Honest Wagner NFL pick-em: week 6 results

We all looked smart in week six. It scares me how they speak in tongues, but I have to admit, Scoop and Bones continue to channel accurate picks from the fifth dimension. In my defense, I'll argue that even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then. Week six: Scoop 10-4, Bones 9-5, Rowdy 9-5; best bets: Scoop 3-0, Bones 4-1, Rowdy 4-2.

Overall: Scoop 54-34 (.614), Bones 51-37 (.580), Rowdy 44-44 (.500). Those are against-the-spread records. Scoop and Bones are doing better, ATS, than most of the "talent" at ESPN has done picking games straight up.

We're a third of the way through the season and I am buried in the standings. That said, Scoop will tell you that I have rallied from deeper deficits in the past.

Overall, in best bets, the Honest Wagner scoreboard stands at Bones 16-11, Scoop 8-8, Rowdy 16-17. I expect all those numbers to improve over the next third of the season.

Looking ahead at week seven, I see a quality-starved schedule as the NFL rests its most exciting team (i.e., the Steelers) while MLB attempts to stage a World Series that will draw more viewers than the 1pm Philadelphia at Cleveland game. The marquee games appear to be 4-2 Jacksonville at 4-1 Indianapolis and 5-0 New York at 5-0 New England. The latter game is a gem, but the former game is a mismatch with the Jaguars getting something like ten points from the oddsmakers. Otherwise, unless you can get excited about Detroit or Cleveland, there's not much else in the realm of appetizing matchups. I mean, no Steelers, but I already said that, I know. Buffalo at Baltmore? St. Louis at Miami? Chicago at Tampa Bay? Yuck, yuck, and who cares.

The poison pawn this week is Atlanta. They take a 5-1 record into Kansas City to play the 1-4 Chiefs. And the Chiefs are favored - by more than a field goal. I could see Atlanta minus one, but plus three or four? Even if Michael Vick is the next Kordell Stewart, (minus the crying jags,) Atlanta still has a good defense and a much better record.

In other news, what the heck has happened to the Raiders? I was stunned to see them roll over like that on Sunday. They'll play their NFC counterpart in inconsistency and incompetence, the New Orleans Saints, next week. I want no part of that game. Perhaps now that they have shed that notorious troublemaker, Jerry Rice, perhaps now the Raiders can get it together and win one at home.