week 11 preview: Saturday Night Fever

There's been a lot going on with Screen and Roll Out in the past week or so. We're back working full time so the posts will be just as frequent but not quite as timely. As such I couldn't update before that dreadful Thursday night game but I don't think I missed all that much. However Look out for a NBA commentary in the season after the 1st month or so which should be happening the next week. Now with that bit of book keeping out of the way lets get into the Week 11 picks. 

Baltimore @ Carolina

Baltimore -10.5

The early games this week aren't very inspiring to say the least. Baltimore @ Carolina should be an easy bounce back game for Baltimore after their disappointing loss to the Falcons last week. Carolina just got waxed by the Bucs and things don’t get any easier against this Ravens team. It looks like another loss in what will probably be John Fox’s last year in Carolina.

Ravens 27

Carolina 10

Buffalo @ Cincinnati

Cincinnati -6

I doubt they're still this happy

A game between two teams whose season’s are already over. Buffalo can try to hang their hat on the fact they’ve been a competitive team but at the end of the day they’re still 1-8 with 1 win over the Lions. The Bengals came into this year with high expectations after the playoffs last year and seemingly improving in the offseason. All those expectations have come crashing down with 6 consecutive losses after a 2-1 start to the season. At this point I can see this Cincinnati team beginning to implode especially with the personalities of Ocho and T.O. in the fold. Carson Palmer continues his spiral to irrelevance with a loss to the Bills at home.

Buffalo 17

Cincinnati 13

Detroit @ Dallas

Dallas -6.5

*Gasp* Could the Dallas Cowboys not be the worst team in the NFL anymore? After finally showing signs of life after ditching Wade Phillips with a win over the Giants on the road they might have finally escaped NFL purgatory. In their place might be the Detroit Lions, they seemed to be finally putting it together with young emerging pieces on both offense and defense however with the reinjury of Matthew Stafford their franchise QB seems to be of the glass variety. Not only is this his 3^rd major injury in two NFL seasons it’s his second separation of his shoulder which seems like a bad omen for the future especially at the QB position. I think both back up QB’s are mediocre guys surrounded by a solid nucleus of talent however I like the Dallas defense I saw last week against the Giants; since they were actually there against the Giants for the first time in weeks.

Dallas 24

Detroit 20

Cleveland @ Jacksonville

Jacksonville -1.5

The battle of the two surprisingly competitive teams, every year it seems Jacksonville ends up being 9-7 10-6ish and makes it into the playoffs to everyone’s chagrin. They’re a team that nobody really wants to watch yet they manage to be competitive more often than not.  Quick question, who has the second highest QB rating in the NFL? That’s right David Garrard. On the other side of the field you have Colt McCoy who is 2-2 as a starter with his only losses being to the Jets and the Steelers. He’s definitely more of a legit NFL quarterback than I thought he would be, but despite those two wins his game hasn’t traveled all that well.

Jaguars 17

Browns 13

Arizona @ Kansas City

Kansas City -8

Todd Haley might still be a little steamed about the blowout loss last week to the Broncos but he has to move on in a hurry because the Chiefs can’t afford to lose a game like this in a tight division race. This is a Haley’s first game against his previous team the Cardinals since he’s became a head coach. However this Cardinals team is without Kurt Warner or Matt Leinhart instead being lead by Derek Anderson. Arizona got handled fairly easily at home last week against the Seahawks, but I think they match up much better with the Chiefs than they did the Seahawks. The problem is the Cardinals passing game isn’t quite good enough to expose the Chiefs, especially on the road.

Chiefs 24

Cardinals 17

Green Bay @ Minnesota

Green Bay -3.5

This is what ESPN does to you when you're 3-6

Perhaps the final meeting between Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers, sadly it won’t be the big game we expected prior to the season as the Vikings are pretty much out of the playoff race at this point with a 3-6 record. The Packers had their bye last week and come into this game needing a win to keep pace with the still surprising Bears who pushed themselves to 7-3 with a win in an absolutely terrible Thursday night football game. I see Aaron Rodgers going 2-0 against Favre this year and officially putting the stake through the heart of the Vikings season and hopefully the tenure of Brad Childress.

