Wellness

[gardenman]

Welcome to the first half of the halfway mark of the season. With sixteen games and a bye we end up with two weekends making up the halfway mark depending on where a team's bye lies. Those teams who haven't had a bye yet are at the halfway mark while those teams that have had a bye are still a week away.

This week's games start out with Tampa Bay at Minnesota. I'm picking Minnesota to win this one, but I've been horrible on Thursday night games so the smart money would be on Tampa.

Jacksonville goes to Green Bay. It's nearly impossible to imagine a way Jacksonville wins this game, so I'm going with Green Bay.

Miami goes to NJ/NY to play the Jets. I'm going against the grain and picking the Dolphins here. With Hurricane Sandy heading for the area and the Dolphins more used to hurricane's being from Miami I'll go with Miami. (Actually I think Miami will want the game more than the Jets and that's why they'll win.)

San Diego goes to Cleveland. I'm not sure what the deal is with Richardson, the rookie back from the Browns. He seems to be at war with the coaching staff and that's not good for the Browns. I'll give this one to San Diego.

Indy goes to Tennessee. I could see this game going either way. I think Tennessee should win, but for some reason my gut says Indy and I'm going with my gut again. I'll take Indy.

New England goes to Saint Louis. Nearly everyone is picking New England in this game but I'm going against the odds and picking the Rams. Playing in domes is never easy. The Patriots defense isn't good. I'm really going out on a limb here and picking the Rams.

The Falcons come to Philly. A couple of things are in the Eagles favor heading into this game. One, we're 13-0 coming off the bye. Two, with a new defensive coordinator the Falcons won't know what's going to hit them. They have no film showing what Bowles will do on defense, or what his tendencies are. The things working against the Eagles are that Tony Gonzalez needs one TD catch for his hundredth and he always kills us. I'm betting he gets that hundredth catch against us. (Possibly his 101st and 102nd too.) I'm picking the Eagles and praying we don't have two, three or more turnovers. We've been moving the ball well and playing decent defense, but special teams and turnovers have been killing us. Our top special teams players (Colt Anderson, Akeem Jordan, Riley Cooper) are back healthy and playing again and the team is generally pretty healthy now, so the special teams should be better. Vick keeps saying the right things about controlling turnovers and if he can fnally get that under control then we should be able to pull out the win. I'm picking the Eagles, but I'm not wildly confident.

Carolina goes to Chicago. Cam Newton is a huge disappointment this year. I'll pick Chicago.

Seattle goes to Detroit. A couple of dome teams playing each other. I think Seattle is the better team, but Detroit can't afford to lose, so I'll give the edge to Detroit. They need the game more.

Washington goes to Pittsburgh. This should be an entertaining game as the Steelers defense tries to figure out what to do with RGIII. I'm giving the edge to Pittsburgh but it's not a big edge. If RGIII can get some more offensive weapons then the Redskins will be trouble.

Oakland goes to KC. I'm not sure either team cares who wins, but KC isn't an easy place to play, so I'll give them the slightest edge here.

The Giants go to Dallas. The Giants aren't very good against NFC East teams (3-3 last year 1-2 so far this year,) but I've got them beating the Cowboys this week. (I really want the Cowboys to beat them though.)

The Saints play the Broncos in Denver. The popular pick seems to be the Broncos, but I'm picking the Saints. Drew Brees won't let that team die. I wouldn't be stunned to see them finish 12-4 from the 2-4 they're now at. The Saints defense has been a mess, but Spagnuolo is a good coordinator and the players should be buying into his system now, so they should start playing better.

And finally, the 49ers go to Arizona for Monday night. I'm picking the Niners here. I'm still not impressed by the Niners passing game, but they're playing good team football, so I'll give them the win here.