Picks, picks, and nothing but picks this week. As you know, we have week 9 of the 2010 season upon us, and as always that leaves us a lot of questions hat are left to be answered. Are the Tampa Bay Bucs for real? Can the Oakland Raiders really win three straight games for the first time since 2002? Are the Dolphins ever going to lose on the road? Can the Patriots still finish the week with the best record in football? And, most importantly (at least for me), how will the games shape up for mj50 and myself after we both finished with a 7-5 record in week 8? All these questions and more should be answered by Tuesday morning, but until then here are my week 9 game picks to keep you company. As always, the starting game times are based on the Central time zone.
Let's begin:
Chicago Bears (-3) vs. Buffalo Bills (at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada): Sunday- 12:00 p.m.
mj15's pick: Chicago
Really worried about this one as a Bears fan. The Bills may be 0-7, but they're coming off two games in which they have lost in overtime (meaning that they should come to this game pissed off and starving for a win) and they done a better job spreading the ball around in the last three weeks than the Bears. Oh, and let's not forget that they have a better offensive line than Chicago, so Ryan Fitzpatrick should see more time on the ground than Jay Cutler. A lot of things are going against the Bears in this won. However...the Bills are winless in Toronto so far in this so called Bills Toronto Series that began in 2008. Plus, the Bears should be well rested coming off a bye and will play with urgency since they don't want to be known as the team to give the 2010 Bills their first win of their season after starting the year off (Bufallo has) 0-7.
mj50's pick: Chicago
San Diego Chargers (-2.5) vs. Houston Texans: Sunday- 12:00 p.m.
mj15's pick: Houston
West Coast team playing a 1 p.m. ET game theory. I don't really have anything other to say that that. By the way, thanks for reminding us how bad of a coach you really are, Gary Kubiak. In a Monday night game against a team you beat in week 1 because you had Arian Foster run the ball and destroy the opponent's front seven, you go into the pivotal rematch by...giving Arian Foster only 15 times. And to think you had me fooled for the first seven weeks of the season!
mj50's pick: San Diego
New Orleans Saints (-6.5) vs. Carolina Panthers: Sunday- 12:00 p.m.
mj15's pick: New Orleans
New Orleans should be rejuvenated from that win on Halloween night against the Steelers while Carolina is still trying to figure out whether Jimmy Clausen or Matt Moore should start for the rest of their season-to-forget. In other words, this pick was so easy to me that I'm not even going to explain my reason for the pick to you.
mj50's pick: New Orleans
Arizona Cardinals vs. Minnesota Vikings (-8): Sunday- 12:00 p.m.
mj15's pick: Minnesota
Adrian Peterson, plain and simple. I see him having his best game of the season against the league's 29th ranked rushing defense. But then again, you can use Peterson as a reason for every Vikings game, so...
mj50's pick: Minnesota
Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Atlanta Falcons (-8.5): Sunday- 12:00 p.m.
mj15's pick: Atlanta
Some people are saying that this line is too high and doesn't give respect to the Bucs and their record during the season. I disagree. To me, this line is just about right. Remember, all of the team's 5 wins have yet to come against a team over .500. The best teams they have won against have been the 4-4 Rams and the 3-4 Cardinals, and both of those came down to the wire. Meanwhile, in the only two games this season they've had against teams who are over .500 (the Steelers and the Saints), they have loss both of them and were outscored by 50 points. By the way, I expect to see Bucs losing to the over .500 Falcons this week, continuing the pattern that has been imposed through the first half of the season.
mj50's pick: Atlanta
New York Jets (-4) vs. Detroit Lions: Sunday- 12:00 p.m.
mj15's pick: Detroit
Detroit is averaging 37.7 points per game at home this season, and Ford Field has been the site of both of the Lions' victories this season. Also, while the Jets defense has been quite impressive this season, they have had one pretty minor weakness, but a weakness nonetheless: passing defense. They're ranked right in the middle statistically in this category, which isn't bad but then again it's not good considering that the team has been in the top ten all season in almost all other defensive categories. I say this because New York will be going head to head against a Lions team that is ranked in the top ten in passing yards per game and in points per game. Finally, I don't think that the Jets have yet to recover offensively from that shutout last week from Green Bay. In other words, this game is just screaming "upset alert" in my mind.
mj50's pick: New York
HALFTIME! This week, it's a clip from Chris Rock's fantastic stand-up comedy special, "Bigger and Blacker," which in my opinion is one of the greatest HBO stand up specials of all-time. Enjoy.
