Week 17 picks + Play-off scenarios

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.

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

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 6^th seed but would need to win out and hope the others slip (The Jets are currently the 6^th 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 @ Tebows Broncos	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

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

December power rankings + Week 13 picks

Nick Collins, overjoyed at hearing that the Packers have
been placed top of the Pulling Linemen power rankings
for the fourth straight month

It's December, and that can only mean one thing: the latest edition of our monthly power rankings. Unsurprisingly, the Packers were still the unanimous choice for the top spot, while the Colts manage to cling on to the No. 32 spot through their unrivaled and unrelenting commitment to drafting Andrew Luck. The biggest drop in ranking by far is the Buffalo Bills, who drop a whopping 18 places as their season nosedives into utter mediocrity, while the Denver Broncos jump up 13 spots on the back of a lights-out defence and a cunning offensive strategy, based on the concept "run the ball for fifty five minutes until the DBs are so bored they'll get involved in stopping the run and forget to leave someone to cover Eric Decker". Very sneaky, John Fox. Very sneaky.

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.

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.

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

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.