Week 17: Division-Deciding

Despite how lowly Atlanta and Carolina have played, the
miserable NFC South is still up for grabs between the two. (Getty)

It's the final week of the regular season.  Fantasy football season is over.  Among the three leagues that the OXen shared this year, Austen won one, Stally won one, but both missed out on the prized keeper league championship, which was won by the surprising team of Josh Barker.

In real football, many divisions are on the line this weekend, so it should be a great week to be a football fan.  All 16 games will be played on Sunday, so pull up a chair and make a day out of it!

Here's who we're picking:

Austen's Eight-Point Pick

Dallas over @Washington

Austen: I might have surprised Stally with this one, but I still think the Cowboys are one of the best teams in the league (and might be the best road team in the league). The Redskins are anything but, and they already used up their upset last time these two played. It is not going to happen again when the Cowboys have the opportunity to get a first-round bye in the playoffs. 

Stally: Yes, the Cowboys are the best road team in the league as proven by their 7-0 record.  (The Bengals at 5-2 are the only other team to have lost two or fewer.)  I was surprised this was the first pick, but don't disagree with the premise.

Week 16: Rex's Last Stand

Remember when Tom Brady vs. the vaunted Jets defense was
always one of the best games of the year? Neither do the SOBs.

With just two weeks left in the regular season (I know I cannot believe it either), almost every single game this week has playoff implications. There are definitely some games that look like blowouts, but with the way this year has played out, I would not be confident in much of anything right now.

I cannot remember the last time there were so many teams still alive in the playoff race at this point in the season. Check out how the SOBs think this week will play out.

Stally's Eight-Point Pick
New England over @New York Jets

Stally: Austen and I generally make our picks in order of our confidence points in our Yahoo! Pick 'Em Group.  It makes sense to pick the game in which you have the most confidence at that time.  But, I couldn't break tradition on this one.  I always pick the Patriots with the utmost overconfidence when they play the Jets, so why change now when my team is 11-3 and Austen's is 3-11?

The Jets nearly beat the Patriots in New England earlier this year, and Rex Ryan always gets the team up to beat the hated Pats.  This one will be close, closer than the records would dictate, but one team is much better than the other and that's New England.  It's the pick for this one.

Austen: I mean there is nothing nice I can say about this Jets team right now, so I cannot blame Stally for his homerism. I expect this game to be close, but there is a good chance the Jets hang around only to be blown out in the second half. As much as I would love it, I cannot see a way in which the Jets pull out a win. 

Week 15: Lucky Number 13

The SOBs will be paying extra close attention to the Panthers-Bucs
game because the boys are facing off in fantasyland and each have
one of the top two rookie wide receivers in the league.

I know I am here to talk about real football, but Stally and I are facing off in fantasy, so I cannot help mention it. Throw in the fact that USC's season is over and I will be rooting for the Jets to lose out on the season in order to possibly get the first pick in the draft, so you cannot really blame me for caring more about fantasy football than real football, right?

Either way, there are a ton of big games with tons of playoff implications, as this year looks to be one of the more exciting Wild Card races in recent memory. There are so many teams still alive it is ridiculous. Hell the four win Panthers still have a shot!

As usual, it should be another exciting week of football, unless you are a New York football fan. Enjoy our breakdown!

Austen's Eight-Point Pick
@Baltimore over Jacksonville

Austen: I did not even know that Denard Robinson was out for the year when I took the Ravens this high. Jacksonville is a terrible terrible football team and they are now down arguably their best player. This is going to be a disaster. Even Ravens fans should not bother watching this game.

Stally: There are a few pretty obvious picks this week and this is one of them.  Hate them as much as us or hate them more than us, the Ravens are rounding into their usual late season playoff form.  On the bright side for the Jags: only one week until they get to beat Tennessee again!

Captain Hindsight Strikes Again!

Austen got to see his Trojan brothers face off against each
other over the weekend, and the better man definitely won.

