The Saints and the Vikings put a little more distance between themselves and the rest of the NFC last week by winning their games and having the next best teams in the conference lose theirs. New Orleans struggled all game long to hold off the Rams, who are suddenly looking like a football team. Only after a Marc Bulger desperation pass to the corner of the end zone was knocked down on the game’s final play, were the Saints able to run off the field with a 28-23 win to raise their record to a franchise best 9-0. Minnesota had a much easier time of it as they rolled over Detroit 27-10. The win moved the Vikings record to 8-1 on the year. These two teams do not face each other in the regular season, but are well on their way to setting up a possible showdown in the conference championship. To help their cause the three teams with the next best record all lost on Sunday to further widen the gap. The Cowboys fell to 6-3 after the Green Bay Packers completely shut down Tony Romo and the Dallas offense keeping them off the scoreboard until late in the 4th quarter. Philadelphia and Atlanta dropped to 5-4 after the Eagles fell behind early to San Diego and never caught up losing 31-23 and the Falcons got pushed around by Carolina losing 28-19. Arizona improved to 6-3 after beating Seattle 31-20 to maintain a two game lead over the 49ers in the NFC West. San Francisco hammered out a 10-6 win over Chicago last Thursday night.
Moving onto week eleven, the key match ups we will be reviewing are; Atlanta@ N.Y. Giants, Philadelphia@ Chicago, and Washington@ Dallas.
Atlanta Falcons @ New York Giants (-6) Current Over/Under 44
With the Saints at 9-0 the Falcons are basically playing for a wildcard spot in the playoffs. Last week’s loss to the Panthers certainly did not help their cause and a loss this week could make the situation even more desperate. The situation in New York, despite losing four games in a row before going on their bye week is not as bad as it appears in that they are still only one game out of first in the NFC East. None the less they cannot afford to lose a fifth game in a row and will look to get back to playing the style of football that led to a 5-0 start against the Falcons this week. Statistically the Giants are a much better team as despite the losing streak they still have the overall top ranked defense and the fifth ranked offense. In comparison, Atlanta’s offense is ranked 14th and their defense is ranked 25th. If Eli Manning doesn’t turn the ball over and the Giants’ running game gets in gear they should win this game going away. I also like the over bet in this one.
Philadelphia Eagles (-3) @ Chicago Bears Current Over/Under 45
The biggest thing that the Eagles have going for them in this game is Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler. Philadelphia is ranked third in the league in interceptions with 15 and Cutler leads the league in this category with 17. Last week against the 49ers he threw five interceptions basically right into the hands of the San Francisco defenders. While he does tend to play better in front of the home town crowd, anytime he drops back to pass the potential for it to be picked off is there. If Philadelphia cannot beat the Bears with turnovers they might be able to win this game by creating some big plays on offense. In last week’s game against San Diego, Donovan McNabb threw for over 450 yards and 2 TD’s in a losing cause. Look for him to try and exploit a Chicago defense that has given up their fair share of big plays this season. I like the Eagles and the over in this contest.
Washington Redskins @ Dallas Cowboys (-11.5) Current Over/Under 41.5
This is a classic NFC East rivalry where you can throw out the fact that the Redskins are 3-6 and the Cowboys are 6-3 as upsets have always been a common occurrence when these two teams meet. Washington is coming off a big come from behind victory over the Denver Broncos and the Cowboys are reeling after being held to 7 points in a loss to Green Bay. Given the fact that the running game and defense are the real strength of these teams, I anticipate a knockdown, drag out fight that will not be decided until late in the fourth quarter. That being said I like the Redskins to at least cover the 11 ½ and for this game to stay under.
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