We are on Week 6 of this young season. There were a lot of surprises last week, no wonder, I only got 7 out of 14 games correctly! The most surpising to me is how both NY Jets & Buffallo Bills got their wins. It was good to see these teams show some character. It was also good to see New England Patriots to be back on track, eventhough their defense almost gave the game away to the Atlanta Falcons. Oh yeah, the Colts are the only remaining unbeaten team this season. Yes, I admit that they are a good playoff-caliber team. They have to prove that they can win on pressure games especially in the playoffs before I can say that they are a great team, though. Anyhow, I will leave the rest of these analysis to the pros and stick to what this post is: picks!
Oh yeah, before I begin my weekly picks, I would just like to say how disappointed I was with the TSN crew for cancelling the Monday Night Pre-Game Show to give way to the Leafs game which they managed to give away, thanks to their stellar shootout performance. I don’t think anybody from the Leafs team had ever scored even 1 out of the 3 games they were involved in a shootout. Ok, here are my picks:
Regardless of whether Vick will play or not, the New Orleans Saints have their work cut out for them due to the loss of RB Duece McAllister. They will become a one-dimensional team and will make it easier for the Atlanta Falcons defense to bounce back after their lost week. Atlanta (+3)
Detriot Lions seems to be finally getting in to their groove. After almost winning the game 2 weeks ago, they came back last week to prove that they have a potent offense. Maybe, almost half their yardage came from penalties against a suppossedly good defensive squad of Baltimore Ravens. Carolina Panthers won a close one against a non-playoff contender again. They can’t seem to be consistent this year. It’s a tough choice, I will go with the Phanters to win this one close. Panthers (+3)
Now the 4-1 Cincinnti Bengals have something to prove after losing the Sunday night game against a good Jacksonville Jaguars team. Can they bounce back from that lost and show the leaugue that they are for real. I think so, Tennesse is just not playing consistently right now. Bengals (+7)
Cleveland Browns got their first win of the season against what analyst calls a very good defense squad last week. Now they are facing a suppossedly good defensive squad, Baltimore Ravens. In some way, the Browns will be facing the same squad in consecutive weeks: Good Defense, Bad Offense. It could be the same result. ButI doubt it, I’m sure the Ravens will sort it out for this week. Ravens (+7)
The Jacksonville Jaguars have shown how good they can be at times. the Pittsburgh Steelers have shown that they are capable of grinding it out in the ground. After getting impresive wins last week, both teams will be looking into extending that winning streak. The Jaguars has a very good run-defense so this might limit the production of Bettis & Parker. But getting drawn too much to the run might open up the game for Hines Ward. If Roethlisberger does not play because of his knee injury, then Jaguars have a very good chance of winning this game even against a good Steelers defense. Jaguars (+7)
Ricky Williams is back! Does it matter? It does a lot, especially for a team like Miami whose been not so good in their pass offense. He should remove some pressure off the QB. Although the Tanpa Bay Bucs knows this, they may be in for a big surprise in their secondary with a dose of play-action-pass. The Bucs also have a good chance if Cadillac Williams will play. From the previous posts, I mentioned the watch for Willie Parker & Cadillac Williams as the new breed of running backs: where are they now? Anyhow, it might surprise you, I’m taking Miami. (+7)
The Minnesota Vikes, as my friend Sonny calls them nowadays, the Yikes. Well, they pretty much done for the season. So I’m giving the Chicago Bears the advantage here especially with their stellar defense. Bears (+3)
Intereseting game for the Dallas cowboys defense. Can they stop the red-hot N.Y Giants QB, Eli (brother of Peyton) Manning from getting 4TDs this week. They probably can. After beating the Eagles by a huge margin in every aspect of the game last week, the Cowboys are pretty confident they can play against big passing teams. But can they play the run? We will see about that on Sunday? As much as I hate it, Giants (+3)
The Washinton Redskins gained a lot of yardage last week against the Broncos but still failed to get the win. Thanks to their run-defense collapse, which usually is one of the best. They are up against a Kansas City Chiefs team coming off a bye-week and a demoralizing loss to the Eagles 2 weeks back. The Chiefs should have sorted out what went wrong and should figure out a way to stop the Redskins. However, I think the Redskins is a tough team even on the road & will pound it out on the ground until they see the holes in the Chiefs secondary. Just like what the Eagles did to them last week & what the other teams did to them last year. Redskins (+7)
This will show what is the real deal with both teams. The Denver Broncos have won 3 straight & the New England Patriots have win-loss-win-loss-win streak. It will be a tough game for the Pats defense especially with the superb running game of the Broncos. However, the Pats have always come in prepared for something big. Can they prove they are stillt the team to beat? This is the week we will find out. Patriots (+3)
Two teams struggling to get things going. The Buffalo Bills are staying with Holcomb, and they should. Although the NY Jets looks like the Dallas Cowboys from last year, but a little better, thanks to Curtis Martin. The Jets are going to have a slight advantage on this one. Jets (+7)
San Diego Chargers lost a game to the Steelers last week which they had a chance of winning. The Oakland Raiders are not the team that they should be on offense & their defense is just not strong. San Diego will bounce back, and they should. They have been loosing very close games to top opponents and this may prove to be a deciding factor comes playoff times. Chargers (+7)
Can the Texans get their first win. It may very well be. If you look at Seattle Seahawks’ performance against loosing team, they are unpleasant. This may be the surprise of the week so I’m going with the Texans. Houston (+14)
Let’s be honest here. St. Louis will try to score a lot of points. Marc Bulger will keep on throwing deep, that is if he can get it fast enough to stay away from the Indiana Colts linemen. If he commits a turnover, the Colts will make sure that they capitalize on it. The key for the Rams, no turnover! I will pick the Colts just because they have a better overall game. Colts (-7)