Pro Football Predictions (11.3.11)

A lot of these predictions have been tough to make in the past few weeks; there is so much parity in the NFL this season. Even the winless St. Louis Rams beat the New Orleans Saints this past weekend.  With that in mind, I have to be careful whom I pick, knowing that the great can fall at any time, and the winless can always win.

By the way, I am going to stay away from predicting the scores this week and just focus on the individual match-ups (predicted winning teams in bold).

Games this Weekend (and Monday of course): Click here to see all of the match-ups in detail

Browns at Texans:  This Houston team has something to prove each and every week at they try and make their first playoff appearance in franchise history.  This week they play the Browns, who just are flat out unimpressive without a running game.

Buccaneers at Saints:  The Saints are coming off of an upset against the previously winless Rams, and they always seem to have trouble with the pesky Bucs. However, coach Sean Payton will right the ship and Drew Brees will have a monster game.

Falcons at Colts:  One would think that at some point the Colts are going to win.  But why?  With Curtis Painter at quarterback?  And with Peyton Manning on the sidelines?  I think not.  Falcons will take this one with a balanced portion of Matt Ryan, Roddy White, and Michael Turner.

Dolphins at Chiefs:  The Chiefs look great right now, as they followed their three game losing streak with a four game winning streak.  The Dolphins will not be the ones to put an end to said streak.

Jets at Bills:  This was a tough game to pick. The Bills at home would be an easy choice, but I see the Jets storming in and being too much to handle.

49ers at Redskins:  The Redskins quarterback situation is not pretty, and with the 49ers playing out of their minds as of late, it is tough to pick against Jim Harbaugh’s squad.

Seahawks at Cowboys:  The Seahawks are not an impressive team.  The Cowboys are sometimes impressive.  I’ll go with sometimes impressive on this one.

Bengals at Titans:  This game is a bit of a toss up for me.  I really like Dalton and the new look Bengals, so I’ll go with them.

Broncos at Raiders:  Palmer did not look good last time we saw him on the field.  Then again, he only had a few days to prepare.  If he gets his act together, it should be enough to beat Tebow and the Broncos.

Giants at Patriots:  I really like the Patriots high-octane offense, and the Giants won’t put up enough points to keep up.  Tom Brady will have a masterful showing.

Packers at Chargers:  I know, how can I pick against the mighty Packers?  It’s difficult for me to, however, I’d like to think they have to lose a game at some point.  Philip Rivers will make up for that terrible fumbled snap against the Chiefs and will his Chargers team to a victory.

Rams at Cardinals:  The Cardinals aren’t making anything happen with Kevin Kolb as quarterback.  On the other hand, the Rams are coming off of an upset against the Saints.  I have to go with the Rams on this one.

Ravens at Steelers:  Each and every year this is the toughest game for me to pick.  As of late, the Steelers have looked fantastic.  The Ravens have looked good at times, but are consistent overall.  I’m going with the Steelers in a close, defense heavy game.

Bears at Eagles:  The Eagles are finally playing like the team everyone thought they would be at the beginning of the season.  The Bears just seem like an average team that will not be able to keep up with the Eagles speedy combination of Vick and McCoy.

Comment below with your predictions for each of the games (with or without explanations), and whoever gets the most games correct will earn a shoutout (and bragging rights) on next week’s predictions blog.

By: Brandon Klein

(Photo by Axel. Foley under a Creative Commons license)