NFL Picks Week 9: Predicting All 14 Games

Last Week: 7-6

Season: 73-43

Bye Weeks: Minnesota, Detroit, Carolina, Jacksonville

Well, another stinker last week when it came to picking winners, but a new week offers new opportunities.

The Lions, Vikings, Panthers and Jaguars will get some much-needed rest this week.  The Falcons, Bears, Packers, Jets, Bucs and Raiders will try to do their best Andy Reid impression and get an automatic win.

This week's showdowns will be headlined by the Patriots taking on the Giants and the Ravens and Steelers Round 2. 

Other interesting matchups include the Chargers versus the unbeaten Packers and the Saints facing the Buccaneers in their attempts to forget about losing to the Rams.

Let's get started.

Sunday, 1:00 PM Games

New York Jets at Buffalo Bills

The 4-3 Jets find themselves a game behind the 5-2 Bills near the halfway point in their season, good for just third in the division. 

The Bills are coming off of their first win when playing in Toronto, where they shut out the Washington Redskins.

When we last saw the Jets, they utilized their newest wide receiver Plaxico Burress for three touchdowns in a win over San Diego.  Now they will try to keep the scoring up in Buffalo, where the Bills have played very impressive football.

The Bills come in with a suspect defense that ranks No. 20 against the run and No. 24 against the pass, even after dominating the Redskins.  The Jets will try to unleash Shonn Greene and LaDanian Tomlinson while hoping Mark Sanchez can avoid turnovers while getting the green light through the air.

The Bills have given up a lot of points en route to a lot of exciting, high-scoring finishes.  The Bills are 3-0 at Ralph Wilson Stadium if you don't count their "home" win in Toronto. 

Even if you thought the Jets were a much better team coming into the season, you have to take the Bills seriously after their start.

Prediction: Buffalo Bills over New York Jets, 27-23

Seattle Seahawks at Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys will be back at home this week after the monstrosity that was their game in Philadelphia on Sunday night. 

They had no answer for Michael Vick or LeSean McCoy's cutback runs.  They may see a few designed runs by Tavaris Jackson this week to capitalize on what Vick was able to exploit.

The Seahawks are not nearly the same team as the Eagles, though—they have only scored 15 points in the last two weeks against the Browns and Bengals.  Now they face another top-tier defense—if you discount what the Eagles did to them—in the Cowboys.

At home and after being embarrassed in the division, the Cowboys will be ready to compete this week.  And they will likely find it much easier going against a Seattle team that hasn't looked very inspired lately.

Prediction: Dallas Cowboys over Seattle Seahawks, 24-10

Atlanta Falcons at Indianapolis Colts

The Falcons are the next team in line to beat up on the Colts. 

They will try to do so in front of the Colts home crowd, where they have actually kept games very close this year.  And after the Rams beat the Saints last week, who knows what could happen?

The Falcons, though, welcome back a fired-up Julio Jones to bring the offense back to its full arsenal of capabilities.  They have been playing well without him, too.  They beat the Panthers and the Lions with some pretty solid defense.

Matt Ryan hasn't looked as sharp as he should, but again, with Jones returning it could be a big day for him in Indianapolis.  I like the Falcons defense to bottle up the Colts attack and win soundly.

Prediction: Atlanta Falcons over Indianapolis Colts, 28-16

Miami Dolphins at Kansas City Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs have done exactly what the Dolphins locker room thought they could do, but failed miserably.  That is, turn around a horrid start. 

The Chiefs have now won four games in a row and are tied atop the AFC West.

Can the Dolphins do the unthinkable and win their first game?  They have played their opponents very deep into the last two games, losing a fourth-quarter lead in New York to the Giants and of course losing in overtime to Denver in Tim Tebow's first start. 

Winning in Kansas City, though, the site of the Monday Night Football win over rival San Diego, doesn't sound like the best opportunity to get that first win.  I like the Chiefs to continue their improved play behind Matt Cassel and the defense and to take advantage of a home game over an inferior team.

