Bik's Week 14 Picks

Texans (-3) over JAGUARS

The Jaguars beat the Texans 27-20 on Thursday.

Chiefs (-3) over REDSKINS

Vikings (+6) over RAVENS

PATRIOTS (-10) over Browns

JETS (-3) over Raiders

BENGALS (-6.5) over Colts

Lions (+3) over EAGLES

Falcons (+3) over PACKERS

STEELERS (-3.5) over Dolphins

Bills (+2.5) over BUCCANEERS

Titans (+12) over BRONCOS

CARDINALS (-6) over Rams

CHARGERS (-3.5) over Giants

Seahawks (+2.5) over 49ERS

SAINTS (-3.5) over Panthers

Cowboys (-1) over BEARS

This Week: 0-1

Last Week: 4-11-1

This Season: 86-99-7

Bik's Week 14 Thursday Night Pick

Texans (-3) over JAGUARS

I'm taking the Texans simply because I don't think we should be operating in a world in which the Jacksonville Jaguars win 4 games in a row.

Rest of Week 14 picks on Friday

Last Week: 4-11-1

This Season: 86-88-7

Bik's Week 13 Picks

Packers (+6.5) over LIONS

The Lions beat the Packers 40-10 on Thursday.

Raiders (+7.5) over COWBOYS

The Cowboys beat the Raiders 31-24 on Thursday.

RAVENS (-3) over Steelers

The Ravens beat the Steelers 22-22 on Thursday Night.

Titans (+4) over COLTS

Broncos (-5.5) over CHIEFS

Jaguars (+7) over BROWNS

Buccaneers (+8) over PANTHERS

Bears (+1) over VIKINGS

EAGLES (-3) over Cardinals

JETS (-2) over Dolphins

BILLS (-3) over Falcons

Rams (+8) over 49ERS

Patriots (-7.5) over TEXANS

CHARGERS (-1) over Bengals

REDSKINS (+1) over Giants

SEAHAWKS (-4.5) over Saints

This Week: 1-2

Last Week: 9-5

This Season: 82-88-6

Bik's Week 13 Thanksgiving Picks

Oh my oh my oh my – does November have to end? LOVE this month so far with the picks! Forget Movember – let’s go with #Lovember. Trucking along 32-20-4 in November... not too shabby on the march back towards .500 for the year.

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy no more bye weeks for teams! A week without Seahawks football is the worst. Onto the Thursday Picks. Home team in CAPS:

Bik's Week 11 NFL Picks

Week 11 Picks: Back to back weeks above .500 – WATCH OUT 2^ND HALF SURGE!!!! On bye this week: Dallas and St. Louis..... Home teams are in CAPS

Ok so busy week again for me – so write-ups are going to be quick. In fact just 1 line each. It’s a matchup league so quick takes on the matchups that will determine the games.

Bik's Thursday Night Week 11 Pick

TITANS (+3) over Colts

Gimme the HOME DOG! I think Chris Johnson can run all over this Colts D and Fitzpatrick can do enough to not lose at home to the Colts. And the injuries might start catching up to Indy.

Last Week:9-4-1

This Season: 66-78-3

Bik's Week 10 NFL Picks: Power Ranks v3.0

It’s been a bit longer than I had hoped to do the next power-ranks so here they are through 10 weeks. So back again are my current power ranks for the NFL. The Number in brackets is the teams rank from Week 7:

Bik's Week 9 Picks

Due to some scheduling conflicts didn’t get a chance to post my Thursday Night Pick but just know it was documented between TJ and I that I picked Dolphins +3.... I know it looks shady since my picks are struggling this year and I’m posting that I got the game right the day after, but just make a leap of faith.

I was going to write something about the Sedins’ re-signing with the Canucks but it was getting excessively long and this piece is generally saved for the NFL Picks so I’ll have that for you next week. So onto the picks – on bye this week: Denver, Detroit, New York Giants, Arizona, San Francisco, Jacksonville. Home teams are in CAPS.

