Week 1: Let's Kick Off 2015

Rob Gronkowski and the Patriots spiked
spiked away the offseason with an
opening night win on Thursday. (AP)

It's time for the 2015 NFL season and the Stubborn OXen are back for another a fifth season.  Here are our picks for the week:

Austen's Eight-Point Pick
@Dallas over New York Giants

Austen: The only way the Giants can stay in this game if they find a way to run the ball incredibly efficiently. Teams that have a three running back committee typically refer to this as having a “three headed monster.” The Giants have more of a three headed kitten. Dallas is going to score in bunches on this Swiss cheese defense that is riddled with injuries and it will be too much for the Giants to keep up with.

Stally: Welcome to the Cowboys bandwagon, Austen! Once and for all we can close out our longtime debate: Tony Romo is a better quarterback than Eli Manning.

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

Stally: There was no way the Patriots lost the first game of the Revenge Tour at home, and they didn't. The 28-21 final score was far closer than the game itself, thanks to a Steelers touchdown with two seconds left.

Austen: Well this game already happened. I had a lot of confidence in the Pats winning this one, as the Pats always play the best with their backs against the wall. All the offseason controversy has only fuel Tom Brady. Despite losing their top four, yes four, cornerbacks from last season, the Patriots will be one of the best, if not the best, in the AFC once again this year. The Steelers look like they will have an uphill battle starting the season with two of their top three offensive players missing due to suspension and their offense getting no help from a young and not very talented defense.

A Super Super Bowl

Super Bowl XLIX Predictions

The two best minds in football will meet in Super Bowl XLIX.

Well this is the game we have been waiting for all year long. We aren't getting some hot wild card team. We aren't seeing a team that limped through the playoffs due to injury. We are getting to watch the two most complete football teams in the NFL face off against each other. It does not get any better than this.

While these two squads are evenly matched, we could not have two more different teams. Bill Belichick is a master schemer who makes his players fit into his system or be replaced, which he does better than possibly anyone in the history of the league. Pete Carroll is the epitome of a players' coach. He views his players as living, breathing humans and wants to bring out the best in all of them in order to utilize their unique skills.

Tom Brady vs. Russell Wilson is a matchup of the old ushering in the new. This very well could be Brady's final trip to a Super Bowl, but I would be surprised if we did not see Wilson numerous more times in the big game. While Wilson might be looked at as the athletic "running quarterback," even Brady has to be humbled by Wilson's football IQ and moxie in critical situations.

Many will view this game as an offensive team vs. a defensive team, but both the Pats and Seahawks are capable of being dominant on either side of the ball. They both can beat you in so many ways it would be a fools errand to try to guess how this one will turn out. That being said, the SOBs are going to give it a shot!

NFL Conference Championship Preview

Tom Brady is a win away from making an
unprecedented sixth Super Bowl start. (Getty)

It's Conference Championship time, and the OXen will be watching the games together at Austen's NYC apartment.  That will be glorious for one and miserable for the other, as the Patriots will either win to bring out Stally's inner-New England arrogance, or they will lose and make for a long, gloomy evening in a cold, wet, foggy New York.

What's more: the two don't even agree on which team will win that game.  Here's a look at the picks for the Conference Championships:

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

Stally: It's far too late to bail on my favorite team now!

The Patriots have been dominant at home this season.  They've also owned Andrew Luck and the Colts since the star QB broke into the league, having beat them by at least 20 points in three meetings over the last three years, including last year's playoffs and in Indianapolis in November.

With that said, you'd think there's a time that the talented young QB will breakthrough against the mastermind of Bill Belichick, but it's a lot of points to make up.  There's a difference between playing better and playing well enough to reverse a series of three-touchdown losses into a win.

The key for Indy, however, will actually be the defense.  In the three recent losses to the Patriots, the Colts have given up at least 42 points in each of the games.  That won't cut it.  Tom Brady and the offense is too dialed in right now to expect that Indy's defense can keep this game competitive.

Score Prediction: New England 35, Indianapolis 24

NFL Divisional Round Preview

There are three quarterbacks left in the playoffs that are
still on their rookie contracts. How will they fair?

I simply cannot remember the last time I was this excited for a week of football (probably since the Jets were in the playoffs). There are great matchups all over the field in all of these games, but just looking at the quarterback battles should make the most average football fan excited.

Tom Brady and Joe Flacco have each defeated each other in the playoffs numerous times. They each lead teams with completely different styles, yet they always leave us with an exciting game till the end.

Cam Newton and Russell Wilson are both grouped in as the new age of "running quarterbacks," but these two guys could not be more different. Newton uses his size and athleticism to make plays, while Wilson uses his football IQ to dissect defenses with his arm and his legs. This will be a very telling game to see the progress of these two young quarterbacks.

While Aaron Rodgers and Tony Romo are on the wrong side of 30, they are both playing the best football of their careers. Rodgers gets plenty of attention (which is very well deserved), but Romo has been a huge reason this team is still in the playoffs despite many expecting the Cowboys to be one of the worst teams in the NFL (I always admit when I am wrong).

The game in Denver show cases the new vs. the old. Andrew Luck was spectacular this year, but the Colts simply have not been able to put away the better teams in the league. Peyton Manning seemingly has lost a step a bit towards the end of the season, but he still has more than enough left in the tank to rip apart any defense in the league. This is a defining game for both of these quarterbacks, for very different reasons.

Basically, I'm saying watch carefully this week because I do not know when you will see this many great quarterbacks facing off against each other again in one weekend. Here is how we see the game playing out.

NFL Wild Card Preview

"Kiss this, if you don't like Tony Romo." (Getty)

It's playoff time Stubborn OXen fans.  As is customary in the Wild Card Round, neither of our teams are playing.  The Patriots because they have their traditional bye week viewing party.  And the Jets because they have their traditional year-end golf outing.

However, there are still four games on the schedule.  While we agree on all four, I think we both also think that the games could go either way in anyone of them.  In fact, after our phone conversation about the picks, we both agreed that we knew we were going to miss something on one of these games.  Not all four will go according to plan.

Nonetheless, here's who we have in the Wild Card Round this weekend:

Stally's Eight-Point Pick
@Dallas over Detroit

Stally: The Cowboys are the best team not to have earned a bye in the Wild Card Round.  Which is a pretty blunt statement considering that five teams went 12-4, including Dallas, and the other four are on bye this week.  They played great on the road, going 8-0, but struggled with a 4-4 record at home. That seems to be an odd statistic, so odd, in fact, that I don't think it holds too much merit as a reason why Dallas should be worried.

In the case of Detroit, it's not particularly strong on the road, having gone only 4-4 itself.  The biggest issue, as Austen will get into, is the quarterback differential.  I've long been of the mindset that Tony Romo is a very strong quarterback that gets a bad rap based on poor luck.  Having relied on Matthew Stafford in fantasy football this year, and having had his poor performance tank my season, I don't hold him in the same regard as I do Romo.  Then again, Detroit is a classless bunch of goons, so I don't hold any of them in high regard.  The lack of a suspension of DT Ndamukong Suh after trying to break Aaron Rodgers ankle last week is offensive to competitive sport.

Score Prediction
Dallas 34, Detroit 17