Atul’s Survivor Pick of the Week: Pittsburgh Steelers
The Raiders want to lose out and win the Nick Bosa sweepstakes, right? So I go for the Steelers (and yes, I know picking against the Raiders with an eye to top overall pick has already failed me once). The Niners, by the way, allow me to also offer up the Broncos by the same logic. My play of largest point spread failed miserably last week with the “where did that come from” victory by the Cardinals (forget about simply covering), but the Chargers look like a “safe” play this week too for anyone still having them at their disposal.
On other fronts, division and playoff positioning is getting tight. The Saints and Cowboys teamed to gift the Rams back the top overall seed in the NFC, and they just may hold on to it. A critical date this very Sunday with the Bears awaits them, and a victory there, I imagine, locks it up for them. More interesting are some of the divisional races, like the NFC East, AFC North, and NFC North. The Bears are still in the drivers seat, but a Vikings victory on the road this week would crate a quick shift in that division of an undesired flavor. That loss last weekend was unpleasant to begin with, losing in OT hurts no matter how you look at it. Granted a backup QB, but a game they have to have, and they lost. Period. The Giants winning that game was also comical, as they effectively are OUT on the Nick Bosa sweepstakes (more to come on that momentarily). What of these wild card races? Panthers out? Broncos in? Colts out? So many questions to be addressed – and this week may well hold the keys!
Nick Bosa? well, I have to imagine he is going to be a Raider, 49er, or Jet come May 2019. The Jets need to lose this Sunday to the Bills to knock the Bills out of any glimmer of contention for that top pick, and the Raiders and 49ers also need to win one more each for them to leapfrog to the top spot. So that leaves us with the Raiders of 49ers as the most likely to win this dubious race. I still pick the Raiders – they are motivated to replace Mack with Bosa. They pooched with a win a week back, but I think they got lucky and will overcome the unwarranted victory with a strong of losses to close out the (un)memorable return of Chucky!
Happy Football Weekend folks!
SU = Straight Up, SU-C = Confidence Index (Straight Up), ATS = Against the Spread
| Atul (SU) | Atul (SU-C) | Atul (ATS) | Larry (SU) | Larry (SU-C) | Larry (ATS) | |
| Jacksonville Jaguars at Tennessee Titans (-5) | Titans | 2 | Titans | Titans | 6 | Titans (-5) |
| New York Jets at Buffalo Bills (-3.5) | Bills | 1 | Bills | Bills | 4 | Bills (-3.5) |
| Carolina Panthers at Cleveland Browns (Pick ‘Em) | Panthers | 3 | Panthers | Browns | 2 | Browns (PK) |
| Atlanta Falcons at Green Bay Packers (-6) | Packers | 6 | Packers | Packers | 9 | Packers (-6) |
| Baltimore Ravens at Kansas City Chiefs (-8.5) | Chiefs | 12 | Chiefs | Chiefs | 14 | Chiefs (-8.5) |
| New England Patriots (-8.5) at Miami Dolphins | Patriots | 9 | Patriots | Patriots | 15 | Patriots (-8.5) |
| New Orleans Saints (-9.5) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Saints | 13 | Saints | Saints | 13 | Saints (-9.5) |
| New York Giants at Washington Redskins (-2.5) | Redskins | 7 | Redskins | Giants | 7 | Giants (+2.5) |
| Indianapolis Colts at Houston Texans (-4.5) | Texans | 11 | Texans | Texans | 10 | Texans (-4.5) |
| Cincinnati Bengals at San Diego Chargers (-14.5) | Chargers | 14 | Bengals | Chargers | 16 | Bengals (+14.5) |
| Denver Broncos (-6) at San Francisco 49ers | Broncos | 15 | Broncos | Broncos | 11 | Broncos (-6) |
| Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys (-4) | Cowboys | 4 | Cowboys | Cowboys | 3 | Cowboys (-4) |
| Pittsburgh Steelers (-11) at Oakland Raiders | Steelers | 16 | Steelers | Steelers | 12 | Steelers (-11) |
| Detroit Lions (-1.5) at Arizona Cardinals | Lions | 5 | Lions | Cardinals | 5 | Cardinals (+1.5) |
| Los Angeles Rams (-4) at Chicago Bears | Rams | 10 | Rams | Bears | 1 | Bears (+4) |
| Minnesota Vikings at Seattle Seahawks (-3) | Seahawks | 8 | Seahawks | Seahawks | 8 | Seahawks (-3) |
| Week 14 | 0/136 | 0/136 | ||||
| Overall | 111-51-1 | 788/1022 | 77-50-4 | 96-51-0 | 705/902 | 65-46-3 |