The Tecmo Bowl: Looking Ahead: Week Six

As much as we try to fight it, the leaves keep falling and the temperature keeps dropping. And meanwhile, The Tecmo Bowl season just keeps trucking right along, not stopping even for Al Toon to recover from his sixteenth concussion. We at The Tecmo Bowl have sat through a lot of simulated seasons, but this one is up there as far as exciting storylines and jaw-dropping upsets go. How lucky are you all that we ended up covering this season out of the bajillion combinations the all-knowing Tecmo computer could have picked? Anyway, enough patting our shoulders -- it's time to put on our analyzing glasses and commentating mouthpiece, and break down this week's match-ups.

Sunday afternoon won't start slow with the first group of games. First, there's a tough game at home for Kansas City against the Bills, who seem to be just on the cusp of kicking into high gear. As we saw last ~~Monday~~ Tuesday, the Chiefs are headed into a downward spiral, and will need to somehow pull it out against Buffalo if they want to save their playoff chances. Also in the AFC East, Miami will try to stay ahead of the pack while in New England, in a game where they can't trip up (although Marc Logan inevitably will), while Indianapolis heads to a tough environment in Pittsburgh in hopes to get back in the win column against Bubby Brister's 3 TD/6 INT ratio.

Still the only grown man that gets away with being 'Bubby'

Houston is back from a bye week, and they immediately fly into Denver with a chance to continue their streak as the last undefeated team in the NFL. The Broncos return home from a tough loss in Minnesota and behind one game in the AFC West, but you'd have to be a fool to think that John Elway would let his team sulk rather than take down a contender en route to their fourth win. Warren Moon may be leading Elway in all relevant quarterback categories (11 TDs, 1100 yards passing, 176% passer rating), but they each have one rushing touchdown. And if you consider the fact that the Moon sneak works nearly 99% more times than any Elway scramble play, then I don't think it's a mystery which play-caller really is superior.

NFL leading rushers or Midwestern farmers?

After running all over the Patriots and ending up somewhere in Utah, Johnny Johnson and the Phoenix Cardinals welcome the thawing New York Giants in an NFC East match-up that's really going to be a turning point in New York's season. The Cardinals may not have the guts or the gall to make a run to the playoffs at this point, but you'd better believe their mouths are watering at the chance to pull the Giants deeper into the muck of the league's worst teams. New York is on the verge of getting back to .500, and depending on what happens around the league, could start making some noise. We just hope that noise isn't Phil Simms' sleep-inducing broadcast voice.

The late afternoon games won't let up, but of course did you expect them to? The Los Angeles Raiders are riding hot and riding dirty after two convincing wins. Unfortunately for them, they're out of the NFC West and back in their own division, this time up against San Diego. The Chargers knocked Kansas City down another peg to pull within a first-place tie of Seattle, but you'd have to believe their challenge this week will be a bit harder, with the Bo Jackson/Marcus Allen tandem presenting a few more problems than the previous week's Okoye/Word debacle. San Diego has played cool, calm and collected as of late, but if there's anyone capable of having something blow up in his face, it's B.J. Tolliver.

Sunday concludes with an intriguing NFC showdown between Washington and Chicago, two teams trying to keep their momentum going in their respective divisions. The Redskins have been losing some steam as of late, however, and with Mark Rypien finally throwing his first picks of the season there's really not much left going for Washington. They've lost two in a row, while the Bears have rolled out three wins in succession on the back of league-leader in rushing, Neal Anderson, who's got what analysts call a 'favorable match-up' this week. We picked one team to win their division, and the other to lose out on the playoffs altogether, and if you need a hint you needn't look further than who has the edge in the very important 'Cap Boso Factor'.

Monday night apparently won't be rung in by Hank Williams, but we'll still see some good ol' boys from Texas when Dallas heads north to Green Bay to shake some cobwebs and start a run for a playoff spot. Before the season, we envisioned the Packers edging Dallas out for a playoff spot, and while we continue to stick to our proverbial guns, we still see this as an exciting match-up and a chance for both teams to start drawing attention. Both teams bring identical records to the table (3-2) and thus a pretty similar ranking in offense and defense. However, the Magic Man himself, Don Majkowski, has been slightly better on the field and in blonde mullet-growing than Troy Aikman, and so we're thinking that the Packers fare better in their second featured game at home--unless Mike Saxon's leg has anything to say about it.