Last week: 8-5 (Counting the Cincinnati-Washington tie as a prognosticatory loss. Lots of sisters have been kissed recently.)
Year to date: 68-52 (.567)
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| Amari Cooper and Derek Carr may not be all smiles after the Broncos defense comes to town Sunday night. (Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports) |
Thursday, November 3
Atlanta (5-3) 30, Tampa Bay (3-4) 24
The Bucs are a team on the rise, but their playoff hopes for 2016 are beginning to dwindle. If they win at home tonight, I'll probably go back to calling them my dark horse wild card candidate.
Sunday, November 6
Minnesota (5-2) 21, Detroit (4-4) 19
The Vikings need to figure out what's going on, and figure it out fast. Three straight losses, including two within the NFC North, could sink the ship quickly in Minnesota.
Pittsburgh (4-3) 23, Baltimore (3-4) 20
As Daveed Diggs once said (OK, he actually sang it, and eight times a week for about a year at that): "The sun comes up and the world still spins." This will be yet another bloodbath in what is probably the best rivalry in the NFL.
Miami (3-4) 23, Jets (3-5) 21
I'm not really sure what's going on in the AFC East, except for the Patriots kicking ass and taking names of everyone else in the league. Whichever team wins this game will cruise to a comfortable 8-8 record as a rung on New England's step ladder.
Dallas (6-1) 28, Cleveland (0-8) 19
My official prediction is Dallas will win. But this has all the indications of an upset. The Browns have no business even being competitive against the Cowboys, which is code for "they'll come out of nowhere." It also sounds quite like the sports gods to give Cleveland an essentially meaningless win against the best team in the NFC immediately after taking game seven of the World Series away from the Indians. So while my mantra is "never pick the Browns," don't be surprised when they win.
Kansas City (5-2) 26, Jacksonville (2-5) 20
The word out of Northeast Florida is that it's all downhill for the Jags. They have no skis, no padding, and no snow, and have lost all sense of balance so they're hitting every body part, hard, multiple times on the fall down.
Philadelphia (4-3), 23 Giants (4-3) 17
The Cowboys team that Philly lost to last week is legit. The Washington and Detroit squads that beat the Eagles three and four weeks ago, respectively, are decent. Still, Wentz and Co. are 1-3 since their early bye. In a division clearly owned by Dallas right now and a wide-open wild card race, any Eagles loss needs to be considered as huge.
Carolina (2-5) 24, Los Angeles (3-4) 23
Jeff Fisher used to be unbeatable coming out of the bye. Now he's looking like a mediocre coach who just had a really good team in Nashville 12 to 17 years ago but is past any semblance of his prime. The Panthers aren't good, but they are coming off a big win against Arizona. That should give them just a bit of confidence heading into a winnable contest.
New Orleans (3-4) 30, San Francisco (1-6) 26
These are the league's two worst scoring defenses so expect a whole lot of points on the board at Candlest...er, Levi's. And if the Bucs can win against Atlanta, the Saints would suddenly be tied with Tampa just half a game out of first place in the NFC South.
San Diego (3-5) 26, Tennessee (4-4) 24
Welcome to the "Our Signature Win Of 2016 Came Against The Lowly Jags" club. Population: these teams. This game gives the Titans a chance to go above .500 for the first time since the first game of last season, but the Chargers will keep that from happening.
Green Bay (4-3) 27, Indianapolis (3-5) 24
Moving on to the "Not Living Up To Expectations At All" club, the Packers and Colts have both regressed since appearing in their respective conferences' championship games two short years ago. The Colts have clearly regressed more, and with the Vikings struggling a win at Lambeau puts Green Bay right back in the thick of the NFC North race.
Denver (6-2) 26, Oakland (6-2) 21
Are the Raiders actually one of the four best teams in the NFL, as their record suggests? Maybe, but they have to prove themselves against one of the most underrated defenses of all time (Do the Broncos even have someone playing quarterback this year? That's how good that defense is.) at home in prime time in order for me to believe it.
Monday, November 7
Buffalo (4-4) 21, Seattle (4-2-1) 20
If the Bills can beat last year's two conference runners up in back-to-back weeks, anything is possible. Including the fact that I may be relying far too much on those two games in my assessment of the Buffalo Bills thus far in 2016.
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