The Week 13.5 Pick

A quick announcement in the wake of Monday night’s Eagles-Panthers game: Going forward, Jake Delhomme will be known as Jake Del-overrated.

Panther Nation has grown tired of his late-game blunders and they’ve been calling for John Fox to yank him in favor of Chris Weinke, hoping he’ll provide a Romo-esque spark. Two things warrant mentioning here. One, Chris Weinke is not Tony Romo, nor should similar results be expected. Two, the Panthers have held a fourth quarter lead in five of their six losses, meaning they could, in theory, be 11-1 instead of 6-6. Del-overrated has turned it over at Grossman-like levels in more than one of those losses. Despite this, pulling him now might not be the best solution (see point number one).

As for today, it’s another Thursday with another NFL game that exactly five people will get to watch. Needless to say, I will not be one of them.

Thursday, December 7, 2006

The Match-up: Cleveland (+7.5) @ Pittsburgh
The Skinny: Both teams come in decimated by injuries, as the Steelers may be without notables Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu, and the Browns could be forced to start Derek Anderson at quarterback in place of Charlie Frye. It was Anderson who led a fourth quarter rally against KC last week that ended up with the Browns winning in overtime. Could we be looking at yet ANOTHER quarterback controversy?
Straight Up: Pittsburgh
Against the Spread: Cleveland