Green Bay 23

Vikings 17

Houston @ NY Jets

NY Jets -7

Houston can’t stop anybody through the air; they're the worst pass defense in the NFL by almost 20 yards giving up over 300 per game. Combine that with a Jets defense that hasn’t given up more than 23 points all season and I don’t think Houston will be able to keep up with the amount of points their defense will give up. I think this is the week that Shonn Green overtakes L.T. as their starting running back and Dustin Keller gets back into his early season form.

Jets 27

Texans 17

Oakland @ Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh -7

The Raiders are 4-1 in their past 5 games shaking off a 2-4 start to their year to get to 5-4 and into first place in the AFC West with the Chiefs loss last week. However in order to maintain that first place spot their going to have to win some tough games in their last 6 with games against the Steelers, Colts, and Chargers still remaining. The Steelers were seemingly exposed last week by the Patriots as a team that’s extremely vulnerable to the short passing game, and as a team whose offensive line is in shambles. While the Raiders lack the personnel to attack with the short passing game, their defense is 2^nd in the league in sacks which should bode well for them against a banged up Steelers O-line. Where this game will be decided is in the secondary of both teams, if Oakland can slow down the Pittsburgh passing attack with their pass rush and back 7 they’ll have a chance on the road, but if Mike Wallace gets behind them the Steelers will pull out a close one. Right now the Raiders give up the second fewest passing yards per game, and the second lowest completion percentage and I don’t see Big Ben getting enough time to get the deep ball off in this one. Raiders win a close one.

Raiders 17

Steelers 13

Washington @ Tennessee

Tennessee -7

After the debacle that was the Monday night game for Washington I don’t know what to say about this Redskins team. I do know what to say about Randy Moss however, I think he’s done. After watching him play Miami at half speed pretty much the entire way I think he’s finally decided to stop playing hard period. Even with no Laron Landry I still don’t think he makes the big plays we used to expect from him. Tennessee will win this game but it will be on the legs of Chris Johnson and by the other players in the passing game who get more room because of the space Randy Moss opens up.

Titans 20

Redskins 17

Seattle @ New Orleans

New Orleans -12

"Don't worry Reggie your game checks will be even bigger in the pros"

Seattle finally got back on the winning track after consecutive blow out losses handing the Cardinals a rare home loss. Matt Hasselbeck and Mike Williams are probably the best QB/WR tandem in the NFC West which says a lot about the state of the NFC West but also a lot about how far Mike Williams has come. However they still haven’t come far enough to beat the Saints at home coming off a bye week. Especially when they’ll get back arguably their second most important offensive player back this week in Reggie Bush.

Saints 27

Seahawks 17

Tampa Bay @ San Francisco

Tampa Bay -3.5

Troy Smith has reinvigorated the 49’ers offense with his ability to throw the deep ball combined with his general competence at the position. The 49’ers have put together back to back wins and if they were to win this week they’d be seemingly back in the NFC West race. Josh Freeman doesn't think thats going to happen. Tampa Bay is the classic team who beats the teams you expect them to beat and pretty much no one else, and at this point in the season I expect them to beat the 49'ers and I don't think they'll disappoint. 

Bucs 13

49'ers 10

Atlanta @ St. Louis

Atlanta -3.5

After a sterling performance on Thursday night against the Ravens at home the dirty birds hit the road to face the Rams. The Rams lost a disappointing game to the 49’ers in overtime but would be right back at .500 if they were to beat this Falcons team. Unfortunately for them it’s not going to happen, even though the Falcons are a better home team than road team, they’re only road losses were to the Eagles and the Steelers. The Falcons have been on fire offensively having scored over 30 points in their past 3 games, I think that streak ends but I think they keep on winning. 

Falcons 20

Rams 13

Indianapolis @ New England

New England -3.5

Outside of Michael Vick there aren’t any QB’s I love watching more than Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. Both of these guys are absolute masters of the craft and orchestrate their offense no matter who they have lining up next to them. Tom Brady took Jabar Gaffney and a number of castoffs to the AFC Championship a few years back while Peyton is turning Jacob Tamme and Mike Hart into household names this year. These guys show you how important the position of QB is in football, if you  have a great QB you can piecemeal a lot of other things around them and still be a good team. However I think that’s exactly the problem for the Colts, they’re just a good team. They’re too banged up on offense and their defense has a lot of trouble stopping any real potent scoring threat. I think Tom Brady puts a stop to the recent trend of Peyton dominating this matchup. Also as jacked up as Brady seemed last week I can’t imagine him being any less amped for this game.

