Some quick notes on last week’s action before my picks for this weekend’s NFL games:

• Aaron Rodgers tied the record for touchdown passes in a half as he threw six in the first thirty minutes of the Packers’ thrashing of the Bears, while he also set a new mark for most career TD passes over 70+ yards in NFL history with his 16th.  By contrast, Chicago’s quarterback, Jay Cutler, is now 1-10 in his career against Green Bay and has thrown 22 interceptions in those contests.
• Tony Romo returned from his back injury – despite having to sit on an eight hour plane journey to London – to lead the Cowboys to victory over the Jaguars at Wembley Stadium.  They remain a game back of the Eagles in the NFC East, as Philadelphia had a comfortable win over the Panthers on Monday night, with Mark Sanchez making his first start for them under center.
• San Francisco kept their season alive with an overtime victory in New Orleans, leaving the Saints with a 4-5 record, but still top of the mediocre NFC South and seemingly heading to host a playoff game.
• With less than three minutes to go in the first half, the Raiders led the Broncos 10-6 in Oakland.  With a minute to go of the third quarter, Peyton Manning had thrown for five touchdowns in just over 16 minutes of game time and Denver had a 41-10 lead.
• I officially cannot figure out the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Following a poor start that saw them heavily beaten by the Ravens and Browns, plus being the only team to lose to the Buccaneers (not to mention struggling to a win over Jacksonville; they then put up 124 points in three weeks and had big victories over the Ravens and Colts.  Then last Sunday, they lost to the Jets, who had not won since the opening week of the season.
• Arizona still have the best record in the NFL as they moved to 8-1 with a victory over the Rams, but they also lost their starting quarterback, Carson Palmer, for the season with a torn ACL.  They will now throw the keys to Drew Stanton and they have a tough test this weekend as they host the 7-2 Lions.

Week 11 Picks

Last week, 5-8; Season, 77-70

Home teams in bold

Dolphins -5-5 over Bills

Falcons +1.5 over Panthers

Bears -3.5 over Vikings

Bengals +6.5 over Saints

Texans +3.5 over Browns

Broncos -9.5 over Rams

Chiefs -0.5 over Seahawks

Giants +4.5 over 49ers

Buccaneers +6.5 over Washington

Raiders +10.5 over Chargers (Shock of the week: Oakland’s first victory of the year)

Lions -1.5 over Cardinals

Packers -5.5 over Eagles

Patriots +2.5 over Colts

Steelers -5.5 over Titans (Pittsburgh will win by 30 points or lose by 4. I have no clue which)