Week 9 NFL Picks

Last week I just threw the picks out there in a matter of moments. The weeks prior I gave the picks serious thought and had a terrible record. Did the shotgun approach to the picks last week help?

Last week against the spread: 7-6
Last week straight up: 10-3

Well, at least it stopped the bleeding. This week I'll give it more time, but I need to learn some lessons from last week: gut instincts work well.

Thursday Night Game:

Cincinnati (-3) over Miami - Thursday night football sucks, and may be the work of El Diablo. Also, Miami has now lost four straight games, and Cincinnati just destroyed the Jets. All things equal this should be a pretty easy game to pick. But, again, Thursday night football = awful idea, possibly of diabolic intent.

Sunday Early Game:

Kansas City (-3) over Buffalo - Cleveland's tough game with Jason Campbell at the helm tells me all I need to know about KC's long term prospects. But they should manage to win this game.

Dallas (-12) over Minnesota - I'm sending this one out to Leslie Frazier's inner dialogue: "Put me out of my misery. I'd do it for you, would you do it for me?" So my two thoughts on this game are: Dallas needs this win after their collapse last week, and I imagine Leslie Frazier likes Soul Asylum.

St. Louis (+3) over Tennessee - I feel like Tennessee may be an insy bit better, but I don't really know what to make of St. Louis. Bradford gets knocked out for the season and then they play Seattle super tough. I guess I'll grab the points and hope for the best.

New Orleans (-7) over NY Jets - Doesn't it feel like New Orleans should be able to win by more than a TD after watching the Jets not even show up against the Bengals last week?

San Diego (-1) over Washington - I'm sending this one out to Mike Shanahan's inner dialogue: "It seems no one can help me now, I'm in too deep, there's no way out. This time I have really led myself astray." So my two thoughts for this game are: I can't believe the Bears blew that game against this awful Washington team, and I imagine Mike Shanahan has no idea who Soul Asylum is, but he's on a Runaway Train to the unemployment line (see what I did there?).

Atlanta (+9) over Carolina - Wait that doesn't look even remotely right. The Falcons were this close to the Super Bowl last year, and now they can get nine points against Carolina. I need to delve deeper. The Falcons have lost five games; only last week against the Cardinals did they lose by more than nine points. The Panthers have won four games; in all four wins they have won by more than nine points... but they also got drubbed by the same Cardinals team that just drubbed the Falcons. I will go with Atlanta here under the premise that I need to listen to my gut... but if Carolina kills Atlanta I need to consider that Carolina might actually be sneaky good.

Sunday Late Games:

Oakland (-1) over Philadelphia - I don't ask for much, but can either Foles or Vick stay upright enough to not completely kill McCoy's value the same way Doug Martin and C.J. Spiller's value has gone in the tank this year?

Seattle (-17) over Tampa Bay - This is a large spread but Tampa Bay is a really bad team. I'm just hoping for garbage time yards (and a TD?) for Vincent Jackson.

Baltimore (-3) over Cleveland - Coming off the bye week the Ravens need to get things righted if they aren't going to have the embarrassing Super Bowl Champ to missing the playoff fall.

New England (-7) over Pittsburgh- and just like that ... I'm off the Steeler's bandwagon.

Sunday Night Game:

Indianapolis (-3) over Houston - My AFC champion pick of the Texans isn't looking so hot right now. My pick for the Colts to miss the playoffs at 8-8 isn't looking any better.

Monday Night Game:

Green Bay (-12) over Chicago - I want to take the Bears here, but our defense is so bad that I think that even if we score 40 they can score 53. To make this game interesting I'm going to start three Bears on my fantasy team this week. I hope the Bears beat the Pack, but I think at the end of this game I'll be crushed (since my Bears will lose) while I expect my brother to be ecstatic (since his Packers will win). Either way, go McCown, Forte and Marshall!

Season against the spread: 55-59-6
Season straight up: 74-46