Alternative Picks: Week 16, 2020

Merry Christmas everyone.

I’d be surprised if anyone is really sitting on the edge of the seats waiting for this one, so I’ll keep it brief. It was a week of ties – Andy and Tony were dead even in both alternative and straight-up picks. That allows Andy to maintain his lead.

I’d rather be sleeping than writing at the moment, so without further ado:

1) Andy: Chiefs over Falcons – Atlanta has given up a lot of points to a lot of teams with fewer offensive weapons than Kansas City has. Even if the Falcons score some points, they can’t keep up here.
2) Tony: Browns over Jets – It’s just the Browns luck that in the year they finally win 10 games for the first time since 2007, the AFC is so good that if they manage to lose the last two games, they could find themselves on the outside looking in. Fortunately for them, they play the Jets in Week 15–a team that managed to disappoint their fan base by winning Week 14, very possibly costing themselves the first pick in the draft.
3) Tony: Bears over Jaguars – The Bears don’t really have anything to brag about from beating the Vikings, but they should be able to keep the pressure on the Arizona Cardinals for the last playoff spot with a win over the Jaguars…who suddenly find themselves in the perfect spot to get that first overall pick.
4) Andy: Ravens over Giants – Wow. The Bears are still in the postseason race. That’s pathetic. And a sign of just what a money grab this season’s playoff expansion is. Baltimore’s offense appeared to find itself Thursday against Cleveland. If they can keep that up, it’s hard to envision New York even coming close to sticking with the Browns.
5) Tony: Buccaneers over Lions – Realistically, the Lions checked out weeks ago–they wanted to get that first win after Matt Patricia was fired to prove he was the problem, but most of the guys on the Lions that are good enough to be around next year are already thinking about just that.
6) Andy: Texans over Bengals – Houston isn’t as bad as its bad record. Pittsburgh win aside, Cincinnati, minus Joe Burrow, is as bad as its record, maybe worse.
7) Tony: Saints over Vikings – The Saints were likely in a no-win situation yesterday in starting Taysom Hill or Drew Brees against the Chiefs, but Brees can get his confidence fully back against the Vikings next week.
8) Andy: Bills over Patriots – Huh. I’m surprised by your last pick, not so much because I think it’s wrong, but because of the lengths you’ll go to in order to avoid picking Vikings games. Oh well. Buffalo looks to be the team to end New England’s stranglehold on the AFC East and also appears to be peaking as the playoffs approach. New England … it was a great run, but it’s clearly over.
9) Tony: Cardinals over 49ers – Yeah, sticking with my long-standing traditions hasn’t worked well in any of our picks this year, so figured I’d mix it up a bit with the Vikings game. Here, the Cards are fighting for the 7th seed, while the 49ers just want to get to 2021 without losing any more players to big injuries. Nick Mullens may have been injured late in the Dallas game too, so CJ Beathard could really make this one lopsided.
10) Andy: Dolphins over Raiders – So … clearly there is a danger here that Miami, fresh off a win over New England, could have a letdown. But the Las Vegas Raiders have tanked almost as bad as the Las Vegas casinos in COVID. Miami, playing for the playoffs, wins.
11) Tony: Seahawks over Rams – There’s only two ways you come off a loss to the Jets…you realize your season is on the brink, and you pull it back together, or you realize you lost to a team that was basically trying to lose, and spiral out of control. I really doubt the team that you want to face when trying to figure out which way your team is going to react is the Seahawks.
12) Andy: Titans over Packers – Green Bay has had a nasty habit this season of letting lesser teams stay in games. They lost to Minnesota. Carolina, after being down 21-3, made last week a one-score game. Tennessee’s defense is mediocre, but Derrick Henry attacks the weakest spot of the Packers’ defense and if they can stay in, they might be able to pull it off in the end.
13) Tony: Football Team over Panthers – Hard to see the Panthers not shutting down CMC for the rest of the season at this point, and the Panthers are coming off three losses, and 8 of their last 9. Washington isn’t great, but they can beat the Panthers.
14) Andy: Chargers over Broncos – Neither of these teams are good, but L.A. is not good with Justin Herbert, which puts them in better shape than Denver, which is not good with Drew Lock.
15) Tony: Colts over Steelers – People were saying the Steelers were overrated all season, even when they were 11-0. Now they sit at 11-3, with an ugly losses to the Football Team, Bills and hapless Bengals. Is their beat-up defense enough to get past the 10-4 Colts, who are wisely relying less & less on Philip Rivers as the season progresses?
16) Andy: Cowboys over Eagles – This should be the ultimate “who cares” game at this point, but oddly, it still has playoff ramifications. Both teams have been marginally better the last few weeks. I think Dallas is more marginally better than Philadelphia. I’m also usually wrong.

Again, we tied across the board this week. Pretty good week. Yay, us.

Straight-up: