NFL Pointspread Contest: Week 13

[Anthony]

Thursday, November 30:

CINCINNATI 3 over Baltimore (8:00 PM ET)


Sunday, December 3:

NEW ENGLAND 13 1/2 over Detroit (1:00 PM ET)
San Diego 5 1/2 over BUFFALO
WASHINGTON 2 over Atlanta
Kansas City 5 over CLEVELAND
Indianapolis 7 1/2 over TENNESSEE
CHICAGO 10 over Minnesota
N.Y. Jets 2 over GREEN BAY (Courtesy of America's Line)
NEW ORLEANS 7 over San Francisco
ST. LOUIS 6 1/2 over Arizona
MIAMI 2 over Jacksonville (4:05 PM ET)
OAKLAND 3 over Houston
Dallas 3 1/2 over N.Y. GIANTS (4:15 PM ET)
PITTSBURGH 9 over Tampa Bay
DENVER 3 over Seattle (8:30 PM ET)


Monday, December 4:

Carolina 3 over PHILADELPHIA (8:30 PM ET)


Home team in CAPS; tie-breaker games in red.

Don't forget to designate three picks as Best Bets.

For complete contest rules, click here.

[The Pirate Bob]

1

Baltimore

NEW ENGLAND
San Diego BB
Atlanta
Kansas City
Indianapolis
Minnesota
N.Y. Jets BB
NEW ORLEANS
Arizona
MIAMI
OAKLAND
Dallas
Tampa Bay BB
Seattle

Carolina

[Anthony]

2

Last week: 9-6-1. Season totals: 87-81-8, Pct. .517. Best Bets: 15-17-4, Pct. .472.

Home team in capital letters; point spreads (opening line) in parentheses after underdog team; selections with point spreads in bold.

THURSDAY NIGHT

Baltimore 17 (+3), CINCINNATI 13 - Where the Ravens were being persistently overpriced at the beginning of the season, they're being persistently underpriced now: Underdogs to a team they lead by three games? Baltimore becomes the first team to wrap up a division title in 2006.

SUNDAY

N.Y. Jets 23, GREEN BAY 16 (+2) - If you think the AFC has been dominating the interconference games lately, it's not your imagination - 20-5 straight up and 21-4 against the spread over the last five weeks! Some people still insist that this year's Jets are a fluke, but it's becoming increasingly apparent that it was last year's Jets who were the fluke.

N.Y. GIANTS 24 (+3 1/2), Dallas 14 - I don't care if the Giants had blown a 50-point lead in the fourth quarter last week: I want no part of Dallas as a favorite in a cold-weather game that has been moved to the late time slot.

NEW ENGLAND 41, Detroit 13 (+13 1/2) - The AFC thing again, and chances are the Patriots won't turn the ball over five times two weeks in a row.

WASHINGTON 17, Atlanta 7 (+2) - Seventeen seems to be the magic number for Jason Campbell - and if the Skins score 17 again this week it will be more than enough to beat a domed-stadium team in a Triple Witching Hour situation, and one that is 1-10 straight up lifetime in the nation's capital.

BUFFALO 23 (+5 1/2), San Diego 20 - All right, J.P. Losman, you have my attention now - and the fact that the Chargers have back-to-back (home) games against their two closest AFC West pursuers next up hasn't evaded my notice either, nor has the six-game winning streak the home team enjoys in this series. Upset special.

Kansas City 16, CLEVELAND 14 (+5) - The Chiefs could hardly be blamed for having a letdown in this spot, and it isn't easy to go 0-3 both ways on a three-game home stand, which the Browns would do unless they at least cover.

CHICAGO 28, Minnesota 7 (+10) - The Vikings actually showed something offensively last week for a change, but here they have to move way up in class and way down in temperature. Bears clinch NFC North if they win - and win is something that the home team in this rivalry has done eight consecutive times, and is 6-1-1 against the spread therein.

Indianapolis 31, TENNESSEE 16 (+7 1/2) - About the only interesting feature associated with this game is whether the Colts or Bears will be the second team to clinch their division this year, which will depend on whose game ends sooner. This is another one of those cases where a team underestimated an overmatched division rival in their first meeting and won't make the same mistake twice.

NEW ORLEANS 24, San Francisco 20 (+7) - Every time I've thought this year's Saints were finished, they have come up big, but just when I have believed they've turned the corner, they have had a tendency to fall flat on their faces - and the 49ers have morphed into an indoor spread-covering machine all of a sudden, rewarding their backers the last six times they've played under roofs. Take the points.

ST. LOUIS 21, Arizona 16 (+6 1/2) - Right now the Rams can't be trusted to blow anybody away - not even the Cardinals on artificial turf.

