Week 9: Which Teams Will Be the Biggest Surprises?

It's hard to believe we're already over halfway through the NFL season. This season has had many surprises, with the Indianapolis Colts still being winless while the Detroit Lions, Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers are threats for not just the playoffs, but a Super Bowl run.

Week 9, like the other eight, has some interesting matchups.

San Francisco travels to the nation's capital and takes on the struggling Washington Redskins.

Who would have thought in Week 9 that the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills matchup would have division implications?

Tampa Bay travels to New Orleans just a few weeks after manhandling the Saints in Tampa.  This has NFC South division implications.

The Bengals and Titans meet in Tennessee with both coming off of Week 8 wins and both having division title thoughts.

And, oh yeah, who could forget the Sunday Night Football matchup between the hottest rivalry in the NFL right now: the Ravens visiting the Steelers.

Last week, the winless St. Louis Rams surprised us all in beating the New Orleans Saints who, just a week earlier, won by 55 points against the Colts.

Who will be this week's teams to surprise us?

San Francisco 49ers

Normally, I wouldn't say a division leader who's 6-1 would be a surprise team to win, but the 49ers face a tough task in traveling across the nation to play the early game.

Since 2003, West Coast teams that have traveled to play the early game in the Eastern time zone have an astounding record of 28-80.

It's a tough enough task to play anyone in the NFL, but to play when your internal clock says it's 10 a.m. is difficult.

I think this game will be close even though the Redskins have struggled as of late. They're a tough team to beat at home and won't by any means be a pushover.

The 49ers have played the early game on the East Coast three times this year and have actually won all three. None of the opponents were slouches either. San Francisco actually gave two of the three their first loss of the season in the Bengals and Lions. The other team was the Eagles.

I think this game will be a close one and not decided until the fourth quarter, but I think the 49ers improve to 7-1 on the season, 4-0 on the East Coast, and pull out the win.

New York Jets

The Jets have had an up-and-down season so far. Many including myself thought they would win the division and make a run to Indy for the Super Bowl.

They currently sit 4-3 and need a big win against Buffalo, who sits atop of the AFC East division at 5-2 with the tiebreaker over the Patriots, who also are 5-2.

The Bills have snuck up and beaten up on teams all season.

Many people thought they would fizzle out and be a fluke, but we're not past halfway and they're still atop the division.

This is another one that's not too far out of the box to pick as a surprise, but with how the Jets have played all season and with the Bills being so good and tough at home, the Jets winning would be a surprise.

The Bills came back and did whatever they wanted to do against Tom Brady and the Patriots. Why would anyone pick against them and the up-and-down Jets?

I actually am.

I think the Jets are finally coming along and their defense will be too good for the Bills.

I actually think this game will be sloppy, with a lot of turnovers.

The Jets' will and need to win, I think, will help them prevail. If they lose, they basically made it extremely tough to make the playoffs since the Bills and Patriots both will be two games ahead and hold the tiebreaker on them.

After all, they've had a bye week to get healthy and prepare for this matchup.

Cincinnati Bengals

The Bengals have been one of the biggest surprises this year. They lost not just their starting quarterback, but their two leading receivers as well.

They lean on two rookies to lead their offense.

Like the Bills, many thought they would fizzle out by now. They've already won more games this year than they did all of last year.

They face a Titans team which is playing great football this year.

They came off of a win over division rival Indianapolis and sit a half-game out of the AFC South division lead.

Many would pick the Titans to win this game at home since the Bengals have a lack of experience and the Titans need a win to keep up with the Houston Texans.

I think the Bengals will come in and do something that's tough to do, and that's win with two rookies leading you in a road matchup.

The Titans haven't looked good in the last few weeks.

I know they beat the Colts last Sunday, but it wasn't anything they did to beat them. The Colts showed us why they're so bad, making mistakes and beating themselves.  If you take away the Colts' mistakes, they would have won.

Don't forget, the Titans lost 41-7 to a Texans team at home a week before the Indy win and lost 38-17 to the Steelers the game before that.

I think the Bengals defense will be too much and the offense will do enough to pull out the win and stay with the Steelers and Ravens in the AFC North division hunt.

New York Giants

This game is probably going to be classified as the "biggest upset" of the week.

The Patriots are coming off of a loss last week to the Pittsburgh Steelers and fell to 5-2. New England is great in weeks following a loss and rarely lose two in a row.

The next week coming off of their first loss, the Pats beat up on a good Oakland Raiders team in Oakland.

The Giants struggled last week to beat the winless Miami Dolphins at home and have struggled to win in almost all their of their wins.

The Giants not only have struggled—and many think they are the weakest of the 5-2 teams—but have to travel to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

I think the Giants will pull the upset, though.

The Giants have the philosophy to beat this Patriots scheme and the playmakers to do it. Teams respect Tom Brady way too much and allow the Patriots to beat them with the short pass. They're so fearful to blitz Brady.

The Giants aren't.

They did this to the Patriots in the Super Bowl a few years ago and gave the Patriots a loss to end their dream season.

The Steelers showed last week what happens when you bring pressure on Brady and go for long drives on offense.

The Patriots have one of the worst defenses in the league and give up tons of passing yards. Eli Manning and the Giants are not afraid to throw the ball around the yard.

As long as Manning doesn't turn the ball over and the Giants blitz and bring pressure, I think a Manning will come out of New England with a win and it won't be Peyton.

The Giants want to show the league they're legit and want to start this brutal stretch of games with a win.