Out on a Limb
Fantasy Football Predictions

Glory

The predictions made here each week do not represent the views of everyone on FIC and should not be used for gambling purposes.

Some try blind guesses by having their pets pick the games each week based on which treat they decide to choose. Others make themselves out to have bizarre psychic nicknames. Still more throw darts at a board and pick whoever it lands on. And, yes... there are a few actual experts, but I'm not one of them. Kick off every weekend with "The Mutt" as he tests his skills all season long against a few of our correspondents in the race for the FIC Cup.

Official FIC Cup Standings (Last Week in Parentheses)

Tim Noakes 108-92-8 (11-5)
Jeff Brown 101-99-8 (8-8)
Chris Wang 94-90-8 (7-9)
The Mutt 97-103-8 (10-6)
Jay Schell 83-101-8 (9-7)
Zach McCann 75-98-7 (7-9) * Missed Weeks Nine and Ten

Glory

North (well.... technically, the AFC East) takes on South when the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots invade Nashville this weekend to face the Titans in what will surely be an important clash to the AFC playoff picture.

After a second thrashing of former QB Drew Bledsoe's Bills last Sunday, the Patriots find themselves tied as the leader's of the pack in the AFC East with the Miami Dolphins at 8-5. With games remaining against division rivals New York and Miami in the last two weeks, the Patriots could lose this game and still stand a very realistic shot at winning the division, or at least sneaking in as a wildcard team. A win here puts them right in the thick of things for a playoff bye in the first round, though.

The Titans also find themselves tied atop their division with the Colts, but hold the edge in the tiebreaker thanks to victories in both of the head to head matchups. With remaining clashes against also-rans Jacksonville and Houston, the Titans would really give themselves a leg up in the division, as well as possibly the conference, with a big win over the champs in their last home game of the regular season.

Neither of these teams can end up clinching a playoff berth by the end of the weekend, but the winner will establish themselves as near shoe-ins for the playoffs, while the loser may find themselves back in the pack.

Game of the Week: New England at Tennessee (-2)
Tom Brady has gotten all of the hype this year after leading his team to the title in just his first season as a starter, but Steve McNair still has some air left in him. The knock on McNair has always been that he can't get the ball downfield and that he isn't consistent enough, but (just like in Tennessee's march to the Super Bowl a few years ago) McNair has been the one true warrior for the Titans this season. Last season's run without star RB Eddie George seems to have prepared McNair to emerge as a stronger leader and, perhaps more importantly, establish a threat through the air to set up the power running game of George. McNair's 2,988 passing yards through 13 games this season leave him just 352 shy of his career high of 3,350. While McNair may not be as dominant a force outside of the pocket as new NFL prototype Mike Vick, he is probably the third most explosive QB on the ground in the league behind Vick and Donovan McNabb and is a threat to take off on every play.

Brady, on the other hand, has silenced all of the critics who decided to step up after he'd thrown seven interceptions in a string of four consecutive losses (actually, the INTs were all in the first three games) to San Diego, Miami, Green Bay, and Denver earlier this year. In his last seven games, Brady has only coughed the ball up twice, and is starting to steady himself for another run at a title. Granted, he's not putting the ball up like he was earlier in the season, but Brady is developing into one of the best QBs in the league, both from a leadership standpoint and as a pure passer.

The game really could go either way, but should end up in one of two ways.

A) Tennessee will control the clock and run the ball all over a New England defense which is still soft against the run, despite the fact that they've improved recently. Tennessee always seems to win ugly when they win, but a W's a W, and the Titans just may march all the way to the Super Bowl like that if they pull this one off and force teams to come through Nashville.

B) The Patriots ability to spread the field will create nightmares for a tough, embattled Tennessee secondary. In a shootout scenario, the Patriots are bound to come out ahead, as the Titans just aren't likely to keep pace if the game gets into the high 20's.

The Mutt's take? Whether he's running as effectively as he had been in years past or not, Eddie George looks healthy enough to carry this team on his shoulders down the stretch... and now he has help from his QB. While Bill Belichik may be among the league's best coaches at getting everything out of his players, Jeff Fisher is also smart enough to realize that after his team gets out of the gate hot at home, it's Eddie time. If George sees 30 touches, this one's a no-brainer.... though (as is always the case) the score will indicate that it's a nail-biter. Titans 23, Patriots 17

Lock of the Week: New York Jets (-4.5) at Chicago
Does The Mutt ever learn? After somewhat of a resurgence that has finally seen a few Lock's actually come through in the past month, my glance once again heads to Champaign, where the monsters of the midway covered (against) the lock two weeks in a row earlier this season by a combined one point (that's right... half a point each week!) against the Eagles and Patriots. This game is just too important for the Jets to blow against a banged-up and disappointing Bears team, and Herman Edwards always has his team ready to give it their all. Jets 30, Bears 13

Upset Special: Kansas City (+4) at Denver
After a two-game stretch (admittedly, against a pair of pretty bad football teams) where they outscored their opponents 98-10, the Chiefs head to Denver in a do or die game for both teams. The Broncos are coming off of three consecutive losses in games just like this against the Colts, Chargers, and Jets, and are suddenly starting to look like the dominant AFC West's weak sister. The other Dickie V will cry for joy as his team moves on in search of a playoff spot, and (with games remaining against the Chargers and Raiders) a shot at the AFC West title. Chiefs 38, Broncos 34

And now, some things to ponder while we wait for the Downtown Athletic Club to name who next year's Heisman Bust will be....

