Wellness

[gardenman]

Week ten????? What happened to the first nine? Jeez, this season is flying by! Oh well, on to the picks.

First up is Washington at Minnesota. I'm picking Washington to win, but I wouldn't be shocked to see Minnesota pull the upset here. A home game before a national audience can motivate a team. The Vikings are a bit lacking at quarterback, but Adrian Peterson could have a big game against the Redskins. I think this will be a close game, but I've got the Redskins pulling it out.

The Bengals play the Ravens. I've got to go with the Bengals here. The Ravens are just too up and down to be able to pick them.

The Lions play the Bears. I'm going against the crowd here and picking the Bears. That field in Chicago starts to get pretty grungy this time of year and I'm betting a few of the Lions will find their traction less than ideal. I'll probably be wrong, but I'm going with the Bears.

The Eagles go to Green Bay in the battle of the back-up quarterbacks. Nick Foles is coming off a seven touchdown performance on the road against a defense that was supposed to be good while Seneca Wallace is coming off a poor performance. A week of practice will help Seneca, but the Eagle defense, despite a low ranking, is playing well these last three weeks. Two of the Eagles coaches (both coordinators) came from Cleveland where Seneca Wallace tried to make the team in 2012 but fell short. (They had him for an entire offseason and training camp and there's a pretty good chance they know him better than the Packers coaches who just picked him up before the season.) I'm picking the Eagles in a game that could get ugly for either team. If the Nick Foles that showed up in Dallas shows up again then the Eagles could get crushed, but that Nick Foles seems to be the exception. If the Nick Foles we saw in Tampa and Oakland shows up then the Packers could find themselves in a deep hole and have to throw away the gameplan to try and catch up and doing that with Seneca Wallace is probably not something they want to do. It will be an interesting game to watch.

Saint Louis goes to Indianapolis. I've got to go with Indy here.

Seattle goes to Atlanta. I thought Atlanta's pride would kick in last week and they'd start playing better football. I was wrong. I'm thinking they have no heart now and will lose badly. I'm picking Seattle. It will be an interesting offseason in Atlanta. That team's got some issues that they've got to get sorted out.

Oakland plays the Giants. I'm going against the grain again and picking the Raiders here. They got embarrassed last week, but they game planned to take away the Eagles running game and force the Eagles to beat them passing the ball. They didn't adjust well when the Eagles did that. My gut tells me the Raiders won't be in top form coming east for an early game, but I'm thinking the Giants will go into this game assuming Eli Manning will be able to do what Nick Foles did, but the Raiders will be playing a different style of defense against the Giants. I think it will be a close game, but I've got the Raiders edging this one out. I'm not a huge fan of Pryor's (he tends to make one read and then run) but his running ability could give the Giants some issues. I could be terribly wrong, but my gut says the Raiders are the better of those two teams right now.

Jacksonville goes to Tennessee. In that race for the first overall draft pick Jacksonville will maintain their place and lose to Tennessee.

Buffalo goes to Pittsburgh. I'm going with the Bills here.

Carolina goes to San Francisco. I think this will be a pretty close game but I've got to give the edge to the Niners.

Houston goes to Arizona. I'll give an edge to the Cards.

Denver goes to San Diego. This may be the best game of the weekend. I've got to give the edge to the Broncos though.

Dallas goes to New Orleans. I've got to give the edge to the Saints. They're just playing too well right now. The Cowboys live and die on Romo's arm and if something happens to him, they're in big trouble. The Saints will be trying to make something happen to Romo. I'm thinking Rob Ryan will be throwing a few wrinkles at the Cowboys this week. I'm guessing he wasn't especially happy about being fired by them. Romo might as well be wearing a bulls-eye on his jersey this week as he'll be the big target of the Saints. The Cowboys' offensive line will have to be perfect and without Waters, that's not likely to happen. The Cowboy backs will have to be ready to pick up blitzes coming from Mars and I don't think they'll be able to handle what Rob Ryan throws at them. The Cowboys are apt to get a few big plays against the Saints, but the Saints will win the war.

And Miami (team dysfunction) goes to Tampa on Monday night. With the chaos going on in Miami right now and the distraciton that's created and Tampa almost (somehow) beating Seattle last week, I'm giving the edge to Tampa here. Miami players have faced enormous distractions and disruptions this week and football teams don't generally respond well to distractions.