NFL Football :Crossroads Game Week

I went down to the crossroads, fell down on my knees.
I went down to the crossroads, fell down on my knees.
Asked the lord above for mercy, save me if you please.

I went down to the crossroads, tried to flag a ride.
I went down to the crossroads, tried to flag a ride.
Nobody seemed to know me, everybody passed me by.

Crossroads by Robert Johnson

Its crossroads game week for much of the NFL.

Some struggling teams, trying to sneak back to life like Freddy Kruger, will have a sharp stake driven through their collective hearts with losses in lucky week seven.

Some crossroad teams will start to ride the carousal down, down, down into a burning season of fire with another loss and with a win some teams worm will turn topside.

Who has a ticket to ride?

Everyone will ride but which teams will catch the elevator going up or the broke elevator tumbling down to the basement? 

NY Jets [3-3] @ Oakland [2-4]

With a win this week Al Davis can stand over his Raiders like Doctor Frankenstein and shout!

"It's alive, it's moving, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, IT'S ALIVE!"

But does that make Tom Cable Igor?

The Jets sour three game skid has been shielded a bit by their stellar start and the Yankees playoff run.

But a loss at Oakland and Rex Ryan and Mark Sanchez will learn how fast in Gotham one can morph from a super sized, brash Weeb Ewbank and the New Namath to Big Mouth Buddy Ryan's Bigger Mouthed Boy and Browning Nagle the Sequel.

The pick: Jets minus 6

A Buddy Ryan style defense can't lose to JaMarcus Russell, can it?

Philadelphia [3-3] @ Washington [2-4]

For all the fear, terror, poor play, panic, and disorder in DC a win puts the Redskins only one game under five hundred.

Yes the league is that bad,

And here comes Andy Reid, fresh off his manatee in the boat lights pure panic passing attack nightmare on Silver and Black Street last week, ready to rock and roll the Redskins or sink the Eagle ship.

Phillies Fever has kept the heat off Big Andy but a loss here and its We Want Kolb! chant time.

The pick: Redskins plus 7.

Big Al Haynesworth and Andre Carter can devastate a suddenly hurting and horrible Eagle offensive line.

Redskins win outright and suddenly Riggins is buying Zorn drinks. And Eagle fans are wondering how much does Jon Gruden like Philly Cheese-steaks anyway?

And hey Andy whatever happened to Michael Vick anyway?

San Francisco [3-2] @ Houston [3-3] 

The Niners were exposed by the Atlanta Falcons as a team with more holes then the Hood after the Bismarck broadsided it.

Each year Gary Kubiak skillfully maneuvers his Texans out of the playoff hunt early and ends the season strong.

The Niners are coming off a bye week and the Texans are bouncing back home after beating the Bengals.

Can the Kubiaks win two in a row?

The pick: Texans minus 3

The Niners aren't road dogs with bite yet.

Atlanta [4-1] @ Dallas [3-3]

Does it seem that Atlanta is better then everyone thought, that is a young team on the upswing with a solid quarterback and coach tandem?

Does it seem that Dallas is not as good as everyone thought, a team in decline with a shaky quarterback and coach tandem?

Every week it seems the wheels are just about to come off the Wade Phillips bus.

The pick: Atlanta plus 4

The wheels come of Wade this week and the rug starts coming out. The Cowboys have no clothes. The Dirty Birds do Dallas. Falcons outright. Easy.

Chicago [3-2] @ Cincinnati [4-2]

Twin teams who seem either on the verge of a wild card playoff or a season ending slide.

Which club wins the Cedric Benson Bowl? 

Which club's cheese starts to melt?

The pick Cincinnati minus 1

Andy Reid aside there are not many coaches worse in tight games then Lovie Smith. Bengals corners control the Cutler passing attack and make Bears fans growl as Benson the Bengal Beast roars.

Buffalo [2-4] @ Carolina [2-3]

Carolina has a playoff pulse?

Dick Jauron has a Buffalo plan?

Is Jake Delhomme the man?

No, no, and no but Carolina is to far for the Buffalo to roam.

The pick Carolina minus 7

Buffalo is happy just beating the Jets so this road trip really does not matter. Carolina climbs, and runs, back to five hundred.

Arizona [3-2] @ New York Giants [5-1]

The Gmen are the beast of the NFC east but do they really want to be playing playoff games in far away domes instead of the frigid East Coast?

Another loss and its a roaring Thunderdome in January time for the Giants.

The Cards collapsed the cheap Seattle house of cards last week but do they not seem like the up and down Cardinals of yesteryear.

The pick Cards plus 7.

A Giant win but a Cards cover as the New York secondary, like Hank Williams Senior's old bucket, has a hole in it.

Giants grind it out and the Cards and Niners race to see which five hundred team wins the west.

San Diego [2-3] @ Kansas City [1-5]

The Chiefs are at a crossroads but only, as far as playoff hopes go, standing there to get hit by a speeding semi truck.

But the Chargers ain't a speeding truck. They are more like an out of luck high priced wreck. Still salvageable, maybe, but smoking and losing pieces while Norv Turner drives on.

Norv is getting that look doomed character actors got in bad fifties horror flicks. The look of pure terror right before the giant, unnameable, radioactive B Movie monster eats the actor.

But why are the Bolts only spotting five points to the Chiefs who barely beat the Redskins?

The Pick San Diego-5

The monster steps are getting closer to Norv but he can't lose to the Chiefs, can he? By picking Norv I feel like Charlie Brown running towards the football yet again.

Other faces, other places

Baltimore bites its nails on its bye week and wonders if its defense's life has passed it by and if that Poe guy is coming with flowers on Halloween.

Somewhere Jack Del Rio and the Jaguars develop a game-plan sure to empty a few more thousand seats each week in Jacksonville.

Detroit should just call it a season, and spare us their Thanksgiving show, with their one Zorn win.

Seattle goes to sleep and the state of Tennessee tunes in to the SEC.

If its the Saints just bet the over [47 this week vs the Wildcat] until they are stopped.

All these meaningless words and no mention of the BF name...lets just hope, for the good of humanity and to curb Skip Bayless's suddenly frighteningly obsessive stalking tendencies, some Steelers knock the Purple Robed one from his throne.

Games in England should not count.

No one should be forced to watch a game with Eric Mangini involved in it. And if Rolling Stone is making a Cleveland coaching caricature out of MAngini what's next replacing Butthead in the Beavis and Butthead remake?

What? Oh Beavis says no way is he working with that jerk.

Well there's always ESPN.

All he has to do is scream Brett Favre the great every fourth word.

Damn it, almost made it with out uttering the name.

Go Steelers.

Where the hell is that Terrible Towel?