NFL Predictions: Week Nine

Week Nine of the NFL Season is upon us. For this Sunday, the NFL is relieved that the Major League Baseball season is finally over, so they won't be competing with baseball for ratings.

So all eyes will be on the NFL now.

For the fans in New York and New Jersey, they will have to come off Cloud Nine for the day to realize that both of their teams aren't playing great football.

With the Yankees season over now, their attention goes back to football, and that might not be a good thing if they continue their struggles.

This week, the Jets are actually off with a bye, so all eyes will be on the Giants then.

The Colts and Saints remain the last two undefeated teams in the NFL and are on top of the AFC and NFC.

The Buccaneers remain the only winless team in the NFL. Each week, they lose hope of getting off their losing streak.

Last week in Week Eight, I went 8-5 with losses from the Giants, Jets, Lions, Broncos, and Cardinals. Overall in 2009, I am 83-33 and looking to continue the good record so far.

Lets take a look at the Week Nine schedule for this weekend.

Houston Texans @ Indianapolis Colts

A battle of AFC South division rivals. This should be an interesting game to watch.

The Colts are in first at 7-0. The Texans are in second at 5-3. If the Colts win this game, they have all but locked up the division early. If the Texans win, they increase their chances in the division and improve their shot for the playoffs.

Matt Schaub has been leading the Texans with great games in each of Houston's wins. He has gone from a backup to decent quarterback in the NFL, and is still improving with playing experience.

Peyton Manning continues his tear for the MVP Award. He continues to rack up touchdown passes, yards, completions and total dominance over the NFL.

This could be an offensive shootout, but the Colts are still the best team in the NFL with a better defense than Houston, which will be the deciding factor.

Final Score: Colts 37, Texans 28

Washington Redskins @ Atlanta Falcons

The Redskins have become a pathetic excuse of an NFL franchise.

What was once a great and historic team with multiple Super Bowl titles and tough, physical players have become nothing more than a bunch of overpaid, overhyped garbage playing wusses.

Jason Campbell sucks. Albert Haynesworth sucks. Clinton Portis sucks. Santana Moss sucks. DeAngelo Hall sucks. And Jim Zorn. He sucks as head coach too.

It's only a matter of time before this whole team gets blown up and starts over from scratch.

The Falcons have been struggling, but are still in the NFC hunt. They lost a tough game to the Saints that was competitive, but the Saints showed they were clearly the better team at home.

The Falcons should have no trouble rebounding and getting a win against the sad excuse of a franchise.

Final Score: Falcons 27, Redskins 10

Miami Dolphins @ New England Patriots

The Dolphins are still in the thick of the AFC race. And they have the Jets to thank for that.

They defeated the Jets twice in a span of a couple weeks and made the Jets look embarrassing after the New York media had Jets Super Bowl frenzy in September.

The Dolphins are relying on their two best players, Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams, to get the offense going. So far, it's been working.

Bad news for the Miami defense, though, they have to stop Tom Brady and the Patriots offense.

Brady is getting his swagger back and has been delivering lots of touchdown passes in recent weeks. The Dolphins secondary can't stop anyone, so don't expect any shocking upsets from Miami this year in Gillette Stadium.

Final Score: Patriots 42, Dolphins 24

Kansas City Chiefs @ Jacksonville Jaguars

A few weeks ago, Larry Johnson shot his mouth off about head coach Todd Haley on his Twitter page making gay references, then was forced to apologize and leave the team. All he received was a two-game suspension.

I'm really surprised the Chiefs simply didn't cut him and end themselves of the disaster that has been Larry Johnson. He's got great talent, but he's just a bad human being

Even without that distraction, the Chiefs are still a bad football team at 1-6.

The Jaguars, they're a bad team too. But because of some luck, are still hanging around at 3-4.

The one bright spot of this team is Maurice Jones-Drew, who is having another fine season in 2009. With a weak defense, MJD should have no problem shredding the Chiefs defense up.

Final Score: Jaguars 24, Chiefs 9

Baltimore Ravens @ Cincinnati Bengals

This is definitely going to be a heated game. We all have Chad Ochocinco to thank for that.

