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13 out of 16 games correct last week is a great way to start the final stretch of the confidence pool season. Let’s keep the momentum going!

Week 16! HERE WE GO!!!

(HOME TEAM IN CAPS)

16 – New England over NEW YORK JETS – In a week where road favorites dominate, none can give you more confidence than the Pats taking care of their lowly rivals.

15 – MIAMI over Minnesota – The Vikings, namely Teddy Bridgewater, are starting to show signs of life. But the Dolphins are still fighting for their playoff lives and won’t let this win get by them.

14 – Green Bay over TAMPA BAY – Aaron Rodgers and the Packers have a lot of frustrations to take out on the Bucs this week if they want to prove they are still the team to beat.

13 – ST. LOUIS over New York Giants – The Rams have shown signs of life, which is a lot more than can be said for the Giants this year.

12 – Philadelphia over WASHINGTON – RGIII is back under center…which makes it easy to put the Eagles on a line this high on the road.

11 – CAROLINA over Cleveland – Carolina has been a disappointment this year. Lucky for them the Browns decided to end all playoff hopes when they decided to go with Johnny Manziel.

10 – PITTSBURGH over Kansas City – The Steelers are quietly becoming a team to keep an eye on in the AFC. If they can contain Jamaal Charles they should cruise in this one.

9 – NEW ORLEANS over Atlanta – A big divisional game against two bad teams. It’s in New Orleans so it’s pretty easy to pick the Saints here.

8 – DALLAS over Indianapolis – Dallas showed that they are still a contender with a big win in Philly last week. That should give them the needed momentum in this big inter-conference game.

7 – JACKSONVILLE over Tennessee – The Jags have proven to be the lesser of two evils here. Playing at home with about 3,600 screaming fans behind them should help.

6 – Detroit over CHICAGO – I immediately bumped this game up a few lines with the Bears’ quarterback change news. Hopefully for them it’s the start of the process of getting Jay Cutler out of Halas Hall. This week's BOLD PREDICTION is that Jay Cutler will NOT be the quarterback of the Chicago Bears week 1 next season.

5 – ARIZONA over Seattle – The Seahawks have started to climb back into the playoff picture the last few weeks. However the Cardinals have been able to maintain their stance on the NFC lead even with injury issues.

4 – Buffalo over OAKLAND – This could be closer than some think, but the Bills should still be able to pull out the road win.

3 – Baltimore over HOUSTON –Houston is still fighting with their slim chances left but the Ravens are just playing too good now.

2 – San Diego over SAN FRANCISCO – The Chargers head up the coast line and should be able to aid in Jim Harbaugh’s eventual relocation to Oakland…or Chicago…or Ann Arbor…or…

1 – CINCINNATI over Denver – I think the Bengals can pull this out, but their inability to perform on the big stage gives me a lot of trepidation.

I’ll be the first to admit that I am a bit of an “Indy skeptic.”

Don’t get me wrong, I more than respect the athleticism and creativity that a lot of the stars of the local/regional promotions display. I just have too much of the old school mentality. I take everything I hear about the latest “internet darling” with a grain of salt. What you do on the independent scene will only be good enough to get you a chance at the big stage of WWE. Once there, my assumption is that it will take a few years to get acclimated with the WWE system before I can see potential.

I need to change the way I think!

When Sting made his debut at the Survivor Series, it was the last of that type of debut. Gone are the days where a guy can be a star from one global wrestling organization and make an immediate impactful debut in WWE. There is only one big show in town and that’s WWE. This is how we will see new stars make their debut from here on. No longer will we have “when is so-and-so jump over to WWE.” We will now have “when will so-and-so be called up to the main roster?”

Triple H got it right! The Performance Center in Orlando and the NXT show is his baby. He saw that the way to bring new talent to WWE has changed. He opened the door to the Independent stars to show their stuff in a semi-WWE atmosphere.

Over the next few decades, we’ll all benefit from what the Performance Center produces.

We’ve already seen it with the likes of Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Luke Harper and Erik Rowan. These six stars all made their name in the birth of NXT. At the 2012 Survivor Series, we had “Oh! Those are the NXT guys attacking Ryback!” In the summer of 2013, vignettes on Raw let us know that the Wyatt Family “was coming” to Raw from NXT. Now it appears that The Ascension is ready to make the jump to the main roster. These two, Konnor and Viktor, have spent their time in NXT creating characters that make them look like the most dominating tag team since the Road Warriors.

I’ve said before that the business of wrestling is in a constant state of evolution. We are now very rapidly creeping up on new era in WWE. I can’t remember the last time there was this big of an influx of solid, young talent in WWE. We have seen some of this new talent on the main roster for the last year or two, but the real affirmation of the young foundation being built for years to come came with NXT’s recent live special R-Evolution.

