I don’t really care about the spread, so keep that in mind. These are my picks for serious and not so serious reasons. Ok, enough ventilating…. here are my favorites for this week.
Jets – Raiders; Quarterback Mark Sanchez has cooled his Jets, so to speak. He’s been playing more like a rookie lately. The good news is that the Raiders are the opposition, in spite of the Oakland upset of the Eagles, so new coach Rex Ryan can start boasting how his boys will fry the Florida fish next week…Jets win by 14 !!!!
New Orlreans – Miami; Saints were near the bottom last year in both points (26th) and yards (23rd) surrendered per game. So Sean Payton hired the brilliant defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. That is the reason for the change in fortunes for the Saints this year. New Orleans by 14.
Indianapolis – St Louis; Colts also made a change on defense under new head coach Jim Caldwell. He hired Larry Coyer as defensive coordinator,and he’s more traditional in liking some bigger players on the defensive front. Indy’ was only 24th in rush defense last year. Other than the Steelers, Patriots, or Giants, who else could find a player like Pierre Garcon in the 6th round out of division 3, Mount Union. That’s why they’re always in contention under general manager Bill Polian. Colts win by 17.
New England – Tampa Bay; There’s obviously just one question here, and that’s by how many multiples of 7 or 10 do the Patriots win by ? I’ll be conservative here and pick the Pat’s to go “easy” on the Buc’s and win by 39. New England 42 – Tampa Bay 3.
Green Bay – Cleveland; Have the Browns even won a significant game of any kind since Bernie Kosar left Cleveland ? The Packers toughest opponents in this game will be the fans in the “dog pound”. Green Bay wins 31- 10.
Arizona – N.Y. Giants; Cardinals lost at the Giants last season, 37-29. Yeah, they got hot at playoff time, but they’re still not a very good road team and that won’t change Sunday night. Giants win by 6.
Atlanta – Dallas; The Falcons have only given up 77 points in their 5 games. Only two teams are better on defense so far, Denver,and Indianapolis. Another “L” for “Big D”. Falcons win 24 –13.
Chicago – Cincinnati; This will be the revenge of Cedric Benson. I can’t think of a better story line than that. Sorry !!! Bengals win 20 – 14
Buffalo – Carolina; No franchise has been more jinxed in the history of sports, than the Buffalo Bills. No city has had more bad breaks in sports than Buffalo. So let’s give them a break, just because I am a nice neighbor to the north, and this will be victory number 3 for them. ! Delhomme will not be the man on Sunday. Bills 17- Panthers 14.
San Francisco – Houston; The Texans give up too many points ( 137 ) even though they score a lot as well ( 143 ). I’ll go with the better defense in this one.
49rs prevail 24 – 21.
Minnesota – Pittsburgh; I am only going on gut feel and nothing else here. The Steelers will come up with an “immaculate” interception ( no disrespect intended to Franco Harris ), and end the Brett Favre magic carpet ride at 6 and 1. Steelers win 34 –31.
Philadelphia – Washington; Donovan McNabb needs better protection after getting sacked six times by the Raiders. With left tackle Jason Peters having practiced this week, that problem should be resolved. Eagles win 24- 13.
San Diego- Kansas City; Both teams have very good running backs, but the Chargers are just too strong on offense for the Chiefs.