Week 16 picks

Picks for the penultimate week of the season have been posted on The Writers' Picks at The Mirl. I'll be with my wife's family for Christmas weekend and won't get a chance to see many, if any, games, so I don't expect to have much in the way of a postmortem. Quick hits going into the weekend:

• Dallas at Carolina: The Redskins' defense bottled and throttled Drew Bledsoe. The Panthers' front seven is even better. I pick Carolina, but if the Panthers lose, their season is done, regardless of whether they make the playoffs.
• Buffalo at Cincinnati: The Bengals are just itching to kick the crap out of someone in their final home game. Over/under on J.P. Losman interceptions: 5.
• Pittsburgh at Cleveland: The Steelers are way too motivated. Pittsburgh by 10.
• Jacksonville at Houston: Houston always plays Jacksonville tough. Unfortunately for the Texans, the Jaguars got caught looking ahead last week and won't let it happen again. I pick the Jaguars.
• San Diego at Kansas City: Arrowhead is incredibly tough in December, blah blah blah. If I pick K.C. and the Chiefs lose, I have no good explanation. If I pick the Chargers and they lose, I just talk about how tough Arrowhead is for visiting teams in December. San Diego wins.
• Tennessee at Miami: The Dolphins are shifting their focus to next year; so are the Titans. In both cases, that points to a Miami win.
• Detroit at New Orleans: Hot loser-on-loser action. Go with the "home" team.
• San Francisco at St. Louis: There is precedent for the 49ers beating the Rams this season. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Rams.
• Atlanta at Tampa Bay: The Falcons are the dude from The Sixth Sense. Tune in this week as they figure out the secret. Bucs roll.
• New York Giants at Washington: This one could easily go either way, but I'm not convinced about the Redskins. Plus, 36-0 still makes a convincing argument. It's a big risk taking Eli Manning on the road, but what the hell.
• Philadelphia at Arizona: Oh God, who cares? Let's say the Cardinals, just because they're at home.
• Oakland at Denver: The Broncos are in the same mood as the Bengals.
• Indianapolis at Seattle: I expect Seattle to win, but not because Indy will be distracted by the terrible tragedy that befell the Dungy family. I expect Seattle to win because Indy will be focused on nothing but giving Dungy a Super Bowl championship. So I'll take the Seahawks.
• Chicago at Green Bay: I think I speak for most of America when I say: We're tired of watching the Packers lose on national TV.
• Minnesota at Baltimore: One great game on Monday night does not make a team great. The temperature is forecast to be 45-50 degrees, which bodes well for Minnesota. Vikings, I guess. -- especially if Washington and Atlanta both lose on Saturday.
• New England at New York Jets: Patriots end the ABC Monday night era with a blowout.

Merry Christmas to most. Happy Hanukkah to others. Drive safely to all.