December 26, 2006

NFL Week 17 Predictions

December 26, 2006, 12:25 PM | 10 Comments

Wow, what a crazy season! If there’s one word to sum up the 2006-2007 regular season it would have to be this: unpredictable. At the beginning of the year, many teams were picked to be legitimate contenders, but most of those teams have fallen off the radar. Take the Dolphins and the Panthers for example - Miami is out and Carolina barely has a chance to even make the playoffs, let alone contend.

One thing is for sure though, it’s been an exciting season to watch and there have been many surprises. LaDainian Tomlinson is clearly the MVP of the league, and his record-setting season has been a lot of fun to see. The New Orleans Saints have been a great surprise and should go deep into the playoffs as they are one of the most balanced teams in the NFC. Sean Payton has to be one of the top candidates for Coach of the Year because the job he’s done in the “Big Easy” was anything but easy.

For Packers fans, their 7-8 record at this point is better than most expected and there have been quite a few bright spots this season. After landing a big contract, Aaron Kampman has been lights out at defensive end and has earned a well deserved spot on the NFC Pro Bowl roster. Al Harris and Charles Woodson are arguably the best cornerback tandem in the NFL and both should have been selected to the Pro Bowl (Harris is in as an alternate). Woodson has played through injury most of the season and has been even better than most expected. AJ Hawk has been a great draft pick (for once) by Ted Thompson and is going to be a big star in this league for a lot of years to come.

Brett Favre has had a lot of fun this season, which I think is important. Sure, it’s been frustrating at times, but after their 4-12 season last year, it was nice to see Favre running around having fun again. I really hope he comes back next year because I think the Packers are building something good and I truly believe he still gives them the best chance to win.

Instead of doing a poll this week I thought I’d ask a question and have people post their answers in comment form. What has been your favourite moment of the season? It could be one play, one team, one hit… really anything you want. Post your comments and let me know!

Week 17 Game of the Week: Packers at Bears.

My game of the week this week is the Packers visiting the Chicago Bears. When the schedule first came out, a lot of people assumed that this game wouldn’t really mean anything (apart from the possible final game in Brett Favre’s career), but the Packers find themselves as the number 7 seed in the NFC playoff race and could possibly make it as a wild card team with a little help from the Redskins (if they beat the Giants). NBC has decided to ‘flex’ this game, so it’s now at 8:15 on Sunday Night and could be a very interesting game. Even if the Giants win on Saturday night, the Packers could still make the playoffs because of certain tie-breaker scenarios, so this game will still have playoff implications regardless of what happens in the other 15 games.

The Bears have already clinched everything in the NFC playoff race, so this game really doesn’t mean anything to them. It will be interesting to see how Lovie Smith approaches this game. Last year when the Colts were in the same situation, Tony Dungy decided to rest some of his starters and (in my opinion) that strategy backfired - the Colts came out and looked extremely rusty in their loss to the Steelers. Last week the Detroit Lions gave the Bears all they could handle, so if the Packers want to win this game, they should probably take a good look at the tape for that game.

Last week I had another decent week going 11-5 with my picks. That brought my total up to 149-91 which is just a shade off of where I was at this point last season. Hopefully this week I’ll have another good week and bring my record back up to where it should be. Anyways, here are my picks for week 17, the final week of the regular season.

