Don's Crystal Ball 2010 Week 9 Picks

[thedon]

THE DON'S

Crystal Ball

2010 SEASON

WEEK 9 PICKS

By DonCanabis/TheDon

Analyst/Godfather

That was a crazy Halloween weekend; some really good defensive matchup’s and upsets, some weird coaching decisions and the release of a future HOF to end the week.

Quick Hits

• It’s hard to question a two time Super Bowl Champion Head Coach with his decisions and even though I don’t like his approach or the moment in the game when he made the change but, you can’t really fault him for it. McNabb has been an average QB at best this season he has made many costly mistakes and he hasn’t been able to get this offense rolling.
  We don’t know what it’s happening on practice every week but we do know Shanahan is losing or doesn’t trust his QB anymore. Washington is scoring less than 20 points per game, McNabb has a QB rating of 76 and a completion percentage of 57.4 on three previous two minutes offense he has only generated a FG. So you can say that Shanahan doesn’t trust McNabb to run the two minutes offense because he hasn’t run it well all season or just because of how he has played all season he doesn’t trust McNabb with the game on the line.
  The reality is this isn’t the best scenario and what started as a perfect marriage now looks like it could end up in divorce.
  
• Minnesota is a complete mess right now, I expected this to happen when they made it all about Favre, this move gave him too much power and took everything of Childress, he lost that locker room long before, Moss came to the team, he’s latest outburst and one sided decision to cut a high profile player after 4 weeks not only pushed him farther from his team but almost cost him his Job.
  
• Two bad week against the spread has moved me to a 64-53 record or 55%
  
• Some people yawn at slow scoring defensive matchups, with the NFL always focusing in helping the offense and make changes to the game to make it easier for teams to score it’s great that we can still see great defensive matchups like we saw last week between Green Bay and the New York Jets. To watch a game where every inch counts and if one team slacks for one second the game can be over.
  
• The Goat of the Week The Referee crew at the NYJ vs GB game… With a game so close and with so much at stake the crew made to huge mistakes on strip balls against the Jets, giving the ball twice to the Packers on the first one Rex challenge but the call to everyone’s surprise still was upheld. On the second one they couldn’t even challenge it because the Jets had no challenges left but, even with a challenge and so similar to the first one do we truly believe the outcome could be different? Two really bad calls in a really close games.

On to the games

New York Jets at Detroit 4 Ovr/Und 42

I like both of these two defenses, the Lions defense is young fast and generate a lot of turnovers but at the same can have some mistakes. The Jets defense is aggressive, makes you earn every yard and rarely makes mistakes. So, with all this in mind and taking into account what happened last week against Green Bay I’ll take the Jets can’t see them losing again. Plus the Lions defense is 27th against the run, the Jets defense is based on the run so if Detroit can’t stop their running game they won’t win this game.

Straight: NYJ

Spread: NYJ

Ovr/Und: Und

San Diego at Houston 3 Ovr/Und 50

UPSET OF THE WEEK

Phillip Rivers has run out of targets and with his most important player Antonio Gates out this week he has nobody to throw to. Also the Chargers haven’t been able to win on the road this year. Houston has one of the worst if not the worst secondary in the NFL but no Charger WR presents a real threat without Gates on the field.

Straight: HOU

Spread: HOU

Ovr/Und: UND

Tampa Bay at Atlanta -8.5 Ovr/Und 44.5

This is an interesting matchup, Atlanta doesn’t lose at home Ryan is 16-1 at the Georgia Dome that’s the easy part, the difficult part it’s figuring out if this will be a close game or a blowout. At first glance the Buccaneers are the teams with most comebacks and close scores this season but their two loses have been by double digit scores against good teams so taking that into account and the fact the game is on the road take Atlanta on all accounts.

Straight: Atl

Spread:Atl

Ovr/Und: Und

New Orleans at Carolina 6.5 Ovr/Und 41

The Saints are playing better defense if they can find some consistency they could have another run the NFC is still everyone’s to take, Carolina looks better with Moore at QB at least they score the only problem is that their backfield is hurt and their attack is based on what they can do.

