JUNK. FOOD. NATION.  HELLOOOOOO.  I’m back in DC, and let me tell you – it is friggin’ gross out. What’s with all the humidity, man? We’ve had pumpkin spice items in the stores since the beginning of August…bring on the Fall weather already!!  98% humidity?? Isn’t that just, RAIN?

Add on top of that that I’m sick. Oh yeah…sick. Sore throat, dry eyes, runny nose, you name it, I am it.  My head is pounding, but we have a lot to discuss today – I’m just going to suck it up. Leave home remedies for the flu/cold in the comments below. I’ve been drinking tea like it’s going out of style. Anyways, let’s get to it:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOCTOR SIS!

Today is the birthday of my Doctor Sis, and I wanted to give her a shout-out.  My personal favorite happy birthday song:

She’s one of my biggest supporters, and a big fan of the Nosh Show.  Speaking of which…

THE NOSH SHOW EPISODE 37 IS HERE!

Announcing The Nosh Show Episode 37: MEAT MOUNTAIN:

This week, “talk about Nesquik Girl Scouts Thin Mints Milk, McDonald’s Mozzarella Sticks, peanut butter and jelly soda, Arby’s Meat Mountain, and we roast…um, we mean, have a conversation about Burger King.”  Listen embedded here:

You can subscribe to The Nosh Show using various services: iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, RSS, or, you can also download the episode.

BRIEF (VERY BRIEF) RECAP OF THE TRIP OUT WEST:

Here’s all you need to know about my trip out to the Bay area:

I mean, if you’ve been following my Instagram account, you know all I did out west was eat, visit an aquarium, eat, visit Alcatraz, and eat some more. I’m sure that didn’t help my immune system.

ANNOUNCING MY COLLABORATION WITH THE BACKUP QUARTERBACK!

This is another collaboration I am very excited to announce.  You guys know I talk a lot of sports BS on this blog, and a long time ago I used to do weekly NFL picks. But there was no accountability – yeah I picked chalk a lot, and then gave a season total, but so what? Where’s the competition in that?

No longer. My friend Jeff writes an awesome football blog titled The Backup Quarterback Blog, and he knows his stuff. He knows his stats, analytics, and football. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. This season, Jeff and I will be going head-to-head. At season’s end, we’ll see who comes out on top. Jeff has knowledge and research on his side.  I have…a bag of Doritos. WE’LL SEE WHO REIGNS SUPREME.

Anyways, I’ll have more details on what Jeff and I wagered later.  To start things off, we decided to make NFL Season Predictions:

THE BACKUP QB’S PREDICTIONS:

I’m going to give a brief rundown of Jeff’s picks, but if you want to know WHY he picked a certain way, definitely go visit him over at his blog.  I have to admit, when I saw his picks, I exclaimed, out loud, “PFFFFT.”  But then I read his rationale – here’s one tidbit: “The median number of repeat division champs since 2003?  3 out of 8.  The most in that period was 6 in 2012 — take out that year, and there have never been more than 4 under the current structure.” Wait, really? How is that possible. More analysis and insight here. Let’s rundown his picks – feel free to leave comments below or on his blog post:

DIVISION PICKS

AFC North Champ: Steelers
AFC East Champ: New England
AFC South Champ: Indianapolis
AFC West Champ: Chiefs
AFC Wild Cards: Titans and Jets

NFC North Champ: Packers
NFC East Champ: Redskins
NFC South Champ: Bucs
NFC West Champ: Niners
NFC Wild Cards: Seahawks and Bears

PLAYOFF PICKS

Wild Card Round: Steelers over Titans, Chiefs over Jets, Niners over Bears, Seahawks over Bucs
Division Round: Patriots over Steelers, Colts over Chiefs (again), Packers over Seahawks, Niners over Redskins
Championship Round: Colts over Patriots, Packers over Niners
Super Bowl XLIX: Packers 31, Colts 27

VERY INTERESTING, Jeff. Titans huh?  I’ll say it again…PFFFFT. But hey, only 3 out of 8 repeat division champs median since 2003?  Well………..sh*t.