This week, he sent a can of deodorant to the Ravens defense, trying to cite that they stink. Can you imagine what Ray Lewis and Ed Reed said or did when they received that from Mr. Ocho?

The Ravens are playing much better after a must-win game against the Broncos to save their season early. Now with Cincinnati and the antics during the week, they will come in a very ticked off defense looking for 85's blood.

The Bengals are playing very well and are in first place in the AFC North. The last time these two teams played, the Bengals pulled out an upset in Baltimore.

Either Ocho's mind games worked against Baltimore's defense, or Lewis and Reed found a burial spot at the 50-yard line for Chad's head and big mouth. One of those is going to possibly happen.

This will be a great game with a good finish.

Final Score: Bengals 27, Ravens 24

Green Bay Packers @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Packers are feeling a little depressed these days.

They let Brett Favre come into their building and tear up their defense for four touchdowns and 38 points and got his revenge against his former team.

The people of Green Bay can't feel too good about losing to Favre not once, but twice in the same season.

Good news for them is, they get the 0-7 Buccaneers, who are on their third quarterback this season in Josh Freeman. Freeman is supposed to be the better of the quarterbacks on the team, but this Tampa team is terrible.

The Buccaneers last year were a playoff contender with Jon Gruden and Jeff Garcia, but with Josh Freeman and Raheem Morris, do not resemble a shred of what used to be a playoff constant over the last 10 years.

If the Bucs go 0-16, Morris is all but gone. The sad thing is, it could happen.

Final Score: Packers 34, Buccaneers 7

Arizona Cardinals @ Chicago Bears

The last time these two teams met was in 2006 and Dennis Green made his famous, "We are who they thought they were!" speech, which is now made into a joke for beer commercials.

The Cardinals lost an ugly game to the Panthers last week and are looking to rebound this week against the Bears.

Kurt Warner must have one of his better games and not a stinker like he did against the Panthers. Arizona's success relies on the shoulders of Warner.

The Bears have been up and down and very hard to figure out, even with Jay Cutler. One week, he'll look like a Pro Bowl quarterback, then another week, he looks like Rex Grossman.

The Cardinals offense may be too much for the Bears to contend with, especially since the Bears are coming into this game with a ton of injuries.

Final Score: Cardinals 31, Bears 17

Carolina Panthers @ New Orleans Saints

For the second week in a row, the Saints will have an NFC South division rival come into the Superdome.

Last year, this game was the final regular season game of the 2008 schedule that saw Carolina win the division. How things have changed in 2009.

In 2009, Carolina is barely hanging on. John Fox is doing his best to keep this team motivated to win, but it gets harder to when your quarterback has been awful. How Jake Delhomme is still the starter is beyond me.

The Saints are the powerhouse of the NFC. Drew Brees has been playing tremendous football and it's getting tough to stop that offense.

Each week, the Saints find more ways to win against good teams. This week, they should be able to beat a bad one to move to 8-0.

Final Score: Saints 38, Panthers 20

Detroit Lions @ Seattle Seahawks

Last week, I gave the Lions a chance to win a game and prove they are a little better in 2009.

But, they give the Rams their first win of 2009 and lose at home, which is pretty demoralizing since up until a week ago, the Rams were the worst team in the NFL.

So much for trusting the Lions now.

The Seahawks haven't played well in 2009. Even with Matt Hasselbeck healthy, they still have struggled under Jim Mora.

Their running game has been such a disappointment, Seattle released former Pro Bowl running back Edgerrin James after James failed to be productive. Julius Jones hasn't been much better, either.

This is a game the Seahawks need to win at home. If they lose, they can just forget about winning anything in 2009. A win and they're barely alive.

Final Score: Seahawks 27, Lions 14

San Diego Chargers @ New York Giants

On paper, this actually could be a good football game between two good teams.

The Chargers are good on paper. On the field is another story. In 2009, they have been a failure of what was supposed to be a Super Bowl contender. They're 4-3, but they are in second place of what looked like an easily-won division for them.

The Chargers are usually good at home, but they are a different team on the road, and a worse one when they travel 3,000 miles to the East Coast.

