning of the 2002 season (more than 36 percent of the time).

But which team is worse right now?

Well, the Bengals are dead last in total offense (the Lions are 30th) and the Lions are dead last in total defense (the Bengals are 16th). The lone bright spot for the Bengals is their pass defense, which, surprisingly, is ranked fourth in the league (maybe because they have the last-ranked rush defense, so no one even bothers throwing on them). Meanwhile, Detroit isn't ranked above 30th in any major defensive statistical category.

Both teams are having embarrassing seasons so far in 2008 — especially last week. Against the Vikings, backup quarterback Dan Orlovsky dropped back deep in his own end zone and, looking like he was chasing fireflies, wandered out of the back of the end zone for a safety. The Lions lost by two. Nothing could sum up the Detroit Lions of the past decade more perfectly than this single play.

And against the Jets in New York, the Bengals put on a clinic on the ground. Backup quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who looks like a combination of Carson Palmer and Dwight Schrute, led the team in rushing — with 23 yards. Running backs Chris Perry and Cedric Benson had a combined 20 yards on 15 carries.

But the Lions are at least trying to move in the right direction. They fired Matt Millen, even though they were about three years late doing it (from the Power Rankings article from Week 15 of 2006: “Usually with bad teams at the end of the season, you look for bright spots, but are there any in Detroit? Maybe the fact that we can't see any way Matt Millen makes it through this?”). Now, they traded Roy Williams to Dallas for a bazillion draft picks; maybe they’ll follow the Chiefs’ model of getting rid of absolutely everyone and drafting an entirely new team.

The Bengals, on the other hand, can’t even get fans to come to home games. Marvin Lewis will probably be gone after the season, as will T.J. Houshmandzadeh, through free agency. But will anyone be willing to pay the price that the Bengals want for Ocho Johnson Chad Cinco now that he’s underperforming? Will the Bengals even be able to get the draft picks they need to rebuild? One good thing is that if they have the second overall pick behind the Lions, they can feel safe that they'll have first crack at the draft's top receiver to replace Houshmandzadeh and Johnson now that Millen is out of Detroit.

These are two horrendous teams, and I can see them being ranked in the bottom two of the power rankings for 39 of the next 108 weeks, too.

Fun Facts
Two fun facts: The Broncos have scored in 251 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the NFL. Last week against the Bears, the Lions had minus-4 yards of offense after their first three possessions. On their fourth possession, Jon Kitna lost a fumble. But we already know that the Lions are just not good.

Week 6 Picks

It looks like a lot of you have gotten back to the strategy of picking whichever team is playing the Rams. And a new strategy seems to have emerged among some others: picking whichever team the Lions are playing. I'm not sure which strategy is more sound, but I do know that these are two of the worst teams I've ever seen. Good luck to all of you this week.

Chris Daily	Redskins
Daniel Brooking	Vikings
Gary Pomery	Redskins
Jay Hoppie	Vikings
Joe Esposito	Redskins
Justin Davis	Redskins
Perry Pao	Vikings
Rich Haddad	Redskins