Prediction: Kansas City Chiefs over Miami Dolphins, 20-17

Tampa Bay Buccaneers at New Orleans Saints

The Buccaneers come out of their bye week and jump right back into the NFC South race with a showdown in New Orleans.  A race that has gotten a lot tighter, thanks to the Rams stunning the division-leading Saints, leaving them just half a game ahead of the Bucs and Falcons.

The Buccaneers will try to do a lot of the things that helped them beat the Saints 26-20 just a couple of weeks ago, when they ran the ball effectively and threw for more than 300 yards. 

The big reason they were able to beat a powerhouse offense like the Saints was their ability to win the turnover battle with a plus-four.

In all, the Saints had a chance at the possible go-ahead score late in their first battle, and I think they will come through with the go-ahead score being on the home side of this tilt.

Prediction: New Orleans Saints over Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 31-24

San Francisco 49ers at Washington Redskins

The 49ers come off their bye week to travel across the country and face the Washington Redskins.  The Redskins are coming off a loss to the Bills where they were completely shut out, something Mike Shanahan has never seen as a head coach for the Redskins.

The 49ers are one of the league's top stories, having lost just once—and that being in overtime.  The 49ers' hot start has completely changed the mixed feelings on hiring college coaches in the NFL in Jim Harbaugh's dazzling first season.

The 49ers have the tough task of playing very far away from home and dealing with a long flight, but they have handled that task very well already, having won three times in the eastern time zone. 

Much of their success has been due to great defensive play. But in all honesty, it's also because of a career year from former No. 1 overall pick Alex Smith.  Smith has been long considered a bust by most, if not all.

In Smith's first 54 games, he has thrown 53 interceptions, but in seven games this season he has thrown just two.  With less pressure on him to win games on his own he has excelled.

A lot of it has to do with a resurgent Frank Gore.  Gore has now rushed for 120-plus yards in four straight games after an extremely sluggish start.

No matter how sharp the 49ers look offensively, they probably won't face too much of a scoring threat from the tremendously-depleted Redskins offense.  The Redskins are now 0-2 with John Beck as the starter and only gained a pedestrian 178 yards of total offense last week against a porous Bills defense.  They have also turned the ball over five times in Beck's two starts.

They won't find it any easier against a 49ers defense that ranks No. 1 in the league against the run and No. 10 overall.  It will be another game where the Redskins will scarcely defy a shutout and fall further down the NFC East standings after a promising start.

Prediction: San Francisco 49ers over Washington Redskins, 24-6

 Cleveland Browns at Houston Texans

After Houston lost Andre Johnson and Mario Williams they seemed dead in the water, dropping two straight games.  Since then, though, they have won two straight games in decisive fashion behind workhorse Arian Foster, who finally looks back to his 2010 form, when he stunned the NFL.

Quarterback Matt Schuab has been no slouch, either—even without Andre Johnson, who will again miss this week's action.  On top of the offensive efficiency, Wade Phillips' defense has been rock solid in the consecutive AFC South wins against Tennessee and Jacksonville.

They will face a Cleveland club who has scored just 16 points in their last two games and ranks near the bottom in every major offensive category for the season.

Cleveland had a lot of trouble stopping Frank Gore a week ago when he ran for 134 yards, and they will see a heavy dose of Arian Foster in Houston this week.  They rank No. 2 in the league in passing defense, but if they can't slow Foster they will get driven on all game by the Texans, who have no problem putting the ball in their star running back's hands the majority of the game.

Colt McCoy has actually been extremely effective on the road this year, throwing four touchdowns and just one interception despite being 1-2.  The Texans only allow 189 yards a game through the air and rank No. 6 in the league with 10 interceptions and will likely hold the Browns to another low score.

