Patriots Down Chargers 24-13 on Sunday Night

The New England Patriots defeated the San Diego Chargers 24-13 on Sunday to improve to 10-3 on the year. This is the 12th consecutive season of 10 or more wins for the Patriots. Only the '83-'98 San Francisco 49ers have more, winning 10 or more for those 16 seasons. I think they also had a couple of pretty good QBs during that time, Joe Montana and Steve Young. Tom Brady must be in the conversation when talking about the "greatest" quarterback of all time.

Brady threw a 69 yard catch and run touchdown pass to Julian Edelman with 8:41 left in the game to give the Patriots the 24-13 lead and the defense did the rest. The defense sacked Philip Rivers 4 times and intercepted him once. They stopped the long pass and were tremendous against the run, holding the Chargers to 53 yards on 17 carries.

Read the ESPN article here for more detail.

NFL Picks for Dec 4-8

I finally got the picks on time. Of course, last week I went 7-6 on the games I did pick. The Steelers let me down as did Baltimore, the Giants, Carolina and Oakland.

Dallas @ Chicago     Cowboys 35-17     Yes it will be cold but not as cold as the Bears
Pittsburgh @ Cincinnati     Steelers 31-17     Bengals look bad again this week
St. Louis @ Washington     Rams 28-14     Can a win against the Raiders be that good
NY Giants @ Tennessee     Titans 28-27     Toss up...hence the score
Carolina @ New Orleans     Saints 35-21     Saints need to get to .500 for respect
NY Jets @ Minnesota     Vikings 29-16     Jets played horribly on MNF...no change
Baltimore @ Miami     Ravens 28-13     Dolphins need a lot...no playoffs this year
Indianapolis @ Cleveland     Colts 30-20     The 2 headed QB problem is back in Cleveland
Tampa Bay @ Detroit     Lions 28-10     Stafford connects for 4 TDs
Houston @ Jacksonville     Texans 31-17     More if JJ Watt could just have a good game for once
Buffalo @ Denver     Broncos 30-16     Who needs Peyton when you have a run game
Kansas City @ Arizona     Cardinals 24-17     Cardinals players "care" this week
Seattle @ Philadelphia     Seahawks 24-17     Eagles fall into a tie with Cowboys
San Francisco @ Oakland     49ers 33-10     All problems solved in SF with a win
New England @ San Diego     Patriots 31-13     Brady over Rivers anywhere, anytime
Atlanta @ Green Bay     Packers 38-17     Rogers throws 5 TD passes leaves in 3rd quarter

There you have them!

NFL Picks for November 30th

I was 12-2 last week and would have been perfect if the Texans had an offense and the Jets were...well...not the Jets. Here are my picks for this week

Washington  @ Indianapolis     Colts 28-17     Colts "D" too much for the Redskins
Tennessee @ Houston     Texans 21-17     I'll take the Texans in this toss up game
Cleveland @ Buffalo    Bills 27-21     It was just the Jets but the Bills look good
San Diego @ Baltimore     Ravens 31-28     Flacco over Rivers should be a game to watch
NY Giants @ Jacksonville     Giants 32-17     Manning gained confidence against the Cowboys
Cincinnati @ Tampa Bay     Bengals 23-16     Tampa's defense has improved but not enough
Oakland @ St. Louis     Raiders 23-13     Another toss up...I'll take the Raiders
New Orleans @ Pittsburgh     Steelers 35-31     Pittsburgh is too strong for the Saints
Carolina @ Minnesota     Panthers 24-14     Toss up #3 Panthers by 10
Arizona @ Atlanta     Cardinals 27-21     Not impressed with NFC South
New England @ Green Bay     Packers 28-27     Turnovers make or break this game
Denver @ Kansas City     Broncos 31-24     KC has had 10 days off but the Broncos have Manning
Miami @ NY Jets     Dolphins 28-10     Rex Ryan could be fired after this game

NFL Picks for This Week

After going 6-7 last week this is my bounce back week. One of these weeks I'll get around to forecasting the Thursday game although I never would have picked the Raiders to beat the Chiefs this week.

Cleveland @ Atlanta     Browns 24-21     Upset in the making
Tennessee @ Philadelphia     Eagles 27-17     Sanchez makes bid for Pro Bowl
Detroit @ New England     Patriots 30-21     Brady or Stafford in New England
Green Bay @ Minnesota     Packers 35-17     Aaron...should we relax yet?
Jacksonville @ Indianapolis     Colts 28-10     Colts "D" too good for Jags
Cincinnati @ Houston     Texans 21-17     JJ scores on a punt return
Tampa Bay @ Chicago     Bears 23-17     Cutler gets no credit for the win
Arizona @ Seattle     Seahawks 24-17     Inexperience at QB shows against good defense
St. Louis @ San Diego     Chargers 30-20     Rivers make me look like a genius
Miami @ Denver     Broncos 31-21     KC loss Broncos win...breathing room
Washington @ San Francisco     49ers 35-13     Woe to the Redskins
Dallas @ NY Giants     Cowboys 27-17     Giants are woefully bad
NY Jets Vs Buffalo @ Detroit     Jets 20-13     Jets kick their way to a win
Baltimore @ New Orleans     Ravens 28-13     Saints still can't figure this game out

Dolphins Shutout Chargers 37-0

The Dolphin's Ryan Tannehill was 24 of 34 passing for 288 yards and 3 TDs in the Dolphins shutout win over the Chargers.

This was the most lopsided loss for the Chargers since 1996 and they were shutout for the 1st time since 1996.

The Chargers have not won in South Florida since 1982.

Pjilip Rivers was held to 138 yards passing on the day with a QB Rating of 31...his lowest since 2007.

Read the Yahoo Sports article here.

Broncos Bully Chargers 35-21 on Thursday Night

It took Peyton Manning and the Broncos 16:29 to figure out the Chargers defense but they scored 35 points in the next 30 minutes to top San Diego at home 35-21 and move to 6-1 in the AFC West.

Emmanuel Sanders caught the first of his three TD passes from Manning to start the barrage, a 2 yard catch that got the Broncos on the board. Sanders got his second touchdown with 32 seconds to go in the half to give Denver the 14-7 lead heading into the locker room.

A 3 yard touchdown pass following a Philip Rivers' interception in the 3rd quarter was Sanders' third of the night and put the Broncos up 21-7.

Juwan Thompson had touchdown runs of 1 and 2 yards to complete the Broncos scoring. Thompson had 7 carries for 24 yards on the night.

Manning was 25 of 35 passing for 286 yards with 3 TDs and no INTs while Rivers went 30 for 41 with 3 TDs but threw 2 INTs.

Sanders caught 9 passes for 120 yards and those 3 TDs and Demaryius Thomas had 8 receptions for 105 yards for Denver.

Ronnie Hillman carried the ball 20 times for the Broncos and had 109 yards on the ground while Denver rushed for a total of 139 yards.

The Broncos defense held the Chargers to 61 yards on the ground with Branden Oliver their leading rusher with 13 carries for 36 yards.

Keenan Allen caught 9 passe from Rivers for 73 yards and a TD while Antonio Gates added 2 touchdowns on 5 receptions for 54 yards.

Chris Harris and Rahim Moore both intercepted Philip Rivers for the Bronco defense.