NFL Week 15: John Parry

Here we are in the final weeks of the NFL season. For some teams and fans, it is a prelude to the excitement and drama of January playoff football; for others, these are the critical weeks that represent a do-or-die scenario for the teams and cities.

And then you have those teams who are completely out of the race, and have nothing to look forward to. A lame duck coach, a QB that can't throw the ball more than 10 yards, and a defense that has holes all over the place. THese are the anonymous teams and the fans just want the pain to end.

So here's John Parry - a fairly anonymous official who grew up in Akron. That may explain why I never see him on Browns games - although the photo above is from the Cleveland-Oakland game last year. I'm not sure Parry is a playoff caliber official - it may say something that the photo we could find was from that game between 2 of the NFL's doormat franchises right now.

By the way, my wish list for a new Browns coach in 2009:

1. Bill Cowher

2. Marty Schottenheimer

3. Steve Spagnuolo

Sea 20, StL 16. This wins the award for "Stinker game of the week". Next week's award: Cin at Cle, and finally, KC at Cin.

NYJ 27, Buf 17. Not sure what to think about the Jets any more. Have teams figured them out?

Mia 23, SF 19. May not be as easy as everyone thinks.

SD 28, KC 27. I'm not ready to predict an upset here, but it would not surprise me.

GB 20, Jax 17. What happened to the Packers this year?

Ind 31, Det 10. Three more to go for the Lions

Ten 27, Hou 20. I think Houston will make too many mistakes that will prevent a win.

Cin 17, Was 16. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me four times.....ugh. I just have no faith in the Redskins. None.

TB 23, Atl 20. The Bucs are desperate, and Gruden will find a way.

Az 20, Min 17. What motivation do the Cards have here to play well?

NE 28, Oak 10. I think the Pats received a wake up call last week.

Car 27, Den 16. I think the Panthers are on a roll right now.

Pit 19, Bal 16, OT. Pit's defense against a rookie QB? I'll take the points.

NYG 31, Dal 23. Dallas has just been too inconsistent for me, period.

Phi 31, Cle 3. I'll be in Puerto Rico for this one.......far away from this upcoming debacle. The Browns will have 3 Monday night games in 2008 - and in all three games, they had a different starting QB.

Best bets: 15 of them; last week: 11-4. Overall: 121-86-4

Chi -3 (push)

Sea/Stl Under 42

KC +6

SD/KC over 45

GB/Jax under 46.5

Ind -17

Ten -3

Cin +6.5

TB +3

Min/Az under 46.5

NE -6.5

Car -7.5

Pit +2.5

NYG +3

NYG/Dal over 45.5