The House does it again… but it is just a little too late. For the third time in four weeks, the House posted a commanding win over the membership, this time by a whopping 4 correct picks. The score was 11 for the House to 7 for the members. The Madden 09 Xbox 360 simulation tied the membership in suckitude and also picked only 7 games out of 16 correctly. The House now has 5 weekly wins on the season, to the membership’s 10, with 1 tie… with a single week remaining.
The results to-date are:
| * | The House | Madden Sim | Members |
| Week 16: | 11-5 | 7-9 | 7-9 |
| 2008 Overall: | 138-101 | 132-107 | 147.5-91.5 |
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The Challenge
The membership did not like 5 of the House picks this week and, in a rarity this season, and the history of this competition, the membership was wrong with 4 of them. The lone membership win came Sunday Night, and in overtime… so it could have been a groundbreaking five for five for the House. Nevertheless, the House will quietly take it’s four wins.
Yeah right.
We had some close votes and some not so close votes this week… and some picks that I’m sure the membership were scratching their heads after reading. The House made two bold picks in Oakland beating the Texans and Seattle besting the playoff-seeking Jets. Houston just came off a big win over the top seeded Titans and were ripe for the picking as they headed into hostile Oakland. In the second big pick, a quick glance at the Jets’ schedule and how they fared on west coast trips this season made the upset pick easy… even against the 3-win, now 4-win, Seahawks.
The closer picks were Ravens over Cowboys, Bengals over Browns and Panthers over Giants. The Bengals/Browns game was a throw-away… who cares? The Browns have been in even a worse state than Cincinnati lately, so the House went with the Bengals. The other two games had heavy playoff implications. Dallas and Baltimore took a low scoring affair into the fourth quarter, where the floodgates broke open and they each scored 17 points a piece. The Ravens broke off two hug runs in the final four minutes to make the waning minutes of Texas Stadium painful ones.
The Giants hosting the Panthers was another close battle that even went into overtime. Carolina held the lead for most of the final three quarters, but in the end, the Giants running game proved unstoppable as New York tied it with a Brandon Jacobs run late in the fourth, then a huge Derrick Ward rush broke the game open in overtime and set up another Jacobs short TD. Member voting was very close on this pick with the final ending up slightly on the disagree side.
Even though the House made some great picks this week, it only picked a total of 11 correctly… still unacceptable for this late in the season.
The House wins so we are not awarding a DVD prize pack this week. However, we will issue a game ball. Hooch gets the Nerf Pro Grip Football for picking 11 right in a difficult week, and 138 on the season. Congrats, Hooch, but we only have one Dallas Cowboys’ ball left for you in the prize closet.
Tune back in on Wednesday morning to once again agree or disagree with the House’s NFL week 17 picks and predictions. Happy Holidays!
The League
The playoff picture was finally solidified a bit more in week 16, but there are still some spots up for grabs. In the AFC, the Titans did finally earn their #1seed by beating the Pittsburgh Steelers. It looks like the Steelers will get the #2 though. As for the other two AFC divisions, they remain there for the taking. The East is still up or grabs with the Dolphins and Patriots tied at 10-5 each. The Jets are still in the hunt too with the best division record and a chance to pull the East into a 3-way tie if the Patriots lose and they beat Miami next week. Miami wins the division with a win and on other help. Keep an eye on that race.
On the other coast the AFC West will be decided in a final contest between the Chargers and Broncos. The division has been dreadful all season long and no team from the West deserves a playoff spot. There are better wildcard teams in the conference than this division winner. Speaking of wildcard teams, the two losers of the AFC East and the Baltimore Ravens are all fighting for the final slot since the Colts already wrapped up the #5 seed. The Ravens’ destiny is in their own hands though. There are plenty of scenarios that can happen, it should be interesting.
As for the NFC, three divisions and the top two seeds have been decided as well. The Giants/Panthers game was for the top seed, and the Giants came away with that. The Vikings could have snuck in grabbed the #2, but they lost their contest to Atlanta and Carolina wrapped that slot up. The Cardinals have had their division wrapped up for a few weeks now and haven’t won since. They will most likely be the #4, but could possibly be the #3 if both Minnesota and Chicago lose in week 17. As for those two teams, they head into week 17 tied at 9-6 atop the division.
The Falcons have already earned one wildcard slot, but the seeding is still to be determined. Should the Cowboys win next week, and the Falcons lose, they’ll have a playoff spot as well as the #5 slot. The Bucaneers will take the final slot if they win and the Cowboys lose. There are still a few other scenarios, so look them up if you’re interested.
The road is almost over, just one more week to go and hopefully we’ll start seeing some great football.
Fantasy Land
Peyton Manning has made a rare appearance this year on the stud list, Matt Cassel seems to be a fixture here now.
Tune in next week for the top 5 fantasy studs of the year. Week 16’s boys (exclusive of Monday) were:
Philip Rivers
Quarterback – San Diego Chargers
In 41-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
– 21/31 for 287 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INT.
DeAngelo Williams
Running Back – Carolina Panthers
In 34-28 loss to the New York Giants
– 24 carries for 108 yards, 4 TD.
Matt Cassel
Quarterback – New England Patriots
In 47-7 win over the Arizona Cardinals
– 20/36 for 345 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INT.
Peyton Manning
Quarterback – Indianapolis Colts
In 31-24 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars
– 29/34 for 364 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INT.
Tyler Thigpen
Quarterback – Kansas City Chiefs
In 38-31 loss to the Miami Dolphins
– 20/41 for 320 yards, 2 TDs, 3 INT. 6 carries for 57 yards, 1 TD.
To review the Week 16 picks, visit the Beat the House main picks page. The week 17 and final picks and predictions will be up Wednesday morning. Make sure you get your picks in early to avoid the Holiday rush and make one last move up the leaderboard and get a final shot at beating the house. Even if you haven’t played yet, you are still eligible for the final weekly prize.
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.
