Devo looks down on you from his perch above .500 (17-15)

PHILLY (-1.5) over Dallas

I mean, Dallas shouldn't make the playoffs right? Should any team that has had as much chaos, infighting, and lousy coaching be allowed into the playoffs? Throw into the mix that Marion Barber may not play and that Roy Williams has finally announced that he's unhappy with his role in the offense, and it seems fitting that their season would end in crushing and embarrassing fashion in Philly, no? And with Roy Williams, isn't it about time that he got fed up with his role in the offense? You have Witten and T.O. fighting, and oh, by the way, one of the better receivers in football is not only your #3 option, but he's not getting as many looks as Amani Toomer. So Dallas, in a year in which you came into the year with more talent than any the most godforsaken place on Earth, The Linc.

Philly: 31
Dallas: 27

Carolina (-3) over NEW ORLEANS

When is a record not a record? (Dude, not only don't I care, but you're a retard.) When the record only gets set because it masks something worse. For example, Martin Brodeur has the single season NHL wins record, and I love that my boy is in the record books. But he only set the record because he played too many games during the regular season, wearing him out for the playoffs when the Devils (and as much as any individual, Brodeur) got served by the lower seeded Senators in the second round. Brodeur set the record because either A) Coach should have had more faith in the backup goalie or B) the backup goalie was so bad that Coach was justified in overplaying Marty and wearing him out. Point being, Brodeur's record only occurred because either the Devils backup sucked or the coach didn't know what he was doing. Had Marty played an appropriate amount of games, he wouldn't have the record, but he probably would have gotten to the NHL Finals before losing to Anaheim.

All of this is to say that Drew Brees may or may not break Marino's single season passing record, but one thing is clear: Brees would not have been able to get this record if the team had either a running game or a defense. I'm too lazy to do the research, but I'm pretty sure that if you look at the players with the most passing yards in a single game, you're going to see bad defenses requiring the offense to throw the ball more than they should. And if you talk to any Dolphins fan worth their weight in hot Miami ass, they'll tell you that throughout Marino's career, the Dolphins had no running game or defense. All of this is to say that yes, Drew Brees is a good quarterback, but if you gave him a good team, or at least Brandon Jacobs and Justin Tuck, he'd have Eli Manning's passing totals. To condense what I just said into one bulletpoint: this phrase means that the Saints suck. And the Panthers don't.

Carolina 27
Drew Brees 21