By Kyle Martin
Atlanta (2-6) at Carolina (4-4) – The Falcons are 0-4 on the road, the Panthers are 0-3 at home. Something has to give here. I'm predicting that David Carr manages to lead the Panthers to victory, despite spending the entire game on his back because he is just a magnet for defensive ends.
Panthers – 17 Atlanta – 13
Jacksonville (5-3) at Tennessee (6-2) – The once vaunted Jaguar defense was exposed last week in a blowout loss to New Orleans. The Jags offense is anemic at best and is incapable of winning a game in which the defense isn't stifling. Maurice Jones-Drew can't do everything. Tennessee rides the legs of Vince Young to a win in a rout.
Titans – 27 Jaguars – 10
Minnesota (3-5) at Green Bay (7-1) – Brett Favre continues his march to the playoffs against a dreadful pass defense. Adrian Peterson keeps things interesting though.
Packers – 38 Vikings – 23
Buffalo (4-4) at Miami (0-8) – The Dolphins quest to be the first franchise to have both a perfect season and a winless season continues. The Bills are two last second losses from being 6-2. They're not good enough to be part of the upper tier of teams, but they are second best in their division (which isn't saying much) and they are not far from a playoff caliber team.
Bills – 27 Dolphins – 13
St. Louis (0-8) at New Orleans (4-4) – The Saints are on a roll, winners of four straight, that streak won't end this week as the Rams are on an 8 game losing streak. The Rams should be better than their record reflects, but with the decimated offensive line it's no wonder Marc Bulger and Stephen Jackson have missed time due to injury. Their defense hasn't helped any. The Saints high powered offense is back on track and should face no problems this week.
Saints – 35 Rams – 7
Cleveland (5-3) at Pittsburgh (6-2) – This could be a trap game for the Steelers who are coming off a dominating win over the Ravens. The Browns offense should prove more of a challenge than the awful Ravens offense did, but I think the defense will wake up in time to stop the Browns and win the game.
Steelers – 28 Browns – 24
Cincinnati (2-6) at Baltimore (4-4) – One of the Bengals' two wins came opening day against the Ravens when their defense forced six turnovers. Things looked good for the Bengals that day, but since then they have reverted to the Bungles of old. The Ravens haven't had an easy time this year either. Their defense isn't as shut down as it used to be and they still cannot move the ball through the air. I don't know why they try to pretend they have a passing game when they have Willis McGahee in the backfield, who is capable of carrying the offense. I'm going to go with the Bengals in this game though, because it just pains me to think that Steve McNair and Kyle Boller could beat Carson Palmer.
Bengals - 26 Baltimore – 20
Dallas (7-1) at New York Giants (6-2)
Their first meeting in the season opener was a 45-35 shootout that the Cowboys won at home. The Giants are a much better team than they were in that game. Their pass rush has been rediscovered and it is ferocious. The winner of this game will have the inside track to the division title as both teams should beat up on the Redskins and Eagles. Despite the Giants six game winning streak and home field advantage I don't think that Eli Manning is ready to win a big game yet. Look for the Cowboys to win another shootout, provided Romo can avoid Strahan and Osi I'm-not-even-going-to-bother-trying-to-spell-his-last-name.
Cowboys – 40 Giants – 37
Detroit (6-2) at Arizona (3-5) – The Lions are the most surprising 6-2 team in the NFL right now. Their thrashing of Denver last week was also a surprise. It seems like all those high draft picks that were wasted on wide receivers is starting to pay off. The Cardinals have shown flashes of being a good team this year, such as beating Pittsburgh and coming back against Washington. This is my upset of the week. The Cardinals will beat the Lions and John Kitna's bold prediction of ten wins will fall by the wayside.
Cardinals – 30 Lions – 24
Chicago (3-5) at Oakland (2-6) – It's scary to think that the Raiders have scored more points than the Bears and have given up less. Despite that, the Bears are still good enough to beat the truly dreadful teams in the league and should have no problems taking care of business this week.
Bears – 20 Raiders – 13
Sunday Night Special
Indianapolis (7-1) at San Diego (4-4) – The Colts have got to be happy with the way they played against the Patriots last week. They were missing their top wide receiver and came within minutes of beating the best team in the league. The Chargers on the other hand, were embarrassed by one of the worse teams in the league and failed to generate a passing attack against the worst pass defense in the league. They won't be able to do much better against the Colts d.
Colts – 31 Chargers – 20
Monday Night Malady
San Francisco (2-6) at Seattle (4-4) – It's sad that the NFC West gets a representative in the playoffs this year. The Seahawks don't play a team with a winning record from here on out, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them win the division with a 7-9 or 8-8 record. The 49ers offense is just awful so don't expect this to be one of the Seahawks losses.
Seahawks – 27 49ers – 10
Game of the Week
Philadelphia (3-5) at Washington (5-3)
This is a must win for the Redskins. A win here, and the Redskins are looking at a 10-6 record and a wild card spot in the playoffs. A loss in this game, and they miss a chance at winning one of their few remaining easy games. The Eagles are flat out terrible this year and the Redskins handled them easily on the road earlier in the season. Look for Clinton Portis to have a big day on the ground and the Eagles offense to be frustrated by the Redskins defense all afternoon.
Redskins – 30 Eagles – 16
Dud of the Week
Denver (3-5) at Kansas City (4-4) – It's hard to believe that the Broncos could be in first place in the AFC West with a win in this game. Unfortunately for them, they won't get it. In what is quite possibly the most boring match-up of the week, the Chiefs get just enough offense from Priest Holmes, who is starting in place of an injured Larry Johnson, and Dwayne Bowe to win this one. Come on, you can't lose 44-7 to Detroit... who does that?
Chiefs – 20 Broncos – 10
No comments:
Post a Comment