Week 10 saw the previously undefeated Atlanta Falcons lose a game. The New Orleans Saints spoiled a run at perfection for those Falcons who must now play host to the Arizona Cardinals. The Philadelphia Eagles all but mailed in their season last week as they dropped yet another game, this one to division rival Dallas. The San Francisco 49ers and the St Louis Rams played to a tie in their contest, leaving us all to wonder why the heck are there ties in football?
The real stories coming out of the week are the quarterback injuries. Ben Roethlisberger, Jay Cutler, Michael Vick and Alex Smith are all out of actions for their teams this week and maybe longer. The topic of concussions reared itself again as all but Big Ben got their bells rung last week.
Last week my record was 8-5, excluding the San Fran St. Louis game. My upset pick of the week in Houston came through as did the Pittsburgh Steelers as my lock pick of the week winning. Overall record on the year is 93-52.
Miami Dolphins at Buffalo Bills
The Dolphins stunk it up last week at home as they were horrid against the Tennessee Titans. The Dolphins are a better club than last week’s effort would indicate. Their defense is top ten in the league, while Ryan Tannehill is doing his best to put points on the board. The Buffalo Bills played a close game against New England and they seem to be coming around a bit as a club. The Dolphins are a better team here; however, the home field will likely play a factor, in a very close game I’m going with the Fins to pull it out. Pick: DOLPHINS
Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions
The Packers are coming off their bye week as they readied themselves for a road trip into the Motor City. After a slow start to the season the Packers look to be rounding into postseason form, Aaron Rodgers is showing why he is a top rated quarterback and the Pack defense is demanding some respect with their play. The Lions took a beating at the hands of the Minnesota Vikings last week as Adrian Peterson literally ran wild all over their defense. Christian Ponder looked like an All-Pro quarterback against that Detroit secondary; which doesn’t bode well when you go up against an actual All-Pro quarterback like Rodgers. Expect huge passing numbers out of both teams, in the end overall talent wins out. PICK: PACKERS
Arizona Cardinals at Atlanta Falcons
The only thing keeping Arizona from losing another game last week was the NFL scheduler makers who gave them a bye week. The Cards had dropped five games in a row after starting out the season 4-0. They roll into Atlanta this week to take on a ticked off and no longer undefeated Falcons squad. For the Falcons, their game plan of having Matt Ryan throw the ball 52 times while Michael Turner only got 13 touches out of the backfield contributed to the loss. A balanced attack is what the Falcons need to get back to. Pound the run game and let Matty Ice pick his receivers out downfield. Falcons get it right this week and bounce back at home. PICK: FALCONS
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Carolina Panthers
Tampa Bay beat a pretty good San Diego club last week while Carolina got spanked by Denver. The Buccaneers and the Panthers are going in opposite directions. The Bucs are looking to go two games over .500 while Carolina is looking to salvage something positive out of this season. It might surprise you to know that it is the Buccaneers who possess the league’s third best offense. Josh Freeman has 18 touchdowns on the year with only 5 interceptions and rookie running back Doug Martin is the only rookie who can challenge Andrew Luck for ROY honors. The Panthers are just a bad team, ranked near the bottom of the league in offense and defense they don’t scare anyone. PICK: BUCCANEERS
Cleveland Browns at Dallas Cowboys
The Cleveland Browns roll into Big D straight off their bye week as they look to add to their two win total on the season. The Browns haven’t played horribly this season; they just don’t have a lot of talent to win games. The Cowboys got a huge division win against the Philadelphia Eagles last week that reinvigorated playoff chatter throughout the State. The Cowboys have to have one of the most favourable schedules remaining in the NFL. All but one team remaining on the schedule is playing above .500 football, that being the Pittsburgh Steelers who just saw their QB go down to injury. Anyways I digress, the run game gets going here and Romo limits his interceptions to two, all resulting in a home win. PICK: COWBOYS
Philadelphia Eagles at Washington Redskins
The Eagles kept the losing times a rollin’ as they dropped another game last week to the Dallas Cowboys. Not only did the Eagles lose, they lost Michael Vick to a concussion. The injury likely spares Andy Reid from having to bench Vick in favor of Nick Foles. Both teams are 3-6 coming into the week; however, there are more reasons for optimism in Washington than there is these days in Philadelphia. Coach Shanahan got an extra week to prepare for this division game, the loser of which drops into the NFC East cellar. I like the home team on an extra week of rest. PICK: REDSKINS
New York Jets at St Louis Rams
