If you survived your family Christmas and didn’t get in too much trouble for trying to watch Sunday Night Football instead of play board games with elderly relatives then you’re in for the best time in the NFL regular season. Watching commentators, analysts and talking-heads try and explain all the different permutations for who can make the play-offs and what seed they’ll all be. Nothing is as amazing as listening to Brian Billick or Troy Aikman try and explain that if Team A lose to Team B then Team X will get in because their strength of schedule is better than Team Y’s, then get it wrong and have an argument with their commentary partner. So we here at The Pulling Linemen have worked it all out for you so that you'll know where you stand.
We are The Pulling Linemen: dedicated to bringing you stories and opinions from the guys at the centre of football - Linemen!
Contact us at info@pullinglinemen.com, or on twitter @PullingLinemen
Saturday, 31 December 2011
Saturday, 24 December 2011
Week 16 Picks
Merry Christmas, Chanukah, Kwaanza, Saturnalia and/or Festivus from The Pulling Linemen! Instead of presents, we bring you picks for week 16. Sorry, we lost the receipt, so you can't trade it for anything else.
| Toby Durant | Phil Gaskin | Gur Samuel |
Houston Texans @ Indianapolis Colts | Texans | Texans | Texans |
Cleveland Browns @ Baltimore Ravens | Ravens | Ravens | Ravens |
Denver Broncos @ Buffalo Bills | Broncos | Broncos | Broncos |
Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Carolina Panthers | Panthers | Panthers | Panthers |
Arizona Cardinals @ Cincinnati Bengals | Bengals | Bengals | Bengals |
Oakland Raiders @ Kansas City Cheifs | Chiefs | Raiders | Chiefs |
Miami Dolphins @ New England Patriots | Patriots | Patriots | Patriots |
New York Giants @ New York Jets | Jets | Jets | Jets |
St Louis Rams @ Pittsburgh Steelers | Steelers | Steelers | Steelers |
Jacksonville Jaguars @ Tennessee Titans | Titans | Titans | Titans |
Minnesota Vikings @ Washington Redskins | Redskins | Redskins | Redskins |
San Diego Chargers @ Detroit Lions | Chargers | Lions | Chargers |
Philadelphia Eagles @ Dallas Cowboys | Eagles | Cowboys | Cowboys |
San Francisco 49ers @ Seattle Seahawks | 49ers | 49ers | 49ers |
Chicago Bears @ Green Bay Packers | Packers | Packers | Bears |
Atlanta Falcons @ New Orleans Saints | Saints | Saints | Saints |
| | | |
Last Week: | 9-7 | 9-7 | 10-6 |
Overall: | 143-68 | 139-72 | 134-77 |
Saturday, 17 December 2011
Week 15 picks & Play-off picture.
Week 15, and the list of teams with a chance of the play-offs is getting smaller and smaller.
In the NFC Green Bay, San Fran and New Orleans have all booked themselves a spot, leaving 3 up for grabs. However amazingly, the 5-8 Eagles are still alive. They would hold the tiebreakers were they to win out and the Cowboys and Giants both finish 8-8 too. Such a scenario isn’t too outrageous, but does require one of the 2 to lose in week 15 and 16 and then beat the other in week 17’s big showdown.
The feisty Arizona Cardinals are still alive too and could sneak a wildcard spot were the Falcons or Lions to slip up, as could last year’s NFC West champs the Seattle Seahawks providing they win out. But it looks like the wildcard spots belong to Atlanta and Detroit now that the Bears have been ravaged by injury enough to turn them from contenders to laughing stocks on offense.
The AFC is a bit more up in the air. Even if they were to lose the rest of their games Houston, Baltimore and Pittsburgh are in, although rights to the AFC North title are still up for grabs. The Patriots will win the AFC East with one more win or one more Jets loss while the AFC West is still a 3 team race between the Denver Tebows, Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers. The Jets, Bengals and Titans can all take the 6th seed but would need to win out and hope the others slip (The Jets are currently the 6th seed as things stand).
While all the talk this week has been about “Brady vs. Tebow” which has done nothing but irritate us (is there really a conversation here? 1 guy has 3 rings, 2 MVP’s and a bunch of records, the other has a sub-50 completion percentage) we think the most entertaining game will be Detroit @ Oakland. These are the 2 most penalised teams in the NFL who are prone to serious errors between and after the whistles. So sit back and enjoy the awfulness of Carson Palmer and the dirtiness of Ndamukong Suh.
