Top 3 Picks

VCO brings the "Battle of the Sexes"
to the Friday Football Forecast

	"The Tout", "The Mouth of Motown" and Casey Smith will pit wits and predictions against "Mystic Mona" right here every week!

VS.

The Tout

Mouth of Motown

Casey Smith

Mystic Mona


		Mystic PICKS

The charm, grace and obvious intelligence of Casey Smith has warmed the cockles of my heart and no matter what his picks, I will consider him a true gentleman. He’s above the childish condensation of some ego-driven football forecasters (no offense intended to present company) and innately knows that if any of us could pick all the right teams we’d be living in a 6,000 sq. ft. home at Lake Las Vegas with James serving us our perfect vodka martini at promptly 6pm.

I do support my picks with a Pick the Pros weekly card. So someday, one might read the headline: “Las Vegas Psychic Wins Football Pick Jackpot!”

I am very sad that the Packers lost to the Bears – really messed up MY three pick last week. However, I believe this was just a Burp in the beer-guzzling event of the week, and the Packers will rebound and stomp the Redskins. I think the three teams to watch for toward the big final game of the year are The Packers, The Colts and The Patriots (especially when they win over the Cowboys on Sunday). Last Monday’s game was a nail-biter – what fun!

The Packers will beat The Redskins

The Patriots will win over The Cowboys.

The Browns will beat The Dolphins

Sunday’s Games

Ravens over the Rams

Bears over the Vikings

Browns over the Dolphins

Packers over the Redskins

Texans over the Jaguars

Chiefs over Bengals

Eagles over the Jets

Titans over the Buccaneers

Cardinals over the Panthers

Patriots over the Cowboys

Chargers over the Raiders

Seahawks over the Saints

Monday Night’s Games

Giants over the Falcons

Mystic Mona

Casey's PICKS

So, we have to get the gloves off now. This has to be the strangest beginning to an NFL season in years. Green Bay goofing, Dallas getting damn lucky and how 'bout those Patriot Games? Hey Mona, will New England run the table this year? Will the '72 Dolphins finally get filleted? I think so... at least it's very possible. I also think the NFC may see a sleeper be a creeper into the championship game. (Hello? Tampa Bay and the little Garcia that could!)

Or I'm just full of humble pie because my Niners can't get out of first gear without a Smith at quarterback.

Good luck!

Sunday’s Games

Rams over the Ravens

Bears over the Vikings

Browns over the Dolphins

Packers over the Redskins

Jaguars over the Texans

Bengals over the Chiefs

Eagles over the Jets

Titans over the Buccaneers

Cardinals over the Panthers

Patriots over the Cowboys

Chargers over the Raiders

Seahawks over the Saints

Monday Night’s Games

Giants over the Falcons

Casey Smith

The Tout's PICKS

How humiliating, not only do I go only 7-7 in this past week's SU picks but I get beat by two games by Mystic; a little girl yet and by the same number of games by the new guy. (This is the last reference to Casey as the "new guy!"

Maybe I should forsake the poker cards for a deck of Tarot cards, or I could invest in a telescope so I can gaze (or perhaps howl like some of the dogs I picked in the NFL) at the moon to be able to count the craters on either side of the Sea of Tranquility to perhaps come up with more winners. For now though, I'll stick to the old fashioned way of handicapping, what ever that is.

For the season Mystic is 36-26, Casey after a late start stands at 11-17. The Mouth has gone 10-2 thus far and yours truly is 39-23. I'll say this, if the gap does not change big time between the Mouth and I by season's end, I will stick to the ponies exclusively.

Mystic don't fret because the Mouth only picks three games. We'll keep tabs on a percentage basis. So far you are at 58% and the Mouth is 83%. If you were to go 10-4 and 11-3 (like you did a few weeks ago) over the next two weeks and the Mouth nose dived to 1-2 and 0-3 you would both be between 60 and 65 %.

Casey, improvement noted, keep it up....

Yes the Patriots could be THE team this year especially if they prevail over the "lucky" Cowboys Sunday... and BTW it did not go past me, that "Patriots", starts with the letter "P"!

Mouth, Desultory this!.... you should feel lucky that we let you keep such distinguished company.

Sunday’s Challenge Games

Ravens over the Rams

Bears over the Vikings

Browns over the Dolphins

Redskins over the Packers

Jaguars over the Texans

Chiefs over the Bengals

Jets over the Eagles

Titans over the Buccaneers

Cardinals over the Panthers

Cowboys over the Patriots

Chargers over the Raiders

Seahawks over the Saints

Monday Night’s Games

Giants over the Falcons

My star picks went 3-4 Sunday for a minus 3½ stars. For the season, the standings read thus, 13-7-2 plus 9 stars. Hoping to improve on these numbers with the following:

These picks are rated from 1 to 5

's with a point spread


	Raiders +10½	@	Chargers
½	Titans +3	@	Buccaneers
	Redskins +3½	vs.	Eagles
½	Jets +3	@	Texans
	Vikings +6	@	Bears
½	Saints +7	@	Seahawks

Catch you next week, please bet cautiously!

The Tout


	"The Mouth of Motown" PICKS

Apparently the Mystical one is not aware of the fact that when this column was conceived we were asked to select only three games per week. While I realize that once one has thrown 3 darts they might as well throw a dozen more; if a little thought goes into ones selections that becomes a bit more time consuming. That being said, I shall continue to select three games which I actually feel are worthwhile plays and let my less learned (when it comes to football) friends provide their take on the entire card.

Browns/Dolphins Cleveland competitive and improving. Miami hapless, hard luck and now without a real quarterback. Uh oh!

Jags/Texans Granted Texans could be most improved team in the NFL but Jags healthy (Texans very banged up) playing well vs. the run again, on the upswing, and at home. A time tested formula for success.

Vikings/Bears Going out on a big limb here. Bears looked great in 2nd half vs. the Pack, granted but they were in a desperate situation and Favre reverted to last year’s bad decision making to allow them to comeback. They're still the same Bears that were 1-3 and an offensive laughingstock. Minny with a week off to prepare and heal playing a team they were competitive vs. in both tilts last year when the Bears were much better seems a reasonable play.. Not only does +6 seem too high, I give the Vikes a legitimate shot at the upset.

The Mouth of Motown

Past Weeks

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