The Giants started out 5-0, but have hit a three-game losing streak. Mostly it's because they have played awful defense and have had trouble covering receivers downfield. The Saints, Cardinals, and Eagles all threw the ball well downfield against the Giants secondary.

The Giants need to get back to playing smash-mouth football and get back to the championship-type football that has made them one of the best teams over the past three seasons.

This officially becomes a must win game for the Giants. A win and they stay alive in the NFC chase. A loss and they fall way down the line and watch the Eagles and Cowboys take over the division. Tom Coughlin will have his team fired up and ready to go.

Final Score: Giants 34, Chargers 23

Tennessee Titans @ San Francisco 49ers

The Titans finally got a win this past Sunday, so they won't go 0-16 in 2009 after going 13-3 in 2008.

A lot of people credit Vince Young, as he was finally given his starting quarterback job against the Jaguars. The magic of Kerry Collins finally wore out, and now, it's back to being Young's team.

The 49ers have had a strange 2009 season. They started out with Shaun Hill as the starter, but gave the job back to Alex Smith, who up until now, has failed. But Smith has played slightly better because of his new favorite target to throw to in Michael Crabtree.

Crabtree spent almost three months unsigned after holding out for money, but finally signed with the 49ers and has been playing very well in his first two games. Crabtree is showing why he could be a star in this league, but just needs to keep his attitude in check.

Against a weak secondary, Crabtree might be the one who steals the show in this game.

Final Score: 49ers 31, Titans 24

Sunday Night Football: Dallas Cowboys @ Philadelphia Eagles

This game will be a great matchup for Week Nine, because it is for first place in the NFC East.

The Cowboys have been playing much better over the last couple weeks and that can be the thanks to two players; Tony Romo and Miles Austin.

Romo and Austin have Dallas fans reminding themselves of the Troy Aikman to Michael Irvin combination that used to dominate the NFL. Lately, Romo to Austin has been a popular phrase heard on Sportscenter.

The Eagles have become a very explosive offense in 2009 with Donovan McNabb healthy. With Kevin Kolb and Michael Vick, this team wouldn't be 5-2. But with McNabb's strong arm throwing deep passes, the Eagles have become a solid offensive team.

The last time these two played in Philadelphia, the Eagles ended the Cowboys season in total embarrassment in Week 17. Dallas will come out looking for revenge, while the Eagles will look for the same results.

This will be an excellent game to watch on NBC with some smash-mouth football.

Final Score: Eagles 37, Cowboys 34

Monday Night Football: Pittsburgh Steelers @ Denver Broncos

Nobody has been playing better football than the Steelers. They've won four straight games and are back to playing the championship football that won them Super Bowl 43 just nine months ago.

Troy Polamalu is back and his return to the Pittsburgh secondary has been a breath of fresh air to this defense that needed him when he was out. With Polamalu roaming the secondary, teams are fearing playing the Steelers again.

Another big key to the Steelers success is Ben Roethlisberger. He's taken charge of the offense and made it his. He's throwing the football much better and with confidence. He gets sacked quite a bit, but he's a big body who can take it.

The Broncos finally took their first loss of 2009 to the Ravens because Denver's defense wore down in the second half.

At 6-1 with the spotlight on Denver, the games don't get any easier. Especially when your next opponent after your first loss is playing the defending champions on national TV.

The Broncos defense will be in for a challenge, but their offense and Kyle Orton will be in for an even greater challenge against the Steelers defense.

It'll be an interesting game in Mile High, but the champions may be too much for Denver to handle.

Final Score: Steelers 33, Broncos 24

Bye Week: Buffalo Bills, Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets, Oakland Raiders, St. Louis Rams, Cleveland Browns

After having the last couple weeks take a backseat in the ratings to the Yankees-Phillies World Series, which drew well in the ratings for FOX, the NFL returns with a good Sunday Night Football game on NBC after not having one last week.

The NFL also has another good Monday Night Football game after many people only turned on the game after Game 5 of the World Series last Monday.

Believe me, the NFL is glad that the World Series and baseball season is over, because now people will get back to watching football games during prime time hours of Sunday and Monday.

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their week and gets ready for some more solid games this weekend in Week Nine.