Minnesota at Green Bay .................Packers. GB will have to shut down the Vikings early after comming off last weeks comeback flourish against the Chargers. Break their "winning high" and watch the Vikingssettle into their mundane struggle. Second half... watch for a Viking attempt for a quick score to try and regain momentum.
Jacksonville at Tennessee ............Jaguars have to shut down the pass. They are giving up too many aerial yards. Last week alone they gave up over 400 passing yards. On the other hand.... the Titan defense is currently ranked second overall. This should prove to be a painful match up for both teams but I would have to go with the Titans.
St. Louis at New Orleans...............I would say the Saints, but... the Rams are due. Might as well be against the Saints. The Saints will have to watch out for that rookie back for the Rams. That guy is a serious threat. Contain him and the game will end with a Saints victory. If not... the Rams will get their first win of the season. remember... the Saints started out winless as well. All it takes is a win and spirit returns to a ballclub.
Philadelphia at Washington............The Skins need to get the ball in the endzone and quit relying on field goals to win. McNabb needs to be benched and give Feely the helm. It seems McNabb needs a walker to come onto the field and a couple stamps and a mailman to move the ball more than twenty yards. The Eagles will be hurting at strong safety after losing him in an injury against Dallas last week. Considine is out for the season. Unless the Eagles wake up and smell the coffee... this will be a Skin's win.
Buffalo at Miami .......................Buffalo wants to keep their playoff hopes alive. Miami just wants to win a game. Who wants their goal more? I think that is what it will come down to. Watch for the Bills to come out and try an early smackdown on Miami just to take any hopes away from them and settle the game into another route for the Dolphins. Buffalo should win this one.
Atlanta at Carolina ..................Panthers. Both teams need a win. Atlanta can still be in the running for post season with a win. They are almost assured of a later win against the Rams, and the rest of the division games are home field advantage for them. The Panthers need this win badly to snap their home field losing streak this season. I have to say this one is a tossup. Will either be a blowout Panther win or a Falcon squeaker.
Denver at Kansas City..............Chiefs. I hate Denver. LOL
Cleveland at Pittsburgh ..............Steelers as long as they don't walk in overconfident. Watch the bad blood between Farrior and Winslow. These two teams will be playing for first place in the division. Expect some good smashmouth football. Big Ben will look for an immediate big play score. The Browns may try but will have to settle for small gains to move the ball. This will definitely be a test for the Browns. The final score will tell if they pass. The Browns will have to put some impressive points on the board in order to have hopes of winning. Their defense... well... it has sucked all season. This is a serious concern when faced with the Steeler Big Ben assault and the ever-present running game. The Steelers are riding the victory high and the Browns are playing to stay alive and praying for a win in order to take first place in the division.
Cincinnati at Baltimore..............Bengals if they don't self destruct in the second half. This is a basement battle with both teams fighting to avoid being in last place in the division. It is unlikely either team will enjoy post season play though stranger things have happened. Right now... this is pretty much just playing to NOT be in the basement. It might be an interesting game if the Ravens remember to bring their offense this week and the Bengals remember bring their defense back out on the field for the second half. Maybe the Bengals will do better next year when the wounded return and the penal league thins out when many of their players get parole.
Detroit at Arizona..................Lions are eyeballing post season play and look to keep pace with the4 Packers. They are one game down I think so that division race is still up for grabs. They are comming off a win over the Broncos last week and have the Cards in their gunsights. Arizona will have to put pressure on the QB and rush like there is no tomorrow to keep the Lions off balance at the line. I look for a Lion victory.
Dallas at NY Giants................Cowboys on top. Both teams doing extremely well this season. NY can be blessed or cursed comming off their bye week. They will either be rested and in good shape or they will be slow and sluggish. I ex0expect a combination of both. They will have to take an early lead and dominate in order to win. I don't see that happening. The Cowboys are hunting and are making their presence known.
Chicago at Oakland ............This could go either way.... though I expect field goal(s) to be the deciding factor. Try not to fall asleep watching this game.