Pats 31

Colts 27

NY Giants @ Philadelphia

Philadelphia -3

The Sunday Night platter this weekend is absolutely fantastic with this NFC East showdown between the Philadelphia Vicks and the Giants. Michael Vick put up the performance of a lifetime last week while the Giants had a performance I’m sure they’d rather forget against the Cowboys. I honestly don’t know who’s going to stop Michael Vick at this point, part of me thinks he has to come up short sometime but I don’t think it will be this week at home against a Giants defense that was exposed by Jon Kitna. The Michael Vick experience continues its rapid ascension towards the MVP summit.

Eagles 27

Giants 20

Denver @ San Diego

San Diego -10

Denver not only upset Kansas City on Sunday they Oakland Raider’d them going off for some 49 points getting redemption on the wrong team for their home blow out a few weeks ago. They also created a little more AFC West rivalry with the Chiefs by not easing up at all in the 4^th and being a little too jovial on the sidelines for the taste of Todd Haley. San Diego seems to be doing what they do every year have everyone write them off before they get on a 6 or 7 game winning streak that puts them right back in the playoffs and right back on everyone’s list of teams they don’t want to play. I hate to say it but I see it happening again this year. In a QB dual between Phillip Rivers and Kyle Orton I take Phillip Rivers and I don’t even think about it.

Chargers 31

Broncos 24

Week 10 preview. Thursday Edition

The Weekly previews are going to be coming out a little earlier now because of Thursday night football. So enjoy a little weekly preview action Thursday as opposed to our normal Friday affair. 

Baltimore @ Atlanta

Pick EM

How this game goes to me depends on the health of Roddy White, it comes out this morning that he’ll probably play but how well he plays will determine how the Falcons do. Without him putting forth something comparable to his normal effort I don’t see how the Falcons can beat a really balanced Ravens team, however with him putting up his regular Roddy White numbers I think Matt Ryan extends his ridiculous home record to 18-1. Roddy White could either have a soft tissue bruise or a bone bruise, a bone bruise obviously being the more serious of the two, I honestly just don’t like betting on guys with knee injuries who aren’t Kobe Bryant so I’ve got the Ravens going into the Georgia Dome and heating up Matty Ice.

Ravens 24

Falcons 20

Detroit @ Buffalo

Buffalo -3

A battle of two teams that don’t quite know how to win yet. The Bills were up by 5 in the 4^th quarter before eventually giving the game away because of their inability to hold on to the ball. The Lions loss was even more inexcusable as they were up by 10 on the Jets in the 4^th quarter with a few minutes left. They had a 3^rd down with the Jets having no timeouts and instead of running the ball and taking 40+ seconds off the clock they pass and get an incompletion. This would be partially excusable if their franchise Matthew Stafford was in the game, because you want to show confidence in your young players, however he wasn’t. Decisions like that make me think the Bills will finally get off the schnide this week even with no Stafford.

Bills 23

Lions 19

Minnesota @ Chicago

Minnesota -1

Has Brett Favre finally turned the corner? Did anybody expect 446 yards to be his career high? That completely blew me away, as long and storied as Favre’s career has been I would have expected him to have thrown for 500 yards at least a few times but apparently he’s never even crossed the 450 mark.  The Bears barely beat the Bills with Jay Cutler throwing no interceptions and the Bills turning the ball over 3 times. I have to say they can’t count on luck so good against a Vikings team still fighting for a playoff wildcard berth. Brett Favre strings two wins together for the first time this year.

Vikings 27

Bears 17

NY Jets @ Cleveland

Jets - 3

Fun Fact. Rex Ryan has multiple wigs always at the ready

 In his press conference this week Rex Ryan put on a blonde wig and put a pillow under his shirt to become his brother Rob who’s the defensive coordinator for the Browns. Rob is looking a lot better than Rex would have you think as the Browns are coming off 2 straight wins over the Saints and the Pats lead primarily by Rob Ryan’s defense. The Jets just scrapped out a win against the Lions in a game they had no business winning without the Lions absolutely handing it to them. I think the Browns don’t hand the Jets anything except the upset loss they should have gotten last week.

