Cincinnati (6-2) at Miami (3-4)
The Bengals have won four in a row while the Dolphins have
lost four in a row. Miami is the home team here, but it’s hard to imagine the
tides turning in this one.
The Dolphins offensive play calling has been very conservative,
despite bringing in the deep threat of Mike Wallace this off-season. The team
let Reggie Bush go in the off-season and the running game has suffered, ranking
23rd in the league in rushing yards per game. Receiver Brandon Gibson has been
placed on the IR.
Did you see the beat down the Bengals put on the Jets last
week? That’s a convincing victory and right now Miami doesn’t look like a more
challenging opponent.
Cincinnati wins.
Kansas City (8-0) at Buffalo (3-5)
The Bills are in a bad spot with injuries right now. Wide
receiver Stevie Johnson and running back Fred Jackson both missed practice
Wednesday; Jackson is listed as questionable. Thad Lewis, the team’s starting
quarterback with E.J. Manuel injured, is said to be 50-50. C.J. Spiller is also
listed as questionable.
Going up against an undefeated Chiefs team, the Bills just
don’t seem to have enough in the tank to take down a top team right now.
Kansas City wins.
Minnesota (1-6) at Dallas (4-4)
The Cowboys are 3-1 at home and are in a good position to
capitalize on a weak Vikings team.
Minnesota is 29th in the league in passing yards allowed per
game while the Cowboys are eighth in the league in passing yards per game. Tony
Romo has the fifth highest quarterback rating in the league and third in the
touchdowns.
The Cowboys have the worst defense in passing yards allowed
per game, but the Vikings quarterback situation is in a much worse place than
Tony Romo in Dallas. The Vikings won’t be able to take advantage of the defense
like the Cowboys will.
Dallas wins.
Tennessee (3-4) at St. Louis (3-5)
The Rams defense did well enough to keep the team in the
game against the Seahawks last week but the offense was terrible, not scoring a
single touchdown. Kellen Clemens had two interceptions and completed fewer than
50 percent of his passes.
The Titans are seventh in the league in passing yards
allowed per game. They also are tied for
second in the league in passing touchdowns allowed and are tenth in the league
in points per game allowed.
Tennessee wins.
New Orleans (6-1) at New York Jets (4-4)
The Jets were flat out embarrassed last weekend and it will
be a tall task to make it better against the Saints.
While Geno Smith has shown flashes of potential, he still
turns the ball over. He has 13 interceptions in eight games this season,
including two pick-sixes last week. The Jets running game was so bad last week
that backup quarterback Matt Simms was the team’s leading rusher with 35 yards.
Granted you don’t do a lot of running when you’re down by 40 points, they still
didn’t get much going.
The Saints will make it another tough outing for Smith. They
are ninth in passing yards allowed per game, tied for tenth in interceptions,
and eighth in sacks.
Oh yea, on the other side of the ball they have Drew Brees.
New Orleans wins.
San Diego (4-3) at Washington (2-5)
The Redskins defense continues to struggle this season.
Granted, the Broncos have arguably the best offense in the league, but time and
time again the Redskins have allowed their opponents offense to dominate them.
Only once this season have they allowed fewer than 20 points.
The Chargers have put together a very good offense, ranking
sixth in passing yards per game and 15th in rushing yards per game. Philip
Rivers is sixth in the league in passing yards per game, and tied for sixth in
the league in touchdowns. He’s having as good a season as anyone not named
Peyton Manning and he should do well against the Redskins defense.
San Diego wins.
Atlanta (2-5) at Carolina (4-3)
The Panthers, surprisingly, have won three games in a row.
Meanwhile, the Falcons are winless on the road this season.
The Falcons have been unable to run the ball this season,
ranking 32nd in rushing yards per game. Meanwhile, Carolina is second in the
league in rushing yards allowed per game. Conversely, the Panthers are eighth
in the league in rushing yards per game while the Falcons are 22nd in the
league in rushing yards allowed per game.
Despite Matt Ryan’s surprising success this season, he threw
four interceptions last weekend. Not having wide receiver Julio Jones and Roddy
White is not a help.
Carolina wins.
Philadelphia (3-5) at Oakland (3-4)
The Eagles are 3-1 on the road but they just played their
second straight stinker of a game. Michael Vick is hurt again, and the Eagles
were lucky to get a touchdown at the end of the fourth quarter to end a streak
of seven consecutive quarters without a touchdown.
The Raiders are 3-1 at home. They beat the Steelers last
week despite Terrelle Pryor throwing for only 88 yards and two interceptions.
He did rush for 106 yards and a touchdown, though, and Darren McFadden ran for
two touchdowns as well.
Oakland wins.
Tampa Bay (0-7) at Seattle (7-1)
The Buccaneers are winless on the season and 26th in the
league in passing yards per game.
The Seahawks are dominant at home, have only one loss this
season, and are dominant against the pass, ranking third in the league in yards
allowed per game.
Seattle wins.
Baltimore (3-4) at Cleveland (3-5)
Once again, Browns quarterback Brandon Weeden was upstaged
by the player replacing him. Jason Campbell was 22 of 36 for 293 yards, two
touchdowns, and zero interceptions. The team fell short, but it was a good
effort against the undefeated Chiefs.
The Browns are known to play the Ravens very tough and give
them all they can handle. Baltimore hasn’t been a very impressive defending
Super Bowl champion, either.
That being said, the Ravens haven’t lost to the Browns since
November of 2007. The team has had an extra week to rest and prepare and its
chances are good.
Baltimore wins.
Pittsburgh (2-5) at New England (6-2)
The Patriots haven’t lost at home this season and the fans
are going to be riled up as the Red Sox just won the World Series. Somehow, the
Patriots have managed to get through the injuries, the inexperience and Tom
Brady not being himself. They have six wins and lead their division.
Tom Brady hasn’t put up the numbers this season that he
usually does, but the Steelers haven’t put up the wins they usually do.
Pittsburgh is 1-3 on the road this season.
The Patriots are getting a good contribution from their running
game, however, and are 12th in the league in rushing yards per game. The
Steelers are 27th in the league in rushing yards allowed per game.
New England’s improved running game and secondary have
helped this team weather a challenging season.
New England wins.
Indianapolis (5-2) at Houston (2-5)
At home and off a bye week you want to say that the Texans
will win a game and at least appear to get back on track. That’s especially
considering Case Keenum played decently in defeat in his first NFL game, going
15-25 for 271 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions (although he did lose on
fumble).
Still, what’s going on with Houston’s running back
situation? Both Arian Foster and Ben Tate finally returned to practice
Thursday, but Tate was limited. Both are questionable and there hasn’t been any
word on either’s status for Sunday’s game.
It’s likely at least one of them plays but how effective
will either be? The Colts don’t have a great run defense but their pass defense
is solid, so if they can force the Texans to make the rookie QB beat them, they
could be in good shape.
The Colts are coming off a bye week as well and Houston’s
biggest assets are their biggest question marks right now.
Indianapolis wins.
Chicago (4-3) at Green Bay (5-2)
The Packers have won their last 10 games at home and haven’t
lost at home in November or later since 2009. They’ve won four games in a row
this year.
The Bears have lost three of their past four games, are
without starting quarterback Jay Cutler, and cornerback Charles Tillman is
questionable with a knee injury that prevented him from participating in
practice Thursday.
This just seems like a lopsided game waiting to happen.
Green Bay wins.
Bye Week: Denver, Detroit, New York Giants, Arizona, San
Francisco, Jacksonville
Last Week: 10-3
Overall: 78-42
Photo credit.
Jake Locker: AP Photo/Wade Payne
No comments:
Post a Comment