Week 9: What we learned

Well, we learned that I was darn close to playing with the house's money for the rest of the year. Here was my five-team parlay: Lions -2.5 vs. Denver, Bills +0.5 vs. Cinci, Cowboys -3.5 at Philadelphia, Chargers -7.5 at Minnesota, and Patriots -5.5 at Indianapolis. So, if not for the historical greatness of Adrian Peterson (link to my pal Dave Campbell's game story) and the curious non-return of a fumble by Roosevelt Colvin (who could have turned right and headed into field goal range), I might have been rolling in the Station Casinos' money tonight.

We also learned that the NFC might not be as bad as the AFC after all. Check out how NFC teams fared in interconference games this week:

• Detroit beat Denver 44-7 as 3-point favorites
• Green Bay won 33-22 at Kansas City as 2.5-point underdogs
• The Vikings spanked San Diego 35-17 as 7.5-point dogs
• New Orleans hammered Jacksonville 41-24 as 3.5-point favorites
• Washington beat the Jets 23-20 in OT as 3-point road favorites
• Tennessee beat Carolina 20-7 as 7.5-point favorites
• Cleveland beat Seattle 33-30 in OT as 3-point home favorites

So ... the NFC went 5-2 straight up, 4-1-2 ATS, 2-0-1 ATS as favorites, 2-0 ATS as dogs ... all in all, a good week for the weaker conference.

Oh, and the Vikings just signed Koy Detmer. The rich get richer.