Straight: NO

Spread: NO

Ovr/Und: Ovr

Chicago at Buffalo 3 Ovr/Und 40.5

Teams coming back from a bye haven’t been as successful as previous years and Buffalo even winless are playing with a bigger intensity than others with better records and twice the talent. The sad thing is that at the end of the game they find ways to lose. Chicago’s Defense is playing at a high level and it’s the only reason this team has a winning record so until this defense gets hurt this team has a chance.

Straight: Chi

Spread: Chi

Ovr/Und: Und

Arizona at Minnesota -8 Ovr/Und 40.5

UPSET OF THE WEEK

As I explain at the top the Vikings are a complete mess, the players don’t trust the coaching staff new reports came out that now Percy Harvin has also issues with Childress, this team it’s going downhill fast. They have an injured QB that’s playing average at best, they don’t have WR to throw to and their defense can’t seem to put any pressure to the opposition. Arizona isn’t in the best place and they also have issues at QB but when a team is broken from the inside they can make any average team look like a Super Bowl contender just ask Dallas.

Straight: Ari

Spread: Ari

Ovr/Und: Ovr

New England at Cleveland 4.5 Ovr/Und 44

We all know that when Belichick faces Magnini he wants to humiliate him, the young Patriots defense it’s looking better as the season has moved and the offense seems that they gained a beat without Moss. Cleveland is playing good football and it’s a team not to take lightly just ask NO but I don’t think they can pull another huge upset.

Straight:NE

Spread:NE

Ovr/Und:OVR

Miami at Baltimore -5.5 Ovr/Und 40.5

Miami is playing great defense and plays really good on the road. Baltimore has had their up and downs all season in some cases like the Bills game leaving us scratching our heads so I expect a low scoring close match on this one.

Straight: Bal

Spread: Mia

Ovr/Und: Und

New York Giants at Seattle 7 Ovr/Und 41

Charlie Whitehurst will be the QB this week for Seattle, this is what we know about the QB, he’s been the third QB for San Diego the past 4 years, he was traded to the Seahawks in one of the weirdest trades ever, and the kid has never thrown a regular season pass and looked shaky at best in preseason. He’s facing a New York team coming back from a bye playing at high level. Good luck kid, Welcome to the NFL.

Straight:NYG

Spread:NYG

Ovr/Und: Und

Indianapolis at Philadelphia -3 Ovr/Und 46.5

Philadelphia is healthy, Vick and Jackson are back and this team will look better this week, it’s the complete opposite for the Colts, they added Gonzalez to the injured list this week and they lost the HB that was making a difference. I expect Philadelphia to win this game but Manning will keep it close

Straight: PHI

Spread: IND

Ovr/Und:Ovr

Kansas City at Oakland -2.5 Ovr/Und 40.5

Oakland has looked great the past two weeks but this is the first time there are facing a good defense not only that a great defense against the run. The Raiders offense is based on the running game and the mistakes the opposition makes, two things Kansas City doesn’t do. Take is the Chiefs in this Rivalry game.

Straight: KC

Spread: KC

Ovr/Und: Und

Dallas at Green Bay -7.5 Ovr/Und 45

Last Green Bay showed they can play great defense week, Dallas made Garrard look like an MVP candidate, this team has given up they will score points it might look closer at the end if you look at the score but expect another half effort they just don’t care.

Straight: GB

Spread: GB

Ovr/Und: Ovr

I might be the only one thinking this but didn’t the Steelers look better without Big Ben? I don’t know if it was because the players took it to themselves to hold the ship and played at a higher level because they had to and now they think they don’t. But the Steelers of a few weeks looked practically invisible they don’t look like that anymore. The Bengals are another team having a rough season after big expectations

Straight:PIT

Spread:PIT

Ovr/Und: Und

The Hot Picks

Record 23-25 48%

New England (league)

Kansas City(league)

New York Giants(league)

Green Bay

Pittsburgh

Houston

Don’s Prediction League Leaders

1. MlmPetert 209 -142 60% [thewarpath.net]
   
2. Exile 156-114 58% [blackandgold.com]
3. JAB 201-150 57% [forums.azcardinals.com]

12.-TheDon 191-160 54%