NFL Pointspread Contest: Week 9

[Anthony]

Sunday, November 5:

N.Y. GIANTS 13 over Houston (1:00 PM ET)
Dallas 3 over WASHINGTON
BUFFALO 3 over Green Bay
JACKSONVILLE 9 1/2 over Tennessee
TAMPA BAY Pick'em New Orleans
Atlanta 5 over DETROIT
BALTIMORE 3 over Cincinnati
CHICAGO 13 1/2 over Miami
ST. LOUIS 3 over Kansas City
Minnesota 5 1/2 over SAN FRANCISCO (4:05 PM ET)
PITTSBURGH 2 over Denver (4:15 PM ET)
SAN DIEGO 12 1/2 over Cleveland
NEW ENGLAND 2 over Indianapolis (8:15 PM ET)


Monday, November 6:

SEATTLE 7 1/2 over Oakland (8:30 PM ET)


BYES: Arizona, Carolina, N.Y. Jets, Philadelphia

Home team in CAPS; tie-breaker games in red.

Don't forget to designate three picks as Best Bets.

For complete contest rules, click here (http://www.sports-central.org/community/boards/showthread.php?threadid=12547).

[Ellis]

1

N.Y. GIANTS
Dallas bb
Green Bay
Tennessee
New Orleans
Atlanta bb
BALTIMORE
CHICAGO
Kansas City
Minnesota
Denver bb
SAN DIEGO
Indianapolis
Oakland

[bama4256]

2

N.Y. GIANTS-BB
WASHINGTON
BUFFALO
JACKSONVILLE
new Orleans
Atlanta
Cincinnati
CHICAGO
ST. LOUIS
Minnesota-BB
Denver
SAN DIEGO
NEW ENGLAND-BB


Monday, November 6:

SEATTLE

[#99]

3

N.Y. GIANTS
Dallas
BUFFALO
Tennessee
New Orleans (BB)
Atlanta
BALTIMORE
CHICAGO (BB)
Kansas City
SAN FRANCISCO
Denver (BB)
Cleveland
NEW ENGLAND
Oakland

[The Pirate Bob]

4

N.Y. GIANTS -13
WASHINGTON +3
Green Bay +3
JACKSONVILLE -9 1/2
New Orleans Pick'em BB
Atlanta -5
Cincinnati +3 BB
CHICAGO -13 1/2
Kansas City +3 BB
Minnesota - 5 1/2
Denver +2
SAN DIEGO -12 1/2
NEW ENGLAND -2


Monday, November 6:

Oakland +7 1/2

[Anthony]

5

Last week: 8-6. Season totals: 57-51-6, Pct. .526. Best Bets: 9-11-4, Pct. .458.

Home team in capital letters; point spreads (opening line) in parentheses after underdog team; selections with point spreads in bold.

SUNDAY

N.Y. GIANTS 35, Houston 7 (+13) - Way to go, Gary Kubiak - totally destroying David Carr's confidence the way you did last Sunday in Nashville. And with the third anniversary of Houston's most recent win on artificial turf fast approaching (the Texans won 12-10 at Buffalo on November 16, 2003, since which they have been outscored 310-126 in losing ten in a row on such fields) ...

WASHINGTON 23 (+3), Dallas 13 - Even if you do think Tony Romo is for real, you can hardly expect consistency from him at this point - but Dallas has been consistently awful as a visitor in cold weather (the "official" season for which begins with this week's games), with a 4-20 straight-up record therein dating back to 1995. And unlike Carolina last Sunday night, the Redskins won't forget to force the Cowboys to wear their blue jerseys, in which they're 1-5 in 2005-06 compared with 12-5 in the rest of their games over that span.

BUFFALO 28, Green Bay 17 (+3) - We learned last week that teams who aren't good enough to be above .500 halfway through the season, won't be (when the Jets lost at Cleveland). Well the Packers aren't good enough to even be at .500 halfway through the season, and they're playing somewhere they've never won or covered in their history (0-4 both ways lifetime).

JACKSONVILLE 27, Tennessee 13 (+9 1/2) - It doesn't seem to matter who's quarterbacking the Jaguars these days - but it matters intensely whether or not the Titans are playing a team that has a winning record: They entered this season with an active streak of ten consecutive losses by 184 points facing such competition, and are 0-3 by 65 points against teams that are currently over .500 this year.

TAMPA BAY 16, New Orleans 6 (P) - I know the sound of a bubble bursting when I hear it - and Baltimore showed the whole world what Drew Brees really is: A short, little quarterback with no arm.

Atlanta 17, DETROIT 14 (+5) - Michael Vick can't possibly have three straight solid outings throwing the football, can he? And Atlanta's 2-8 straight-up record in fatigue games since the bye era began in 1990 further detracts from the road favorite's appeal in this spot.

Cincinnati 21 (+3), BALTIMORE 16 - Just as the Jets weren't good enough to reach the halfway mark of the season 5-3 or do the Packers appear to be good enough to make the turn 4-4, you have to wonder if the Ravens are good enough to be a 6-2 team.

CHICAGO 37, Miami 3 (+13 1/2) - Didn't the Bears routinely torment Joey Harrington when Harrington played for the Lions? Look for more of the same with the Dolphins bringing their 8-20 spread record in cold-weather games since 1995 into the (presumably cold and) Windy City.

