Pavlov

After getting burned a few times this year on taking the Browns and the under, I'm taking the over tonight.

My 2002 RBs: Marcel Shipp (still feel like this guy never got the shot he deserved) Deuce McAllister Ahman Green TJ Duckett

Sproles to outscore Giants DST and Graham in PPR. Playoff spot on the line. Not too happy about my prospects--I need the Saints to rack up points to push the DST to negative but somehow do it without Graham.

I'm sure trying for that TD pissed off the parents of the Chiefs in the stands. I even heard that one of them wanted to disinvite Welker to his son's birthday party because of it.

I played this (@ 7) as a hedge vs. taking 2 teams with huge spreads (Pats and Packers). 2/3 for Sunday and all eyes on MNF.

I can't think of a week this year I've followed public money as much as this one. GB -14 NE -14.5 SEA +2 CHI -3.5

I wouldn't bet against Miami at this point in the season. They've been sneaky good and playing hard for a few weeks now.

Nice idea. You need to find ways of incentivizing competitive play by all teams through the end of the regular season (real life teams could learn something here too).

Partly thanks to Palko, I am organizing an office pool for worst QB of the weekend because the possibilities are seemingly limitless.

It's tough to pick against a home divisional dog like Washington, but I think I'll stay away on this one. I actually like the Seahawks on the road this week, which may be a sign that I'm drinking too much. Bears are the main game that sticks out to me. They are much better than the Chargers at this point.

Assuming this tie break was part of the league rules at the start of the season and it was public knowledge, there shouldn't be any problem with pointing out ESPN's mistake to the league and changing things from there. FWIW, this is the second or third ESPN tie-break snafu thread thread I've seen this year--I'm beginning to think something is buggy over there.

Various mistakes, including drafting Tampa Mike as my WR2, but my single greatest regret: Not putting in a WW claim on Newton after week 1.

I live in Pittsburgh. You don't want a Big East QB playing in the pros. He's been cut by the California Redwoods.

I would be Hoyer. By some accounts (Mike Lombardi), he's a pretty good QB and could be Cassell-esque in the sense that the Pats would remain competitive.

Don't get me wrong. As a Boston sports fan who came of age in 1986, I spend all my time coming up with scenarios in which my team loses. I didn't watch Vinatieri's kicks vs. the Rams, I watched the game clock. The Pats have been knocked out of the playoffs the last few years by teams pegged as underdogs and it could certainly happen again. Nothing about this Pats teams says juggernaut. The loss of Schaub is catastrophic for the Texans--I have to think the Steelers are probably the best team in the AFC now, assuming their LBs can get healthy, even if their record weeks 11-16 isn't as good as a the Pats'.

The knock on the Ravens, in addition to the shaky play of Flacco, is lack of depth of talent at WR. The Steelers have/had 4 viable threats in Wallace, Sanders, Brown and Miller. The Texans don't have quite that depth at WR, but they have an amazing running game and could control time of possession vs. the Pats (all this is assuming the AJ and Schaub come back healthy for the playoffs). The Pats can shut down a given guy (see Gates in the SD game) but they can't cover multiple guys who are all good. Obviously, I remember last year's playoff game so I'm not about to claim that the Pats win 10 out of 10 games. Rice is a real talent and, when they're on, the Ravens D is having an amazing year. But the Ravens' roster isn't set up to exploit the weaknesses of the Pats (namely, lack of depth in the secondary, especially at safety) in the same way other teams are. In a lot of ways, the Packers are the perfect Pat-killers on paper, which makes me temper any Super Bowl dreams I may have.

With Faulk back, BJGE won't play in the no huddle, which limits his snaps since the Pats seem to open every second half in the no huddle. This is the same reason Ochocinco had a good first half but a bad second half vs. the Jets. He's not comfortable enough with the playbook to run with the no huddle.

This is pretty much it.

What teams other than Houston and Pittsburgh should the Pats be worried about in the AFC? The Ravens are Jekyll and Hyde from week to week. No one in the West is really a threat--good QB play is the way to beat the Pats and the best QB in the West is...Palmer, I guess? The Jets make the Pats pass rush look awesome, which I assure you it isn't. The Pats D is terrible--I'm not buying into this "They beat the Jets and the defense is revived!" line until I see them do it against a QB not named Sanchez. That alone makes me nervous about their playoff prospects. But if I'm compiling a list of teams I don't want to see in the playoffs, the NFC list is longer than the AFC list.

Maybe. Trust me, I'm not rosy on the Pats' prospects in the playoffs, but the only teams that really scare me in the AFC are the Steelers and the Texans. I have faith in BB to come up with something to combat what the Steelers did last time around and I have faith in Kubiak to totally screw up a gameplan. Rogers or Brees would shred the Pats, however.

At the risk of saying something about Murray that isn't hyperbolic--he seems to be a top 10, but not top 5, RB.

As much as I hate Tebow, I'm going to start him vs. the Jets on Big Ben's bye. Very short week for the Jets who are coming off an emotionally deflating loss, long trip to Denver, and thin air + gassed defenders.

10 points from Crosby in my biggest league to claw back into the playoff hunt.

My opponent started the Bears D and Michael Bush. I started Darren Sproles.

You obviously missed the greatest thread of the season. I would be really surprised to see Axe Elf back here.