Browns 17

Jets 13

Cincinnati @ Indianapolis

Indianapolis -7.5

The Bengals showed some life at the end of their loss to the Steelers last week the question to me is whether that was too little too late. I don’t think they have much shoot at the playoffs at anymore so I wonder whether guys like T.O. and Chad Ochocinco can be counted on to still play as hard as they have been, or in Chad’s case complain as much as he has been. Who would have thought T.O. would be the better receiver of the two of these guys be a mile, as much attention as Chad draws he still just isn’t getting it done. Sure T.O. doesn’t have coverage rolling to his side but he soon will the way Chad isn’t producing and I doubt that will slow him as much as it’s slowed Mr. Ochocinco. The Colts just couldn’t stop Michael Vick although nobody has been able to this year so there’s no shame in that, there would be some shame in losing to the Bengals at home, but they won’t do that.

Colts 31

Bengals 23

Houston @ Jacksonville

Jacksonville – 1.5

Looking at this game I don’t really know what to say. The last time the Jaguars played a pass defense as bad as the Texans David Garrard threw 4 touchdown passes, rushed for one more, and then cured world hunger.  The Texans just got obliterated by the angriest QB around Phillip Rivers to the tune of 293 and 4 touchdowns while he was throwing to junior college rec team. Houston is just a middle of the road team now and on the road I don’t think they’re good enough to beat another mediocre team in the Jaguars.

Jaguars 24

Houston 20

Tennessee @ Miami

Tennessee – 2

Randy Moss= Dolphin destroyer

Apparently somebody on the Ravens spit on Channing Crowder which has him rightfully very upset. The NFL is investigating this but we all know nothing is going to come of it because nothing can be proven. I highly doubt Crowder would make something up, and I have a feeling the Ravens don’t feel bad about it especially with all the trash they talked after the game. I tell that story because that’s the only interesting thing I can that comes to my mind when I see the Dolphins. The Titans on the other hand premiere Randy Moss this week against a secondary he obliterated many times during his Patriot days, after watching him lay an absolute egg against said Patriots my confidence in Moss is shaken. However the Titans don’t need him to be anything more than a decoy to beat the Dolphins.

Titans 17

Dolphins 12

Carolina @ Tampa Bay

Tampa Bay -7

Raheem Morris should probably refrain from calling his team the best in the NFC after that horrendous end of game goal line call he made against the Falcons last week. The Panthers just got spanked by the Saints 34-3 last week and I don’t think things are going to get much better this week. Josh Freeman has been pretty good, but even better have been his two rookie receivers.  Arrelious Benn and the other Mike Williams have been revelations for the Bucs combined with the excellent special team’s play of Michael Spurlock have made this Bucs team a serious playoff threat. The Panthers on the other hand are now down not just DeAngelo Williams, but Jonathan Stewart and Tyrell Sutton. So the Panthers are going to be going on the road with Mike Goodson at starting running back and Jimmy Clausen. Yeah Bucs win big

Bucs 27

Panthers 10

Kansas City @ Denver

Kansas City – 1.5

After a disappointing loss in Oakland Kansas City looks to rebound against a poor Broncos team. Last week the Chiefs had an opportunity to create some distance between them and the rest of the AFC West however with the loss now all of the teams in the AFC West are within 1 ½ games of each other. Looking at Denver I don’t know how many weeks Josh McDaniel has left if the Broncos continue to play the way they have, combine that with his trade of Peyton Hillis for Brady Quinn which is looking even worse and worse by the day for the Broncos. As good as Dwayne Bowe can look he still has huge problems with drops dropping what would have been a game sealing catch against the Raiders last week. The once place the Chiefs do struggle is in the passing game and that’s the one place where the Broncos excel. I think the Broncos spring an upset and keep McDaniel’s job safe for another week.

