Macca

Seattle have been a bit better than I thought but Detroit have been very very average on offense. Oakland were even worse though and Houston weren't extended to any extent.

And there's nearly always at least 1 upset in both the first 2 weeks of the playoffs ... however, the Giants winning wouldn't be that much of a surprise. If either Miami or Detroit get up then that would surprise. I'm not changing my tips but Oakland winning against an average Houston team might happen. The line is only -3.5 in Houston's favour. Anyway, for those who don't have cable or the like, all the playoff games will be on 7mate.

A few speculative points ... The Giants worry me but Eli will need his defense to be supreme. Against that, Rodgers is in stellar form. It's the game of the weekend as long as New York can bring their A game and the Packers are totally switched on. Packers just. Atlanta are my pick to go through to the SB unless the Giants or Packers can stop them. I'm not sure on Dallas ... Prescott would be the first 'relied-upon-rookie-QB' to win through but if he does, kudos. If Seattle get past Detroit (as expected), I don't believe the Seahawks are good enough to win at the Falcons. New England should breeze through to the AFC Championship game but that may be to their detriment. Not playing an in-your-face tough game for a month is not ideal. KC or the Steelers may provide an upset in week 3 - especially Pittsburgh. But winning @ Foxborough ain't easy - anytime. So it's an Atlanta/New England SB for mine ... failing that it's the Pats vs the Packers (or Giants) for the big dance.

More 80's rock ...

Sun 8.30am .....(HOU -3) ..... Oakland 13 @ Houston 19 Sun 12.30pm .. (SEA -7)....... Detroit 17 @ Seattle 24 Mon 5.05am .... (PIT -9.5)..... Miami 10 @ Pittsburgh 21 Mon 8.40am .... (GB -4) ....... NY Giants 16 @ Green Bay 24

I watched the first few episodes of Narcos but couldn't get into it ET ... probably because I know the story a little too well. May revisit at a later date. Ditto for 'The Exorcist' Originality is key but not always ... watched the 1931 version of 'The Maltese Falcon' (not the famous 1941 version) and quite enjoyed it. The film was made in pre-code Hollywood so was more true to the book.

Finally got to the end of Westworld (season 1) ... absolute first rate. 'Quarry' was very good as well. Just started out on 'Humans' (season 2) and that's another good show (although the Swedish original version 'Äkta människor' is better) If you're looking for some light comedy, 'The Last Man on Earth' is good for a laugh. Here are some of the shows that I'm looking forward to this year (dates are approximate) Homeland (Jan 15) Baskets (Jan 19) Billions (Feb 19) House of Cards (Feb 24) Orphan Black (April) Silicon Valley (April) Mr Robot (June/July) Stranger Things (July) Fargo (????) Better Call Saul (????) Black Mirror (????) Quarry (????) Westworld (????) ... might be 2018

I like the look of Renshaw ... calm at the crease and that's a great sign for someone so young. His technique is fine and you can see what the selectors have seen in him. Handscomb is getting a terrific introduction to test cricket by being able to bat at no.5 ... he can bat higher but may not have to for a few years (if all goes well) I just hope the selectors don't overreact if our batsmen don't excel in India ... we'll go in as big underdogs for the 4 test tour (Feb/March) and rightfully so. In order to hold our own over there we're going to need Warner, Lyon, Smith & Khawaja to lead the way. Ashwin, Jadeja, Kohli, Vijay, Pujara, Nair and co are going to be hard to beat .. a quality spinner like Ojha can't even get a game As for this test, Warner (and Renshaw) have given us a great start again and we need to capitalise.

Just so everyone knows, the post-season tipping comp involves picking the winners of any of the games only (1 point per winner except in the case of the Super Bowl where 3 points are on the line) Traditionally we've posted up scorelines but the scorelines have never counted.

Agreed ... Stafford & Detroit's record away from home against better than .500 teams is abysmal (is it 0 & 18?) Seattle with that home field advantage should win comfortably. New England will be facing Houston, Oakland or Miami in the 2nd week so that's effectively another bye The Packers/Giants game is the biggie ... Eli lifts a gear or 2 on the road in the playoffs but their defence is their main attribute now.

Not sure he ever lost all faith but I'm of the belief that the receivers weren't working anywhere near hard enough to get reasonable separation. Fairly basic WR play '101' but these things can happen if receivers start relying on silver-service and get lazy. They were almost certainly read the riot act (Nelson included) by the coaches and Rodgers himself. Montgomery has made a big difference too. He's more dynamic than Lacy.

And we have a winner in the tipping comp - Gorgoroth wins by 4 points to make it back-to-back triumphs. Well done mate! And well done to all the participants ... thanks for playing. See you all back here for the post-season tipping comp Final Leaderboard 12 - Gorgoroth 8 - cowboy_from_hell 7 - Clintosaurus, DeeSpencer -------------------------------- 6 - JV7 4 - Macca To the victor go the spoils ... Regular Season Tipping Competition Year Winner Runners up 3rd place 2013 cowboy_from_hell/ pantaloons/ Gorgoroth Strafford Macca ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2014 Dappa Dan DeeSpencer Gorgoroth ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015 Gorgoroth cowboy_from_hell, Macca JV7, DeeSpencer ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016 Gorgoroth cowboy_from_hell Clintosaurus/ DeeSpencer -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post Season Tipping Competition Year Winner Runners up 3rd place 2013 titan_uranus DemonDave cowboy_from_hell/ Macca ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2014 JV7/ pantaloons Gorgoroth/ Go the Biff Macca ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015 JV7/ cowboy_from_hell, Gorgoroth/ Macca DeeSpencer ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Medal Tally Gold Silver Bronze JV7 2 1 0 Gorgoroth 2 0 4 cowboy_from_hell 1 3 1 ------------------------------------------------------------- Macca 1 1 3 Dappa Dan 1 0 0 Strafford 1 0 0 titan_uranus 1 0 0 Go the Biff 1 0 0 DeeSpencer 0 2 2 pantaloons 0 2 0 DemonDave 0 1 0 Clintosaurus 0 0 1

