NFL 2024 Season - PS1
Picksfootball
 

Headline Play

Articles published multiple times per week, offering insights and picks on upcoming games.
 
SEASON:

Article Archive

Wild Card Weekend
Wild Card Trend
What to Like
Rookie Quarterbacks
Broken Fever
That's That
Week 18
Checking the Boxes
Needs and Wants
Four and Out
One or the Other
Point Spread Clouds
Fix It
Hollow Revenge
To Win or Not to Win
Week 17
All Knowing
Complicated Made Simple
Advanced Calculus
Glow Dimmed
Brink of Elimination
Game of Survival
Pleading for the Fifth
Need over Nothing
Christmas Grinch
Week 16
Numbers, Numbers, Numbers
Vintage 2018
Penix Debut
Dog Day
Playoff Position
Rest of the Story
Different Sundays
Run Some Tests
Without and With
Week 15
Two Tonight
Playoff Chances
Wild Card Challenge
Best of the Best
Next
Dire Straits
And It's Good
Bloated Lines
Week 14
Running up the Score
Challenge Me
Finding Reasons to Win
Crab Feed
Week Off
Good Enough
Buyers Regret
Pulled the Rug
Week 13
Mile High Hopes
Top and Bottom
Fourth Time the Charm
Bounce Back
Engage Spark
Line Up
Out in the Cold
Thanksgiving Visitors
Good Enough
Motivation on Steroids
Week 12
Second Best
Heavyweight Bout
QB's Ins and Outs
Everybody In
Too Easy
Walk the Plank
Hot to Trot
Try, Try, Try, Try, Try Again
Week 11
Mouse Trap
Must Game
Malfunction
Easy Does It
Old Foes
Falcons Fly into Mile High
Matter of Time
Improv
To the Brink
Week 10
Odd Man Out
Lions come Calling
Rookie versus Veteran
Call to Action
Full Reverse
When 8-0 is 4-4
Game of Contradictions
NFC West Bunch
Early Boarding
Week 9
Not Enough, Too Much
Real or Imposters
Groin Shot
Best Show
Saddle Up
Dull Edges
Telling Actions
Annihilation Formula
Week 8
No and No
Old Glory
Rookie Face Off
Adding it Up
Holding On
Jets Down
Unload and Reload
No Surprise
Career Paths
It Hurts
Week 7
Harbaugh Monday
Kids Camp
Barkley Back
Bird Battle
Mouse Time
Too Many?
Gone Shopping
Not Bad
40 for 3
Week 6
Try New
Night Vision
Trap Door
Looking Up
Wake Up Call
All Good Things
Bad Idea
Unexpected
Fire One
Week 5
Yes & Yes
Old Rivals
Rookie Sensation
So Close
Lunch in Seattle
Wake the Roosters
No Respect
Too Sweet
Turtle Flip
Week 4
Landmine
Bottoms Up
Winners and Losers
Call Me
Short Line
Reality Bites
Like Tonight
Uptick
Challenge Generates Performance
Week 3
Two Times
Reduced Value
Stars Down
The Other 21
Opportunity Knocks
Lots of Questions
Move Along People
Times Up
Week 2
Confidence Game
First and Second Picked QB's
Avoiding the Donut
Do or Die
One for the Road
Likewise
Adjustment Bureau
Down ... Not Out
Week 1
Time Marches On
Cashing the Trade
Start Here
Say What
Quick Up, Quick Down
Brazil Play Date
Top Two Open
Super Bowl Pick
Season Win Totals
Moving on Up
Breakout to Breakdown
Preseason 4
Preseason Wrap
Rookie Playoff Run
Preseason 3
Short Memory
Two In, One Up
Eagles Hunt
Winning Formula
Preseason 2
Quarterback Shuffle
One Two, or Two One
Starters Sit
Remote Control
Money be Damned
Preseason 1
One Season to the Next
Public Shift
Comets in the Night
Offseason
Mahomes Chasing History
All's Well that Ends Well
Ups and Downs
     
 
Vintage 2018
by Dennis Ranahan

NBC implemented their flex option in switching off the originally scheduled game for their Sunday night telecast, the Cleveland Browns at the Cincinnati Bengals, to the matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Dallas Cowboys.

It is an interesting choice.

Now, for those of us old enough to remember when local television only broadcast your team’s away games and the national broadcast featured the Dallas Cowboys as often as an advertisement for a beer, the Cowboys being a choice this season is a recent revelation. The Cowboys became America’s Team with the extensive exposure in the 60’s and 70’s, but this year FOX was bemoaning the fact that their featured Thanksgiving game had two teams going nowhere this season, the Cowboys and New York Giants.

Now, four weeks later, NBC is choosing the Cowboys to put in their primetime spot.

Or perhaps, more accurately stated, the network is choosing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to spotlight tonight. After all, Tampa Bay Quarterback Baker Mayfield is worth the price of admission. This kid has an infectious attitude that both his teammates and fans respond to, and his opponents detest. Trust me, everyone who has ever opposed Mayfield would like to cold cock him given the chance.

That is a compliment to his competitive spirit.

It has taken a few years for the 2018 quarterback class to find their footing in the National Football League, but this year the first three quarterbacks chosen that season have led their current teams to the top of their division standings. Mayfield was the first player taken in the 2018 NFL draft, selected by the Cleveland Browns. Don’t you think that team would like to have him now that he has emerged as a star over the mess they currently employ in Cleveland?

While Mayfield has hit paydirt with his fourth team, so too has the third overall choice in that draft, Sam Darnold. He has the Vikings tied with the Detroit Lions with 12 wins in 14 decisions. That same year, 2018, the Buffalo Bills selected Josh Allen with the seventh overall selection. Allen is on pace to win a Most Valuable Player Award this season.

Perhaps somebody ought to look up Josh Rosen, who was also taken in that draft with the tenth pick by the Arizona Cardinals. Seems vintage 2018 quarterbacks have come of age.

So, Mayfield leads his first place Buccaneers into Dallas tonight while looking to score enough to compensate for a Tampa Bay injured defense. Last week, as underdogs in Los Angeles, the Buccaneers lit up the defense that came into the week allowing the fewest points in the league, the Chargers. Mayfield led an offense that scored 40 at SoFi Stadium and tonight looks to run up the score on a Dallas defense without the Chargers credentials.

But, unlike last week, the Buccaneers are not underdogs in this one. Instead, off their impressive run of four straight wins since their November 17th bye week the Buccaneers have risen in status to be favored on the road in this one.

The Cowboys are still suffering through a season in which they entered without a running game threat and then suffered key injuries on both sides of the ball. That combination had Dallas drop in the standings like an anvil off a roof.

But, after five straight mid-season losses and drubbings by the Philadelphia Eagles and Houston Texans by scores of 34-6 and 34-10, the Cowboys found some resilience. They upset the Washington Commanders on the road as a double-digit underdog and have won three of their most recent four games.

What that leaves us with tonight is a Dallas team playing for respect and a Buccaneers squad favored on the road, a role they have split in four point spread decisions this year. The Bucs are good enough to beat the Detroit Lions on the road and hammer the Chargers on their home field in second and fifteen week results.

Whether they are good enough to win in Dallas tonight and cover the point spread is another question, and I don’t have the answer.