It's Football Tuesday again! Is there any season that goes faster than fall? Summer changes to autumn seemingly overnight- blink and it's Halloween, blink again and it's Thanksgiving. Then before I can even find all my sweaters, White Christmas is on the radio and teams have been mathmatically eliminated from the NFL playoffs. Better get on with my preview of Week 7- Week 17 is just around the corner...
Take the Ravens -6 When was the last time there were so many terrible offenses in the league at once? At least once a week there is a game between two awful offenses and good defenses that screams 13-10! or 6-3! at you. The Ravens have had a week off to get some of their offense healthy and they should be able to put up enough to get past Buffalo. The Ravens' combo of bad offense and good defense has won a Super Bowl, the Bills combo barely beat Miami.
Take the Bills +6 Hey, see those scores I mentioned up in the Baltimore section? They cover this six point spread. The Bills personally have been involved in two 13-10 games. This team doesn't lose by more than a TD- they're natural born heartbreakers- the Red Sox of football. Also, this is Game 1 without Jamal Lewis for Baltimore. Kyle Boller cannot beat anyone by himself.
Take the Giants -6.5 Something has got to give- the Giants are undefeated at home and the Lions are undefeated on the road. By the way, the latter is a fluke. 2-0 on the road this year, but 2-24 in their last 26. The Lions have been capitalizing on mistakes their opponents make. The Coughlin Giants don't make those kinds of mistakes.
Take the Lions +6.5 Both of these teams have been playing over their heads but the difference is the Giants are coming off a lazy old bye week, while the Lions are still stinging from a pride hurting blow-out loss. They will be ready to play and the Giants will not. I also cannot emphasize the jinx factor enough- I will be at this game live and I have not witnessed the Giants win since 1997.
Take the Eagles -7.5 I'm afraid this is where the Browns 8-8 season gets blown. They could have been 8-0 at home and 0-8 on the road, but no, Philly had to be on the home schedule, of course. Cleveland has proven over and over that they can't hang with a team that has a better offense than they do. I see nothing to indicate that the Eagles aren't going to keep their roll right on going.
Take the Browns +7.5 Eh, I have to grasp at straws for this one. The Browns are undefeated at home! The Eagles are starting a string of three straight games against AFC opponents and might not be particularly motivated! 7.5 is more than a TD so if the Browns can just keep it close, they'll cover! Garcia wants revenge on T.O.! Like any of those? I didn't think so.
Take the Colts -9 The Colts can put a stranglehold on the division with a sweep of the Jags. There's much less buzz about the matchup this time around since the Jags have come back to Earth a little bit. 1-2 in the last three with the one being yet another late comeback. The last time Jacksonville got on an airplane, they got blown away by a mediocre Charger team.
Take the Jaguars +9 Nine? When I saw that, I thought it was a misprint. The first game between the two was 24-17 and Jacksonville had a chance to tie. That's all this team does is stick close and win or lose on the last possession. Spotting nine gives no respect to this upstart squad and it could motivate them. If you think the players don't know the spreads, just look how hard the Pats D played that untimed down last week when they already had the W clinched.
Take the Vikings -6.5 Culpepper has more TD passes than 29 teams have total TDs. He is being mentioned at the top of MVP conversations. Until this passing game is stopped, the Vikings are not going to be a bad pick.
Take the Titans +6.5 The Vikings defense is terrible. They are ranked 30th. Somewhere along the line that has to cost you. Why not against a struggling former MVP looking to regain his form? I think this bad defense could be some good medicine for McNair.
Take the Panthers -3 The Panthers are not playing all that poorly. It's just that they play everything so close to the vest and the breaks they got last year are going the other way this year. The defense is still full of All-Stars who should be able to bring Drew Brees crashing back down and finally get some balls bouncing their way. Also consider the jetlag. San Diego flewto Atlanta, went back home and now has to fly right back to Charlotte. I will be shocked if they are not flat from all that traveling.
Take the Chargers +3 Second highest scoring team in the league playing the conservative "Martyball"? That tells you that this team has some offensive talent. The Panthers are slacking on defense this year, giving up a lot of big runs. LT may have his way with them.
Take the Rams -6.5 I don't think I have to give many reasons to pick against the Dolphins. The Rams are clearly the better team here and their defense finally showed up on Monday night, just in time to play an offense that has more picks for TDs than actual TDs. The Rams had their season turn around with that big comeback two weeks ago and they will just keep on rolling.
