The Vikings had a bye last week. It is unknown whether it will be Tarvaris Jackson or Kelly Holcomb starting at QB this week. The Bears beat the Packers in Green Bay last week on SNF. QB Brian Griese looked decent, throwing for 214 yards, 2 TDs, and only 1 INT. But the running game averaged less than three yards per carry. This should be another low-scoring contest.
RJ's Pick - CHICAGO BY 3
Philadelphia (1-3) at New York Jets (1-4) - 1:00 pm (Sheridan's Line: Eagles by 3)
The Philadelphia Phillies Eagles took last week off. (Heh.) RB Brian Westbrook should be back in action this week. This will be the second game in row the Eagles have played at "The Meadowlands" (they played, and lost to, the Giants in Week Four). The Jets lost their last game to the Giants as well, 35-24 in Week Five. QB Chad Pennington has thrown 5 INTs in the last two weeks, and could be replaced by Kellen Clemens unless his performance improves soon. Like, say, by halftime this Sunday. This is a tough game to predict, because the Eagles are capable of scoring anywhere from 3 to 56 points.
RJ's Pick - PHILADELPHIA BY 5
St. Louis (0-5) at Baltimore (3-2) - 1:00 pm (Sheridan's Line: Ravens by 9½)
The Rams lost at home to the Cardinals last week. QB Gus Frerotte did not play particularly well starting for the injured Marc Bulger. Then again, Marc Bulger hadn't been playing very well either. RB Steven Jackson will miss his third consecutive game this week, WR Isaac Bruce will miss his second, and return specialist Dante' Hall is likely out for at least two games due to an ankle injury he suffered last week. Oh, and the majority of the starters on the offensive line are still on life-support. But it's not just the offense that's a problem for Saint Louis; their defense has allowed the second most points in the NFC. This team could really use a bye week (but they'll have to wait until Week Nine for that). The Ravens edged San Francisco 9-7 in Week Five. TE Todd Heap should be able to play this Sunday after sitting out last week. This one could get ugly.
RJ's Pick - BALTIMORE BY 15
Tennessee (3-1) at Tampa Bay (3-2) - 1:00 pm (Sheridan's Line: Buccaneers by 3)
The Titans beat Atlanta last week. They've allowed just 59 points in four games, or 14.75 per game. But QB Vince Young is having an "I-scored-a-six-on-the-Wonderlic" kind of season so far, with just 3 TDs, 5 INTs, and a 67.2 quarterback rating (I mean, like all decent human beings, I feel a deep and abiding hatred towards Merril Hoge. But when a man's right, he's right). Tampa Bay got shredded by the Colts last week. RB Michael Pittman was injured in that game, and is likely to be out for at least six weeks. Unfortunately for the Bucs, I don't believe Earnest Graham is going to be an adequate replacement for Pittman. So it looks like Tampa Bay will be relying increasingly on the arm of the ageless Jeff Garcia. He's been superb so far, with 4 TDs, 0 INTs, and a 103.6 quarterback rating. I'll go with the Buccaneers in a low-scoring affair.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - RJ
Mr. Sussman's picks are requested sometime before the completion of the games this week... ;-)
2 - RJ
UPDATE: The Panthers signed QB Vinny Testaverde, 43, on Wednesday. So, if Carr can't play due to his injury, it's likely that he will start instead of the rookie Moore.
3 - Fritz
You should never ever go against the Vikes, you should of picked the Vikes and mabye your record would of been one better.
Peace Out "84"
4 - Matthew T. Sussman
Fine, fine, fine.
Tampa Bay
Chicago
Jacksonville
Cleveland
St. Louis
Washington
Kansas City
Philadelphia
Arizona
Oakland
Dallas
Seattle
New York Giants
5 - DOM @ HSU
alright i believe im also 46-30 for the season.. this week is on the more boring side, to me at least.. pats, bears, GB.. bout the only games im really interested in.. (although i will still be glued to the TV and computer like I usually am on sundays)
anyways here she goes..
KC
JACKSONVILLE - had two weeks to prepare for HOU who gives them trouble.
CLEVELAND
CHICAGO
PHILADELPHIA
BALTIMORE - was honestly going to take STL but i'll let Suss deal with it :)
TB
GB
ARIZONA
NE
SD
NO...
