From the Desk of Eagles Outsider Barry Bowe

Going into Sunday Night Football in Week 14, I needed the Texans to beat the Patriots and the Giants to beat the Dolphins on Monday night. Those two wins would’ve given me a tie for the lead in our weekly football pool.

Working backwards, the Giants beat the Dolphins 31-24 on Monday but – alas and alack – the Sunday night game had already gone the wrong way for me when the Patriots roughed up the Texans 27-6. Those results doomed me to second place in last week’s pool.

Now begins a new week and a new chance to win the pool. And by the way, please note that there’s a Saturday night game this week. So let’s get started with Thursday Night Football.

Thursday – December 10

8:25 – Buccaneers (6-7 & 3-3 Away) at Rams (5-8 & 4-3 Home)

Rams are 2½-point favorites with an O/U of 41 points.

The Rams have converted 25.3% of their third downs this season – placing them last in the NFL in that department. That’s because Jeff Fisher is masterful at putting his team in poor down-and-distance situations:

• On first down, Fisher likes to hand off to Todd Gurley deep in the backfield from the shotgun. The defense invariably knows what’s coming and drops Gurley for a loss.
• On second down, it’s time to call a screen pass to Tavon Austin. Once again, the defense knows what’s coming and nails Austin in the backfield for another loss – bringing up a third-and-long.
• On third down, it’s finally time to pass – but the defense again knows what’s coming. So the receivers are either well covered downfield and the pass is thrown away, or the quarterback finds an open receiver well short of the first-down marker – and it’s time to punt.

The Rams fired their offensive coordinator two weeks ago – but Jeff Fisher is the one who needs to go. Until that happens, the Rams will be also-rans.

I don’t know if Nick Foles or Case Keenum is starting at quarterback tonight – but it doesn’t matter because Jeff Fisher will handcuff his quarterback.

Because of that fact – plus murky information about the state of Todd Gurley – I pick the Bucs in a mild upset.

UPDATE

The Bucs couldn’t have played much worse and the Rams couldn’t have played much better. The result was a 31-23 victory for the Rams – giving me my first losing pick of the week.

Saturday – December 19

8:25 – Jets (8-5 & 3-3 Away) at Cowboys (4-9 & 1-5 Home)

Jets are 3-point favorites with an O/U of 41½ points.

To me, not much of a game. Jets are fighting to make the playoffs and the Cowboys stink.

I’ll take the Jets easy.

BALANCE OF MY PICKS

I’ll add the balance of my picks for Week 15 on Sunday morning – and let me remind you . . .

VALUE PICKS

As always, my picks are free of charge and worth every penny.

In addition to being the official Eagles Outsider for BlameMyFather.com, Barry Bowe is also the author of:

1. Born to Be Wild
2. 1964 – The Year the Phillies Blew the Pennant
3. 12 Best Eagles QBs
4. Birth of the Birds
5. Soon-to-be-published sexy, police procedural Caribbean Queen
6. Soon-to-be-published novel Stosh Wadzinski
7. Soon-to-be-published novel Polish Widow