The NY Jets are coming off a bad outing against Seattle last week. The defense was bad and the offense was worse. Calls for Tim Tebow were met with harsh criticism and extreme skepticism. The harshest words came from his own teammates who showed about as much heart and conviction behind the comments as they show on the field. St. Louis is playing some good football; they just aren’t getting the wins. With last week’s ridiculous tie with San Francisco they remained winless in their last four games. The defense has been solid and the corners continue to play aggressively. Similarly to Philadelphia, I can’t pick a team in a tailspin to win a tough game on the road. PICK: RAMS
Cincinnati Bengals at Kansas City Chiefs
The Bengals put it together when it counted most as they thoroughly trounced the NY Giants last week. Andy Dalton looked like the quarterback everyone hoped he was throwing a career high four touchdowns; while the defense created turnovers and kept Eli Manning off-balance all day. The Chiefs played a sloppy rain soaked game in Pittsburgh that was a snooze fest. They are still a bad team with few offensive weapons. I see the Bengals making it two in a row here. PICK: BENGALS
Jacksonville Jaguars at Houston Texans
It almost isn’t fair for those woeful Jags. Neither quarterback is any good, neither can move the ball with any consistency and the run game is non-existent in the absence of Maurice Jones-Drew. To top it all they have to travel to Houston to play one of the league’s best teams in the Texans. Houston held on for a nice win against Chicago last week to move to 8-1 on the season. Matt Schaub didn’t have a stellar game; however, Arian Foster ran for over a 100 yards and the Texan defense held the Bears at bay. This matchup should be an easy win for the home team. PICK: TEXANS
New Orleans Saints at Oakland Raiders
The Saints held strong at home and beat the previously undefeated Atlanta Falcons last week. Thanks in large part to another spectacular game from Drew Brees and an unbalanced attack from Atlanta, the Saints spoiled the Falcons run at perfection. Playoff hopes are still alive in the Big Easy as four wins in five games have resurrected the Saints season. The Oakland Raiders haven’t been playing horribly, Carson Palmer has been throwing the ball well; unfortunately the receivers still can’t catch and the run game is pathetic. Throw in 100 yards in penalties against and the Raiders are going to be playing catch-up here. PICK: SAINTS
San Diego Chargers at Denver Broncos
The Chargers are coming off a loss to Tampa Bay preceded by a week 8 embarrassment in Cleveland. As such they are not being given much of a shot here against the Denver Broncos. Vegas has handicapped the Chargers by more than a touchdown for good reason. Peyton Manning has the Bronco’s firing on all cylinders at this point in the season, the defense is playing great and the Broncos are playing at home. I don’t think a seven point spread is going to be enough here. PICK: BRONCOS
Indianapolis Colts at New England Patriots
The surprise team of the year, Indianapolis got it’s sixth win of the year last week against Jacksonville. Andrew Luck is absolutely the real deal at quarterback and will become the face of the league as his career progresses. This matchup will be billed as the old versus the new, the past versus the future. Whichever way the networks sell this game to attract viewers it is still a nine point spread for the Patriots. Tom Brady is cruising right along, the offense is showing no signs of slowing and the Pats defense is holding strong. The Patriots will cover the spread and win this one with ease. Chalk it up to a learning experience for the Colts young QB. PICK: PATRIOTS
Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers
The big news here is that Ben Roethlisberger is out with an injury and Byron Leftwich will be under center. The Steelers have never beaten the Ravens without Big Ben at quarterback and I don’t see that changing this week. The Baltimore Ravens are flying high with a combined 80 points in their last two games, while only surrendering 35 points over the same stretch. Even had Roethlisberger been healthy for this contest, I still would have taken the Ravens to win. PICK: RAVENS
Chicago Bears at San Francisco 49ers
A big Monday night matchup sees the 7-2 Bears travel into San Francisco to play the 6-2-1 49ers. Unfortunately neither Jay Cutler not Alex Smith are going to be playing in this contest. We will instead be watching some backups as Jason Campbell and Colin Kaepernick will be the signal callers for the night. Campbell has the experience while Kaepernick has the athleticism; this should be an interesting contrast. Defense and field position will be the story of the night here and both defenses are stellar. This game should be a close one and a low scoring one. I’ll stick with Coach Harbaugh’s ‘we don’t lose at home’ mantra. PICK: 49ers
LOCK PICK OF THE WEEK: New Orleans Saints are riding high and believing in themselves after their slow start. They keep it going and get the road win in Oakland.
UPSET PICK OF THE WEEK: Miami Dolphins on the road in Buffalo are 2.5 point underdogs. Take the points and the Fins this week.