Sorry for my absence from the internet once again this weekend. It has been a crazy fall, but an even crazier NFL season. Over the last month, the Rams have probably been the most dominant team in the NFL. That's not a misprint, that's real life. Too bad they won't make the playoffs anyway. Anyone wonder what could have been had Sam Bradford stayed healthy all year long?

Anyway, we had another fun week of football, so here is my breakdown of what happened in last week's games.

Stally's Eight Point Pick
@Green Bay over Atlanta

I had a lot of confidence in Green Bay winning, but we all know Atlanta has the offense to keep up with the Packers. However, their defense might be the worst in the league and it is going to be the reason they end up losing the worst division in the history of the NFL. I can't imagine Mike Smith lasting past midnight of December 28th (the final day of the regular season).

Week 14: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Austen's headed to Philadelphia to watch his former love, Mark
Sanchez, but still refuses to pick the high-flying Eagles. (Getty)

Stally: Austen is headed to Philadelphia for the Eagles-Seahawks game today.  Just another reason why the Jets should have kept the faith in Sanchez: so Austen doesn't need to drive clear across New Jersey to see a good quarterback play a home game.

Here are a look at the picks and my thoughts on the games:

Stally's Eight-Point Pick
@Green Bay over Atlanta

Stally: The Packers just beat the then-9-2 Patriots at Lambeau, it's hard to imagine they'll lose to the 5-7 Falcons.  Atlanta is notoriously a warm weather and/or dome team, and I give them little chance to perform on the frozen tundra of Green Bay.

Austen's Eight-Point Pick
@Denver over Buffalo

Stally: I say this every week, but the Broncos have been dominant at home since Peyton Manning joined the team in 2012.  They're 6-0 at home this season, but they can't sleep on the Bills.  Buffalo boasts one of the toughest defenses in the league, and Denver can't let the visitors gain any confidence.  Manning and Co. will need to put up points early to avoid a potential upset.

Stally's Seven-Point Pick
@Detroit over Tampa Bay

Week 13: Happy Thanksgiving

Neither of us will ever forget this
Thanksgiving memory from 2012. (New York Post)

Thanksgiving is the most awesome holiday of the year!  Sure, for us Christian folk, Christmas tends to be a little more special, but it's also a lot more formal and material.

Thanksgiving is about getting the family together to do two things: eat and watch football.  What's better than that?

Um ... nothing!

Stally does his little 5K run in the morning to keep the calories down, and Austen does a 5K in his dreams wondering why anyone would get up early on the best holiday of the year to go for a run.  But, to each his own.

By the time the games kickoff on Thursday afternoon, both will be situated in front of a TV, watching the games, and waiting for a turkey leg to gnaw on.

Happy Thanksgiving!  Here are our picks for the week:

Austen's Eight-Point Pick
@Indianapolis over Washington

Austen: This game is not actually on Thanksgiving, but Andrew Luck has to be looking at this game like a Thanksgiving feast. Luck might be down a lot of his top offensive weapons, but he definitely has enough to to make minced meat out of these Redskins (don't blame me for the team having a racist name). 

Stally: This is the QB matchup everyone has anticipated since the 2012 NFL Draft, right?  First overall pick Andrew Luck versus ... Colt McCoy?  The Redskins were in such desperate need of a quarterback in 2012 that they drafted Robert Griffin III second overall and Kirk Cousins in the fourth round.  Some problems never alleviate themselves, I guess.

Stally's Eight-Point Pick
@Pittsburgh over New Orleans

Stally: At some point, it's gone from funny to pathetic.  Out of respect for the world's football intelligence, I can't let Austen keep taking the Saints.  They suck.  They flat out suck.  They're 4-7 ...  because they suck.  Give me someone, anyone, other than them right now.  I'll even go ahead and predict that the Steelers score at least 40 points in the win.  Why?  Because the Saints suck!

Week 12: Delay of Game

Andrew Luck and the Colts should run away from the Jags. (Getty)

Apologies that we didn't get this out by kickoff on Sunday.  We had some issues connecting and weren't able to do the picks until around noon on Sunday.

