NFL Pointspread Contest: Week 10

[Anthony]

Sunday, November 12:

NEW ENGLAND 10 over N.Y. Jets (1:00 PM ET)
PHILADELPHIA 7 over Washington
ATLANTA 8 over Cleveland
JACKSONVILLE 10 1/2 over Houston
Kansas City 2 over MIAMI
San Diego 1 over CINCINNATI
DETROIT 6 over San Francisco
INDIANAPOLIS 12 1/2 over Buffalo
Baltimore 7 1/2 over TENNESSEE
MINNESOTA 5 1/2 over Green Bay
Denver 9 over OAKLAND (4:05 PM ET)
PITTSBURGH 5 over New Orleans (4:15 PM ET)
Dallas 6 1/2 over ARIZONA
SEATTLE 3 over St. Louis
N.Y. GIANTS 2 over Chicago (8:15 PM ET)


Monday, November 13:

CAROLINA 9 over Tampa Bay (8:30 PM ET)


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.

[The Pirate Bob]

1

NEW ENGLAND
PHILADELPHIA BB
ATLANTA BB
JACKSONVILLE
Kansas City
San Diego BB
San Francisco
INDIANAPOLIS
TENNESSEE
MINNESOTA
Denver
New Orleans
ARIZONA
St. Louis
Chicago

CAROLINA

[#99]

2

It should be JACKSONVILLE 10 1/2 over Houston, just to clarify. Though, technically, Anthony's right that the old Houston Oilers play the Jags on Sunday

Fixed it; thanks. The transit of Mercury made me do it! :lol:

NEW ENGLAND
PHILADELPHIA
Cleveland
Houston
Kansas City
San Diego (BB)
San Francisco (BB)
Buffalo
Baltimore
Green Bay
Denver
New Orleans (BB)
ARIZONA
SEATTLE
N.Y. GIANTS
Tampa Bay

[bama4256]

3

NEW ENGLAND
Washington
ATLANTA
Houston
Kansas City-BB
San Diego
San Francisco
INDIANAPOLIS
Baltimore
MINNESOTA-BB
OAKLAND
New Orleans-bb
ARIZONA
SEATTLE
Chicago


Monday, November 13:

CAROLINA 9 over Tampa Bay (8:30 PM ET)

[Anthony]

4

Last week: 7-7. Season totals: 64-58-6, Pct. .523. Best Bets: 10-13-4, Pct. .444.

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

SUNDAY

NEW ENGLAND 27, N.Y. Jets 13 (+10) - The battle for home field throughout the AFC playoffs now essentially lost (last Sunday's result leaving them in effect two and half games behind the Colts), the Patriots can concentrate on wrapping up their fourth straight AFC East title; and facing a team they've beaten seven times in a row (of which 6-0-1 against the spread), they should have little trouble taking what figures to be the definitive step toward achieving that objective this week.

PHILADELPHIA 33, Washington 23 (+7) - It is very encouraging, from the Eagles' perspective, to look at their injury report this week and not see Donte' Stallworth and his hamstring on there, even as a probable; and Andy Reid's 10-0 straight up, 7-3 against-the-line lifetime record coming off a bye week (playoffs included) isn't exactly grounds for pessimism either, especially when you consider how neatly the latter meshes with Washington's history of burning money in fatigue games (6-11 against the line since the bye era began 1990, also including postseason).

ATLANTA 31, Cleveland 13 (+8) - Go against Cleveland as a visitor on the carpet (13 consecutive losses, 2-11 against the spread) and that's one bet you won't lose this week.

JACKSONVILLE 23, Houston 10 (+10 1/2) - True, this year's Jacksonville offense will never be confused with that of the 1998 Minnesota Vikings, but the short-term revenge angle (Houston shocked the Jags 27-7 a mere three weeks ago) is not a bad thing to have, and expecting the Texans to be competitive in back-to-back road games against contending teams is probably asking too much.

MIAMI 20 (+2), Kansas City 13 - Herman Edwards could be faced with a tricky decision about what to do at quarterback if Trent Green is medically cleared to play; and do not worry about any letdown from the Dolphins because they basically just stood there last week and watched the Bears beat themselves. A second successive glorious late-season run from a team noted for precisely the opposite for the longest time prior?

CINCINNATI 41 (+1), San Diego 24 - If Charlie Frye can put up 25 on San Diego's injury and suspension-plagued defense in their own building, then its task taking on Carson Palmer and his talent-laden supporting cast would appear to be hopeless on the road.

DETROIT 14, San Francisco 10 (+6) - Still can't figure out how the 49ers and Raiders combined for 54 points when they played each other last month, but with San Fran having won nine of the last ten outright versus Detroit it's hard not to take the six points.

INDIANAPOLIS 28, Buffalo 13 (+12 1/2) - The Colts look like they really mean business this time around, and their league-trailing run defense gets a major break in the form of Willis McGahee's three busted ribs (out indefinitely). Indianapolis has also won and covered in the last five meetings herein while Buffalo is 3-7 against the line since 1999 inside NFL domes.

