I'll give you my picks for the big matchups this week, you can take these to vegas or impress your friends with these.
Broncos - Ravens
I think Ravens are going to have a bounce back game and play solid but not good enough to beat the Broncos. Ravens are on a bit of a downward slope loosing 2 straight and firing there offensive coordinator. Torrey Smith hasn't been making big plays as of late and Ray Rice has been loosing some of the workload for whatever reason. Even if the Ravens have a good day they won't muster up enough to take down the Broncos who are playing phenominal football right now. Hungry to clinch home field advantage and havn't lost since week 7? Not going to happen Ravens, I like Broncos here.
Packers - Bears
Not sure if Jay Cutler is playing or not but from the last reports I read he should be a go. Either way, I don't like Jay Cutler or think he can lead the Bears to put up as much points as the Packers are going to make him put up. Matt Forte seems like he has fallin off the face of the planet with mediocre numbers and not nearly the same production he had in the beggining of the season. Brandon Marshall hasn't been playing the best football either as of late probably because defenses are starting to put extra attention on him, and when he is blanketted where do you go? There defensive rock and captain I believe is not going to play and if I remember carefully Urlacher could be done for the season. Greenbay is just to hot right now and they're going to put up big points unless the Bears can get there defense going again. I like Greenbay here but if the Bears want a shot to win they're going to need to put up the D they were putting up in the beginning of the season and keep Rodgers on the sidelines.
Colts - Texans
I have a hard time on this one. The Texans are another team that has been slipping as of lately but after there embarrassment against NE last Monday night I think they're going to be looking for a huge bounce back. The Colts are going to have to air it out if they want a solid shot at taking down Houston, which meens Luck is going to have to play a solid game. If Luck isn't feeling it or plays anything short of spectacular I don't see the Colts winning this one. If JJ Watt can get something going early to put pressure on Luck it's a wrap. Houston can jump on offense and let Foster run all over that Indy D. I like the Texans here.
Falcons - Giants
I think the Giants have been playing great football lately and it will carry on into this matchup. I can see this being a good ol fashion gunslinger, probably a combination of points going 40+. Falcons haven't been to hot lately and there struggling to develop a run game as well. If you look at it, majority of there victorys were 4th quarter comebacks with Ryan just hucking it all over the field to Jones, White, and Gonzo. Falcons are going to need to put up some D to slow this game down. Even with Bradshaw most likely out for NY there rookie Wilson showed some promising hope last week. Giants are firing on all cylinders and playing Giant football that we've all seen in the Superbowl. I like NY here.
Dallas - Pittsburgh
Dallas came off a good win against a solid Bengals team last week on the road. They managed the clock great and held Romo under control from throwing the game away. I like how Murray has come back and become a huge threat so quickly again, good to see him healthy. Not so good loosing D.Ware and Claieborne on the defensive side. Hopefully they are good to go by the team Pittsburgh comes into town. Claieborne most likely will not play. I don't know what happend to Pittsburgh against SD but that was ugly. The offense was immensely improved with Big Ben back and all his WRs production sky rocket from his return. Wallace putting up 100+ yards and 2 TDs and Brown had a TD as well. Yea they were down by a ton and hucking it around but I still like Big Ben returning. It's always hard for me to look at the Steelers because they are always so banged up and I can't rememer the last time I've seen them with a full healthy squad. Dallas is hungry and Pitt is beat up, this one was tough for me but I don't think Pitt is going to muster enough to bring down Dallas at home. Romo's numbers are insane at home this season, I believe throwing for multiple TDs and 300+ yards every game at home this season. I like Dallas here...
49ers - Pats
The big game of the week, most might say a preview of the SB? Who knows? Pats are coming off a destruction of Houston last week and they are trucking along a 7 game winstreak. It's going to fun to see how they do against the top defense in the NFL though. I think the Pats did an outstanding job cutting JJ Watt out of the picture, lets just see if they can do the same with the Smith brothers...Kappernick is not going to lead the 49ers into scoring more points then the Pats, this entire game rests on the shoulders of the 9ers D. Keep Brady off the field. This will be a great game and the hardest to determine but I like the Pats here.