The most recent version of NXT’s live event pay-per-view equivalent did nothing less than open the eyes of the WWE Universe to what the next 10-15 years will look like. The show itself was centered around a title match between two of the most popular stars in NXT for the last year and the company’s three major independent signings. What came out was what people are considering the best wrestling show of 2014.

Kevin Steen, now Kevin Owens, was the last of the three big signings to make his debut and very quickly showed that it was worth the wait. As soon as his video hit the screen, the small crowd at Full Sail University gave a pop that made it seem like they were in the AllState Arena! The match itself didn’t give the crowd too much of a chance to die down either. Owens does things in the ring that a guy his size should not be doing. The “Fight Steen Fight” chants from Ring of Honor have seamlessly transitioned over to “Fight Owens Fight,” a chant that we should all get used to hearing.

The Ascension began their NXT swan-song by helping to build up the other two Independent signings from the summer – Kenta, now Hideo Itami, and Prince DeVitt, now Finn Balor. The match itself was great…but that wasn’t the story here. The WWE Universe was introduced to the true spectacle that is Finn Balor. I don’t think an entrance as received more attention since Shawn Michaels came down from the top of The Pond at WrestleMania 12. This truly was an amazing blend of sports and entertainment.

As far as Itami goes, well, I’m not saying that he’s not good, because he is! He’s great in the ring! He’s clearly received the third highest initial push of the big three signings. My conspiracy theory mind makes me think that a big reason WWE signed Itami was to take a bit of a jab at a certain departed individual. Itami was the originator of a move that he teased during the match (which received a HUGE reaction) but didn’t complete the move. He called it the TKO, but on his Twitter account, Itami even made reference to the move’s more popular name here in the states saying, “Thank you for came to #NXTTakeoverREvolution & watching @WWENetwork @jsports. THE FUTURE IS NOW. I will make you Go 2 ……. Good night.” Small language barrier aside, what say you, CM Punk?

With all of this happening, the main event simply had to deliver – and boy did it ever. The buildup alone for Sami Zayn meeting Adrian Neville for the NXT Tile itself got you emotionally involved in the match! The match was just pure athleticism full of moves that 95% of the current main roster would not be able to pull off. The back and forth action and high flying moves had the crowd on the edge of their seats for the duration of the 30 minute match. When Zayn finally “won the big one” the crowd erupted as if they all just won the title. What a moment it was to see Zayn hoisted up by his peers in the middle of the ring, led by Kevin Owens, who teamed together in Ring of Honor. It was a much deserved ten minute celebration.

Then … BOOM!

With a quick shove to the steel and a brutal powerbomb to the side of the ring to the new champion, Owens made it clear that he was going to be the new bad ass in NXT and wanted the NXT title. The next main event program has started and this will clearly take us on a wild, and more importantly, entertaining ride!

The growth of NXT has only one place left to go – an NXT Championship match is seemingly a MUST at WrestleMania 31! If you haven’t watched it yet, subscribe to the network and watch the show – it’s worth the $9.99/month on its own! After that, I dare you to give me a reason why Hideo Itami vs Finn Balor vs Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn for the NXT belt would not have a chance to steal the show!

In 2015, it’s easy to see that an NXT alum will win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The future is now – and NXT has brought us here!

We’re getting down to the wire!

Teams are playing for their playoff lives, teams are starting to consider benching players to rest them for the playoffs, and some are making roster changes to start looking towards the future. All of these factors need to be kept in mind when making picks from here on out.

So let’s get to it!

WEEK 15! HERE WE GO!!!

(HOME TEAM IN CAPS)

16 – BALTIMORE over Jacksonville – The Jags just lost their biggest offensive weapon, Denard Robinson, for the year. The number one pick in the draft may now be theirs, and this week starts that road to being “on the clock”.

15 – NEW ENGLAND over Miami – I picked the Dolphins to beat the Pats in week 1 and said that this would be the beginning of the end of the New England dynasty. Won’t make that mistake twice!

14 – DETROIT over Minnesota – Teddy Bridgewater has shown signs of life the last few weeks. The Lions give the kid a test this week that he just may not have enough experience to pass.

13 – SEATTLE over San Francisco – The Seahawks seem to be getting back on the tracks that the 9ers seem to be running off of.

12 – INDIANAPOLIS over Houston – Houston is a consistent quarterback away from this being one of the top rivalries in the league for years to come. They’re not there yet and the Colts should be able run away with this one.

11 – KANSAS CITY over Oakland – It was just a couple weeks ago that the Raiders held on and beat the Chiefs for their first win of the season. The Chiefs haven’t forgotten that night.

10 – Pittsburgh over ATLANTA – The Steelers are going to go as far as Le’Veon Bell will take them – and this week that could be pretty far.