Baltimore 19, TENNESSEE 14 (+7 1/2) - Steve McNair would no doubt love to teach Bud Adams a lesson, but if Vince Young can start learning how not to throw interceptions that get returned for touchdowns this week the Titans have a decent shot at covering this number at home.

MINNESOTA 13, Green Bay 10 (+5 1/2) - No more Love Boats or simulated moonings in Minnesota, but also no more offense - and have you noticed how the Eagles have suddenly fallen in love with the vertical passing game this year now that Brad Childress is no longer their offensive coordinator?

Denver 23, OAKLAND 6 (+9) - This is one of three games this week where an interesting angle applies: Eight times this year and last combined a favorite has won a first meeting over a division rival but didn't cover the spread - and seven of them came back to cover in the rematch; and if nothing else the law of averages says that Mike Shanahan won't let the Raiders sweep him against the spread for the year when he has a 15-7-1 career spread mark against Al Davis.

SEATTLE 21, St. Louis 10 (+3) - The Seahawks have the same trend going in their favor as the Broncos do - and the Rams are the SUVs of the NFL: 452 total yards amassed last week against Kansas City, yet only 17 points scored?

New Orleans 20 (+5), PITTSBURGH 16 - You mean to tell me that this is not a typo, and that the 6-2 Saints really are five-point underdogs to the 2-6 Steelers? The only reason this is not a best bet is that it's almost too obvious.

Dallas 23, ARIZONA 21 (+6 1/2) - It wasn't easy being a Republican this week: Control of both houses of Congress vanishing, and a defense secretary fired - oops, I mean "asked to resign." Well being a Dallas Cowboy this Sunday might not be any easier: The home team in this series has won nine in a row and Dennis Green is 14-2 straight up lifetime coming off the bye; and if the Cardinals really get nasty and make Dallas wear the blue jerseys (in which they're 1-6 in 2005-06 compared with 12-5 in white) ...

N.Y. GIANTS 16, Chicago 10 (+2) - After Chicago's colossal egg-laying last week against Miami at home the temptation to pick a Giants blowout here is strong; but you may want to resist that impulse with the home team in this one having dropped the last five meetings and the Giants possibly missing both of their starting wide receivers (definitely one of them as Amani Toomer is out for the season with knee surgery pending and Plaxico Burress being hobbled by back spasms) plus Michael Strahan (the dreaded Lis Franc thing). The Bears, for their part, could be without one of their first-string wideouts (deep threat Bernard Berrian is doubtful with sore ribs), along with Brian Urlacher (severely sprained big toe). NBC gets a meaningful but not very entertaining matchup to kick off the era of flexible scheduling for prime-time games.

MONDAY NIGHT

CAROLINA 20, Tampa Bay 6 (+9) - In the first meeting (Week 3 in Tampa) the Panthers were favored and won the game but didn't cover the spread, so you know what to do here. And what would the over-under open at if the Bucs were to play the Raiders?

BEST BETS: ATLANTA, CINCINNATI, SEATTLE

[Jeff Boswell]

5

NY Jets
Washington
Atlanta (BB)
Jacksonville
Kansas City (BB)
San Diego
Detroit
Indianapolis
Baltimore
Green Bay
Denver
Pittsburgh (BB)
Dallas
St. Louis
NY Giants
Carolina

[Bran]

6

NEW ENGLAND
Washington
ATLANTA
JACKSONVILLE
Kansas City
San Diego
San Francisco
INDIANAPOLIS (BB)
Baltimore
MINNESOTA
Denver (BB)
New Orleans
Dallas (BB)
SEATTLE
N.Y. GIANTS
CAROLINA

[Nate]

7

NEW ENGLAND
PHILADELPHIA
ATLANTA (BB)
JACKSONVILLE
Kansas City (BB)
San Diego (BB)
DETROIT
INDIANAPOLIS
Baltimore
MINNESOTA
Denver
PITTSBURGH
Dallas
St. Louis
N.Y. GIANTS
CAROLINA

[Anthony]

Can anybody here play this game?

If Carolina covers tonight we will have our first sub-.500 winner in Pointspread Contest history - and it will be The Pirate Bob, at 7-9; it will also happen if there is a push, but in that case the winner would be #99 at 7-8-1. A Tampa Bay cover enables #99 to win the week at 8-8.

Complete results - if you can bear to read them! - after the game.

[Anthony]

1st 1 The Pirate Bob: 7-9 (2-1) [2-3] ... 55 points
2nd 2 #99: 7-9 (2-1) [1-4] ... 20 points
3rd 5 Jeff Boswell: 7-9 (1-2) ... 12 points
4th 7 Nate: 6-10 (1-2) ... 5 points
5th 4 Anthony: 6-10 (0-3) ... 3.5 points
6th 3 bama4256: 5-11* ... 2.5 points
7th 6 Bran: 4-12 ... 2 points

*Includes one automatic loss for unpicked game

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

For current standings, click here.