Week 9 NFL Picks: Spread Advice, Best Odds and Full Game Predictions

At the midpoint of the NFL season, you might think you know everything about each team, but it's important to adjust your perception after every game.

Not only do injuries greatly affect the outlook of each team, but every result requires you to examine it under a microscope. Is a loss a sign of a negative trend that will continue or just a fluke? Will the latest win start a run that will continue into future weeks?

Week 9 will feature a lot of close calls for bettors thanks to some bizarre recent results, but here is a look at predictions for the upcoming slate of games.

Away	Predicted Score	Home	ATS Pick
Cleveland Browns	10-31	Cincinnati Bengals	CIN -11
Miami Dolphins	20-24	Buffalo Bills	BUF -3
Washington Redskins	17-38	New England Patriots	NE -14
Jacksonville Jaguars	14-20	New York Jets	N/A
Tennessee Titans	16-27	New Orleans Saints	NO -8
Oakland Raiders	21-24	Pittsburgh Steelers	OAK +4.5
St. Louis Rams	20-17	Minnesota Vikings	STL +2.5
Green Bay Packers	27-28	Carolina Panthers	CAR +2.5
New York Giants	30-31	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	TB +2.5
Atlanta Falcons	24-10	San Francisco 49ers	ATL -7
Denver Broncos	21-13	Indianapolis Colts	DEN -5
Philadelphia Eagles	20-14	Dallas Cowboys	PHI -2.5
Chicago Bears	31-28	San Diego Chargers	CHI +4

Note: All spread info courtesy of Odds Shark. 

Top Bets

Cincinnati Bengals (-11) vs. Cleveland Browns

Tony Avelar/Associated Press

Thursday night games are often tough to predict, and this is a rivalry game. But it seems like this spread could have been 30, and there would be hesitation picking the Cleveland Browns.

According to Pat McManamon of ESPN.com, Johnny Manziel will start in place of the injured Josh McCown. While the former first-round pick does have a win as a starter against the Tennessee Titans earlier this year, it will be a much tougher challenge this week.

Rand Getlin of NFL Network broke down everything going against Manziel:

The Cincinnati Bengals rank seventh in the NFL in points allowed per game this season and are unlikely to give up the big plays that have helped Manziel in the past. Remember, he had only eight completions in his Week 2 start.

On the other side of the ball, the combination of Giovani Bernard and Jeremy Hill should be able to do plenty of damage against the worst run defense in football. As long as quarterback Andy Dalton doesn't completely collapse in prime time (not a given), the Bengals should be able to win this one easily.

Atlanta Falcons (-7) at San Francisco 49ers

The Atlanta Falcons have come out flat each of the past two weeks, barely escaping with a 10-7 win against the Tennessee Titans before losing at home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This squad is too good to continue this trend.

While the offense has struggled immensely recently, quarterback Matt Ryan told 680 The Fan there's an easy fix to the problems (h/t D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution):

"

The only thing that we need to change is the four turnovers. In this past game, three of them were on the plus-side of the 50. You are directly taking points off of the scoreboard when you do that. I don’t think we need to go changing who we are or what we are doing. There are a lot of really good things that we are doing. We just need to, when we get those chances and we are moving the ball down into that red area, the plus-side of the 50, we need to have that killer’s instinct of putting the ball in the end zone, taking full advantage of the opportunities that we have.

"

Against the No. 28-ranked defense of the San Francisco 49ers, the Falcons should be able to move the ball almost at will. They just have to make sure they don't give it up.

Of course, the real deciding factor of this game will be on the other side of the ball. Atlanta's defense has been inconsistent, but it's hard to imagine the 49ers doing much offensively with the lineup they are using in Week 9.

The team announced Blaine Gabbert will start at quarterback Sunday, giving a chance to a player with a 66.8 career quarterback rating and a 5-22 record as a starter. While he didn't have much help with the Jacksonville Jaguars, that won't change this week with Carlos Hyde still injured and the offensive line struggling immensely, per Jeff Deeney of Pro Football Focus:

Even at home, the 49ers will struggle immensely offensively and are unlikely to remain competitive against the Falcons.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+2.5) vs. New York Giants

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

As previously discussed, turnovers had a lot to do with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' upset win over the Falcons, but that doesn't mean they didn't play extremely well to pull out the win.

Jameis Winston has looked the part of a No. 1 pick lately with four passing touchdowns, one rushing touchdown and no interceptions in his last three games. Along with a strong rushing attack led by Doug Martin and Charles Sims, the offense is finding ways to pick up yards and finish with points when given a chance.

This unit should have a much easier time getting on the board against the New York Giants and a defense that was just humiliated in Week 8. Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints scored 52 points and totaled 608 yards of offense in a win over the Giants, ruining an excellent performance by Eli Manning.

Dave Richard of CBS Sports summed up New York's day:

The Giants head into Week 9 with the worst defense in the NFL at 427.5 yards allowed per game, something that won't easily be helped even if Jason Pierre-Paul returns to action. Winston and the Buccaneers should be able to move the ball against the struggling secondary and have one of the best offensive days of their season.

New York has done well in the turnover battle (league-best plus-10 on the year), but Tampa Bay is playing well enough to pull off this upset at home.

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