Broncos 24

Chiefs 20

Seattle @ Arizona

Arizona -3.5

After a promising start to the year the Seahawks have lost the past two games by a combined score of 10-74. I think the Seahawks might have seen enough of Charlie Whitehurst to realize he’s not the QB of the future or even the present. Luckily for Seahawk fans they’ll get everyone’s favorite bald QB back against the Cardinals who sport a solid 2-1 home record with their only loss being a very close 35-38 loss to a good Bucs team. Derek Anderson is pretty bad but he’s NFL bad, he belongs in the league except as a backup QB. However against a Seahawks team that can’t stop anybody running or passing I think the Cardinals finally have an explosive day at home.

Cardinals 31

Seahawks 24

Dallas @ NY Giants

Composite drawing of every Cowboys fan

NY Giants -14

Seriously I don’t know if they could make a line high enough for me to not bet on the Giants in this game. The Giants won their last game 41-7 while the Cowboys lost their last game 45-7. I do think the firing of Wade Phillips will make some difference with the Cowboys, but the fact remains they’re just an awful awful team.

Giants 34

Cowboys 14

St. Louis @ San Francisco

San Francisco -6

Frisco finally got their second win of the year over an even more inept Broncos team in England. As  much as Roger Goodell wants to expand the league giving them games like 49’ers vs. Broncos won’t have them begging for more NFL action. St. Louis’ last game was a tough last second loss to the Bucs, but now they’ve had a bye week to get Steven Jackson healthy or at least healthier which should be huge against the 49’ers. However Troy Smith did inject some life into the niners like I thought he would and I think this is the beginning of his run to get them back into the NFC West division race.

49ers 20

Rams 17

New England @ Pittsburgh

Steelers -5

It seemed like a classic trap game for the Pats last week and it was as the Browns demolished them by 20 points on the road. Pittsburgh barely held off a more than game Cincinnati team stopping a last second drive on the goal line to hold on to a slim victory. Both of these teams are trying to stake their claim as the best in the AFC and possibly the league. Big Ben will be without his starting left tackle Max Starks not just for this game but for the rest of the season as was placed on IR. Big Ben is probably  one of the few QB’s who could take a blow like that and still manage to be as good if not better, Roethlisberger has the best QB rating after contact in the NFL and he’ll have plenty of opportunities to improve starting this week against the Pats. Looking at this Steelers team I think while they may not be as tough running the football as we give them credit for their tough enough to pound a Pats team that struggles against the run.

Steelers 24

Pats 20

Philadelphia @ Washington

Philadelphia -3

Vick vs. Mcnabb II this time it’s for blood. The last time these two teams faced off against each other Michael Vick was knocked early in the game with a rib injury that allowed the Redskins to come away with the victory. I don’t think the skins will be as lucky this week with Vick not missing a beat last week dismantling the Colts I think he’ll want revenge on the team that knocked him out these past weeks. Looking at Washington it’s a team in disarray, people talk about the coaching issues in Minnesota but their seem to be just as many in Washington and when your starting QB and your head coach don’t trust each other it spells doom for your franchise. I think the Redskins get 4 full quarters of the Michael Vick experience.

Eagles 31

Redskins 23

Week 8 Preview

As crazy as week 7 was with blowouts coming from 2 AFC West teams and 2 high scoring shootouts in the early games we can only hope for a week as good this time around. The AFC is shaping up to be a battle between the big two of the AFC North(Pittsburgh and Baltimore) against the big two of the AFC East ( New York and New England) While the NFC is starting to look like the Giants conference to lose. However we’re only half way there and there are a lot of stories still left to be written.

Randy Moss starring in: The Return

A few weeks ago The Patriots sent Randy Moss to the Minnesota Vikings for a draft pick and nothing else. Now it’s time for him to return to the Patriots who haven’t loss sent they sent him away but have missed the explosive element he added to their offense. The Patriots are looking like the Patriots of old with a collection of small receivers who will work themselves open in pretty much any part of the field.  However the Viking have enjoyed both the deep threat that Randy Moss provides as well as the attention it draws which has opened up space for Percy Harvin to get back to his play making ways of last year. However this hasn’t lead to a drastic increase in wins as they’re only 1-2 since adding Randy Moss.  This has to be the game Randy had circled once he got traded and I’m genuinely excited to see what he does.

