We are well into the month of October; the leaves are changing colour, the winds are becoming cooler, and NFL teams are finding their rightful place on the totem pole. You just have to find the right totem pole to read. After the previous week provided us with little excitement, this past week proved that all it takes is one upset and these suicide pools slim down and become interesting.
Around 15-20% of people had Green Bay last week vs. Indianapolis. While the Packers started the game off great, they failed yet again to play for a full 60 minutes. It was like the rookie student Luck raised his hand to ask a question in class, only to have the teacher Rodgers unable to answer it. The Colts, well rested off a bye, at home, with motivation to play as hard as they can to win for their coach. These are the situations you must avoid when selecting favourites going up against a team with something to play for. People fail to realize that there are a lot of good athletes and football players in the NFL, and they can’t all play for the same team. All NFL teams have all-star caliber talent and if given the right situation, can succeed. You or I or any schmuck out there couldn’t even sniff the non-contact practice squad for one play… yes we are all schmucks. NFL players are good across all 32 teams. What separates the good teams from the bad is their ability to put it all together and be on the same page… and one really good quarterback.
What do we have here? A Pittsburgh team on the road as big favourites losing to a team at home, in prime time, with some half decent players making some half decent plays. I hope everyone reading this isn’t from Steel Town and were not the 23% of people selecting them as your suicide pick. I guess science and mathematics are never wrong and out of every 10 people reading this, 2.3 of you have thrown in the terrible towel. If you were part of the 7.7 and didn’t go with the Steelers, then you my friend are playing with free money. And if you happen to be that person split by point 3 and point 7, you must be in a lot of pain.
Home teams went 8-6 last week for a year to date total of 47-30. And we are off to a 1-0 home team start this week 6 in the National Football League.
Teams Already Used – Houston, New England, Chicago, Green Bay, San Francisco
Atlanta, My Week 6 Pick – It’s very tempting to avoid the Falcons this week for the simple fact that a catastrophic suicide week is on the horizon.  With nearly 55% of all picks on Atlanta this week, and the 23% of losers already out with Pittsburgh, the odds of you winning the pool if Oakland can muster an upset is tremendous. If you are still in a large pool fighting it out with hundreds of contestants, then I would advise you to look elsewhere, as the win odds yielded with a Raiders win is priceless. But, if you know me then you know how much I like the Falcons, especially at home. This team at home is money. No, this team at home is gold. No, this team at home is like tungsten carbide. No, this team at home is like Earth’s inner iron fiery core. But if the world happens to implode on Sunday then one, the Mayans were wrong about the Doomsday date, and two, the Raiders won and only the following cities survived.
Arizona – The poor Buffalo Bills. Getting slaughtered like they did the last two weeks can ruin the best of teams let alone a wagon circling bunch of Northerners. I don’t think this team has much left in the tank and their bye week can’t come soon enough. Arizona is back at home after a nice long rest and while the Cardinals offensive line and running attack looks to be offensive, they still have enough fire power to tie up the Bills. How many strippers out there are named Arizona? Exactly.
Miami – I didn’t have another team to slot in here that begins with the letter A. Blame the NFL for not having a team in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Don’t be deceived by the Dolphins 2-3 record as they have played better than their outcomes show. Now they are back at home vs. a surprisingly competitive St. Louis team. However, this Rams team lost a key weapon in Amendola and don’t travel the country well. Can Rams swim? I wouldn’t bet on it even if I got to use your money.
Baltimore, Potential Suicide – I think this Ravens team will be in the Super Bowl. I think they are one of those teams just waiting around for the playoffs to begin. Two lackluster wins vs. below average competition in Cleveland and Kansas City; seems like they just want to get through these next few months unscathed and healthy. The defense has just been okay so far in 2012. In comes a Dallas team who has played poorly since their week one victory in New York. This team has a lot of talent and I think the bye week helped them correct a few issues on offense and defense. Cowboys can definitely cause trouble in the big city.
