Week 12 NFL Picks

Week 11 I was 11-5. Still looking to break the four or more loss syndrome. This may be the week, although anything can happen in the NFL with any given team. Detroit scored 38 points last Sunday. Not going to happen this week. Green Bay will dominate in all aspects of the contest in Detroit. It will not be a cake walk for Dallas against Oakland, this is the anything can happen example. The Giants at Denver will be a close one with the Giants edging out the Broncos. Carolina at the NY Jets will be an interesting one to watch. Carolina can surprise if the running game is on. Another interesting game will be Cleveland at Cincinnati. If the Browns offense can carry over the momentum from last Sunday it could be an upset. Defense will be the key for either team. Tennessee has been winning as of late and I am picking them to win at home against Arizona. Indianapolis, Minnesota and Miami are hot and will win. Pittsburgh at Baltimore will be a hard hitting contest, but Pittsburgh's offense should edge them out depending on what happens with Roethlisberger. The big game is Monday Night Football with the Patriots visiting the Saint's Superdome. It will be an explosive atmosphere and the Dome will be rocking. You can expect alot of scoring with a heavy blitzing attack from New England. It is going to be a fun week in the NFL.

THU, NOV 26 TIME (ET)

Green Bay 34 at Detroit 10 12:30 PM FOX Tickets W

Ford Field

Oakland 17 at Dallas 20 4:15 PM CBS Tickets W

Cowboys Stadium

NY Giants 28 at Denver 24 8:20 PM NFL Tickets L WOW!

Invesco Field at Mile High
SUN, NOV 29 TIME (ET)

Tampa Bay 15 at Atlanta 23 1:00 PM FOX Tickets W

Georgia Dome

Miami 24 at Buffalo 14 1:00 PM CBS Tickets L WOW!

Ralph Wilson Stadium

Cleveland 20 at Cincinnati 21 1:00 PM CBS Tickets W

Paul Brown Stadium

Seattle 27 at St. Louis 10 1:00 PM FOX Tickets W

Edward Jones Dome

Carolina 24 at NY Jets 21 1:00 PM FOX Tickets L

Giants Stadium

Washington 13 at Philadelphia 20 1:00 PM FOX Tickets W

Lincoln Financial Field

Indianapolis 34 at Houston 17 1:00 PM CBS Tickets W

Reliant Stadium

Kansas City 20 at San Diego 30 4:05 PM CBS Tickets W

Qualcomm Stadium

Jacksonville 23 at San Francisco 18 4:05 PM CBS Tickets L

Candlestick Park

Chicago 20 at Minnesota 30 4:15 PM FOX Tickets W

Metrodome

Arizona 20 at Tennessee 23 4:15 PM FOX Tickets W

LP Field

Pittsburgh 24 at Baltimore 21 8:20 PM NBC Tickets L

M&T Bank Stadium

MON, NOV 30 TIME (ET)

New England 30 at New Orleans 28 8:30 PM Tickets L OOPS!

Superdome

Home opener in the Dawg Pound will soon be here.

I used to be a season ticket holder in the the "dawg pound" of Cleveland Brown's stadium. I miss attending those home game's with my brother-in-law since I moved to Charleston, Sc 4 yrs ago, where there are no NFL teams. It was a pretty wild place at times, especially in the old lake front stadium that finally got knocked down and thrown into Lake Erie, like its team.
Game day arrived and off we would go in his green saturn. All the peanut and parafinalia selling vendors lined the approach to the stadium, not to leave out the scalpers and the saxaphone player looking for a buck. Everybody was decked out in their best Brown's jerseys and hats shouting taunts at fans who would arrive wearing the opponents logos. In the course of the game they would shower them with peanuts, but I am getting alittle ahead of the story. You could feel the hearts beating and smell the football laiden atmosphere as you filed into the various gates wrapping the stadium. As we walked through the corridors and up the ramps we were barraged by the usual loud barking and "Here we go Browny's" chant. When Dave and I first arrived at our seat locations the dawg at the end of the row, who thought he was row captain, always acted like he didn't know who we were. We would inch our way past several annoyed by our presense dawgs until we reached our reserved benched seats. At times we were packed in like sardines from all the overweight, beer drinking, pizza eating, bone waving, face painted, mask wearing, barking dawgs. It was usually all the same people, except on the occassions they gave their tickets away to a friend. The people around us were many times more entertaining than the game itself, especially during the first lean on talent years of the new stadium and franchise. Two rows in front of us sat two blonde haired girls, one of whom had a tattoo across the lower part of her back, the other, who was the object of attention, every game wore what looked like pajamas. In front of us sat two women, one of which sported a couple of huge "beer jugs" that solicited the usual banter between the guys to the left of us. In the course of the game she packed away the pizza and beer to the point of being under the influence. Two rows to our right sat a gentleman, and I use that term loosely, from whom rose the chant when an opponents player would get injured, "One by one, one by one." When the games were slow and the teams less entertaining the fans would turn their attention on one another and everyone who walked up or down the stadium steps were fair game at attempts to humiliate them, especially those who were considered odd balls and there certainly was no shortage among the ticket holders who frequented the "dawg pound". Even the players themselves would become the target of less complimentary comments containing words like "skirt" or "sissy" or other words I will choose not to repeat. I have taken some liberties in the aforementioned descriptions, after all it is the Dawg Pound.
In conclusion, all were there because they love football and love the Browns. This was the excitement and expectations of gameday. My brother-in-law still holds the tickets and as I said, I miss the time we spent together attending those home games in the infamous "dawg pound" that cemented the bond of our friendship. I will be thinking of that when Sept. 13th is finally here, the day of the home opener against the Minnesota Vikings. Go Browns.