Wellness

[gardenman]

The first game this week is Philadelphia at Buffalo. Philly's coming into this game pretty beat up and beaten down, but the players seem to be in a fighting mood this week and we could see the Eagles rebound. Trent Cole and Jason Peters, two of the Eagles perennial Pro-Bowlers are out with injuries this week weakening both lines, but the Eagles have decent depth and should be okay for a few weeks with them out. The Eagles' defense has been the problem this year. They've gotten good pressure on the quarterbacks using their wide nine alignment but the running game has been killing them. The linebackers and safeties have been largely ineffective in the pass defense also. Expect to see the Bills pass to their tight ends and running backs a lot and also run the ball a lot. It should be a close game, but the Eagles are due to pull out a win in a close game. I've got the Eagles winning this one, but it won't be easy.

Next up is New Orleans at Carolina. New Orleans should win, but Carolina and Cam Newton are really surprising me this year. I wasn't expecting them to play nearly as well as they are. Carolina's still a year or two away from being consistently good, but they're on the right track and are likely to be very good in the foreseeable future, but New Orleans should win this game.

Oakland plays at Houston. Both teams are improved over last year and both are capable of winning this game, but I think this is Houston's year. I expect to see Houston win this game at home.

Next up is Kansas City at Indianapolis. The Colts have been consistently improving since thier first game (not that it was hard to improve from that) and I think they'll win this game, but Kansas City surprised me by winning last week and winning tends to breed winning, so I wouldn't be shocked to see Kansas City kick Indy while they're down. I think Indy will win, but this could be a lot closer than you would have thought at the start of the season.

Cincinnati at Jacksonville. I expect to see Cincinnati win this game. Jacksonville has too many issues going on down there.

Arizona at Minnesota is an interesting game. Both teams have been very good not too many years ago and both teams have had massive quarterback issues since they were good. Arizona has moved on from Kurt Warner to Kevin Kolb and hope he's their quarterback of the future while Minnesota has tried to squeeze another year or two out of Donovan McNabb after the Brett Favre fiasco. I think Arizona's on the right track and I suspect they'll beat the Vikings, but the game should be close. If the Vikings ever figure out how to play a full game they could be very, very impressive, but they've failed to play a full game yet. I think Arizona will squeeze out a victory here.

The Seahawks travel to New Jersey to play the Giants. This could be a very one-sided game in favor of the Giants. The Seahawks made a huge mistake in letting Matt Hasselbeck go and they're paying the price for that mistake now. They seem to be playing to get Andrew Luck next year and I think the Giants will be only too happy to help them in that pursuit.

Tennessee at Pittsburgh is a good game. Ben Roethlisberger left the last game on crutches and in a boot, so his health is a tad iffy (at best) and Tennessee is playing pretty well with Matt Hasselbeck at quarterback. I think I'd give the nod to Tennessee this week.

Tampa Bay at San Francisco. I think Tampa Bay is the better team here. San Francisco just spent two weeks on the East Coast and I suspect they had a lot of distractions to deal with after being gone so long. I expect to see Tampa Bay steal this game.

San Diego at Denver. The Chargers should win this game pretty easily. Denver has the problem of having three quarterbacks which typically means you don't have the 'one' quarterback. They've got Kyle Orton, Brady Quinn, and and Tim Tebow. None of those guys really seems to be 'the' quarterback so Denver's in big trouble.

Then we have the Jets at the Patriots. This could be the be the best game of the weekend. These two teams do not like each other. The Patriots look pretty unstoppable right now, but their defense isn't exactly pitching shutouts. The Jets need a good game from Mark Sanchez to stay competitive and they need their defense to be at full speed and breathing fire. Brady has made some bad plays lately (four interceptions against the Bills) but I think the Patriots will win this game.

The Sunday night game is Green Bay at Atlanta. I think Green Bay will roll to an easy win in this game. They're playing very well right now and Atlanta's not playing so well. The dome gives Atlanta a bit of an advantage, but Aaron Rodgers is just too good right now.

The Monday night game will be another tester for the Lions as Chicago goes to Detroit. This is a statement game for both teams and I'd have to give the edge to the Lions. Hopefully they'll kick the ball away from Devin Hester and if they can do that, they should be able to win this game.