ALBANY, NY – After a disappointing weekend tallying a 1-2 record, my overall record has now dropped to 17-24. Time to get back on the right track! Enjoy all of the great games this weekend and Happy Holidays!
New Orleans Saints (10-4) at Carolina Panthers (10-4): Let’s put it this way, chances are good that whoever wins Sunday’s match-up will win the NFC South and a first round bye in next month’s playoffs. New Orleans won the prior match-up easily at a few weeks ago, so you can figure that the Panthers will be out to get revenge. But on the other hand, the Saints just put on a pretty poor performance in their loss to the St. Louis Rams last week, so you’d think they’d want to avenge their recent loss as well. This makes up for a pretty interesting game!
I like the Saints in this game. For one reason, they’ve been their before. Remember, the Saints won the Super Bowl a few years ago and some of the leaders from that team are still on the roster; Drew Brees, Marques Colston, Jabari Greer, and Roman Harper are just a few. The Panthers on the other hand, this team hasn’t registered a record over .500 since 2008, and that was before the arrivals of Cam Newton and Ron Rivera. If I was a betting man, I would put my money on Drew Brees every time. Saints: 38-28
New England Patriots (10-4) at Baltimore Ravens (8-6): There is a lot of bad blood between these two teams, especially between the Ravens’ Terrell Suggs and Patriots’ Tom Brady. This is an important game for both teams, with major playoff implications considering both teams have yet to punch their ticket to the big dance.
I like the home team in this one, quite frankly because the Ravens have more weapons on offense. Yes, I understand that Baltimore beat the Detroit Lions Monday night – thanks to six field goals from their kicker – but a win is a win. Baltimore has the reigning Super Bowl MVP with Joe Flacco, a Pro Bowl running back in Ray Rice and a great deep threat with Torrey Smith, which brings a lot of fire-power. Not to mention the Ravens are playing a banged-up Patriots squad and have a lot more to play for than New England. The Pats only need to win one of their final two games to get in, while the Ravens basically have to win both of their games. Ravens: 27-20
Kansas City Chiefs (11-3) at Indianapolis Colts (9-5): Both teams are already in the playoffs, so you could argue this game doesn’t mean that much. For the Colts, you’d probably be right but for the Chiefs, that’s a different story. If the Chiefs win out and the Denver Broncos slip up just once, Kansas City has a shot at holding the AFC’s No. 1 seed heading into January. Home-field advantage throughout the playoffs is a lot to play for folks.
I like the Chiefs in this one. Kansas City has finally caught the wind back under their sails and are currently on quite the roll. After a couple of monstrous performances on offense the past two weeks, this team looks a lot more explosive than we all thought at the beginning of the season. And quite frankly, I don’t see the Colts having anyone that can stop Chiefs ultra-weapon Jamaal Charles, who leads Kansas City in both rushing and receiving. Chiefs: 45-21
