Arizona at Philadelphia
Last week Arizona had a pretty lucky win while St. Louis missed a game winning field goal as time expired. Patrick Peterson continues to look impressive in the return game during his rookie career especially as he returned a 99 yard punt for the win just a week ago. The Eagles continue to look strong, despite a late loss to the Bears in week nine. Michael Vick is always a handful, LeSean McCoy is a dominant running back, and the core of wide receivers that Andy Reid’s Eagles contain is astounding.
Expect Michael Vick to bounce back with a decisive win over the Cardinals 31-17
Buffalo at Dallas
Fred Jackson and the Buffalo Bills have been one of the more surprising teams of the year. With some big wins over some pretty good teams throughout the first half of the season the Bills have put themselves in a pretty strong position going through the rest of the year, but this week is going to be tough. After the Jet’s showed what it takes to beat the Bills last week expect the Cowboys to pick up on the same defensive schemes to pick apart Buffalo’s offense and contain them to some pretty small yardage. I think Tony Romo will be just okay against this Bills secondary, but Demarco Murray is going to have another great day.
Demarco runs over the Bills as Dallas wins 24-17
Denver at Kansas City
To quote a friend, “last week was a fluke for both of these teams.” Denver isn’t good. They have a couple of decent players on either side of the ball, and McGahee seems to look like he’s having a rebirth in the mile high air, but besides that the Broncos’ offense doesn’t seem too impressive. Kansas City is better than they played last week, and by a lot. I think KC was looking past the winless Dolphins and expected the game to be a pushover as they prepared for this week and the Chiefs. The running back situation is questionable down in Arrowhead Stadium, but Matt Cassel is growing into his young wideouts and things are looking up.
Kansas City takes one at home 27-20
Jacksonville at Indianapolis
This game is going to come down to whether or not Maurice Jones-Drew can outrun the outside rush of Freeney and Mathis. MJD is consistently a great back in the NFL but this week he needs to lower his shoulders and break through the line for the Jags to get another win on the year. Indianapolis just isn’t good. It’s the same thing week in and week out, a soft run game, and a quarterback that just still doesn’t quite get it. Maybe Painter finally starts to step it up a little bit, and maybe he gets a touchdown or two, but it just isn’t going to be enough for the Colts to get their first win of the season.
Maurice runs wild over a soft Colts run defense as the Jags win 20-17
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati
Pittsburgh fell short last week against the Ravens as Joe Flacco led a 92 yard drive and a game winning touchdown. The Steelers defense hasn’t looked as impressive as it has in years past this season, but they’re still pretty tough. Pittsburgh’s offense has some strong characters, and some big playmakers that can really change the game. On the other side in this game we’ve got Dalton who continues to impress through the air and get big touchdowns when they matter. With Cedric Benson being a balance for the aerial game that the Bengals have adopted the balanced Cincy offense seems to be on the right track to be successful for years. We’ve got two of the best defenses playing in this game, and it’s going to come down to who can shut down who.
The Bengals d holds Big Ben in check as Cincy wins 24-17
New Orleans at Atlanta
New Orleans has everything it takes to be a great franchise again this season but as they consistently give up big plays through the air it’s going to be an uphill battle. Sure they have the weapons on offense with Brees, a slew of running backs, and a handful of guys that can catch the ball, but with the lack of standout defensive players its hard to say they aren’t going to give up a lot of yards in any game. Atlanta looked great last week granted they were playing the lowly Colts. As Julio Jones stormed downfield a few times for a couple of huge touchdown receptions it leaves me with the thoughts of exactly the same things happening against the Saints this week. Matt Ryan and his offensive threats soaring through the secondary are just too dangerous for the New Orleans defense to handle.
Atlanta wins this through the air 31-28
Tennessee at Carolina
Tennessee is a team that I have no faith in any week. Chris Johnson is the biggest let down in the entire league this season, no one has made as big of demands as he did just to come back and do nothing for his team. With Hasselbeck under center maybe the Titans have a chance here and there, but for the most part I have no faith. Carolina on the other hand is exactly the opposite. Rookie sensation Cam Newton is impressive almost every week, and him throwing the ball downfield to Steve Smith is one of the highlights I look for week in and week out. Even with a weak ground attack this year the Panthers are starting an upwards swing that’s going to keep increasing for the next few seasons.
Panthers and Cam take one at home 24-13
Houston at Tampa Bay
Arian Foster is one of the best players in the game, and Tampa Bay is down to a defensive tackle that is brand new to their system and only played a select handful of downs before being shipped out by the Patriots in Albert Haynesworth. If previous games are how you look to pick your game for the week then think about this – Arian Foster has over 100 yards and a combined five touchdowns in the last three games. Foster is hot. With a Tampa defensive line that looks questionable at best it’s hard not to pick the Texans in this one. On the other hand you have young standouts like Freeman and Blount who are looking good, but I just don’t think that it is enough.
Foster takes this one 28-21
St. Louis at Cleveland
Bradford and Jackson got robbed last week as the Rams missed their game winning field goal. I like the Rams young attack this year, sure they don’t have a lot of wins, but they’ve got potential and I think that there are going to be a few games this year where the Rams just take it and run with it – literally. Steven Jackson is an absolute BEAST when he’s healthy, and he is healthy now. Last week SJax had 130 yards on 29 carries and the week before he had a monstrous 159 on 25 carries. Give Jackson the ball twenty-plus times and watch magic happen. Cleveland is okay, I’ve said it for a few weeks now that I like Colt McCoy, but besides that there isn’t much going for them lately. With a continued absence of Peyton Hillis I don’t see this game falling the way of the Browns.
Jackson runs wild for the Rams as they win 21-10
Washington at Miami
Washington is very banged up and very injured with some of their biggest players going down a few weeks ago. With Beck being their best offensive weapon it’s very dangerous to put your pick in the hands of the Redskins. The Dolphins actually looked very impressive last week as they went off against the Chiefs. Matt Moore looked really good, and Reggie Bush looked surprisingly like a starter as he ran for over 100 yards. If the Dolphins can keep this streak going the second half of their season could be drastically different than the first.
Matt Moore leads the Dolphins to their second in a row 17-10
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