Alternative Picks: Week 17, 2020

Well, we’re about to say goodbye to this God-forsaken hellhole of a year. Like many, we couldn’t be happier. On the other hand, that means saying goodbye to the 2020 NFL regular season, which has been weird at times, but has provided a significantly needed distraction at times from the real world.

Andy needs to get just one of his selections correct in week 17 in order to win the alternative picks.

Here are our last alternative picks for the 2021 season.

1) Andy: Colts over Jaguars – Indianapolis has had a very solid season, losing four games to playoff contenders. The lone exception was a bewildering opening week loss to Jacksonville, which has since lost 14 in a row and locked up the first pick in the 2021 draft. The Colts will avenge that defeat Sunday.
2) Tony: Ravens over Bengals – The Bengals little two game winning streak is cute. But not enough to stop the Ravens.
3) Tony: Buccaneers over the Falcons – The Falcons looked like maybe they’d figured some stuff out for a few games, but have lost the last four. No reason to believe the Bucs will go easy on them this week.
4) Andy: Saints over Panthers – New Orleans still has a mathematical chance at the overall one seed in the NFC. That should be enough to bring on inspired play.
5) Tony: Titans over Texans – While the score of the Tennessee/Green Bay game wasn’t close, they did have a few moments of still looking semi-competent. And the Texans aren’t the Packers.
6) Andy: Seahawks over 49ers – It doesn’t sound like Seattle is going to be resting its starters, taking its slim long-shot at the top seed seriously. The 49ers have been up and down this season, with injuries ravaging their chances at getting back to the Super Bowl. One would guess they will be looking forward to an opportunity to get done with this weird season and start looking toward 2021.
7) Tony: Packers over Bears – It’s going to be strange cheering for the Bears this weekend, but I’m used to not expecting the team I want to win to actually pull it off. Trying to figure out who I would actually like to see make the Super Bowl from the NFC isn’t easy … although at least the Eagles aren’t in the picture.
8) Andy: Browns over Steelers – Looking at the Vegas odds, one would have expected to see Green Bay picked well before now, but the late-season charge Chicago has made gave me pause here. I might actually want to watch that game. One game I probably won’t watch is Cleveland/Pittsburgh, where the Steelers, losers of three of their last four, will run Mason Rudolph out there Sunday to give Big Ben a chance to rest up. The Browns win the reunion between Rudolph and Myles Garrett.
9) Tony: Vikings over Lions – Going straight by the odds here…and the Vikings propensity to do exactly what their fan base doesn’t seem to want. The difference in draft position probably isn’t great, but the Vikings will slide back. Meanwhile, I saw last Sunday that a Detroit Free Press called the Bucs “running up the score” on the Lions was bush league–and said forcing the team to play without several coaches made the Lions appear to be a poorly run franchise that is in shambles. You know what makes them look like a poorly run franchise that’s in shambles? The fact that they’re a poorly run franchise that’s in shambles.
10) Andy: Chargers over Chiefs – Boom-shaka-laka. Solid burn on the Lions, though bringing in Chris Spielman to help the owner was a sound move. Sounds like Pat Mahomes is done until the playoffs. No reason for KC to care. Chad Henne is a solid QB, but I think Justin Herbert probably cements rookie of the year with a win here.
11) Tony: Cardinals over Rams – Kind of surprised this one is still on the board, and that the line is somehow the Rams (-1). There is a chance that Kyler Murray doesn’t play, although the Cardinals need the win (with the Bears playing the same time), and Murray’s injury reportedly wasn’t that severe. But Jared Goff is out for the Rams. Even if this got to be a battle of the backups, the Cardinals starter would be former University of Minnesota Great Chris Streveler, who played (some) over two seasons in the CFL before joining the Cardinals this year. The Rams starter is John Wolford, who put up some decent stats in the single season of the AAF, a league that is inferior to the CFL. The Rams will also be without Darrell Henderson, and may be without Cam Akers…and it’s unclear if Cooper Kupp will be able to play after being put on the reserve/COVID-19 list, but he’s missing practice time with Wolford. In short, everything is trending Cardinals.
12) Andy: Cowboys over Giants – Ahh, yes, Chris Streveler, who was so good at the U of M that Jerry Kill wouldn’t let him pass in a non-conference game (His final stats were 1-7 for six yards) and then moved him to wide receiver. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Dallas seems to have kind of found something, as the season winds down with some meaningless games. They’re certainly playing better than the Giants, the latest team to go from NFC Least Contender to Pretender … again.
13) Tony: Patriots over Jets – So the Cardinals offense if Streveler plays is a one read, then run it offense?  So just like having Kyler Murray out there, but with a QB that’s tall enough to ride roller coasters? In this one, now that the Jets have locked up the #2 overall pick rather than #1…they’ll go back to choking. At least they better hope so…a three game winning streak that culminates with a victory over the Patriots might convince ownership that Adam Gase should get one more chance…
14) Andy: Raiders over Broncos – Not saying the Cardinals aren’t going to win the Rams game. Just not sure how much better Streveler is than … Waldorf, or whatever the other guy’s name is. Not a lot to play for in this game except pride. The Raiders are better than the Broncos. So … that’s how I roll.
15) Tony: Bills over Dolphins – The Bills still have an outside shot at the #2 seed, which would likely get them a game against Cleveland, Indianapolis or this same Dolphins team–any of which is better than facing the Ravens in round 1. No guarantees they would or wouldn’t face the Ravens regardless–but a much better shot at avoiding them as the #2 seed.
16) Andy: Football Team over Eagles – Good grief, who cares. Will the NFC Least and its band of mediocre men finally end this race? Pathetic.

Andy also has a solid lead in straight-up picks too.

And here goes for week 17:

Happy Playoffs Everyone!