This wait seems interrrrrmmmminable. Need a game, need a game, need a game the Patriots are playing in. One more sleep before that happens.
Fortunately, there’s a stack of good games going on Sunday. Even the seemingly crappy ones are interesting. So, with that in mind, I felt motivated to start spewing half-baked intel on what’s going to happen. Not gonna hurt anybody, right?
The best game, though, is the one that has the most relevance to the upper tier of the AFC. Texans at Colts at 1 p.m. Houston is 4-2. Indy is 3-2 and coming off its bye. The Texans beat KC last Sunday in KC. The Colts beat KC in KC two weeks ago.
Deshaun Watson’s completed 58 of his past 75 throws and has six TD passes and a pick. Most importantly, he hasn’t been sacked in two games after going down 18 times in the first four.
Houston’s only losses this year were the opener at New Orleans (30-28) and a 16-10 loss at Carolina when Watson got sacked six times. I am not nearly as high on Indy as most people. The win over KC was impressive as hell but they got it done by exploiting the Chiefs horrific run defense. The week before they lost to Oakland, they barely beat the weak-ass Falcons, they edged the Titans and lost at the Chargers. The winner here locks itself in as looking eyeball-to-eyeball with the Chiefs as the second-best team in the conference.
Texans 24, Colts 23
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Then there’s the sneaky-resilient Raiders. They smacked up the Bears the last time they played, now they are at Green Bay. At 3-2, Oakland’s overlooked in the AFC West. They feel like a playoff team, though.
Raiders 30, Packers 23
The 4-2 Ravens are in a command position in the AFC North at 4-2. They are on the road at Seattle, though, and the week-to-week, boom-or-bust performances of Lamar Jackson will be in focus. He’s averaging 76.7 YPG on the ground and 6.7 per carry. He’s also taken 16 sacks already (although last week he took just one against Cincy). The Ravens haven’t beaten a “quality” team yet (they took out the Dolphins, Cards, Steelers and Bengals while losing to Cleveland). If Baltimore can perform well in a tough stadium, it would go a long way toward taking their challenge seriously.
Seahawks 30, Ravens 20
My Bills intrigue continues. The Dolphins came dangerously close to waltzing into a win last week against the Redskins. Didn’t get it. Now they are in Western New York and if the Bills are who we think they are, they win this game about 23-6. No muss, no fuss, all threats put down by 2:30 p.m.
Bills 23, Dolphins 6
The Lions come off the game they had stolen from them against the Packers and host Minnesota, which is coming off its most impressive win. Since Kirk Cousins is not to be trusted, I’m looking for the Vikings offense to regress. Can the Lions on a short week get over the sting of Monday’s loss and deliver in a pivotal divisional game? If they lose, they fall three games behind in the win column in the NFC North and will be in fourth place.
Lions 23, Vikings 20
The Niners are at the Redskins and – like Buffalo – if San Fran is what we think they are, they should be able to come cross-country, play in crap conditions and take care of business. I think they will.
49ers 35, Redskins 16
The Eagles and Cowboys, both coming off bad losses, get together with a whiff of desperation for SNF. This is going to be a fascinating game because that whole conference has a pile of teams that could get to the Super Bowl or miss the playoffs altogether and its these games in the middle of the season that will dictate in large part their destinies.
Eagles 30, Cowboys 24
The Bears need this one more than New Orleans. They got shamed by Oakland. Trouble is, they get Mitch Trubisky back. And that’s not a positive since he’s not that great. They still have enough on defense to hold down the Saints outdoors.
Bears 20, Saints 17
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