As one would expect in a week where an 0-13 team finally wins, and a 13-0 team finally loses, picks last week were amongst the worst we’ve seen all season—still, when you’re 11-5 (Tony) and 10-6 (Andy) overall, that’s not a terrible week.

That puts us at 150-74 (Andy) and 149-75 (Tony) for the season, which  puts us on par with many national “experts”.

This week, four games are picked differently—about as many as we’ve ever picked separately, and probably enough to give one of us a solid lead heading into Week 17.  Or, if things go as normal, we’ll split and still be just one game apart…

Thursday, December 22nd Andy Tony
Houston @ Indianapolis Houston Houston
Saturday, December 24th
Miami @ New England New England New England
Jacksonville @ Tennessee Tennessee Tennessee
Tampa Bay @ Carolina Carolina Carolina
Cleveland @ Baltimore Baltimore Baltimore
Arizona @ Cincinnati Cincinnati Cincinnati
Minnesota @ Washington Washington Washington
Denver @ Buffalo Denver Denver
St. Louis @ Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pittsburgh
Oakland @ Kansas City Oakland Kansas City
NY Giants @ NY Jets NY Jets NY Jets
San Diego @ Detroit San Diego Detroit
Philadelphia @ Dallas Philadelphia Dallas
San Francisco @ Seattle Seattle San Francisco
Sunday, December 25th
Chicago @ Green Bay Green Bay Green Bay
Monday, December 26th
Atlanta @ New Orleans New Orleans New Orleans

Game of the Week: Atlanta @ New Orleans – Finally, a Monday night game that ESPN can’t complain about. There are finally plenty of matchups that could be chosen as Game of the Week heading into the playoffs stretch—New York @ New York, Chicago @ Green Bay, Philadelphia @ Dallas. But the Falcons ride a two game winning streak, and 4-1 over the last five into New Orleans to play the division leading Saints, who have won six in a row, and have a quarterback on track to beat the single season passing record—with another week like he had against the Vikings, possibly even in this game.

Game of the Weak: Minnesota @ Washington – Almost every game this week has at least one team in the playoffs, looking to make the playoffs, or working to build on success in the 2011 season. That’s what makes this game stand out. Yes, the Redskins are coming off of a victory over the Giants—but their season has been marred by injuries, suspensions, and having to choose each week between Rex Grossman and John Beck as a starting QB. The Vikings, meanwhile, need to win one of their last two to avoid setting a franchise record for futility, and need to win out to not tie their record for futility, set in 1984 in the team’s lone season under Les Steckel. Now many fans are starting to wonder if Les(lie) Frazier will suffer the same consequences as Steckel, and coach just one season.