Stally's Eight-Point Pick
@Indianapolis over Jacksonville

Stally: With their loss to the Patriots, the Colts are now back in contention for the AFC South, a division that most were ready to crown them in a month ago.  They only lead the Texans by a game.  But put that in perspective: with the Raiders win on Thursday, the Jags are now back in contention for the first-overall draft pick.  They're 1-9, going on 1-10.

Austen: Even with all the injuries, I cannot imagine Andrew Luck not working his magic and easily taking down the hapless Jags. Even if the Jags some jump out to, say a 28-10 lead at halftime, Luck could probably still win the game. He is the best player in football right now.

Stally: The best player in football would figure out how to beat good teams.  He's the best player against garbage teams.

Austen's Eight-Point Pick
Kansas City over @Oakland

Austen: Well, remind me never to hop on the Andy Reid bandwagon again. Just when I thought, hey, maybe my criticism of him all these years was more of a personal bias. Yes, it is one game, but it is a divisional game they had to win. This looks like a repeat of last season where they will probably make the playoffs as a wild card team, and not win a game after that.

Stally: Wow!  This was a catastrophic loss for the Chiefs to the previously winless Raiders.  They went from being in a position to steal the division from the highly-touted Broncos to falling far off the division pace, especially when factoring in tiebreakers, and slipping into the Wild Card discussion with the likes of Miami, San Diego, and Cleveland.  Welcome back to mediocrity, Kansas City!

Stally's Seven-Point Pick
@Philadelphia over Tennessee

Week 11: Big Deal in the Big Apple

If Austen loved Drew Brees and the Saints anymore,
we'd have to change his nickname to "Elmo."

Stally: Austen is out this week.  The New York City apartment that I visited last weekend was painted this week, and he's helping his parents move everything back in place and clean it up.  Projections from Mama Elmore are that this will be a two-day process.  Needless to say, Austen would rather be sitting around in his ratty, last-place New York Jets t-shirt watching the games.

Be sure to check back after the week is over as he'll do a recap in place of his predictions.

Also, a special shoutout to our Number 1 reader, Gary Chagnon.  I always like when a reader checks to see when the blog will be up, because it means we have at least one person interested in reading it!

Austen's Seven-Point Pick
Denver over @St. Louis

Stally: This game seems like a pretty obvious pick, but as Lee Corso would say, "not so fast!"  The Rams beat the Seahawks at home a month ago, and they've also beat the 49ers and lost to the Cowboys by three this season.  I'm not picking the upset by any means, but St. Louis could prove to be more of a challenge than expected for the far superior Broncos.

Stally's Seven-Point Pick
@San Diego over Oakland

Stally: It's Week 11 and the Raiders haven't won yet.  Why consider them now?

Austen's Six-Point Pick
@New Orleans over Cincinnati

Week 10: OXen Sunday

Calvin Johnson's return could be the difference maker in a
surprisingly intriguing game between Detroit and Miami.

Stally's in New York City this weekend to visit Austen, so the two of us got to do this week's draft in person.  It also meant we found time to publish the blog before kickoff, which is always great!

Here's a look at some of the games we'll be watching together this afternoon.

Stally's Seven-Point Pick
Denver over @Oakland

Stally: Don't look too much into Denver's loss at New England.  It could certainly be cause for concern come playoff time, but should be a blip on the radar in regards to the regular season.  The Broncos should blowout the winless Raiders.

Austen: The Raiders cannot score points against anyone (31st in the league) and their defense cannot stop anyone from scoring points (26th in the league). Those are kind of important statistics when it comes to winning football games. It's even worse when the Broncos are coming to town angry. 

Austen's Seven-Point Pick
@Seattle over New York Giants

Austen: I've been on the "Giants are terrible" bandwagon all season long. I'm not hopping off now! A home game against the banged up Giants is exactly what the Seahawks need to give them the confidence to make the strong playoff push we all know they are capable of. 