Rodgers made the big call and he backs it up ... big turnaround and I didn't think we could do it. The man is just an absolute gun under pressure. The Giants will be tough opposition and we all know what Eli is like when he gets into the playoffs.

Giants winning means that the Lions & Packers are now both in the playoffs ... which means that the loser of the upcoming game would need to go to Seattle in week 1 of the playoffs. On the flip side, the winner gets to face the Giants at their home field. I'm not sure what the more difficult assignment might be - either match-up won't be easy for either of the 2 sides. Still, you always want to win the division and get a home final.

Don't forget your tips fellas

And you're in line for a 3peat with the post-season comp If we get enough starters we may as well have a go at it ... traditionally we've posted up likely scorelines as well. The playoffs kinda starts with SNF in week 17 ... it could well be a high-scoring shootout. If your blokes win (and you should win) you're then guaranteed the 2 seed - nice position to be in.

KC Dallas Seattle

All to play for in the tipping comp ... 3 points on offer this week so up to 4 people can still win (joint winners are applicable) Anyway, good luck to all and thanks for your participation. Tipping Comp Leaderboard 9 - Gorgoroth 8 - cowboy_from_hell 7 - Clintosaurus 6 - JV7 4 - DeeSpencer, Macca Bill Simmons & Sal Ianoco 'guess the lines' podcast

Came across an interesting top 100 list of movies from the 'Film Noir' genre ... The 100 Best Noir Films of all Time. Some of the movies listed are from the more recent past such as 'A Simple Plan', 'Croupier', 'The Grifters', 'The Usual Suspects', 'Dark City', Se7en', 'Memento', 'Body Double' & a number others including of course many films from the classic Film Noir movie period - the early 1940's to the late 1950's (?) Many on the list might best be described as 'Neo Noir' but the list contains a number of outstanding films nonetheless. And the write-ups on each movie are exceptionally well done. The intro is well written too. While I'm here I'll post up another "Out of Copyright" classic 'B' grade horror movie ... however, these types of horror movies are often cult-classics/underrated/unexpectedly good. 'The Carnival of Souls' (IMDb) The movie can be viewed in HD whilst using the full-screen mode ...

That's unlucky for the Raiders re Carr. Oakland may still get a bye although KC might be favoured to snare the 2 seed now. Pittsburgh & Houston clinch their divisions & Miami clinch a playoff spot. Broncos, Titans & Ravens out. Seattle fall to the 4 seed (for now) & the Giants snag a playoff spot. All to play for next week for the Lions & Packers* although Detroit can secure a playoff spot if they win tomorrow against Dallas. The big question is whether Romo will get some game time tomorrow with Dallas having nothing to play for. *Packers & Lions is next week's SNF match-up.

Hear, hear. All the best to all ... stay safe.

Tennessee Chargers Tampa

I point on offer for week 16 but 3 points to play for in week 17 ... here's the points tally again ... Tipping Comp Leaderboard 9 - Gorgoroth 8 - cowboy_from_hell 7 - Clintosaurus 6 - JV7 4 - DeeSpencer, Macca And the week 16 games ...

Chelsea have now won 11 games in a row with games vs Bournemouth & vs Stoke coming up ... after that they'll get tested @ Tottenham, @ Leicester then @ Liverpool as part of a run of 4 games. Regardless, they'll be hard to catch if they can maintain their form. They've only conceded 2 goals in that stretch of 11 wins as well. No games until late Monday/early Tuesday morning but the other big leagues are all having 2 weeks off whilst the Bundesliga has a whole month off from Thursday. My Hammers are finally getting some points on the board but we've been largely unimpressive in the process. You'd take any sort of win in this league though.

We all picked up 2 points this week in the tipping comp ... only the 1 point on offer for week 16 but week 17 carries 3 points and the comp will be decided in that week. 4 participants can still win it in an outright sense. Anyway, 6 of the 8 divisions are still yet to be decided (the Pats & Seattle have won their respective divisions) & week 17 will almost certainly be another playoff type week for many of the teams. Most of the week 16 games (12 of 16 games) will be played on Christmas day AEDT whilst all of the week 17 games will be played on Jan 2 AEDT (which is a nationwide public holiday) So we're in for a treat with so many games having so much riding on them. Washington needs to win tomorrow to stay in a strong position with regards to a wild-card spot - they should win at home but it may not be easy. Tipping Comp Leaderboard 9 - Gorgoroth 8 - cowboy_from_hell 7 - Clintosaurus 6 - JV7 4 - DeeSpencer, Macca