We Pledge to Deliver the Week 9 Survivor and Thursday Night NFL Picks

Hazing is a thing in the NFL. It has been for years. Does it sometimes go a step too far? There are plenty of Bros out there who were in fraternities and know what they made pledges do pledge things, too. Whether it was leaving them naked 500 miles away from campus and telling them to make it home or just forcing them to stand in line at the local food spot of choice to save their spot until they got there, this stuff has been going on for years. I’m not sure what Jonathan Martin experienced was much different than what goes around the rest of the league, but I am sure that Richie Incognito’s history of debacle makes the whole situation much worse. The sad thing is now two guys look to never play football in the NFL ever again after what happened. The morale of the story? You can get a good look at a T-bone by shoving your head up a bull’s ass, but wouldn’t you rather take your pledge’s word for it? 

Survivor Pick of the Week: 

TENNESSEE over Jacksonville 

Survivor Pools have been lucky this year with Jacksonville being someone's opponent every week. That's every week except last week when things got a little too interesting for some thanks to the Jaguars' bye. Seattle had to come back from down three touchdowns at home in order to avoid a catastrophic loss to Tampa Bay. Thankfully they were playing the other winless team in the league. Dallas ‎needed a final-minute drive to escape a debacle at home to Minnesota. Good thing Tony Romo is terrible in the fourth quarter… 

Luckily for us, Jacksonville is back on the schedule for someone this week and that's right where I'm looking. Tennessee has performed really well this year with Jake Locker and suddenly have an explosive Chris Johnson again. Justin Blackmon fell off the wagon, so the Jaguars now have less talent than they had before. (Somehow that’s possible.) The options aren’t great this week, but when are they ever great this late in the season? 

Otherwise you’re probably looking at the Colts, who should handle superstar Kellen Clemens and the St. Louis Rams with ease. The Giants are set up well after the bye, but they’ve had too many bad games at home against bad teams to make you feel comfortable with them over the Raiders. Seattle hasn’t played well in recent weeks, but some people will be tempted to take them against the Falcons because of how bad Atlanta has been. I’d avoid San Francisco because Carolina is better than you think. Dallas can definitely go shot for shot with New Orleans, which makes them less appealing. Guess Tennessee doesn’t look so bad now? 

Teams used: Indianapolis, New England, Denver, New Orleans, St. Louis, Seattle, Green Bay, San Francisco, and Dallas 

Thursday Night Pick: 

MINNESOTA +2 over Washington 

Thursday night games are more offensive to watch than they are offensive on the field. The first look at these two teams might lead you to think the same thing, but at least they give up more points than any other team in the league that doesn’t play home games in Jacksonville. The over/under for the game is 48.5, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it go higher than that given that the teams combine to give up 62 points a game. 

I thought Washington was moving back in the right direction when they got blown out by Denver two weeks ago. Maybe that was too much to ask. They’ve been able to win home games against two teams of similar offensive ilk, Chicago and San Diego, so they should be able to go shot for shot with Minnesota. The Vikings may’ve looked pretty mundane two weeks ago against Minnesota, but they competed with the Cowboys and would’ve won had they had any semblance of a defense. 

This all brings us to this week. Both teams made the playoffs last year, which makes their combined four wins through nine weeks even that much more amusing. My first reaction in this game was to lean Minnesota. Washington seems like they should win, but I’m tired of seeing that work out. Besides you should never pick an underdog if you don’t think they can win. I think Minnesota can win and we’ll be talking about some Adrian Peterson monster effort in the morning. Or so I hope… 

Reggie: Washington

Last Week: 4-9 
Season: 59-73-2 
Survivor: 8-1 
Locks: 13-15 
Reggie’s Picks: 62-70-1