RJ'S GAME OF THE WEEK: New York Giants 6-3 at Detroit 6-3 - 1:00 pm (Sheridan's Line: Giants by 2½)
The Giants lost to Dallas last week, so they can pretty much kiss any chance of winning the NFC East goodbye. RB Brandon Jacobs is having a superb season, averaging 5.3 yards per carry. WR Plaxico Burress has been ineffective his last three games. QB Eli Manning has thrown at least one interception in eight of nine games this season. The Lions died in the desert lost at Arizona last week. Attention Mike "Offensive Genius" Martz: negative 18 yards rushing on eight attempts isn't going to cut it. Not unless you want your team to lose the rest of their games, and cause Jon Kitna to lose his religion. Detroit remains unbeaten at home. RB Kevin Jones might sit out this week in order to rest his foot for the Thanksgiving Day game. If that's the case, T. J. Duckett would likely start in his place. Also, Kitna is suffering from a back injury, and CB Fernando Bryant injured his ankle against the Cardinals.
RJ's Pick - Detroit by 3
Oakland 2-7 at Minnesota 3-6 - 1:00 pm (Sheridan's Line: Vikings by 6)
Oakland lost at home to the Bears last week, for their fifth loss in a row. I have nothing else worthwhile to say about the team. The Vikings were crushed by Green Bay last week. Worse than the loss, though, was the knee injury suffered by rookie superstar running back Adrian Peterson. His lateral collateral ligament is torn in his right knee, so he is expected to never walk again miss a few games. And even worse than that for Vikings fans, Tarvaris Jackson is expected to start under center this week.
RJ's Pick - Oakland by 2
San Diego 5-4 at Jacksonville 6-3 - 1:00 pm (Sheridan's Line: Jaguars by 3)
San Diego beat the Colts last week. (No, wait - that doesn't sound like an accurate description of the game. "San Diego somehow managed to not end up with fewer points on the board when time mercifully expired last week in a game against the Colts." There, that's much better.) It's not every week that a team commits six turnovers on the road, yet still controls time-of-possession by a wide margin and almost wins. Nor is it a frequent occurrence that a team goes up 23-0 in the second quarter, yet finishes the game with just 177 total yards. Norv Turner is a bigger natural disaster in Southern California than the wildfires or the earthquakes. I'm thinking he needs to be un-hired before rioting breaks out. Also, the Chargers are just 1-3 on the road this season. Jacksonville beat the Titans last week, in Nashville. They are 4-1 on the road, but just 2-2 at home. QB David Garrard is expected to be able to play this week, but it's unknown at this time whether or not he'll start.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - RJ
Update:
Miami Dolphins quarterback John Beck promoted to starting job...
2 - DOM @ HSU
ARIZONA
GB
CLEVELAND
INDIANAPOLIS
PHILADELPHIA
HOUSTON
DETROIT
OAKLAND
JACKSONVILLE
TB
PITTSBURGH
CHICAGO
ST. LOUIS
DALLAS
NE
DENVER
6-8 last week.. 89-55 overall
MY TOP THREE LOCKS THIS WEEK IN ORDER:
PATRIOTS
COLTS
PACKERS
3 - DOM @ HSU
damn where all the people???
4 - RJ
Dunno.
Alessandro? Suss? Theory???
CALLING ALL PICKERS!
5 - alessandro
Cincinnati, Green Bay, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Detroit, Minnesota, Jacksonville, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, Seattle, St.Louis, Dallas, NE, Denver
What a set of balls on Rome.
6 - YuTang
The Bucs are undefeated in their division... and will remain so... Pittman comes back, expect Graham to have another big day running... do not play at 3.5, make sure to play at 3.
7 - sierra
I have to go out on a limb (or 5) because I'm at 90 games and am 7 behind the leader of my pool!
ATL, BAL, NE, AZ, DAL, GB, HOU, IND, JAX, OAK, PIT, MIA, DET, SF,SEA, DEN
8 - RJ
Final Scores:
Giants 16, Lions 10 - RJ 0-1
GB 31, Carolina 17 - RJ 1-1 (and I nailed the spread!)
Houston 23, NO 10 - RJ 1-2
Colts 13, KC 10 - RJ 2-2 (whew!)
9 - RJ
Final Scores:
Vikings 29, Oakland 22 - RJ 2-3
Jaguars 24, SD 17 - RJ 3-3
Eagles 17, Miami 7 - RJ 4-3
Tampa Bay 31, Atlanta 7 - RJ 4-4
10 - RJ
Final Score:
Arizona 35, Bengals 27 - RJ 4-5
11 - RJ
Final Score:
Cleveland 33, Baltimore 30 (in OT) - RJ 5-5 (watch Brian Billick's head explode!)
12 - El Bicho
Dang, I was just thinking about that Rome/Everett clip the other day. Rome is entertaining and I understand he probably thought that he couldn't not refer to him as "Chris" since he always did it on his radio show, but after Everett warned him, that was just flippin' stupid! It was good to see an athlete put a radio host in his place because they don't have easy jobs and their success is not entirely in their hands. Look how many "experts" thought Favre should have retired.
If Miami goes winless, I say the '72 Dolphins lose the right to crack open the champagne.
13 - RJ
Just a random observation:
Terrell Owens is worth millions, amiright? (He has "twenty-five million reasons to live" and all that.) And he certainly doesn't shy away from television interviews. (One might say that the only place more dangerous to be than with Pacman Jones at a Las Vegas strip club is to get between T. O. and a camera.)
So, why the hell doesn't he just go out buy himself some Crest Whitestrips? I mean, every time I see the guy on TV, I feel compelled to floss.
14 - RJ
Final Scores:
Jets 19, Steelers 16 (in OT) - RJ 5-6
Dallas 28, Redskins 23 - RJ 6-6
15 - RJ
Final Scores:
Rams 13, SF 9 - RJ 7-6
Seattle 30, Bears 23 - RJ 8-6
16 - gonzo marx
heh...how about them Giants, RJ?
i was hoping the Redskins could knock the Cowboys down a game...but ah well...
as long as the G-men win, i'm a happy gonzo
Excelsior?
17 - DOM @ HSU
10-4.. damn Lions should of won..
and yes Graham (one of my favorite players) quietly had another exceptional game. go Tampa..
18 - RJ
Final Score:
Pats 56(!), Bills 10 - RJ 9-6
19 - RJ
Final Score:
Denver 34, Titans 20 - RJ 10-6
20 - RJ
ESPN's NFL "experts" -
Wickersham 10-6
Salisbury 10-6
Hoge 14-2
Jaworski 13-2
Schlereth 12-4
Allen 11-5
Mortensen 14-2
Golic 12-4
Accuscore 13-3
21 - RJ
ATS:
6-9-1
Not good...
22 - DOM @ HSU
ya pats bills 56 10 with like 10 min left in the fourth... insane..
12-4 easiest week yet... night and day from last week... cant believe pittsburgh lost though... wtf, i knew the jets were starving and I would have taken them at home this week against most... but not against the steelers.. wow..
23 - eastcoastlb
any early thoughts on week 12?
24 - DOM @ HSU
random:
Detroit has been saving WR Calvin Johnson, and Dallas (like it matters) has been saving WR Patrick Crayton... look for those two players to have huge roles on Thursday..
Expect GB to use their new weapon RB Ryan Grant sparingly.. unless he has success early in the game.. Expect big numbers because he is a very viable endzone/5yd option.
25 - RJ
eastcoastlb:
The Week 12 column has already been written, and should be up sometime tonight or early tomorrow.