Picking NFL Week 13

How I did last week: 10-3

As my friend Borat would say, “Very Nice.”

Record on the season: 93-63

That's looking a lot better, isn't it?

Browns at Dolphins: If Colt McCoy was under center for Cleveland in this one, the Dolphins might be in danger of losing their fourth out of five home games. But it doesn't appear that he will be (he hasn't practiced at all this week), so Miami can focus on stopping the run, and take their chances with Vontae Davis and co. in their secondary against Jake Delhomme's arm. Dolphins.

49ers at Packers: If they want to play deep into January, Green Bay is going to have to start getting more yards from their running game than the 26 they got on 11 carries by their running backs last week. However, for this game, California native Aaron Rodgers and his receivers alone should be too much to handle for San Francisco. Packers.

Broncos at Chiefs: Okay, call me a sucker for punishment but three weeks after picking Kansas City to beat Denver and watching them lose 49-29, I'm going with the Chiefs again. Why? Well, no part of me thinks the Broncos 30^th ranked run defense can bottle up for the league's best running game for a second straight time. And moreover, there's something about the aura of Arrowhead stadium for the first time in a few years: the Chiefs haven't lost there all year. Chiefs

Bills at Vikings: Buffalo has a knack for keeping games close and the Vikings are banged-up. But if Adrian Peterson can recover from an ankle sprain in time to play, he should have a nice day against the Bills abysmal, league-worst run defense. Vikings.

Bears at Lions: The Lions third-choice quarterback Drew Stanton – named this weekend's starter for Detroit on Wednesday – could be a a serious challenger to Titans third stringer Rusty Smith for the title of “QB the most in over his head in an NFL game in 2010” against Chicago's stingy defense. Bears.

Jaguars at Titans: The Jags have surprised me a couple times this year, and they may do so again. But I can't overlook the fact that they have consistently played badly against Tennessee in recent seasons, mainly because of Chris Johnson gashing them in the running and passing game. And with Kerry Collins back at quarterback for Tennessee, Jacksonville can't sell out on the run. Titans.

Redskins at Giants: The Giants are going sack-crazy recently and Donovan McNabb doesn't usually enjoy playing New York defensive Osi Umenyiora at the best of times. Giants

Saints at Bengals: Last year, this might have been the type of tough December game the Saints would have slipped up in, because they practically had their division already locked up. But this year, it's a different picture in the NFC South, and they're the ones playing catch up to 9-2 Atlanta. Saints.

Raiders at Chargers: The Raiders beat the Bolts by a touchdown in a week 5 match-up. But unless you've taken a month-long hiatus from watching football, you know that San Diego has turned it around in a big way the last few games, culminating with an embarrassment of Peyton Manning last Sunday night. And Jason Campbell ain't no Peyton Manning. Chargers.

Falcons at Buccaneers: I've said it repeatedly and I'll say it again: the closest the Bucs have come to beating a good team was squeaking a 18-17 win at home against the 5-6 Rams. And the Falcons are a very good team. Falcons.

Panthers at Seahawks: Was that: a/ A sign of life I got a glimpse of from the Panthers last weekend against Cleveland? b/ Or just Jake Delhomme letting his old team hang around?

Hate to say it Jake, but I think I'm going with answer b/. Seahawks

Rams at Cardinals: How much do think it irks the Cardinals that by only his 13^th week in the NFL Sam Bradford is already better than Derek Anderson, with his almost 6 years of experience, will ever be? And no amount of ranting will change that simple fact. Rams

Cowboys at Colts: When was the last time a late regular season game was a must-win for Indy? Colts.

Steelers at Ravens: Both teams will struggle to establish the run, but one thing I remember from their early October game was Joe Flacco's ability to complete passes on key third downs. And that's the Steelers's weakness on defense: they are a little worse than middle of the NFL pack in terms of defending the pass. But match-ups between these two giants of the AFC North are always ridiculously close, so why even bother trying to read into it too much? Ravens.

Jets at Patriots: New York certainly outplayed New England earlier this year, but since then Randy Moss has left and the Patriots passing game has really clicked. And even with stud cornerback Darrelle Revis back, the Jets pass defense isn't where it was last season. Patriots.

The Rose Bowl: Thoughts from the Student Section

-Don't take anything away from the Buckeyes, they were good value for their win. We got a little taste of Terrelle Pryor's upside Friday, didn't we? We expected him to be mobile, to move around in the pocket and make tacklers miss, but I don't think many people (apart from Jim Tressel and his coaching staff) envisioned Pryor throwing the ball 37 times, and completing 23 of those passes.

And when Pryor and the Ohio State offense came up short, the Buckeye's defense bailed them out. The D-line pressured Jeremiah Masoli almost every time he dropped back to pass, and didn't allow the Ducks running game to wear them down. The secondary held up well too: Masoli only had 81 passing yards on the day.

-Moving on to the Ducks, you have to say that, given the performance of the offense, they had little hope of winning this game. I haven't seen Oregon's offense look that toothless and one-dimensional since the very beginning of the year. One stat (apart from Masoli's 9 completions) that perfectly captured the game was the number of Duck first downs. 12. For an offense that prides itself in moving the ball, and going on long but fast drives, that's a number that kills you.

The Ducks had 26 first downs against Cal, 31 against USC and 25 against Oregon State in the Civil, their three biggest wins of the season. But they couldn't get that momentum going on offense. 12 first downs, that's approaching Boise State territory (they had 6 in that game).

Ohio State managed to keep the Ducks in third-and-long all day, and Masoli does not yet have the vision, poise and touch when he passes the football to beat a defense as good as Ohio State through the air in obvious passing situations.

To me that's something that Chip Kelly has to work on this off-season. Get Masoli a package of plays that he is comfortable executing in those obvious passing situations (from the shotgun if necessary). And that doesn't mean he has to throw a lot of long balls either. Utilize the team's speed by throwing good screens and tossing LaMichael James and Kenjon Barner the ball out of the backfield. Oh, and get the offensive line to work on its pass as well as its run protection. Masoli needs more time back there in those situations.

-Given the team's woes on offense, and the resulting extra time they had to spend on the field, I thought the defense actually gave a fairly good account of themselves. The secondary did get beat a number of times by the explosive DeVier Posey and Pryor did rack up over 70 rushing yards, but the front seven did also get to Pryor quite a bit (Kenny Rowe, my defensive MVP this year, picked up three of Oregon's four sacks) and held Brandon Saine and Daniel Herron to under 100 yards on 28 rushes.

-Finally a quick mention for special teams. If there was one huge positive to take from Friday's game it was the performance of special teams. Time and time again, they gave Oregon a lift with a big return, and prevented Ohio State from doing likewise. 204 yards of kickoff and punt returns: that's a huge number. They did a fantastic job of setting the table for the offense and giving them great field position.