Who to Root for: Week 11

The Colts face another tough test in Baltimore this week. They are closing in on locking up a bye. The other AFC powers can't afford to slip up. Let's take a look at the important games of week eleven in the NFL.

Easy Calls

Pittsburgh at Kansas City: Call me crazy, but this game could be closer than you think. The Steelers haven't played well without Troy Polamalu, who will be out.

Cincinnati at Oakland: Another 7-2 team heading out west to face a struggling 2-7 team. Chances are either the Bengals or Steelers will lose. That's just life in the NFL. The Bengals have an easy stretch of @Oak, CLE, DET. It would be nice if the Raiders came alive and pulled off the upset.

San Diego at Denver: I want the Broncos to win because I think they are the worse team. It is as simple as that. I've never been in the camp that says the Chargers are Indy's kryptonite. I look at it the same way I viewed the Patriots, who knocked the Colts out in consecutive years. When the Colts are the better team they will beat San Diego. That said, I always root against Norv and Rivers. They're just annoying.

New York (A) at New England: The ultimate easy call.

Tough Calls

Tennessee at Houston: Hard to root for either team here. I'm open to arguments either way. The Titans are hot. I wouldn't mind seeing them get blown off the field. It would be hard to root for Houston, though. At least we get the Texans on a short week.

AFC Playoff Standings

1.) Indianapolis (9-0)

2.) Cincinnati (7-2)

3.) Denver (6-3)

4.) New England (6-3)

5.) Pittsburgh (6-3)

6.) San Diego (6-3)

7.) Jacksonville (5-4)

8.) Baltimore (5-4)

9.) Houston (5-4)

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written by Willy Duer, November 21, 2009

I'm rooting for the Patriots the rest of the way. Belichick earned my support with the 4th down call, and I'm still holding out hope that he'll just go almost punt free the rest of the way to make a point, which I think would be awesome.

We'll see how long this lasts. But Rex Ryan bothers me and I want to see them just stomp the crap out of the Jets.

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written by DemondSanders, November 21, 2009

Punt free? That would be amazing. He totally should. They'd win out.

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written by MikeJ, November 21, 2009

I think we have to root for the Bengals to keep winning for 2 reasons:

1. I would much rather have them as the #2 seed. That means Pitt, NE, and SD would be in the Wild card round and at most only 2 of them can advance.

2. Most important, if they keep winning, The Colts can't rest their starters until real late in the season. We need the team to keep focus until the playoffs.

Totally agree with everything MikeJ said
written by dmstorm22, November 21, 2009

I really want the Bengals to take that 2 seed.

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written by DemondSanders, November 21, 2009

I like the way you guys think, very outside the box. But I really want that one seed, and thus I'll be rooting for Cincy to lose one more time.

Cincy is definitely the lesser of the four evils, but any team you play in the latter playoff rounds is going to be solid.

As for the resting the starters thing... I've never put any stock in it whatsoever. See DZ's research on the subject.

The bottom line: Good teams find a way to win. Playing at home helps, statistically speaking.

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written by DemondSanders, November 21, 2009

If anyone just saw the conclusion to the LSU/Ole Miss game: Les Miles should be fired tonight.

I've seen bad clock management, but that was amazing. You trail by two.... it's fourth and 26 from midfield.. you complete a hail mary down to the five.... clock stops with 1 second to play.... and you don't have a the field goal team ready to go in?

What's worse: they tried to spike the ball with one second left...

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written by Merr, November 21, 2009

Totally agree with Demond on all these. Resting the starters is a huge advantage. You only hear negatives about it after a team loses but never hear how smart it was after they win.

I'm kind of a closet Bengal fan so will probably find myself rooting for them emotionally even though my logic will be telling me to quit it.

ole miss/lsu
written by m@, November 21, 2009

I actually just caught the last 30 seconds of that game which, as it turns out, was all I needed to see. that really should take some of the 'bad coaching heat' off of BB ... only it wasn't a prime time game.

Good point
written by Bob M, November 22, 2009

Ravens on a short week tomorrow and Texans on a short week next week. The S.O.S. writeups don't usually take that into consideration.

Willy, no! I don't want BB to go punt-free. Well, in a way I do, but it will actually make me like him more than I am starting to. And I already feel like the ingenue heroine in a cheesy novel. That man is the most repulsive, obstinate, ill dressed, work-obsessed, under-handed, unfriendly brute I have ever met! What? He's stopped punting at all? Oh no, I may be falling for him....

Yo
written by J.C., November 22, 2009

Demond I don't know what your schedule is and DZ I'm pretty sure you don't have Comcast down there but History Channel ran a ten part, ten hour series called WWII in HD.

Ran today.......I think they run it again tomorrow.

Starts with Pearl Harbor and ends when f**k face blows himself away in a hole underground.

All original footage 'UPPED' to HD and narrated by a few celebs.

Totally badass.

Nothing gets my blood up like the Normandy Invasion. It's like playing the Canadiens in May.

Screaming, yelling, crying. Check it out, DVR whatever you have space for.

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written by Attila, November 22, 2009

A different argument. From now on we should root for the Titans and Jacksonville, unless they play the Colts. You don't want them to have top10 picks in the draft(Suh, McCoy, Berry), and both were crazy enough to give the Pats their 2nd round picks, so the Pats could have 3 picks in the top 40.

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written by DemondSanders, November 22, 2009

"And I already feel like the ingenue heroine in a cheesy novel. That man is the most repulsive, obstinate, ill dressed, work-obsessed, under-handed, unfriendly brute I have ever met! What? He's stopped punting at all? Oh no, I may be falling for him...."

LOL.

And good point, Attila.

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written by djcolts, November 22, 2009

Wow on the Bengals and Steelers losing to the Raiders and Chiefs. Win 4 out of 6 and Colts clinch HFA no matter what.

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written by filiusdextris, November 22, 2009

It's even better than that: Colts already own the three-loss tiebreak over the Pats, and the Bengals and Chargers play each other still. So the Colts only need the winner of that game to lose one other game in their schedule to only need a 3-3 record to clinch #1 overall.