New Orleans at St. Louis
Everyone saw what the Saints did to the Colts last week, and maybe the Colts aren’t who they were last season, but they still have the ability to normally make some plays on either side of the ball. Last week New Orleans blew the roof off with a Maddenesque Sunday Night Football score of 62-7. The Saints shut down some long ball, and stuffed almost every offensive play that the Colts threw their way; if New Orleans can play both sides of the ball this week as well as they did in week seven this game shouldn’t be too difficult.
St. Louis has the makings for a great franchise, but in week eight it’s going to come down to their passing game to beat the Saints – which is not playing to their own strengths. Steven Jackson is one of the toughest runners in the game, but going up against a defense that blitzes nearly 60% of the time, they’re going to need to rely on some quick passes, and screen plays to take advantage of an eager defense.
New Orleans showed again last week all of the weapons that they can contribute on offense. They’re passing game is top notch, and their running game has a wicked amount of depth. Ingram questionable? They’ll just throw in Sproles. Sproles needs a breather? How about Pierre Thomas? The offense is stacked – and the defense looks like its piecing itself together going into the middle of the season.
Saints win another big one 45-14
Indianapolis at Tennessee
Indianapolis looked terrible again last week. They went up against a dangerous offense, and walked away with the scars and scoreboard to prove it. The Colts need to take advantage of the weaknesses on the Titans offense to stand a chance in this one. The outside rush needs to get to Hasselbeck, and the inside rush needs to be strong enough to shut down Chris Johnson. Painter needs to look a little more towards Reggie Wayne – who during multiple points in the Sunday night game looked miserable. Get the ball into your playmakers hands, and let them finally do something. Reggie Wayne needs a spark to get this offense going again.
The Titans have been an incredibly awkward team through their first six games. They pick up Hasselbeck in what looked like it was going to be a great marriage – but then Kenny Britt goes down for the season. No worries though, they have old reliable in Chris Johnson, right? Wrong. CJ has been garbage so far. Last week he rushed for an abysmal 18 yards on 10 carries. This is the time where the Titans need Chris to wake up. The season is starting to slip already and they need their work horse. This is the time, going up against a terrible Colts team, Johnson needs to have a big game.
The holes that were exploited by the Saints last week need to be targeted again by the Titans. Chris Johnson is more capable than Darren Sproles in almost every aspect of the game, and Sproles was a monster last week. CJ is set up to have another career defining game.
The Colts losing streak continues as Tennessee wins 28-13
Miami at New York Giants
Last week it looked like the Dolphins were finally going to snap their losing streak. And then Tim Tebow happened. For 54 minutes the Dolphins held the Broncos scoreless, and when the game came down to it, once again Miami folded under the pressure. Miami starting Matt Moore is probably the best chance that they have, which isn’t very promising. Splitting carries between the rookie Daniel Thomas and forever underachieving Reggie Bush hasn’t helped much either. Brandon Marshall has been a big let down with a vast amount of drops throughout his time in Miami. With all of the problems that the Dolphins have been having, it’s going to be hard for them to turnover a new leaf.
The New York Giants are coming off of their bye-week and going into a game that shouldn’t be too difficult. Ahmad Bradshaw and Eli Manning, along with Hakeem Nicks and new stud wide-out Victor Cruz should have a field day against this soft Miami defense. If Eli can take advantage of the Miami secondary like other quarterbacks have throughout the season, than New York is going to gain some incredible yardage through the air. I expect Eli to have a big day, and I think Bradshaw is just going to need to get positive yards in order for the Giants to win.
Eli and friends run wild over this Miami defense. As long as Victor Cruz can hang onto the ball this week expect both him and Nicks to have outstanding games.
The New York Giants take this one 31-14
Minnesota at Carolina
Minnesota had another rough week. Rookie Christian Ponder had a pretty good first game both through the air and by his feet. Although he went just 13-32 he did accumulate 219 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran or 31 yards on our attempts. The big thing was that Adrian Peterson carried for 175 yards and one touchdown on 24 carries against one of the toughest defenses in the league. With Ponder starting Adrian is going to get more touches, which is the best thing that this offense and team can ask for. Keep giving the ball to your best player Minnesota – you need to.
Carolina had a good win versus the Redskins last week. Although DeAngelo Williams is yet to have any good games this year rookie quarterback Cam Newton once again had a big game. Going 18 for 23 Cam threw for 256 yards and a touchdown, accompanied by his 59 yards rushing and one touchdown on 10 rushing attempts. Steve Smith again had a huge game thanks to Newton catching seven passes for 143 yards. As long as Jonathan Stewart can keep getting the majority of the carries over DeAngelo Williams then the Panthers are in much better hands.
Cam Newton has had one truly bad game and it was in the rainstorm versus Jacksonville. As long as the weather holds out, and Cam has some pretty clear conditions then he’s going to find Steve Smith and Jeremy Shockey over the top. The Vikings continuously give up big passing plays and with Cam’s best friend Steve Smith running down field look for a few more of these on Sunday.
The Panthers win another one 31-27
Arizona at Baltimore
Arizona got their fifth consecutive loss last week against the Steelers, and this week they get to face a team that demolished the Steelers earlier in the season. The Cardinals had a combined 59 yards on the ground between Beanie Wells and Alonso Smith, and having a one-dimensional attack this week is not going to help their cause. If Kevin Kolb can somehow pick apart the Ravens secondary then maybe they will have a chance, but that’s a big if. Beanie Wells needs to have a big game, Kevin Kolb needs to have a big game, and the Arizona Cardinals Defense needs to have a big game.
The Baltimore Ravens got shocked last week. They went into last week expecting to walk away with the victory, and were way too over confident. The Ravens offense was absolutely trash, despite the fact that their defense held Jacksonville’s attack to just twelve points on four field goals. The Ravens need to do something on the attack if they want to win, but with a first half like they had last week they can’t be expecting to do too much. Ray Rice only got eight carries last week, which is something that can never happen again. Ray Rice needs the ball over twenty times a game. He is the best part of their offensive attack, and to win games he needs the ball.
If the Ravens can correct their offensive problems then they are going to be one of the best teams in the league again. Unfortunately they gave me some big question marks last week. Ray Rice needs the ball, and I think that this is something that everyone in Baltimore’s organization has realized and should be fixed for this week.
The Ravens shouldn’t have much trouble handling the Cardinals this week winning 24-10.
Jacksonville at Houston
Jacksonville Shocked the world of football fans last week as they beat the Baltimore Ravens. The Jaguars defense held the Ravens offense to nearly nothing, as the Ravens were caught off guard. For Jacksonville to do well they are going to have to keep on giving the ball to Maurice Jones-Drew. He might have fumbled a few times last week, but he is still the best chance that the Jags have under the watch of rookie Blaine Gabbert.
The Texans are going to be without star wideout Andre Johnson again this week, but luckily they still have incredible running back Arian Foster. With Foster carrying the ball the Texans have nothing to worry about. He had over 100 yards in rushing and receiving last week, doing jobs that both he and Johnson usually do separately. Foster looks to be playing on a mission, trying to make up for the yardage that he missed earlier in the year. With Schaub and Foster still on the field, the Houston Texans are still one of the better offenses in the league.
The Texans should be okay, as long as they don’t make the same mistakes that the Ravens did last week. Hand the ball off to Arian Foster, let him control the game, and everything should be a-okay.
Texans take one against the Jags – 34-13
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