Miracle comeback by Rams and other lucky wins has Blaine playing lottery

A bunch of Blaine's teams in Week 12 had no business winning their games, but many of them prevailed in strange ways to help him double his first-place lead to four games over Nicki and eight over Mark.  In what he's calling his luckiest week in 26 Picks seasons, Blaine went 11-2 to dominate the group when he easily could have been 5-8 and bringing up the rear.

Six of Blaine's teams were on the verge of losing in the final minute -- some already considered dead but kept alive by advanced life support -- and all six teams walked away victorious after a series of lucky events that was nothing short of a miracle.  Was it the work of the almighty Picks Gods, having mercy on the veteran who hasn't won a Picks title in six years?

Nothing was more shocking than the Rams victory in Houston.  The Rams trailed 27-17 with 34 seconds left, facing fourth down on the Texans' 43-yard line.  Third-string rookie quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick heaved the ball to the end zone for a touchdown, and the Rams recovered an onside kick with 23 ticks remaining.  After completing a pass, St. Louis kicked a 47-yard field goal to force overtime, where Fitzpatrick threw a 56-yard touchdown pass for a 33-27 Rams victory.  Oh my!

Blaine chose the Texans in the days leading up to Sunday, then sat for 30 minutes debating that pick shortly before kickoff.  He switched to the Rams at the last moment, thinking the 1-9 Texans would play well but find a way to lose.  "I don't care if I go 1-12, but the Rams better win," he said.  When the Texans exploded to a 24-3 halftime lead, Blaine was banging his head against the shower wall.  He moped around muttering, "Those (censored) Texans, I knew it!"  But his luck turned that around.

On Blaine's lucky day, opposing teams missed seven critical field goals from 29, 40, 45, 46, 52, 53 and 54 yards.  Most would have ended the game and given Blaine a loss.  Three of his teams won in overtime; another intercepted a potential game-winning pass in the end zone.  On Sunday night, Blaine was by himself with the Saints, who stole a 21-19 victory in New York when the Jets' 53-yard field goal attempt fell a foot short of the crossbar.  You don't get more fortunate than that.

Blaine is now trying to stretch his lucky streak into a major financial payoff.  He is playing the Illinois lottery this week since he obviously can beat million-to-one odds.  He purchased six chances for Saturday's Lotto drawing (9:22 p.m. on WGN-TV) based on the game scores and offensive statistics from his six lucky NFL teams.  Here are his Lotto numbers: