Gobble Gobble!

Greetings from your favorite sports blogging jive turkeys, and yes I do that line every year at Thanksgiving. Consider it a holiday tradition, like stuffing or the Lions losing a football game. Anyway, we’re all set here at the Samichlaus household. The in-laws will be here and all the provisions have been secured. Dinner is set for 4:00 sharp, which should give me plenty of time to watch the Packers gobble up the Lions…

Green Bay (6-4) at Detroit (2-8) +10.5
Despite losing Al Harris and Aaron Kampman for the season, the Pack should have no trouble beating Detroit with ease on Thursday. Matthew Stafford is doubtful, leaving QB duties to Daunte Culpepper. Culpepper was never a good QB: whatever success he had was gained by throwing the ball to Randy Moss and Chris Carter. This will be a good break-in game for the Packers new secondary alignment, getting them ready for the Ravens a week from Monday. In addition, the Pack has begun to run the ball a lot better. Last week against a real good run defense Ryan Grant had a field day, amassing 129 yards on 21 carries. In fact, ever since Samichlaus had his come to Jesus tweetfest with Nick Barnett, the Packers have improved all facets of their game. Like my dad used to say to me “Every once and a while you need the old man to kick your ass”. It’s OK Nick, you can thank me after the season. One final note: as I was researching this game, I came across this on the Lions web site: “Conference Call Transcript with Packers Head Coach Brian McCarthy”. Brian McCarthy? Well, I guess they could have called him this guy, I mean what’s the difference between one wooden dummy and another?  Packers 34 Lions 20

I was going to say, that's two pretty important pieces of the defense going down. Ouch. And that's pretty frickin embarassing that the Lions official website got the head coach's name wrong. Are we sure Matt Millen isn't still working for Detriot behind the scenes? For a split second, I thought to myself "You know, wouldn't it be interesting of Culpepper turned back the clock like 10 years and wound up lighting up the banged up Packers secondary?" Then I came to my senses. Packers 31, Lions 17.

Oakland (3-7) at Dallas (7-3) -13.5
Cowboys fans: enjoy this game. December is a week away, and that means it’s time for the annual Tony Romo meltdown. This year’s meltdown will be titled “Jessica’s Revenge”, since those dumb ass Texans won’t be able to blame their Quarterback’s woes on the strange he happens to be getting. Unless of course he’s been dating a Kardashian and I don’t know it? I’ve got to hand it to Romo. For a guy from Wisconsin he actually gets to have intercourse with some fairly high profile poon tang. And that’s meant with no disrespect to Wisconsin, a state that all of our readers know Ol’ Samichlaus holds near and dear to his heart… especially the clogged arteries around my heart. But seriously, you’d never hear those chicks on “Sex and the City” pining over Mohitos saying “Oh, I wish I could meet a nice guy from Sheboygan”, or “So Carrie, are you and Horst getting together tonight?” Truly their loss: I’m sure Horst is a real nice fella, you betcha. But even those guys from “Weezer” probably wind up bedding down with an occasional frau. Anyway, I like the Cowboys to dominate. Dallas 37 Oakland 10

The only thing worse than having to suffer through the Cowboys every Thanksgiving is having to suffer through them with my obnoxious Cowboy-fan uncle talking about how great they are. Thankfully last season when they tatered the Seahawks, we were at my in-laws, so I was spared. This year, in our "rotating holiday appearance" schedule, we'll be at my cousin's house, and I'll be subjected to that uncle. I can only hope the Raiders shock and surprise them. And you know what, now that they've finally benched Jamarcus Russell, they've shown some signs of life. Sort of how the Titans have responded to Vince Young. I'm taking the points, and I think Romo (doesn't he have an injured pinkie or something too?) starts his December swoon a little early. Cowboys 23, Raiders 20.

NY Giants (6-4) at Denver (6-4) +6.5
This is the second most interesting game of the week, behind the Monday nighter in New Orleans. Right now neither of these teams are very good. The Giants tried their best to blow the game last week, squandering a 14 point 4th quarter lead to Atlanta. And what can I say about Denver, who lost to the Redskins and got thoroughly whooped by the Chargers. Denver has two things going for them this week: they are at home, and they get Kyle Orton back. Now, make no mistake about it: I think the Giants will win this game. But I also think Denver makes it close enough to keep it interesting. Lately the Giants D hasn’t been able to stop anyone, and that trend is going to continue against the Broncos. Take Denver and the points, and if you have either Manning or Orton on your fantasy team, play them. It’s going to be a wild west shoot out…. Giants 37 Broncos 34

Denver at home getting that many points against a Giants team that's struggled looks too good to pass up. So good, in fact, that something is fishy. Vegas is BEGGING people to take the Broncos in this game. Well, I'm not falling for it. It's been a crazy season for Denver so far, and only promises to continue to be. As I may have mentioned before, Seattle holds Denver's 2010 1st round draft pick. Going into this season, expectations for Denver were low.. Then they rattled off 6 wins to open the season, and it looked like that draft pick wouldn't nearly be as valuable as it had seemed before the season. Now? With every passing debacle, that pick edges closer and closer to becoming a top 10 pick. It's entirely possible that Seattle will hold two picks in the top 10 next year, in what is widely considered a very strong draft. I'll be watching Denver very carefully, but I think we're starting to see why the expectations were so low for them before the season. Eli has a field day yo. Giants 31, Broncos 23.