NFL Picks, Pats, and Pardons (Week 9)

Last Week: 6-7
Season: 79-37
Redskins: 4-3
Against the Spread: 16-15-1 (Last Week 0-4)
Lock of the Week: 3-5 (Last Week 0-1)

Last Week's Pats: I got nothing.

Last Week's Pardons: You got a few hours? Wow, where to begin? An absolutely dreadful week both straight up and against the spread. I got ultra-cute with my Redskins-Bills upset and was wearing egg on my face about ten minutes after that game started. I also missed badly on Cobwoys-Eagles and Bengals-Seahawks. EVERYONE missed on Saints-Rams, so I won't beat myself up too bad over that one. I was also on the wrong side of Patriots-Steelers. Ouch for week 8.

This Week's Picks:

Miami at Kansas City: The Dolphins have played their hearts out the past couple of weeks, and still have zero wins to show for their efforts. At some point, you have to wonder if they can keep swinging.

Chiefs 27, Dolphins 13

Tampa Bay at New Orleans: The sigh you heard last Sunday was from Bucs coach Raheem Morris as he watched the Saints fall in St. Louis. Tampa is now assured to get a fully focused Saints team this Sunday. I like the Bucs entering the year, but I've been underwhelmed thus far.

Saints 29, Bucs 23

Atlanta at Indianapolis: Colts have been dreadful on the road, competitive at home, but winless everywhere. I see those trends continuing this week.

Falcons 24, Colts 17

Cleveland at Houston: The Browns have been unable to take advantage of manageable early schedule, and have looked shaky even in their three wins. And the Peyton Hillis situation seems to get uglier by the day. Disappointing season so far for Cleveland fans and I don't think they get any relief this week.

Texans 25, Browns 16

New York Jets at Buffalo: Get those strong gut feelings every now and then, and I have one here. This is a spot where Rex Ryan has really excelled thus far in his coaching career...every time the Jets are teetering a bit and we aren't sure which way they are going to go, they rise up and win a big game in a tough spot. Love what the Bills are doing, but I think Rex gets them this week.

Jets 20, Bills 17

San Francisco at Washington: Hardest thing to do when picking NFL games is to somehow distance yourself from the results of the previous week...if we base our thoughts on this game soley on what we saw the past week or so, the lean here is for easy victory for the 49ers. But other trends and averages seem to point the other way. Washington was overachieving a bit the first few weeks for sure, but they also aren't as clueless as the showed last week against Buffalo. I see them bouncing back and keeping it close, but it's hard to pick a John Beck led team to actually win a game. An upset wouldn't stun me here though.

49ers 17, Redskins 15

Seattle at Dallas: Lose to a good team on the road, come home, destroy a bad team, lose to a good team on the road, come home....

Cowboys 30, Seahawks 13

Cincinnati at Tennessee: Keep waiting for the bottom to fall out a bit in Cincy, and it hasn't it...as a matter of fact, it hasn't even been close. So impressed with Andy Dalton and AJ Green, but my biggest praise goes to Marvin Lewis, Mike Zimmer, and that defense. Having said that...

Titans 23, Bengals 20

Green Bay at San Diego: Either Phillip Rivers is having girl problems or he's just been "Norved".... something is up though. This is one of those picks I will come back to on Monday and think, "wow, I'm such a moron," but I just feel it here. Still think there might be some cracks in that Green Bay D.

Chargers 27, Packers 24

New York Giants at New England: Giants are in a fine position at 5-2, but they've been a bit shaky there. Catching the Patriots coming off a loss is never a good thing.. especially when you are dealing with some significant injuries.

Patriots 31, Giants 19

Denver at Oakland: Raiders have had two weeks to stew after their humiliating loss to Kansas City and two weeks for Carson Palmer to get acclimated. They should have their act together by now, and if not, we probably won't be able to tell anyway.

Raiders 21, Broncos 16

St. Louis at Arizona: AJ Feely vs. John Skelton? Sign me up!

Cardinals 23, Rams 22

Baltimore at Pittsburgh: Ravens just don't look right and the Steelrs look VERY right. The revenge angle will also be strong... Steelers will be ready to crack some heads. I respect this rivalry a bit too much to be thiking blowout, but I say Pittsburgh controls the game from the outset.

Steelers 26, Ravens 16

Chicago at Philadelphia: Any chance we see an overcorrection here? People buried the Eagles after their 1-4 start and now people are talking Super Bowl again two weeks later. I liked what I saw from Philly the past few weeks as well, but I also liked what the Bears did in London. This one stays close.

Eagles 27, Bears 23

Lock of the Week

Bears (+9) at Eagles

2. Chargers (+5.5) vs. Packers
3. Redskins (+4.5) vs. 49ers
4. Jets (+2) at Bills