http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/02/sports/football/week-9-nfl-matchups.html 2014-11-01 20:37:07 Week 9 N.F.L. Matchups This week’s games include a matchup between the Broncos and the Patriots, with the Rivalry between Petyon Manning and Tom Brady taking center stage. === Broncos 4:25 p.m. Line: Broncos by 3 ½ Well, well, well. Just another silly old football game, no? Might as well just spend your Sunday at Ikea buying that coffee table you have been meaning to get. Do not forget to pick up some of those It seemed destined from the start, with Which quarterback should you pull for? According PICK: BRONCOS Jets (1-7) at Chiefs (4-3) 1 p.m. Line: Chiefs by 10 It was only a matter of time before The New York Post called on Jets management Side note: This past week, someone Just so we are clear, Dungy PICK: CHIEFS Cardinals (6-1) at Cowboys (6-2) 1 p.m. Line: Cowboys by 3 Late in the week, Tony Romo’s status for this game was uncertain, with reports indicating that it would be Jones said Romo told reporters “It will be about your ability to be productive in some fashion,” he said. Good to see that the circus that has been the Dallas Cowboys in recent years is slowly starting to return to form. PICK: CARDINALS Ravens (5-3) at Steelers (5-3) 8:30 p.m. Line: Ravens by 1 ½ It is hard to think of a more competitive N.F.L. rivalry in the modern era than Steelers-Ravens. Baltimore earned a 26-6 victory over Pittsburgh in Week 2, but the previous five matchups between the teams were decided by 3 points or fewer. The games usually feature physical football at its finest, throwback slugfests reminiscent of the bygone bloody games glorified in grainy NFL Films productions, complete with gravelly-voiced narration. That said, this one could be a bit of a shootout. Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is coming off the best statistical game of his career, passing for 522 yards and six touchdowns in a 51-34 win over the Colts. Joe Flacco is only two games removed from one of the best performances of his career, throwing five touchdown passes in a 48-17 drubbing of Tampa Bay, and he is on a pace to set personal records for yards and touchdowns in a season. PICK: STEELERS Chargers (5-3) at Dolphins (4-3) 1 p.m. Line: Dolphins by 1 The Chargers have not beaten the Dolphins on the road in the regular season More recently, the Dolphins have won two in a row. Conversely, the Chargers have lost two in a row. PICK: DOLPHINS Jaguars (1-7) at Bengals (4-2-1) 1 p.m. Line: Bengals by 10 ½ Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles has thrown a league-high 12 interceptions — four have been returned for touchdowns — and Jacksonville is averaging a league-worst On the bright side, the former Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson has emerged as a threat in the backfield, rushing for 100 yards in each of the last two games, the first Jaguars back to do so since Maurice Jones-Drew in 2011. The Bengals have had a yo-yo season. After looking like a Super Bowl contender by starting with three victories, Cincinnati went 0-2-1 in its next three games before beating its division rival Baltimore, 27-24, last week. Which Cincinnati team shows up this week is anyone’s guess, but even at their worst, the Bengals should be able to put away the Jaguars at home fairly easily. PICK: BENGALS Buccaneers (1-6) at Browns (4-3) 1 p.m. Line: Browns by 7 The poor Browns. The team’s 4-3 record would be good enough for first place in the pathetic N.F.C. South, but Cleveland finds itself in last place in the tough A.F.C. North. The universe does appear to have a heart, though: Cleveland is facing Tampa Bay, the N.F.C. South’s worst team. PICK: BROWNS Redskins (3-5) at Vikings (3-5) 1 p.m. Line: Vikings by 1 If you watched Colt McCoy in interviews after the Redskins’ somewhat shocking road win over the Cowboys last week, you saw that he was gracious, humble and polite, among other things, even when the “Monday Night Football” analyst Jon Gruden coaxed him So it is hard not to feel a bit sorry for McCoy now that he appears to have lost the starting gig. According Gruden and Vikings Coach Mike Zimmer know each other well — they spent three years together coaching under Marvin Lewis in Cincinnati as offensive and defensive coordinators. Their intrasquad confrontations were apparently not always cordial. “We competed every day in practice,” Eagles (5-2) at Texans (4-4) 1 p.m. Line: Eagles by 2 ½ Is there anything the one-man gang J. J. Watt cannot do? At this point, it would hardly be a surprise to see Watt, the Texans’ star defensive end, take a snap or two at quarterback. Watt is even making social statements of late, taking time to ridicule Titans quarterback Zach Mettenberger for posting too many selfies to social media. Watt made the comments after last week’s Houston-Tennessee game, in which he sacked Mettenberger twice, forced a fumble and batted down a pass. “It’s just kind of a reminder: This is the National Football League, not high school,” Watt Now, after roughing up and publicly mocking a rookie quarterback, Watt will get to feast on a turnover-prone Eagles offense that coughed up the ball three times last week and PICK: TEXANS Rams (2-5) at 49ers (4-3) 4:05 p.m. Line: 49ers by 10 Look for the Rams, who rank Barring any more special-teams trickery by St. Louis — a strategy that helped the Rams upset the Seahawks in Week 7 — it is hard to imagine Jim Harbaugh’s 49ers dropping to .500 by losing this game at home after a 42-17 rout by Denver followed by a bye week. PICK: 49ERS Raiders (0-7) at Seahawks (4-3) 4:25 p.m. Line: Seahawks by 14 ½ If there was ever a no-brainer of a pick for suicide pools this season, it may be this one. Sure, the Seahawks have looked vulnerable on the field and have been encompassed by turmoil off it, but they are still close to invincible at home. Toss in a winless Raiders team that seems to be a strong contender to go 0-16, and the ghost of Al Davis is likely to remain restless, at least for another week. PICK: SEAHAWKS