NFL Week Twelve Cheat Sheet

My Thanksgiving weekend got off to a bad start. While inching through bumper-to-bumper traffic at Reagan National Airport on Wednesday, a gray-haired grandmother in the passenger seat of a mini-van gave me a nasty look and the finger. It was totally unwarranted too -- I was doing the right thing, they were not.

As we both enjoyed our stop-and-go circuit around the airport, her husband gave me the bird as well when I engaged them. This little incident kept me between "simmering" and "homicidal rage" for the next few hours. Things got better pretty quickly, thankfully.

We had family that came in from out of state to spend the holiday with us. We got invited to the open house of some very good friends on Friday. We even did a little "Friendsgiving" to hammer down more leftovers on Saturday at our house.

This was our crew for Thanksgiving. I could spend hours looking at this photo -- so grateful for these people, and many others not pictured here.

We got to hang out with our friend's daughter, Simone Askew, the First Captain of Cadets at West Point. Very thankful for the invite to enjoy a part of the weekend with our friends, and that there are such talented, young people choosing to serve.

There were just too many people to hang with this weekend for me to give this blog the regular effort. It is 10:53 p.m. on Saturday night as I start the cheat sheet. I have the Notre Dame/Stanford game on and a beer open...this will be quick. Here we go!

Tennessee Titans vs. (+3.5) Indianapolis Colts: Titans haven't beaten Colts on the road since Dec. 30, 2007. Streak ends this week. --TITANS

Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. (-10.0) Atlanta Falcons: Tampa Bay QB Ryan Fitzpatrick has the Bucs on a two-game winning streak after filling in for injured Jameis Winston. Streak ends this week, as well. -- FALCONS

Miami Dolphins vs. (-16.5) New England Patriots: New England has won six straight games, and Miami has dropped four in a row. These two streaks continue this week. -- PATRIOTS

Cleveland Browns vs. (-7.5) Cincinnati Bengals: Cleveland hasn't won a game yet this year. That means they are on a ten-game losing streak.  They have lost three straight by double-digit margins, too. Not going to bet on those streaks ending. -- BENGALS

Chicago Bears vs. (-14.0) Philadelphia Eagles: Philadelphia has won eight straight, and the last three by more than three touchdowns -- wow! Chicago will compete, and keep it close, but the Eagles winning streak will continue. -- EAGLES

Carolina Panthers vs. (+5.5) New York Jets: Check this out...Jets QB Josh McCown has thrown for 10 more yards (2242), an equal number of TDs (14), and three fewer interceptions (8) than Panthers QB Cam Newton. That is crazy to me. Carolina has won three straight, and that streak will continue. -- PANTHERS

Buffalo Bills vs. (-9.5) Kansas City Chiefs: Buffalo has lost three straight, and Kansas City has dropped two in a row. Hmm, one of these streaks is ending Sunday. The Bills have lost their last two by 30+ points. The Kansas City losing streak ends this week. -- CHIEFS

Seattle Seahawks vs. (+6.5) San Francisco 49ers: San Francisco beat the New York Giants in their last game to end a nine-game skid. They will start another losing streak this week. -- SEAHAWKS

Jacksonville Jaguars vs. (+4.5) Arizona Cardinals: The fact that Jacksonville has won four straight surprises me. The fact that Arizona has lost two straight does not. Both streaks continue this week. -- JAGUARS

New Orleans Saints vs. (-2.0) Los Angeles Rams: Los Angeles finally lost last week to the Minnesota Vikings 24-7 after four successive wins. New Orleans has...won...eight...straight...games. That's a lot. The Saints streak goes to nine this week. -- SAINTS

Denver Broncos vs. (-4.5) Oakland Raiders: By the time Denver completed its 16-10 victory over Oakland Oct 1, they were 3-1 and looked like a Super Bowl contender. Since then, they have been on a six-game losing streak and have looked more like an improperly closed colostomy bag on a carousel. Broncos losing streak continues. -- RAIDERS

Green Bay Packers vs. (-14.0) Pittsburgh Steelers: Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger has won two Super Bowls in his 14 seasons. Green Bay QB Brent Hundley has only thrown two touchdowns in the six games he has played this year. The Steelers have won five straight, and that streak will continue this week. -- STEELERS

Houston Texans vs. (-7.0) Baltimore Ravens: I said last week that Baltimore has a weak schedule for the remainder of the season and has an opportunity to start a little playoff run. As I predicted last week, the Ravens won. It becomes a two-game winning streak this week. -- RAVENS

OK, it is now 12:20 a.m. on Sunday morning. That took me about an hour and a half.

I am grateful this Thanksgiving weekend that I was able to string together a couple winning days after my incident with the aggressive septuagenarians. Going to attempt to keep the streak going today.

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