Miami Dolphins vs. Baltimore Ravens (-5.5): Sunday- 12:00 p.m.
mj15's pick: Miami
Miami has the Ravens right where they want them for this game: on the road. They are a perfect 4-0 as the road team (the only times they HAVE won a game this season). At this point, I can't possibly pick against the Dolphins on the road until they finally lose one.
mj50's pick: Miami
New England Patriots (-4) vs. Cleveland Browns: Sunday- 12:00 p.m.
mj15's pick: New England
Some people call this a trap game because the Patriots are playing Pittsburgh and Indianapolis in back to back games after this one. I don't care.
mj50's pick: New England
New York Giants (-7) vs. Seattle Seahawks: Sunday- 3:05 p.m.
mj15's pick: Seattle
Just like you can't pick the Dolphins on the road, you just can't pick against the Seahawks at home this season. They're a perfect 3-0 in Qualcomm Stadium and have outscored their opponents at home by about a full 200%. Also, while this may be just another game for the Giants, for Seattle this is a chance to show the league that they should be a force to reckon with in the NFC. Expect the Seahawks, both the team and the fanbases at home, be as fully ready and prepared as the Texans were week 1 against the Colts since this is arguably their biggest game of the season thus far, and end up rewarded in the end.
mj50's pick: Seattle
Kansas City Chiefs vs. Oakland Raiders (-1): Sunday- 3:15 p.m.
mj15's pick: Oakland
Whether the Raiders have been awesome the past two weeks because of the easy schedule or the team's young stars finally breaking out or whether it is just because they have finally bought into Tom Cable's system remains up for the debate. But the fact of the matter is, you just simply can't get better than how this team has been the past two weeks, outscoring both the Broncos and the Seahawks by a combined score of 92-17. Now comes the time where we find out whether the team is for real as they take on the 5-2 Chiefs in a battle to gain some ground on the AFC West division race. Personally, I think that they will win this game because of how great they have played the last two weeks and because they are at home, where they're 3-1 this year.
mj50's pick: Oakland
Indianapolis Colts vs. Philadelphia Eagles (-3): Sunday- 3:15 p.m.
mj15's pick: Philadelphia
Indy do have that tantalizing seven game winning streak against the NFC in the regular season, but I'm still going to have to side with Philly in the end. In his twelve seasons as Eagles head coach, Andy Reid has yet to lose after a bye week. Like him or not, the man does know how to prepare during a week off. The Eagles also have Michael Vick coming back and LeSean McCoy should help his fantasy owners big time against Indy's front seven which has given up an average of 133 yards per game rushing. So, yeah...
mj50's pick: Indianapolis
Dallas Cowboys vs. Green Bay Packers (-7.5): Sunday- 7:20 p.m.
mj15's pick: Green Bay
Let me put it this way: the winless Bills have played with more effort and more feeling in one quarter than the Cowboys have since Tony Romo got injured.
mj50's pick: Green Bay
Pittsburgh Steelers (-3) vs. Cincinnati Bengals : Monday- 7:30 p.m.
mj15's pick: Pittsburgh
I guess this is the part where I mention that I have yet to pick back-to-back Monday night games all season.
mj50's pick: Pittsburgh
RECAP
The Undertaker at WrestleMania Lock of the Week: Green Bay over Dallas
The "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" Getting Better 18-49 Ratings Than "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "The Late Show with David Letterman" for the 1st Time Ever This Week Upset of the Week: Detroit over New York Jets
The "Boardwalk Empire" vs. "Mad Men" "I'm Not Sure" Pick: Chicago over Buffalo
A little programming note: next week the NFL begins playing its first Thursday night games beginning next week. That means that beginning next week and continuing on until about late December, this column will be pushed back from its regular Friday night/Saturday morning time slot to every Tuesday or Wednesday night. Otherwise, I have nothing further to say for this week. Enjoy this weekend's games, everybody!
Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15
If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you just have any suggestions or tips for my next blog entry, e-mail me at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mails are greatly appreciated.
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