Hammering it Out: Week 10 Predictions

With no teams on bye this week, NFL fans will see all 32 clubs in action. Week 10 starts on Thursday night with a matchup between the Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers to be seen on NFL Network. On to the picks! Oakland Raiders at San Diego Chargers (-6.5) There isn't a shred of logic in picking a Raider team without its best player (Darren McFadden) with inexperience/bad play from its most important position (quarterback) to keep it close with the San Diego Chargers except that they're playing the Chargers, who have given away more games than Santa Claus (he still exists, right?). While I expect this to be a reasonably well-played game, understand that I mean this should be a 10-14 point final score kind of game. -Jared Jared - Chargers win by 7 or more Travis - Raiders win, tie, lose by less than 7 New Orleans Saints at Atlanta Falcons (+0.5) I've said it before and I'll say it again. The Falcons are a good team, but they aren't great. Drew Brees and this Saints offense are far too explosive for Atlanta to handle twice in one season. Or are they? -Jared Jared - Falcons win or tie Travis - Falcons win Buffalo Bills at Dallas Cowboys (-5.5) Both of these teams are underwhelming but for completely different reasons. Dallas has a bit of an injury problem on offense. Buffalo started off hot and have subsequently cooled down. Expect a pretty hotly contested game. -Jared Jared - Bills lose by 5 or less, tie, or win Travis - Dallas wins by 6 or more Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals (+3.5) If I felt like Cincinnati hadn't largely played the basement of the NFL in terms of ability, I would look at them a little more seriously. Pittsburgh is coming in off a 4th quarter comeback loss and are about to tee off against a defense posting some big numbers, sure, but they haven't played against a receiving corps like this. -Jared Jared - Steelers win by 4 or more Travis - Bengals win, tie, lose by less than 4 St. Louis Rams at Cleveland Browns (-2.5) The Rams are about as up and down a team as you can get without wins to back up the monicker. St. Louis beats New Orleans by 10 two weeks ago and then drops a game to Arizona. There isn't a more polarizing pair of games for a team I've seen yet this year. The Browns are, well, they're the Browns. No, really. -Jared Jared - Rams lose by 2 or less, tie, or win Travis - Rams WIN, tie or lose by less than 3 Denver Broncos at Kansas City Chiefs (-3.5) I'm not a fanboy of Tim Tebow by any stretch of the imagination, but those players that couldn't defend the option against Tebow in college? Yeah, some of those guys are playing in this game. They hate it too. -Jared Jared - Broncos lost by 3 or less, tie, or win Travis - Chiefs win by 4 ore more Tennessee Titans at Carolina Panthers (-2.5) I really want to see Chris Johnson go to town on a hapless defense. I really want it to be this week. It just isn't going to happen. Cam Newton will be the Rookie of the Year and it will be for games like this. -Jared Jared - Panthers win by 3 or more Travis - Panthers win by 3 or more Jacksonville Jaguars at Indianapolis Colts (+2.5) Frankly, if the Colts are going to win a game this year, it's going to be against either Jacksonville or Tennessee. This is one of those weeks. The Jaguars focus on stuffing the run and taking away the long pass, leaving them susceptible to the underneath throw. Look for Austin Collie anyone else coming underneath the secondary to have a decent number of targets. -Jared Jared - Colts lose by 2 or less, tie, or win Travis - Jags win by 3 or more Washington Redskins at Miami Dolphins (-3.5) I seriously doubt Washington wins another game this year. Miami, on the other hand, would be foolish to. However ridiculous that seems, I honestly expect Miami to give Washington the business, but I can't see why they would want to do so. -Jared Jared - Washington loses by 3 or less, ties, or wins Travis - Washington wins, ties, or loses by 4 or less Arizona Cardinals at Philadelphia Eagles (-13.5) At the start of this season, I'd have told you the Eagles would be winning games by 30 and would be undefeated. At this point, I'm not so sure the Cardinals won't beat the Eagles on Sunday. I can't take someone not named Kevin Kolb putting up numbers against this lauded Eagles secondary no matter how poorly they've played so far this season. -Jared Jared - Eagles win by 14 or more Travis - Eagles win by 14 or more Houston Texans at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+3.5) Albert Haynesworth or not, the Buccaneers can't possibly stop the two-headed monster that Arian Foster and Ben Tate have become. This game could be interesting, but something tells me Houston's defense hasn't played their best game yet. -Jared Jared - Texans win by 4 or more This game should be a pretty close one in my mind - Travis Travis - Texans by 4 or more Baltimore Ravens at Seattle Seahawks (+7.5) I can imagine that making the cross-country flight and playing in front of the Seattle 12th Man could be construed as difficult to overcome. That would be the case if the Seahawks actually posed a threat to Baltimore's defense. -Jared Jared - Ravens win by 8 or more Travis - Ravens win by 8 or more Detroit Lions at Chicago Bears (-2.5) Didn't Detroit already handle the Bears at home? Aren't the Lions undefeated on the road? Is one of the most offensively potent teams in the league coming off a bye relatively healthy? I don't care how the Bears are playing, the cards are simply in Detroit's favor. -Jared Jared - Lions lose by 2 or less, tie, or win Travis - Lions win, tie, lose by less than 3 (Lions shall win) New York Giants at San Francisco 49ers (-3.5) The 49ers are riding high. Sure thing. These are the New York Giants. The team that just beat the Patriots last week. I understand the 49ers limit turnovers and run the ball. I don't think the 49ers keep this streak up. -Jared Jared - Giants lose by 3 or less, tie, or win Travis - Giants win, tie, or lose by less than 4 New England Patriots at New York Jets (-1.5) A lot of people are saying there is no way the Patriots lose three games in a row. I'm not one of those people. The Patriots are struggling on both sides of the ball. Congratulations, Rex. -Jared Jared - Patriots lose by 1 or less, tie, or win Travis - Jets win Minnesota Vikings at Green Bay Packers (-13.5) I see a Viking team improving from the insertion of Christian Ponder. I see a Packer team that has struggled against underwhelming opponents. I see a tight ball game here. Plan accordingly. -Jared Jared - Vikings lose by 13 or less, tie, or win Travis - Vikings win, tie, lose by less than 14