The Big Play

The 100-yard punt return. The interception at the goal line in the waning seconds of a tight game. The busted tackle that turns a 2-yard loss into a 70-yard gain. Those are the big plays that can change the complexion of a football game. In Week 10, we saw the equivalent of the Big Play reflected in the Gehlke Bros. Football picks.

Sean and Glenn notched six splits between them. The odds are 1-in-64 that anyone would win them all, yet for some reason the football gods were smiling on the Senior Bro (now entering his third week in the hospital.)

The Jags defeated the Jets, Carolina downed Atlanta, Kansas City got by Oakland, Green Bay topped Dallas, and San Diego bested Philadelphia during early Sunday action to stake the Senior Bro to a big advantage. It appeared for a while that the Junior Bro would salvage at least one split when the Patriots took a big lead on the Colts in the Sunday nighter, but that was until Peyton Manning got revved up and tossed the game-winning TD with seconds left in the game. The Big Play.

"I had a lousy week," Sean said, summing up his frustrating finish. Glenn, who is very familiar with being on the short end of big split weekends — a similar 6-game swoon in the final week of the season in the mid-'90s cost him a championship — was elated. "It's certainly more breathing room than I've had in a long time," he said.

Glenn bumped his lead for the Surfy to eight games with a 12-3 finish, while Ben and Sean matched each other at 6-9. We all correctly predicted the wins by Miami, Minnesota, Arizona and Baltimore. None of us picked San Francisco, Cincinnati or Washington to win.