NFL Week 9 expert picks against the spread – Del’s picks

Following a disappointing Week 8 effort, Del has some good news and some bad news. The bad news is the picks against the spread haven’t been that great the past two weeks — overall. The good news is Del continues to nail his locks of the week, which we like to refer to as the money-making picks. The goal is to be above the 50% mark in all categories by the end of the season, but a 13-7 record in locks is enough to make anyone excited.

Week 9 has to be a bounce-back week for Del. We’re through the halfway point of the season, so we have a lot better idea of what we should be seeing from each team. Here are Del’s Week 9 picks. Check back later in the week for more analysis and Doc Brown’s picks.

One game that instantly jumped off the page at Del is Minnesota laying 2.5 against the Redskins at home. While the Vikings have lost two of their last three, their defense has actually looked solid over the past few weeks. They have given up 17 or less points in three straight games. Just because Colt McCoy led the Redskins to an improbable win over a sleeping Cowboys team doesn’t mean he’s a great NFL quarterback, and it looks like he’ll be starting over Robert Griffin III again. The Vikings won’t take Washington as lightly as Dallas did and the Redskins might have trouble coming down off their high in time for another road game. UPDATE: While Del is still taking Minnesota in this game, he doesn’t feel confident enough to lock them in anymore with RG3 scheduled to start.

Another team Del likes this week is the Patriots. In recent years, battles between Tom Brady and Peyton Manning have almost always been won by the home team. With both the Broncos and Patriots looking explosive on offense and showing improvement on defense compared to last year, Sunday afternoon’s game in Foxboro could come down to a big play or two down the stretch. The home team is usually more likely to make that play.

Del’s also putting his faith in Tom Coughlin and the Giants coming off a bye week. The Colts looked completely lost on defense last week and had no answer for Ben Roethlisberger. The extra week of preparation should help Eli Manning establish more chemistry with young receivers Rueben Randle and Odell Beckham Jr. Playing back-to-back road games is always difficult, and Indy can’t be feeling all that confident after last week’s 51-34 loss.