Stally: Seattle hasn't been as dominant as expected, but the Giants simply aren't very good.  They're on a three-game losing streak and have one of the lesser defenses in the league (28th in pass defense and 22nd against the rush).

Week 9: A Spooky Week

Derek Carr has been the most impressive rookie quarterback
so far this season, but that has lead to a total of zero wins
for the Raiders, something that will not change today.

Maybe there is something in the air due to Halloween weekend, but the SOB boys took a lot of upset picks this week. There is more disagreement than there has been at any point so far this season. Maybe it is not Halloween, maybe it is just the fact that the parity in the NFL seems to be at an all time high.

Either way, our disagreement usually means there will be a lot of close, very entertaining games to watch this week. That means pay close attention to your televisions today people. Watch and enjoy, but first read our analysis.

Austen's Seven-Point Pick
@Seattle over Oakland

Austen: While the Seahawks have struggled mightily so far this season, they still have enough mojo to crush the only winless team in the league in their own home. Hell, even the Jets took care of business against the Raiders.

Stally: If Seattle doesn't win this one, we can officially consider the title defense null and void.  The Raiders are in the midst of a 13-game losing streak dating back to last year, which includes two (TWO!) losses to the Jets.

Week 8: Austen Plays Captain Hindsight

With a busy weekend of work, Austen gets to assume his
alter ego, Captain Hindsight, and give his breakdown of
events that have already transpired in the NFL.

I apologize for being a no show on the blog this weekend and letting Stally run the show. He got to say his part, now I get to say mine. However, I get the power of hindsight at my back.

Stally's Eight Point Pick
@Dallas over Washington

No matter how much hindsight I've got, I still cannot see my way to how the Redskins won this game. Kudos to Colt McCoy and the Redskins defense for leading a truly miraculous and shocking victory on the road against what many thought was the best team in football.

Austen's Eight Point Pick
Miami over @Jacksonville

Well, well, well. Not only did my confidence in the Dolphins help me take a commanding point lead over Stally in "Blog Points," but I also started the Dolphins defense in three fantasy football leagues which got me darn near 30 points. My thought process was that a game in Jacksonville probably has about a 50/50 split of Jags and Dolphins fans at it so it really was not a road game against possibly the worst team in the league. The Fins' defense might have outscored the offense, but this was still a pretty commanding win for them.

Week 8: Stally's Week

Even Austen has to admit that Tony Romo is a good QB these days.

Stally: Austen has a weekend full of work, so we'll see if he has time to share his thoughts at some point.  This was a week in which I got all the games I wanted, and it seemed like every time I took a game, Austen had it next on his list.  We'll see if I can benefit from that or if upsets come back to haunt me.

Stally's Eight-Point Pick
@Dallas over Washington

Stally: This is the only game of the week in which I have full confidence.  One of the league's best teams at home against one of the league's worst.  What's not to like?

Austen's Eight-Point Pick
Miami over @Jacksonville

Stally: This is too much confidence on a road team (the Dolphins) that will likely go 8-8 this season.  Don't get me wrong, Jacksonville isn't good, but it did just handily beat another mediocre team, the Browns, at home.  Miami is still the right pick, but not this early.

Stally's Seven-Point Pick
@Kansas City over St. Louis

Stally: The Chiefs tend to play well at home, as proven by their route of a solid New England team, and the Rams enter at 2-4 as one of the league's less inspiring teams.

Week 7: Predicting an Upset?

The trade of Percy Harvin did nothing to
ruin the OXen's confidence in the Seahawks.

Austen's Eight-Point Pick
Seattle over @St. Louis

Austen: I like the Seahawks offense to get back on track. That means a lot of Beast Mode. The Rams should be shaking in their boots.

Stally: This is a mismatch of talent, that's for sure.

Stally's Eight-Point Pick
@New England over New York Jets

Stally: Taking the Patriots over the Jets in New England with the utmost confidence is a Stubborn OXen Blog tradition.  I couldn't see anyway that the Pats lost, and even as the game unfolded, I just didn't see it happening.  It turns out I was right!

