2012 NFL SEASON: WEEK 15

New England reminded the NFL that they still exist with their 42-14 win over Houston on Monday Night. The stories this year has been the prominence of rookie quarterbacks Andrew Luck of the Colts, Robert Griffin III of the Redskins, and Russell Wilson of the Seahawks putting their respective teams into the playoff run; Peyton Manning's comeback from neck surgery leading the Broncos to 10 wins, and Vikings' Adrian Peterson making a push towards 2,000 yards rushing after a knee injury in 2011.

Not much about the Patriots. They are probably the quietest and most dangerous 10-3 team.

Interesting enough, due to scheduling quirks the AFC division champs/leaders are all playing against each other this season. In this category, New England is 2-1 (and would be 3-0 had that field goal in Baltimore went another way). Houston is 2-1 with wins over the Ravens and Broncos. The Ravens are 1-1 (again, could be 0-2 if their game winning field goal in Week 3 went the other way) and the Broncos are 0-2. Baltimore hosts Denver this coming Sunday. This game will have an impact on which side of the playoff bracket these teams will be on in the playoffs: Would you rather be in the bracket with the Patriots or Texans, pick your poison?

New England has the inside track for the #2 seed meaning they would have a bye week and a home playoff game in the divisional round. Houston still controls their destiny for homefield advantage but that can change because the Patriots own the tie-breaker over Houston in head-to-head.

One other thing to point out... since being named the Patriots quarterback in 2001, Tom Brady has led his team to the Super Bowl every season the Patriots were either the #2 or #1 seed.

The Patriots are not going quietly into the night.

Anyways let's get down to business...

I now lead Monica by TWO games with three weeks to go. What a comeback, but it will be for naught if I don't finish with the lead at the end of the season.

WEEK 14:            10-6

TOTAL:        133-75-1

BREAKDOWN OF RECORD

	MONICA	NOON	3PM	NIGHT	HOME	AWAY	TV	≤ 8 PTS	OT
WK 14	8-8	4-6	3-0	3-0	7-3	3-3	5-1	4-4	0-1
TOTAL	131-77-1	75-41	29-19-1	29-15	79-32-1	55-43	60-28	64-50-1	11-8-1

The picks for Week 15 are below.

Kickoff Times are Central Time
Picks Indicated in BOLD
Sunday Day Games for the Dallas-Fort Worth Area are indicated with (DFW)

NFL 2012 Week 15 TV Distribution Map

THURSDAY NIGHT (12/13)

Cincinnati Bengals at Philadelphia Eagles, 7:20 PM NFL

SUNDAY (12/16) CBS DOUBLEHEADER

NOON CBS

Indianapolis Colts at Houston Texans (DFW)

Denver Broncos at Baltimore Ravens

Jacksonville Jaguars at Miami Dolphins

NOON FOX

New York Giants at Atlanta Falcons (DFW)

Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears

Minnesota Vikings at St. Louis Rams

Tampa Bay Buccaneers at New Orleans Saints

Washington Redskins at Cleveland Browns

3PM CBS

Pittsburgh Steelers at Dallas Cowboys (DFW)

Kansas City Chiefs at Oakland Raiders

3PM FOX

Detroit Lions at Arizona Cardinals

Carolina Panthers at San Diego Chargers

Seattle Seahawks vs. Buffalo Bills in Toronto

SUNDAY NIGHT

San Francisco 49ers at New England Patriots, NBC 7:20 PM

MONDAY NIGHT (12/17)

New York Jets at Tennessee Titans, 7:30 PM ESPN