The Gridiron Gentlemen’s Super Fun Prediction League: Week 12
Thanksgiving already?! Where on earth is the season going people? It seems like just last week we were being wildly optimistic and incredibly inaccurate with some of our pre-season predictions.
Actually, speaking of inaccurate predictions…
It’s been a difficult season to predict so far in fairness, several teams not quite rolling how we expected them to (we’re looking at you Pittsburgh and Jacksonville) and, as is always the case in the NFL, plenty of results that raise the odd eyebrow. So here we are. The end of the third quarter and the season’s scores look like this:
James: 89-58
Dave: 86-61
Duncan: 84-63
Simon: 83-64
Dan: 83-64
Even the bottom of that leaderboard would make Jeff Fisher grin with glee. 0.565 is solid “fringes of the WildCard chase” territory. So is there anything from Week 12 that suggests the gap can be closed on James? Lets take a look.
Minnesota Vikings @ Detroit Lions
The Thanksgiving triple header this week, and it’s a fair line up of some potentially close games. Well, two of them anyway…
| Dan | Duncan | Simon | James | Dave | Dylan |
| Vikings | Lions | Vikings | Lions | Vikings | Vikings |
| 21-14 | 21-20 | 24-17 | 17-10 | 17-14 | 24-21 |
Washington Redskins @ Dallas Cowboys
This one might well be the game of the week.
| Dan | Duncan | Simon | James | Dave | Dylan |
| Cowboys | Cowboys | Redskins | Cowboys | Cowboys | Cowboys |
| 31-30 | 33-30 | 27-24 | 34-28 OT | 35-21 | 34-31 |
Pittsburgh Steelers @ Indianapolis Colts
This one probably won’t be however.
| Dan | Duncan | Simon | James | Dave | Dylan |
| Steelers | Steelers | Steelers | Steelers | Steelers | Steelers |
| 37-6 | 42-9 | 34-10 | 51-4 | 33-7 | 47-13 |
So with Thursday Night’s feast digested, it’s on to the weekend’s match-ups.
Tennessee Titans @ Chicago Bears
Can the Bears make it through an entire game without losing any more players to injury?
| Dan | Duncan | Simon | James | Dave | Dylan |
| Titans | Titans | Titans | Titans | Titans | Titans |
| 21-6 | 35-10 | 41-9 | 31-0 | 28-7 | 27-6 |
Arizona Cardinals @ Atlanta Falcons
This will either be a shoot-out or a shut-out. We’re all hoping for the former.
| Dan | Duncan | Simon | James | Dave | Dylan |
| Falcons | Falcons | Falcons | Falcons | Falcons | Falcons |
| 35-16 | 38-35 | 28-20 | 31-17 | 21-17 | 35-19 |
New York Giants @ Cleveland Browns
It’s Cleveland. No.
| Dan | Duncan | Simon | James | Dave | Dylan |
| Giants | Giants | Giants | Giants | Giants | Giants |
| 31-10 | 28-13 | 31-13 | 27-14 | 38-9 | 31-12 |
San Diego Chargers @ Houston Texans
Can the Texans home record do it again, or will the Chargers turn up armed with laser pointers?
| Dan | Duncan | Simon | James | Dave | Dylan |
| Chargers | Chargers | Texans | Chargers | Chargers | Texans |
| 35-17 | 27-20 | 27-21 | 28-21 | 17-14 | 19-16 |
Cincinnati Bengals @ Baltimore Ravens
No AJ Green. Is there a next man up candidate for the Bengals at the moment? We’re not holding out much hope.
| Dan | Duncan | Simon | James | Dave | Dylan |
| Ravens | Ravens | Ravens | Ravens | Ravens | Ravens |
| 21-17 | 24-16 | 28-17 | 28-7 | 21-7 | 22-12 |
Seattle Seahawks @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2nd highest pass catcher on the day for the Buccaneers could be Richard Sherman.
| Dan | Duncan | Simon | James | Dave | Dylan |
| Seahawks | Seahawks | Seahawks | Seahawks | Seahawks | Seahawks |
| 38-13 | 38-19 | 35-10 | 31-7 | 38-14 | 41-16 |
New England Patriots @ New York Jets
The Patriots are chasing the Raiders for the No.1 seed in the AFC. Look out Jets fans!
| Dan | Duncan | Simon | James | Dave | Dylan |
| Patriots | Patriots | Patriots | Patriots | Patriots | Patriots |
| 24-7 | 28-17 | 31-14 | 38-10 | 45-7 | 28-20 |
Carolina Panthers @ Oakland Raiders
The Panthers had all their momentum stolen from them with the loss of Kuechly, so not a great time to have travel to Oakland.
| Dan | Duncan | Simon | James | Dave | Dylan |
| Raiders | Raiders | Raiders | Raiders | Panthers | Panthers |
| 32-29 | 27-13 | 28-23 | 24-20 | 17-14 | 22-15 |
Jacksonville Jaguars @ Buffalo Bills
Be brave Jacksonville, give Chad Henne a shot! It won’t make a difference to the result but, well, why not at least try?
| Dan | Duncan | Simon | James | Dave | Dylan |
| Bills | Bills | Bills | Bills | Bills | Bills |
| 42-14 | 24-16 | 24-10 | 21-10 | 21-7 | 28-9 |
Los Angeles Rams @ New Orleans Saints
Jared Goff will be pleased to get out of the rain. Jeff Fisher may just be pleased to get out of New Orleans come Sunday evening.
| Dan | Duncan | Simon | James | Dave | Dylan |
| Saints | Saints | Saints | Saints | Saints | Saints |
| 31-13 | 35-10 | 31-6 | 28-10 | 24-14 | 35-15 |
San Francisco 49ers @ Miami Dolphins
If the Miami Dolphins have any sense, the’ll give it to Jay Ajayi this week. A lot.
| Dan | Duncan | Simon | James | Dave | Dylan |
| 49ers | Dolphins | Dolphins | 49ers | Dolphins | Dolphins |
| 24-17 | 27-21 | 28-20 | 17-7 | 17-14 | 21-14 |
Kansas City Chiefs @ Denver Broncos
What would normally be a fiercely contested divisional match up threatens to be a snooze fest.
| Dan | Duncan | Simon | James | Dave | Dylan |
| Chiefs | Chiefs | Broncos | Broncos | Chiefs | Broncos |
| 17-14 | 15-13 | 16-13 | 27-14 | 14-11 | 16-10 OT |
Green Bay Packers @ Philadelphia Eagles
Green Bay’s paper thin secondary will have more wrinkles to deal with this week than an octogenarian.
| Dan | Duncan | Simon | James | Dave | Dylan |
| Eagles | Eagles | Eagles | Eagles | Eagles | Eagles |
| 27-24 | 27-21 | 37-24 | 34-28 | 31-17 | 38-28 |
So there you have it. Back to a full complement of games each week until the end of the regular season, and time for a few to start making their push for the Play Offs.
Except the Browns of course. Not the Browns.