9 – CAROLINA over Tampa Bay – This game would be a little higher if not for Cam Newton’s car accident but the Panthers should still be able to handle the Bucs and stay alive in the lowly NFC South.

8 – Green Bay over BUFFALO – Green Bay almost let one get away last week against the Falcons. We’ll see this week if the Pack have learned from their mistakes… my money’s on yes!

7 – TENNESSEE over New York Jets – Second straight week the Titans host a team from New York. Lucky for them the AFC version has a lot less talent.

6 – Denver over SAN DIEGO – If the Chargers want to keep their AFC West hopes alive, they need this game. Don’t think they’ll get it and it may end up being the start of the fall out of the playoffs all together.

5 – Dallas over PHILADELPHIA – Dallas is desperate. They were blown out at home against these Eagles on Thanksgiving. That and the fact that their division title hopes are fading should be enough to fuel them to a big road win.

4 – New Orleans over CHICAGO – The week ends with what surely seemed like a solid battle of two NFC contenders…before the season started. Tony Romo dissected the Bears defense last week so what do you think Drew Brees can do?

3 – Cincinnati over CLEVELAND – Johnny Manziel is going to have to win a game before I even think of predicting him to win a game. My BOLD PREDICTION for this week is that Johnny Manziel will NOT be the starting quarterback for the Browns week 1 of next season.

2 – NEW YORK GIANTS over Washington – The NFC East’s other teams meet up because the schedule says they still have to. The Giants are the home team so they get to win.

1 – ST. LOUIS over Arizona – Week 15 kicks off with a battle in the NFC West. The Rams have being pretty solid lately and should be able to pull off the big upset.

We’re winding down the regular season. For most fantasy football leagues, playoffs start off this week. You could say the same about the confidence pools as well. While there is no set tournament format, those that are just a few points away from the top spot are running out of time to make their move.

So let’s get the final push started off on the right foot!

WEEK 14 – HERE WE GO!!!!

(HOME TEAM IN ALL CAPS)

16 – GREEN BAY over Atlanta – The Packers are rolling. Atlanta is coming off of a big home win against the Cardinals, but they won’t have nearly enough to do the same this week.

15 – DETROIT over Tampa Bay – The Lions looked to be back in sync on Thanksgiving. A game against the Bucs is always a good way to fine-tune any and all kinks in the system.

14 – DENVER over Buffalo – Denver showed last week that they are not going to just let the Patriots take the top spot in the AFC. Buffalo is right on the cusp of a playoff spot but they are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

13 – MINNESOTA over New York Jets – Teddy Bridgewater looks to be making a small turn around the corner now. Lucky for him the Jets come to town. The Vikings defense has been playing well as of late which gives me confidence to say that my BOLD PREDICTION this week is that Geno Smith will have a second consecutive sub-100 yard passing day.

12 – NEW ORLEANS over Carolina – The NFC South is one of the most wide open divisions in the league. The Panthers keep showing that they want to just close their door.

11 – Houston over JACKSONVILLE – Ryan Fitzpatrick made coaches realize that he deserves the starting job he started the season with after six touchdowns last week. The Texans should have no issues helping the Jags make their claim for the number one pick in the draft.

10 – TENNESSEE over New York Giants – The Giants have shown some signs of life this year, but not on the road.

9 – CINCINNATI over Pittsburgh – The Steelers have been an up and down team this season. Seems like they are on the downward slope right now.

8 – WASHINGTON over St Louis – Ugh…

7 – San Francisco over OAKLAND – Well the Raiders were brought back down to Earth pretty quickly after a 52-0 drubbing at the hands of the Rams. San Francisco hasn’t been themselves this year, but at least they get the equivalent of a second bye week this week.

6 – Indianapolis over CLEVELAND – If the Browns decided to go with Johnny Manziel this week then they would have deserved to be sitting home during the playoffs. They at least have a chance with Brian Hoyer this week, but not a very good one.

5 – Dallas over CHICAGO – The week starts on the lakefront with two teams playing in their second consecutive Thursday game. Both teams were embarrassed last week. The Cowboys seem like the team to be able to rebound better.

4 – PHILADELPHIA over Seattle – Clash of the Titans this week with the Eagles offense going up against the Seahawks defense. Offense wins games and defense wins championships…lucky for the Eagles this one is just a game!

3 – MIAMI over Baltimore –Two more AFC teams trying to put some separation in the cluttered wild card picture. The Dolphins should just be lucky that this game is played in Florida and not Baltimore.

2 - 05B5259097     ARIZONA over Kansas City – The Cardinals, and Drew Stanton in particular, need to win this game to show that they are still contenders in the NFC. They should be able to squeak out a win.

1 – SAN DIEGO over New England – This one is a toss-up. Both teams have been playing great recently. I’m Giving the nod to the Chargers simply because it’s a home game that the Pats have to travel cross-country for.