This is getting ugly. Del has dipped below .500 with his supposed expert picks and desparately needs a bounce back week with Doc Brown slowly pulling away. The good news is the Top 3 are still looking fairly decent at 11-6-1, so that’s what you should be focusing on for now if you’re risking any dough on these selections. If you like banking on Doc’s and Del’s overlapping picks, it turns out you’ve got nine to choose from this week. Good luck.
For my Top 3 I like St. Louis, Denver, and Tampa Bay. The Rams know the NFC West is wide open and I think they’ll be able to take advantage of some of the poor teams they play the rest of the way to remain in the hunt. The Panthers, who barely got by the 49ers last week to win their first game of the season, are one of those teams. I can’t see Carolina winning two straight and I can’t see Sam Bradford and company losing to them at home.
Although the game is in London and the long journey makes the game tougher to predict, I love Denver this week. There may not be a team in the NFL that wants to win worse than the Broncos this week after being embarrassed by the Raiders at home last Sunday. The Niners are also starting Troy Smith, who may be capable but has thrown only 89 career NFL passes.
Tampa Bay rounds out my Top 3 for the week at Arizona. The Bucs are a team that is slowly gaining confidence and learning to trust their young quarterback. Freeman has shown he can step up late in games. On the flip side, Arizona is still starting rookie Max Hall again, only this time he’ll be playing after suffering a concussion this past weekend. He has enough to worry about already. Playing with an injury isn’t going to help. More analysis after the jump.
(ATS = Against the Spread, SU = Straight Up)
I can’t see Buffalo exploding offensively like they did last weekend against the Ravens. Kansas City has one of the best home field advantages in football, and they should blow the doors off the Bills. The Ravens took the Bills for granted in the first half last Sunday. The Chiefs know they aren’t good enough to do that and win.
The Lions are getting Matthew Stafford back this weekend. While Shaun Hill has done a decent job during Stafford’s absence, Detroit has to feel good about getting its starter back, especially considering they’ve lost a lot of close games this year. DeAngelo Hall picked Jay Cutler off four times last weekend, yet the Redskins only managed to beat the Bears by a field goal. I think Washington is a tad overrated at this point and it will show on Sunday.
For whatever reason, I’m trusting Jon Kitna against the Jaguars. Jacksonville is a bad team and I don’t think the Cowboys are as bad as they’ve played. Even without Tony Romo, I think Kitna will be able to rally the troops enough with his veteran presence. If nothing else, Dallas should be able to play the pride card and come away with a victory at home against a below average team.
The Patriots are another team the Doc and I disagree on this week. We both see them winning, but I see them covering with all the Brett Favre drama that’s going on. Brad Childress looks like he’s slowly losing his team while Bill Belichick’s is slowly getting more confident. New England loves playing at home and I think they can easily cover the 5.5 points, especially if Favre is playing through pain just to keep his streak alive.
Finally, I’m going with the Saints once again. They’ve been making me pay all year, but I’m giving them one final shot at a big win on Sunday night at home. If it were in Pittsburgh, I’d be taking the Steelers. This is probably the game I feel least confident in this week, so I’d advise staying away from it unless you absolutely love it.
