Did Anyone See Where I Left My McBratty Pants?

So, the Commish was ON FIRE last week and picked every single game with a winner correctly; the crazy tie was a non-issue in any case because we all picked Philly to win. In doing so, she became the first BFLer to win two weeks in a row. I don't think I need to tell you how fishy it is that the person in charge of this loose assemblage of bloggy football goodness managed to nab back-to-back badges, do I? Mmm-hmm, didn't think so.

Now, sadly, she's been laid low by nasty Mr. Flu, which leaves me unable to trash talk her chances this week. That sucks almost as much as not coming close to winning these last two weeks, but far less than actually having the flu, so I forgive her and want her to feel better. Because almost everyone I know always says that when they're sick all they want is soup, this week's game day recipe is: soup!

This will probably be one-time thing because, unlike 99% of the world (apparently), I don't really like soup very much. There are some exceptions, and this recipe from our local paper is one of them -- it's quick, hearty but not heavy, doesn't have tons of ingredients and is perfect for autumn. It could, however, use a new title; "Squash Soup with Sausage" really doesn't sing. Clearly the author of the recipe was all out of naming imagination that day. I'm going to go with "Sack 'em, Squash 'em Soup."

I didn't actually make this one, I have to admit -- my mom did. Her improvisational improvement was to add some little meatballs (browned before being added) since we had some ground beef handy. Personally, I liked the meatballs better than the sausage and I could see doing it with one or the other or both like she did. If you try it and like it, I hope you'll let us all know. I'm going to try to make a batch this weekend, probably with just meatballs and with a little less thyme (the flavor of the thyme got a bit more intense than I would have liked after a while, but that could have been because she used dried thyme instead of fresh -- your results may vary).

So, what teams will I be rooting on while I slurp my soup?

Cincinnati @ Pittsburgh
Philadelphia @ Baltimore
Houston @ Cleveland
Tampa Bay @ Detroit
Buffalo @ Kansas City
Chicago @ St. Louis
NY Jets @ Tennessee
New England @ Miami
Minnesota @ Jacksonville
San Francisco @ Dallas
Oakland @ Denver
Carolina @ Atlanta
NY Giants @ Arizona
Washington @ Seattle
Indianapolis @ San Diego

Monday Night Football
Green Bay @ New Orleans
Total score tiebreaker: 50

Note to the NFL: The Thursday night game thing is getting annoying. Please reconsider.

If you want to participate, go see The Commish, follow her instructions, link yourself up and help us try again to take the winner's badge away from her this week. If you can't do it before tonight's game, just do it before Sunday's games start and you'll just be one game down... just like probably more than half of us will be for picking wrong tonight.