It’s Week 12 and Kerry Collins is still playing like a hotshot quarterback ten years younger than his actual age.

And after 11 weeks into the 2008-09 NFL football season, we learned that Collins is really not that young anymore although he sure plays like the next best thing in football, NFL referees in Pittsburgh can screw sports gamblers of their money and Tony Romo can win Dallas a Cowboys - Redskins rivalry game even with a broken pinkie.

And just like the last few weeks, Week 12 starts early on a Thursday night, with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals getting it on at Heinz Field. The Steelers are somewhat struggling lately with Ben Roethlisberger still favoring his partially separated shoulder. Despite that, the Steelers still managed to win two of their last three and I don’t expect these guys to lose to the Bengals who have lost all but one game this year.

Pittsburgh Steelers by seven.

Next, we have the Tampa Bay Buccaneers facing the winless Detroit Lions. Buccaneers running back Earnest Graham is likely lost for the season following an ankle injury he suffered in the their win over the Minnesota Vikings last Sunday. The loss of Graham is particularly bad timing for the Buccaneers, who released a healthy Michael Bennett last week to make room on the roster to activate Cadillac Williams from the PUP list. STILL, with only the lowly Lions standing on their way this Sunday, the Buccaneers should be able to handle Detroit without a decent running game.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers by three.

The Philadelphia Eagles look to remain on track despite ending up with a tied game with the lowly Bengals last Sunday. They have the Baltimore Ravens at the M&T Bank Stadium next and I’m quite sure Philly won’t let this one end up tied too. After last Sunday’s 13-13 tie with Cincinnati, several Eagles players, including their quarterback Donovan McNabb, admitted that they didn’t know there was only one overtime period in NFL regular season games. Now that they do, they should come out strong in all four quarters of the game.

Philadelphia Eagles by three.

Next, we have the Minnesota Vikings looking to grab the lead in the NFC North when they visit the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jaguars are not playing very well this year. The 24-14 loss to the Titans dropped them to 4-6 and all but dashed their playoff hopes. STILL, they’re not mathematically eliminated, although they only have a very far-off chance of making the playoffs with the Titans and the Colts running away from them after 11 weeks. We’re still picking the Jaguars though since Jaguars wideout Troy Williamson has been waiting for this opportunity to humiliate his former head coach since moving from Minnesota to Jacksonville.

Jacksonville Jaguars by three.

Next we have the Chicago Bears and the St. Louis Rams both hoping for a huge win this Sunday and end their respective losing skids. The Bears are disappointed with their performance last week against the Green Bay Packers after only putting up 3 points to Green Bay’s 37. For the second straight week, the offense was saddled with poor field position. Chicago was forced to run 10 plays from inside their own 20-yard line Sunday afternoon at Lambeau Field, and just one of them produced a first down, resulting in Brad Maynard punts from the Bears’ 32, 19 and 10-yard lines. STILL, this is a team competing for the division lead this Sunday and since the Rams have lost four straight now, handing them their fifth one shouldn’t be a problem.

Chicago Bears by three.

Two red-hot teams collide next as the still undefeated Tennessee Titans meet the 7-3 New York Jets, a team on a roll after winning four straight games to take the AFC East lead. The Jets’ 34-31 overtime victory over New England earned them more than sole possession of first place in the AFC East. The win gave them confidence while making them realize that with Brett Favre behind center, they can go toe-to-toe with the best of the conference. However, the Jets will face the VERY BEST of their conference in Tennessee and Favre will need a HUGE game to hand the Titans their first loss of the season.

We’re not counting on it though, Tennessee Titans by seven.

Speaking of the best teams in the league today, the 9-1 New York Giants look to remain strong heading to the final stretch when they face a team also brimming with confidence with the playoffs just around the corner. The defending champs have the high-flying Arizona Cardinals who, at 7-3, continue to surprise the pundits with the MVP year quarterback Kurt Warner is having. But since it’s in Arizona where the Giants have won their Super Bowl title, don’t expect Eli Manning and his guys to lose there this Sunday.

New York Giants by seven.

The struggling Seattle Seahawks will try to regain some pride when they face the Washington Redskins. The Seahawks, with a dismal 2-8 stand, are virtually out of the race for the NFC West title. They are probably no longer looking to make the playoffs but rather just happy to play spoiler in the final stretch. Now that they have lost their third consecutive game while the division-leading Cardinals improved to 7-3 last week, coach Mike Holmgren addressed the players and coaches to approach the remaining six games of the season in a professional manner. Problem is, the Redskins, who are competing for maybe a bye week in the postseason, will be approaching this game the same… AND THEN SOME.

Washington Redskins by 14.

The Tony Romo story resumes this Sunday after making its return last week when the Dallas Cowboys host the struggling San Francisco 49ers at Texas Stadium. The 49ers won just two of their first nine games of the season. Although the 49ers snapped a six-game losing streak with a decisive victory over the St. Louis Rams to improve to 3-7, catching the high-flying Cardinals in the NFC West is more like wishful thinking at this point. Besides, Romo is back and after the young quarterback shook off some rust in a close 14-10 win over the Redskins, I’m expecting No.9 to get even more comfortable behind center when he sees what resembles a 49ers defensive package this Sunday.

