NFL Picks, Week 16

Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Chanukah, and season's greetings!*

Vikings at Packers: What was the NFL thinking when they scheduled this game for NFL Network? Last year the NFC North was the worst division in football. Now a team is starting Tavaris Jackson. GB
Chiefs at Raiders: Those who don't get NFL Network are lucky, becuase this game is on that channel, too. KC
Bears at Lions: Even without Tank Johnson, the kittens in blue don't stand a chance. CHI
Redskins at Rams: Neither team is that impressive, and Jason Campbell is showing signs of growing into the role of starter, but he's not there yet. Since both teams are about equal, it's down to home-field advantage. STL
Saints at Giants: Marques Colston is expected to be back to 100% this week. Meanwhile, Giants coach Tom Coughlin is publicly criticizing his quarterback for making mistakes rather than, say, admit that his coaching staff has made Eli Manning worse this season instead of better. And ohbytheway there's a salary cap penalty for cutting Manning (which Coughlin obviously wants to do), while there's no such penalty for firing Coughlin (which the Giants players want to do). NOR
Ravens at Steelers: The Steelers have been playing better football this week, and Kyle Boller will get the start. That's all you need to know. PIT
Panthers at Falcons: You know, I honestly don't care about this game. That's really weird to me. ATL, or something.
Patriots at Jaguars: When the Jaguars get a good thing going, they crumble under the pressure they put on themselves. When the Patriots get a good thing going, they...well, they keep doing it. NE
Titans at Bills: Did you know that J.P. Losman has the fifth-highest quarterback rating in the AFC? Seriously. The Titans are playing lights-out football, though, and I can't discount that. TEN
Colts at Texans: Well, the Bengals brought the Colts out of their funk, and the Texans are not nearly as good as the Bengals. IND
Buccaneers at Browns: And I thought I didn't care about the Panthers game. CLE
Cardinals at 49ers: The Dennis Green Career Death Spiral continues. Hard as it is to believe, but I think Randall Cunningham and Jeff George were the real reasons for Green's success in Minnesota. SFO
Bengals at Broncos: With my heart, not my head. CIN
Chargers at Seahawks: Uhm, yeah. The Seahawks are good, but the Chargers are much, much better. SDG
Eagles at Cowboys: I don't think the Cowboys want to repeat the performance against the Saints two weeks ago, and definitely not against a division foe. DAL wins on emotion and fire, not skill.
Jets at Dolphins: Despite being two games apart, these teams are pretty close, but the edge goes to the Jets. NYJ

*Void for members of all teams competing against the Bengals for a playoff spot