Week 9 – Mirror, Mirror

This week has tons of teams matched up with similar records, who may feel they are looking in the mirror when they are viewing their opponent: good (New England-Indy), intriguing (Cleveland-Seattle), resilient (Jack-O – New Orleans), and terrible teams (San Fran-Atl) are all matched up this week. With all these similar teams matching up, this is the week I could miss all the games!!!

Manwich Matchup of the Season-
New England @ Indy- Two undefeated teams... and I can’t believe the Pats are still 6 point favorites – and they are on the road! Obviously, you can basically come up with any storyline you want for this game – the sky’s the limit. Cheaters vs. the Midwest. Quest for the undefeated season. Brady vs. cornerbacks he hasn't seen. Manning's struggles with Belichick... I’m going with the Colts though, because they are at home, and I have to believe that the Patriots are mortal.
Pick: Indy

Upset of the Week-
Green Bay @ KC – This is an intriguing game. The Packers somehow are tasked w/ going to Denver and KC in back-to-back weeks. Could they somehow pull it off???
Pick: Green Bay

Washington @ Jets – Coach Mangina has been very quiet this season… he keeps reminiscing on last year’s miraculous playoff run.
Pick: Washington

Arizona @ Tampa- Both seemed feisty a couple of weeks ago, then both went on 2-game losing streaks. Both teams also have scored 147 points exactly. Both are bad on the road though, which means only one thing…
Pick: Tampa

CAR @ Tennessee- The Panthers are already 0-2 against the AFC… I don’t see any reason for this to change now.
Pick: Tennessee

San Fran @ Atlanta- I have no idea why I’m thinking about this, but does anyone remember back in the 1994 Season, when Deion Sanders was playing on the 49ers, and then he got into some kind of weird scuffle with his former teammate, Andre “Bad Moon” Rison? That was awesome.
Pick: Atlanta

Jack-O @ New Orleans- Garrard is still one more week away. I got away with banking on a Festivus Miracle last week, but I can’t expect it twice in a row.
Pick: New Orleans

Denver @ Detroit – Of all the ways that my Manwich undefeated season could end, I didn’t think it would end with Champ Bailey AND Dre Bly getting burned on 70+ yard plays. What were the odds? This game is intriguing, with the awful way Denver has been playing.
Pick: Detroit

Cincy @ Buffalo- Please raise your hand if you expected Buffalo to have more wins than the Bengals in Week 9? This game tears me up. Either I’m stuck picking the Bengals, one of the worst teams in the NFL over the last 10 games (2-8), or I’m stuck picking the Bills to reach .500 !
Pick: Buffalo

San Diego @ Minny- San Diego! Super chargers! It’s funny how a 3-game winning streak quiets all the “Marty!” chants.
Pick: San Diego

Seattle @ Cleveland- What an interesting game, even if you’re not a Browns fan! Seattle is still a decent team. The question is really whether Cleveland can get any stops from their 32nd-ranked defense to possibly win the game 38-35.
Pick: Cleveland

Houston @ Oakland- I’m sick of picking Oakland every week. They keep disappointing me! Then again, so does Houston! I looked this up – both teams are on 3-game losing streaks, and both are 0-3 in their divisions.
Pick: Houston

Dallas @ Philly- Shocking stat of the week: team to give up 2nd-least amount of points in the NFC? The Philly Eagles! Still, I don’t think they can do enough to slow down Dallas.
Pick: Dallas

Baltimore @ Pittsburgh- What an awful Monday night game. The funny thing is, if the Ravens lose this game, they’ll already be 0-3 in the division!
Pick: Pitt

Last Week: 9-4
Season: 72-44
Manwich: 7-1 (The Favre to Jennings OT touchdown was yet another exclamation point on the fact that Rocktober had ended)
Upset of the Week: 4-4 (The Jaguars got a Festivus Miracle by winning with Quinn Gray!).