Week 11 Recap

I feel like I’m in a coma with these 50% weeks. Treading water ain’t no fun, and but it’s better than taking on water by dropping a 5-martini game.

Last week: 8-8 (50%)
Season: 88-67 (56.8%)
5 martini picks: 3-2 (60%)
4 martini picks: 4-3 (57%)
3 martini picks: 8-3 (73%)

The “Merrill Hoge is a Spin Button” pick ‘em play of the week: Carolina = WIN

5 martinis
Dallas at Washington (+1.5) - LOSS - Tony Romo didn’t look quite right but Marion Barber played Godzilla to the Redskins’ Tokyo. Barber led the Cowboys in rushing, receiving, and muscle-flexing. The Redskins played OK and protected the ball, but could not get to Romo and could not finish.

4 martinis
None

3 martinis
None

2 martinis
New York Jets at New England (-3) - WIN - The type of win the media plays up too much so we can expect a bit too much Jets in our point spreads in the coming weeks. The Patriots are mediocre and that showed up during the game, just because a Tom Brady-led Pats team dominated the Jets for years doesn’t mean a thing to us. The Jets are living the AFC East life.

1 martini
St. Louis at San Francisco (-6) - WIN - Yay Singletary! Boo Haslett. Rams without Steven Jackson = unwatchable.

New Orleans at Kansas City (+5.5) - LOSS - Oh this one was so close. I cannot believe the transformation of Tyler Thigpen, but I am going to cringe while watching the Chiefs make too much of this run in the off season and fail to draft a real QB.

Cleveland at Buffalo (-5) - WIN - Another damn wide right. It hurts to watch 5-1 turn into 5-5 but Trent Edwards looks downright remedial back there. It’s the bleeping Browns pal! I told you Jauron and the Bills would screw this up.

Minnesota at Tampa Bay (-3.5) - WIN - It’s a shame Adrian Peterson is being wasted in Minnesota. He’s fantastic, but you need a little bit of QB play to compete.

Baltimore at New York Giants (-6.5) - LOSS - The Ravens run defense hasn’t been treated that poorly in years. New York’s offensive line is just playing out of their minds right now.

Denver at Atlanta (-6) - LOSS - Has anyone else noted the inconsistency from Jay Cutler? I hope he puts it together soon, because the Broncos won’t win many of these 24-20 games.

San Diego at Pittsburgh (-5) - SHOULD HAVE BEEN A WIN - One of the classic gambling kicks in the junk of all time. If this were a recommended play I’d be a little more disappointed but you can’t expect much down here just a hair from being in the rotgut roundup.

Rotgut Roundup
Arizona at Seattle (+3) - LOSS - Buzzcut stays on a roll and dissects the lame Seahawks secondary. I really thought Hasselbeck would spark the offense a bit and keep it close at home but it appears the ship has sailed on this season in Seattle. Too bad for Admiral Holmgren.

Houston at Indianapolis (-8.5) - WIN - Manning is looking back to full form, but the defense is still a problem. Sage Rosenfels is killing fantasy teams by bringing down Andre Johnson and Owen Daniels.

Chicago at Green Bay (-4) - WIN - Any team from the NFC North can start to suck at any time, just be patient.

Philadelphia at Cincinnati (+9) - LOSS - In capping this game, I gave Andy Reid a hard time for his role in creating the disappointment that is the Philadelphia Eagles. I wrote: “Even Reid can’t screw up a game against the Bengals, right? Right?” Wrong.

Detroit at Carolina (-14) - WIN - That’s right Detroit, you just keep these games close.

Oakland at Miami (-10.5) - WIN - The Dolphins took this one down to the wire, which will happen when you give Ronnie Brown 16 carries and Ricky Williams 13 carries. On 3 more carries, Brown gained 52 more yards - and it wasn’t like he ripped a long one to skew the results, Brown is just much better. But please, continue to fool around with Ricky back there, I’m loving these outrageous Miami point spreads.

Tennessee at Jacksonville (+3) - LOSS - The letdown you predicted looked good until Jeff Fisher unleashed the unstoppable Collins-Gage connection.