Week 16: Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Stally: Who's been naughty and who's been nice?  In the NFL, we're about to find out.  There are several clinching scenarios for the playoffs this weekend, and a lot more elimination scenarios.

Santa came early on Thursday for the Dallas Cowboys, who clinched the division and NFC's best record by virtue of a Philadelphia upset over the New York Giants.  Additionally, the Patriots (division and first-round bye), Seattle Seahawks (division) and Oakland Raiders (playoff berth) can all put an extra log on the fire and relax this holiday weekend, as they'll all be playing football past New Year's Day.

As per usual, Austen isn't going to have time to weigh in this week, so Elf Stally will take care of the write-up. Here's a look at the rest of the league and what I expect to unfold in Week 16 in order of confidence points:

16 - @New England over New York Jets

In Week 16 last year, the Patriots literally kicked away the conference's best record by electing to kick in overtime to the Jets, who promptly scored a game-winning touchdown.  That was last year's Jets, this is this year's Jets, whose poor coach was in the hospital on the night before game day.  That was also in New York, and this one is in New England.  The Jets will be delivering the gifts this year.

15 - @Green Bay over Minnesota

The Packers are back to playing good football, and the Vikings (?!) ... yuck!  Talk about being naughty, the Elf on the Shelf is not giving good reports on the Vikings right now.

Week 15: Two-Minute Drill

Despite a slow start, Aaron Rodgers and
the Packers are gaining confidence each week.

Stally: I've missed kickoff, so it's time to run a two-minute drill.  One sentence maximum per game.

Here are my picks in order of confidence points:

16 - @Atlanta over San Francisco

Stally: The Niners are playing some truly awful football, if you even want to call it that.

15 - @Seattle over Los Angeles

Stally: The Rams have looked terrible for several weeks, so I got this one right on Thursday.

14 - Green Bay over @Chicago

Stally: The Packers are a very confident group despite early season struggles.

13 - @Houston over Jacksonville

Stally: At 2-11, the Jaguars have become an easy team to pick against on a weekly basis.

Week 14: Bye-Bye, Byes

Before we begin, let me just take a minute to play this tribute video to one of the greatest bands to have ever walked this Earth ... and if you haven't listened to their Christmas album yet, then your heart is two sizes too small ...

Now let's get back to football, where we finally get to say "bye-bye" to bye weeks.  There are four weeks left in the NFL and every team is now through its bye, even Cleveland and Tennessee, whom I know we all missed seeing on the field last week.

Matthew Stafford and the Lions take the top pick this week,
which surely is a Stubborn OXen Blog first for Detroit.

There is one bye that continues, as Austen is on an indefinite bye from the blog.  I'll keep plugging along with my own picks, which probably are going to end up a game or two worse than your own (so take them with a grain of salt).  Without the safety net of Austen picking the favorite and letting me hide behind my underdog pick, I tend to get exposed every time I pick the 49ers to win for the first time since early September (which will happen again later in this blog).

Here are my picks in order of confidence points:

16 - @Detroit over Chicago

Stally: The Lions offense is good, we all knew that, but the defense?!  It just shut down Drew Brees in New Orleans, that's far more impressive than most of us thought it would be.  Detroit is shaping up to be a top contender in the NFC, and it's hard to imagine a lowly Bears team picking up this win on the road.

Week 13: Challenging the Bookies

Keep an eye on Jamies Winston and the Bucs as
they head to San Diego with playoff hopes alive.

Stally: Austen is out again this week, so it's just my picks for this one.  I'm taking seven underdogs according the book used on Yahoo! Fantasy, so we'll see how this turns out.  I have a feeling not well, but I'm sticking to my guns.

Here are my picks in order of confidence points:

15. @New England over Los Angeles

Stally: The Rams could frustrate Tom Brady and the Patriots (maybe, they gave up 49 points last week after having gone four straight without giving up more than 17), but their offense isn't going to score enough points to make it competitive on the road.

14. @Oakland over Buffalo

Stally: The Raiders prove each week that they're worthy of being talked about as a Super Bowl contender.  The Bills seem to be having a good season but at 6-5, they're far from elite.

13. Denver over @Jacksonville

Stally: The clock has struck midnight for Cinderella, as the Broncos aren't winning the games they managed to pull out last year.  But, they'll still roll over a hapless Jaguars team.