Think you can pick winners better than the NPC staff?

This week in the NFL takes us all back to the 2004 NFL Draft with Ben and Eli going head to head on Sunday afternoon as clearly the two most successful quarterbacks to emerge from the class.  Tonight we are all treated to the other half of the Eli Manning draft-day trade that allowed Peyton’s little brother to be able to pick the team he got to play for.  The San Diego Chargers drafted Eli #1 overall but Eli was able to finagle a trade to New York for Philip Rivers out of NC State for Rivers to become my nemesis for the unforeseeable future.  After listening to Mike & Mike this morning on ESPN radio I am happy to report that after years and years of constantly overrating the pouty and often irritable Rivers, he no longer gets to be included in any of their precious “Who are the elite QB’s in the league?” lists.  Finally.  Rivers will get to face off tonight in a divisional battle against the Chiefs and Matt Cassel, who also has his share of overratedness considering Kansas City gave him a whole pile of money after a semi-successful season filling in for an injured Tom Brady in New England only to be either injured or awful since then.  Should be super entertaining tonight.  These Thursday night games have been for the most part following a similar pattern of domination by the home team, of course with the exception of last week when the Bucs went into Minnesota and upset the Vikings.  Lori took the victory of the staff last week but I still hold the 1 game lead in the overall standings.  All signs so far are pointing to the Steelers game going on as scheduled in New Jersey at MetLife Stadium in spite of the devastation from Hurricane Sandy.  I sincerely hope the NFL and the state have considered every contingency plan possible and no emergency personnel or law enforcement will be taken away from people in need to work this game because that would be a downright shame.  As always, the Nice Pick Cowher Staff encourages you to pick against us or gratuitously compliment us in the comments section.  Here are the overall standings and Week 9’s menu of games:

Kimmy = 76-42

Craig = 75-43

Dom = 68-50

Kari = 69-49

Andrew = 72-46

Lori = 60-26