Let’s get to my picks then:

JFG’s PREDICTIONS:

DIVISION PICKS

AFC North Champ: Cincy. Let me just say, this is an awful division. Maybe Cleveland will surprise with some Johnny Football magic, but I doubt it. The Ray Rice DV incident distracts from the fact that Ray Rice was just BAD at rushing last year. With no run game, Baltimore stalled – I expect that to continue. It really comes down to Pitt vs. Cincy, and I think that Cincy’s D has surpassed the Steel Curtain JUST slightly.

AFC East Champ: New England. As a Bills Fan this crushes me…sort of. Even WITH all the Aaron Hernandez BS, no Gronk, Stevan Ridley being unable to rush out of a paper bag, and a slew of random receivers…this team still made the playoffs last year. How can I NOT pick them?

AFC South Champ: Indy.  This one’s simple – name the three starting QBs for Tennessee, Houston, and Jacksonville…if you can?  Exactly.

AFC West Champ: Denver. Denver might have one of the toughest schedules in the league this year, but even with Wes Welker dropping Molly, there are too many weapons here.  They do have to face the NFC West this year, however, which isn’t easy. But KC and SD have equally brutal schedules…neither wild card is coming from here.

AFC Wild Cards: Chiefs and Steelers. I count 9 wins on Pitt’s schedule which puts them in Wild Card range, and I think the Chiefs simply have too much talent to let a team like the Jets or Dolphins sneak in.

(So far, I took Divisional chalk from last year, after Jeff told me the odds are against me.  Moving on…)

NFC North Champ: Packers. As much I like Aaron Rodgers, this isn’t a gimme, IMO. They have a difficult schedule and BJ Raji is a HUGE loss.  Jordy is finally healthy, so that’s good, but I could easily see the Bears in this spot too.

NFC East Champ: Eagles. Jeff picked the Skins, but I just can’t. Living in DC, I KNOW HOW BAD THIS TEAM IS. Man oh man are they bad. Prove me wrong, RGIII, PLEASE…stop sending tweets about doubters, etc., and just WIN GAMES.  But until you know how to slide, I have to believe the offense-heavy Eagles will take down this division. In Ertz We Trust.

NFC South Champ: New Orleans. I still think that somehow Carolina winning this division was fluky, but I guess we’ll see in Year 2. Drew Brees will not be denied. Yeah, I liked Atlanta on Hard Knocks too – doesn’t mean they’ll win the division.

NFC West Champ: Seahawks. Here’s the thing – I didn’t believe in them LAST year, thinking San Fran had it all figured out. Boy was I wrong – Colin Kaepernick regressed. I’m not a believer in Crabtree. Add on top of that that everyone on the D-Line is getting hurt or arrested like they’re the baseball stars from the Homer at the Bat episode (“PITT THE ELDER”), and there’s no reason for me NOT to choose Seattle. It’ll be close…

NFC Wild Cards: Bears and Hawks Falcons.  What, no Niners?? Yep, no Niners.  Sorry – I think Chicago has an easier path to 9-10 wins, and think that the Falcons will explode like the Packers this year.

PLAYOFF PICKS

Wild Card Round: Chiefs over Colts, Steelers over Bengals. Bears over Packers, Seahawks over Hawks Falcons (DAMNIT I NEED TO EDIT)

Division Round: Broncos over Steelers, Patriots over Chiefs. Seahawks over Eagles, Saints over Bears

Championship Round: Broncos over Patriots. Saints over Seahawks.

Super Bowl XLIX: Broncos 27, Saints 24.

Hmmmm….

I took a LOT of chalk there, and predicted a rematch of QBs from five years ago. That can’t be good. I can GUARANTEE it’s not going to happen this way…yet I still picked it. But what can I say? I’m a big sucker.

Anyways, we’ll go back to normal reviews tomorrow, Junk Food Nation. Let me know what YOUR NFL predictions are in the comments below!

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Thoughts? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. I also have Google+!! Let’s hang out.

Sincerely,

Junk Food Guy