Well, I was right about the Giants. All it took was the team finally abandoning the league’s worst O-Lineman. With Flowers benched the line looked like they cared and wanted to protect Eli (and their jobs). Wheeler struggled against Watt, but he held up well enough to let Eli fling it.
Gimmie Picks:
Jags over Jets
Pats over Dolphins
Texans over Colts
Packers over Bills
Falcons over Bengals
Seahawks over Cards
Chargers over SF
Rams over Vikings
This is a tricky one, but not the most tricky of the week. I feel like the Rams have a solid advantage because Griffen is out. When you have a lynchpin player like that and he’s hurt–mentally–that hurts the team badly.
Giants over Saints
I remain a believer. The Saints pass rush is limited to the point where Eli can be effective. I think they can outscore the Saints. This is going to be the difference maker, because it is going to be one heck of a shootout.
Ravens over Steelers
James Conner is producing, but that will be limited by a stout ravens LB corps. Most importantly, the Ravens are perfect in red zone scoring. That is where the game is going to be decided.
Broncos over Chiefs
The Chiefs are really good. Really, really good. On offense. What is being overlooked are the glaring weaknesses in the secondary that will be exposed when the safeties come up in run support and allow Thomas to get free.
Browns over Raiders
Browns are starting the kid. We knew that. Raiders gave up arguably the best defender in the sport. We knew that. Browns D has an answer for everything the Raiders can do except for the one thing they won’t do–feed the Beast. Bet you didn’t know that.
Bears over Bucs
I love me some fitzmagick, but what I was just talking about in regards to the best defender? Yeah, he plays for the Bears now on a D that was already good.
Cowboys over Lions
I don’t entirely trust the Cowboys, but I also think last week’s Lions win was the result of Patricia having such a deep understanding of Belicheck. I also kind of think that Beli is slipping. He doesn’t seem to be ‘the guy’ anymore.
Titans over Eagles
Go Titans! Look, this team has a lot of weapons on both sides of the ball and is only now really beginning to gel. Meanwhile, the Eagles are not as strong as they were last year and are relying on a strategy that caters to speed. Titans have the speed to match.