Week ten is a bit quieter than usual thanks to six teams having bye weeks, and there being no London game either. Still, there are a few interesting games headed by Thursday nights big AFC West clash between The Chargers & The Raiders with both desperate for a win to keep them in both the divisional hand as well as the Wild Card picture. The Chargers have been a bit disappointing this year, but as so often happens they seem to come alive in November and they will take heart from last weeks impressive win over Green Bay. Oakland hare 4-4 and Jon Gruden will be pleased with how his rebuild is going, and last week their running game exploded as they put up 171 yards on a decent Detroit defense. They will start slight underdogs in this one and could be without two key O=Ilne members with both Rodney Hudson & Trent Brown questionable.
Sunday night sees Green Bay return to Lambeau after a couple of tough away trips. They take on the Panthers who are still very much alive in the wild card hunt after bouncing back nicely from that drubbing by the 49ers two weeks ago. Green Bay has to go to San Fransisco next so they will be keen to get a win here, as the Vikings are within striking distance of them atop the NFC North.
The night’s other big games see the Vikings travel to Dallas and the Rams travel to Pittsburgh knowing they could be four games adrift of the 49ers with a loss. They will need to win this one if they are to avoid the Super Bowl hangover striking again.
In New York, we have the four-yearly meeting of the Jets & Giants, who are both having pretty miserable seasons. with a combined record of 3-14, this one is for bragging rights only. For those who care the Jets are technically the home team in this one.
Monday Night Football features a huge NFC West clash between the still unbeaten 49ers and their nearest rivals Seattle. The Seahawks would drop 3 games back on them if they lose this one and although it’s not unsurmountable given San Fransisco’s remaining schedule it would be a mountain to climb.
One final game of note is in the AFC North where the Bengals will be hoping to get their first win against Baltimore. Good luck with that one!
Anyway here are our predictions for the week’s games
Thursday Night
LA Chargers @ Oakland +1.5
Chargers 20-17
Sunday Night
Detroit @ Chicago -2.5
Detroit 27 -20
Baltimore @ Cincinnati +10
Baltimore 31-14
Buffalo @ Cleveland -3
Cleveland 21 – 17
Kansas City @ Tennessee +5.5
Kansas City 28 – 24
Atlanta @ New Orleans -13
New Orleans 33 – 17
New York Giants @ New York Jets +2.5
NY Jets 21-18
Arizona @ Tampa Bay -4
Tampa 27 -21
Miami @ Indianapolis -10.5
Colts 27 – 21
Carolina @ Green Bay -5
Packers 31 -20
LA Rams @ Pittsburgh +3.5
Pittsburgh 23 – 20
Minnesota @ Dallas -3
Dallas 28 – 24
Monday Night
Seattle @ San Francisco -6.5
San Fransisco 21 -18
Bye Week
Denver, New England, Philadelphia, Washington, Jacksonville, Houston
