NFL 2011 Week 9 Predictions

The official halfway point of the season! All I have to do is make up two games a week to have a slight lead going into the playoffs . . . Easy!

On a more serious note, this week has some good games--with the Sunday and Monday night games perhaps the best duo so far this season . . .

Jets at Bills

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The Wife: Jets

Me: Jets (it takes me a while to trust a team that got good all of a sudden, like the Bills, so for now I go with the established winners . . .)

Steve: Bills

Browns at Texans

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The Wife: Texans

Me: Texans (considering their lack of big-name players, the Browns defense is really doing exceptionally well, but an offense that averages just 15.3 points per game, tied for 28th in the league, is not going to produce many wins . . .)

Steve: Texans

Dolphins at Chiefs

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The Wife: Chiefs

Me: Chiefs (though Matt Moore is doing halfway decent. Apropos of nothing, I wonder why the Dolphins moved so far away from the wildcat offense that seemed to be really producing for them a couple of years back?)

Steve: Chiefs

Seahawks at Cowboys

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The Wife: Cowboys

Me: Cowboys (as Jim Mora said on No Huddle the other night sometimes it becomes obvious why back-ups were back-ups, and with Tavaris Jackson and Charlie Whitehurst that seems to be the case)

Steve: Cowboys

49ers at Redskins

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The Wife: 49ers

Me: 49ers (so is Beck better than Grossman? Or are they both just bad?)

Steve: 49ers ("Ok, you can use this game to get one back on me. I think the '9ers are going to have a bad showing. Don't know why, just a feeling.")

Bucs at Saints

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The Wife: Saints

Me: Saints (both teams have had some wild inconsistency this year, but the Saints have more core firepower . . .)

Steve: Bucs ("NO hasn't looked great this year despite that game 2 weeks ago in my opinion and lose again this week.")

Falcons at Colts

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The Wife: Falcons

Me: Falcons (for what it's worth, at least Curtis Painter has shown he can be a decent back-up, something that was very much in doubt at the beginning of the season)

Steve: Falcons ("Is Indy going to win any this year? Was going to pick them again but just don't think this will be the game they win.")

Broncos at Raiders

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The Wife: Raiders

Me: Broncos (my theory: Palmer is still going to be hurling picks left and right)

Steve: Raiders ("I typed Denver half a dozen times before finally settling on Oakland. This could go either way as I am not sold on Tebow and the entire Broncos, but I don't think Oakland is going to be a good team this week either.")

Bengals at Titans

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The Wife: Titans

Me: Bengals (I'd actually like to see the Bengals play this year . . . one of the downsides of a network broadcast schedule premised on what teams were good last year)

Steve: Bengals ("Screw Johnson. He needs benched.")

Giants at Pats

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The Wife: Patriots

Me: Patriots

Steve: Patriots

Packers at Chargers

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The Wife: Packers

Me: Packers (almost picked the Chargers just for the hell of it, but they've been really weird this season and I'm not that desperate yet)

Steve: Packers ("They have a chance to go 16-0 this year. Two games against Detroit still though and that might be their biggest tests. Only team to beat them this year ... Cleveland the first week of the preseason...")

Rams at Cardinals

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The Wife: Rams

Me: Rams (was going to pick Cardinals, but then heard Kolb wouldn't play . . . though, it could be improvement . . .)

Steve: Rams ("StL is going to ride last week into a hard fought win this week.")

Ravens at Steelers

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The Wife: Steelers

Me: Steelers (they got their mojo back)

Steve: Steelers

Bears at Eagles

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The Wife: Bears

Me: Eagles (a really interesting match-up . . .)

Steve: Eagles