NFL Picks: 2011 Season, Week 15

Andy gained one more game this week, by hitting the Atlanta/Carolina game in another solid week for both us, going 12-4 (me) and 13-3 (him).  Of course, this didn’t appear to be a difficult week to pick in the long run.

Three games separate us again this week—most likely the sink or swim week for me, with at least two considerable upsets needed for me to gain ground, in Indianapolis and Carolina, with Miami’s firing of Tony Sparano being the main reason for my choice of Buffalo over Miami.

Game of the Week: New England @ Denver – Tebowmania has almost reached the same level of annoyingness as Packermania (at least here in Minnesota).  But this will be his first true test—a team that can actually take apart the defense that is actually winning them games. Tebow will have to match Brady strike for strike, and while the Patriots defense is susceptible, I doubt in the long run Tebow can keep up. If Denver wins this one, it will have to be on Willis McGahee’s legs and a defense that will need to find a way to stop Wes Welker and Rob Gronkowski.

Game of the Weak: NY Jets @ Philadelphia – Conventional wisdom would say lopsided matchups like Green Bay/Kansas City or New Orleans/Minnesota would be worse games—but we’re going to go with the matchup between two of the bigger disappointments of the season.  True, the Jets have managed to claw back into a playoff spot (for now), but the play of Mark Sanchez has been uneven at best, and the Eagles have been downright terrible compared to the expectations of Philadelphia after the offseason. Give me Tennessee @ Indianapolis any day of the week.