Merry Christmas! This Weekend's Football Best Bets

Santa's offering up some money-line action.

Was that officiating crew terrible last night? Yes. But good lord, I've never seen a bigger bunch of whiny babies than Texan fans last night on Twitter and this morning on the radio. Bad calls, atrocious calls, happen. Convert a third down. Stop the Colts. Do something. Sorry, when you whine about officiating for any longer than the next snap of the ball, you sound like a big puss.

As for where the Texans go from here, one "solution" that I do not advocate is giving Jake Delhomme or Jeff Garcia a test drive in Week 17. You're pot committed to T.J. Yates now. Week 17 needs to be about getting his confidence back, getting him reacquainted with Andre Johnson, and finding a few other things that work so that you can expand the playbook beyond "Arian Foster sprint left" and "Play action bootleg."

Now onto the Best Bets...

Broncos -2 1/2 over BILLS
You want a sign that hell might actually be Buffalo? The Bills game against the Denver Tebows is going to be blacked out in Buffalo because of a lack of ticket sales. How dare they! We will go with Tebow to cover the 2 1/2 and then God opening up the earth and swallowing the city of Buffalo as soon as the Broncos charter gets airborne to go home.

JETS -3 over Giants
Were it not for a total collapse by the Cowboys a couple weeks ago on Sunday night, the Giants would be riding a six-game losing streak into this cross-stadium matchup against their MetLife Stadium roomies, the Jets. Meanwhile, the Jets have been inconsistent, winning three straight recently and then losing to the Eagles by 26. They have five wins by 16 points or more and three losses by 17 points or more. The only predictable things lately between these two teams are that the Giants won't play very well and Rex Ryan will supersize his value meal, so I'll roll with that, lay the three points and get Rex a Biggie fries.

SEAHAWKS +2 over 49ers
How the hell are the Seahawks 7-7? Moreover, why do I make them a practically automatic pick every week, especially when they're at home? Also, why do they have drive-through ATMs with Braille?

Eagles +1 1/2 over COWBOYS
There have been more lopsided final scores this season than the 34-7 score of the Eagles' win over the Cowboys in Philadelphia earlier this season, but I don't think we've seen a more dominant performance by one team over a potential playoff team than the prime-time game between these two teams back on October 30. The Eagles held the ball for 42 minutes of that game, outgaining the Cowboys 495-267 in total yards and winning the first-down battle 31-12. The Cowboys' defense was helpless trying to get off the field, and the offense couldn't extend drives to save their lives. Miraculously, the Eagles still have a mathematical chance at winning the division. They're the better team right now, so we will take the point and a half, but won't need it.

SAINTS -6 1/2 over Falcons
This is a Monday night game, and the Saints have won their last three prime-time home games on national television by a combined score of 142-48. The Saints have plenty to play for, too, as right now they control their own destiny for a first-round bye in the playoffs. Gonna lay the 6 1/2.

Notre Dame +3 over FLORIDA STATE
After spending the better part of the last two decades enduring the longest active bowl losing streak in college football, don't look now but the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame are looking for their third consecutive bowl win against an opponent that they've played before on big stages. Florida State is favored by a field goal and I can only assume that's because the last impression the public has of Notre Dame is them getting steamrolled by a very physical Stanford squad. Fact is the combined record of the BCS conference schools Florida State defeated this season is 28-44. In other words, they haven't really beaten anybody. Notre Dame is not nobody, they're somebody. Take the field goal and ponder a little money line action if you're feeling saucy.

Last week: 4-2
Season record: 54-36

Listen to Sean Pendergast on 1560 The Game from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. weekdays, and watch the simulcast on Comcast 129 from 6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. Also, follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/SeanCablinasian.