NFL Picks Week 8

I went 8-6 for the second week in a row. The Bills should have been a shoo-in but put themselves in a 21 point hole they were almost able to climb out of...almost! The Steelers lose to the Chiefs...who would have thought? Colts and Cowboys looked horrible in loses and it's a good thing the Ravens lost QB/OC communications or I would have been 7-7.

By the way, why can't Joe Flacco call his own play if there is no communication? Don't the Ravens anticipate problems and have alternative plans?

Here goes this week. Make sure you check back to see how I did against you!

Miami @ New England   (W)Patriots 28-20   Can't see the Patriots losing to the revitalized Dolphins
Detroit @ Kansas City   (L)Lions 17-13   Only because no Charles makes things tough
Tampa Bay @ Atlanta   (L)Falcons 31-30   Atlanta rights the ship and sets sail
Minnesota @ Chicago   (W)Vikings 21-20   Vikes overcome much to beat Da Bears
Arizona @ Cleveland   (W)Cardinals 31-17   Cards defense too much for the Brows
San Francisco @ St. Louis   (W)Rams 21-10   I like the Rams "D" at home
NY Giants @ New Orleans   (W)Saints 17-16   Out on a limb pick here
Cincinnati @ Pittsburgh   (W)Bengals 21-17   Steelers mistake prone; Bengals capitalize
San Diego @ Baltimore   (W)Ravens 24-22   I'll give you 1 more chance Baltimore
Tennessee @ Houston   (W)Texans 14-10   TJ Yates off the bench to lead TD drive
NY Jets @ Oakland   (W)Raiders 28-21   Let down from NE game and Raiders are tough
Seattle @ Dallas   (W)Seahawks 24-17   Randall AWOL, Romo out, no Bryant...Oh oh
Green Bay @ Denver   (L)Packers 31-17   The shine comes off the Broncos
Indianapolis @ Carolina   (W)Panthers 27-17   Undefeated season for Panthers?

The Bills, Jaguars, Redskins and Eagles have the week off. They all need it.

I changed my mind at the last second and picked the Lions to best the Chiefs...oh well that one is on me. But the Falcons losing to the Bucs, in OT no less, is all on the up and down Falcons. The Broncos held Aaron Rodgers to 77 yards passing on a 14 for 22 game. That's right 77 yards for an entire game. The Broncos "D" really looked good and Peyton Manning had a pretty good game too.

Okay...I called the game with the Panthers beating the Colts but how does a professional, undefeated team such as the Panthers take a 17 point lead with 10:51 to play in the game and turn it into a nail biter that has to be won in OT? Who knows!

I had a pretty good week, finishing 10-3 to bring my overall record to 71-47.

NFL Championship Games Set

COLTS v PATRIOTS and PACKERS v SEAHAWKS

The teamswho will compete for the AFC and NFC Championship games have been decided on the field of play. The Colts will travel to New England to take on the Patriots while the Packers will head west to face the defending Super Bowl Champion, Seattle Seahawks.

The Colts upset the reigning AFC Champion Denver Broncos, in Denver, 24-13 behind Andrew Lucks' 265 yards passing with 2 touchdowns and the running of Daniel Herron who ran for 63 yards and a TD. The Indianapolis defense held Peyton Manning to just 211 yards and a touchdown while limiting the Broncos to 88 yards on the grond with no touchdowns.
Read the Grantland.com Piece here.


The upset minded Ravens were unable to overcome the play calling, Coach Harbaugh called it cheating, in the 35-31 loss to the Patriots. This despite having lead the Patriots twice by 14 points. Joe Flacco threw for 292 yards and 4 touchdowns but threw 2 interceptions, the last with 1:39 left on the clock and the Ravens driving. The Ravens defense held the Patriots to 14 yards on 13 carries but allowed Tom Brady to score on a 1 yard QB keeper. Brady meanwhile, threw for 367 yards and 3 touchdowns and Julian Edelman threw a 51 yard TD strike to Danny Amendola.

In the NFC, the defending Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks used 3 touchdown passes from Russell Wilson and a smothering defense to defeat the 8-8-1 Carolina Panthers 31-17. Wilson threw for 268 yards with no interceptions and the the Seahawks rushed for 100 yards. Jermaine Kearse, Luke Willson and Doug Baldwin caught the TD passes from Wilson.

