[swifty]

Here are some tips for week 5.

Miami @ Houston -5½ - Both teams lost last week to teams they should've beaten. The Texans lost to the Falcons and the Fish lost to the Raiders. Ex-Dolphin QB Culpepper showed that the Dolphins should have kept him by throwing for 2 and rushing for 3 against his previous employer (so much for appreciation). I'm still wondering what happened to the Dolphin's defense; does LB Thomas mean that much to a defense? The Texans turned the ball over twice last week. One of the T/O proved to be costly as the Falcons scored a TD. This week I look for both teams to return to their previous type of play; that is, hard hitting and low scoring. Miami is still looking for their 1st win of the young season. They were totally outplayed at home by the Raiders. Their total net offensive yardage was 278. I've seen high-schools gain more yards than the Dolphins. The bright spot for the fish was RB Brown who contributed a 134 of the 141 yards rushing. Last week the Texans held the Falcons to 90 yards rushing and I expect they'll do the same thing to RB Brown this week. I don't like going against teams that have not won a game but I'm going to recommend taking the Texans minus the 5½.

------------------------------------------------------------


NY Jets vs. NY Giants -3½ - The bragging rights of New York will be settled in New Jersey when one of these teams leaves the Meadowlands after the game. The G-men are coming off a convincing win against the Eagles. Between DE's Strahan and Umenyiora they sacked 7 of the 12 times QB McNabb was sacked. QB Pennington should be looking over his shoulder every time he drops back to pass! The J---E---T---S defense is giving up an average of over 100 yards rushing and nearly 300 yards passing per game combining for a total of 365 yards per game; if they don't tighten-up their defense QB Manning will have a field day against them and their offense is way too conservative; rumor has it that some of the Jets' players are not happy with the play calling of OC Schotteheimer or the rigid persona of HC Mangeni. Sounds like something's got-to-give! I look for the G-Men to extend their winning way against a team that is a couple of years away from being competitive. Take the Giants laying the 3½ points.
------------------------------------------------------------


Cleveland @ New England -15 - Those of you that follow this space know my feelings towards giving a team more than a 2 TD head-start but I'm going to go against my own rule in this game. The Browns shocked some people when they defeated Baltimore last week. If you look at the stats you would've thought the Ravens won the game; they out-rushed and out-passed the Browns. The only stat that was in the Browns' corner was turn-overs, Browns had 1 while the Ravens had 2 (of course the Browns also had the higher number on the scoreboard). This week they travel to Foxboro to take on the Patriots. The Patriots enter the game on a 4-win roll,averaging 37 points per game while giving up just 12 points per game. One thing that may escape a lot of people is that the Patriots opposition so far this year is 6-14 while the Browns opposition so far is 12-8, which means the Browns have played a tougher schedule than the Patriots. The Cleveland fans can only hope that HC Crennel can figure out what to do defensively to stop the Patriots. Currently the Browns are ranked 30th and 31st in defensive rushing and passing respectively. The only way the Browns stay within the point-spread is if HC Belichek feels sorry for his former DC. Take the Patriots laying the 15 points.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Seattle @ Pittsburgh-5½ /39 - These two teams met in the 2006 Super Bowl with the Steelers edging the Seahawks 21-10. Last week the Seahawks showed the 49s whose boss in their division when they traveled to San Fran and defeated the 49s by a score of 23-3. This week they take on another team with a winning record. The Steelers were upset by the Cardinals by a 14-21 score. I don't see RB Alexander & others gaining over 100 yards on the ground as the Steelers only give up an average of 81 rushing yards a game and only 177 yards in the air. One thing to check on is the seriousness of the injury to NT Hampton and SS Polamalu who are two run stoppers for the Steelers. The Seahawks defense isn't too shabby either. I look for this to be a low-scoring game. Take the Pittsburgh-5½ & the under 39 in this one.

[BatemanPatrickl]

Nice picks and excellent write ups as well. Good luck this weekend.

[Dan]

You really like home favorites!

[Negataur]

GL swifty.
I'm amazingly going against all 4, but good luck to you.

[onlooker]

The only thing that I will be on out of those, is the OVER 39 in the Seahawks at Steelers game. So I will be against you on that one.

Good luck with the rest of them.

[Redchevy]

Love your top 3 picks

Miami is in a downward spiral like they have never seen before. J Taylor is not being used in the same defensive schemes he was used in last year and J Porter was probably the worst money they ever spent. Their D is horrible and offense not much better.

Giants are on a BIG upswing, while the Jets look lifeless and without a clue. Plus they just lost one of their key defensive guys for this game.

NE, not much needs to be added here, there 4-0 ATS and I just don't see anyone keeping it close with them. I think they could cover 24-27 here. There's no letdown with this team, they will get better by the week and Rodney's back this weekend!!!! This is a good tune up for Dallas.