Tuesday, December 28, 2010

NFL: Week 16 Pick Results

In order to avoid having the power rankings, pick results, APR vs ESPN, and next weeks picks all posted in the space of about 12 hours, I'm going to put the pick results up now. The results are, of course, pending the result of the Tuesday night game, and I will update this post when that game is final. Update: it's done.

Winning teams in bold.

Unanimous Picks (6-7)

Right

Patriots @ Bills
Ravens @ Browns
Colts @ Raiders
Panthers @ Steelers
Seahaks @ Buccaneers
Giants @ Packers

Wrong

Cowboys @ Cardinals
As bad as the Cardinals have been this season, they have managed to take advantage when their opponents have made mistakes. The Cowboys spotted the Cardinals 21 points on a couple pick-6es and a blown coverage for a touchdown, which was more than the Cowboys could make up for.
Texans @ Broncos
For the first half, the Broncos offensive output was an interception and four punts. But apparently someone forgot to tell the Texans this was one of those "60 minute" games. In the second half, the Broncos had four drives of 71+ yards, resulting in 3 touchdowns and a field goal. An ugly result for a defense that has struggled all year long.
Chargers @ Bengals
The Chargers' offense doesn't work nearly as well when Antonio Gates is out. Combine a struggling offense with a bad special teams performance (Mike Scifres averaged less than 32 yards a punt), and the Chargers just didn't have enough to beat even the lowly Bengals.
Redskins @ Jaguars
Maurice Jones-Drew was out with a knee injury, which is not good news for the Jaguars offense, which barely managed 17 points. Even that might have been enough, except David Garrard threw two costly interceptions—the first gave the Redskins a short field for a touchdown, the second gave the Redskins the game-clinching field goal in overtime.
Lions @ Dolphins
The Dolphins had a 10 point lead with 4:49 left in the game. And then... well, then the Dolphins finished exactly like you would expect a team with a 1-6 (now 1-7) home record: a defensive breakdown, two interceptions and 2:24 later, the Lions had a 7-point lead, and the Dolphins were unable to recover.
Saints @ Falcons
The Falcons offense just never got going in this game. Matt Ryan passed for just 148 yards, and Michael Turner rushed for 48 yards, mostly on one carry. Throw in a couple lost fumbles, and the Saints had enough to come away with a win.
Vikings @ Eagles
The Eagles just face-planted this game. Michael Vick fumbled twice, threw an interception, and got sacked 6 times. The defense gave up three drives of 60+ yards, all ending in a score. Shocking, considering this is a playoff team facing an injured Adrian Peterson, and a rookie quarterback getting his first start.

Split (APR: 1-2 SRS: 1-2 Line: 3-0)

49ers (APR) @ Rams (SRS, Line)
The 49ers offense consisted of two big plays: a 78 yard punt return for a touchdown, and a 60 yard touchdown pass. Their defense wasn't good enough to make that hold.
Jets (SRS) @ Bears (APR, Line)
I've got nothing here. These teams are both supposed to have good defenses, right? Although, it's not the first time for either team to give up 30+ points this season...
Titans (APR, SRS) @ Chiefs (Line)
Part of this was a defensive breakdown for the Titans—they were down 24-0 halfway through the 2nd quarter, which made it a lot harder to play their preferred style of ball-control offense. The other part was, even when the game was close, the Titans offense struggled to move the ball.

Totals

This
Week
This
Season
%
APR 7-9124-100-055.4%
APR VH 7-9119-105-053.1%
SRS 7-9130- 94-058.0%
SRS VH 9-7119-104-153.3%
Line 9-7145- 78-064.7%