Darren McFadden and Mike Williams starring in: Now who’s the bust?

The Raiders Seahawks game stars two college superstars who seemed like busts during the early part of their careers. It’s especially exciting to me because I absolutely loved both of these players coming out of college and was ecstatic when the Raiders picked McFadden 4^th out of Arkansas and was almost as excited when they picked up Mike Williams only to drop him 5 weeks later. McFadden only being in his third year; the bust label seemed a bit quickly placed however Mike Williams ate himself out of the league multiple times after being picked 10^th by the Detroit Lions so the label was more apt. However both players have been rejuvenated this year and are putting together solid years, or in McFadden’s case a pro bowl quality one. The question is who will emerge this game with another sterling performance to add to their 2010 resume. Last week McFadden had 196 total yards and 4 touchdowns while Williams had a solid 11 catches for 87 yards and one visit to the end zone. I doubt either puts up similar numbers but I also doubted either player would be this good this year so we know how much I know when it comes to these guys.

Miami @ Cincinnati

Cincinnati -2.5

“Oh hi there Carson, sorry for saying all those bad things about you all these weeks. We’re still cool right?” On behalf of Screen and Roll out I’d like to send my apologies to Carson Palmer who demonstrated that he is in fact not a corpse and is a real live quarterback. Let’s see if he can put together a performance like that two weeks in a row. The most troubling part of last week’s Falcons Bengals game as a Bengals fan is Carson Palmer has a once in a season game for him and you still lose. The Dolphins can’t win games at home but are currently undefeated on the road.  The Dolphins are the epitome of a 3-3 team not particularly good in any area but not awful in any area either. Something tells me the Dolphins get their first loss of the year on the road this year and I started reading the literature I’ve been getting from the Church of Caron Palmer.

Bengals 24

Dolphins 20

Jacksonville @ Dallas

Pick Em

Say hello to your starting QB Dallas

I really have no idea who to pick in this game. Dallas is absolutely done. Their season is over, no Tony Romo for the rest of the year and they’re 3 games back in their division. Jon Kitna isn’t leading a comeback from the brink of oblivion, but he might lead them to a victory or two during this year. As far as wins go I don’t think you can ask for much more than playing the Jags at home. The only team the Jags have beaten on the road is the Bills and they did that in a shootout. As bad as the cowboys have been and as bad as they’re going to be they’re still better than the Bills. Watching that Monday night game the only thing I took from it for the Cowboys was that Dez Bryant is a legit play maker right now. As bad as Jon Kitna and that offensive line are he still has the makings of 3 go to players at the wide out position in Miles Austin, a rejuvenated Roy Williams, and the up and coming Dez Bryant. I think that’s enough to beat a Jags team that doesn’t know how to travel.

Cowboys 31

Jags 24

Washington @ Detroit

Detroit -1.5

The glorious return of Matthew Stafford at home against a Redskins team coming off a 4 interception day.* Correction a Redskins team with DeAngelo Hall coming off a 4 interception day. He was absolutely ridiculous last week making a 1 handed interception that he took to the house as well as 3 more interceptions of Jay Cutler. Obviously that has a lot to do with Jay Cutler who still wouldn’t avoid DeAngelo Hall right now according to his own words. I think we all want our Quarterbacks to be confident, but when you’ve thrown as many touchdowns as interceptions a little humility wouldn’t hurt. Either way despite those 4 picks the Redskins are still the leagues 2^nd worst team in pass defense so they’ll still vulnerable maybe just not as vulnerable on Hall’s side. The last time we saw Detroit they played what seems like the best in the NFC Giants to a very close game on the road. Combine that with their home beating of the Rams and I like the Lions in this one.

