Goose Picks'em: Thanksgiving and Week 12

This week gives us one of the greatest and most cherished days in the football season: Thanksgiving. A day full of good cooking, overeating, family, Cowboys, Lions, a game on the NFL Network nobody will see and the casual glossing over of our country's treatment of minorities.

I will be enjoying the day like any young adult who lives off pizza and whatever he can microwave suddenly having a bountiful, well-cooked feast thrust upon him. Oh, and watching some football!

(Home team in caps)

Green Bay Packers over DETROIT LIONS

The Lions-Packers game on Turkey Day is one of my favorites as it pits two of the oldest and most storied franchises against each other. Unfortunately for this year's game, the Lions have been bad for, well, a long, long time. Still, a divisional matchup between these teams is usually a good time and the Packers are spotting some key injuries while Lions QB Matt Stafford is coming off a five-touchdown performance against Cleveland. Of course, it was against Cleveland and the Packers should still be able to pull away with this one.

DALLAS COWBOYS over Oakland Raiders

The Raiders are coming off an impressive--sorta--win against the Bengals with Bruce Gradkowski having one of the best days for an Oakland QB in a long time, with 17 completions on 34 attempts for 183 yards with two touchdowns and only one interception. Basically, it was an average day for a decent quarterback, but an AWESOME day for Raiders fans. It's unfortunate that they have to go into Dallas while the Cowboys are gunning to hold on to first place in the NFC East.

The "prize" for best Thanksgiving performance...fitting

New Jersey Giants over DENVER BRONCOS

The Giants won a key game over Atlanta to stay in the race for the NFC East and are now facing the sliding Broncos. Denver QB Kyle Orton was injured two weeks ago but backup QB Chris Simms is so bad that he had to come in for relief last week. Orton played well considering his injury, but he's going to need to be 100% in order to knock off the Giants and I don't think he or the Broncos have it in them to hang with Eli for four quarters.

Indianapolis Colts over HOUSTON TEXANS

Tough loss for the Texans on Monday and they'll have another chance at home against a divisional rival for this week. Unfortunately for them, the Colts are looking to keep up their winning ways on their way to an 11-0 start. Their loss against Tennessee will cost the Texans as they will be on a two game skid after hosting the Colts on Sunday.

CINCINNATI BENGALS over Cleveland Browns

Just what the Bengals need after a disappointing loss: a match against the team that couldn't keep a 21 point lead against the Lions. The sadsack Browns are now officially the worst team in the league and even though it is not certain as of press time whether or not stud Bengals RB Cedric Benson will be playing, the Bengals should complete their sweep of the AFC North this weekend.

MINNESOTA VIKINGS over Chicago Bears

The only good thing I can say about this Bears team right now is that at least they will be away from the city when they are torn apart by the Vikings. Cutler throws to the opposing team like no other and the once-vaunted Bears defense will have no answer for the versatile Minnesota offense.

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES over Washington Redskins

The Redskins managed quite the performance against divisional rival Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, staying ahead by six points for the majority of the game before letting the Cowboys edge them out in the end by one. They are probably exhausted from the effort, plus they're also not any good, so expect the Eagles to stay abreast in the three-way race for the NFC East.

Miami Dolphins over BUFFALO BILLS

Miami showed that the lack of running back Ronnie Brown isn't going to keep them out of the playoff hunt with a decisive win over the Carolina Panthers. The Bills, meanwhile, continue to spin their wheels, losing two offensive linemen to injury in last week's loss. With their offensive line already terrible before the loss, the quarterback situation unresolved, and the coach having been in his position for just about a week now, it would be surprising to see Buffalo pull off a win against anyone, not to mention a team still in the playoff race.

TENNESSEE TITANS over Arizona Cardinals

Kurt Warner is still questionable for this game and the Titans have been on an incredible roll. This may be the game of the week and could swing either way, but the Titans are aiming to hand Arizona its first road loss.

Seattle Seahawks over ST. LOUIS RAMS

The Rams have been improving as much as one can and still also keep losing every game, but QB Marc Bulger is out, leaving the team in disarray. Even though RB Steven Jackson is still the majority of the team's offense, the stinking, stalling Seattle Seahawks season--see what I did there?--won't be ruined by this Rams team.

