NFL Picks Week 6

by StockJockey

Friday, October 12, 2007 - 2:07 pm

We will be spending the weekend rooting against the Red Sox and catching up on the football season.

Kevin is back with his picks, including the Patriots vs. Cowboys matchup. Kevin is taking the Cowboys and the points. Check out his site at
Eat, drink and sleep football

NE (-5.5) at DAL: Last night, there were thousands of tickets available for the NLCS game shortly before game time at Chase Field in Arizona. Not too far away, this weekend’s game between the Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots is the hottest ticket of the year. Many have dubbed this week’s Cowboys-Patriots match-up as a potential “Super Bowl Preview”. While it may be premature to make that declaration, these are the best 2 teams in their respective conferences and 2 of the 3 remaining unbeaten teams heading into week 6. In addition, there are compelling individual player match-ups like Brady vs Romo, Moss ("the new 81") vs T.O. ("the original 81"), etc. Monday night, the Cowboys (or should I say Romo?) almost found a way to take a little of the hype out of this game. But with time running out, Nick Folk kicked, as T.O. put it, “the longest FG in NFL history”, referring to kicking two 53-yarders since Dick Jurron called a timeout just before he kicked the first.

Brady is on a record-setting pace to throw 51 TDs this year and to throw only 6 INTs. He finally has an explosive weapon in Randy Moss, who has been the most dominant WR in the league. (Apparently, he feels like playing again.) It’s possible that Anthony Henry, the Cowboys tallest CB, won’t play this weekend and that could be trouble for the Cowboys. The Cowboys are the team to beat in the NFC, but the Patriots are the team to beat in the NFL. Despite the electric/circus atmosphere in Big D this weekend, I expect the Pats in their somewhat boring manner to take care of business and leave town as 1 of 2 remaining unbeatens. (Bear in mind, the Pats play the Colts - the other undefeated team - on 11/4 in Indy.) Take the Pats and give the points.

PHI (-3.5) at NYJ: This is the other NFC East-AFC East matchup minus all the hype. The Battle of the One-Win Teams doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, does it? In any event, the Jets are awful. They can’t get to the QB (good thing for Donovan McNabb, who was sacked 12 times vs NYG), Thomas Jones is struggling on the ground, etc. In fact, the Jets rank 32nd of 32 teams in the current EDSFootball.com Domination Index. In the pre-season, many regarded the Eagles as one of the better teams in the NFC. One of the factors that has led to their early struggles has been injuries, but several key players will return to the lineup this week after getting healthy during Philly’s bye. Did you know that Philly is 11-4 vs the spread after a bye? Take the Eagles in what could be a romp similar to what they did vs the Lions. (And hopefully they’ll spare us those ugly throwback jerseys.)

TEN (+3) at TB: After having their backfield decimated by injuries this season, the Bucs starting RB will be Earnest Graham. Considering Tennessee has the 3rd stingiest run defense (72.3 ypg) in the league, it will be extremely difficult for the Bucs to run the ball Sunday. The Bucs are 3-7 in their last 10 games as home favorites while the Titans are 7-3 in their last 10 games as road underdogs. Play the probabilities and take the Titans and the points.

HOU (+6.5) at JAX: In our Domination Index, the Jags rank as the 5th most dominant team in the league. Last week they held Larry Johnson of the Chiefs to only 12 yards rushing on 9 carries. If you have Ahman Green on your fantasy team, the good news is he returns to action this week. The bad news is it is vs the tough Jags run defense. The Texans have surprised a few people this year and I do NOT expect them to win this game straight up. But in the last 10 meetings between these 2 teams, the Texans have covered 8 of those 10. Take the Texans and the points.

Have a good weekend everyone and here’s to hoping that the “Game of the Century” as Cowboys WR Sam Hurd called it lives up to its hype.