NFL Week 9 Picks: Early Odds Tips, Spreads and Predictions for Latest Schedule

Week 9 of NFL action features some of the most well-matched teams to play each other all year, from the NFC's Green Bay Packers and Carolina Panthers to the AFC's Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills, making for some compelling matchups. 

The Arizona Cardinals, Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions, Houston Texans, Kansas City Chiefs and Seattle Seahawks are all on their bye in Week 9. 

Let's take a look at the early lines for each matchup and pick each winner, as well as preview and predict three of this week's must-watch matchups. 

Away	Home	Pick	Line
Cleveland Browns	Cincinnati Bengals	Bengals	CIN -10
Green Bay Packers	Carolina Panthers	Packers	GB -3
Washington Redskins	New England Patriots	Patriots	NE -13
Tennessee Titans	New Orleans Saints	Saints	NO -8.5
Miami Dolphins	Buffalo Bills	Bills	BUF -3
St. Louis Rams	Minnesota Vikings	Rams	MIN -2.5
Jacksonville Jaguars	New York Jets	Jets	N/A
Oakland Raiders	Pittsburgh Steelers	Raiders	PIT -6
New York Giants	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Giants	NYG -1
Atlanta Falcons	San Francisco 49ers	Falcons	ATL -3
Denver Broncos	Indianapolis Colts	Broncos	DEN -3
Philadelphia Eagles	Dallas Cowboys	Cowboys	DAL -2.5
Chicago Bears	San Diego Chargers	Chargers	N/A

Must-Watch Matchups 

St. Louis Rams at Minnesota Vikings

L.G. Patterson/Associated Press

Don't look now, but both of these NFC teams are in the hunt for a wild-card berth, and both are making their positions stronger every week. This head-to-head matchup could be huge for the winner when it comes time to decide playoffs matchups. 

The Rams are coming off a triumphant 27-6 victory over NFC West rival San Francisco, putting the young team at 3-0 in its division and 4-3 on the season. That's good enough for second place in the division and No. 7 in the NFC, one spot out of a wild-card berth. 

Though these teams don't face each other until Week 9, Minnesota's win in Week 8 adversely affected St. Louis, as the Vikings' 23-20 triumph over the Bears solidified their spot at No. 6 in the conference and, thus, the recipient of the final wild-card berth should the season end today. 

St. Louis will pin its hopes of winning this matchup on workhorse running back Todd Gurley, who on Sunday broke the NFL record for most rushing yards through the first four starts. 

Gurley has had at least 100 yards and three touchdowns in his last four games.

Minnesota, however, will say "not so fast" to the Rams' rookie phenom. In addition to being No. 5 in the league in total defense, the Vikings are also allowing only 106 rushing yards per game.

That's not stout—it's 14th in the league—but it's certainly fewer yards than Gurley has been netting per game on average. 

The Rams defense, meanwhile, has been hovering just outside the top 10 in yards and points allowed per game—with 351.3 and 19.8 respectively—but its collection of playmakers have made themselves known through turnovers, defensive scores and sacks. 

St. Louis is tied for second in the league in the latter category, and its 13 total takeaways are good for sixth in the league. This defense will certainly give Teddy Bridgewater, Adrian Peterson and the rest of the Minnesota offense some trouble, and it will ultimately allow the Rams to sneak by in a close game.

Prediction: Rams 17, Vikings 14, OT

Miami Dolphins at Buffalo Bills

Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press

Heading into Week 9, the wild-card race is just out of reach for both Miami and Buffalo, whose matching 3-4 records place them at the bottom of the AFC East and behind current wild-card contenders Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets and Oakland Raiders. 

But anything is possible in the NFL, and whichever team loses this divisional matchup will likely be out of the playoff conversation altogether.

At the start of the 2015 season, the Buffalo Bills were a popular pick to be the best team in the AFC East after the New England Patriots. But while they have had some nice wins against the Indianapolis Colts, Miami and Tennessee, the Bills just seem to lose steam with every passing week.

That was evidenced in Buffalo's deflating 34-31 Week 7 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Rex Ryan promised to deliver a more physical style of play when he took over the team, which one would assume would start with the run game. 

The Bills have certainly been getting yards on the ground, averaging 123.9 rushing yards per game. But they're still not running the ball more than 20 times per game on a consistent basis. 

The Dolphins, meanwhile, have a middling run defense. They haven't won their three games by being able to stop much of what the other team is doing, but rather occasionally putting up more points.

For the 154 points Miami has scored this season—greatly padded by its 44-26 win over the Houston Texans in Week 7 and 38-10 victory over Tennessee in Week 6—its opponents have scored 173 against. 

Miami's losses, however, have not been puzzling in the least. The Dolphins are an average team, built to beat lower-level opponents such as Tennessee, Houston and Washington but falling to strong teams: New England, New York. The loss to the Jaguars is the only game that perhaps got away from Miami this season.

The Dolphins lost badly to the Bills when the two teams met on Sept. 27: 41-14. The team has improved since then, but expect the Bills to sweep the matchups this season. 

Prediction: Bills 28, Dolphins 20

Oakland Raiders at Pittsburgh Steelers

Ben Margot/Associated Press

Like Rams-Vikings, this is another matchup, in the AFC this time, featuring two teams competing for a wild-card berth.

Heading into Week 9, Oakland is second in the AFC West and, at 4-3, No. 6 in the conference having beaten the 4-3 New York Jets on Sunday 34-20.

Though that was a strong and necessary win for Oakland, the Steelers got a huge boost Sunday with the return of Ben Roethlisberger.

Though Pittsburgh ultimately fell to the Cincinnati Bengals 16-10, Roethlisberger's presence also makes Antonio Brown better. While Roethlisberger was out with an injured knee, Brown was much less effective. 

The outcome of this game will perhaps depend on the status of Pittsburgh rusher Le'Veon Bell, who exited the game against the Bengals Sunday with a knee injury. Though the team is optimistic he did not damage his ACL, per Pro Football Talk, it would be surprising to see him play against Oakland. 

Even if the Steelers did have Bell against Oakland, however, he might not have anywhere to run. Oakland's run defense effectively shut down Jets rusher Chris Ivory in Week 8, holding him to 17 points.  

In fact, the Raiders have the No. 3 rushing defense in the league, holding opposing rushers to an average of 84.3 yards per game. 

Though it's tough to pick against Roethlisberger and his weapons, Oakland is hot and its defense is good enough to shut down a Steelers team missing Bell. 

Prediction: Raiders 30, Steelers 24

NFL odds via Odds Shark and current as of Nov. 1