Gobble, gobble, Turkey Day has arrived.  Here’s some picks to go with your stuffing.

MIKE KAYE

Last Week: 8-7 / Season: 74-63 / Guest: 6-4 (last wk: 1-0)

The holiday season is starting and the most important part of the NFL season comes with it. I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving and am also hoping my picks get a tad better. It is crunch time and turkey time…

Patriots @ Lions- The Pick: Patriots. This is the 1st of three awful Thanksgiving Day matchups, but I think this may be the most fun to watch. Calvin Johnson in the National spotlight can only mean good things, problem is the good thing in this game will be New England. This won’t be a blowout but it’ll be pretty ugly.

Saints @ Cowboys-The Pick: Saints. Nice work Jason Garrett but this week the champs are here. This year, the Cowboys don’t deserve this time slot much like the Lions for the last five years. Saints run all over the Boys and make an example out of them to the rest of league.

Bengals @ Jets-The Pick: Jets. If you would have told me this was the Thanksgiving Night game two months ago, I would have leaped for joy. Now, Terrell Owens doesn’t even want to watch the Bengals play. This game will be the nail in the coffin for the unfortunate turn Carson Palmer’s Bengal career has taken. While the Bengals major strength is their corners, I think Braylon Edwards shows up to play.

Jaguars @ NY Giants-The Pick: NY Giants. I really, really want to pick the Jags as my heart tells me to but my brain is calling my heart a moron. I believe in Harvey Dent, I just don’t believe in Jack Del Rio. I think this will be tighter then most would think as both starting WR are out for NY, but I think Ahmad Bradshaw has to bounce back from last week’s miserable performance…he just has to.

Panthers @ Browns- The Pick: Browns. This is a game where we learn in Colt McCoy can handle adversity in the NFL. He lost to the Jags last week after a great showing from the rookie but now he seeks revenge by dominating the worse team in the league. The Panthers don’t have much going for them and the Browns seem on the up-swing. I look for Colt to have a career day.

Packers @ Falcons-The Pick: Packers. One of the three biggest games of the weekend, with NFC hierarchy at stake. While last week’s Eagles-Giants’ game was big for their division and conference, this game actually affects the conference and entire league. For the most part this will put either team in the driver seat for the rest of the season. The Packers win a nail-biter as their defense and Clay Matthews make the difference. This game will be tough to pick regardless.

Steelers @ Bills-The Pick: Steelers. A nice lapse in awfulness for the Bills has some hope for Chan Gailey’s future but the Steelers are a good if not awesome team. This one will be done by the 2nd quarter as the likes of Mike Wallace and Rashad Mendenhall light up poor Donte Whitner and Co.

Titans @ Texans-The Pick: Texans. FAU grad Rusty Smith takes the reigns of starter from Vince Young and will make the Texan’s awful secondary look like the Jet’s. This game won’t be close either.

Vikings @ Redskins-The Pick: Vikings. I know the Redskins bounced back from a terrible loss but teams with interim coaches burst off at the start of the transition. If Minnesota dominates, it will prove two things…1) Redskins are mediocre and 2) the Vikings gave up on Brad Childress.

Chiefs @ Seahawks-The Pick: Chiefs. As I have coined them the “Jakyll and Hyde of the NFL” they will continue the pattern of wackiness as they coast through the NFC West. The Chiefs are looking good after last week and I think the Seattle defense is going to have nothing but headaches trying to defend against Thomas Jones, Dwayne “More than a TD a game” Bowe, and Jamaal Charles.

Dolphins @ Raiders-The Pick: Raiders. The Raiders seem to struggle then comeback and after Miami was shut out by an overrated defense, the Oakland underrated defense will hold them tight. I wish Pat Ramsey or Tyler Thigpen the best of luck on their audition for their next team.

Eagles @ Bears-Guest Pick: Scott. The Pick: Eagles. Plain and simple: I’m not picking against Vick until he finally loses. Plus, even in their 16-0 beat down of Miami, I wasn’t overly impressed with Chicago. A good matchup of division leaders, I’ll take the Eagles in a tight one.

Rams @ Broncos-The Pick: Rams. Normally, I would go with the Broncos but after Monday night, it is hard to pick them. Bradford played the Falcons well last week and I think he is poised for a huge game. The offensive crew around this rookie QB is starting to really believe in him and you can see it in their play.

Buccaneers @ Ravens-The Pick: Ravens. I am so happy for and proud of Raheem Morris, a guy who I really detested early on in his coaching tenure and now just dislike so bravo Morris for winning me over a little. The honeymoon ends Sunday when the Bucs play in Baltimore. The much better team in the much better conference will have its way with the visitors as someone finally shuts down Josh Freeman.

Chargers @ Colts- The Pick: Colts. I just don’t know how a Peyton Manning-run team can lose back-to-back games. It almost doesn’t seem right. The Chargers did prove they can beat a bad team and look dominant, so here’s a bigger test…lets see how that goes. I’m picking the Colts solely because they are the better team, intangibles and Philip Rivers aside the Chargers only better on defense and even that could be considered suspect because of their division.

49ers @ Cardinals-The Pick: 49ers. This may be one of the worst scheduled Monday Night Football games I have ever seen. Why does ESPN do this every year? Anyway, lets hope they both show up but I am not holding my breathe. Both of these teams are bad but I think Troy Smith out duels Derek Anderson on prime time. I think this is the game Vernon Davis shows some flashes.

Photo: Getty

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