Horrid, horrid week 10 going 4-10, and seeing all my 7-1 teams drop to 7-2, and already off to a bad start after having picked the Dolphins to beat the Bears. Now that bye weeks are finished, the “By Picking Record” is a little clearer:
By Picking Record
7-2: Bills, Lions, Vikings, Cardinals, Giants
6-3: Packers, Saints, Titans, Colts, Dolphins, Panthers, Falcons
5-4: Chargers, Jaguars, Steelers, Ravens, Bengals, Buccaneers, Eagles
4-5: Raiders, Chiefs, Texans, Jets, Browns, Rams, 49ers, Redskins
3-6: Broncos, Patriots, Bears, Cowboys
2-7: Seahawks

NFC
DET vs DAL- For all the promise the Lions have shown, they haven’t shown the ability to win. Meanwhile, the Cowboys actually looked alright last week. But even last week their defense was shaky, so expect a big day for Calvin “Megatron” Johnson, no matter who is throwing him the ball. In a high scoring game, the Cowboys win.
GB vs MIN- The Vikings are simply going down in icicles. Meanwhile, the Packers seem to have cured or at least patched up some of their earlier problems. Packers win.
TB vs SF- Troy Smith is the kind of guy I love seeing get a chance. Everyone labeled him as a college only quarterback and now he’s stuck around in the NFL long enough to win a starting job and look pretty good while doing it. The Buccaneers have also been good but haven’t had any statement wins yet, so I’ll roll with Troy Smith and the upset. 49ers win.
SEA vs NO- Finally, a Seahawks game that I might be able to get right. The Saints are looking better and their Steelers beat down a few weeks back boosts my confidence level in that a lot. Saints win.
ATL vs STL- The Falcons might not be the number one team in the league like ESPN’s power rankings say, but they’re still better than the Rams. By a lot. Falcons win.
NYG vs PHI- Tough game for sure. The Giants suffered the NFC’s top team syndrome last week, keeping up the title’s tradition of losing. The Eagles are playing as good as I’ve seen them in all my years as an Eagles fan. And they happen to have the hottest player in the whole league. Eagles win.

AFC
BUF vs CIN- The Bengals have been so close in a lot of games against good teams. Now that they’re basically eliminated from the playoffs, I’m sure they’ll start doing better. And the Bills, though Buffalo hasn’t looked entirely putrid, are still a good place to start. Bengals win.
HOU vs NYJ- The Jets are in the top echelon of NFL teams right now, and the Texans are reeling after a hail mary loss to the Jags. Jets defense can slow down the Texans offense, and the Texans defense shouldn’t be much of an obstacle for Mark Sanchez. Jets win.
OAK vs PIT- Finally someone to stop this ugly Raiders train. Maybe it’s just hating the Raiders, maybe I just can’t stand seeing a team win when their head coach looks like someone who’s greatest life achievement would be winning a bar fight. Steelers win.
CLE vs JAC- Finally a bit of a breather for the Browns, though the Jaguars have been coming around and aren’t nearly as bad as we thought they were a few weeks ago. If the Browns keep up the intensity that they’ve had over the last 4 weeks, however, it’ll be a tough, pounding victory. Browns win.
IND vs NE- High scoring game. Which means very unpredictable game. Which means I’ll go with a fan pick. Colts win.
DEN vs SD- It would be wrong to say that the Chargers have finally got things rolling. It’s just that now they’re still rolling and their special teams haven’t singlehandedly lost them their past few games. The Broncos had a field day vs the Chiefs, but they face a bigger monster this week. Chargers win.

INT
CHI vs MIA (I picked the ‘Phins. Bears won)
WAS vs TEN- I wouldn’t pick the Redskins to beat very many teams. Randy Moss gets better in his second game with the Titans. Tennessee wins.
ARI vs KC- The Chiefs finally get back on the right track against a bad Cardinals team and buckle up for the stretch to try to live up to the promise they showed early in the season. Chiefs win.
BAL vs CAR- Deangelo Williams could have rebounded from a bad season and made the Panthers competitive. Instead, he hit the IR. Ravens win.