Prediction: Houston Texans over Cleveland Browns, 27-10

Sunday, 4:05-4:15 Games

Cincinnati Bengals at Tennessee Titans

The surprisingly 5-2 Bengals hit the road again (where they are an impressive 3-1 this season), where they will face the up-and-down Tennessee Titans.  The most recent of the Bengals' road wins was last week in the always-tough CenturyLink Field in Seattle. 

Besides the well-noted, supremely fast learning curve of rookies Andy Dalton and A.J. Green on offense, the Bengals sport the league's No.4 defense in both scoring and yardage. 

The defensive play of Marvin Lewis' group will keep them in any game and will give the Titans a very tough challenge this week.

The 24-year old Dalton has thrown five touchdowns over his last three games and will welcome starting running back Cedric Benson back this week with open arms after he served a one-game suspension last week. 

Benson has received a constant 20 touches per game and offers the balance that really helps Dalton succeed.  Although they didn't need him much last week, he will play a huge factor against a tougher Titans team, who have a winning record but rank No. 27 against the run.

The Titans started out hot, but before beating 0-8 Indianapolis last week they were blown out in their previous two games.  Tennessee will need Chris Johnson to get rolling.  He only ran for 2.4 yards per carry against the Colts who are next to last at No. 31 against the run. 

It was conceived that if Johnson couldn't get it going against the Colts, it just wouldn't happen this year.  The Bengals do come in with the NFL's No. 2 rush defense.

The Bengals will again be up against it on the road against a talented Titans team but have shown the more consistent play this year.  I like the young Dalton-Green duo to get it done when it counts and the Bengals to bottle up Johnson once again.

Prediction: Cincinnati Bengals over Tennessee Titans, 20-17

Denver Broncos at Oakland Raiders

A classic AFC West showdown will come down to two high-profile quarterbacks looking for their swagger. 

Of course the Raiders' Carson Palmer has shown much more at the professional level than the Broncos' Tim Tebow.  Although, despite the Broncos' total flop at home last week against the Lions, Tebow did lead an amazing comeback win against the Dolphins just two weeks ago.

Tim Tebow, as is well documented, has been atrocious throwing the football outside of that small window in which he lead Denver to the win in Week 7.  He has thrown just one interception on the year but is completing an unprecedented 46 percent of his passes. 

With a player that exudes the type of work ethic he does, you always give him a chance to improve in the next game, but he hasn't shown many signs of improvement to date.

On the other side of the football, the Raiders combined to throw six interceptions against the Chiefs the last time we saw them in action.  Recently acquired Pro-Bowl quarterback Carson Palmer accounted for three of them in just a half of action.  In his defense, he had just been out of retirement for a couple of days. 

Now Palmer has had two weeks to become acclimated with the Raiders' playbook and has added former teammate and suspected security blanket T.J.Houshmanzadeh.  The signs point to a much better performance for Palmer, who was brought in to lead the then 4-2 Raiders to a long overdue playoff berth.

Superstar running back Darren McFadden will again be out, which will change the tempo the Raiders would like the achieve.  The Raiders did beat the Broncos once already this season in Denver on a late field goal. 

That, of course, was with Kyle Orton at the helm.  With Tebow under center, the Broncos have struggled to move the ball and have only converted 6-of-30 on third down.

That type of ball movement will doom the Broncos on the road if Palmer can even slightly resemble the quarterback we all known he is capable of being.

Prediction: Oakland Raiders over Denver Broncos, 24-13

New York Giants at New England Patriots

In an enticing rematch of Super Bowl XLI,I the Patriots and Giants will face each other for the first time since the epic Giants win. 

They are both coming in with 5-2 records and have looked very good at times and not so good at times. 

The Giants though, riddled with injuries early in the season, are facing another wave of injuries this week.  They will be playing without their two most explosive offensive players in running back Ahmad Bradshaw and wide receiver Hakeem Nicks, who have accounted for nine of the teams 21 offensive touchdowns this season.

The Patriots are pretty banged up as well, with Aaron Hernandez, Wes Welker, Jarod Mayo, Kevin Faulk, BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Albert Haynesworth and Shaun Ellis all questionable, but they still remain a heavy favorite in the contest.

