NFL Week 13 Preview: Thanksgiving Football, Steelers Come To New England

PIT @ NE

The Patriots are thankful for many things today, not the least of which is the fact that their starting left tackle avoided a suspension for his dreadlock ripping beat down of Channing Crowder. In the list of dumb things I’ve seen Patriots players do, that one was up there.

There is no reason why the Steelers shouldn’t win this game. They’re the better team. They have the best defense in the NFL. They should be able to stop the Matt Cassel MVP train in its tracks.

But why am I not convinced that they’re going to come to New England and win?

KC @ OAK

Break up the Oakland Raiders!

Al Davis knew firing Lane Kiffin (For CAUSE, dang it! Not paying him a penny!) was the right move. Lousy Raider-haters, what do you have to say about yourselves now?? Eh??

Herm Edwards vs. Tom Cable. Good Lord. The over-under on wasted timeouts is 5 (each), on too many men on the field penalties is 3 (each), and on delay of game penalties is 6 (each).

DEN @ NYJ

Could this be a letdown game for the Jets? And if they have a letdown game, will they still be able to score 40 on the insanely porous Denver defense? I’m thinking Yes and Yes.

Mike Shanahan needs to fire himself as GM. The man lacks any ability to build a defense. He’s a great head coach, but his GM keeps letting him down by expecting him to make fruit salad out of the diarrhea he’s expected to send onto the field to stop the opposing offense each week.

CHI @ MIN

When these two teams met on October 19th, nobody expected a shootout. But that’s exactly what we got. Almost 600 combined yards passing from Gus Frerotte and Kyle Orton to go along with four touchdown passes. 89 combined points. Unreal.

The most impressive thing about that game was Kyle Orton. He was tremendous, especially considering the fact that the Vikings were able to shutdown Matt Forte and the running game.

I think Kyle Orton’s the difference this week as well. He’s been mediocre since he returned from the ankle injury, but that ends Sunday.

JAC @ HOU

How are the Jacksonville Jaguars not getting more press? Weren’t they supposed to be a Super Bowl team this season? They’re terrible. Awful. If they played in a real city, they’d be getting KILLED right now. But, luckily for them, they’re in Jacksonville and nobody’s noticed yet.

Jack Del Rio has gone from one of the best, up-and-coming head coaches in the NFL to a guy who is probably on the hot-seat this offseason. Personally, I never bought into Jack Del Rio. I’m not a fan of guys with two last names.

The winner of this game is in the driver’s seat for third place in the NFC South. Giddy up.

Don't forget to check out this week's NFL Power 10. Enjoy your Thanksgiving weekend!

Sean Crowe covers the New England Patriots for Examiner.com and writes a bi-weekly column for Sports-Central.org.

He is a Senior Writer and an NFL Community Leader at Bleacher Report. You can email him at scrowe@gmail.com. His archive can be found here.

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