NFL Pro Football 2008 Week 9 Picks early games

NFL Pro Football 2008 Week 9 Picks

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Fearless Rick's NFL Week 9 Picks - Early Games

Rick Gagliano | November 2-3

All times Eastern - Click here for late Sunday and Monday night games.

SUN, NOV 2

Green Bay at Tennessee (-5 1/2, 41 1/2) 1:00 PM - The Packers are playing good football, but they are not going to get more than 2 TDs against the Titans, and Green Bay is also likely to turn the ball over a few times. Nobody is playing as well as Tennessee at this juncture, allowing a league low 12.4 ppg and forcing 20 turnovers (almost 3 per game). The offense is more than adequate and Green Bay will have to work some kind of miracle to win on Tennessee turf.

Prediction: Titans 27 Packers 10

Tampa Bay (-8 1/2, 36 1/2) at Kansas City 1:00 PM - When it comes to bad football, Kansas City has nearly cornered the market and they will have to deal with an angry and talented Tampa Bay team that is coming off a tough loss to Dallas.

This is, however, Tampa's second straight road game, and they may take the Chiefs a little bit too lightly. KC hasn't shown much, but they did cover and almost won in NY against the Jets last Sunday, losing 28-24, on a late Brett Favre TD pass. A similar scenario is unlikely, though if KC gets or makes a break for themselves, the Buccaneers are not the kind of team that can muster a late comeback. Tampa Bay should win, but not by much. A real trap game.

Prediction: Buccaneers 20 Chiefs 14

Baltimore at Cleveland (-1 1/2, 36 1/2) 1:00 PM - This should be an excellent divisional battle between the two teams chasing Pittsburgh in the AFC North. Baltimore is 4-3, and a game ahead of the Browns by virtue of a Week 3, 28-10 win at home over Cleveland.

After that 0-3 start, however, the Browns have put themselves back into the playoff picture, winning three of their last four, including improbable wins over the Giants and at Jacksonville. In between, they lost a tough one at Washington, 14-11, so they are motivated and playing solid football, especially on defense. Get ready for bruising hits and a brace of turnovers, with the Browns getting even with the Ravens.

Prediction: Browns 17 Ravens 13

Detroit at Chicago (-13, 43) 1:00 PM - Ouch, the Lions are really, really bad. They rank last in defense, allowing 30.7 ppg and are 28th of 32 on offense, with 16.3 ppg. Meanwhile, guess who's scoring at a 28 ppg rate and tied for second in the league offensively with San Diego?

Yes, the Bears. Impressive. A rout of mind-boggling proportions is about to unfold here.

Prediction: Bears 45 Lions 17

NY Jets at Buffalo (-5 1/2, 42 1/2) 1:00 PM - Every time I see one of these 5 1/2 lines, I figure that the oddsmakers were at odds with themselves, not knowing whether to make the game an even deal with the home team -3 or stretch the line making them a TD favorite. 5 1/2 is a compromise line, begging to be beaten, and in my experience the underdog generally covers these.

Such is the case with this AFC East clash. The Bills are good at home, but generally don't win by much. The Jets are probably overmatched, but Favre gives them late-game survival, and a late TD could cover this line. The Bills will win. The question is by how much? 10 is a nice round number.

Prediction: Buffalo 27 Jets 17

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Jacksonville (-8, 40) at Cincinnati 1:00 PM - At the midpoint of the NFL season, the Bengals are vying with Kansas City and Detroit for worst-in-league (dis)honors. 0-8 Cincy has some work to do to really make it, as they are second-last in offense with 104 points (KC has scored only 99, but they've played only 7 games) and second-last in defense, allowing 217 points (San Fran leads with 230, Detroit has allowed 212 over 7 games). So how do the Bengals prepare for the visiting Jaguars? Well, allowing less than 27 points would be a nice start, and then scoring more than 13 would help, but that would still leave them at the end of the game with a 14-point loss.

From the Jacksonville point of view, they really need to step it up on both offense and defense, and the Bengals look like red meat. At 3-4 they are watching the 7-0 Titans disappear over the AFC South horizon. The Jags get to play indoors at Detroit next week before hosting Tennessee in Week 11, so this should be the start of a nice road push for them.

Prediction: Jaguars 31 Bengals 10

Houston at Minnesota (-4 1/2, 47) 1:00 PM - Fascinating matchup between the Vikes and Texans, who have identical 3-4 records. While the Vikings are playoff contenders just a game behind the Bears in the NFC North, the Texans have the unlucky circumstance to be in the same division with the NFL's only unbeaten team - Tennessee - so they are already 3 games back, but tied with Jacksonville and Indianapolis, so wild card dreams are possible in the wide open AFC. Houston is a very productive offensive team and their defense shouldn't have much of a problem handling the up-and-down Minny offense. Call this one an upset.

Prediction: Texans 21 Vikings 18

Arizona (-3, 49) at St. Louis 1:00 PM - Sure, the Rams are playing better of late, but they are still just 2-5 and trailing the Cardinals, who have possibly the best passing offense in the league. It should be interesting to see what Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald do on artificial turf. While the Arizona defense is nothing to shout about, they didn't play badly in the Cardinals' 27-23 loss at Carolina last week. Arizona is the real class of this division and should prove at least a touchdown better than the improved version of the Rams. Watch the line on this one as it may move to make the Cardinals as much as a 5-point favorite by game time. Still not enough.

Prediction: Cardinals 41 Rams 28

All times Eastern - Click here for late Sunday and Monday night games

Copyright 2008, 2009, Rick Gagliano, Downtown Magazine. All rights reserved. Downtown Magazine is located in the Uinted States of America and is not affiliated with the National Football League or the NCAA. For more information, contact us here. Use of this site is for entertainment purposes only.

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