I’ve been trying to improve my diet, but I do need to ditch the humble pie. A good season of picking went south last week (4-9), dropping my cumulative mark to 65%. This week I’ll be eating plenty of wings, po’ boys, and ribs…and that means I’m picking the Bills, Saints, and Chiefs. Oh, my!
NOTE: All games are on Sunday afternoon unless otherwise noted.
Pittsburgh 26, Cleveland 13 (Thursday night): Many younger fans find this hard to believe: the Browns are the Steelers’ archrivals. Fans have loathed each other for decades, and games are dubbed “The Turnpike Series.” Things have been rather one-sided recently, and this game won’t be different.
Houston 24, Baltimore 23: Just like Cincinnati last week, the Texans are coming off a bye to play Baltimore. Baltimore is still one of the AFC’s best, but now it heads into a challenging stretch of games. Lamar and Company might take a slight step back before stepping on the gas again.
Dallas 37, Detroit 29: Dan Marino will always be remembered for his “fake spike” win over the Jets. The less memorable Matthew Stafford did the same thing to the Cowboys a few years ago to pull out a last-second win. This game should be just as entertaining, but that Dallas’ defense has the edge.
New York Jets 16, Washington 7: The Redskins are coming off their bye, probably wishing they could have John Riggins back for this one. But Riggins also played for the Jets. Well, when it comes to these sorry clubs, talking about the past is better than commiserating about the present. I’ll take the Jets in my ‘Game of the Weak.’
Jacksonville 20, Indianapolis 16: Jacksonville is coming off its bye, and that means Nick Foles will be rested. He’ll go up against a Colts team that has lost its way offensively. There is no possible excuse for losing to Miami, and Indy will likely drop this one, too.
Carolina 37, Atlanta 10: Arthur Blank built Home Depot into a powerhouse company, and (despite beating New Orleans last week), he’ll need every bolt and nail he has to rebuild this team. Beating another good team on the road in consecutive weeks is asking too much of these birds.
Buffalo 31, Miami 6: These two, old AFC East rivals represent a tale of two cities–as different and distant as the cities for which they are named. Once upon a time, Miami would prevail regularly. Now it’s the other way around. Buffalo beat the fish on the shores of Lake Erie earlier this year, and this time, they’ll do it in near the waters of South Beach. Miami’s impressive two-game win streak ends … with a thud.
Minnesota 24, Denver 19: Denver is coming off its bye, while the Vikings get theirs next week. The Broncos are likely to feel a ‘mile low’ after this one. Vikings keep rolling.
New Orleans 30, Tampa Bay 10: Tampa Bay has this annoying tendency of scoring just enough points to make a prognosticator nervous–as it did last week in beating Arizona. But the Saints have something called ‘defense.’ Because of that, NO will win going away.
Oakland 33, Cincinnati 16: When Bo Jackson injured his hip, a terrible circumstance that eventually ended his football career, he did it as a Raider against the Bengals in a playoff game. Unbelievable! No, not that Jackson got hurt, but that the Bengals were in the playoffs.
San Francisco 31, Arizona 22: The Cardinals have next week off, but they probably wish the idle time came before this challenging road matchup with the NFC West leaders. Arizona can hang with anyone, but the ‘Niners are at home and should win in what could be a close game.
New England 34, Philadelphia 23: New England may not win all the time, but a hallmark of this team is to make adjustments after a loss, clean up bad tendencies, and return to winning. Meanwhile, the Eagles are getting healthier, which jacks up their ardent fan base. Put the two together, and this should be a good game that the Pats will pull out.
Los Angeles Rams 23, Chicago 12 (Sunday night): When the 1985 Bears were making their inevitable march to the Super Bowl, they played the Rams in the NFC title game. Back then, the legendary Dieter Brock was quarterbacking the Rams. It’s Jared Goff’s team now. On defense, the Rams’ rebuilt secondary should be more than enough to stop Mitchell Trubisky from winning two in a row.
Kansas City 27, Los Angeles Chargers 24 (in Mexico City, Monday night): Teams that play in one of the NFL’s international games get the following week off, as the Chiefs and Chargers will after this one. The Chargers took a big hit last week by losing to Oakland, but they’re still a team you can’t take lightly. KC, on the other hand, will be jacked up with Patrick Mahomes back. And Mahomes’ play may be the difference in this one.
