Alternative picks: Week 13, 2019

Gotta hand it to Tony – he’s not going to go down without a fight. After getting shellacked in week 10 he’s pulled off two consecutive convincing wins. Andy’s still winning though.

Andy missed two of his top three picks last week to fall behind. Can he correct course? Here goes:

1) Tony: Panthers over Washington – Some big lines this week, but few that I trust as much as Vegas. Even this game…but Carolina isn’t the Lions.

2) Andy: Eagles over Dolphins – Yeah, Tony’s right. There aren’t a lot of games I like this week either. So, I’m going back to a strategy that worked for most of the first 10 weeks of the season – pick against the Dolphins. The Eagles have been a disappointment so far, but they’re still in the playoff mix and should be able to get right in this one.

3) Andy: Packers over Giants – After a good initial couple starts, Daniel Jones has slipped back big time. Green Bay had seven kinds of dog crap kicked out of them Sunday night against the 49ers. This feels like a pretty easy way for them to get back on track.

4) Tony: Saints over Falcons – Yes, the Falcons beat the Saints just a couple weeks ago, followed up by a win over the Panthers. And then an ugly loss to the Buccaneers. I don’t think the Saints let another one slip by them.

5) Andy: Chiefs over Raiders – Oakland has had a nice turnaround this year, but the Jets loss last week shows the team still has a ways to go. Even if the Raiders score some points in this one, I don’t think they can keep up with a Kansas City team that needs to get on a roll heading into the last quarter of the season.

6) Tony: Jets over Bengals – This isn’t me picking the Jets to win as much as it is picking the Bengals to lose. Maybe Andy Dalton gives them that spark to get off the schneid…or maybe they become the third team to ever lose 16 games in a season. Which is more likely?

7) Andy: Seahawks over Vikings – Since about week four, Kirk Cousins has been mostly excellent and along the way he’s started to put some of the negative narrative about his career to rest. That said, Seattle is the best team the Vikings will have faced this season. And it’s a prime time game. On Monday night. If Cousins can win this one, and play well in so doing, it will be time for his critics to get off his back. I’m not betting on it happening.

8) Tony: Buccaneers over Jaguars – We’re already pretty much making pick ’em calls…I think the Bucs offense will overpower the Jags defense, despite Jameis Winston undoubtedly throwing a couple more picks.

9) Andy: Patriots over Texans – Tony picked one of the league’s most unpredictable teams to beat one of the league’s other most unpredictable teams. I agree, we’re largely into pick ’em calls, but I’ll take one of the league’s most predictable teams over another of the league’s relatively unpredictable ones.

10) Tony: Chargers over Broncos – I may as well keep taking unpredictable teams…the remaining ones that seem like they should be most predictable have been anything but the last few weeks.

11) Andy: Rams over Cardinals – I’m going to chalk the Rams’ Monday nighter up to going against the league’s hottest team, the Ravens, and predict that they do a bit better against Arizona.

12) Tony: Bears over Lions – Speaking of teams with former “offensive genius” head coaches that have been exposed this season, Mitch Trubisky had season highs in yards passing (278) and yards rushing (18) in the Bears win over the Giants on Sunday, as they might finally be remembering how to take advantage of his few strengths–and his best overall game of the season was 3 weeks ago against Detroit.

13) Andy: Cowboys over Bills – Vegas has Dallas a comfortable favorite in this one. I don’t really buy it. Neither of these teams feels the need to win games they play against good teams. So, I predict a tie.

14) Tony: Ravens over 49ers – Neither Buffalo nor Dallas feels the need to win against good teams, which is why Buffalo wins that game. Meanwhile, in the game of the week, the 49ers will also face their first test of the season–they’re a good team, but they really haven’t played anyone yet, and in their biggest test to date came up short against the Seahawks.

15) Andy: Browns over Steelers – Yeah, in retrospect I may have overthought that last pick. I am looking forward to that Ravens/Niners game. Not this one though. Something called Devin Hodges is playing QB this week for the Steelers. Baker Mayfield has a chance to be the best QB on the field Sunday, but this isn’t exactly shaping up to be Bradshaw versus Sipe.

16) Tony: Titans over Colts – That leaves me with a game that shockingly may have playoff implications for both teams. Both teams are on the outside looking in right now, but when our picks come to fruition, the winner here will jump into the 6th seed–and I’m surprisingly going to give the nod to the Titans, with Derrick Henry running like a beast. If Marlon Mack were healthy, I’d possibly go the other way, but Jonathan Williams doesn’t have the same level of trust.

Tony has maintained a significant lead in straight up picks for several weeks now and he picked up another game last week.

And our picks for Thanksgiving weekend!!!