Bik's Week 8 Picks

Week 8 Picks: There’s like 80 teams on bye this week, it’s ridiculous... the slate of games is very awkward.... but actually there are 6: Chicago, Tennessee, Indianapolis, San Diego, Baltimore, and Houston..... Mind you really only 1 of those teams is a big draw, yet there are still no good games. Is that a statement of this season? Is this why my picks are floundering? Home teams are in CAPS

Bik's Week 7 Picks

Ok I said I would have a take to write about + my picks this week.... but the truth is that after going 5-10 last week, and being 8 games under .500 on the year (heading into the week, now 7 games after the win on Thursday night #GoHawks), I decided to buckle down and really dedicate myself to the picks this week to right the ship to get back on track. The goal is to be 5 games over .500 by the end of Week 8.... it starts with these 15 picks.

Bik's Week 6 Picks

Sorry no write-up again – adjusting to a new schedule. I’ll be back with a take next week though. Only quick write-ups this week on games. Falcons and Dolphins are on bye weeks.

Home teams are in CAPS

Bik's Thursday Night Week 6 Pick

Home team in CAPS:

BEARS (-7.5) over Giants

What exactly is inspiring about this Giants team right now? They had a divisional game last week vs. the Eagles at home and got rolled. They can’t slow anyone down defensively (over 31 Points against in every game), can’t control the clock (averaging league low 25 minutes time of possession), and among the leaders in Sacks allowed. To top it all off they don’t generate a lot of takeaways (7 takeaways) and because the defense is so porous their starting field position is among the league’s worst (26^th), so even when the offense get the ball they have a long distance to travel to put up any points.... BUUUUUT they can’t even move the ball efficiently per drive (ranking 30^th).

Now the reason I’m pointing out all these flaws and highlighting none of the Bears flaws is because these aren’t things you can fix on 4 days rest when you have to travel and you lose a day to prepare anyways. Their spot to show something was last week vs. the Eagles and it didn’t come to fruition. What they need to fix these things, maybe fix is the wrong word...... What they need to remedy these problems back to a more average mark is a full week to prepare and home game. I’m fading them this week but might look to play them next week vs. the Vikings.

Rest of Week 6 picks on Friday

Last Week: 6-8

This Season: 36-39-2

Bik's Week 5 Picks

Here are the Week 5 Picks, the Vikings, Steelers, Redskins and Buccaneers are on Bye-Weeks... Oddly enough when you remove 4 of the worst teams from a weekends worth of action, a lot of good games emerge. As always, Home teams are in CAPS

Bik's Week 4 Picks: Saying Goodbye To Greatness

Regular readers of The Extra Period will know by now that I take a lot of digs at baseball. Partially because baseball gives us so many opportunities to, partially because I’m not a fan and the sport does tend to catch some of my ire. It’s important NOT to read that last part as “I hate baseball” because I don’t. It’s just not for me is all. In the wide spectrum of sports, some are bound not to catch you the way others can, for me that’s baseball. But at the end of the day it is a sport, and given the remarkable degree of difficulty to play any sport at a top level, it has my respect in that regard. It’s not easy to do what they do, this I know. I’ll also appreciate greatness in sports, no matter my feelings towards the sport.

Bik's Thursday Night NFL Week 4 Pick: Under The Weather

So I’ve been under the weather....... Then under the sea..... Then under the Earth..... Then under the next 150 Earthly elements that exist that come next till we get to “hell”.... because I was on FIRE!!! Or as the Spanish would say: ¡En Fuego!

11-4-1 Last week. Now let’s get more of that goodness.  But really I’ve been sick for most of the week so this week might be really awkward and also we’re just going straight to the pick.

Home team in CAPS:

49ers (-3) over RAMS

I wrote in Week 2 that if the Falcons had any plans on going to the playoffs they couldn’t afford to go 0-2. They avoided the catastrophe as they won that game. The same scenario applies here. It’s early I know, but it’s not exactly ideal to pay catch-up in the NFC especially since some other decent teams are also 1-2 (See: Atlanta, Carolina, and Green Bay). San Fran despite the myriad of problems is still the better team, and their designs are for championships whereas the Rams, while rapidly developing, are still in a fact-finding mode as a franchise. It’s a backs to the wall game for the 49ers. They can’t be cute by not showing all their cards and have to employ everything they got in their arsenal. Back to the Atlanta analogy for a second... who did they play when they needed that win? ST. LOUIS RAMS!