The Cowboys came up 1 play short of defeating the Green Bay Packers, who won the game 26-21. Aaron Rodgers threw for 316 yards and 3 touchdowns with no interceptions while Tony Romo tossed the ball 19 times and completed 15 of them for 191 yards and 2 touchdowns. Demarco Murray carried the ball 23 times for 123 yards and a touchdown but the play that will be remembered will be Dez Bryant's non catch of a 4th and 2 pass from Romo that turned the ball over to the Packers on downs and let Green Bay run out the clock.

Cam Newton Injured in Traffic Accident

Cam Newton suffered two transverse process fractures of the lower back during a 2 vehicle traffic accident at around noon on Tuesday in Charlotte. This is the same type of injury that kept Tony Romo out of one game for the Cowboys earlier this year.

There was no announcement at this time on whether or not Newton would miss any time.

The club did say that Newton would be kept overnight for additional observation.

Dez Bryant Calls Eagles "Cheap" Players

Dez Bryant, whose Cowboys had just been beaten 33-10 was crying about the "cheap" play of the Eagles.

"I'm really not mad at all," Bryant said after the Cowboys' 33-10 loss on Thursday. "They beat us and I'm going to accept that, but [expletive] can't wait, but not looking past Chicago [on Dec. 4], but I cannot wait to go up there and play [Philadelphia] again. Cannot wait."

Seems when a team holds you to 73 yards in the air and no touchdowns somebody must be cheating.

The Cowboys' defense struggled with the high-tempo Eagles offense, which converted 53 percent of its third-down plays and gained 464 yards, the most Dallas has allowed this season. The Eagles defense also held Demarco Murray to 73 yards on the ground, only the second time in 12 games that Murray has not rushed for at least 100 yards.

Tony Romo had his consecutive game streak of 38 games with a touchdown snapped. he game was played in Arlington and the rematch, on December 14th will be in Phildelphia.

Jerry Jones Insists Romo Must Play on Sunday

The Dallas Cowboys meet the Jacksonville Jaguars in London's Wembley Stadium on Sunday. The Cowboys are 6-3 and in the hunt for a playoff spot this year. The Jaguars are 1-8 and going nowhere this season. In the end this is a meaningless game for the Cowboys. Dallas is a 6 1/2 point favorite and should beat the Jaguars handily.

Cowboy quarterback, Tony Romo, suffered two transverse process fractures in his back during the game against the Redskins in late October. Romo left the game but returned in the 4th quarter to try and win the game. He didn't look very good and the Cowboys lost. Head coach Jason Garrett said following the game that owner Jerry Jones did not insist that Garrett put Romo back in the game. Read the rest of this article and extrapolate the data backwards to that game.

Romo made the long flight with little pain he said and he is walking, throwing passes and even participated in team walk through drills this week.

What is a transverse process fracture you ask?

A fracture of a bone is the same as a break in the bone. A fracture of a transverse process is a break of a part of one of the bones in the spine. This part extends out from the side of the main body of the bone (called the vertebral body). A transverse process is shaped like a wing. They extend from both the left and right sides of the vertebral body.

If the injury is limited to a break of a transverse process with no other bone or organ injury, hospital care may not be necessary. Medication for pain control, special back bracing, and limitations in activity are done first followed by physical therapy later.

Romo says if he keeps improving he'll have a good chance of playing. Coach Jason Garrett would not comment on whether or not Romo would play. The only person who speaks of Romo definitely starting is Cowboy owner Jerry Jones.

Remember that Romo had back surgery last off season and these fractures are to the bones on the edges of the spine. Could the consequences of sitting Romo for one more game be that dire? The Cowboys are 6-3 on the season. Yes, they have lost their last 2 games and are in a fight with the Eagles for a playoff spot but the Jaguars are 1-8, their only victory over the Cleveland Browns by a point, and going nowhere. The Cowboys should win this game.

I'm using quotes from Jerry Jones here in an ESPN.com article by Todd Archer to show just how little Jones looks at the future, a player's or the team's, in insisting Romo will play.

"I'm anticipating him playing, have no reason to think that he won't, and this will be a nice little practice session for him out there today," Jones said. "But my expectations are for him to play."

"Any time he can play, we want him to play," Jones said. "We're a better team, to be trite, with him playing. And so as far as the meaningful games, I'm talking about -- we didn't play him in the preseason obviously but felt we could have had we needed him to win the game -- but these games, we don't play many of them. You know that. And every one of them counts so much.

