HH's Hump Day NFL Pick'em - Week 4

Welcome everybody to Week 4 of the Hump Day NFL Pick'em, with special prizes brought to you each week by our friends at NRG!

The Redskins suffered a devastating and painfully close loss to the Eagles on Sunday.  Not only that, but they lost one of our favorite guys, DeAngelo Hall, for the year with an Achilles injury.  While it was beautiful outside in the DC area, it felt cloudy and bleak in the Hump Day offices.  Our only hope for a ray of sunshine on an otherwise terrible day would be a solid showing in the Pick'em.  Alas, our picks were not good enough to bring any cheer, as we ended up with our favorite number of six correct choices, giving us a paltry six points (again).  Would our contestants fare any better?  Here were the results:

As you can see, every single contestant beat me this week, including two contestants who finished at the top tied at 12.  After our fair and impartial drawing out of a hat by our lovely assistant, the winner was:

Congrats to TerpsDMV3!!!!!!  Please email me your address and we will get your prize right out to you.

So we continued our horrendous start to the Pick'em season, and now sit at an overall record of 17-30-1.  But just like the prodigal son who returned home to a hero's welcome in that classic tale of hope, we too will return to glory.  Even slightly above average or just plain mediocrity would be good at this point.  Anyhoo, moving forward to Week 4.

Here we go!

For those of you who are new to our game, I state the rules:

This is a weekly contest in which I will make my game picks each Wednesday and invite you, the loyal Hogs Haven readers, to make your own picks in the comments section.

I will incorporate the spread as determined by Las Vegas the Tuesday before the games and you can earn 1 point for each correct choice.  I will add up the points at the end of each week, and the winner will earn a fabulous prize, courtesy of NRG, that will then be mailed to them.  If there are multiple contestants tied for the lead, there will be a drawing to determine the overall winner.  There will only be ten contestants, so the first ten responses will get in.

Each week the prize will change, and this year (unlike last year), a prize will be given out every single week since you are now only competing against each other and not me.  Simple right??

Here are my picks for this week:

New York Giants (+3.5) at Washington Redskins: Maybe it's just the homer in me talking, but I think what I'll miss the most about the Redskins-Eagles game from Week 3 is Joe Buck getting super excited whenever the Eagles scored and sounding mildly annoyed each time the Redskins added to their point total. Pick: Redskins (-3.5)

Miami Dolphins (-4.5) at Oakland Raiders: In the first of three NFL games played in England this year, the highlight of this one may be the pregame Def Leppard concert.  Pick: Dolphins (-4.5)

Green Bay Packers (-1) at Chicago Bears: I feel like if John Facenda were still around, he'd have something really cool to say about this game.  Pick: Packers (-1)

Buffalo Bills (+3) at Houston Texans: If the Texans win, they will surpass the total number of wins they had for all of 2013.  Interestingly enough, if I have two more chicken wings this Sunday, I will surpass my entire 2013 NFL season total. Pick: Texans (-3)

Tennessee Titans (+7.5) at Indianapolis Colts: After a week of taking T.Y. Hilton out of my starting lineup, I'm putting him back in so you can expect very low production from the Colts receiver this week.  Pick: Colts (-7.5)

Carolina Panthers (+3) at Baltimore Ravens: For the first time ever, grizzled veteran receiver Steve Smith Sr. will play against his old team, the Panthers.  Of course, they remember him back when he was just young and crazy fun time Steve Smith.  Pick: Ravens (-3)

Detroit Lions (-1) at New York Jets: Lions linebacker Stephen Tulloch injured himself celebrating a sack last week.  That, my friends, is the very reason I gave up playing football twenty years ago.  Pick: Lions (-1)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+7.5) at Pittsburgh Steelers: The Steelers don't know yet if they'll be facing Josh McCown or Mike Glennon at quarterback for the Bucs.  What they do know, however, is that they've already laid down the $250 deposit for the after-game victory fireworks show.  Pick: Steelers (-7.5)

Jacksonville Jaguars (+13) at San Diego Chargers: Vegas has to try harder than that to get me to pick Jacksonville. Pick: Chargers (-13)

Philadelphia Eagles (+5.5) at San Francisco 49ers: Apparently, the experts at Vegas aren't Eagles fans.  If they were (and anything like Eagles fans I've seen on Facebook and Twitter this week), San Francisco would be getting something in the neighborhood of 24 points. Pick: Eagles (+5.5)

Atlanta Falcons (-3) at Minnesota Vikings: The Vikings will officially unleash the Teddy Bridgewater offense on Sunday.  In response, the Falcons are using this week to finally catch up on all those old Wipeout episodes they had DVR'd.  Pick: Falcons (-3)

New Orleans Saints (-3) at Dallas Cowboys: Drew Brees sent Cowboys cornerback Morris Claiborne a text Tuesday saying "Looking forward to seeing you this week Mo.  REALLY looking forward to it."  Claiborne quickly responded that he was looking forward to seeing Brees too, but then wished he hadn't followed it with a smiley face emoticon when he realized Brees was probably being sarcastic.  Pick: Saints (-3)

New England Patriots (-3.5) at Kansas City Chiefs: The Patriots have to be the only people in the world this week that don't want to see more of Andy Reid's postgame dance moves.  Pick: Patriot (-3.5)

So there are my Week 4 picks. The winner this week will have this fabulous prize to look forward to, courtesy of NRG:

That's right - a football signed by two-time Pro Bowler and all-around stud left tackle Trent Williams!

I will announce this week's winner next Wednesday on the next Hump Day post.

Good luck!!