Thursday, October 30, 2008

NFL Week 9: Grinding to the Halfway Point







Baltimore at Cleveland (-2)
Regardless of what kind of season the Ravens are having, their trip to Cleveland always proves to be one of the most difficult stops of all their road games each season. Do they see how Baltimore fans react the few times the Indianapolis Colts come to Baltimore? It’s the same thing when the Ravens, the Cleveland Browns until 1995, return to the Mistake by the Lake, where tossing milk bones at the opposing team is seen as socially acceptable behavior. It’s drilled into the Browns if not by their organization but by their fans and local sports media, this is the one game above all they must win as a matter of pride. As such, the Ravens had better be ready. The Ravens have the talent to beat the Browns especially given the chaotic state of Cleveland’s offense.

New York Jets at Buffalo (-6)
Nothing like a little taste of winning to forget the past. The Jets have already won as many games as last year, but the fans are restless expecting more as recent performance from QB Brett Favre has been slipping apparently because of an injury he’s trying to “tough out.” Buffalo has been one of the surprise teams so far this year and should prevail against the Jets.

Jacksonville (-7 ½) at Cincinnati
Cincinnati is a team in free fall. If Ocho Cinco is still carrying on, nobody is paying attention. Some are speculating they could accomplish what Miami failed to do, finishing 0-16. While they could well pickup a win in spite of themselves, it won’t be this weekend when the Jags come to town.

Houston at Minnesota (-5)
This is a must win for Minnesota needing to tally up victories to remain in the hunt for winning their division. Houston is pulling things together and getting stronger, but they will fall short in the Humphrey Dome.

Detroit at Chicago (-13)
Detroit flounders aimlessly looking for leadership after the architect of their horrible performance has been cut loose. The Bears can practically go on cruise control to win this one.

Tampa Bay (-8) at Kansas City
Enjoy the KC barbeque and feasting on the hapless Chiefs. The Buccaneers have this one in the bag.

Arizona (-3) at St. Louis
St. Louis is getting stronger under new leadership, but while their future looks brighter, a blast from their past, their former franchise who split town will prevail.

Green Bay at Tennessee (-5.5)
Only over confidence could do in the Titans in this game. This will not be an easy victory, but the Titans’ dominant defense should prevail over Green Bay’s rebuilding offense.

Miami at Denver (- 3 ½)
Here’s a battle between the over-achievers and the under-achievers. While Denver should win this game their tendency to lose focus and play sloppy defense could kill them if they’re not up for this game. The home crowd needs to keep their boys focused or else.

Dallas at New York Giants (-8)
The Dallas Soap Opera heads to New York where everything gets amplified and made bigger than life. Their sluggish defense, unhappy and unfocused offense, miserable play by their stand-in quarterback, and increasingly questionable status of their head coach will be just as loud as the Giants fans screaming from the stands. Winning this game on Sunday will further legitimize the Giants as the top team in the NFC.

Philadelphia (-7) at Seattle
The Eagles split town so the Phillies fans can celebrate to the max. Nevertheless, going cross country should be a nice weekend outing for Donovan McNabb and company who will come home with Starbucks Coffee, demo copies of Microsoft Windows Vista, and a sure victory.

Atlanta (-3) at Oakland
Keep Oakland off guard and victory is for sure. While Oakland’s talent matures, their game plan and preparation makes them easy prey for a team that studies their moves and exploits their weaknesses as the Ravens proved last week. Atlanta should make their west coast hiatus a winner.

New England at Indianapolis (-5 ½)
When looking over the 2008 season, this would have been seen as one of the biggest games of the year, the battle for possible home field advantage through out the playoffs. Who would expect that at this point, a playoff berth is nothing for certain for both teams, though New England is in first place in their weakened condition despite their three division contenders showing much more strength this year. For Indianapolis, they’re fighting for their chances to make the playoffs even as a wild card, They’re four games out in the loss column for their division. Overtaking the Titans is almost impossible. Three teams are ahead of them for Wild Card spots while four other teams share their 3-4 mark. While this doesn’t look good for their season, this Sunday, they should be able to snake out a win against New England if Peyton Manning is on top of his game. The Colts have much more at stake for sure.

Pittsburgh at Washington (-1.5)
This will be a fascinating game as Washington has proven themselves much stronger than expected and while Pittsburgh sits atop the AFC North, they have shown weaknesses that can be exploited. This could be the toughest defense Washington has faced so far, but given Washington’s ability to excel on both sides of the ball, if they play a good, consistent game, they can beat the Steelers. We’d call this game a toss-up but given we’re next door neighbors to DC and would love a little support beating our division rival, HAIL TO THE REDSKINS!!!!

We’ll talk about the seaon at the half way point next week once all 32 teams have completed their “byes” and have all completed eight games.

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