Milton blog

It’s a battle of the undefeated teams in Big D – and the MPP sees Romo and The ‘boys suffering their first loss

Cincinnati (-3) at Kansas City
This is a battle of two underperforming teams, a battle of the Bengals 3rd ranked pass offense against the Chiefs 5th ranked pass defense. I like Cincinnati for the following reasons: they won in K.C. last season 23-10 AND they’re coming off a bye week which has provided them extra time to prepare along with extra time to dwell on the fact that they’ve lost three straight games – they won’t lose 4 in a row and K.C. will no longer be in the top five for pass defense after this weekend.
Bengals

Houston (+3) at Jacksonville
Houston beat Jacksonville in both of their meetings last season and a high percent of the Jacksonville offense this year has been their running game – which will face one of the better run defenses they’ve had to face so far this season. The Texans offense is producing fairly consistently, averaging 23 points per week while the Jags have yet to score more than 23 points in a game all season.
Texans

Miami (+4.5) at Cleveland
With Miami’s inexperienced back-up quarterback, their 0-5 record (with the first 4 losses being with their “experienced” QB) and a road game on top of all that - the odds are stacked against these poor fish out of water.
Browns

Minnesota (+5.5) at Chicago
With the Vikings coming off a bye week and three straight losses (all close games), they should come out firing on all cylinders and impressive rookie RB Adrian Peterson will look to expose a middle-of-the-road Bears run defense to keep his team in this one.
Vikings

Philadelphia (+3) at N.Y. Jets
Both these teams have been huge disappointments this season – each team with just one win. I like the Eagles over the Jets as their only win this season was against a much better team (Detroit) than the Jets – who have only beat the winless Dolphins and by 3 points. I hate to think of what Michael Vick would do to either of these teams if they’re ever reincarnated as a dog!
Eagles

St. Louis (+9.5) at Baltimore
Baltimore’s offense is far from awesome so far this season – they’ve beaten three of the lower level teams (Jets, Cardinals and 49ers) by only as much as 7 points – so the Rams should be able to beat this spread – especially with their capable back-up QB Frerotte having shaken off the rust in his start last week where he threw for 242 yards and 3 TD’s.
Rams

Tennessee (+3) at Tampa Bay
Even a Bucs fan would take the Titans to beat the spread – they’re playing great ball while the Bucs have lost their top two ball carriers to injury (Cadillac Williams and Michael Pittman) – meaning the Tennessee 3rd ranked league defense can focus in on QB Garcia and give him a really tough day.
Titans

Washington (+3) at Green Bay
Brett Favre runs up against the highest ranking pass defense he’s faced thus far for the season in Washington (8th in the league) and the best total defense they’ve faced as well (3rd). The Packers looked far more human last week losing to a 1-3 Bears team, and the 3-1 Skins are looking far better than da Bears so far this year – meaning the Packers will have stiffer competition than last week.
Redskins

Carolina (+4) at Arizona
Arizona has lost half of their QB tandem for this week, with Leinart out indefinitely. Watch for the Panther defense to keep them in this game by putting lots of pressure on QB Warner. Two of Arizona’s three wins this year have been by only 3 points, so Carolina is the smart choice for this match until field goals are worth 4.5 points to cover this spread.
Panthers

New England (-5) at Dallas
This should be the Monday night game, with two perfect 5-and-0 teams going head-to-head. The Patriots have the 2nd best offense and defense and have won each of their games convincingly (by a minimum margin of 17 points). The Cowboys have allowed an average of 6 points more per game than New England – and that has been against 5 fairly impotent offenses. The ‘boys stand to lose some of their swagger this weekend.
Pats

Oakland (+10) at San Diego
The #1 ranked Oakland rushing game will run the ball down San Diego’s throat this weekend. The Raiders have averaged 261 yards/game rushing the past three weeks (including games against decent Bronco and Dolphin defenses). San Diego could very well win this game, but certainly not by 10 points with QB Culpepper looking great orchestrating the Raider offense that’s had a bye week to prep for this game.
Raiders

New Orleans (+6.5) at Seattle
What’s the cure for a Seahawk team that was shut-out in Pittsburgh last week? 3 out of 4 doctors would prescribe a game versus a Saints team that has allowed an average of 30 points per game to be scored against them. The Saints have lost by an average of 17 points per game, so covering 6.5 points is very achievable for Seattle at home.
Seahawks

N.Y. Giants (-3.5) at Atlanta
The Giants have racked-up 3 straight wins after losses to two tough teams (Dallas & Green Bay). Once recently-acquired QB Byron Leftwich gets comfortable with the Falcon offensive schemes they may be able to contend – but he’s not there yet.
Giants

Survivor
(Pick one team to win outright each week, trying to put together the longest streak of consecutive winning picks while not able to pick any given team more than once during the season.)

Here’s a recap of my correct picks for the first 5 weeks:

Week 1 – Denver over Buffalo
Week 2 – Pittsburgh over Buffalo
Week 3 – Carolina over Atlanta
Week 4 – Dallas over St.Louis
Week 5 – Tennessee over Atlanta

For week #6 I’ll take Seattle over New Orleans – coach Holmgren won’t let his team lose at home to a winless team after being shutout on the road the previous week – playoff contenders don’t let that happen.

Now Milton, what do you think?

The Milton Pigskin Prognosticator is a weekly contributor to MiltonSearch.com. His NFL picks can be read on Fridays every week from now until Super Bowl Sunday. Submit your predictions vs. the spread and see how well you stack up!