NFL Sunday Week 12 Open Thread

It's week 12, and Joe's gotcha covered below the fold:

Pigskins and Politics: Week 12
Joe Concha

The economy can't be good when the NFL now says they'll be discounting tickets by 10 percent for playoff games. It's an automatic sellout in every city, yet Roger Goodell recognizes good PR and smart business practices when he sees them.

The same can't be said for the New York Yankees, who have offered a pitcher whose ERA is 7.92 in the postseason $140 million. Considering that CC Sabathia is an XXXXL at 295 pounds, that contract works out to $482,000 per pound. Yep, the Yankees will sellout every game this season in their new (smaller) digs, but don't expect any discounts from George Stienbrenner...even on the $8.00 per cup of warm beer.

As O'Reilly says..."...And that's the memo."

Without wasting time like Donovan McNabb (more on that in a moment), let's get to our not-for-profit picks for Week 12:

Chiefs (+3) over Bills: What kind of media world do we live in when the late-great Tim Russert, a huge Bills fan and hands-down the most honest journalist of his generation, only made $5 million a year? Meanwhile, the most dishonest "journalist" out there, Keith Olbermann, now makes $7.5 million annually. At least NBC, who is laying off staffers faster than Citigroup, has its priorities straight.

Jaguars (-2.5) over Vikings: Again, any state that even comes close to putting Al Franken in the Senate does not deserve to have a playoff team.

Titans (-4.5) over Jets: The combined ages of the starting quarterbacks (74) is higher than Hillary's will be (69) when she finally runs for President again in '16 now that she's  taking the SOS job in the Obama Administration. Given that Hil has already survived a hail of gunfire in Bosnia and once practically made-out with Arafat's wife, it's easy to see why the media is hailing this as a fine choice.

Saints (-2.5) over Packers: Cheeseheads need this one to keep pace with the Bears and Vikings. Speaking of cheese, future Senatorial candidate Chris Matthews now admits he was "partial" toward Obama during the election season. That's almost as obvious as his endorsement and abuse of Madonna's "Blond Ambition" hair coloring products.

Bears (-8.5) over Rams: Speaking of Ayers, who doesn't follow his hometown Bears because they named their stadium "Soldier Field", it's not the part that a prestigious learning institution like Georgetown would even invite a terrorist scumbag to speak at their school that is unsettling. Instead, does anyone find it creepy that a 63-year-old man still wears a friggin' earring?

Browns (-3.5) over Texans: Brady is back! Ok, not Tom Brady, but Brady Quinn, who was shaky in Cleveland's win over the Bills last Monday night. Backup Derek Anderson, who only made the Pro Bowl last year, has fallen off the map faster than Chuck Todd, the John Madden of the electoral telestrator.

Cowboys (-10) over 49ers: Romo wasn't the Romo we've come to know over the past two years, thanks to his pinkie injury limiting his grip on the ball. But he still got Dallas a much-needed win in Washington last Sunday night. The Dallas home schedule is cake from here on in outside of one against the Giants (who may have clinched the division by the time they visit), and the first serving of dessert served on a silver platter comes in the form of the once-proud Niners, whose claim to fame now is a coach who pulls down his pants during halftime speeches. That sound you just heard is Bill Walsh turning over in his grave...

Broncos (-9.5) over Raiders: Remember when this used to be THE game of the week? The only Raiders having a good season are those hijacking oil tankers and military cargo ships off of Kenya, who make the arsenal of JeMarcus Russell and Darren McFadden look like they're using BB guns.

Seahawks (+3.5) over Redskins: Is it me? Or do these two teams have some kind of contract to play each other every year like USC and Notre Dame do? No history, no rivalry, just one of those odd quirks in the NFL schedule. Anyway, Jim Zorn returns to Seattle to take on his former team. It's a game you absolutely can't miss! Actually, yes you can. Really. It's OK...

Chargers (-2.5) over Colts: (See: Seahawks at Redskins and the playing each other every year thing). Omit: The part about being allowed to skip watching this compelling matchup. Chargers may have the most difficult schedule outside of Cris Collinsworth, who only appears on Showtime's Inside the NFL on Wednesdays, The NFL Network on Thursdays and with NBC's cast of thousands on Football Night in America on Sunday nights. The former Bengals receiver is even slated to serve as color commentator for Madden 09's video game. Now that's when you know you've arrived...

Eagles (+3) over Ravens: Even rookie Joe Flacco says that he is well aware that if faced with an overtime scenario against Cincinnati that he’d try to force the issue to avoid a dreaded tie. The same couldn't be said last week for Donovan McNabb, who said after Sunday's 13-13 abomination that he didn't know ties existed in the NFL. This may explain why McNabb treats every 2-minute drill like there are 10 minutes left on the clock...There's always time in the 6th quarter for a comeback!

Pats (-3) over Dolphins: Matt Cassel accounted for 462 total yards in a tough loss to the Jets last week. Not bad for a guy who before this year hadn't started a game since High School. The Dolphins will counter with part-time QB Ronnie Brown using the "Wildcat" offense, who before this season hadn't played this much time taking snaps since, like, well, ever...

Falcons (-1) over Panthers: Jake Delhomme has thrown for a total of about 200 yards over the past two weeks against two of the worst teams in the NFL (Raiders, Lions). The Falcons will play well for Senator Saxby Chambliss, who may attend the game to meet-and-greet fans in a bid to get more votes for his runoff. The possibility of Chambliss being there actually isn't that big of a deal...I was just itching to work the name "Saxby" somewhere into this column.

Bucs (-8.5) over Lions: Word is that Detroit owner William Clay Ford Jr. will use most of the bailout money the auto industry may or may not receive to buy a real football team.