NFL Week 9 Picks: Predicting Winners for the 6 Key Games

A quick look at the top games of the Week 9 NFL season:

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-3) at New Orleans Saints (5-3)

It isn't do-or-die yet for either team, but you get the feeling that this game is a major crossroad for both team. The Buccaneers have been decimated by injuries, but they got their bye week to get healthy and rebound from a loss in London to the Bears. The Saints, on the other hand, need to bounce back from one of the more shocking losses of the season in St. Louis to the previously winless Rams. At home, after that kind of loss, you'd have to think the Saints have the edge.

Saints 27, Buccaneers 17 

New York Jets (4-3) at Buffalo Bills (5-2)

Over the next month or so, we really get to see which of these two teams are for real. The Bills and Jets play twice during that stretch, while the Bills also face a trip to Dallas and the Jets welcome the Patriots to New York. The next month could really decide the playoff fate for both clubs. Despite coming off a bye in Week 8, the Jets have been a completely different football team on the road than at home. I like the Bills to get to 6-2, and 5-0 at Orchard Park.

Bills 23, Jets 14 

New York Giants (5-2) at New England Patriots (5-2)

A rematch of Super Bowl XLII pits two teams at 5-2. The Giants sit atop the NFC East for the moment, but Sunday's game in New England kicks off a nasty stretch of games that includes most of the NFL's top teams. The Patriots come off a butt-kicking in Pittsburgh that probably has their confidence in both sides of the ball a little shaken. I think the mindset of both teams could be a huge factor here. The Giants are getting healthy and know they need to start off this stretch with a bang; the Patriots are still reeling. The Giants beat the Pats again on Sunday. 

Giants 24, Patriots 20

Green Bay Packers (7-0) at San Diego Chargers (4-3)

Chargers fans have a right to be ticked off at the NFL's schedulers. Who in their right mind schedules a team coming off their bye week (Packers) against a team who played the Monday night game the week before (Chargers)? Add in the heart-breaking overtime loss for San Diego in Kansas City, and you could see a physically challenged team in the second half on Sunday. Despite a long trip out west, the Packers should stay undefeated by kicking the Chargers while they're down.

Packers 28, Chargers 20  

Baltimore Ravens (5-2) at Pittsburgh Steelers (6-2)

Fresh off their most impressive win of the season, the Steelers have a chance at revenge as the Ravens travel to Pittsburgh as a vulnerable-looking football team. Over the past two weeks, Baltimore has looked like a shell of the dominant team we saw early on. A loss on Monday night to Jacksonville foreshadowed a near fall to the lowly Cardinals at home last week. The Steelers are headed in the opposite direction, with Ben Roethlisberger playing some of the best football of his life. I like his hot hand to continue as the Steelers get some redemption for their Week 1 embarrassment.

Steelers 34, Ravens 14 

Chicago Bears (4-3) at Philadelphia Eagles (3-4)

With both teams experiencing mini-revivials of late, the Monday night game suddenly looks a bit more tasty now than it did a couple of weeks ago. The Bears won two straight games before their bye, and they're running the ball with Matt Forte and stopping it with their vaunted defense. The Eagles have also won two straight, with their recent drubbing of the Cowboys standing out as their best performance of the season. This game also features two of the more exciting backs in the NFL right now in Forte and LeSean McCoy—each of whom would be MVP candidates if Aaron Rodgers wasn't playing so well up in Green Bay. As good as Forte has been, the Eagles should get back to .500 with a home win over the one-dimensional Bears.

Eagles 30, Bears 21