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Baltimore 38, Detroit 6 – Well, I expected the Ravens to win. But not to crush the Lions quite the way they did. Wow! What an impressive win by Baltimore, who just dominated this game from start to finish. Detroit looked a little too similar to how they looked in recent years. The Ravens appear to be among the elites in the AFC again. My pick: Accurate
Atlanta 16, Tampa Bay 13 – These two teams are very hard to get a grasp on. Just when you think that they have set the trends for how their season will go, you get a game like this, where the team you expect to lose plays impressively and wins, and the division remains incredibly tight. What a win for the Falcons, and a disappointing, missed opportunity for the Bucs. My pick: Inaccurate
NY Giants 14, Washington 7 – What a huge game by the Giants D! After allowing at least 24 points in each of their first five games (and going 1-4 during that stretch), they have really pulled it together and become a solid and impressive unit in recent weeks. For a second week in a row, the G-Men really had a solid defensive effort. This time, it was good enough to earn the win. My pick: Inaccurate
New England 29, Buffalo 25 - The Pats looked like they were going to pull off an upset, when the Bills finally came alive. They did everything right, and after being down all day, they finally pull ahead, 25-22, late in the fourth quarter to seemingly escape a bad loss. Then, the Patriots suddenly look like they did a few years ago with Tom Brady, as they drive down the field and to get within scoring position. Mac Jones looks like Tom Brady, and the Pats don't even have to settle for a field goal to tie the game and force overtime, but instead, earn the touchdown with 12 seconds left to earn the win. Despite their undeniably enormous talent on both sides of the ball, I'm beginning to doubt that this Buffalo team can avoid these kinds of setbacks. My pick: Inaccurate
Cleveland 39, Indianapolis 38 – A lot more points in this one then I expected. Ultimately, the Browns showed a survival instinct that has been quite impressive in recent weeks. This could have gone either way, but Cleveland did just enough to pull this one off for their second win, and very much stay alive in the AFC North race. My pick: Accurate
Chicago 30, Las Vegas 12 – I wrongly expected that the Raiders would win. After all, Da Bears were starting a rookie quarterback who had never started an NFL game before. Also, Chicago has just not look great so far this season. So what happens? The Bears basically dominate and tear the Raiders apart. My pick: Inaccurate
Pittsburgh 24, LA Rams 17 - This was the kind of score that you figured would come out of this game. And despite having predicted the Rams (obviously wrongly), it is hardly a huge surprise that the Steelers pulled this one out. Methinks the Rams are going to fall far short of the playoffs, and suffer through another miserable season at this point. As for the Steelers, they earned a tough win to keep their spot atop their tough division. My pick: Inaccurate
Seattle 20, Arizona 10 – The Seahawks did not do anything spectacular in this one. They just won it the way that they were expected to win it. It was a bit of a struggle in the first half, but the 'Hawks defense stepped up after the midway point of the second quarter and shut the Cardinals out the rest of the game. And the Seahawks did enough on offense to earn a convincing win. Now, they are back in the NFC West race. My pick: Accurate
Kansas City 31, LA Chargers 17 - Don't look now, but the defending champion Chiefs are pretty much the hottest team in the league right now. They are tied with the team that they met in last year's Super Bowl for the best overall record in the league at 6-1, and then have won six straight games in order to do it. They did not obliterate the Chargers, and both teams were held scoreless in the second half, until KC got that dagger in the heart late touchdown to put this one out of reach. Bottom line, they earned a win that now sees them in complete control in the AFC West, leading by a very comfortable three game margin, and still doing whatever it takes to win on a week-by-week basis. My pick: Accurate
Denver 19, Green Bay17 –Since getting humiliated in Miami, the Broncos have begun to look a lot better. They are not scoring a ton of points, but they are playing better, and earned themselves a much needed win over the Packers this weekend. My pick: Inaccurate
Sunday Night Football – Philadelphia 31, Miami 17 – The Dolphins, when they played one of the seriously elite teams in the league, once again seemed oddly flat on offense. This is starting to feel like a source of concern, and possibly a huge, maybe even glaring, weakness that may prevent them from fulfilling all of those early season Super Bowl predictions. They can rack up the points against teams like the Chargers and the Panthers and especially the Broncos (70 points is admittedly a very impressive feat!). But when the offense cannot find the higher gear or turn it up a notch against teams like Buffalo and Philadelphia, the inevitable questions arise about their postseason prospects. My pick: Accurate
Monday Night Football – Minnesota 22, San Francisco 17 – No, I did not see this one coming. The 49ers figured to win. After all, they feel like the better team, and just barely lost in Cleveland last weekend. Meanwhile, Minnesota was suffering through a horrible season. So it just seemed like the Niners would surely win. Except they didn't. They were uncharacteristically flat, only managing 17 points total. Injuries may be plaguing them. Now, I'm also not like the guys on the CBS Postgame show who were congratulating Phil Simms on his "prediction" that the 49ers would not go undefeated. I mean, making a big deal out of that pick, which is really only common sense, is kind of ridiculous. After all, only two teams in the Super Bowl era - we're talking nearly six decades here - have managed to finish a regular season with an undefeated record, and only one of those finished out the entire season still unbeaten (infamously, the Pats lost Super Bowl XLII, which ruined their shot at a "perfect season."). I mean, yes, the 49ers looked good, and it was difficult to imagine who would beat them. But the idea that they would not even have a single bad game, or injuries, or anything to mar a perfect record seemed a bit ridiculous. We usually don't seriously talk about the possibility of a team going undefeated until they reach, say, at least 10-0 or 11-0 or something. Still, I was fully expecting the 49ers to rebound and win this one. But give the Vikings credit: they suffered through an abysmal start to their season, but have bounced back in a big way, with this win being their biggest statement so far this season. My pick: Inaccurate
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