I haven’t ripped on the mass sports media in a while so it’s time to take a jab or two.

My rant begins and ends with the coverage of Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow. If you’ve ever watched Skip Bayless on ESPN, you’d think that Tebow plays middle linebacker, lines up at offensive tackle on running plays and calls every single play for the Broncos.

What Tebow actually does is play quarterback like a less talented, but more athletic Alex Smith. To any one with common sense, the parallels are obvious – both play with solid defenses and both are asked to make as little mistakes as possible.

The difference is Smith, who has received no media accolades this season, is doing a better job. Smith has maintained a passer rating of 94.9 and has completed 63.2 percent of his passes, while Tebow’s passer rating is 87.9 while completing 47.5 percent of his passes.

Granted Tebow, is a more effective rusher, but how many teams have won a Super Bowl with a quarterback who specializes in running the ball? None.

I’m glad Tebow is having success, but it’s getting bad when Drew Brees is on pace to break the passing yards record for a season and Aaron Rodgers could break the passer rating record for a season and all we hear about it is Tebow.

Here are the picks:

Cleveland at Pittsburgh

The Steelers have the look of a team that could contend to get back to the Super Bowl. The Browns are thinking about next season.

STEELERS 31, BROWNS 7

Houston at Cincinnati

The Bengals started strong, but still haven’t proved that they can compete with the AFC’s elite.

TEXANS 23, BENGALS 13

Minnesota at Detroit

The Vikings secondary is so depleted that the Lions could blindfold Matt Stafford and still have a chance to win this one.

LIONS 33, VIKINGS 13

New Orleans at Tennessee

The Saints are coming off of two dominating home wins, but they aren’t the same team on the road. This could be a trap game for a Saints’ offense that’s starting to feel invincible.

TITANS 23, SAINTS 21

Philadelphia at Miami

The Dolphins either really don’t want a high draft pick, or this team has some heart. They’ve looked like a playoff team for the past five weeks.

DOLPHINS 27, EAGLES 17

Kansas City at New York Jets

The Jets need this one a lot more than KC, which is virtually out of the playoff race.

JETS 19, CHIEFS 10

New England at Washington

The Patriots have too many weapons for the Redskins to keep up.

PATRIOTS 38, REDSKINS 7

Atlanta at Carolina

This game will be legitimate test for the Falcons as Cam Newton finally played big in a big win last week. The Falcons aren’t the same team away from their dome, but I can’t see them letting this one get away.

FALCONS 27, PANTHERS 24

Tampa Bay at Jacksonville

The battle for Florida never looked so bad. At least the Jags have Maurice Jones-Drew.

BUCS 10, JAGS 6

Indianapolis at Baltimore

The Colts continue on their quest to land their next quarterback.

RAVENS 27, COLTS 10

Chicago at Denver

The Broncos played the Vikings without Adrian Peterson last week and now they get the Bears without Matt Forte and Jay Cutler. Maybe a higher power is on their side.

BRONCOS 14, BEARS 10

San Francisco at Arizona

The 49ers could very well finish with two losses and have their season end in their first playoff game against the Saints. That would be a tough pill to swallow.

49ERS 17, CARDINALS 3

Oakland at Green Bay

The Raiders are built for cold weather as they excel at running the football and they play solid defense. The Packers are built for all-weather as their defense makes big plays and their offense scores at will.

PACKERS 31, RAIDERS 10

Buffalo at San Diego

Phillip Rivers finally showed up last week and the Chargers may show some respectability down the stretch.

CHARGERS 27, BILLS 10

N.Y. Giants at Dallas

While they both lost, the Giants played much better than the Cowboys last week. But the Cowboys were playing better the week before that. Earlier in the season the Giants were playing better.

With two teams that are tough to read, go with the home squad.

COWBOYS 33, GIANTS 30

St. Louis at Seattle

There are a lot of things to do on a Monday that would be more fun than watching this game. I’m including sleeping, reading and staring at your hand for three hours.

SEAHAWKS 20, RAMS 17

Last week: 9-7; overall: 119-71