Away	Home	Comments	Pick	Result
Giants (8-8)	Redskins (5-11)	The Redskins have been pretty disappointing this season, but they still should prove a difficult challenge for the Giants. Even though the Giants have been horrible lately, they desperately need this win, and I think they might get it.
Panthers (8-8)	Saints (10-6)	The Panthers have been up and down all season, and obviously haven’t lived up to their pre-season hype. The Saints have been an unexpected surprise and are playing some great football. If they win they’ll lock up a first-round bye, so they still have a lot to play for and will probably get another win at home.
Browns (4-12)	Texans (6-10)	When Houston knocked off the Colts last week it gave Texans fans something to be happy about for this season. Slowly but surely the Texans are getting better and better and could be playoff ready next season.
Lions (3-13)	Cowboys (9-7)	In the crazy NFC East the Cowboys are one of 3 teams who looked like they had the division all locked up. With last week’s loss to the Eagles though, the Cowboys will probably find themselves as a wild card. The Lions are fighting hard for that #1 overall draft pick, and should get it this week, because I don’t expect they’ll be able to beat the Boys.
Jaguars (8-8)	Chiefs (9-7)	KC is a tough place to play for even the great teams, but Jacksonville has been a horrible road team this season.
Patriots (12-4)	Titans (8-8)	The Titans are another great surprise… unfortunately for them though, they have to play the Patriots this week who are really playing great football. Watch out, the Patriots aren’t going to be a fun team to play in January.
Raiders (2-14)	Jets (10-6)	What a season the Jets are having. They have the luxury of sitting in the “win and you’re in” column this week and they get to host the Raiders. Pencil the Jets in for an AFC wild card.
Steelers (8-8)	Bengals (8-8)	It’s been a disappointing season for both of these teams. The Bengals have spent more time in jail than they have in the end zone and the Steelers haven’t been able to defend their Super Bowl championship. The Bengals still have an outside shot at a playoff spot though, so they need to win this game.
Seahawks (9-7)	Buccaneers (4-12)	If ever there was a team that has backed into the playoffs, this year’s Seahawks team would be it. They’ve lost their last 3 games and haven’t looked very good in doing so. Even though they’ll win the NFC west, I don’t think many teams are afraid of Seattle right now.
Rams (8-8)	Vikings (6-10)	Tavaris Jackson looked pretty solid against the Packers last week and should be able to build on that this week against the Rams. St. Louis still can’t stop the run though, so Jackson may not have to do as much this week. This is an interesting game though because Minnesota’s pass defense has been pretty bad and the Rams still have a great aerial attack.
Cardinals (5-11)	Chargers (14-2)	Does anyone expect the Chargers to lose this game? The big story here is how many TDs will LaDainian Tomlinson score this week, and how much will he play?
Falcons (7-9)	Eagles (10-6)	When Donovan McNabb went down I was one who thought the Eagles were done. Boy was I wrong. Jeff Garcia has been very good and the Eagles will probably win the NFC East. The Linc is not where the NFC wild card teams want to play.
Bills (7-9)	Ravens (13-3)	It’s been a great year for Buffalo and J.P. Losman. The Bills have improved a lot and next year could also be a great year for them. The Ravens pickup of Steve McNair in the off-season has been huge for Baltimore and they look like a legitimate force in the AFC.
Dolphins (6-10)	Colts (12-4)	This is a must win for the Colts. They need a shot of confidence before heading into the playoffs.
49ers (7-9)	Broncos (9-7)	Denver controls their own fate this week and should be able to handle the 49ers. Jay Cutler continues to improve and the Broncos are right where they want to be.
Packers (8-8)	Bears (13-3)	Go Packers!!!

It’s been a great year with a lot of exciting moments and the playoffs are shaping up to be a great battle (at least in the AFC). Here are this week’s ESPN Expert Picks. Check back after the games for updated records and some additional comments on week 17.

Update: Week 17 was as exciting a week as there was all season, and what a finish it was. After a third straight 11-5 week, I finished the regular season with a total of 160-96 - a respectable .625. Sunday night’s game was a great game in which I think we may have seen the last of Brett Favre. It was a great win for the Packers, Packers fans, and Favre personally. I really hope he doesn’t decide to retire, but after watching him during the post game interviews and listening to what he said (and how he said it), it almost seems like he’s ready to make his exit. It truly has been a pleasure watching him play the game and the NFL, its fans and the entire Packer nation will miss him. I’ll definitely have more to say on this matter later, but for now, I’d like to wish a happy and safe new year to all! Look for my Wild Card predictions to fly on Tuesday.

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