In a decision that will be debated as right or wrong for the rest on the season, New England head coach Bill Belichick’s failed gamble on 4th and 2 from his own 28 yard line with a little more than two minutes to play not only paved the way for the Colts to win the game and go to 9-0 on the year, it basically handed them home field advantage throughout the playoffs barring a late season meltdown. Given the fact that it is very likely these two teams will meet again in the post season, Belichick should get a shot at redemption. The other big game of the week in the AFC was Cincinnati making a huge statement by pounding the Steelers 18-12 in Pittsburgh. This win moves the Bengals to 7-2 on the year, but more importantly gives them a season sweep over the Steelers and the Ravens in the AFC North. Denver’s 6-0 start is beginning to look like a mirage as they lost their third straight game on Sunday. Their 3 ½ game lead in the AFC West has evaporated with San Diego moving to 6-3 as well after their fourth straight win. Jacksonville, once given up for dead beat the N.Y. Jets 24-22 to move to 5-4 on the year. This game featured another controversial call when late in the 4th quarter and still trailing by two points, Jaguars RB Maurice Jones-Drew took a knee at the one yard line instead of scoring the winning touchdown to run down the clock and set up a game winning chip shot field goal.
Moving onto week eleven in the AFC the key match ups we will be reviewing are; Tennessee@ Houston, Indianapolis@ Baltimore, and Denver@ SanDiego.
Tennessee Titans @ Houston Texans (-5) Current Over/Under 48
Suddenly the Titans are starting to look like last year’s team that had the best record in the league at 13-3. After starting out a dreadful 0-6, they have won three games in a row behind a resurgent offense led by former starting QB Vince Young. While Young has managed the games well it is really RB Chris Johnson who has been the star of this turnaround. In the last three games he has rushed for 495 yards and scored 6 TD’s. They will look to him again this week against a Texan team that is ranked 14th against the run. Houston is off to their best start in franchise history at 5-4 but need to win this game just to keep pace in the wildcard race. In the first meeting this season the Texans squeezed out a 34-31 win in Tennessee, but I do not see this one being that close. I’m going with the Texans and the OVER.
Indianapolis Colts @ Baltimore Ravens (-1) Current Over/Under 44.5
This game has trap written all over it for Indianapolis. Coming off a draining last minute win over the Patriots in a game that had more drama in it that a soap opera, the Colts are prime for a letdown. While they are 9-0 they have still not looked all that sharp as their average margin of victory in their last three games is less than three points. The Ravens are coming off an ugly 16-0 win over the Browns and need to win this game to keep their record over .500 and remain in the middle of the wildcard chase. If the Colt’s are going to lose a game this season this one would be my best bet. I like the Ravens and the OVER.
Denver Broncos @ San Diego Chargers (-3) Current Over/Under 45
The fact that the Broncos are more than a touchdown underdog in this game tells me that the consensus believes the clock has struck 12 and the magical ride that led this team to a 6-0 start has come to an end. While they have looked bad in their last three games especially on defense, this is still a fundamentally sound team. It appears that QB Kyle Orton’s ankle injury will not keep him out of the lineup and he still has WR Brandon Marshall to throw the ball to and RB Knowshon Moreno to run the ball. It will be up to Denver’s secondary to shut down San Diego QB Philip Rivers who is playing his best ball of the year. The fact that LaDainian Tomlinson had his best game of the year last week against the Eagles will be another factor that the Broncos will have to account for. They will need to take a page out of their first meeting when they only allowed the Chargers to convert only 2 out of 11 third down tries. I’m not sure they can win, but I see them keeping it close. I’m going with the Broncos and the UNDER.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.