Courtesy USA Today

(January 19, 2011) Turns out, says ESPN's Tom Jackson, he wasn't being crazy on-air Sunday. On a pregame show, Jackson picked the New England Patriots to thump the New York Jets 30-10, hardly a novel prophecy given that the Pats stomped the Jets last month.

On ESPN postgame Sunday, linebacker Bart Scott woofed that the Jets had shown "all the non-believers" — mentioning Jackson — in a typical nobody-gave-us-a-chance sports rant.

What's weird is that Jackson went on ESPN Radio's Mike & Mike In the Morning and announced he "certainly thought" the Jets might win. His pick had just been a "premeditated" move in a "psychological game" to "cement" the Jets "in the bunker mentality of 'us against the world.' "

Say what? TV sports' pick-'em segment can be silly enough without pundits mixing in psy-ops strategies hoping to affect the games. In an interview Tuesday, Jackson says he really thought the Pats would win big — "and thought it could have been worse" — and that he's "not arrogant enough to think I can affect the outcomes."

So why the radio comments? "I was shocked and stunned by Bart's comments, that they were directed at me. ... So in an effort to make an excuse for the comments, I made comments I shouldn't have."

Meaning that if Jackson picks the Jets to win this Sunday, we shouldn't assume he's just trying to psych up the Pittsburgh Steelers: "Any time I've made a pick on TV, or anywhere else, I've believed in those comments."

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