Week Nine

Owning Up


The Bengals once again let me down. A late pick thrown by Carson Palmer turned the lights out on that game.

Do I really have to own up to the Cowboys' loss? If you have read this blog before, you know how I feel about the Dallas Cowboys. I gave them the nod last week, but the Jags torched them. I proved myself wrong and right all at the same time.

Even though I picked the winner, I predicted a high-scoring contest between the Jets and Packers. Did anyone expect a defensive struggle with those high-powered offenses? I'll take the win, but in no way did I expect it to be a 9-0 one.

Warn the villages, the Chargers won.

Probably my biggest blunder of the week, the Seahawks getting destroyed by the Raiders. My "surprise" teams in the Broncos and Seahawks have gotten slammed by the Raiders two weeks straight. I've got my back against the mat on this one.

How about those Saints? That win against the Steelers was definitely their best of the season. The Saints have had a mysterious season and a backfield riddled with injuries, however, they got it done against one of the best teams in the league last week. Perhaps the Saints are back. We shall see.

Predictions


Last week was not my best as I went 6-7, however, my season record remains over .500 which is a good thing. I now sit at 45-40. Not great, but not terrible. Let us try to improve on that this week. Here's what I've got for this weekend's games:

Falcons over Buccaneers A tough pick this was as both teams sit at 5-2. The Bucs are 3-0 on the road heading into Atlanta, but the Falcons are 3-0 at home. These teams are essentially even on paper, but I will give the nod to the Falcons simply based on last week. The Bucs were able to beat the Cardinals but only by a slight margin. The Falcons are a much better team. 24-21


Bears over Bills No matter how many interceptions Jay Cutler throws, he manages to get scores for his team. I would give the nod to the unlucky Bills if it weren't for the Bears defense. Both teams will have their troubles on offense with turnovers as expected, but Cutler can still get in the endzone better than Bills' quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick can. 21-17


Patriots over Browns Despite Colt McCoy's solid play in his first two games, the Browns are still the Browns and the Pats are still the Pats. It seems as if Tom Brady and the boys have returned to their championship-winning form. 35-10


Jets over Lions The Jets had unfortunate offensive struggles last week against the Packers. I don't think they expected it nor did anybody else. I feel this week they will be looking to unleash against the Lions defense. I'm going with the Jets, but this should be a hot matchup. 28-21


Vikings over Cardinals Who would have thought that this would be the snooze-fest of the week? The Cardinals' struggles were expected after the retirement of Kurt Warner and the departure of Anquan Boldin before the season began. However, nobody expected these kinds of struggles from the Vikings. The plan should be very simple for the Vikes: get the ball to Adrian Peterson. Peterson is an absolute steed in the backfield and it seems like sometimes they forget to use him enough. 17-14


Saints over Panthers After that huge win against Pittsburgh, the Saints will be looking for a way to keep the momentum going. What better way to do so than to steamroll one of the worst teams in the league, eh? 31-7


Ravens over Dolphins The Fins were able to take advantage of the Bengals' poor play last week, but the Ravens are a different beast to tame. Joe Flacco has been loving the big target in Anquan Boldin and it shows. The Ravens cannot afford to budge a single inch with the Steelers right there atop the AFC North alongside them. They'll take this in a close one. 20-14


Texans over Chargers The Texans were put back in their place last week as the Colts toppled them in response to that Week One loss. However, today the Texans take on the Chargers, one of the leagues biggest mysteries this season. Although the Chargers got a big win against the Titans last week, I do not feel as if that will be enough to lift them up back to the Chargers of old. 28-24


Giants over Seahawks Like I said last week, I love picking the Seahawks. But last week's poor showing against the Raiders does not make me feel too confident in picking the Birds this week. The Giants have been one of the pleasant surprises of the season. I am excited to see what they can do later into the season and the postseason. 24-10


Chiefs over Raiders As well as the Raiders have played in the past two weeks, they are facing a much more formidable opponent in the Chiefs today. Another pleasant surprise, the Chiefs sit at 5-2 and have played simple but solid football. If the Raiders are to win it will not be by nearly as much as the past two weeks. Still I give this to Kansas City. 21-14


Colts over Eagles The much-anticipated return of Michael Vick comes today. The bad thing for Vick is that it comes against the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts, despite a few early slip-ups with the Texans and the Jaguars, have played extremely well. To put it simply, the Colts have been the Colts. I see them improving to 6-2 this week. 27-24


Packers over Cowboys Dallas's pass defense was absolutely scorched last week by David Garrard and the Jaguars. There is nothing that says Aaron Rodgers will not do even more damage to America's team. Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth may get tired of saying, "Touchdown Packers!" tonight. I see a blowout in the future. 38-14


Steelers over Bengals I'm sure when this game was put on the schedule, ESPN was not thinking the Bengals would be 2-5. After sweeping the AFC North last season and acquiring three huge offensive threats in Terrell Owens, Jordan Shipley, and Jermaine Gresham, things looked promising for the Bengals. However, Carson Palmer struggled early on and the defense has struggled all year. It seems nothing can go right for the Bengals. Still I feel like they will show up and give the Steelers a contest this week. On the other side of the field, the Steelers are looking to get back to form after a disappointing loss in New Orleans last weekend. 24-17


p.s. Those Ohio Bobcats have done it again, winning against Buffalo on Senior Night. Congratulations to my school!

p.p.s. My Phoenix Suns have a tough test tonight against the Hawks tonight. Steve Nash and the guys are looking to get up to .500.

p.p.p.s. For more senseless babble, follow me on Twitter. twitter.com/bradley_w_parks