| Toby Durant | Phil Gaskin | Gur Samuel |
Jaguars @ Falcons | Falcons | Falcons | Falcons |
Cowboys @ Bucs | Cowboys | Cowboys | Cowboys |
Panthers @ Texans | Texans | Texans | Texans |
Redskins @ Giants | Giants | Giants | Giants |
Dolphins @ Bills | Dolphins | Dolphins | Dolphins |
Seahawks @ Bears | Seahawks | Bears | Seahawks |
Saints @ Vikings | Saints | Saints | Saints |
Bengals @ Rams | Bengals | Bengals | Bengals |
Titans @ Colts | Titans | Titans | Titans |
Packers @ Chiefs | Packers | Packers | Packers |
Lions @ Raiders | Lions | Lions | Lions |
Patriots @ | Patriots | Patriots | Patriots |
Jets @ Eagles | Jets | Eagles | Jets |
Browns @ Cardinals | Cardinals | Cardinals | Cardinals |
Ravens @ Chargers | Ravens | Ravens | Ravens |
Steelers @ 49ers | Steelers | Steelers | 49ers |
| | | |
Last Week: | 11-5 | 10-6 | 12-4 |
Overall: | 134-61 | 130-65 | 124-71 |
Sunday, 11 December 2011
Week 14 Picks
Pulling Linemen Picks for week 14. Toby pulls ahead of Phil with a 3-game lead, while Gur slightly closes the gap and is now only in third by 8 games, but still looks by far the most likely to have to undertake the third place forfeit..
| Toby Durant | Phil Gaskin | Gur Samuel |
Colts @ Ravens | Ravens | Ravens | Ravens |
Falcons @ Panthers | Falcons | Falcons | Falcons |
Texans @ Bengals | Bengals | Bengals | Texans |
Vikings @ Lions | Lions | Lions | Lions |
Bucs @ Jaguars | Bucs | Bucs | Bucs |
Eagles @ Dolphins | Dolphins | Eagles | Dolphins |
Cheifs @ Jets | Jets | Jets | Jets |
Saints @ Titans | Saints | Saints | Saints |
Patriots @ Redskins | Patriots | Patriots | Patriots |
49ers @ Cardinals | 49ers | 49ers | 49ers |
Bears @ Broncos | Broncos | Bears | Broncos |
Raiders @ Packers | Packers | Packers | Packers |
Bills @ Chargers | Chargers | Chargers | Chargers |
Giants @ Cowboys | Giants | Cowboys | Giants |
Rams @ Seahawks | Seahawks | Seahawks | Seahawks |
| | | |
Last Week | 12-4 | 9-7 | 11-5 |
Overall | 123-56 | 120-59 | 112-67 |
Sunday, 4 December 2011
December power rankings + Week 13 picks
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Nick Collins, overjoyed at hearing that the Packers have been placed top of the Pulling Linemen power rankings for the fourth straight month |
You'll also find below our picks for Week 13; Phil and Toby are now neck and neck at 111-52 in predictions on the season, while Gur trails at little behind at 101-62.
Thursday, 1 December 2011
NFL Intro Music and Thursday night picks
We all used to watch WWF (The pandas can suck it, it’s still WWF to us) when we were younger, and remember the times that some idiot would be in the centre of the ring spouting off about how much better than everyone he was, or how the incumbent champ was nothing but a chump. And then the sound of breaking glass and out comes Stone Cold! That feeling of hearing your favourite wrestlers intro music needs to translate to the NFL. So here are our suggestions for certain players, teams and coach’s intro music. Some are funny, others obscure, and some are a little bit close to the mark. Also, our TNF picks.
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Larry Fitz is the undisputed king of the desert state |
Ndamukong Suh – Can I Kick It? Tribe Called Quest
Carson Palmer – Back In Black AC/DC
Larry Fitzgerald – Enter Sandman Metallica
Peyton Manning – Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now The Smiths
Chris Johnson – Money For Nothing Dire Straits
Maurice Jones-Drew – Tiny Dancer Elton John
Tim Tebow – Superstition Stevie Wonder
Steven Jackson – Here I Go Again (On My Own) White Snake
Jay Cutler – Under My Thumb The Rolling Stones
Patrick Willis – Muscle Museum Muse
Aaron Rodgers – Oh My Gosh Basement Jaxx – Undefeated Deaf Leopard
Plaxico Burress – Gimme Back My Bullets Lynyrd Skynyrd
Jacksonville Jaguars – On The Road Again Willie Neslon
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This is the only good thing about 2011 in Jacksonville |
Bill Belichick – Sympathy For The Devil The Rolling Stones
Cleveland Browns – What Difference Does It Make? The Smiths
Laurence Taylor – What’s (her) Age Again? Blink 182
2005 Vikings – I’m On A Boat The Lonely Island, T Pain
Von Miller – Killing In the Name Of Rage Against The Machine
Houston Texans – SOS Rihanna
Kyle Orton – New In Town Little Boots
Jim Caldwell – I Don’t Like Monday’s The Boomtown Rats
Mark Sanchez – The Pretender Foo Fighters
St. Louis – Dead In The Water Numerous
LaDanian Tomlinson - Electric Glide LaDanian Tomlinson
Picks: Toby Durant; Eagles, Phil Gaskin; Eagles, Gur Samuel; Seahawks.
Got other suggestions? Feel free to leave a comment below.
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