Unwritten Law and Week 16 Supercontest

We hear about the unwritten law all the time. In sports it's especially prevalent. There is this romantic notion that all sports are governed not only by the written rule, but by some preconceived notion of gentlemanly conduct to goes beyond the scope of the rule book. A specific example I often laugh at is in baseball or its derivative in old man softball: taking the extra base.  In baseball if you are leading 11-2 in the 8th inning it's frowned upon for you, as a member of the team winning, to steal bases, especially 3rd base. In my adult baseball league this came up as my team was crushing the other team and our fastest guy stole 3rd. He's just trying to play the game hard and the other team takes offense.  In old man softball it becomes a take a single base scenario even though your hit would have landed you at 2nd, 3rd, or even home. For some reason not taking the extra-base is sportsmanship or something. Both teams are on the field, and both teams should be expected to play hard. If I was getting thrashed I'd take it as more of an insult if the other team just stopped playing hard. It makes a statement like 'yeah we are so good we don't even need to really play the game hard anymore'.  If a team gets upset because the other team, despite winning handily, plays hard then they can just take the cowardly way out and walk off the field. But while both teams are on the field, both teams should be expected to play hard.

For professional sports that should be even more strictly followed. People pay to watch the pros pay. They don't pay to watch one team quit and the other team ease off the brakes. This is why I find it ridiculous that Pete Carroll even felt it necessary to give some half-assed, sarcastic apology after running a fake punt in his teams 50-17 win over Buffalo. Or getting questions about Matt Flynn throwing into the end zone in a 58-0 drubbing of the Cardinals. These guys are professionals and they should act like, on both sidelines. You don't want them running up the score? Well stop them. Hit their QB hard, pick off passes, make defensive stands. Do something on the field to show you have a sense of pride. Don't cry like a bitch after the game because a team ran up the score on you because you didn't do anything on the field to stop them.

We are at the stage of the NFL season that we run into that problem. Only 16 of the 32 teams are even playing for the postseason at this point. We get a lot of Pro Bowl effort on defense, and experimentation on offense, and as a result we get some teams just running up the score like Seattle has done two weeks in a row. It's simple: be a professional. Work your craft as diligently as you can. Don't cry when your opponent does that very thing. It disgusts me when athletes and coaches cry about that. With that said let's move on to the picks:

Week 14 Recap

(Ed. Note: Obviously I missed week 15's picks. Unfortunately I was in a wedding as well as being the officiant for the wedding. Prior to that I was the busiest I had ever been at work. Some things just have to take a back seat I guess.)

Ravens @ Redskins (-2.5)

This was an unnecessary back door cover with Kirk Cousins playing the hero. I don't know what happened to spark Baltimore's offense but every now and then the Ravens come up with this game where they look competent on offense. But a cover is a cover no matter how you put it and the way I've been going the last coupel of weeks I need all the ones I can get. 

Texans (+3.5) @ Patriots

Holy shit. Crazy ass Patriots. I maybe should have seen this coming. Houston was giving up yards and points to far inferior offenses.  Hindsight is 20/20 but the final result was also not out of the realm of easy predictions. 

Lions @ Packers (-7)

Yeah the Lions have quit and are back to being the same old Lions. What changed? Nothing really. The Lions were fortunate last year in their wins and regression has taken place. They still have not really cured that defense and that was never more evident than in the Houston come back on Thanksgiving and the Indy come back a few weeks back.  No half way decent team loses either of those games. 

Falcons (-3.5) @ Panthers

This was a dumb pick and I underestimated Cam's resilience. Despite playing for nothing, Carolina wanted this game for revenge and Atlanta didn't need this game and could take the week off after crushing Drew Brees and essentially winning the division. Kudos to Cam, I give him a lot of shit but he's not a quitter. 

Chiefs (+6.5) @ Browns

Romeo only has magic for one game and it looks like his magic has run out. The Chiefs are an absolute mess and rumor is now Crennel and Pioli are gone. The AFC West is ripe for the taking over the next few years so getting a good coach and personnel man in will do wonders for this team. Same for the Browns. Shurmur needs to go and Holmgren is already gone. Both these teams could right the ship really quick. I just wonder which team will do it first.

Bonus

Jets @ Jaguars (+2.5)

How Mark Sanchez continued to win games is beyond me, but it looks liek his tenure is up. I have no idea what was more shocking: Sanchez only passing for 111 yards against Jacksonville, Sanchez actually winning, Montell Owens running for 6.5 ypc, or Jacksonville losing even though their glorified 4th string running back/fullback ran all over the Jets. What an ugly. 

Week 16 Picks

49ers @ Seahawks (Pk)

Seattle is on an incredible roll and this isn't the same the Russell Wilson San Francisco saw half a season ago. Of course, Colin Kaepernick isn't the same QB Seattle saw either. But Seattle enjoys the best homefield advantage in football and I just get the feeling the 49ers blew their wad on that Patriots game on Sunday Night. The 49ers could easily roll in here and win but I like Seattle's chances at home in this big game.  Teh crowd will be rocking and another mini earthquake might be in store if Marshawn busts another one of these:  GET OFF ME!!!!!!!!

Man...how do you not get excited watching that. It puts a smile on my face every time I watch it. This game isn't as important as that home game was, but I have a feeling with SF in town it's going to be every bit as crazy in the stadium. 

Giants (-2.5) @ Ravens

This the game right here. This is the everyone wrote off New York and left them for dead but somehow they come back game. The Ravens are a mess. Offensively, defensively you name it. Baltimore could be 6-8 right now if not for 4th and 29, a Dan Bailey missed fg, and the Patriots uncharacteristically failing to close out their game. Seriously. The Ravens are only 3 plays from 6-8. Besides, New York loves going on the road in one of these nobody believes in us games. 

Redskins (-5.5) @ Eagles

Yes, the Eagles are not the same pushovers they were a few weeks ago when they had totally quit, but in a game of this meaning for Washington and this meaningless for Philly it's hard not to take the fewer than 1 td spread. I think this spread is likely higher with RG3 back, but even if he wasn't Kirk Cousins showed he was more than capable to handle a crap defense like the Eagles'. 

Falcons (-3.5) @ Lions

Yeah I know I just lost a Falcons -3.5 line, but here's the deal: Atlanta needs one more win to clinch homefield, Detroit has totally quit (see: last week's Arizona game and also their coaches statements about the team being off the rails again), and Atlanta just put the absolute smackdown on New York. Atlanta has it in them and there is no reason outside of Megatron for this Lions team to even care. I'll go double or nothing on the Falcons here. 

Saints (+3) @ Cowboys

I have a bad feeling about this game. Dallas hasn't exactly overwhelmed me on their 3 game winning streak beating a crappy Foles-led Eagles team by 5, going down by 9 to Cincy and needing several dropped interceptions, several dropped AJ Green passes, and a bogus personal foul penalty to win, and then letting Pittsburgh storm back after controlling most of that first half. I still believe Drew Brees has the ability to make people pay (see: 41-0 over Bucs) and he is the last person that would ever quit on his team.  Just a bad, bad feeling about this game for my 'Boys. Hope I'm wrong. 


Last week: 2-3, Season: 35-29-1 (39-34-1 with bonus)

Good luck to everyone and Merry Christmas or whatever other holiday you may or may not celebrate this week!