NFL Week 9 Picks: Predicting Scores for Every Major Matchup

Let's take 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 yet do-or-die time for either team, but you get the feeling that this game is a major crossroad for both.

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 of 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 5-2 teams against each other. The Giants sit atop the NFC East at 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 are coming off a butt-kicking in Pittsburgh, which 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 in this contest. The Giants are getting healthy and know they need to start this stretch with a bang. Meanwhile, 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 with the NFL's schedulers. Who in their right mind puts a team who is coming off their bye week against a team that played on Monday night?

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 this week when the Ravens travel to Pittsburgh and look vulnerable.

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.

On the other hand, the Steelers are headed in the opposite direction. Ben Roethlisberger is 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 consecutive games before their bye, and they're running the ball well with Matt Forte and stopping it with their vaunted defense.

The Eagles have also won two in a row, 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

Check out more B/R picks here.