This season's picks are quickly going south on me. An occasional mediocre week doesn't hurt, but I've yet t top 11 correct in any given week so far and last week I only posted 9 correct for a second consecutive week. My record on the season is a very disappointing 101-61. That's barely more than 9 correct each week on average. We'll see if I can get that turned around this week.

 

Here are my week 12 NFL Game Predictions:

 

New Orleans 35, Atlanta 20

Carolina 23, Miami 16

St. Louis 23, Chicago 20

Houston 28, Jacksonville 21

Green Bay 24, Minnesota 10

Baltimore 20, NY Jets 16

Pittsburgh 21, Cleveland 17

Kansas City 23, San Diego 16

Detroit 31, Tampa Bay 24

Arizona 23, Indianapolis 20

Oakland 21, Tennessee 16

NY Giants 24, Dallas 23

Denver 31, New England 27

San Francisco 24, Washington 17

 

There you have them: my week 12 NFL game picks.

 

The Survivor Pool Lock last week went down in flames as undrafted rookie Matt McGloin played a near flawless game in his career start and the Raiders beat the Titans. I knew I should have taken the Cardinals over the Jaguars. That makes the 4th wrong choice this season. Between the locks and the weekly game picks, it's clear this isn't my season. Next year I'm buying a dart board and seeing whether throwing darts randomly really would be that much different. But I will continue to strive to do my best. Here are the weekly results so far this season:

 

Week 1 (W; 21-17) Indianapolis over Oakland

Week 2 (L; 30-33) Philadelphia over San Diego

Week 3 (W; 45-17) Seattle over Jacksonville

Week 4 (W; 52-20) Denver over Philadelphia

Week 5 (W; 34-20) St. Louis over Jacksonville

Week 6 (W; 24-7) Kansas City over Oakland

Week 7 (L; 27-30) New England over NY Jets

Week 8 (W; 42-10) San Francisco over Jacksonville

Week 9 (W; 27-23) Dallas over Minnesota

Week 10 (L; 27-29) Tennessee over Jacksonville

Week 11 (L; 23-28) Houston over Oakland

 

This week we're going to get the pain over with real quick. The Atlanta Falcons are listless and the Saints are only one game behind Seattle for the top seed in the NFC. If the Saints beat Atlanta tonight, that sets up a showdown in week 13 when the Saints play the Seahawks on Monday night, with the winner having the clear edge for home field advantage throughout the playoffs. I can't imagine the Saints will trip up at this point. If the Falcons were playing anything that resembled competent football of late I might buy into this being a trap game for New Orleans. But the Falcons aren't, and the Saints know they have everything to lose if they overlook their division rival. Normally I don't like taking road teams in division rivalry games, especially on the short week playing on a Thursday night, but I really just can't see the Saints losing tonight.

 

 My Survivor Pool Lock for Week 12 is: the New Orleans Saints over the Atlanta Falcons.

 

Best of luck to all in your own picks this week!