Austen: Well I "had" this game with the second most confidence, but at least my Jets put up a fight. It is interesting to think how this game would have turned out if the Jets had Percy Harvin for this game...

Stally: If they did, then the team wouldn't even have locker room chemistry, which about all they got right now.

Austen's Seven-Point Pick

@Dallas over New York Giants

Austen: Stally is going to be fuming that I got this before him, but Dallas is simply crushing it on both sides of the ball right now. In a week where there should be a lot of close games, I will unquestionably take possibly the best team in the league against a team who just got shut out by the Eagles and lost their best offensive player for the year.

Week 6: What's Your Confidence Level

Patrick Peterson and the Arizona Cardinals defense
has them in hot pursuit of the NFC West. (Getty)

Stally: It seems as though Austen and I have agreed more than usual this year.  Maybe we're both getting smarter, or maybe we're just too lazy to think outside the box.  Who knows.

However, like last week, our level of confidence varies significantly.  Most of the clear mismatches put the better team on the road, which is always cause for hesitation, but there aren't too many games that seem destined for overtime either.

As I told Austen, instead of ranking them 1-15.  I could have just put eight confidence points on every game and called it a week.  The necessity to rank to the games creates an interesting "disagree to agree" situation in this week's blog.

Stally's Eight-Point Pick
@Arizona over Washington

Stally: The Redskins are 1-4 with nothing more than a home win over Jacksonville and a racial slur for a nickname.  The Cardinals struggled on the road against one of the best teams in the league, Denver, but their defense is normally very strong and should hold down a Redskins offense that has failed to impress with Kirk Cousins under center.

Austen: Drew Stanton is banged up and Logan Thomas only managed to complete one pass against the Broncos last week when he was forced to fill in. I have AZ but with a whole lot less confidence. 

Week 5: Austen's New "Worst Team"

Things have not gone Drew Brees' way so far this season, but
a home matchup against the Bucs is just what the doctor ordered.

Despite a lot of agreement on the outcome of the games this week, Stally and I still disagree on how much confidence we have in most of the teams in the league. This season has already had a lot of surprise upsets.

Austen's Eight-Point Pick
@New Orleans over Tampa Bay

Austen: I know the Saints have been terrible so far this year (and Jarius Byrd is now out for the year). I know the Bucs just beat the Steelers on a beautiful last-minute touchdown. None of that matters when you are playing in the Superdome. Drew Brees is almost impossible to beat at home and I think this is where the Saints start to turn around their season.

Stally: Whoa, whoa!  Let's not send the 1-3 Saints to the Super Bowl just yet, Austen.  I agree that there's little cause for concern against the lowly Bucs, but the Saints aren't as good as we thought they'd be.

Week 4: The Game of Disagreement

Philip Rivers has been on fire and looks to spearhead
the biggest blowout of the week against the lowly Jags.

Sorry for the late post once again, but here are our picks of the week. We only disagree on the one game that we both have the least amount of confidence in. Enjoy!

Stally's Seven-Point Pick
@San Diego over Jacksonville

Stally: The Chargers aren't the best team in the league, but they're taking the shape of a very good one.  It's hard to see them losing at home to Jacksonville just two weeks after they beat the Super Bowl-champion Seahawks.  That's unlikely.

Austen: When teams are even, I always go with the home team when it involves a 2000+ mile commute for the road team. These two teams are not even close to even. I would put the Chargers in the top 5 teams in the league right now, and they might be the best in the AFC (I cannot wait for their two games against the Broncos to see where they actually are). The Jags are miserably bad, as always. They have no chance.

Week 3: A Lot of Agreement

Stally: Just a note that it's NASCAR weekend here at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, so I'm going to try to type this about 10 minutes.  We also didn't have time to proof or format.  Sorry.

Austen's Eight Point Pick

@Cincinatti over Tennessee

Austen: The Bengals are seemingly unstoppable at home during the regular season. The Titans simply do not scare anyone on offense or defense. Even a banged up Bengals team should be a massive favorite over the Titans.

