Week 12 NFL Preview & Pick 'Em Update

There's nothing like Thanksgiving Day. Food, football, and family just make it a good day all around. Well...at least the food and football do [rimshot]. Seriously, what is better than turkey, pie, and football?

This week, your Houston Texans take on the fanbase's most hated rival - the Tennessee Titans. I feel like I really don't need to say much about this game. Titans-Texans? Fair amount of Tennessee fans in Texas and a fair portion of Houston fans hate Tennessee owner Bud Adams for taking the Oilers away. It's always a heated environment around these parts. Of course, it may be more heated in Tennessee as Titans fans square off with Vince Young fanboys. At the very least, you know Mario Williams is somewhere laughing.

It's Week 12, so you know the drill: Jump. NFL Preview. BRB Pick 'Em League Update.

New England Patriots (8-2) @ Detroit Lions (2-8) (Thursday 11/25 at 11:30 am CST)
The Lions have lost six straight Thanksgiving games by an average score of 35.5-12.3. Even with the improved play and overall better home performance this season, the Patriots should win easily. Patriots win 31-16.

New Orleans Saints (7-3) @ Dallas Cowboys (3-7) (Thursday 11/25 at 3:15 pm CST)
The Cowboys have responded well to the coaching change, but the Saints are starting to roll. Plus, New Orleans is healthy. Drew Brees could be too much for Dallas' secondary. Saints win 34-20.

Cincinnati Bengals (2-8) @ New York Jets (8-2) (Thursday 11/25 at 7:20 pm CST)
The Jets owned the Bengals last year in back-to-back games. Even if the Jets have played a lot of football lately and need a breather, they'll wipe the floor with the Bengals. Jets win 31-17.

Tennessee Titans (5-5) @ Houston Texans (4-6) (Sunday 11/28 at Noon CST)
Implosion Bowl 1! The teams enter this game with a combined seven-game losing streak. There's player controversy in Tennessee and coaching hot seats in Houston. The winner gains relief while the loser starts to feel it. Two words: Rusty Smith. Titans vs Texans coverage Texans win 30-24.

Green Bay Packers (7-3) @ Atlanta Falcons (8-2)
I'm still not sold in Atlanta as elite. That would change if they could slow down the Packers. Behind Aaron Rodgers and Clay Matthews, the Packers have shown they can beat elite teams in a shoot-out or defensive struggle. They'll do it on the road against a playoff team. Packers win 24-20.

Carolina Panthers (1-9) @ Cleveland Browns (3-7)
Carlina is more like it - no 'o.' Browns all day here. Browns win 23-9.

Pittsburgh Steelers (7-3) @ Buffalo Bills (2-8)
To the Steelers fan from last week: I may have gone 11-5, but I apologize for picking the Raiders. I'll make up for it this week. Steelers steamroll struggling S-Buffalo. Steelers win 41-10.

Jacksonville Jaguars (6-4) @ New York Giants (6-4)
Under Tom Coughlin, the Giants usually fall a bit in the second half of the season. Currently, they're on a two-game losing streak, while Jacksonville rolls in on the heels of three straight wins. Conventional wisdom says take the defensively-superior Giants, but these teams are headed in opposite directions - especially with New York wide receivers dropping like flies. Jaguars win 20-17.

Minnesota Vikings (3-7) @ Washington Redskins (5-5)
New coach = Wins? I expect a very big effort from Minnesota to show why Brad Childress was chilled out for the season. The Redskins are consistently inconsistent, so expect a loss after a big road win. Vikings win 23-10.

Miami Dolphins (5-5) @ Oakland Raiders (5-5) (Sunday 11/28 at 3:05 pm CST)
Road warriors versus home defenders. Both teams are coming off embarrassing situations and quarterback injuries. I like Oakland a bit more here since they're playing at home on the west coast. Raiders win 26-20.

Kansas City Chiefs (6-4) @ Seattle Seahawks (5-5)
The Chiefs have lost all four games on the road, while Seattle's won 3 of their 4 at home. The Seahawks are a completely different team with the 12th Man. Seahawks win 24-13.

St. Louis Rams (4-6) @ Denver Broncos (3-7) (Sunday 11/28 at 3:15 pm CST)
The Rams can play some defense and Denver cannot. I hope someone is polishing Sam Bradford's Offensive Rookie of the Year Award. Rams win 24-16.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-3) @ Baltimore Ravens (7-3)
The Bucs are making the most of their situation, but they are not in Baltimore's league of elite teams. Ravens win 27-13.

Philadelphia Eagles (7-3) @ Chicago Bears (7-3)
The Bears have been a surprise, but Michael Vick has been phenonmenal. Why pick against him at this point? Eagles win 27-16.

