I did something – or let something happen – that impacted my annual Thanksgiving Day football watching which I still can’t believe. We scheduled doctors appointments for my kids in the middle of the day, and the kids’ doctor is out of town, as we haven’t changed doctors since we moved a few years back.
My wife said something to the effect of, “When do you want to book the kids’ appointments?” “A Thursday?” Me: “Sure, sure, any Thursday is good.” Any Thursday? I’m truly an idiot.
As a result, I was only able to catch the first half of the Green Bay Packers-Detroit Lions game (which perhaps was the better half), a smidgen of the Oakland Raiders-Dallas Cowboys game (daughter had soccer training that I help coach) and a sliver of the Pittsburgh Steelers-Baltimore Ravens game (hockey game; team short; couldn’t miss it). At least we won the hockey game in a wild finish, but I am disappointed to miss that Steelers-Ravens. It looked like an awesome tussle.
Last week we crowned our Champion in the Original Survivor Pool. Congrats Cacciatorini! Based on the sum of his entries in all prior pools we’ve ever run, he may have broken even now. Maybe. Ha ha.
When we had 7 alive entries going into Week 12, I did not expect a single winner to emerge from that group last week. Cacciatorini picked the New Orleans Saints on Thursday for the win, and went up against 4 Lions picks and 2 Chiefs picks on Sunday. They both lost games down to practically the last play. Cacciatorini rides into the sunset with the big prize in tow.
Over in the 2nd Half Survivor Pool – geez, has this one run down quickly! – we entered Week 12 with 14 alive entries and lost exactly half on the Lions, Houston Texans and one on the Packers.
We already have 5 of 7 alive picks through Week 13 thanks to the Lions and Cowboys wins on Thanksgiving. That leaves just cneilson and Steelers43 left to make it through Sunday or Monday and move on to Week 14.
With only two picks to go, does it make sense for me to give a Top 3? Not really. Not to mention pulling the top 2 picks from our database, which I normally do for the first two picks, is not very useful. Instead I’ll check out who these guys can pick, I won’t look at who they did pick, and I’ll pick who I think they should go with. Not that they should listen to me! They’ve got to this point on their own. This is for entertainment purposes only…
For Your Consideration
Here is who they’ve each picked so far:
Name
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
cneilson #3
SEA 
DAL
PIT
NYG
NO
Steelers43 #2
GB
SEA
NYG
ARI
BAL
New England Patriots at Houston Texans – If it was my money, I’d be jumping on the New England Patriots this week even though they travel to Houston and are coming off an emotional win against the Denver Broncos. The Texans are fading fast. Check that, they’ve faded.
Houston is a shell of the team we anticipated they’d be coming into the season, Head Coach Gary Kubiak is surely out the door at the end of the season, and we’re looking at a potential rebuild. Long live J.J. Watt, absolutely, but questions at quarterback and the wear and tear on their star running back is going to make for a long off-season of stressful decisions for their General Manager.
The Texans lost their last two games to the Jacksonville Jaguars and Oakland Raiders. This team doesn’t have enough fight to defeat the Patriots. The Pats came out guns a blazing in the second half against the Broncos. Tom Brady is still getting used to having all of his offensive weapons back and how to maximize their output. This is another stepping stone towards that as they gear into the final month before the playoffs. The defense has some issues due to lots of injuries to star players, but if they can handle Peyton Manning, they can handle the Texans right now.