MIAMI 24, Jacksonville 17 (+2) - Love the idea of the Dolphins finally getting the Jaguars at home after the first three meetings were all in Jacksonville, whose defense just seems to play totally different on the road from what it does at home.

OAKLAND 16, Houston 10 (+3) - KFC may do chicken right, but the Raiders can't even do losing right: The outcome of this one will severely damage Oakland's chances of landing can't-miss franchise quarterback Brady Quinn in next April's draft.

PITTSBURGH 31, Tampa Bay 14 (+9) - Don't let the seemingly out-of-whack line lead you astray here: This is a late-time-slot, cold-weather game, and the Bucs have been outscored 145-47 in their last six road games, all of them losses and all but one of them non-covers. Finally, it's the AFC vs. the NFC again.

DENVER 20, Seattle 10 (+3) - I'm not prepared to write the Super Bowl Runner-Up Jinx off just yet - and the Seahawks have lost six straight in Denver; and with Mike Shanahan likely to keep it simple in Jay Cutler's NFL debut and this being both in cold weather and at night, the Broncos figure to win the turnover and dropped-pass battles.

MONDAY NIGHT

Carolina 16, PHILADELPHIA 0 (+3) - Last week the Eagles played respectably on offense in a prime-time game while thoroughly embarrassing themselves on defense. Look for those roles to reverse themselves on the nationally-televised stage this week.

BEST BETS: N.Y. GIANTS, BUFFALO, CAROLINA

[themush]

3

Baltimore
NEW ENGLAND
San Diego (BB)
Atlanta
Kansas City
Indianapolis
Minnesota
N.Y. Jets
NEW ORLEANS (BB)
ST. LOUIS
Jacksonville
OAKLAND
N.Y. GIANTS
PITTSBURGH
Seattle
Carolina (BB)

[Bran]

4

CINCINNATI
NEW ENGLAND (BB)
San Diego
WASHINGTON (BB)
CLEVELAND
Indianapolis
CHICAGO
N.Y. Jets
NEW ORLEANS
ST. LOUIS (BB)
Jacksonville
Houston
Dallas
PITTSBURGH
Seattle
Carolina

[Marc]

5

NEW ENGLAND (BB)
San Diego
WASHINGTON
Kansas City (BB)
Indianapolis
CHICAGO
GREEN BAY
NEW ORLEANS
ST. LOUIS
MIAMI
Houston
N.Y. GIANTS
PITTSBURGH
Seattle
Carolina (BB)

[#99]

6

CINCINNATI
NEW ENGLAND (bb)
BUFFALO
WASHINGTON
Kansas City
TENNESSEE
CHICAGO
N.Y. Jets
San Francisco
Arizona (bb)
MIAMI
OAKLAND (bb)
Dallas
Tampa Bay
DENVER
Carolina

[Jeff Boswell]

7

Cincinnati
New England
Buffalo
Atlanta (BB)
Kansas City (BB)
Tennessee
Chicago
NY Jets
San Francisco
St. Louis
Jacksonville
Oakland
Dallas (BB)
Tampa Bay
Denver
Carolina

[bama4256]

8

Baltimore


Sunday, December 3:

NEW ENGLAND -BB
San Diego 5-BB
Atlanta
Kansas City -BB
Indianapolis
Minnesota
N.Y. Jets
NEW ORLEANS
Arizona
JAcksonville
Houston
Dallas
PITTSBURGH
DENVER


Monday, December 4:

Carolina

[Anthony]

The Jeff Boswell/Pirate Bob exacta didn't win this week for a change! In fact, neither will so much as grace the superfecta, whose winning combination in Week 13 is already known - Bran first (despite an 0-3 Best Bet record), themush second, bama4256 third and The Dude fourth, with Jeff assured of fifth.

The bottom three spots will be decided by what happens on Monday night:

Carolina covers: Marc 6th, #99 7th, The Pirate Bob 8th
Philadelphia covers or push: #99 6th, The Pirate Bob 7th, Marc 8th

Details after the game.

[Anthony]

1st 4 Bran: 8-7-1 ... 55 points
2nd 3 themush: 7-8-1 (1-2) ... 20 points
3rd 8 bama4256: 7-8-1 (0-3) ... 11 points
4th 2 Anthony: 6-9-1 (2-1) ... 5 points
5th 7 Jeff Boswell: 6-9-1 (1-2) ... 3 points
6th 6 #99: 5-10-1 (1-2) [2-3] ... 2.5 points
7th 1 The Pirate Bob: 5-10-1 (1-2) [1-4] ... 2 points
8th 5 Marc: 5-10-1* (0-3) ... 1.5 points

*Includes one automatic loss due to unpicked game

(Best Bet Record)
[Record in Tie-Breaker Games]

For current standings, click here.