Week 16: The Elf Has Judged You

Sorry, Elf, no Tim Tebow this week ...

In the NFL, the Elf on the Shelf has made its determination as to whether or not teams have been naughty or nice, and Christmas Week will be judgement week for most.

Before Sunday's publish time, we already know that the Eagles and Giants have been so naughty that they've given away the division to the now 8-7 Redskins.  Elsewhere in the NFC, the Falcons will need to reverse a 38-0 outcome against the undefeated Panthers just to keep their faint playoff hopes alive.  Oh, how naughty Atlanta has been since a 5-0 start!

In the AFC, the Jets and Colts will be fighting for their playoff chances in games that neither are favored to win.  A Jets loss could push the Steelers and Chiefs through to the playoffs should they take advantage of games in which both are favored by double-digit points.  And, in a game that can't be taken lightly, the Broncos and Bengals will send their backup quarterbacks at one another in a game that will likely be the difference between hosting either the Chiefs or Steelers in the Wild Card Round (ouch!) or earning a bye through to the Divisional Round.

Here's who we've picked for this week's games:

Stally's Eight-Point Pick
@Kansas City over Cleveland

Stally: The Chiefs are on an eight-game winning streak and that hardly seems in jeopardy at home against a team that's one Titans win away from the first-overall pick in next year's draft.

Austen: Words cannot explain how bad the Browns are. They do not do anything well, and a road game against one of the hottest teams in the league all adds up to bad things for this franchise. 

Week 15: Consensus Week

After struggling early in the season, Russell Wilson
has the Seahawks flying high once again.

This is a week of agreement.  In fact, it took us until the 16th and final pick to disagree on a game.  We'll have to see if we're really that smart after having watched the previous 14 weeks, or if we're just equally ignorant toward some potential upsets.  In the interest of the blog, we'll argue a little bit about the confidence with which we each took these games.

Either way, here's who we (both) picked to win every game except for Buffalo at Washington:

Austen's Eight-Point Pick
@Seattle over Cleveland

Austen: The Seahawks are the hottest team in the NFL not named the Panthers. The Browns are still the front runner for the first pick in the draft. This has to be the unquestioned top pick. 

Stally: Seattle doesn't have anyone prominent to carry the rock, but the way QB Russell Wilson is throwing the ball around the yard, it doesn't need one this week.  This is going to be a blowout.

Stally's Eight-Point Pick
@New England over Tennessee

Stally: There was small concern around Patriots Nation when QB Tom Brady was listed as questionable with an illness.  That concern was over blown.  He's healthy and playing and should torch a Titans team that can't defend the pass.

Austen: The Pats could probably beat the Titans without Tom Brady, as well as all their other injured players. 

Week 14: Our First Podcast

This week, Stally is visiting Austen in New York.  We've decided to try to do our first-ever podcast where we've recorded our picks.  Below, we've listed our picks and the confidence points behind them.

The week's picks:

Week 13: The Cream is Rising

It's unlikely that Austin Davis leads the
Browns to an upset over the Bengals.

After several weeks of being too reactionary about the recent success or failure of teams, the Stubborn OXen are finally gaining a grasp on which teams are great, which are ok, and which ones flat out suck (which includes the 33rd team in the league: the referees).

While there was some disagreement later on down the blog, the opening picks were more or less a complete agreement in terms of winner and confidence.  Here are the picks for Week 13:

Austen's Eight-Point Pick
Cincinnati over @Cleveland

Austen: The Browns are vying for the top pick in the draft. The Bengals look like a team who could sneak into the Super Bowl. This will be a blowout no matter how you slice it. 

Stally: Cleveland will be staring Austin Davis at QB.  I mean, that's ... not good.

Stally's Eight-Point Pick
@New England over Philadelphia

Stally: Philadelphia has given up 45 points in each of its last two games to Tampa Bay and Detroit.  Tom Brady might be down many of his best pass-catchers, but he doesn't need them against this Swiss cheese defense.

Austen: The Pats are really badly banged up and are not the same team without Gronk. That being said, the Eagles are playing some of the worst football in the league as of late. A win here might be the only thing that could save Chip Kelly's job, but that's just not going to happen.