NYG
6 - Mad Croc Chris MoneyMaker
Danny Sheridan's odds 10-13-07
VS spread
Kansas City +3
Jacksonville -6.5
Miami +4.5
Minnesota +5
NYJ +3
St. Louis +9.5
Tampa Bay -3
Green Bay -3
Carolina +4.5
New England -5
Oakland +10
New Orleans +6.5
NYG -3
7 - The Theory
Cincinnati (1-3) at Kansas City (2-3)... Neither. Yeah, neither. Ok. Cincinnati. No wait. yeah. No. Maybe. Ummm... Cincinnati.
Houston (3-2) at Jacksonville (3-1)... Jacksonville. Because they are the better team.
Miami (0-5) at Cleveland (2-3)... Give this one to the Dog Pound. Cleveland will find .500 again.
Minnesota (1-3) at Chicago (2-3)... Meh. Chicago. Only because I have more faith in Minnesota to be completely terrible than Grossman.
Philadelphia (1-3) at New York Jets (1-4)... The Eagles will prove RJ wrong and score exactly zero points. Ok, maybe not. But if they do score zero, you heard it here first. This game essentially boils down to Westbrook. If this is the Westbrook that Westbrook was against Detroit Philly will waltz away with the victory. If Westbrook is either still not healthy or the Jets find a way to neutralize his presence... look at a Jets win. Because I have no faith in the Eagles completely avoiding cocking this season up I give the edge to NY.
St. Louis (0-5) at Baltimore (3-2)... I hate Baltimore with a passion (a sentiment that has been well chronicled on this site), so I would love to see them drop this game. However, they ARE the better team. So they'll win. Drat and blast.
Tennessee (3-1) at Tampa Bay (3-2)... I said at the beginning of the season that I don't bet against Garcia. and I won't here, either. Tampa Bay.
Washington (3-1) at Green Bay (4-1)... Green Bay. For no good reason other than I like the idea of Favre proving everyone wrong this year.
Carolina (3-2) at Arizona (3-2)...What, Warner is still alive? Well well well. Carolina should prevail.
New England (5-0) at Dallas (5-0)... New England Patriots
Oakland (2-2) at San Diego (2-3)... San Diego.
New Orleans (0-4) at Seattle (3-2)... Seattle.
New York Giants (3-2) at Atlanta (1-4)... NYG. I really am distressed that Atlanta has been blessed with a win this year. I was hopping they'd go oh-fer.
8 - RJ
15-hour warning, Alessandro... ;-)
9 - alessandro
Bengals, Jags, Browns, Bears, Eagles, Ravens, Titans, Packers, Cardinals, Patriots, Chargers, Seahawks, Giants
10 - alessandro
Didn't see #8; did I beat the evil warning?
Off to watch Springsteen in Ottawa in the morning so I will be missing the games.
11 - RJ
Enjoy the concert, Alessandro! :-)
12 - RJ
Final Scores:
Baltimore 22, Rams 3 - RJ 1-0 (Key Stats: Gus Frerotte threw five picks...Matt Stover kicked five field goals...)
Eagles 16, Jets 9 - RJ 2-0 (Key stats: Chad Pennington was just 11-for-21 with 128 yards, 0 TDs, and 1 INT...Brian Westbrook ran for 120 yards and caught 6 passes for 36 yards...)
13 - RJ
Final Scores:
Jags 37, Texans 17 - RJ 3-0 (Key stats: David Garrard completed 22 of 34 passing attempts for 221 yards, 2 TDs, and 0 INTs...Jacksonville rushed for a total of 244 yards...Sage Rosenfels came into the game in the 4th quarter and completed 11 of 12 passes for 82 yards and a TD in a losing effort...)
Tampa Bay 13, Titans 10 - RJ 4-0 (Key stats: Jeff Garcia was 20-for-31 passing, with 274 yards, 1 TD, and 0 INTs...Vince Young left the game in the 3rd quarter with a leg injury...Tampa Bay gains just 30 yards on the ground...)
14 - RJ
Final Scores:
KC 27, Cincinnati 20 - RJ 5-0 (Key stats: Damon Huard completed 25 of 35 passes for 264 yards, 2 TDs, and 0 INTs...Larry Johnson rushed for 119 yards and a TD...Chiefs DE Jared Allen recorded 2.5 sacks and forced a fumble...)
Packers 17, Redskins 14 - RJ 6-0 (Key stats: Brett Favre threw for just 188 yards, with zero TDs and two picks, Packers rookie kicker Mason Crosby made only one of three field goal attempts, and Green Bay rushed for just 56 yards, but they still got the win...)
