Perfection

"Wow. What a great week of football." 20.5 point underdog Baltimore (the biggest home dog in Monday Night history) beat the Patriots. It was all over....several times. How the Ravens failed to close that game out was one of the most painful experiences I've ever seen. On just the final drive by the Patriots alone we saw: a 4th and 1 where the Ravens stuffed the Pats only to have Billick call timeout right before the play started (he's as good as fired---that was the icing on the cake), a ball that was tipped infinitely far in the air where the defense intercepts it 90% of the time fall gently to the ground, a 4th and 5 where the defense held their ground only to have a holding call give the Pats new life, and a beautiful throw to the back corner of the end zone where Gaffney may or may not have had full possession and 2 feet in bounds. That was all right? Oh yeah, Kyle Boller (which except for one play) outplayed Tom Brady and on the last play launches a ball for the end zone and it's caught! Needless to say, the Ravens fell one yard short. It was an unbelievable finish to an even more surreal game. The Pats have now had 2 straight close calls. With a huge target on their back, it's looking bleak that they are going to run the tables and go 19-0. Pittsburgh next week is the best team they will face until January. If they win there, facing the Giants with a 15-0 record and home field advantage sowed up......how many of their starters will play against the Giants? Throw in a possible must win situation for the Giants, and there are 2 more hurdles in the regular season for perfection.

The Pats journey to a perfect season is spectacular and is a great thing for the NFL, but even without them, this has been one of the most exciting NFL seasons in history. I could recap this all, but I think my head might explode. Other interesting stories from Week 13:

• Joe Gibbs is old and needs to be fired. Back to back timeouts to ice the kicker??? This is the worst timeout foul up since Chris Webber. The Skins continue to find new ways to lose games.
• Was there any doubt that the Cleveland-Arizona game would come down to the last play? These are the 2 most exciting teams in the NFL. Each team plays up/down to their level of competition every week.
• Eli Manning has officially shown his true colors, but even doing so has the Giants at 8-4. Has there ever been a more inconsistent talented QB? You can't bench the guy, but he's never going to win you anything. What do you do?
• The Colts continue to do just enough to win through their injuries. What a beautiful backdoor cover by the Jags though!
• I really picked an 0-11 team as a favorite this week. Which explains our new standings.

I'd like to thank my father for forcing me into a casino so he could place his losing Missouri Tigers wager. As a degenerate gambler, I had to put more action on this week's NFL games. I added on Pittsburgh -7 (which tried infinitely hard to give up a late TD to make that game a push), and Buffalo/Washington under 37. 3-2 ATS real money on the week. For those playing along at home, I'm 26-17-1 on the year. Not bad.

Week 13

Midwestern Flavor: As predicted, 10-6

West Coast Style: 7-9

OVERALL

Midwestern Flavor: 92-90-10

West Coast Style: 95-87-10

We're again on a short week at the Bullpen Catcher, so stay tuned for picks due by Thursday morning.