Dallas Cowboys by 14.

The Houston Texans try to bounce back from a setback they suffered last week when they meet the Cleveland Browns. In the second half of Sunday’s loss to Indianapolis, the Texans’ run defense vanished yet again. It is a problem that is reoccurring as Joseph Addai, a Houston native, finished with 105 yards on 22 carries against the Texans, scoring twice, on a 23-yard catch and a 7-yard run. Addai follows Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson and Baltimore’s Willis McGahee as halfbacks who have been able to reach triple digits on the ground in the Texans’ three-game losing streak, and with Browns running back Jamal Lewis testing that D next, the Texans could be walking into their fourth straight defeat.

Cleveland Browns by three.

The Buffalo Bills will try to end their four-game losing streak when they visit the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. It seems it was only yesterday when everybody was jumping on the Bills bandwagon after a 4-0 start to the season. After Monday night’s disappointing 29-27 loss to the Cleveland Browns at home, the Bills have now lost five of their last six, dropping them to a dismal 5-5 stand to settle for last place in the AFC East, a division that looked like was theirs to win a month ago. Thankfully, playing the 1-9 Kansas City Chiefs could just be what the doctor ordered. This is a perfect opportunity for Buffalo to get back in the hunt.

Buffalo Bills by seven.

Speaking of the AFC East, two teams just a game ahead of Buffalo will collide as the Miami Dolphins meet the New England Patriots in a huge rivalry game at Dolphin Stadium. After a stellar performance against the New York Jets, no one should question Matt Cassel’s ability of throwing the football. Despite losing to the Jets in overtime last week, Cassel set a career high with 400 yards on 31 of 50 passing with three touchdowns and no interceptions. Clearly, that was the best game of his career and although he lost it to Brett Favre last Thursday night, that should give him enough confidence to beat the Dolphins over the weekend.

New England Patriots by three.

A classic AFC West rivalry will be renewed as Mike Shanahan will once again look to piss off his former boss some more when he leads his Denver Broncos against Al Davis and his Oakland Raiders. The Broncos are finally making progress after scoring back-to-back wins. They were pleased with the job they did against Atlanta, holding the powerful Falcons rushing game to 3.3 yards per attempt and allowing only 20 points in a 24-20 win last Sunday. Denver worked in improving their run defense after a horrible start, and it paid off against the ATL. And since the Raiders are going nowhere this year, I see no reason why it won’t pay off again against Oakland.

Denver Broncos by seven.

Speaking of the Atlanta Falcons, they have the Carolina Panthers next as the ATL looks to get back on the win column after losing to Denver a week ago. The Falcons will take an improved secondary into their second match-up against Carolina. The last time the Falcons took on Carolina, Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme and veteran wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad put on quite an air show in a 24-9 Panthers win. And since Atlanta’s rookie quarterback Matt Ryan now have more games under his belt, I’m expecting a different result this time.

Atlanta Falcons by three.

Culminating this Sunday’s games as always will be Sunday Night Football and this time, Al Michaels and John Madden will be calling a big AFC match-up between the Indianapolis Colts and the San Diego Chargers.

The San Diego Chargers have won their last three meetings with Indianapolis, two last year and nine of the 13 games played between the two franchises. However, since the Indianapolis Colts have now won three consecutive games and are now back in the groove, the Chargers could be walking into a tough evening especially with all the struggles they’ve been having lately. At 4-6, the Chargers are in a world of hurt. While their next three games are at home, they come against a surging Indianapolis Colts team, an improved Falcons squad and their biggest divisional foe, the Raiders. Thankfully, the toughest of the three home games comes right at the beginning and although I’m expecting San Diego to lose to Indy, winning the next two after Sunday night shouldn’t be a problem for the Chargers to help them get back on their feet.

For now, we’re picking the Indianapolis Colts by seven.

Finally, we have this week’s edition of Monday Night Football and this week, we have a good match-up for you as the Green Bay Packers visit the New Orleans Saints at the Superdome.

The Saints offense usually gets most of the attention this season and rightfully so with the MVP year Drew Brees has been having. But despite the strong performance, Brees could only lead the Saints to a mediocre 5-5 stand, dropping them dead last in the competitive NFC South. The Green Bay Packers, on the other hand, are in the middle of a three-way tie for the NFC North lead with Chicago and Minnesota. But since all three teams are also at 5-5, the NFC North is being deemed as one of the weakest divisions in the league this season and nobody is expecting teams coming out of this division to stir up that much of a noise once the postseason arrives.

And since the New Orleans Saints will be the ones playing with a better sense of urgency, we’re picking them to win by three on Monday night.

Who will win Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa, Florida? Bodog sportsbook has the odds.

New York Giants 17.00

New England Patriots 4.50

Dallas Cowboys 7.00

Indianapolis Colts 8.50

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2008 NFL Season Super Bowl XLIII