Take the Dolphins +6.5 The Dolphins games have all been close. Now they are getting to the point at 0-6 where teams are going to take them lightly. It will be hard for the Rams to get up for this one, playing a bad team and traveling on a short week. Plus, the Dolphins play on grass and the Rams are only the greatest show on turf.
Take the Bucs -6 It doesn't look like there are too many games on the schedule that the Bucs can win but this is one of them. At home against a team that's struggling worse than they are. At least the Bucs have stability at QB now- Griese looked okay to me on Monday night.
Take the Bears +6 I take back what I said above- there's not one game, there's two games every week where two bad offenses play two good defenses. The Bucs barely score six points a game, how can you ask them to cover a large spread like that?
Take the Chiefs -3.5 The Falcons may have the better record, but they have been lucky. It's just not as widely publicized as Jacksonville because the Jags do it in the last minute. The Chiefs get well here- they are still a powerhouse on offense and they are at home against a team that is not as good as its record.
Take the Falcons +3.5 Vick finally broke out of his slump last week as we all thought he eventually would. KC is a tough place to play but Vick has proven he can do wellin hostile environments. The Atlanta defense is pretty good too. They only allowed 95 yds on the ground against San Diego so you know they will be able to stop Priest Holmes.
Take the Patriots -6.5 The Patriots get up for every challenge. I'm sure all week the experts are going to talk themselves into how the Jets can win this thing. Don't buy it. 6-24- that's the record of the teams the Jets have played during their best start ever. This undefeated battle will get a lot of hype, but the Jets aren't really at the same level as the Pats.
Take the Jets +6.5 As if these teams didn't hate each other enough, now the Jets can be the ones to end the streak. More importantly, they can take the lead in the division. This is a respect game for Gang Green. They pull this one off and suddenly everyone will be talking about them. The Patriots and Eagles have been getting all the press- but the Jets are no slouches. Past Jet teams would have blown one of those games against bad teams- this one hasn't. 6.5 is a juicy number to take in what should undoubtedly be a close game.
Take the Packers -4 The Pack is not dead yet. They got well last week in Detroit and you have to believe it will continue this week against a struggling Dallas team. How can the Packers be winless at home?- they will be motivated to rectify that and get back in the division hunt. The Cowboys loss last week was deflating- the kind of season killer they themselves put on the Giants last year. They may not recover from those two consecutive home losses.
Take the Cowboys +4 The Cowboys still have their fast defense with a strong secondary that will pounce on all those crazy Favre throws. Both sides of the ball have been playing fairly well and they should have beaten the Steelers. The offense should be able to keep things going against a normally terrible Packer D.
Take the Seahawks -7 Okay, so they failed their two biggest tests of the year. Now that the pressure is off, they can go back to padding their record in that wimpy division.
Take the Cardinals +7 The Cards have been playing well- they've covered most of theirgames. The last home game, theynot just covered but won going away. This is a different team under Dennis Green and they just might pounce on a Seahawk team suddenly nursing a losing streak.
Take the Raiders -3 Kerry Collins has now had three bad games as the starter. He's due for his comeback performance that will allow him to keep his job for another week. Believe me, I've seen it firsthand as a Giants fan. Plus, the Raiders were able to unload Me-first guy Jerry Rice so the mood in the locker room should be lighter and more relaxed.
Take the Saints +3 Just like Kerry Collins, the Saints occassionally pull out the perfect game and remind people what they could be if they were properly motivated. This Raider team gives up a lot of points and the Saints have a lot of offensive weapons to use.
Take the Broncos -5.5 Yikes! The Bengals on Monday Night??? What is that? As long as the Bengals D gives up 26 points a game and Carson Palmer is playing, I will always advise against the Bengals. The Broncos meanwhile have just about won the division and should be ready to roll.
Take the Bengals +5.5 In the interest of fairness, I guess I should come up with some pro-Cincinnati stuff. They're at home. This is the second consecutive road game for Denver. That Drohnes guy can't be good every week, can he?
There, I'm finally done. If the arguments are kind of weak this week, I apologize. My heart wasn't too into it on this gloomy day. To paraphrase TK on PTI- I'll do better next week...
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