Lions 27

Redskins 17

Green Bay @ NY Jets

Jets -6

Don't Blitz this man. Or that mustache

As tough a win as the Packers got last week I don’t know how the Jets aren’t favored by more coming into this game. They’re a 5-1 team that can pretty much do everything and they’re getting a presumably healthy Darrelle Revis back this week.  The Packers on the other hand are 1-2 on the road having lost to both the Redskins and the Bears; neither an overly impressive team. However both of those games were games where the Packers shoot themselves in the foot without a doubt the question becomes have the Packers put those problems to bed or are they still around. With no running game in Green Bay I don’t know how they’re going to get the jets out of their nickel and dime sets or how they’re going to get those 3^rd and shorts that offenses need to get going. I think they’re going to be in a lot of 3^rd and longs which play right into the Jets defenses hands as they’ll bring the house. Here’s where I see the game turning, Aaron Rodgers eats blitzes for lunch, and he prefers his lunch to be the big play variety. Rex Ryan doesn’t change his style for any QB and that will be his undoing this weekend. Pack in the upset

Green Bay 30

Jets 27

Buffalo @ Kansas City

Kansas City -8

After getting robbed against the Texans the Chiefs took out their frustration on an over matched Jaguars team beating them in pretty much every phase of the game on their way to a 42-20 blowout. Dwayne Bowe might have finally turned the corner and put his drops behind him, that toe tapping back of the end zone grab last week was absolutely diseased.  The Chiefs still run the rock the best in the league and stop the run just almost as well being ranked 5^th in run defense. The Bills aren’t looking to run the football they’re looking to pass it early, often, and deep. Ryan Fitzpatrick for all the jokes I’ve made about him has definitely livened up this Bills passing attack, as they’re currently in the top 10 of the NFL. Watching the Bills last week play the Ravens that tight I can’t discount them because I still think the Ravens are a good team. I just don’t think the Bills have learned how to win games yet, and I don’t think they figure it out this week.

Chiefs 31

Bills 30

Denver @ San Francisco

Pick Em

Wow. This sure will get people in London excited about football. Getting to watch two of the worst teams in the NFL play, wow what a treat. For all those 49er fans calling for David Carr they got their wish and then he was just as terrible as anyone who knows football knew he would be. The 49’ers have some skilled players they just don’t have any one to get them the ball. We can’t talk about terrible without bringing up the Denver Broncos and the putrid performance they put together last week, they were beat by 45 points. The game was essentially over in the first quarter as they were down 24-0 at that point however they made it respectable scoring 14 points to the Raiders 59. Games like that tend to be aberrations however I don’t know how you can like the Broncos after what just happened to them last week, maybe they rally around each other and their sense of pride and beat the 49’ers, I just this is going to be Troy Smiths coming out party. How he wasn’t the choice of the 3 Qb’s the 49’ers had to begin with I’m not sure, but I’ve always like that guy and I think this week he show’s me why.

49ers 27

Broncos 20

Carolina @ St. Louis

St. Louis -3

Carolina got their first win last week against the 49’ers which doesn’t say much about the Panther’s that we didn’t already know. The Rams on the other hand are coming off a heartbreaking last second loss to the Bucs on the road. They lost with less than 20 seconds left on the clock, but now they return home where they’re undefeated this season. With no DeAngelo a lot of people would think the Carolina running attack would be less effective but when Williams went down last year Jonathan Stewart was absolutely untouchable leading several fantasy teams (mine included) to championships. The problem is the Panthers passing game hasn’t been good enough to open up lanes for either Stewart or Williams, last week was the exception as Matt Moore managed to get going for over 300 yards. Despite the passing attack they put together last week the Panthers still struggled on the ground. After losing a game they shouldn’t have last week on the road the Rams will recover against a team that still hasn’t put together a balanced offensive game.

Rams 24

Panthers 20

Tampa Bay @ Arizona

Arizona -3

Actually called poor mans Jamarcus Russel

Arizona is back on the Derek Anderson express after Max Hall was knocked out of yet another game. Tampa Bay just got a solid win at home against a very competitive Rams team prompting their coach to declare them the best team in the NFC. Sorry to break it to you Raheem but you’re not even in the best team in your division. However they’ll be the best team on the field against the Cardinals. Josh Freeman is looking like what a lot of people thought Jamarcus Russell would be when he came into the league, a big QB who’s mobile, tough to bring down, and with a cannon for an arm, hopefully that’s the only time I’ll ever use Jamarcus Russell and Josh Freeman in the same sentence if you’re a Bucs fan.

