Major upsets in Oakland and Kansas City keep the NFC North playoff race interesting. Not many surprises elsewhere, with the Browns claiming the title of 2009’s worst team by losing to the Lions in a surprising 38-37 “thriller.”
Miami Dolphins 24, Carolina Panthers 17 (predicted: Miami Dolphins 16, Carolina Panthers 27)
Several important division games this week, Washington-Dallas, NYJ-NE, and Houston-Tennessee.
Miami Dolphins 16, Carolina Panthers 27
With Ronnie Brown placed on IR with a foot injury, the Wildcat loses its key player. I don’t think Ricky Williams and Pat White will be able to pick up the slack.
Pittsburgh Steelers 28, Kansas City Chiefs 13
After basically surrenduring the division to the Bengals, the Steelers need wins to stay in the wild card race.
Atlanta Falcons 27, New York Giants 31
Hopefully the Giants figured out their many problems during their bye. Matt Ryan has not looked sharp in recent weeks, and a dome team playing in New York in mid-November usually favors the home team.
New Orleans Saints 42, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24
Despite their first win and making the Dolphins kick a game winning field goal, the Bucs are still a bad team. The Saints know this.
San Francisco 49ers 21, Green Bay Packers 25
Aaron Rodgers is not Jay Cutler, and should be able to put up a respectable score against the 49ers.
Seattle Seahawks 20, Minnesota Vikings 31
Adrian Peterson and Brett Favre look to improve to 10-1 against another injury-wracked Seahawks team.
Cleveland Browns 13, Detroit Lions 20
FailBowl 2009.
Buffalo Bills 10, Jacksonville Jaguars 38
After firing their coach the Bills took a step in the right direction. Unfortunately firing Dick Jauron doesn’t give the Bills a run defense.
Washington Redskins 17, Dallas Cowboys 20
Maybe the Redskins can play spoiler to the Cowboys’ postseason chances again in Dallas.
Indianapolis Colts 31, Baltimore Ravens 28
Last season against Baltimore Peyton Manning led the Colts to a 31-3 victory. While weather might be a factor in Baltimore, the Ravens defense isn’t any better this time around while the Colts are hot.
Arizona Cardinals 33, St. Louis Rams 20
Arizona has been good on the road this year, and the Rams don’t exactly offer up a lot of resistance.
New York Jets 13, New England Patriots 37
Think Tom Brady is pissed that the Patriots lost? I think so too. At home against division rivals the Patriots will be looking to take out their frustrations on a fluondering Jets squad.
Cincinnati Bengals 21, Oakland Raiders 9
The Bengals defense came up big against Pittsburgh, and now they get to deal with the challenge of stopping Bruce Gradkowski. Hmmm…
San Diego Chargers 24, Denver Broncos 23
The AFC West is more or less decided in this one, and these teams are going in opposite directions. The Broncos still have a decent defense but are clearly sliding into mediocrity as everyone expected them to before the season started.
Philadelphia Eagles 20, Chicago Bears 23
Brian Westbrook is out again, this time probably for longer than two weeks. The Eagles lost on the road to the Chargers, and something tells me that the Bears are going to actually try this time.
Tennessee Titans 34, Houston Texans 31
Chris Johnson is putting up MVP-like numbers even though he won’t get it, and even though the Titans started 0-7. The Texans have trouble stopping the run, but this game should be a shootout.
The Colts pulled off yet another victory against the Patriots, mildly reminiscent of the 2006 AFC Championship when the Colts came back from a huge deficit at the half. Other noteworthy performances included the San Diego Chargers beating the ever-underachieving Eagles and the St. Louis Rams playing competitively with the New Orleans Saints. Read how the rest of the league did below.
The start of Thursday night games on NFL Network means I have to write earlier in the week. Here are my meaningless predictions for week 10.
Chicago Bears 31, San Francisco 49ers 24
Both teams are on short weeks coming off of bad losses. While the Bears defense is hardly what it was in 2006, it should be able to hold off Alex Smith long enough for Jay Cutler to rack up some points.
