Sunday Preview - week 9

Sorry of the lateness of the previews of a case of the swine caught up with me. If you need some last minute Sunday help, it's here.

Last Week against the spread

Mayo: 4-9
Anderson: 7-6

Year to Date

Mayo: 29-24-1

Anderson: 25-28-1

1:00pm

Washington at Atlanta

Despite having been cursed with an anemic offense, the Redskins defense has actually been very respectable. Washington ranks 4th in total defense and are especially good against the pass, 2nd to be exact. This doesn’t bode well for the Falcons’ passing attack, primarily Matt Ryan. Ryan has been a turnover machine lately giving the ball away eight times over his last three games. Keep a spot on your bench open him. Michael Turner on the other hand is on quite the roll, scoring in his last six games. Atlanta will want to establish its run game early and should be able to find ways to run around Haynesworth. Roddy White hurt his knee in practice earlier this week but looks like he’ll suit up on Sunday but make sure he doesn’t end up as a surprise inactive, it happens. Clinton Portis may have some value with Atlanta ranking in the bottom third of rushing defense. The problem is that Jason Campbell can’t be trusted to make a play. Ever. We'll be seeing a lot of three and outs. The Falcons should roll at home and add to despondency that is Washington’s season.

Mayo: Atlanta ( -10)

Anderson: Atlanta ( -10)

Miami at New England

Stats are a pretty subjective depending on how you read them. For example, in his last three games against the Patriots, Ronnie Brown has 278 yards and 5 touchdowns. That should make him a must start in every leagues as the stats say he dominates the Pats. But let’s take out the game last season when the Dolphins debuted the Wildcat and Brown has a career average of 13.2 carries for 48 yards a game against New England. Things don’t look good for Brown. Actually, things don’t look good for the Dolphins in general this week. Miami will try to run the ball but wind up ultimately unsuccessful as there is no threat of a passing game with Chad Henne manning the ship under center. The Pats should get up early, using Moss and Welker to take advantage of Miami’s young secondary. Look for a blowout, that Pats will squish the fish.

Mayo: New England ( -10.5)

Anderson: Miami ( +10.5)

Green Bay at Tampa Bay

The super raw rookie Josh Friedman makes his debut this week which should be music to the Packers defense. Despite being banged up, Aaron Rodgers should have a field day with the porous Bucs defense. Rodgers, Driver, Jennings and Grant are all high end starts this week, as are Green Bay’s defense. You’d be nuts to trust any Buckos in this one. Give yourself a week to see how the offense works under Friedman and then make your decisions. Packers in an uncontested drubbing.

Mayo: Green Bay ( -10)

Anderson: Green Bay ( -10)

Kansas City at Jacksonville

In a match of the mediocres, the fantasy value of this game may be unmatched. Jamaal Charles finally gets his chance to show off his blazing speed against a weak Jaguar defensive line. His ability to catch the ball out of the backfield and not call his coach a "fag", makes him a great start this week, more so in PPRs. If there’s a week to start Matt Cassel, this may be it as he will find Dwayne Bowe all day long. It should be just as good of a day on the other side of the ball. Jacksonville is wildly inconsistent but tend to play better at home. MJD should continue his recent torrid pace. Mike Sims-Walker and Torry Holt should make a return to the stat pages this week after an unexpected absence last week. Start them all here as it should be a close, high scoring affair. I’m taking the Chiefs with the points.

Mayo: Kansas City (+6.5)

Anderson: Jacksonville ( -6.5)

Baltimore at Cincinnati

Carson Palmer seems to have the Ravens number owning a 7-3 lifetime mark against Baltimore. Seems like Vegas has no faith in that record as they’ve made the Ravens a three point favorite. I would have to agree. Coming off a huge win last week against the no longer undefeated Broncos, the Ravens will do their best to shut down Cedric Benson and get a win on the road. You have to roll with Joe Flacco and Derrick Mason against the Bengals’ 30th ranked pass defense. Ray Rice, like Ced Benson, is unsittable at this point, so get them in there. The founder of OCNN (Ochocinco New Network) always show up for every game in this series, so expect him to produce some quality numbers. Both secondaries can be taken advantage of, so look for a high scoring game. I like the Ravens come out on top by 4 or more.

Mayo: Baltimore (-3)

Anderson: Cincinnati ( +3)

Houston at Indianapolis

Too bad Owen Daniels is out for the season, he really could have made this an upset. Without Daniels, Indy can focus on shutting down Andre Johnson and make the Texans' running game beat them. I don’t care how good Ryan Moats looked last week against the terrible Bills’ run defense, he’ll be lucky to sniff the end zone once, let alone three times. All members of the Colts passing game are a go this week; that means get Manning, Wayne, Clark and Collie in your line ups. This is a statement game for the Texans and they may catch Indy looking ahead to next week’s clash with the Patriots. But that’s a best case scenario, Manning doesn’t have many letdowns.