R.D.C.I. - Giants (pulling away) 229, Dayne Cheeseburger Consumption 202
Brad Banks QB rating - 166.1
Tony Banks Career Best QB rating (single season) - 82.1
Larry Johnson - 2,015 rushing yards
Ladanian Tomlinson's Senior season - 2,158 rushing yards
Iowa 42, Penn State 35
And the winner is...... Ken Dorsey?????? (The Mutt likes Banks)

Breezing through the rest.....

Oakland at Miami (-2) - Fiedler looked great in his return on Monday night, but that was against (cough) the Bears. Despite a suspect run defense, the Raiders will be the team to finally hold Ricky under 200 yards, but what will help them pull through are Charles and Rod Woodson in the secondary.... not to mention Rich Gannon's gunslinging antics. Raiders 27, Dolphins 24

Green Bay at San Francisco (-3) - While they remain the only two teams to have clinched a playoff berth, neither has really looked all that hot lately, and both are playing to the level of their competition. One of them will have to set a standard early on, and that should be the hometown Niners, who have finally gotten the passing game going. Niners 27, Packers 20

Seattle at Atlanta (-9) - Talk about triple threats.... Mike Vick, T.J. Duckett, and Warrick Dunn may be the first ever tandem to compile three different 100-yard rushers in a single game against the Seahawks (whisper) run defense. As a long-time Hawks fan, The Mutt's just counting the days until Mike Holmgren's gone, but fears that he may have done enough to save his job already. Falcons 34, Seahawks 23

San Diego at Buffalo (-3) - Moe Williams, Clinton Portis, Priest Holmes, Curtis Martin, Antowain Smith, Ricky Williams.... Expect L.T. to add his name to the growing list of running backs that the Bills have allowed over 100 yards to this season. While the Bolts would rather play in the sun, the cold weather in Buffalo this time of year favors their style of play much more so than it does Drew Bledsoe's air attack. Bolts 23, Bills 17

Jacksonville (-3) at Cincinnati - The Mutt was reading a column in the Orlando Sentinel earlier this week that said that the Dolphins game would be on the radio throughout almost the entire state of Florida. Hopefully, the state of Ohio will follow their lead and put the Browns game on air throughout the state. The Bungles can lock up their precious #1 pick, though... and shouldn't have too much trouble doing that. Jags 27, Bungles 23

Indianapolis (-1.5) at Cleveland - The Browns are ready to crash the Steelers party and say that they can't just back into the playoffs. The Colts are trying to back their way into the playoffs themselves, but are clearly the superior team in this matchup of former #1 overall picks out of the SEC at QB. Colts 26, Browns 20

Tampa Bay (-8.5) at Detroit - An agressive and talented Bucs defense should feast on Joey Harrington's inexperience like a Thanksgiving Day drumstick in this one. This game should be censored in some states for an intense display of absolute destruction, graphic violence, and all three Lions fans poised with something ready to throw at Marty Mohrninweg. Bucs 49, Lions 0

Baltimore (-3) at Houston - The expansion Texans have enjoyed a phenomenal four wins in their inaugural season, but seem to have put up just 400 yards of total offense all season. While Tommy Maddox struggled to regain chemistry and looked more than a little off last week, the Ravens offense is built simply not to lose games. Look for Lewis in the end zone twice in this one as the Ravens win in a walk. Ravens 23, Texans 6

Minnesota at New Orleans (-7.5) - The Saints should win this shootout between two of the league's best offenses and worst defenses, but the Vikings offense is finally clicking well enough so that they don't lose by more than a TD anymore. Saints 31, Vikings 27

Washington at Philadelphia (-7.5) - A.J. Feeley or not, the Eagles just have too much for the Redskins. The most stirring moment of the game when these two teams met on a Monday night in week two was when police sprayed teargas on the sidelines in Washington because of a fight that broke out in the stands. The Eagles should clinch the NFC East and start focusing on winning out and getting homefield after this one. Eagles 27, Redskins 13

Carolina at Pittsburgh (-8.5) - Pittsburgh will fall victim to an upset for the second week in a row. The Panthers have fought their butts off all season long, and even though it was against the Bengals, they showed something resembling an offense last week. This could spell trouble for a home favorite that lost last week despite allowing only 47 total yards on defense. Panthers 23, Steelers 21

Dallas at New York Giants (-5) - When was the last time the NFL had a 0-0 tie? While the Giants offense has finally started to click a bit, look for Ron Dayne to catch up a bit in the R.D.C.I. as the Cowgirls come to town sporting their fantastic defense and pitiful offense. Roy Williams will block a punt that will go out of the end zone for a safety as time nearly expires in overtime. Cowgirls 2, Giants 0

Arizona at St. Louis (-9) - The Bill Bidwill bowl is actually all that the lowly Lambs have left to play for at this point. After losing to the Chiefs by a combined score of 98-10 in the past two weeks, these two teams will battle it out to see just who is the worst team in the NFC West. With Marc Bulger back behind center, Arizona can claim that crown, and the city of St. Louis can at least take consolation in that. Lambs 23, Cardinals 9

On the Year
Lock of the Week: 4-7-2
Upset Special: 6-8
Game of the Week: 6-8

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