The Patriots, however, have a healthy Tom Brady at quarterback—which is usually all they need.  They come into this game 3-0 at Gillette Stadium, winning those games by an average of nine points.

They did lose last week in a clash of the AFC's top teams against the Steelers and are surely feeling sour after being vastly disappointed.  They would like to attack the Giants No. 28 ranked rush defense, but they have a very banged-up backfield and will likely call upon Brady to make up for the lack of a running game with short, precise passes.

Brady was befuddled against the man-to-man coverage he saw against the Steelers last week, and the Giants will do their best to duplicate that effect.  The Giants also get to the quarterback with ease in most outings and will make sure Brady has no picnic once again this Sunday.

The Patriots will need the defense to step up against a Brandon Jacobs-led Giants running game and try to rattle Eli Manning, who has long been diagnosed with a turnover problem that pops up now and again. 

The Patriots have the league's worst pass defense, but do rank near the top in interceptions and will need to force a couple this week for sure.

Belichick rarely loses two straight games, and will have his best scheme on the field this week to get to Manning.  If Jacobs and Danny Ware can't give the Giants an efficient run game to open up the play-action, it will be very difficult to win in New England. 

Jacobs is averaging just 3.0 yards per carry on the year, and the Patriots No. 9 rush defense will be no remedy for the problems he has had thus far.  A few forced throws by Manning will do the Giants in on the road.

Prediction: New England Patriots over New York Giants, 27-24

St. Louis Rams at Arizona Cardinals

What a difference a week makes.  The Rams were looking dead in the water, facing a team that had just demolished the Colts by 55 points, but the Rams stunned the world and beat the Saints in St. Louis last week.

Now they face the also 1-6 Cardinals, who are trending the opposite way, having lost six straight games and look to be without starting quarterback Kevin Kolb this week.  This is at the same time there is optimism for Rams starter Sam Bradford to make his comeback. 

Even if Bradford can't go, backup A.J. Feeley has shown the ability to win when he threw for 175 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions.

Last week's monumental upset by the Rams was due in large part to running back Steven Jackson's 159-yard outburst, and they will look to get him going early in Arizona against a Cardinals team who ranks No. 15 against the run.

Although the Rams have not won on the road this season, they are full of confidence after beating one of the league's elite teams.  They will also face John Skelton, who hasn't seen action since last season, when he completed just 47 percent of his passes.

I like the Rams to continue their inspired play and win the battle of the backup quarterbacks due to the edge in experience on the season by Feeley over Skelton. 

That is if Bradford cannot go—if in fact he can, I think the Rams will especially like what they see on the field, with Bradford getting his first look at a true No. 1 receiver in Brandon Lloyd.

Prediction: St. Louis Rams over Arizona Cardinals, 17-13

Green Bay Packers at San Diego Chargers

The Packers travel to San Diego as the league's last remaining undefeated team at 7-0. 

The Chargers will defend their home field, where they are 3-0 this season, but they have dropped two straight games since their bye week.

They were devastating losses, one to the Jets where they appeared in control most of the game and last week in overtime to the Chiefs after they appeared to have the game sewn up when Phillip Rivers fumbled the snap deep In Chiefs territory.

This game features two offenses full of talent at the skill positions.  I liken this matchup to the one the Chargers lost in New England 35-21 to Tom Brady's Patriots.

The talent is there for the Chargers, but costly mistakes have done them in this season.  Last season, it was special teams that sealed their fate—this season it has been uncharacteristic turnovers from Pro-Bowl quarterback Phillip Rivers.

Aaron Rodgers has been an unstoppable machine this season, throwing for 20 touchdowns versus just three interceptions and running for two more scores.  Between Greg Jennings, Jordy Nelson, Jermichael Finley and James Jones, Rodgers has four receiving threats who have caught at least three touchdowns apiece.

