Upset Alert Recap From NFL Weekend

It is always difficult to handicap NFL football in the last week of the season, because you never know which teams are trying to win and which teams are planning their vacations. We did, however, correctly predict the upset victories by the Colts and Panthers.

Houston was a seven-point favorite, on the road at Indianapolis.The inspired Colts rolled to an easy 28-16 victory. Faltering Houston fell to the third seed in the AFC and must oppose Cincinnati on Saturday. The Texans are now 0-11 at Indianapolis, while the Colts improved from 2-14 in 2011, to 11-5 this year.

Philadelphia was an eight-point underdog at the New York Giants, but did not show up for Andy Reid's finale, getting pounded 42-7. Eli Manning threw for five touchdowns, with Michael Vick's league-wide audition not going nearly as well.

Carolina was a 5.5-point underdog at New Orleans, but scored 28 unanswered points, holding off a late rally by the Saints 44-38. The feeble New Orleans defense proved to be the worst statistically in NFL history.

Baltimore was a three-point underdog at Cincinnati and decided to rest many of their regulars. Not surprisingly, they then lost 23-17 to the Bengals. The sellout by Cincy was their sixth this year, a huge improvement over their two from 2011. The Bengals have now made the playoffs for the second consecutive season and third time in the last four years.

Weekend Record:   2-2
Seasonal Record:  42-29-3