I picked against the Rams last week as well vs. the Cowboys because I said it was a bad scheduling spot as they’d be gearing up for it and then didn’t apply that same logic to the 49ers who then watched the Colts walk all over them. The Niners came out flat and looked lost on Sunday, can’t afford to have that happen 3 games in a row. It’s a hockey team that good teams don’t lose 3 in a row, and you especially don’t hear it in football because it’s only a 16 game season, but this is the defining mark now for the 2013 49ers. I’m gonna bet on them to show something here and resurrect their season otherwise it’s essentially kaput for them this season.

With the receiving core woes as they are, the team isn’t totally built to play from behind with a double digit deficit which is what they’ve had to go up against the past 2 weeks. Enter St. Louis that has held a lead for all of 40 seconds this year. Gimme the ‘Niners.

Last Week: 11-4-1

This Season: 22-24-2

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Bik's Week 3 Picks: Over-Reacting

Now that we’re 2 weeks into the season, it should have given NFL team fan bases enough time to digest what they’ve seen and begin to over-react. So let’s examine some over-reactions through 2 Weeks.

Home team in CAPS

Bik's Week 3 Thursday Night Pick

Just straight to the pick this week.

Home team in CAPS:

Chiefs (+3.5) over EAGLES

Here are some things we know so far 2 weeks into the season. The Eagles can score. The Chiefs can defend. The Eagles can’t defend.  The Chiefs can’t move the ball at a consistent successful rate.

How does this all play out into tonight’s game that features the return of Andy Reid to Philadelphia? Well, the biggest thing we know is not only can the Eagles not defend – they have to stay on the field a REMARKABLE amount of time. It’s great that you can score 30 points on a bad Chargers D in 22 minutes, but it’s meaningless if your D then has to be out on the field for 40+ minutes. And that’s against Phillip Rivers and the Chargers. Now you get to face Alex Smith who won’t turn the ball over, Jamaal Charles who is a historically great rusher in yards per attempt, and you have to do this all in a short week? I have a bad feeling that things are going to turn on Chip Kelly on the defensive side of the ball real quick.

Last Week: 7-9

This Season: 11-20-1

Bik's Week 2 Picks: Detailed Analysis of the Greatest Football Play so far This Season

As I described yesterday, Week 1 of the 2013 NFL Season was not flattering to me. I needed to go back to the drawing board. Back to the basement. Re-crunch the numbers. Re-examine everything and find the correct formula for success. Maybe watch some game film. But then it occurred to me.... What I needed was to get back to when this game was fun. Just being a kid, and running around. Forget the fanfare, the high production value of the NFL. Grabbing a pigskin and calling some friends.... and just playing. Playing the game for fun. So I’m going back to when football was fun. Here’s a detailed analysis over the most important football play of the 2013-14 Season:

Bik's Week 1 NFL Picks: Back to the Future

So last night, I saw Michael J. Fox on TV promoting his new show on NBC – also there was football.... There was a sign here – because last night was essentially “Back to the Future.” If you had told me that Peyton Manning was going to have a historically great night with Dallas Clark and Brandon Stokely on the field, I’d assume it was 2006 and I’d ask you for your copy of the “Grays Sports Almanac.” Wow – just wow about Peyton.

Bik's Week 1 Thursday Night Pick: Welcome Back

Hey so did you see that highlight in the baseball season – where that player dove and caught the ball, then got up and tossed it to first base for an out??? Yea me too... I saw it about 200 times. As I’m sure you did too. Or the one where the guy hits a home-run. Or the one where the player jumps up against the wall to make a grab and save a home-run. I guess it was impressive stuff especially since baseball has no cheaters and did all those plays cleanly. Needless to say, I gladly welcome one of the best days on the calendar as it’s the return of NFL Football and the end of having to watch baseball.