Week 16

Week 16 results
Glenn Leads By 4
	153-85-2 9-7	149-89-2 8-8	139-99-2 6-10
Thursday, December 22, 2016
N.Y. Giants @ Philadelphia	New York Giants	New York Giants	New York Giants
Saturday, December 24, 2016
Miami @ Buffalo	Miami	Miami	Miami
Tampa Bay @ New Orleans	New Orleans	Tampa Bay	Tampa Bay
N.Y. Jets @ New England	New England	New England	New England
Tennessee @ Jacksonville	Tennessee	Tennessee	Tennessee
Minnesota @ Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay	Minnesota
San Diego @ Cleveland	San Diego	San Diego	San Diego
Washington @ Chicago	Washington	Washington	Chicago
Atlanta @ Carolina	Carolina	Atlanta	Atlanta
Indianapolis @ Oakland	Oakland	Indianapolis	Oakland
Arizona @ Seattle	Seattle	Arizona	Seattle
San Francisco @ Los Angeles	Los Angeles	Los Angeles	Los Angeles
Cincinnati @ Houston	Houston	Cincinnati	Houston
Sunday, December 25, 2016
Baltimore @ Pittsburgh	Baltimore	Baltimore	Baltimore
Denver @ Kansas City	Kansas City	Kansas City	Denver
Monday, December 26, 2016
Detroit @ Dallas	Dallas	Dallas	Dallas
© 2016 Gehlke Bros. Football

Christmas came early in the NawFuL this year, and because the schedule makers figured no one would be watching games while opening presents and celebrating with family, they decided to pack a whole Sunday's worth of action into Saturday instead. Think of Thursday Night Football on steroids, with its collection of typically unwatchable games presented in pretty paper and bows and stuffed under the tree like some ugly sweater. It's the gift you have to try on even though you'd rather it had stayed at the store where it came from. Throw in a handful of games with playoff implications as stocking stuffers and you have a recipe for an unpredictable, crazy mess. Do you believe in Christmas miracles? The Junior Bro was hoping for a big one in Week 16.

Down three games in the Surfy standings and with opportunities to gain ground slipping away, Sean admittedly rolled the dice and the result was five splits on Christmas Eve — morning, afternoon and night. With our picks set, Sean said he planned to do his best to avoid watching football the rest of the day. Had he watched, he would have witnessed the (somewhat) shocking upsets by the league's three worst teams: Jacksonville, San Francisco, and Cleveland. The meek may not have inherited the Earth, but they did all manage to halt lengthy losing streaks. The other thing they had in common is that we didn't split any of those games. The ones we did provided their own surprises.

The lone morning split featured Atlanta at Carolina. No trap game here for the Falcons, who embarrassed the Panthers, 33-16, to lock up a playoff berth and secure a win for the Junior Bro. The afternoon offered up three games, and again Sean managed to cash in when Arizona defeated Seattle, 34-31, in a rematch of two teams that tied back in Week 7. That left Glenn in a position of needing to win the remaining games to avoid losing ground heading into the season's final week. Wait, what's that mystery gift peeking out from behind the tree? Why, it's from Santa...

The Senior Bro pulled out the other two afternoon games — New Orleans' 31-24 victory that likely derailed Tampa Bay's playoff hopes, and Oakland's costly 33-25 triumph over Indianapolis that came at the expense of quarterback Derek Carr, out for the season. That set up a Saturday night finale between the Bengals and Texans, with a division title on the line for Houston and a 2- or 4-game spread for the Gehlke Bros entering Week 17. It was an anemic display of offense by both teams, with Cincinnati up 3-0 at halftime, thanks to a field goal from Randy Bullock who was hired less than two weeks ago to replace the inconsistent Mike Nugent.

If the Christmas Eve eggnog and chocolate chip cookies weren't enough to induce heartburn, then watching the second half play out surely was. A pair of Houston field goals gave them a 6-3 lead in the fourth quarter before the Bengals got an 86-yard touchdown from Brandon LaFell minutes later for a 10-6 advantage. Houston answered with its own TD but had the extra point blocked to leave the Texans with a precarious 12-10 lead and the ball in Cincy's hands with time ticking away. Andy Dalton drove the Bengals deep into Houston territory to set up what should have been a game-winning chip shot from Bullock — except that it wasn't. The kick sailed wide to the right of the goal post as the clock wound down to zero, and in perhaps the biggest miracle of the tension-packed Saturday, the Senior Bro escaped with a 4-game lead and his fourth consecutive winning week.

But overall, there was a lot of coal in the Gehlke Bros' stockings in Week 16. Glenn "won" the week with a mediocre 9-7 record, while Sean took second at 8-8. Ben, who has faded in a big way down the stretch, fell 14 games off the overall pace with his 6-10 finish in third. We all correctly picked Miami and New England, but we all missed out on the upset wins of Jacksonville, Cleveland and San Francisco, as well as those of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.