Indianapolis at San Diego ...........After last weeks loss to the Pats... I expect the Colts to come out loaded for bear. They need to reaffirm their dominance and get back on track and win the mental game. They are a great team. They just need to prove it to themselves again. This should not be a problem. On the flipside... the Charges need to work past the embarrassment suffered against the Vikings. For the Colts... business as usual. For the Chargers... its a "gotta do" to get back on track... but don't look for anything great from them this year. Its not like there is a real talented battle for their division.
San Fransisco at Seattle (Monday night).............. 49'ers will have to focus on shutting down the pass against the Hawks. Neither team is burning up the ratings or record books this year. Hasselbeck has had a great record against the 49'ers. I expect that to continue with the Seahawks comming out on top. They lead their division... but... thats not really saying much this year.
Rag's Halfday Report........ 0 - 0Minnesota at Green Bay............ 34 - 0 Packers. What a slaughter. The Vikings couldn't get any offense going at all. No passing game, no running game. No defense was happening either. So much for being second overall against the running game. We won't even talk about shutting down the pass. Yeah we will. LOL They allowed over 350 yards passing. Vikings sucked bad. Nuff said.
1 - 0Jacksonville at Tennessee............ Titans blew this one. 28 - 13. The Jags didn't really play an impressive game... but what I think killed the Titans was themselves. They had three turnovers and 9 penalties for over 50 yards. I don't care who you are... when you commit those sins, you are in deep shit.
1 - 1St. Louis at New Orleans.............. 37 - 29 Rams. Well... I predicted wrong but did say the Rams were due. The bill came in the mail and the Saints came up short. The Rams passed for over 300 yards and had over 100 yards rushing. The Rams held the Saints to only 7 points the first three quarters... but nearly blew it when the Saints came back and pounded out 22 points in the fourth. So Yeah... the Rams won... but it came down to the fourth quarter and alot of luck.
1 - 2Philadelphia at Washington............. 33 - 25 Eagles. The score really doesn't tell the story. Total yards were 379 - 361.... 2 turnovers each.... time of possession was about 5 min difference... but once again... penalties made the difference in my eyes. The Skins just blew it with 11 penalties for over 70 yards. HELLO.... Wake up Skins! Even McNabb managed to bring a book of stamps.
1 - 3Buffalo at Miami ....................... 13 - 10 Buffalo. They had to actually work for it but the Bills pulled it off. The Bill's dream of playoffs is still alive but lets face it.... it will be a nightmare when all is said and done.
2 - 3Atlanta at Carolina .................. 20 - 13 Falcons. What can I say... upset. I did call it when I said it would be a Falcon squeaker. That slant to the Falcons TE giving them a TD with about 30 seconds to play did it. The Panthers were unable to answer that score.
2 - 4Denver at Kansas City.............. 27 - 11 Broncos. I still hate the Broncos. Chiefs lost their QB in the third quarter... and four turnovers pretty much had the Chiefs shooting themselves in the foot.
2 - 5Cleveland at Pittsburgh .............. 28 - 31 Steelers. Though I love my Steelers they were a sorry lot today. They played far below their potential and as I feared they walked out overconfident and just barely won this game. The Browns are for real... but how real remains yet to be seen since the Steelers never really tested them as I had hoped. Big Ben did manage to run for more yards than the entire Browns offense... though that is not saying much. Special teams gave up a return for a TD in the fourth that kept the Brown's hopes alive. The Steelers failed to execute and nearly lost this game. Though the Steelers have locked up their division... and unless they vanish they have secured a spot in the playoffs.... if they don't get sharp and hungry again their post season play will be short lived.
3 - 5Cincinnati at Baltimore.............. 3 - 0 Bengals in progress
Detroit at Arizona.................. 7 - 3 Lions in progress
Dallas at NY Giants................ 14 - 10 Giants in progress
Chicago at Oakland ............ 3 - 3 in progress
Indianapolis at San Diego ........... (8:15 PM Kickoff)
San Fransisco at Seattle (Monday night)..............
