Week 11 saw the 49ers make a statement of intent with their 9th win of the season. It is hard top argue against their Superbowl credentials now and with a fairly easy schedule they look on their way to a 1st round bye in the playoffs. They will almost certainly be joined in the post season by Green Bay who moved to 10-0 in a hard fought win over Tampa. Elsewhere though things got more murky at least in the NFC.
Atlanta got back into contention in the South beating the Titans somewhat more convincingly than the 23-17 score would have you believe, and in the East, Dallas strung their 3rd win in a row together to move into pole position for now at least. With Philly winning to move to within 2 games and a host of divisional match ups still to be played this is looking like going to the wire.
Detroit & Chicago both had big wins and they both look well placed to challenge for a Wild Card.
In the AFC the story of the week was Tim Teebow and his rushing prowess, as the Broncos moved into contention in the inconsistent AFC West. Teebow had an impressive game leading 68 yards rushing as he engineered a surprise come from behind will over the fast fading NY Jets.
The Cincinnati Bengals had another tough divisional loss, this time against the Ravens however they are playing real well and currently they would be the second wild card with their 6-4 record. Their 4 defeats this season have all come but 7 points or less and none have been bad so they remain a team to watch.
In The East the Patriots moved two games clear thanks to a crushing win over the Chiefs, a game which saw Rob Gronkowski set a new TD record grabbing his 20th in 26 games beating the previous best, Mike Dittka who took 31 games. The Patriots were being somewhat written off three weeks ago by some , however they have shown how dangerous that is with good wins of late. With the Bills and Jets looking to be in decline we expect the Pats to take the AFC East title within the next month.
Our tips last week finished 10-4.
The results in full:
THURSDAY, NOV 17
Denver 17 NY Jets 13
SUNDAY, NOV 20
Green Bay 35 Tampa Bay 26
Detroit 49, Carolina 35
Cleveland 14, Jacksonville 10
Oakland 27, Minnesota 21
Miami 35, Buffalo 8
Dallas 27, Washington 24 (OT)
Baltimore 31, Cincinnati 24
San Francisco 23, Arizona 7
Seattle 24, St. Louis 7
Atlanta 23, Tennessee 17
Chicago 31, San Diego 20
Philadelphia 17, NY Giants 10
MONDAY, NOV 21st
New England 34, Kansas City 3