Mayo: Indianapolis ( -9)

Anderson: Indianapolis ( -9)

Arizona at Chicago

You really have to give ‘Zona head coach Ken Whisenhunt credit for changing the whole culture of a team after decades of futile existence. The Cards are 3-0 on the road this season, the Bears are 3-0 at home: something’s gotta give. Who’s it going to be? Probably Arizona, if history teaches us anything. But these are the new Cardinals, they win on the road and stop the run. If they can shut down Matt Forte, they’ll force Jay Cutler to play 500-up with the football and that plays right into the hands of the ball hawking Arizona secondary. There should be points scored from all over in this one but I like the Cards to do a bit more. They should be back on their game after getting embarrassed by the Panthers last week.

Mayo: Arizona (+3)

Anderson: Chicago ( -3)

4:00pm

Detroit at Seattle

It’s actually shocking but they’re televising this game. Who’s watching? Maybe Lions’ diehard Dusty Burke, but he may use this time to work out or at least work out the problems that come with liking the Lions. Looks like Kevin Smith and Megatron will be playing but if last week taught us anything, maybe set aside a plan B so you don’t put up a zero. You’ll want them in if they’re playing. From the Seattle side, start everyone. That was easy enough. This may not even be a bad week to use the Seahawks in your eliminator pools.

Mayo: Seattle ( -10)

Anderson: Seattle ( -10)

Carolina at New Orleans

Somehow this has become the trendy upset pick of the week. Out of all the games this one seems like the biggest lock. The Saints haven’t played their best game in weeks and have still found ways to pull out victories. Carolina’s only hope is to control the clock through their bruising run game. That plan is highly problematic because it’s hard to run the ball when you’re down by 21 a quarter into the game. Start all your usual Saints and definitely get the Saints’ defense in there, they’re playing the King of Turnovers himself, Jake Delhomme.

Mayo: New Orleans ( -13.5)

Anderson: New Orleans ( -13.5)

Tennessee at San Francisco

What ya gonna do 49ers when Vinsanity runs wild over you? Have Patrick Willis spy him and hit him so hard it actually improves his Wonderlic scores. The Titans looked good against a pitiful Jaguar defense but will be tested by Mike Singletary’s hard nose unit. They won’t let Chris Johnson beat them, so Vince Young will need to be up to the task, which I have my doubts about. I like the 49ers defense to make the most of Young’s errant throws.

Mayo: San Francisco (-4)

Anderson: Tennessee ( +4)

San Diego at New York Giants

The suddenly hot Chargers travel east for a clash with the sleeping (or slumping) Giants. Eli Manning looks hurt and it’s affecting the entire offense. Former superstar Steve “Squiggy” Smith has come back to earth and the season long slump for Brandon Jacobs continues each week. But this is a game where they can all break out. The San Diego defense doesn’t stop anyone, not even the inept Raiders. The Chargers do better in high scoring games and will want to throw the ball all over the Giants’ beat up secondary. Rivers, Gates, Jackson and even new starter Malcolm Floyd are all nice starts here. The Giants stop the run well and that should make it a nice week to sit LT and get Sproles in the line up. The Bolts are hot right now and the Giants play better on the road, take the Chargers and the points.

Mayo: San Diego (+5)

Anderson: San Diego ( +5)

8:15pm

Dallas at Philadelphia

Shoot out alert of the week. The last three games in this series have produced games of 50, 78, and 55 points between the teams. Start them all. Get Romo, Barber, Witten and Austin in from Dallas; McNabb, Westbrook, Jackson, Celek and Maclin from Philly. The teams looks about even, so I’ll take the home team and the over (currently set at 50).

Mayo: Philadelphia (-3)

Anderson: Dallas ( +3)

Monday Night

Pittsburgh at Denver

Are the Broncos actually a fraud? We’ll all find out this week. Coming off their first loss of the season at Baltimore, Denver gets their second AFC North foe in as many weeks, never a good thing. The Steel Curtain is coming off a bye and now as a blueprint of how to beat Denver. Jam the receivers and put 8 in the box, Kyle Orton simply can’t throw the ball downfield. Well I suppose he can, just not for positive results. The saving grace is that the Broncos’ defense can keep this close and Broncos can win close games. In the end, I’ll take Big Ben before “All Smiles” Kyle Orton any day of the week.

Mayo: Pittsburgh (-3)

Anderson: Pittsburgh ( -3)

It may not be "All Smiles" in Denver after this week