Week 9, not feelin’ fine

I’ve got to say, my fantasy team’s season is about as over as the Cincinnati Bengals. Sitting at 1-7 this late in the season, I’d have to win out and hope for the teams on top of me to falter severely. The worst part about this is that since it’s a work pool, I certainly can’t give up and secondly — unlike the dregs of the NFL, I’m not getting a better draft pick the worse I do this year. There’s plenty of blame to go around on the Whitefish, mainly to my first round pick, who pretty much ruined my chances eight minutes into the season. My second and third picks — Ryan Grant and Marques Colston — haven’t helped much either. Like they say, you can’t win the championship at the draft, but you certainly can lose it. On the bright side, at least I have the opportunity to play spoiler and at least that’s something.

Here’s the week nine picks, with the lines from the Vegas.

MINNESOTA (-4.5) over Houston
So weren’t the Vikings supposed to be Super Bowl contenders? Weren’t the Texans supposed to improve on last season? With both teams at 3-4 this is a crucial tilt for both squads. I’m not so sure that the Texans can stop the Vikings front-seven though.

Jacksonville (-7.5) over CINCINNATI
Apparently TJ Who’s-your-daddy guarantees that the Bengals will win at least one more game this season. It won’t happen this week though since the Jags are getting down into must-win territory.

Tampa Bay (-8.5) over KANSAS CITY
Tyler Thigpen had a good weak against the Jets but this is the Tampa 2 he’ll be throwing against. The Bucs are better at home but the Chiefs are just plain bad this season. Having Larry Johnson suspended isn’t helping them either. I don’t see why they don’t trade him away instead of letting him waste away.

Baltimore (+1.5) over CLEVELAND
I’m actually surprised that the Browns are favourites in this one. The way Derek Anderson is playing, I don’t think it’s even a fair trade if you wanted to swap him for Joe Flacco right now. This could be quite a running war. McGahee always has big games against Cleveland while Jamal Lewis likes to take it to his former team.

New York Jets (+5.5) over BUFFALO
Brett and the Jets always have a way of keeping things close and the same can be said with almost any division rivalry game. The Bills are coming off a tough loss to Miami and Trent Edwards did not look too good.

Arizona (-3) over ST. LOUIS
Tory Holt thinks the Rams are “phasing him out.” Really Tory? You’re not an aging wide out who relies on his speed and have seen your numbers decline? When a team drafts a new speed receiver in the second round (Donnie Avery), it’s not to compliment your abilities. The Cardinals just have too many weapons to handle for an usually over-matched Rams defence.

Detroit (+13) over CHICAGO
The Lions have that nasty habit of going down by 21 early. In fact, last week they scored in the first quarter for the first time this season. But the pesky thing about Detroit is that they always seem to catch teams late in games for some scores to end up covering the spread.

TENNESSEE (-5.5) over Green Bay
So the Packers finally gave Aaron Rodgers his due, but will he keep playing as well as he has now that he’s got his extension? Conventional wisdom says no but this guy has stuck with the Pack through thick and thin. This week against the Titans though, I don’t see him leading Green Bay over an undefeated team who is at home.

DENVER (-3) over Miami
Somebody has to win the AFC West and the Broncos are looking like the cream of that crap. While the rest of the league look like they’ve caught up with Miami’s Wildcat offence but Denver’s defence might be just bad enough to be susceptible to the gimmick. I like Cutler and Marshall to go to town hear.

Atlanta (-3) over OAKLAND
At the beginning of the season this matchup looked like pure awfulness on the schedule. Now, it’s still kind of bad. Oakland does play alright at home and keeps games close. The Falcons could’ve beaten the Eagles last week except the city of Philadelphia just wouldn’t lie down.

Dallas (+9) at NEW YORK GIANTS
Oh boy is poor Brad Johnson going to be in trouble this week. As a Cowboys fan I seriously can’t wait for Tony Romo to come back if only to spare the 40-year-old Johnson from the beatings he’d receive from opposing lineman.

Philadelphia (-6.5) over SEATTLE
The Eagles are a completely different team with Brian Westbrook playing. The Eagles are also great at running up the score against inferior teams. The only really nice thing about this game is that we’ll see two African-American QBs going at it. Is DeSean Jackson still a rookie of the year contender? 32 catches and 505 yards but only one receiving TD isn’t enough in my books.

New England (+6) over INDIANAPOLIS
This isn’t your average Pats-Cotls tilt, both teams are mere shells of themselves from yesteryear’s editions. Even with Sanders and Addai back, the Colts won’t cover six against their fierce rivals. Indy doesn’t even really have a great home field advantage anymore.

Pittsburgh (+1.5) over WASHINGTON
Notice how everyone’s talking about how Jason Campbell hasn’t thrown an interception yet this season? Well the jinx is on now and Pittsburgh’s defence is good enough to put enough pressure on him to throw into coverage. The Redskins may have a good record, but they’re not really looking as good as they should’ve when defeating inferior teams, how can it handle the Steelers?

Last week: 5-6-1.
This season: 56-47-2.