With the Dolphins on their bye week, the Guru gets to pick every game for the second straight week as I made an exception last week due to the gravity of that Monday Night game between the Jets and Dolphins.
[Quick interlude: Talk about an instant classic! Five lead changes in the fourth quarter? Three touchdowns in that quarter by Miami matching the total given up by the Jets defense in the previous four games? A 130.4 passer rating for second-year Dolphins QB Chad Henne in just his second NFL start? The Wildcat waltzing up and down the field on a Rex Ryan defense? All I can say is it was one of those memorable games those of us in the media will be talking about for years to come.]
Now back to your regularly scheduled program:
Okay, I was WAY off on the Falcons-Niners and Jags-Seahawks games last week, but still managed to finish 9-5 on the week. That makes my overall record 37-20, again having not made any picks in Week 1 because that was my season preview.
Let's get to it, starting with the marquee match up between two of the remaining unbeaten teams in the league:
New York Giants at New Orleans Saints -- These are clearly two of the elite teams in the NFL this year and the story lines are scrumptious. Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey gets to take on the team that drafted him and then dumped him. Drew Brees and Eli Manning wrestle for the mantle of the second best quarterback in the league behind Eli's older brother, Peyton. In the end, this Saints team will make a loud statement with a character building win similar to the ones the Denver Broncos and Cincinnati Bengals had last week.
Saints 24, Giants 21
Baltimore at Minnesota -- Like the Saints above, the Vikings will use the indoor home field to their advantage and hand the Ravens their third straight defeat. Jared Allen is playing at a different level than any other defensive lineman in the league right now and will get to Joe Flacco the same way he got to Aaron Rogers two weeks ago. Adrian Peterson has been held under 100 yards in back-to-back games, and after watching Cedric Benson last week break that three-year streak by Baltimore's defense of not allowing a 100-yard rusher, AP is primed to make it two in a row.
Vikings 30, Ravens 20
Chicago at Atlanta -- No, I did not plan on breaking down three indoor football games in a row to start this round, it just so happens that these are the best three games of the week. As a matter of fact, New Orleans, Minnesota and Atlanta are a combined 13-1 on the season. Yes, the Bears were starting to show something before their bye by knocking off the Steelers, but Jay cutler is still too combustible and Matt Ryan has too many weapons at his disposal. I don't know why I picked against the Falcons last week but I will not make the same mistake twice.
Falcons 34, Bears 21
Denver at San Diego -- Whenever these two teams meet something memorable always happens, and ESPN and the Monday Night Football or praying their run of quality games continues. Denver has rallied around its rookie head coach, Josh McDaniels, while Chargers QB Philip Rivers has usurped LaDainian Tomlinson as the leader of that offense. I sense the Broncos falling from the ranks of the unbeaten this week in a key division battle.
Chargers 28, Broncos 24
Arizona at Seattle -- This is a must-win for both teams as they try to keep pace with San Francisco in the NFC West. Matt Hasselback's return inspired the Seahawks in a 41-0 rout of Jacksonville while the Cardinals narrowly escaped home with a win over Houston. Seattle wants to reclaim its spot on top of the division and Arizona wants to remind everyone it was in the Super Bowl and had a lead in the final minute on Pittsburgh. Cardinals pull out a victory.
Cardinals 27, Seahawks 14
Houston at Cincinnati -- The Texans own the edge at wide receiver with that beast named Andre Johnson but the Bengals have the edge at quarterback (Carson Palmer), running back (Cedric Benson) and defense and are no pretenders this year, especially at home.
Bengals 31, Texans 20
Detroit at Green Bay -- The Lions put a scare into the Steelers last week behind Daunte Culpepper, and with Matthew Stafford likely to miss another start it will be interesting to see if Culpepper can rekindle some of the magic from his Minnesota days against the Packers. I think not, although it will be close until the final minutes.
Packers 23, Lions 17
Cleveland at Pittsburgh -- There is no way Roethlisberger and company put the Heinz Field faithful through another blood pressure test like they did two weeks ago against San Diego, especially with the Browns still in disarray and Troy Polamalu expected back.
Steelers 35, Browns 7
Carolina at Tampa Bay -- This used to be the battle for division supremacy in the NFC South, but the Falcons and Saints are the cream of the crop now in that race. As bad as the Bucs have looked this year, I have to think Jon Gruden is getting a bit of a chuckle right about now, and the Bucs will not be laughing after this game either.
Panthers 21, Bucs 17
Kansas City at Washington -- Jim Zorn has now drawn the wrath of one of the most popular Redskins of all time, John Riggins, and even though reports out of D.C. are that the players are rallying around him, a loss to the Chiefs could seal his fate. Todd Haley has some rope being a rookie head coach and knows his troops had that Dallas game in their grasp. They won't let it slip away this time and will cause a shakeup on the Redskins' coaching staff in the process.
Chiefs 19, Redskins 9
St. Louis at Jacksonville -- Whatever happened to The Greatest Show On Turf? The Jaguars will quickly rid themselves of the stink from last week's shellacking out in Seattle and crush the Rams at home.
Jaguars 38, Rams 3
Philadelphia at Oakland -- Eagles head coach Andy Reid somehow managed to keep a straight face during one of his press conferences this week when he said the Raiders are just an inch away from making something happen. If he meant they are an inch away from sinking to the bottom of the sea, then he might be on to something. The only thing venturing into the Black Hole on this day will be Oakland's pride.
Eagles 42, Raiders 7
Tennessee at New England -- I cannot figure out how the Titans can go from king of the AFC last year to winless despite having one of the league's leading rushers in Chris Johnson . Having to travel to New England to face an angry Patriots team looking to make amends for last week's overtime loss at Denver is not the ideal scenario for Jeff Fisher to try and right this ship. Junior Seau gets a win on Senior Citizen Day.
Patriots 24, Titans 14
Buffalo at New York Jets -- Dick Jauron still has a job after that debacle at home against Cleveland last week? I doubt he will still be employed on Monday after Rex Ryan's Jets take out their frustrations from that Monday Night collapse on Trent Edwards and Buffalo. T.O. will be demanding a trade and Toronto will start backing off its pursuit of the Bills.
Jets 28, Bills 10
Until next time, stay thirsty my friends.
AK
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