With Bulger out, St. Louis turns to Kyle Boller to salvage their season...hahahahaha

ATLANTA FALCONS over Tampa Bay Buccaneers*

You almost feel bad for Tampa Bay QB Josh Freeman...almost. Mostly, I feel bad for an Atlanta team that is 5-5 with losses to New England, Dallas, New Orleans, Carolina and the Giants. In the NFL, you have to win games, even against the tough team, but that's still a rough set of teams. The Falcons will be above .500 after this week and bully for them.

New Jersey Jets over CAROLINA PANTHERS

This is a game between two of the league's best running games and mediocre-to-bad running defenses. I will tell you who will lose: whoever goes to the air more. Both quarterbacks love to throw it to the other teams, so they should keep it on the ground for this one.

Jacksonville Jaguars over SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS

Neither of these teams has been overly impressive but at least the Jaguars can win games against teams not named the Chicago Bears.  The little power machine known as Maurice Jones-Drew should have a lot of fun running over the 49ers.

SAN DIEGO CHARGERS over Kansas City Chiefs

The Chargers are on top of their division and a loss to the Chiefs would hurt them, but don't expect it to happen. San Diego is on a roll and they won't let a 3-7 divisional rival slow them down.

Pittsburgh Steelers over BALTIMORE RAVENS

The big question for this game is whether or not Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger will be able to play. He was knocked out of the game against Kansas City and the team was unable to rally and win. He is expected to play on Sunday, but the hit he took was pretty hard so I wouldn't be surprised if it is a game-time decision.

New England Patriots over NEW ORLEANS SAINTS

As much as I want to see the Saints continue to roll on and win the rest of their games, Patriots Coach Bill Belichick won't allow it. I am sure he has studied his game against the Colts to make sure that his defense can hold up against high powered offenses. The Saints are hard to stop because they spread the ball around, but if the Patriots can keep the pressure on QB Drew Brees, they may be able to hand the Saints their first loss.

 

Suicide Pool Pick 'o the Week: Atlanta over Tampa Bay*

Last Week: 12-4

Season: 109-51

 

Peyton Manning Award for Best Performance, Week 11:

This week's award goes to Peyton Manning for beating a resilient Ravens team with another late comeback win. He could have single-handedly won this thing early, but he decided to keep it close in order that we, the gentle masses, might have an entertaining game to watch.

 

Degenerate Gambler UFL Pick:

 

Florida Tuskers over LAS VEGAS LOCOMOTIVES

The championship game for the UFL--aptly named the UFL Championship Game--is on Friday and the Tuskers are looking to stay undefeated. They had quite the scare last week as the California Redwoods almost took them to overtime, but expect Florida head coach Jim Haslett to plan to put his team ahead early and stay on top.

Haslett the favorite for the Men's Wearhouse Coach of the Year award...should be a nice doorstop

Last Week: 1-0

Season: 4-0

 

Super Degenerate Gambler CFL Pick:

 

Montreal Alouettes over Saskatchewan Roughriders (Neutral Site)

This week is also the championship game for the Canadian Football League. The Montreal Alouettes will be playing the Saskatchewan Roughriders for the 97^th Grey Cup. Right off the bat I wanted to pick the Roughriders solely based on their name but Montreal has been rolling over everybody this season--as far as I can tell--and so I feel obligated to pick them here or risk forever going 0 for everything on my CFL picks for this year.

Grey Cup, the Stanley Cup's little brother

 

Random Thoughts for Week 12:

• How great was the Browns-Lions game? Probably the best game of the week. Of course, had either team been playing somebody competent, they would have been destroyed quite handily.
• Those poor, poor Broncos. If you had told them before the season started that they would finish 6-10, they would have probably been ok with it. Now that possibility seems incredibly depressing. Though I doubt that they will lose every game here on out, they are at risk of missing the playoffs if they don't turn things around quickly.
• The Ravens and Steelers got lucky this week when the Bengals fell to Oakland, keeping both teams somewhat in the hunt for the AFC North. While the division is Cincinnati's to lose, both these teams caught a huge break when the entire division lost on Sunday.