Pickin' Pigskin with Bob and Steve and Kristin: Week 12, Part 1 and Standings

Happy early Thanksgiving, folks, and enjoy your Turkey Day as much as WWE diva Kelly Kelly does!

Green Bay over DETROIT (10)

Steve: Green Bay

Detroit was surprisingly spunky against the Browns, with Stafford playing at 90 percent of the Favre Grit Scale. Unfortunately, he gets to play a real team with a (presumably) real coach and defense on Turkey Day. This is even assuming that he plays, since I have no idea about how injured he is.

And also, Green Bay, you screwed my over last week by missing the cover by a single freakin' point. I realize that it didn't really matter, since Bob and Kristin went the same way, but still. I'd rather us all win another game than getting another loss.

Bob: Green Bay

I'm starting to feel like these teams are covering/not covering just to spite me. The Browns are terrible, yet the Lions just barely beat them in overtime. Ditto for Green Bay. I guess this just means that Vegas is getting really good at picking these lines, but still, there's a part of me that thinks whoever I choose will lose.

Green Bay has been erratic all season, so I'm not happy taking them with a 10-point spread (even if the Lions aren't setting the world on fire). The only thing that makes me comfortable about this line is that Detroit has been atrocious the last few Thanksgivings - they lost by 37 in 2008, 11 in 2007, 17 in 2006, 20 in 2005, and 32 in 2004. This team hasn't managed to win since just after Barack Obama was elected to the Senate. So I'll take the Packers.

Kristin: Detroit

I think perhaps it is foolish to pick Detroit to cover in this situation just because they scored a bunch of points and had a lot of heart to pull out the last second win last week, considering it's much easier to score against Cleveland than Green Bay. However, the Lions are one of the traditional Thanksgiving game teams so maybe home field / history / mashed potatoes will be on their side in this one.

DALLAS over Oakland (13.5)

Steve: Oakland

This line seems way, way too high, considering that the Cowboys managed only seven points this week, which is less than the spread for this game. The Raiders also beat my Bengals, and while I feel like I should punish them by picking Dallas, there is the chance that Bruce "at least I'm not JeMarcus Russell" Gradowski can lead them to cover in another game.

Bob: Dallas

This line is so high because the Cowboys live for playing on Thanksgiving. They are the anti-Lions in that sense, winning by 23, 31 and 28 in the last three years. Even during the the dark Drew Bledsoe days, the Cowboys were tearing it up on Thanksgiving. Also, people forget that the Packers and 'Skins defenses are pretty fierce, leading them to count out the 'Boys unfairly. The Cowboy offense is just waiting to bust out, and the Raiders are just the team to do it against. My only concern is that Gradkowski somehow busts out, collecting the negative karma that was collected by the Raiders during the JaMarcus Russell era. I think, however, that the Raiders won't be able to keep up with Dallas.

Kristin: Dallas

Now I know this seems like an even more foolish pick, but I have three things to back me up on this one. A) I think the teams that traditionally play at home on Thanksgiving have an advantage in the form of the emotional warm fuzziness and those turkeys they bring in with 8 legs (which is just a little gross). Dallas has ruined multiple Thanksgivings for my family, as my uncles wake up from their post-turkey naps to Dallas returning a kick for a touch-down or some other flashy quick points stab in the heart. Stupid 1990s.

B) If Dallas can carry forward what they put together on that final scoring drive last week they might have a shot - I don't agree with these stupid run plays that don't go anywhere, they need to let Romo run quick pass plays and work on his confidence, which we all know is his main weakness.

C) I picked Oakland earlier in the season the week after they woke up and had a big unexpected win only to be burned by their inconsistency and crappiness. Just as you can't count on Dallas to be that bad two weeks in a row, you can't count on Oakland to be that good two weeks in a row.

Giants over DENVER (6.5)

Steve: Giants

Another line that seems silly with the result of the Week 11 game. Maybe the lines will move a lot based on Sunday, but as it stands right now, they all seem kind of silly.

Bob: G-Men

At first I really, really wanted to take the Broncos here. I feel as though this free fall needs to end eventually and the G-Men didn't win very convincingly against a bad Atlanta team. But the Broncos lost against a San Diego team that doesn't seem great (despite being 7-3 - really?) and the Redskins the week before. Something bad happened to this Denver defense and I don't care to bet on them until they figure it out.

Kristin: Giants

I figure even the Giants (who appear to have vaguely remembered how to play football) can beat Denver (who seem to have entirely forgotten how to play football).

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We have a change at the top of the standings, and I've managed to crawl my way back into contention, as all of us kind of pick to the middle. Last week's results and the overall standings:

Kristin: 10-6 (81-78 overall, first place)
Steve: 9-7 (79-80 overall, third place)
Bob: 6-10 (80-79 overall, second place)

The picture of WWE diva Kelly Kelly is from, appropriately, WWE.com's Thansgiving photo gallery. The eight-legged Madden turkey comes from here.