This game will come down to ball control and turnovers, and the Packers haven't been slowed by many this season.  I like Rodgers to move the ball at will, even against one of the league's better defenses and out-do a really good effort from Rivers at home.

Prediction: Green Bay Packers over San Diego Chargers, 34-27

Sunday Night Football, 8:20 PM

Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers

In an AFC North clash, the Steelers will welcome the Ravens to Heinz Field in one of the NFL's most bitter rivalries.

The first time around, in the season's opening game, the Ravens were the beneficiary of their home-field advantage in the 35-7 whipping of a turnover-prone Steelers team.  The rivalry had seen five straight meetings decided by a score or less, and Joe Flacco had never beaten the Steelers with Ben Roethlisberger starting.

That all changed in their landslide victory, when the Steelers had seven turnovers that left them with no chance.

This time around, the tides seemingly have turned.

The Steelers have won four straight games, and the Ravens have looked extremely sloppy in their last two despite coming back for the win against then 1-5 Arizona last week.

The Steelers have often turned the ball over more than the Ravens in this series recent matchups, but asking for seven against would be a big task for Baltimore.

Pittsburgh is coming off a tremendously impressive win over the Patriots a week ago and are 4-0 at home.

If Baltimore doesn't have a quick fix for their offense, they will be in big trouble this week.  Joe Flacco has had a QB rating of 61 and 72 in his last two games and will see the league's best pass defense this week. 

He will need a big week from Ray Rice and the ground game to help him out.  The Ravens ran for 170 yards against the Steelers in Week 1, but have only averaged 70 yards per game over their last two outings. 

The Steelers seem to have finally shored up their rush defense, only allowing 58 yards per game over their last two, and will make the resurgence of Baltimore's ground game a tough task.

This game will be decided by a score as has been customary in the past, but with the way the Steelers have been playing and the supposed return of James Harrison, the Steelers will again defend the home field.

Prediction: Pittsburgh Steelers over Baltimore Ravens, 20-16

Monday Night Football, 8:30 PM

Chicago Bears at Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles' 1-4 start seems to be a thing of the past after they stunned the Dallas Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field last Sunday night. 

In their second straight prime-time tilt, they take on the Chicago Bears, who have won two straight games, just as the Eagles have.

After rushing for 239 yards on the then No. 1 ranked Cowboys rush defense, the Eagles will face another tough task with the Bears' No. 12 rush defense. 

If they play the way they did last week, scoring on each possession in the first half, the Eagles won't have much difficulty.

Their bread-and-butter sprint-draw looked nearly unstoppable with LeSean McCoy's Barry Sanders-esque cutbacks and the first sight of Michael Vick designed runs.  It almost appears as if the Eagles were giving the rest of the league a head-start when they turned the jets on last Sunday, revitalizing all the hype that had surrounded them in the offseason.

Michael Vick and all his glory has never beaten the Chicago Bears as a starter, though, and Brian Urlacher will be damned if he and his crew don't show up with a Herculean effort in trying to stop Vick and his super-talented offensive bunch.

If the Eagles can sustain the offensive surge they showed last week, there will be a lot of pressure on Jay Cutler and the maligned Bears offense to hold up consistent drives throughout the game.  The Bears and many others know that Matt Forte will bring just as much—if not more—of a threat as McCoy. 

Forte has already eclipsed 1,000 yards from scrimmage and leads the Bears in receptions by doubling their second-leading receiver.  He will play a huge factor in their Monday Night Football showdown, and the Eagles have had trouble stopping multi-talented backs this season with their young linebackers. 

Even in their blowout win last week, they let rookie DeMarco Murray rush for 9.3 yards per carry.

A heavy dose of Forte will keep the Bears within reach all game. If they can force Vick into a few turnovers (as he has given up over the first six games of the season) they will be more than in striking distance.

The Eagles at home and with all their momentum after last week's divisional clash will come out firing and likely be too much for the Bears' inconsistent offense to keep up with.

Prediction: Philadelphia Eagles over Chicago Bears, 31-23