15 - RJ
Final Score:
Browns 41, Miami 31 - RJ 7-0(!) (Key stats: Derek Anderson threw for 245 yards, with 3 TDs and 0 INTs...Braylon Edwards caught 3 TD passes...Cleo Lemon threw for two TDs and ran for two more, but also threw two picks...Ronnie Brown ran for 101 yards on 19 carries and caught nine passes for 69 yards...Dolphins TE David Martin caught just three passes for 18 yards, but two of those catches were for TDs...)
16 - RJ
Final Score:
Vikings 34, Bears 31 - RJ 7-1 (Key stats: The Bears committed 4 turnovers, while the Vikings committed none...Tarvaris Jackson was just 9 of 23 passing, but had 1 TD and 0 INTs...rookie RB Adrian Peterson ran for 224 yards and 3 TDs on 20 carries...Devin Hester returned a punt for a TD, and also caught an 81-yard pass for a TD late in the 4th quarter...)
17 - RJ
ESPN's NFL "experts" through 8 games:
Wickersham 7-1
Salisbury 5-3
Hoge 5-3
Jaworski 6-2
Schlereth 5-2**
Allen 5-3
Mortensen 4-4
Golic 5-3
Accuscore 6-2
**Schlereth did not make a pick for the Cincinnati-Kansas City game...
18 - RJ
Final Score:
SD 28, Oakland 14 - RJ 8-1 (Key stats: LaDainian Tomlinson rushes for 198 yards and 4 TDs...Daunte Culpepper throws two picks...)
Carolina 25, Arizona 10 - RJ 8-2 (Key stat: Kurt Warner injured early in the game...his replacement, Tim Rattay, completes just 12 of 24 passes for 159 yards, 0 TDs, and 3 INTs...Vinny Testaverde completes 20 of 33 passes for 206 yards, 1 TD, and 0 INTs...)
19 - RJ
Final Score:
NE 48, Dallas 27 - RJ 9-2 (Key stats: The Patriots have scored at least 34 points in each of their six games...The Cowboys sacked Tom Brady three times, matching the total number of sacks New England's offensive line had allowed through their first five games...Brady was extremely impressive once again, completing 31 of 46 passes for 388 yards, a career record 5 TDs, and 0 INTs...Wes Welker caught 11 passes for 124 yards and 2 TDs...)
20 - RJ
ESPN's NFL "experts" through 11 games:
Wickersham 9-2
Salisbury 7-4
Hoge 7-4
Jaworski 8-3
Schlereth 7-3
Allen 7-4
Mortensen 6-5
Golic 7-4
Accuscore 8-3
21 - RJ
BlogCritics Magazine elite pickers through 11 games:
RJ - 9-2
Suss - 5-6
"Fritz" - 1-0(?)
DOM - 9-2
Theory - 8-3
Alessandro - 7-4
(Unfortunately, Elizabeth Edwards, Max Cleland, and a volunteer fireman all declined to pick this week...however, we suspect they would have gone 0-1...) :-/
22 - RJ
Oh, yeah, I received an email a few days ago with a (female) reader's picks. So, here are Tabby's picks for Week Six:
vikings~BEARS - 0-1
dolphins~BROWNS (I pick the COLTS because brown is ugly and Miami sucks)[?] - 1-1
redskins~PACKERS - 2-1
texans~JAGS (gotta go for the Floriduh team, and we have prettier grass) - 3-1
RAMS~ravens - 3-2
BENGAL~chiefs - 3-3
TITANS~bucs (I know it's a Florida team but TN has shinier uniforms) - 3-4
eagles~JETS - 3-5
PANTHERS~cardinals - 4-5
pats~COWBOYS (a cowboy could totally hog-tie a patriot) - 4-6
RAIDERS~chargers - 4-7
SAINTS~seahawks (they are saints after all!) - unknown
GIANTS~falcons - unknown
23 - RJ
Final Score:
Saints 28, Seattle 17 - RJ 9-3 (Key stats: Drew Brees completes 25 of 36 passes for 246 yards, 2 TDs, and 0 INTs...Matt Hasselbeck made some poor decisions in the 4th quarter, and head coach Mike Holmgren inexplicably chose not to kick a field goal with just over a minute to play in the 4th quarter, and instead went for it on fourth down and nine, which led to an incomplete pass, and essentially the end of the game...)
24 - Mad Croc Chris MoneyMaker
mad croc actually very exceptional ats...
25 - DOM @ HSU
go giants