San Diego Chargers (5-5) @ Indianapolis Colts (6-4) (Sunday 11/28 at 7:20 pm CST)
In their last five meetings, San Diego is 3-2 with two wins in Indianapolis. The average score? Chargers 25.6, Colts 23.8. San Diego is surging with three straight victories, while Indianapolis continues to play closer games than expected. The Chargers are a better team than the Colts at this point. Chargers win 31-27.

San Francisco 49ers (3-7) @ Arizona Cardinals (3-7) (Monday 11/29 at 7:30 pm CST)
This may be the worst Monday Night game in history. That makes me a bit sad to say as someone who follows the Niners. What a stinker. The Niners haven't won away from Candlestick, so why take them here? Oh, right, Arizona has no offense. 49ers win 13-10.


BRB Pick 'Em League Update
Very impressive week for the BRB Pickers. Thirty-seven Pickers had 10+ games correct. Another seven were at .500 or above. That's easily the best league performance of any week. As impressive as that was, two men ended the week with 13 correct picks. Unfortunately for pvavocalist, he was short by 14 points to the Week 11 winner of the Andre Johnson Award for Ass-Kicking and Excellence...CowboyH8ter.

Week 11 winner CowboyH8ter has been at the top of the standings for the entire season. It was only a matter of time before he won himself an Andre. What makes CowboyH8ter's win more impressive is that this burnt orange/silver-and-blue hating individual was mentioned in the Charley last week for a 4-10 week. From outhouse to penthouse for the Sprint user in Austin, CowboyH8ter's 123 point week sets an all-time high...in other words...it's the BEST POINTS WEEK IN BRB PICK EM HISTORY! What more can you say about CowboyH8ter's week than that?

CowboyH8ter scored more than anyone else, and that's how you win games, according to Steve Tasker. Let's all congratulate and raise a beer to the Week 11 BRB Pick 'Em Winner of the Andre Johnson Award for Ass-Kicking and Excellence - CowboyH8ter.

"Should've Put Money On It" Game of the Week: 45 out of 46 BRB Pickers called Kansas City over Arizona.

"We Know Nothing" Game of the Week: 9 out of 46 BRB Pickers proved my rule wrong and correctly called Buffalo beating Cincinnati (and freeing up Marvin Lewis for a coordinator job in a few months). Props to Jordann, Rip Jersey, pvavocalist, Distant_Texans_Fan, Southern Lion, Nolander, RED56, .Bonzo, and texanmaniac.

Sippin' on Battle Red Drank: Distant_Texans_Fan, DilloTex, HoustonTransplant, nolander papabear, RED56, Shake, Taco Joe, txknight, texanmaniac, and TexanKevin all put down 16 maxmium confidence points on the Texans.

Hidin' Out In the Back of the Meeting Hall:  Seeing as over half the league picked against Houston, it'd be easier to say who else went along with the Drank sippers: chrisd21, .Bonzo, ketchuppants7, ChadiliacSHSU, peytonsurdaddy, Jordann, Cubic, killtacular, NWestTexan, and the lovely LisaK.

The Rex Grossman "F**k It, I'm Goin' Deep" Award: Chris couldn't make it 6-for-8 on the Rexy. NWestTexan put 12 points on 7-point underdog Washington to send Tennessee to their third straight loss. Gutsy and carrying on the Titan hate. Nice.

The David Carr Misguided Faith Award: Jaws and .Bonzo both picked Carolina to beat Baltimore with average points. Picking Carolina against anyone is cause for receiving the Carr.

The Charley Casserly Decision Making Award: .Bonzo needed to make a move and chose all 16 underdogs. Sadly, only four underdogs won on Sunday giving him the Charley. It's risky, it's gutsy, and I understand the reasoning...but it's easily the worst performance in a stellar week for pickers. Don't worry, Charley will console you.

BRBers with the best weekly record: CowboyH8ter (AJ Open Downfield) and pvavocalist (Ekspartzz) 13-3.
BRBer with the most weekly points: CowboyH8ter (AJ Open Downfield) 123 points.
Overall best record: SATexan (Cake) 92-52 leads by 2 games over riversmccown (Glover Quin Never Allows TD's) and CowboyH8ter (AJ Open Downfield).
Overall points leader: SATexan (Cake) 874 points leads by 34 points over riversmccown (Glover Quin Never Allows TD's).

Top-Five BRB Pick 'Em League (by record)
1. SATexan (Cake) 102-58; 874 points.
t-2. riversmccown (Glover Quin Never Allows TD's) 100-60; 840 points.
t-2. CowboyH8ter (AJ Open Downfield) 100-60; 827 points.
t-4. Diehard Chris (Ladies Love Leinart) 99-61; 810 points.
t-4. BigTexBD (BigTexBD) 99-61; 807 points.

Don't forget to submit your picks for Thursday's game and the rest by Sunday, BRB Pickers. Congrats once again CowboyH8ter! Enjoy this weekend's slate of football and GO TEXANS! Happy Thanksgiving!