Eye on the Enemy: Week 17

As the regular season draws to a close, I manage to have my second best pick week of the year.  Last week the Ravens beat the Browns by the exact score I predicted.  That was rather nice, if obviously a fluke of luck.  And the Steelers absolutely took the Panthers and played with them... kinda like a cat with a mouse.  Except that the Steelers were the cats this time.  Maybe somebody got the logos mixed up or something

This draws my record back to a much less pathetic .500 at 15-15, but if I want a winning record for the year I have to get one more game right.  Please feel free to let me know in the comments if you think I'm going to pull it off.

AFC North Snoozer of the Week

Pittsburgh Steelers @ Cleveland Browns

Last year, the late-December game between these two foes at this location turned out to be an unexpected Game of the Week contender, as the Browns, playing for pride and for jobs, beat the snot out of the Steelers. And just four or five weeks ago, I'd list this as the game of the week again. But alas, not anymore. The Browns have gone to sleep and tanked on the season, much like they did at the end of the Romeo Crennel era in 2008 when we shut them out on their turf. If Peyton Hillis suddenly recovers from injury and runs like an absolute beast, this game might manage to avoid being the end of the Eric Mangini era. Short of that, the Browns' season and their head coach's career will likely both have the plug pulled on them within about 24-48 hours of each other.

There is still some doubt as to whether Troy Polamalu will play. If he does, I'd say the Browns chances go from poor to abysmal. If he doesn't, they still are pretty poor. Colt McCoy will very likely be a good QB someday, but his team seems to have gone to sleep and I can't see them waking up in time to pull things off. I have to regret that, because I still would rather a UFL team win the division over the Steelers, but short of an absolute miracle, the Steelers will be the No. 2 seed this year and the Ravens will hit the road to Kansas City or Indy, either of which could be a very tough matchup for them.  Steelers 30, Browns 13.

With the Bengals playing the Baltimore Ravens, there is no AFC North Game of the Week this week, since Mojokong handles all of the Bengals game predictions.  At least we'll get to see this week's game on TV... well, all of us who are in town, of course.  Hopefully our boys will be kind enough to provide a game worth watching.