Detroit Lions 9, Minnesota Vikings 44
Matt Stafford can’t afford to throw any picks against one of the league’s best offenses.
Denver Broncos 20, Washington Redskins 17
It’s almost too easy to predict the Redskins’ score. In a battle of incompetent offenses, I give the edge to Kyle Orton and co.
Atlanta Falcons 28, Carolina Panthers 31
Will the Panthers figure out that as long as Jake Delhomme doesn’t have the ball, they’ll be fine?
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 17, Miami Dolphins 24
It’s back to reality for Tampa Bay.
Jacksonville Jaguars 23, New York Jets 28
Despite a few recent wins, the Jaguars won’t be able to compete with the Jets coming off their bye.
New Orleans Saints 52, St. Louis Rams 20
The Rams have a defense?
Buffalo Bills 16, Tennessee Titans 38
The Titans are coming off two big wins while the Bills are still floundering in anonymity.
Cincinnati Bengals 23, Pittsburgh Steelers 20
The Bengals can all but seal up the NFC North with a win over Pittsburgh.
Kansas City Chiefs 17, Oakland Raiders 21
If I have to pick a winner…
Dallas Cowboys 27, Green Bay Packers 23
Demarcus Ware has to be excited about going against the worst offensive line in the league in terms of sacks allowed.
Seattle Seahawks 10, Arizona Cardinals 35
The injury-ridden Seahawks are a great way to follow up a blowout victory on the road in Chicago.
Philadelphia Eagles 24, San Diego Chargers 30
Which Eagles team will show up in week 10?
New England Patriots 23, Indianapolis Colts 21
Tom Brady and Peyton Manning lead their respective offenses against each other for the first time the two of them have played each other since Manning handed off to Rosevelt Colvin to seal the Patriots’ victory in 2007.
Baltimore Ravens 38, Cleveland Browns 6
Not sure why Cleveland gets a Monday Night game, but they’re sure to underwhelm us.
The 2008 Lions’ record is safe after a Tampa Bay win over Green Bay. The Dolphins don’t live up to their talk, while the Colts and Saints remain perfect. How did your team do?
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A bit pressed for time again this week, but last week’s disaster hopefully will be avoided.
Baltimore Ravens 24, Cincinnati Bengals 33
Houston Texans 21, Indianapolis Colts 35
Green Bay Packers 42, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 9
Arizona Cardinals 23, Chicago Bears 30
Kansas City Chiefs 13, Jacksonville Jaguars 28
Miami Dolphins 20, New England Patriots 37
Washington Redskins 17, Atlanta Falcons 31
Carolina Panthers 21, New Orleans Saints 44
Detroit Lions 14, Seattle Seahawks 21
Tennessee Titans 27, San Francisco 49ers 30
San Diego Chargers 34, New York Giants 38
Dallas Cowboys 23, Philadelphia Eagles 27
Pittsburgh Steelers 24, Denver Broncos 27
Tampa Bay managed to avoid a loss during their bye week while I called practically every game wrong. Oh well.
Seattle Seahawks 17, Dallas Cowboys 38 (predicted: Seattle Seahawks 21, Dallas Cowboys 28)
For the league’s sake I hope there are some better games this week than in week 7’s blowout fest. Brett Favre returns to Green Bay, the Saints and Broncos face legitimate challengers to their perfect records, while the Rams play a game of “who’s more irrelevant” with the Lions.
A series of blowouts characterized week 7, including the NFL’s international game in London where the Patriots thrashed the Bucs 35-7. Life was tough if your a Dolphins fan (but honestly you should be used to it by now), while Brett Favre finally got the only kind of reality check he’s capable of understanding at the hands of Dick LeBeau and the Steelers’ defense. Read on to find out how your team did.
Not many games I find particularly intriguing/important this week, unless there are some major upsets. The Vikings face a serious challenger to their undefeated record, while the Rams and Bucs will probably drop to 0-7.
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