NFL Picks of the Week: Week 17, New England Perfection

Cheerleader of the Week: Seattle Sea Gal Jessica N.

Game of the Week

New England (-14½) over NEW YORK GIANTS

This game is utterly meaningless and yet so historically important. Not only will the Patriots fight for perfection, but the single season touchdown records are within reach for both Tom Brady and Randy Moss.

Of any team out there, the Giants may be the worst match-up for this game of no playoff consequences. New England wants perfection and the records, and yet those would be trivial if their chance at the Super Bowl was somehow diminished. This is where the Giants come in, particularly their relentless defensive line, one that happens to lead the league in sacks by a decent margin. All eyes will be on BillBelichick to see for just how long he is willing to risk the health of Tom Brady as his quarterback is assaulted by this dominant pass rush.

All of America's eyes will be on this match since it will be unprecedentedly simulcast by NBC, CBS and the NFL Network. There may be a slight problem with that, as people will tune in to view history and find themselves watching a game between backups if Brady and Moss can grab their records early and the Pats can run-up a quick lead. The Giants have claimed the starters will play, but for how long if the game gets out of reach rather early. The best chance at a quality game hinges on the Giants shutting down Randy Moss, containing Tom Brady and keeping the game as close as possible. Only then will history be exciting to watch.

Cheerleader of the Week

Seattle (+2½) over ATLANTA

In honor of the Newsvine team over there in Seattle, this week's Cheerleader of the Week is a member of the Seattle Seahawks Sea Gals, Jessica N.

Jessica is a rookie to the squad. She previously attended Port Angeles High School and Shoreline Community College majoring in Nutrition. She has a dance background in jazz, hip-hop and ballet. When she is not cheerleading you can find her snowboarding, wakeboarding or shopping.

With cheerleader support from Jessica and the rest of the Sea Gals, I am certain Seattle can pull out a victory in this meaningless game against one of the worst teams in the NFL.

Upsets of the Week

DENVER (+2½) over Minnesota

Chicago (+2½) over NEW ORLEANS

These two games are certainly not the upsets I predicted with the largest spread of this week. So why these two games? Both of the teams getting upset, Minnesota and New Orleans are still fighting for their playoff lives. Now neither team controls their own fate, in order to get into the playoffs Minnesota needs Washington to lose, while New Orleans would require both Washington and Minnesota to lose. And yet even if you have only the slimmest of hopes to reach the playoffs, you must take care of business on your end. Neither Minnesota nor New Orleans will.

Lock of the Week (Non-New England Division)

CLEVELAND (-9½) over San Francisco

Unlike Minnesota and New Orleans, Cleveland is another team still fighting for the playoffs that will take care of business. It does help that they are facing perhaps the worst team in the league, a team with an historically bad offense. Unfortunately, Cleveland does not control their own fate, and must hope that an Indianapolis team looking to rest their starters with nothing to playoff can defeat a pesky Tennessee team that currently holds the final wild card seed.

The Rest

MIAMI (+2½) over Cincinnati

Miami will play hard in order to impress new head honcho Bill Parcells while fighting for their jobs next season.

PHILADELPHIA over Buffalo (+7½)

Will this be McNabb's last game in Philly, or will the organization and their fans finally come to their sense and realize that McNabb is the least of this team's problems?

TAMPA BAY (+2½) over Carolina

Tampa Bay is locked into the forth seed, but even a halfhearted effort can defeat the crumbling Panthers.

GREEN BAY (-3½) over Detroit

Green Bay is another team locked into their seed. Brett Favre will start the game to keep his streak alive, but Aaron Rogers will get to show off some of his talent for at least half the game. After starting the year so promising, Detroit finds themselves looking at another losing season.

Jacksonville (+6½) over HOUSTON

Jacksonville is easily one of the teams that no one wants to play right now. They have been on a great roll, and the last thing they need to do is let up and lose their momentum. Even though this game is meaningless in the seeding, Jacksonville needs a win to keep their edge and have any shot of making some noise in the stacked AFC playoffs.

San Diego (-6½) over OAKLAND

San Diego is still fighting for the third seed. This is the all important seed in the AFC playoff picture, since that seed gets to bypass Jacksonville in the wild card round in favor of the less intimidating Titans or Browns. If victorious, the third seed then gets to bypass New England in the Divisional round in favor of Indianapolis, a tough team, but one that San Diego did defeat in the regular season.

NEW YORK JETS over Kansas City (+5½)

The Herman Edwards Bowl. This should be a close low scoring game, and thus primed for Edwards to make a last minute tactical mistake, perhaps something to do with clock mismanagement.

ARIZONA (-6½) over St. Louis

This would be a wonderful fantasy matchup, if only the fantasy season hadn't ended last week.

WASHINGTON over Dallas (+8½)

Washington needs to win this game to ensure a wild card position. Dallas has the top seed locked up, and will be looking to rest a suddenly injury plagued roster. Brad Johnson's revenge will keep this game close.

Pittsburgh (-5½) over BALTIMORE

Pittsburgh still has a shot at that all important AFC third playoff seed. Luckily they face the hapless Ravens. Unluckily they do not control their own fate.

Tennessee (-6½) over INDIANAPOLIS

Indianapolis played last week's game for real despite its meaningless. Everyone expects the Colts to back off this week and take a breather, but this game could get really interesting if they don't.

A Blast from the Past

• Straight Up: 7-9 Last Week, 143-99 for the season
• Vs. Spread: 7-9 last week, 116-124 for the season
• Game of the Week: 10-7
• Upset of the Week 4-13
• Lock of the Week: 16-1

The Ground Rules

Home team in CAPS, spread in ( paren ). If the spread is listed after the victor, then they will cover. If the spread is listed after the loser, then it will not be covered.

Spreads are taken from ESPN.com. I don't do lines.

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