Week 10 Predictions

Denver 20, Cleveland 27 - Well I guess if you're going to make your NFL starting debut, you might as well start at home against a horrible defense that gave up a 300 yard game to Chad Pennington the week previous. The Browns aren't playing a good team until the Colts come to town in week 13, so we'll have plenty of time to see whether or not he's ready to play at the NFL level by then.

New Orleans 27, Atlanta 24 - If Brees and company can't beat the Falcons on the road they might as well give up on the playoff hunt. Sure, Matt Ryan actually looks pretty good... but it's still the Falcons.

Tennessee 30, Chicago 16 - Rex Grossman is starting for the Bears, which is pretty much all one needs to know about who should win this game.

Jacksonville 27, Detroit 23 - Will Daunte Culpepper play? Honestly I don't think that's the best idea considering that ever since his casual trot out of the back of the end zone a couple weeks ago, Orlovsky has actually kept the Lions competitive against some decent teams. Jacksonville, like the rest of the AFC South, is in bad shape after two inexplicable losses against the Browns and the Bengals.

Baltimore 28, Houston 20 - Sage Rosenfels is not a bad backup. Sure he made some stupid mistakes in the game against Indianapolis, but don't count on that happening again. The Texans defense, however, is sieve-like, and considering Joe Flacco put up 30 points against the similarily defensively-challenged Browns, the Ravens ought to win handily.

Seattle 17, Miami 27 - Miami dominated Denver on both sides of the ball. The Seahawks can't stop anything, so I don't think there's any reason to suspect an upset here. How's Julius Jones working out for you?

Green Bay 28, Minnesota 24 - The Packers played with the league's best team for about 65 minutes in week 9. Now they get to play the floundering Vikings, who, despite major offseason acquisitions on defense, have averaged 26.4 points allowed. If Aaron Rodgers can protect the ball a little more, the Packers should be able to sweep the series.

Buffalo 17, New England 28 - An unusual mistake-filled game against the Colts from Bill Belichick won't be repeated at home against a team that's probably the biggest rival to the Patriots' chances of winning the division. The Bills have fallen to 0-2 in the AFC East, and haven't won on the road against New England since 2000 under Doug Flutie.

St. Louis 20, NYJ 27 - Two factors will be significant in the Rams' upcoming loss to the Jets. First, no West Coast team traveling East has won a game yet this season. Second, it's the Rams.

Carolina 30, Oakland 10 - Oakland recently announced they would be releasing several veteran players as early as Wednesday, including DeAngelo Hall. Too bad they gave up a second and sixth round draft pick for him. So while Nnamdi Asomugha should shut down Steve Smith most of the afternoon, if you've got Muhsin Muhammed on your fantasy team he's going to have a big day against whoever is Hall's replacement.

Indianapolis 14, Pittsburgh 24 - The Colts should be that much closer to exiting the playoff picture against a Steelers team that embarrassed the Redskins on Monday night, despite having Byron Leftwich under center. I wouldn't expect the Colts defense to be that strong against the run, although I wouldn't be surprised if Willie Parker re-hurt himself trying to duck out of bounds.

Kansas City 20, San Diego 31 - After a tough loss to the Saints in London, the Chargers should get back on track against the Chiefs. As odd as it sounds, the Chiefs have put up two respectable games in a row against teams that aren't exactly pushovers. Now we'll see how the youth movement fares on the road.

NYG 27, Philadelphia 24 - This should be the game of the week, pitting two of the league's most intriguing teams against each other. The Giants are looking every bit like a team that means to repeat their Super Bowl season. Their defense is stifling and the offense has been doing a great job keeping them off the field behind Brandon Jacobs and Derrick Ward. Eli Manning has been spectacular on third down. The Eagles are a hard team to figure out. The defense is in the top 10 against both the run and the pass, but the offense struggled against the only good defense they've played so far this year (the Redskins, where the offense only put up 10 points). The Giants have the momentum after thrashing the archrival Cowboys last week.

San Francisco 17, Arizona 34 - Why on Earth is this a Monday night game? San Francisco is looking at a repeat of last season- make some noise early, hit rock bottom, and then start to show signs of life towards the end of the season. Maybe Mike Singletary will drop his pants again after Kurt Warner and company pick apart the porous secondary. Patrick Willis can't have 18-tackle games if all of the plays are 20 yards down the field, after all.