King Kaufman's Sports Daily

NFL Week 15: We're all just waiting for the Patriots to lose or the Dolphins to win.

Editor's note: For coverage of the Mitchell Report on drug use in baseball, see Thursday's column.

Read more: Sports, Football, NFL, King Kaufman, Sports Daily

Dec. 14, 2007 | What's happened to the madcap NFL? Where's all the end-of-season intrigue? With three games left, seven of the eight division leaders have at least a two-game cushion, and there are no ties for wild-card spots.

It's all so dang orderly.

And Week 15 promises little help on the excitement scale, but plenty on the Alpometer, with a heaping helping of pooches on the schedule. There are exactly two games being contested between winning teams.

The better of those, record-wise, is the Jacksonville Jaguars at the Pittsburgh Steelers. They're both 9-4 and would have to stumble pretty badly over the last three weeks to miss the playoffs. This game figures to go a long way toward establishing the No. 3 team in the AFC, after New England and Indianapolis, each of which has beaten one of these teams in the last two weeks.

That is, if the charging San Diego Chargers aren't the No. 3 team. The Chargers host the smoking husk of the Detroit Lions this week.

The other game between winners is the 7-6 Buffalo Bills at the 8-5 Cleveland Browns in a bone-fide AFC wild-card sort-em-out between two bona-fide up-and-comers. Otherwise it's a whole bunch of Green Bay (11-2) at St. Louis (3-10). That sort of thing. There are only three games being contested between losing teams.

Let's face it. We're all sitting around waiting to see if the Patriots will lose a game or the Miami Dolphins will win one. The '72 Dolphins have their champagne on ice in case the former happens. The '76 Buccaneers have some Tab cooling in case of the latter.

Here, in honor of Thursday's Winter Festival of Drug-Enforcement Press Conferences, is a drug-free rundown of Week 15, with winners in caps and the picks of my kids, 4-year-old game-picker Buster and 2-year-old coin-flipper Daisy, who are willing to submit to drug tests at any time, included.

Tell you one thing they won't find if they test those kids: Speed.

Saturday game

CINCINNATI (5-8) at San Francisco (3-10)
The nation once again fumes at not being able to see this game because it's on NFL Network. Or not.
Kids: Cincinnati (8-point favorite)

Next page: Buffalo at Cleveland in the game of the week, Titans need a win. So do the Dolphins