The Prognosticator – Week 13

The Bears are for real and gaining respect each and every day. Yes I know it was a ridiculous field goal miss by the Bucs and a costly turnover on their own 2 that handed the game to the Bears but the Bears still earned that win. Thomas Jones has a real shot at doing something big here. The rest? Avoid like the bird flu.

Prediction: Bears 24 – Packers 17

Expect the Cowboys to pass well on the Giants since it takes a blind man to not notice the Giants are really good at stopping the run. Drew Bledoe, Terry Glenn and Keyshawn Johnson all make good plays. Parcells will load up his receiving group and find mismatches all day long. Bill Parcells and Tom Coughlin are best buds and this will be an emotionally charged game from the sidelines.

The Cowboys D has been playing well lately and they will challenge the Giants offense. An average day all around for your Giants.

Prediction: Cowboys 31 – Giants 23

The Vikings will run Mewelde Moore effectively and he makes a nice play this weekend. The Vikings under Brad Johnson suddenly look like a decent football team and a team that will provide some decent fantasy statistics to close out the season. Take note of Marcus Robinson’s recent play and grab him if you can.

The Lions just canned Steve Mariucci and it will take a few weeks/seasons to rebound from that move. Mooch was a popular coach with the players and as Dre Bly pointed out, they’re not too thrilled with the move. The better move would have been to send Matt Millen packing. All of us in fantasy land can tell you their drafts under Millen have just been dog bone stupid and that is where the blame truly lies.

Look for the Lions to do well in the air with Jeff Garcia to Roy Williams.

Prediction: Vikings 28 – Lions 17

Prediction: Dolphins 21 – Bills 14

The Saints will try to muster a ground game and Antowain Smith may get a couple of yards but nothing that warrants a start on your part.

Prediction: Buccaneers 23 – Saints 17

Prediction: Panthers 28 – Falcons 21

The Browns will do OK. They’ll run OK with Reuben Droughns and they’ll pass OK to a variety of receivers but that’s the problem. They will just be OK. They do have a decent shot at winning the game simply because they bring more balance to the table and they will keep it close. The Jaguars however will bring that steady dose of running that the Browns won’t be able to stop. Slow and steady wins the race.

Prediction: Jaguars 24 – Browns 20

Oh this will be a close game and yes, this will be a hard fought, tooth and nail, blood bath type event but the Bengals know to make it to the next level this year, a level they know they can attain, they have to prove it on Sunday.

The difference will be Carson Palmer, to Chad Johnson and TJ Houshmanzadeh. This time it clicks.

Prediction: Bengals 28 – Steelers 27

By the way, the Titans will have a solid day of passing and Steve McNair makes another solid play this week.

Prediction: Colts 35 – Titans 24

Rams 33 – Texans 27? What? SAY WHAT?

Ravens, you have my permission, let the dogs out. The only worthy play in this, and a guy not mentioned positively often, is Jamal Lewis.

Prediction: Ravens 23 – Texans 21

The 49’ers on the other hand will surprise with some decent running. Kevan Barlow? Yeah, that’s right, Kevan Barlow makes the box with some decent stats. Barlow would have tossed up 115 yards last week on the ground if it weren’t for a 75 yard TD run that was called back.

Prediction: 49’ers 24 – Cardinals 21

Here’s the confusing thing though. The Redskins are going to have a tough time passing as the Rams over compensate this week to shut down the Redskins passing game. What this does do is leave a lot of opportunity on the table for Clinton Portis.

Portis will run well but look for the Rams to explode up top and run it up on the Redskins.

Prediction: Rams 30 – Redskins 23

The Patriots are in a whole heap of trouble but even they can handle this one pretty easily.  It will just take a bunch of running and asking Tom Brady nicely not to lose the game for them.

Prediction: Patriots 28 – Jets 14

The Chiefs do wield a few weapons of their own especially in Larry Johnson but it’s Tony Gonzalez that will be in for the big one this day. In fact, the Chiefs offense revolves around both these guys and both are capable of putting a team on their back.

Prediction: Broncos 33 – Chiefs 26

Let me give you a little dose of what the other Fantasy Football sites are telling you to do. Play LaDainian Tomlinson, uh huh, uh huh, oh yeah, that’s the ticket, can’t touch this advice. On the Raiders side, Kerry Collins makes a solid play but not even le Prognos-ti-cator knows which receiver will be the target.

Prediction: Chargers 32 – Raiders 23

The surprise will be the play of Eagles fill in QB Mike McMahon, as he plays a lot better than last week and engineers a few drives into the end zone.

Prediction: Seahawks 28 – Eagles 23