Last week was 9-4, putting me at 79-37 on the season thusfar.
For this week:
Sunday at 1:00pm ET -
Atlanta (4-3) @ Indianapolis (0-8)
NY Jets (4-3) @ Buffalo (5-2)
Cleveland (3-4) @ Houston (5-3)
Seattle (2-5) @ Dallas (3-4)
Miami (0-7) @ Kansas City (4-3)
Tampa Bay (4-3) @ New Orleans (5-3)
San Francisco (6-1) @ Washington (3-4)
Sunday at 4:00pm ET -
Cincinnati (5-2) @ Tennessee (4-3)
Denver (2-5) @ Oakland (4-3)
Green Bay (7-0) @ San Diego (4-3)
St. Louis (1-6) @ Arizona (1-6)
NY Giants (5-2) @ New England (5-2)
Sunday Night -
Baltimore (5-2) @ Pittsburgh (6-2)
Monday Night -
Chicago (4-3) @ Philadelphia (3-4)
Byes -
Carolina, Detroit, Jacksonville, Minnesota
After eight weeks of play, right now I would predict Green Bay over Houston in Super Bowl XLVI.
I feel like I'm taking too many home teams. I have a hunch that either the Giants, Ravens or Broncos pull a win. One of the three. Mark my words. Just no idea which. Tebow is going to get another ugly win before he gets benched, just hard to say when.
Of the early games...
The Colts are awful. Worst team in the NFL. Peyton Manning is the MVP, obviously. He masked their deficiencies admirably well, although even with him at the helm this year, I don't think they're a playoff team. Defense got old too fast. Oh, and I think Peyton's played his last game. Sorry. Too many neck surgeries. He's done, they'll win the Luck Lottery. I think the Bills are a better team than the Jets - but it'll be high-scoring. If you make me choose between Fitzpatrick and Sanchez in clutch time, I go Fitz. Houston is the best team in the AFC right now, as far as I'm concerned, and I'm not going against them against a worse-than-advertised Cleveland team. Dallas is better than they seem; they have to handle Seattle at home. Miami is as bad as Indianapolis and as we saw this past Monday, Kansas City finds ways to win at home - I never like going against the Chiefs at Arrowhead, even against good teams, so I won't against a bad team. New Orleans will rip Tampa up, even coming off a bye, after their debacle in St. Louis. They have to. San Francisco, also coming off a bye, might be the second-best team in the NFC and should hand it to a Redskins team that seems to have lost its identity (more on that below).
For the afternoon games...
I like Cincinnati, but I think Tennessee is a better team than they've been facing and wants to stay in the hunt. Cincy is a year away from winning a game like this. Denver... well, I think Tebow is a disaster and good teams (see: not Miami or Indianapolis) expose him. Oakland will continue the trend. Green Bay is the best team in the NFL and the Chargers are, in their own special way, one of the worst, so that's a no-brainer to me, but after Monday, the Chargers could surprise... either way, it's a high-scoring game. St. Louis loses to Arizona because they're going to come in overhyped from beating the Saints, the same way the Saints came in overhyped to St. Louis after crushing the Colts like they were a JV softball team playing football. The Giants could surprise against New England - this one is close - but I think the Patriots come out and play one of those nasty Belicheck games after being embarrassed by Pittsburgh last week.
For Sunday Night - this is a tough call, but we should all know that this game has been circled on Pittsburgh's calender since that Week 1 blowout loss. This is a revenge game for them, and the icing on the cake is that it gives them a mighty lead in the division if they win. Baltimore will want it, but can we really count on them for anything right now? Like Washington, they've inexplicably lost their identity, at least on offense. This game just means too much to the Steelers, they return the favor from earlier this year with a blowout of their own.
For Monday Night - do people really believe in the Eagles? That's a bad team. Actually, they're a lot like the Bears - awful offensive line, QB running for his life, one of the most dynamic RBs out there, softer on defense than people think. It could prove to be a high scoring affair. But I tip my hat to the Bears defense, which I think hassles Vick and hems in McCoy more than the Eagles defense will Cutler and Forte.
On Washington and, to a lesser degree, Baltimore now. What is wrong with these teams? Both are good teams. I said it. Baltimore is obviously a good team, we know this. Washington seemed great early on. What happened? Baltimore, for some reason, seems to be spastic on offense. What's with Flacco's decline this year? From what I can tell, it's a shuffled offensive line. If Bryant McKinnie were guarding your blind side these days, you'd probably be nervous, too. That's actually the crux of Baltimore's offensive woes. As for Washington - I have to ask this single question - why was Grossman benched long-term? I understand the short-term benching in that game where he threw four picks against the Eagles. I understand that. Makes sense. But given that he'd been solid up to then (mostly), I didn't feel it warranted a total benching, especially when your next option is John Beck. Especially not when Grossman had bought in - publicly - to Shanahan and the 2011 Redskins. I feel like that, combined with Shanahan's usual merry-go-round at running back, blew up the locker room. The team has been in free-fall since then and why wouldn't it be? Grossman had emerged as a leader of the team and got unceremoniously dumped after one bad game. Beck was respectable against Carolina, but who isn't? Then he got ripped up by the Bills. With the 49ers on tap next, you can't have high hopes. I feel like the team was responding to Grossman's leadership - benching him for the Eagles game was a good move; you say "hey, you mess up, we'll explore our options." But you gotta give him a second chance. If he blows it, then you make a stronger case with your veterans. Instead, we have a Redskins team that looked oh-so-promising in a not-particularly-strong NFC East that has gone into a nosedive. If I'm running that team, I'm thinking about swallowing my pride and giving Rex another shot.
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