NFL Week 10 Picks

Overall record: 76-54

Thursday Night Game on NFL Network

Baltimore Ravens (6-2) @ Atlanta Falcons (6-2):

The Ravens and Falcons meet in the Georgia Dome for what should be a highly entertaining Thursday Night Football game. I applaud the NFL Network for picking such a great matchup to kickoff the Thursday Night Football season. The Ravens have a better offense to complement their fantastic defense with the addition of wide receiver Anquan Boldin. I notice the Ravens don't play as well on the road as they do at home. They struggled in road games against the Jets, the Bengals and blew a 10 point to the Patriots in New England. The Falcons are tough to beat at the Georgia Dome (4-0 on the season). Matt Ryan is 17-1 at home as the Falcons starting quarterback. They will try to establish Michael Turner on the ground early in the game to open up the passing game for Matt Ryan and company. Atlanta's secondary may be the key here because they are 26^th in the NFL in pass defense. This was a tough game to pick. This game could go either way.

Week 10 Pick: Falcons

Sunday Morning Games

Houston Texans (4-4) @ Jacksonville Jaguars (4-4):

Seriously who cares about this game? If the Texans can't win this game against the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Jaguars then the Texans don't deserve to be mentioned in the wild card playoff conversation.

Week 10 Pick: Texans

Minnesota Vikings (3-5) @ Chicago Bears (5-3):

Vikings head coach should be hugging Brett Favre and thank him for his heroic performance. Favre saved the day for the reeling Vikings and Childress' job in the process with a career high 446 yards passing in the comeback victory over the Cardinals. I think the Bears are a fraudulent 5-3 team because they play down to the level on of their competition at times and they can't protect Jay Cutler. I believe Minnesota can get its pass rush going for the consecutive week against the Bears horrendous offensive line.

Week 10 Pick: Vikings

Carolina Panthers (1-7) @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-3):

The Buccaneers should be able to win their first division game by defeating the lowly Panthers. Keyword here is should.

Week 10 Pick: Bucs

Detroit Lions (2-6) @ Buffalo Bills (0-8):

The Lions are the best 2-6 football team in the NFL. They play hard, but they just can't get over the hump. To make matters worse, they will be without their stud quarterback Matthew Stafford for possibly for the rest of the season, which would hinder their development as a team overall. The Bills have been a competitive 0-8 team; however they don't reward teams for moral victories in the NFL. If the Bills don't beat the Lions who are down to their 3^rd string quarterback then Buffalo is running the risk of becoming the second 0-16 team in NFL history because their schedule gets stiffer as the season goes along. Bengals, Steelers Vikings, Browns, Dolphins, Patriots, and the Jets are Buffalo's remaining competition and they will be underdogs in all of those matchups.

Week 10 Pick: Bills

New York Jets (6-2) @ Cleveland Browns (3-5):

The Jets come into this matchup ripe for the pickings because they have not been sharp the past couple of weeks. They scored a goose egg against a banged up Packers defense and needed overtime to come back on the 2-6 Lions. The Browns have been winning games with the powerful running of Peyton Hillis and an opportunistic defense. Cleveland's defense has been so good lately, they have made two of the top quarterbacks in the NFL, Drew Brees and Tom Brady look like rookies. These two teams are mirror images of each other because each team asks its quarterback to protect the football and they both have attacking defenses. This matchup features a ton of storylines from Mangini coaching against his former team, Braylon Edwards coming back to Cleveland and the Ryan brothers trying to outwit each other on the defensive side of the ball. I anticipate a defensive struggle with this game being won in overtime. I like the winner to win a 16-13 type of game.

UPSET PICK: Browns

Tennessee Titans (5-3) @ Miami Dolphins (4-4):

Chad "Captain Checkdown" Pennington will start against the Titans who will show off their new toy wide receiver Randy Moss. To Pennington's credit, he will be very careful with the football, intelligent and has a very good grasp of the Dolphins offense. Getting the ball to the ball Brandon Marshall may help the Dolphins exploit the Titans 23^rd ranked pass defense.

Week 10 Pick: Titans

Cincinnati Bengals (2-6) @ Indianapolis Colts (5-3):

I honestly can't remember the last time that Peyton Manning and the Colts lost two games in a row. You know Manning has to be fuming that he couldn't lead his team to a game winning field goal last Sunday in Philly. In the words of the terrific ESPN sports columnist Bill Simmons, Peyton Manning will be in total eff you mode Sunday against the Bengals.

Week 10 Pick: Colts

Sunday Afternoon Games

Kansas City Chiefs (5-3) @ Denver Broncos (2-6):

This is one of the easiest picks of the week. The Chiefs are a good football team and the Broncos are not. In the game of football, the better team usually prevails. I expect no different in this case.

Week 10 Pick: Chiefs

Dallas Cowboys (1-7) @ New York Giants (6-2):

Offensive coordinator Jason Garrett was named the interim head coach on Monday after the firing of nice guy coach Wade Phillips. Owner Jerry Jones hopes this will be the spark to get the Cowboys season back to respectability. This move came two years late if you ask me. If Dallas doesn't come to play in this game, expect the Giants to put this one away by the first quarter.

Week 10 Pick: Giants

Seattle Seahawks (4-4) @ Arizona Cardinals (3-5):

To be honest, I'm not impressed by either team. Both teams are very inconsistent. If I had to pick a winner, I would pick the Seahawks because they should be able to move the ball on the Cardinals horrendous defense.

Week 10 Pick: Seahawks

St. Louis Rams (4-4) @ San Francisco 49ers (2-6):

The Rams are one of the league's most improved teams however they struggle on the road (0-3). I don't think this game will be any different. The 49ers are coming off a comeback victory over the Broncos in London. Troy Smith emerged as the 49ers starting quarterback for the rest of season in my opinion because of his ability to protect the football and making the necessary throws, which brought his team from behind. Both teams do not score a lot of points so I expect a game with a final score of 20-17.

Week 10 Pick: 49ers

Sunday Night Football on NBC

New England Patriots (6-2) @ Pittsburgh Steelers (6-2):

I like the Steelers to improve to 7-2 because they are more balanced on offense, they're at home and they play well on national television.

Week 10 Pick: Steelers

ESPN Monday Night Football

Philadelphia Eagles (5-3) @ Washington Redskins (4-4):

This is Donovan McNabb versus the Philadelphia Eagles part two and it should be a dandy. The Eagles are coming off an emotional victory against the always tough Indianapolis Colts last Sunday. The Redskin players are probably thankful to back at practice and preparing for a game instead of answering questions about McNabb's endurance and physical shape during their bye week. To McNabb's credit, he's handled the benching in the last two minutes of the Detriot game with class and dignity. I believe the Redskins are going to rally behind their underappreciated signal caller on Monday night. I know the Redskins have a shaky defense, but when it comes to a division game, you can throw out all the records and stats.

UPSET PICK: Redskins