NFL Picks: 2011 Week 11

After weeks of struggling to work my way back to a tie for the overall season record in picking games, we had two games picked differently last week—and I managed to get myself on the wrong side of both of them. My faith in the Jets fans ability to make enough noise to slow down the Patriots and the Browns to do … anything … was clearly unfounded, and now I’ve got my work cut out for me (and yet I’m picking the Browns again this weekend?  Even I don’t know my logic on that one).

In week 11, though, we’ve actually got four games going differently—I would venture a guess that I’ve got the longer shot of being right on more of them, but it’s been a strange last few weeks in the NFL, so hopefully my upsets pan out.

Game of the Week: Cincinnati @ Baltimore – Baltimore put themselves in the driver’s seat in the AFC North with a second victory over Pittsburgh two weeks ago and then promptly lost for the third time this season to a clearly inferior team (Tennessee, Jacksonville, now Seattle). Now the Steelers, having beaten the Bengals, are in the driver’s seat (by a half-game), but are in their bye week, meaning this game has huge playoff implications—although both teams could end up in the wildcard hunt, the Bengals need to win to keep pace, while the Ravens need a win to stay in the hunt for a top seed.

Game of the Weak: Jacksonville @ Cleveland – A game of non-divisional foes that have matching 3-6 records, nearly identical point differentials (-51 for Jacksonville, -52 for Cleveland), and nearly identical anemic offenses (Cleveland ranked 30^th, Jacksonville 32^nd in yards per game). This could be one of the ugliest games of the year.  Although…

Game of the Weak, Part 2: Seattle @ St. Louis – About the only positive thing about this game, even for the fans, is that it’s potentially a battle for second place in the division.  Outside of that, it’s yet another game that defines why Sunday Ticket is so important to football fans.