Intro by Sam
Meaningful football! It’s finally that time of year and to get things started, turn your TVs on for Browns – Texans – woooo. . . ? All jokes aside, it should be a fun weekend of football with some classic cold weather games!
Recap
For what it’s worth, the blog boys finished Week 18 with a bang! Everything came up Sam and Yank. I lost one bet – a $2 throw-away bet on the off chance that the Eagles would win the NFC East – but everything else was a win for both of us. In fact, it was such a successful week for Yank that he leapfrogged me from down $8 going into Week 18 to a $15 lead to finish the season – what a sand-bagger! Finishing the season in the black is no minor feat, even if we lose all of those winnings this weekend. On to the picks!
Wild Card Picks
The Houston Texans @ the Cleveland Browns-2
Yank: I feel like the Texans have played in this Saturday afternoon wild card time slot 15 times in the last 20 years. They should officially name this game the Houston Texans Bowl at this point. Unfortunately for the Texans, they are ravaged by injuries at WR and the Browns defense may be the best unit in the league. I’m more skeptical of the Joe Flacco-assaince than most; I’ve heard the Browns labeled as Super Bowl contenders, which I don’t buy. I also don’t buy that this is the week they go down, I expect they will edge out the Texans in an ugly one.
Sam: It would be really fun if this young Texans team would make a run this postseason, but I think inexperience and the injuries – as Yank mentioned – will play too big of a role in this one. Stroud has had an amazing rookie season, but we’ve seen him struggle without Dell and against good defenses that can wreak havoc on the offensive line. Remember that game against the Jets where the Texans scored 6 points? Expect the Texans to struggle in this one, but let’s hope they put up a fight!
Sam’s Pick: $6.60 on the Browns-2.5 (-110)
Yanks Pick: $5.00 on the Browns-2 (-110) and $10.00 on a Browns/Cowboys ML parlay (+127)
The Miami Dolphins @ the Kansas City Chiefs-4.5
Yank: Sadly for fans of the in-season Hard Knocks the Dolphins have been severely bitten by the injury bug, particularly on defense. As they’ve lost a few meaningful games on national TV down the stretch more and more people have jumped off their bandwagon. I like to zag against that popular opinion whenever I can, but especially in this case, when all of a sudden everyone believes in the Chiefs again? The same Chiefs team that couldn’t score at all against the Raiders 3 weeks ago, and then needed 6 field goals(!), to beat the Bengals without their QB before resting their guys in week 18? Why are they going to be able to score in this game exactly? The frigid temperatures that are expected for this game only add to my skepticism; Mahomes could be neutralized by the weather. Meanwhile, Mike McDaniel made his bones as the 49ers run game coordinator. If this turns into a low-scoring battle in the trenches I like the Dolphins O and D lines to come through.
Sam: I have to agree with Yank on this one – do we have some collective amnesia about who the Chiefs have been? What makes us think they’ll be more equipped to move the ball on a frozen tundra when they can barely move the ball in perfect conditions? Look at the end of the day, games in these conditions low-scoring but the outcome is unpredictable. While I simultaneously don’t have a lot of faith in the injury-riddled Dolphins to be well-equipped for an ice bowl, if they can manage one – I repeat – one scoring drive, I think they cover. When Yank and I were discussing this game, we said the Dolphins either score 0 points and get blown out, or it’s a never-a-doubt cover.
Sam’s Pick: $6.60 on the Dolphins+5 (-110)
Yanks Pick: $5.00 on the Dolphins+4.5 (-110)
The Bank – Super Wild Card Saturday
| Yank | Sam | |
| Risk: | $20.00 | $13.20 |
| Potential Earnings: | $21.80 | $12.00 |
Authors: Sam Mattson and Michael Yanckello
One Last Line 