ST. LOUIS 20, Kansas City 13 (+3) - This is the week Damon Huard remembers that he's a backup quarterback, unless the Rams are looking ahead to next Sunday's NFC West rematch in Seattle.

SAN FRANCISCO 17 (+5 1/2), Minnesota 16 - Like Gary Kubiak, Brad Childress threw a temper tantrum last week and benched his starting quarterback, with no hope of accomplishing anything positive; and visits to The Building Formerly Known As Candlestick have a way of arousing emotional outbursts in the Vikings, who have lost seven straight there since a 1987 divisional playoff victory. Upset special.

SAN DIEGO 33, Cleveland 23 (+12 1/2) - The Browns are difficult to trust on the West Coast, but Charlie Frye actually had a decent game last week and he won't have to worry about San Diego linebacker - and pass-rusher extraordinaire - Shawne Merriman, who has dropped his appeal of the four-game suspension he received after getting busted by the supplement police. This could be one of those built-in parlay games: Cleveland plus the points and the "over" (the total opened at 42).

Denver 17 (+2), PITTSBURGH 10 - There comes a time when one has to let go of the past and live in the present: Why are the 5-2 Broncos underdogs to the 2-5 Steelers?

NEW ENGLAND 30, Indianapolis 16 (+2) - The Colts handled playing both outdoors and on grass for the first time in 2006 well enough last week, but here the bar gets raised a notch higher, in that in addition to being outdoors and on grass, this one's in cold weather, making it a "Triple Witching Hour" game - and they've won only five of their last 15 of those. Plus it's a night game, which figures to make it even colder.

MONDAY NIGHT

SEATTLE 9, Oakland 6 (+7 1/2) - No Shaun Alexander for at least one more week, and nobody - least of all Seneca Wallace - passes on the Raiders. So take the points despite a pair of 8-0 straight-up, 7-1 against-the-spread trends to the contrary - one involving the home team in this series and the other applying to Oakland as a visitor on the carpet.

BEST BETS: WASHINGTON, CHICAGO, NEW ENGLAND

[Bran]

6

N.Y. GIANTS
Dallas
Green Bay
JACKSONVILLE
New Orleans (BB)
Atlanta
Cincinnati
CHICAGO (BB)
Kansas City
Minnesota
Denver
SAN DIEGO (BB)
NEW ENGLAND
SEATTLE

[Jeff Boswell]

7

Houston
Dallas
Green Bay
Tennessee
New Orleans
Atlanta
Cincinnati
Chicago (BB)
Kansas City
San Francisco (BB)
Denver
San Diego (BB)
New England
Seattle

[Nate]

8

N.Y. GIANTS
WASHINGTON (BB)
Green Bay
JACKSONVILLE
TAMPA BAY
Atlanta (BB)
BALTIMORE
CHICAGO
ST. LOUIS (BB)
Minnesota
Denver
SAN DIEGO
Indianapolis
SEATTLE

[Marc]

9

N.Y. GIANTS
Dallas
Green Bay
JACKSONVILLE
New Orleans
Atlanta (BB)
Cincinnati
CHICAGO
Kansas City
Minnesota (BB)
Denver
SAN DIEGO
NEW ENGLAND (BB)
SEATTLE

[themush]

10

N.Y. GIANTS
Dallas (BB)
Green Bay
JACKSONVILLE (BB)
TAMPA BAY
Atlanta (BB)
Cincinnati
CHICAGO
ST. LOUIS
Minnesota
PITTSBURGH
SAN DIEGO
Indianapolis
SEATTLE

[Anthony]

Another sorry week for our little pointspread picking platoon - thanks this time around to the Bears (who contributed 0-10 to the combined record) and the Giants and Falcons (who both imparted a cumulative 1-9 each).

But if you had the 3-5 exacta, you can head to the windows right now, because the "3" (#99) has already clinched first place in Week 9 and the "5" (that'd be The Dude) is safe in second. The trifecta will be 3-5-8 (Nate in third) if the Seahawks cover, or 3-5-4 (The Pirate Bob third) if Oakland's backers collect.

As always, complete details and updated standings after the Monday night game - and this week it's just as well it's not on NBC since it is most definitely not "Must See TV."

[Anthony]

1st 3 #99: 7-7 (2-1) ... 55 points
2nd 5 Anthony: 7-7 (1-2) ... 18 points
3rd 8 Nate: 6-8 (1-2) [4-1] ... 11 points
4th 7 Jeff Boswell: 6-8 (1-2) [3-2] ... 5 points
5th 2 bama4256: 6-8 (0-3) ... 3 points
6th 4 The Pirate Bob: 5-9 (2-1) ... 2.5 points
7th 1 Ellis: 5-9 (1-2) [4-1] ... 2 points
8th 6 Bran: 5-9 (1-2) [3-2] ... 1.5 points
9th 9 Marc: 5-9 (0-3) ... 1 point
10th 10 themush: 3-11 ... 1 point

(Best Bet Record)
[Record in Tie-Breaker Games]

For current standings, click here (http://www.sports-central.org/community/boards/showthread.php?postid=179685#post179685).