Stally: I certainly have the Bengals with a lot of confidence, but not sure I would have kicked them off with the first pick of the day.

Stally's Eight Point Pick

@New England over Oakland

Stally: This is a mismatch for sure, especially in New England.  I'd be shocked to see this one within even two scores.

Austen: I am starting Tom Brady is fantasy football this week, so I have a whole lot of confidence in the Pats winning this one. The Raiders might not win a game on the road all year.

Austen's Seven Point Pick

@New Orleans over Minnesota

Austen: There is no way the Saints start the season 0-3 after being a sleeper to win the Super Bowl. Even without Mark Ingram, they massively out class the Vikings. This is also their first home game of the year, where they tend to dominate.

Stally: As funny as it sounds to put this much confidence on an 0-2 team, I completely agree.  The Vikings looked miserable agains the Patriots in Minnesota last week, they don't stand a chance in the Superdome.

Week 2: Better Late Than Never

The Eagles (of the Boston variety) shocked the world and
these SOBs, while also disrupting our blogging flow.

This is unquestionably the latest we have ever sent out our picks of the week. I apologize profusely, but I am still recovering from the weekend in which Stally and I had to watch our beloved USC Trojans get utterly thrashed by Boston College. We got to see it live and in person, so our trip to Boston messed up our writing/posting schedule a bit.

Either way, here are our picks of the week!

Stally's Eight-Point Pick
@Green Bay over New York Jets

Stally: This is a pretty easy pick.  The Packers are a good team and they're at home, and the Jets aren't a good team going on the road, at a place that is always hard to win.  I have trouble seeing the Jets pulling off any sort of upset.

Austen: Not a whole lot of argument here. Would not take them this high, but I have slightly more faith in the Jets keeping this as a close one, but ultimately falling short due to their weakness at cornerback.

ACE's Advice to Peyton: Let the Embarrassment In

Disappointment, regret, embarrassment, call it whatever you want, but
this picture sums up all these emotions and more for Peyton Manning.

With over a week now to fully digest what happened in the Super Bowl, all I can think of is how Peyton Manning can be anything but embarrassed by his performance in the biggest game of the year, and one of the biggest of his historic career?

Should he be embarrassed by his teammates or by his record breaking 2013 campaign? Absolutely not. The Broncos overcame numerous offseason distractions and a slew of injuries to make it to the Super Bowl. Manning himself had possibly the greatest regular season of any quarterback in the history of the game, despite having one of the weakest arms in the entire NFL (he is clearly still not the quarterback he once was physically before the neck surgeries). They should be proud of the way they fought all year long, except for what they brought to their final game.

The Stubborn OXen Super Bowl Predictions

This year more than any, the OXen haven't seemed to agree on a whole lot.  That's probably not going to change for the big game.  Austen has been touting the Seahawks since Day 1, and since getting bludgeoned with bad luck in the first round of the playoffs, Stally has picked with his heart, a heart which has no place for the outspoken, arrogant CB on Seattle, Richard Sherman.

Here's a look at who the two are taking:

Stally's Prediction
Denver 30, Seattle 24

Denver will win because ... they have Peyton Manning.  It's pretty simple really.  He set a record for passing touchdowns in the regular season and his surgical offense averaged a borderline-disgusting 37.9 points/game in those 16 games.  Things have slowed down a little in the postseason with scores of 24 and 26, but it's been the defense that's really picked it up to maintain Denver's dominance.

NFL Playoffs: Conference Championship

Julian Edelman has filled in well for the departed Wes Welker, and
will need to continue to do so to beat Welker's new team. (Getty)

Well everyone, this is what we have all been waiting for. Championship weekend is arguably the best week of football. This year is like a second Christmas. Could we ask for anything better than Brady vs. Manning and the third round of the heated Seattle-San Francisco rivalry. These are unquestionably the four best teams in the league right now. 

