Weekend Prophecies - Dec. 22-23

We're coming into the home stretch for my weekly NFL picks and this weekend has no shortage of interesting games on tap. The Giants will try to save Tom Coughlin's job and avoid their traditional late season collapse, the Saints will continue their attempt to overcome a horrible start and become the playoff team everyone expected to see, and the Pats will try to stay perfect against the Tuna's Dolphins. Without further adieu, I give you the picks of the week:

Bills over Giants – The G-men will continue to collapse like a flan in the cupboard as they roll into Buffalo to face the Hawk. For those who don’t know, the Hawk is that fierce wind that comes blowing out of Canada to pound Buffalo (and Eli this week) into winter oblivion.

Packers over Bears – I love watching these NFC North slugfests in late December. Snow, wind, Brett Favre. This is real football. Too bad the second team here is the absolutely pathetic Chicago team that I suffered through watching in the Monday-nighter this week.

Lions over Chiefs – How do you pick one of these teams? Neither of them has won a game since the first weekend of November and I would have picked them both to lose out if they weren’t facing each other. Someone has to escape Sunday with a W, so why not pick the home team?

Colts over Texans – With all of Indy’s injuries and the fact that they’re already pretty much locked in to the number 2 spot, it’s tempting to pick Houston battling for their first winning season. But no … Captain Pants is telling me I have to pick her man, Peyton, or else. Okay dear, I’ll put the brakes on the upset express.

Saints over Eagles – I think I pick Philly wrong every week and this will likely be no different. The Eagles followed up a solid game against the Pats with a lousy showing the next week and I think they’ll follow up their win over Dallas with another poor showing at the Superdome. New Orleans needs a W to have any shot at the playoffs, so they’ll be more motivated than an Eagles team that has already been eliminated.

Jaguars over Raiders – David Garrard has very quietly become the most efficient passer in the league, hasn’t he? With an 8-1 TD-INT ratio, I’d happily let him guide my team any day. A game against the Raiders should only enhance those stats!

Patriots over Dolphins – This game added some intrigue with the Bill Parcells being hired by the Dolphins this week. Rumours are flying around that the Tuna is going to try and lure Scott Pioli away from the Pats as his new GM and the interest level on this game goes up with the general animosity in the history between Parcells and the Pats. But really, this game is one of the best teams in history against one of the worst. The guys in the owner’s box can’t change that.

Redskins over Vikings – As I discussed in my NFC Wild Card breakdown, Washington needs to win out and get some help which is a tall order. However, they seem to be riding high the last two weeks and they played phenomenally against the Giants. They’re likely to catch Dallas resting up for the playoffs next week, so this one is huge for them. The Vikings sure didn’t look spectacular Monday night against the Bears and I don’t like their offense against the Skins D.

If you get tired of any of the NFL games this weekend, don't forget that you can click over to the Papa John's.com Bowl (the what?!) where a couple of schools you really don't care about will play for what? All you can eat pizza maybe? I'll also be checking up on a slate of hockey games Saturday night that includes the first guy in 12 years to score 5 goals in a game (Gaborik did it last night) facing off against my Red Wings (who, by the way, had the last guy to do it - Fedorov in Dec. 1996). Happy Holidays!