Chargers (87 Index: 19) at Bears (87 Index: 10) Regardless of who's to blame in San Diego

 

you can't ignore the fact that the Chargers are struggling. Sure there's time to right the ship, but today they travel to Chicago. Both teams run the ball effectively, however Chargers QB Philip Rivers is channeling his inner Grossman this year and throwing picks. And they average 39 pass attempts per game. We all know the Bears defense is opportunistic. They are also the hot team and they're home. Bears win.

Bills (16) at Dolphins (23) Why is this an interesting game, you say? Well, rivalry games never go as scripted is the major angle. But there's also this: what do you do when you're driving to work and you seeing flashing lights up ahead and all the traffic trying to get out of one lane to merge into yours because there's a pile up ahead? That's right, you slow down and try to see how bad the devastation is. And that's where we are with the Buffalo Bills. They lost their best DT two weeks ago. Last week they lost their C. The Dolphins are playing scrappy and have probably played their way out of Andrew Luck. But the story here is the Bills making believers out of skeptics only to stomp on their faces, Dolphins win.

Bengals (9) at Ravens (5) One of the established contenders host the new kids on the block who weren't supposed to matter this year.

Sorry about that. No statistical analysis needed here, folks. As Jekyll and Hyde as the Ravens have been on offense this year, this is still the Ravens defense at home against a rookie quarterback whose best receiving option is doubtful after missing 3 practices. Ravens win this.

Titans (15) at Falcons (13) The Titans are another team that wasn't supposed to matter this year, however they have proven to be the kind of grind it out team that this old schooler can't help but admire. The Titans give up 4.4 per carry and the Falcons have Michael Turner. Chris Johnson seemed to be waking up last week but there is not enough on this team to make me think they march into the Georgia Dome and come out with a win. That whole visitor with swagger thing never works out.  

Falcons today.

Eagles (18) at Giants (12) Remember that whole car wreck analogy from the Bills-Dolphins preview? Yeah, that applies to the Eagles here.  

Eagles QB Mike Vick is out, as is WR Jeremy Maclin. The Giants are home and while I stand by my Eli-Manning-Is-The-Most-Aggravating-Quarterback-Alive thing, I can't see Vince Young marching out of MetLife Stadium a winner. G-men.

Enjoy your Sunday, folks.