Some crazy stuff happened in week 11, but overall, most things happened as they should have. A refreshing change in this current era of the NFL. The Members took advantage again by going with the popular picks and earning yet another weekly victory, besting the House 11 wins to 9. The Madden 09 Xbox 360 simulation fared ok with 8, but has slowly lost it’s season lead to the membership. The House now only has 2 weekly wins on the season, to the membership’s 8, with 1 tie… and only six to go. The House can only hope for a season tie at this point, a sharp drop off from two seasons ago, when no one in the country picked a better season of games.
The results to-date are:
| * | The House | Madden Sim | Members |
| Week 11: | 9-6 | 8-7 | 11-4 |
| 2008 Overall: | 85-74 | 94-65 | 98-61 |
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The Challenge
Two House picks were not popular with the membership in week 11, and they were correct on both counts. 80% voted against the House pick of the Chiefs over the Saints. I don’t think it was a very bad pick at all. The Saints are floundering and had to travel to a very difficult place to play in Kansas City. Plus, the Chiefs have one of the hotter hands in the NFL right now, QB Tyler Thigpen. The result certainly isn’t shocking, but I thought K.C. would have put up a better fight.
Disagree #2 was Jacksonville over Tennessee. This is the time of year I like to pick against the perfect team when they travel to a division rival to play. Again, it didn’t happen. I think the problem with the House this season is that it is using logic to pick these games.
The coin flip will be making it’s debut next week…
We had four members tie with 13 wins this week, pretty impressive considering we threw one game out. Unfortunately, two of those members entered their picks AFTER the Thursday night game was started. So with 13 correct picks in week 11, and 98 on the year, member bgvince is our DVD prize pack winner.
Our other 13 game winner, with 89 correct picks on the season, jfgormly receives this week’s game ball and is awarded a Nerf Pro Grip Football.
Tune back in on Thursday morning to once again agree or disagree with the House’s NFL week 12 picks and predictions.
The League
Week 11 in the 2008 NFL Season was more about what didn’t happen rather than what did. What didn’t happen is that neither the Philadelphia Eagles nor the Cincinnati Bengals could score in overtime, ending their game in a rare tie. What also didn’t happen was that many of the Eagles players, including Donovan McNabb, had any clue that an NFL game ends in a tie after one overtime period. There is speculation that Head Coach Andy Reid wasn’t too clear on the rule either. Maybe McNabb’s coach on his new team next season can bring him up to speed on the subject.
The other event that didn’t happen, but really did happen, but officially didn’t happen, was that the Steelers ended their game against the Chargers with a touchdown. For some reason, the officials reviewed the meaningless play and charged San Diego with an illegal forward pass, ending the game prior to the Pittsburgh score. Immediately after the game, the NFL announced that it was an incorrect call. What’s the big deal, it was a meaningless touchdown right? Tell that one to the people owed $64 million dollars by legal bookmakers in Vegas. The decision reeks of a fix. If that call was made in the NBA, congress would be involved already.
Coming out and admitting that the referees blew calls doesn’t help anybody. The NFL officiating crews, and the team in charge of handing out player fines, have been an absolute disgrace this season. I’m going to throw my suggestion out there once again: add an official to the crew that spends the entire game in the booth and reviews plays in real time. The viewers at home see the replays and how bad the calls are instantly, sometimes we see it several times while the refs are still “conferencing”, so why can’t the NFL start taking advantage of that technology. Maybe it makes too much sense.
Fantasy Land
For the first time this year, Tom Brady leads the pack in fantasy points. Wait, thant’s not Tom Brady? Did anyone notice?
This week’s bunch is a scary-looking lot.
The top fantasy performances in week 11 were:
Matt Cassel
Quarterback – New England Patriots
In 34-31 win loss to the New York Jets
– 30/51 for 400 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT. 8 carries for 62 yards.
Marshawn Lynch
Running Back – Buffalo Bills
In 29-27 loss to the Cleveland Browns
– 23 carries for 119 yards. 10 catches for 58 yards, 1 TD.
T.J. Houshmandzadeh
Wide Receiver – Cincinnati Bengals
In 13-13 tie with the Philadelphia Eagles
– 12 catches for 149 yards, 1 TD.
Anquan Boldin
Wide Receiver – Arizona Cardinals
In 26-20 win over the Seattle Seahawks
– 13 catches for 186 yards.
Joseph Addai
Running Back – Indianapolis Colts
In 3-27 win over the Houston Texans
– 22 carries for 105 yards, 1 TD. 4 catches for 48 yards, 1 TD.
To review the Week 11 picks, visit the Beat the House main picks page. The week 12 picks and predictions will be up early Thursday morning. Make sure you get your picks in early to move up the leaderboard and get another shot at beating the house. Check in often, the board can drastically change over the remainder of the football season.
Stay tuned to see who will be named the Visionman Players of the Week and if any members have won the gaming PC this week. We’ll update you as soon as the players of the week are announced.
For all other NFL and sports updates, check out the TMRzoo Sports Zone.
See you next week.