"Invariably any time you do lose one of these games in the regular season, our experience with us, especially these last several years, is we needed every win we could get. There's no such thing as holding him out and forgoing the potential chance that we win.

Romo may well have the best game of his career on Sunday. The Cowboys may make the playoffs by virtue of this win, but is it in the best interest of the team, Tony Romo and the Cowboys fans to take a chance with your 100 million dollar franchise quarterback?

Arizona Cardinals Defeat Cowboys 28-17

DeMarco Murray had his record 8 game streak of 100+ yard rushing games halted by the Arizona Cardinals who held hin to 79 yards on 19 carries as Arizona won 28-17.

Carson Palmer was 22 of 34 for 249 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT for the Cardinals who improved to 7-1 on the year while the Cowboys lost their second game in a row to fall to 6-3, 1/2 game behind the Philadelphia Eagles who beat the Houston Texans 31-21.

Brandon Weeden, starting for the Cowboys in place of the injured Tony Romo, was 18 of 37 for 183 yards and a late 4th quarter touchdown pass to Dez Bryant but threw 2 INTs.

"You can't turn the ball over, and that is on me," Weeden said.

Read the ESPN recap here.

Garrett Says No Pressure From Jones To Insert Romo After Injury

The Dallas Cowboys coach, Jason Garrett stated emphatically that owner Jerry Jones did not order him to put Tony Romo back in the 4th quarter of Monday night's loss to the Redskins.

"I think the ideal situation is to get it communicated as quickly as possible and he felt like he could do it," Garrett said. "It wasn't a big deal to me at all."

Jones "indicated that the X-rays were negative and that as long as he was functional, he could be capable of playing in the game," Garrett said.

If you believe that Jones did not hint that he wanted Romo back in the game you are naive. I can't think of an owner or coach in the league who would have taken a chance like that with their starting quarterback when DeMarco Murray was running so well and the Cowboy's defense was doing a credible job of shutting down the Redskins.

But, decide for yourself by reading the Todd Archer ESPN article here.

Cowboys Top Giants 31-21 For 6th Win In A Row

The Dallas Cowboys, behind a solid effort by Tony Romo and a record breaking performance by Demarco Murry defeated the NY Giants 31-21 to improve to 6-1 on the year,

Romo threw for 279 yards and 3 TDs. Dez Bryant caught 9 of Romo's passes for 151 yards. TE Gavin Escobar caught 3 passes for 65 yards and 2 TDs.

The story of the game though, was Demarco Murray recording his 7th consecutive game to start the season. The old record was 6 in a row by Jim Brown set in 1958.

Murray, on a pace for more than 2000 yards rushing this season has 915 yards through 7 games a 130.7 average. That would work out to 2091 yards over the 16 game schedule.

Read the ESPN Recap here.

Cowboys Take Down Seahawks 30-23

The Dallas Cowboys controlled the offensive line of scrimmage to rush for 162 yards on the ground as the Cowboys defeated the reigning Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks 30-23.

Tony Romo passed for 250 yards on a 21/ 32 day with 2 TDs and no INTs. Both touchdown passes were caught by tight ends. Jason Witten had 2 catches for 24 yards and a TD while Gavin Escobar had 1 catch for 2 yards and the other passing touchdown.

Demarco Murray ran for 115 yards on 29 carries for his 6th straight 100 yard game and Joseph Randle added 52 yards on the ground.

Dan Bailey kicked 3 FGs for the 'Boys.

Russell Wilson was 14 for 28 with no TDs and 1 INT. He did have a rushimg touchdown. Seattle LB Mike Morgan returned a blocked punt 25 yards for a score for the only other touchdown for Seattle. Scott Hauschka kicked 3 FGs for the Seahawks.

Read the ESPN article here.

Tony Romo has High Praise for Jason Whitten

The Dallas Cowboy's quarterback, Tony Romo, thinks Jason Whitten should be considered among the greatest Cowboy of all time. Of course, Romo is entitled to his opinion but there are 11 pretty good Cowboys in the NFL Hall of Fame.

"He might be the best Dallas Cowboy of all time," Romo said of Witten. "Literally, his career has been exceptional. He's hit every mark you could ever have, and he's going to go down as the first- or second-greatest tight end of all time. I've just been lucky enough to play with him."  


Read the ESPN story here.