WEEK 9 PREGAME SHOW!
Wow, check this out. It’s now 10 AM Central time, which means my pregame show begins at the same time as ESPN’s pregame show. How serendipitous. I shall try my damndest to make mine the better of the 2. At the very least, I can promise you 100% less Chris Berman than the competition offers.
As we did last week, in the morning we’ll preview the early games. After those wrap up, we’ll recap them, and preview the late games, and tonight’s HUGE Pats/Colts showdown.
(4-3) BENGALS AT (5-2) RAVENS
After a 3-0 start, the Bengals have dropped 3 out of their last 4, and their underachieving wide receiver Ocho Cinco has been working overtime to make everyone as sick of him as they are of TO.
The Ravens, meanwhile, righted their ship big time with an impressive win in the Superdome last week. A win here would put them firmly in command in the AFC North, and the trends are in their favor.
Teams have turned to going exclusively with the pass against the Ravens in recent weeks to avoid running into the #1 ranked run defense in the league. They’ve done it with some success, as the Panthers and Saints have combined for over 700 passing yards against Baltimore in the last 2 weeks. The only way the Bengals beat the Ravens today is if Carson Palmer and Ocho Cinco dial it back to 2005, if not, they don’t have a chance.
(4-3) CHIEFS AT (4-3) RAMS
One of these team’s 4-3 is a lot more impressive than the othe’s. The Chiefs are coming off back to back wins over the Seahawks and Chargers, both of whom would be in the playoffs if the season ended today. The Rams haven’t beaten a team with a winning record all year, and have lost their last 2 in a row, against those same Seahawks and Chargers ironically enough.
STL’s defense isn’t forcing turnovers the way they were during their 4-1 start. The Chiefs have held their opponents to less than 100 yards rushing in 4 out of their last 5 games, and the offense gets better every week. Finally, the Chargers ran for 216 yards on the Rams in Week 8, and uh, that’s a bad stat when you are facing Larry Johnson. Look for the Chiefs to get the win in this critical Missouri matchup.
(4-3) COWBOYS AT (2-5) REDSKINS
These teams have already met this year, back in Week 2. The Cowboys waxed the Redskins 27-10 in that game. Washington has only gotten worse since then, so there’s really no reason to expect anything different in this game. Dallas’ run defense has been impermeable for most of this year. So that leaves it up to Mark Brunell to beat the Cowboys, and he won’t have Santana Moss to work with, and probably wouldn’t work with him even if he was available. It looks like 4 L’s in a row for the Redskins, and the Cowboys getting to 5-3.
(2-5) TEXANS AT (5-2) GIANTS
David Carr will be back at QB for the Texans in this game. Gary Kubiak says he’s his guy. The Giants have changed their offense after a 1-2 start, recalibrating it to be much more reliant on Tiki Barber and the run. That should work out super against a bad Houston run defense. The Giants are not in any danger today, they’ll be 6-2 after this, and still in the lead in the NFC East.
(2-5) TITANS AT (4-3) JAGUARS
All of a sudden, nobody wants to play the Titans. They’ve won 2 in a row, and in the game before the winning streak, gave the Colts the biggest scare they’ve had this season.
They’re winning because they are forcing turnovers, 5 in last week’s win over Houston, and 9 in the last 3 weeks. Jacksonville, they don’t turn it over. They’ve only done it 9 times all season. Tennessee’s run defense is awful, and the Jags are coming off of rolling up 209 yards on the ground last week against Philly. Jacksonville has been really good at home this year, and I don’t see any reason why that will change today.
(1-6) DOLPHINS AT (7-0) BEARS
The Bears will re-enact their weekly ritual of slaughtering an awful team. They go on the road for 3 in a row against the Giants, Jets, and Pats after this, then come home to face the Vikings. That is when things will get interesting. A quick note on today’s game though, this looks like a Thomas Jones game, not a Rex Grossman game. Plan your fantasy lineup accordingly.
(3-4) PACKERS AT (2-5) BILLS
The Packers are winning because they are running the ball like banshees lately. Buffalo hasn’t done anything this year to indicate they can change that pattern. Green Bay wins, and remarkably, gets to 4-4 at the halfway point of the season.
(5-2) SAINTS AT (2-5) BUCS
A 5-2 team faces a 2-5 team, and the line is pick’em, what a country. The Saints beat Tampa a month ago, 24-21. Both teams ran all over each other in that game. Tampa’s beaten Cincy and Philly in their last 2 home games, so on the basis of that, I think they can take the Saints today.
(5-2) FALCONS AT (1-6) LIONS
If the Falcons go back to being the Falcons we know and love, running the high school offense and eschewing the pass, they’ll make quick work of the Lions today. Detroit let the Jets run for 221 yards on them last week. If they decide to continue their re-invention as passing fools this week, they’ll struggle. We’ll see. You never know with the Falcons.
So them’s are the early games. Check back this afternoon and we’ll see how they worked out, and look at the late games.