Bucs 17

Cardinals 13

Tennessee @ San Diego

San Diego -3.5

Tennessee can’t seem to lose against NFC teams while the Chargers just can’t seem to beat anybody. However this isn’t a NFC vs. AFC battle this is a conference game where the Titans don’t fare as well. After an absolutely insane performance last week from Kenny Britt can we count on something similar against a Chargers defense that is still getting the job done despite their special teams and turnover struggles. At 2-5 the Chargers are still ranked 1^st in total offense and defense making those stats seem absolutely worthless. Every week seems like the week we stop picking the Chargers but once again they’re the favorite against a 4-2 coming off a solid win. I just can’t pick the Chargers, they may have all the pieces but they just don’t fit.

Titans 27

Chargers 20

Minnesota @ New England

Patriots -5.5

Tom Brady In the two games since the Randy Moss trade he has been mediocre at best, if not outright bad. He has 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions over the past two games, while in the 4 prior to that he had 9 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. This seems like the perfect opportunity to show the New England what they gave up to the Vikings. It looks more and more likely that Brett Favre will once again cheat injury and manage to play another Sunday. The Patriots have strung together 4 straight wins after their loss in week 2 to an impressive Jets team. They seem to be coming together like the Patriots teams of old with an offense that’s just effective enough to win the game and a defense that will always keep their offense in the game. However I just can’t imagine Randy Moss not going off and putting a nice 150 yard 2 touchdown game on the pats just for the sake of revenge.

Vikings 30

Patriots 24

Seattle @ Oakland

Oakland -1.5

As good as Oakland looked last week they could just as easily look as bad this week, but honestly after watching that game and then looking at how the Seahawks put up their points I just don’t see it. The Seahawks are a team that will win most if not all of their games at home but continue to struggle on the road.  The Seahawks have been excellent stopping the run this year ranked 2^nd in the league and this week they will truly be tested against Darren McFadden coming off his best game as a pro. Combine that with a Raider defense finally having success against a legitimate offense and there’s seems to be a lot of momentum for the Raiders. However you could have said the same thing after they beat the Chargers and they proceeded to lay an egg against a winless 49’ers team. However that was also without Darren McFadden who seems to be the motor to this raider offense on the ground and through the air. Raiders make it to .500

Raiders 27

Seahawks 24

Pittsburgh @ New Orleans

Saints -1.5

The Steelers come off a game that they shouldn’t have won against the Dolphins and now go into a battle of the past 2 Super Bowl champs. Both teams seem to be headed in different directions however with the Steelers cruising at 5-1 and the Saints struggling at 4-3 coming off a blowout loss to the Browns. Neither team looked good last week, but the Saints have only been 1-2 at home which is incredibly troubling because that home field advantage was a huge part of what lead them to their NFL championship last year. The saints typically like to get their running game going to set up the play action pass but that’s going to be incredibly difficult against the Steelers defense. 2 of the Saints 3 losses have been against 3-4 teams and they have a lot of trouble blocking schemes that disguise their pressure and that’s exactly what the Steelers love to do. I think the Saints are going to be on the wrong end of two straight AFC North beat downs. Steelers go into who dat nation and crush the Saints.

Steelers 38

Saints 24

Houston @ Indianapolis

Indianapolis -5.5

A rematch of the game that started the year off with a bang, we were introduced to Arian Foster and vulnerable Colts team all at the same time in Houston during week 1.  Has the Colts run defense improved enough to not have a repeat of what happened in week 1? Peyton Manning is so great we take him for granted but once again he’s putting up MVP caliber numbers, so far this year he has 12 touchdown passes to go along with only 2 interceptions. As bad as that week 1 game looked the Colts were an Austin Collie fumble away from having that game within a touchdown. Speaking of Austin Collie, but he and Dallas Clark will be out this week with Dallas Clark being placed on IR. Every week Peyton Manning seems to pull another player out of thin air and make him into a solid NFL player I just wonder who it will be this week. As good as Peyton Manning is, I still think the Colts run defense is terrible and the numbers agree as they’re ranked 24^th against the run. Arian Foster is averaging 5.5 yards a carry and I think it will only improve against the Colts. However if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s this, never pick against  Peyton Manning when the lights come on, he’s money in general but during night games he’s solid gold. Colts win despite not being able to stop the run.

Colts 34

Texans 30