Will Tom Brady continue his dominance over Peyton Manning, and possibly solidify himself as the best quarterback in league history? Will it be the young Seahawks or the every aging 49ers who get a shot at one of these Hall of Fame quarterbacks in the Super Bowl? All this and more will be revealed today. Here is how us SOBs think the games will pan out and we will let you know what to look for in today's games.

Stally's Eight-Point Pick
2. New England over 1. @Denver

Stally: There's a quarter in every Patriots game when I think they might never win another game , and there's a quarter in every game when I think they're indestructible and are sure to win the Super Bowl.  Somehow, I feel like this game won't be any different.

Coaching Carousel: Round and Round We Go

Arizona's head coach Bruce Arians gets a free pass from the
SOBs for getting his overachieving Cards oh so close to the
playoffs.  Enjoy the offseason and watch out for that desert sun!

A favorite area of debate among fans is that of the head coaches.  It seems like we all forget how much someone's livelihood is at stake when we start debating hirings and firings of coaches like we're trying to figure out which restaurant we want to go to for brunch.

Nonetheless, the OXen are taking a look at the seven head coaching casualties from the 2013 season. We also take a look at every other head coach whose team missed the playoffs (except for Bruce Arians, whose Arizona Cardinals were an impressive 10-6), and discuss whether they should have been let go or not.  In some cases, it's an obvious no, and they're just on the list for the sake of fairness.  One playoff coach also made it into the discussion, as his team has yet to win a playoff game in his 11 seasons.

Let's put our quarter in and take a ride on the Coaching Carousel.  Stally gets the AFC, Austen gets the NFC:

Dust in the Brees

Why Drew Brees's status as an elite quarterback makes him overrated

Enough is enough.  Someone needs to point
a finger back at Drew Brees. (Getty)

Born January 15, 1979, Drew Brees turns 35 this coming week.  The media is likely wish him a Happy Birthday by excusing another shortcoming in the postseason and writing it off as a loss to a great defense in a hard-to-win road building.  Enough, already!

Brees has received a pass for far too long because he is such a (pun-intended) saintly human being.  He puts his faith in Jesus, has a cute little kid from a beautiful wife and willingly headed to New Orleans as a free agent in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, where he took on the process of giving something for his city to believe in.  He's a good person, but that's not a football statistic.

Thanks to the craze of fantasy football, Brees has been revered as one of the greatest quarterbacks of his generation.  That's simply not true.  He's a good quarterback, there's no argument there, but he is not among the elite.  To be blunt: he's overrated.

NFL Playoffs: Divisional Round

Seattle has not been hospitable to Drew Brees
when he's come to visit. (Getty)

The Wild Card Round of the playoffs was as unpredictable as expected last week.  Three games were decided by either a game-winning field goal (New Orleans and San Francisco) or a game-saving defensive stop (Indianapolis).

The OXen had split opinions on all three of those games, and it was Austen that got all three correct, albeit by a combined six points.  Interestingly enough, the only game on which they agreed was that Cincinnati would beat San Diego, and the Chargers ended up winning by a laughable 17 points.

This week, there's again a mutual agreement on the first game selected with the other three being split-decisions, so it's likely that we're in for some good games that won't be decided until late.

Austen's Eight-Point Pick
1. @Seattle over 6. New Orleans

NFL Playoffs: Wild Card Round

A.J. Green's 11 TDs this season were a big reason the Bengals
scored at least 34 points in their final five home games. (Getty)

This must be why they call it the "Wild Card" Round of the NFL playoffs.  Not one of the eight teams playing this weekend could be classified as elite, save maybe San Francisco, who is on the road, and whom the OXen had so little faith in winning that they waited until the last pick on what was a split-decision.

All eight teams are good, but they all have their flaws.  Some have struggled in games they shouldn't have, some are turnover prone, others struggle to win on the road.  It's possible that the OXen run the table, and it's just as possible that not one of the games is picked correctly.

Both of us will be skiing at Stratton Mountain this weekend, so let's get these picks done so we can go hit the slopes!