Who to root for....week 8 edition

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

Week 8 Games

Vikings (2-4) at Patriots (5-1) - of course

Packers (4-3) at Jets (5-1) - division rival

Dolphins (3-3) at Bengals (2-4) - division rival

Seahawks (4-2) at Raiders (3-4) - the Seymour pick is losing value

Panthers (1-5) at Rams (3-4) - Our second round pick looks to be very early in the second round.

Bills (0-6) at Chiefs (4-2) - Mixed views on this one. We will be might be battling Chiefs for homefield, byes etc, Bills are a non factor. Plus I want Bills picking after Oakland. OTOH. Oak is actually challenging KC for the AFCW, and Oak winning the AFCW would seriously hurt the pick's value. A KC win helps prevent that.

Broncos (2-5) at 49ers (1-6) - Only mild interest. Want both teams to improve ahead of Oakland

Buccaneers (4-2) at Cardinals (3-3), yawn

Jaguars (3-4) at Cowboys (1-5) - AFC vs NFC. And I want the Cowboys picking after Oakland.

Redskins (4-3) at Lions (1-5), Would like the the Lions to improve record for pick reasons.

Steelers (5-1) at Saints (4-3) - Steelers tie NEP and Jets with the best record in the league. Them losing is more important than any loss in value of a 7th round pick from the NO.

Titans (5-2) at Chargers (2-5), Titans could be a team NE battles for bye, wildcard, homefield.

Texans (4-2) at Colts (4-2), - This pick will likely generate the most disagreement, as most Pats fans (myself included) dislike the Colts more than the Texans and pretty much always root for them to lose. Here is why I am rooting for the Colts. NEP will have an opportunity to win the tiebreakers over the Colts, NE wil not face the Texans. The Texans have 0 losses in the Conf, Colts have 2, NE has 1. NE has less than a one game lead on Hou (if NE was to lose, Hou has the tiebreakers). With the Colts, NE is ahead on the tiebreakers and thus has slightly more than one game lead on the Colts.

Byes: Bears (4-3), Browns (2-5), Eagles (4-3), Falcons (5-2), Giants (5-2), Ravens (5-2)

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Good picks. Agree on the Colts as we have the outcome in our hands. Geaux Saints!

If the Donks lose again, we may see Josh here next season.

 

[fxkane]

Houston has some losses left in them--Indy may not. I go with Houston, a less dangerous team in the long-run this season.

I wonder if you wd consider listing only those games that really do make a difference to patsfans---rather than all the games. It's a bit crowded. Which is not to say I don't appreciate it.

 

[PatsDeb]

I agree with all your picks, except the Colts. Just can't route for them, plus I agree that Houston is more likely, historically speaking, to pick up a few more losses down the stretch (although Indy is banged up). Since we play the Colts I want them to have as many division and AFC losses as possible. We can't control Houston at all, in terms of tie breakers. I guess we have to hope that they either win their division, or drop out of the race altogether. Now that I think if it, maybe Indy is most in trouble in that division, if they lose this weekend. The Titans have been coming on lately, and Houston has looked good too.

 

[Uncle Rico]

I was thinking about the KC -Bills game. Another reason to root for Buffalo is the Carolina pick. Wouldn't mind seeing another 1-win team in the mix.

That said - -I feel like I'd like to see KC win and take another step toward winning that division. The Chargers have a habit of bouncing back from bad starts, and I really don't care to see them in the playoffs — which they pretty much have to win the division to make.

 

[Ron Sellers]

It's starting to get a little bit more difficult to decide who to root for - I guess root against would be a better phrase - in some of these games.

Obviously we root for the Pats to win, the Raiders and Panthers to lose, and the Jets, Dolphins and Steelers to lose. Beyond that some of it depends on who you think will be contenders at the end of the season, and what teams will most likely be in line for a top ten draft pick.


Cincinnati beating Miami would be a win-win for the Pats because it not only puts a division rival further down in the standings but it is another step in having the Bengals finish with a better record than the Raiders. At this point I'm not concerned about Oakland finishing with a better record than Miami; they should be 4-2 and are the best three-win team in the league.

I don't see any chance of Carolina finishing with a better record than Oakland, so there's no temptation to root for them to win.

Regarding the Chiefs winning the AFCW over Oakland, good point. As I recall it used to be that draft order was based strictly on regular-season won-loss records, with the lone exception being the Super Bowl winner picked 32nd and the SB loser went 31st. The result was you had some playoff teams with earlier draft picks than teams that missed the playoffs with a better record. I think that was done after the 2008 season/2009 draft when the Chargers made the playoffs yet picked 16th while teams like the Pats missed the playoffs and picked later, and Tennessee picked 30th while going one-and-done in the playoffs.

Here are the new draft order rules as of 2010:

• The losers of the wild-card games will be seeded 21st through 24th based on their records.
  
• The losers in the divisional rounds will be seeded 25th through 28th. Teams eliminated in the conference championship games will be seeded 29th and 30th.
  
• The Super Bowl loser will be seeded 31st. The Super Bowl winner will receive the final pick in each round.

So the first order of business is to have Oakland miss the playoffs; each Raider loss beyond that is secondary. I don't know how likely it is that Buffalo picks after Oakland, but finishing with a better record than Carolina is realistic.

Broncos - 49ers is a tough call. Do we really believe SF can finish with a better record than Oakland? I'm thinking I might concede that the 49ers are not going to catch Oakland, and root for a Denver win instead.

Bucs - Cardinals: another difficult decision. I'm not sold on Tampa Bay, but they have a very easy schedule; I'm counting on them to finish with more wins than Oakland. I think Arizona will have a more difficult time getting wins this year than the Bucs, so I'm going to root for the Cardinals in hope that both teams finish with better records than Oakland.

Jaguars - Cowboys: Jacksonville is not a threat to the Pats, so AFC vs NFC is irrelevant. Can Dallas get it together to finish better than Oakland? Or does Jacksonville need this game more in order to stay ahead of the Raiders? I'm really not sure.

Redskins - Lions: I'm confident Washington will finish with a better record than Oakland, so root for Detroit win to help them maintain a better record than Carolina as well as catch up to Oakland.

Titans - Chargers: Not only do we want Tennessee to lose for playoff seeding reasons, at this point we also want San Diego to win in order to finish ahead of Oakland.

Texans - Colts: nice summary with the tiebreaker scenarios.

 

[Pessimistic Pete]

I WANT to not watch the Jets/Steelers games (though I will) because I know the Packers and Saints will both tease but find some moronic way to lose the game and piss me off.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

To willingly cheer for the Colts to win is simply not an option. I can't do it. Simply impossible, unless they are playing the Jets, in which case I cheer for a minor asteroid impact at the 50 yard line.

 

[TBradyOwnsYou]

To willingly cheer for the Colts to win is simply not an option. I can't do it. Simply impossible, unless they are playing the Jets, in which case I cheer for a minor asteroid impact at the 50 yard line.

Come on dude. Be serious.
Everyone knows that meteors bounce off of the forehead.

 

[NovaScotiaPatsFan]

To willingly cheer for the Colts to win is simply not an option. I can't do it. Simply impossible, unless they are playing the Jets, in which case I cheer for a minor asteroid impact at the 50 yard line.

No no no, you root for a volcano to open up and swallow the Stadium and all those moronic fans and wash it down with a Lava chaser.

 

[BradyBranch39]

I really like Matt Moore so hopefully he can play well and they can still pile up losses.

Got to go with the Chiefs over Buffalo.

Hate Troy Smith... think it's funny when Denver loses to bad teams... hmmm

and can not root for the Colts.