Raiders vs Giants

After starting off 0-6, yet somehow still in the race to win the NFC east, the Giants host the Oakland Raiders coming off 2 straight wins.

Rested from the bye, the Giants should win. The Giants run defense has been very good through the past few weeks, holding LeSean McCoy to 48 yards, and Adrian Peterson to 28 yards.

The Giants will have to contain Terrelle Pryor in this game since Oakland is last in the league in passing yards.

The Raiders have the fifth best rushing team, and have the sixth best run defense in the league.

The Giants have addressed one of their needs at linebacker by trading for Jon Beason.

For the Giants to win this division they need to cut down and turnovers and improve their red zone efficiency. Eli Manning has not thrown an interception in the last two games, but he still needs to improve drastically to take the team anywhere.

Against Philadelphia, the Giants offense had to settle for 5 field goals and no touchdowns. The Giants defense has actually shut out opposing team’s offenses the past two weeks.

Only two games back of the division, the Giants still have the potential to go on another run as they have in the past, but they have to improve in all areas, especially the pass rush. One more Giants loss will kill any chance they have at making the playoffs.

The Picks
Oakland: Rory

New York: Colin, Taylor, Julia, Stu, Owen and Jake

Cowboys vs Saints

The defensive coordinator of the Saints, Rob Ryan, gets to scheme against his former team, the Dallas Cowboys this week. After being fired, he has coached the Saints into the seventh best defense in the game.

His replacement Monte Kiffin has coached the Cowboys to last place. The Saints have been great at home this year as always. Both of these teams have high octane offenses.

The Cowboys currently have instability with their run game, and one of their more reliable offensive linemen, Brian Waters is out for the season. The Saints are difficult to beat because of their strong offense and defense, and the fact that they don’t really turn the ball over with a +8 turnover ratio.

The Cowboys have been competitive in every game this year and could be 8-0 if they cut down on their mistakes. I expect they will do the same against, but with the worst ranked defense playing against the Saints in New Orleans, I think the Saints will win.

The Picks

Dallas: Julia,

New Orleans: Colin, Taylor, Stu, Owen, Jake and Rory

Bengals vs Ravens

The Bengals have very high expectations this year. Giovani Bernard has been a big playmaker that has provided a spark for the Bengals and A.J. Green has been spectacular this year.

The Ravens appear to be suffering the Super Bowl hangover, or perhaps they lost too many players last year. Their run game has been very disappointing this year. With the Bengals, it is yet to be seen if Andy Dalton is capable of carrying his team to a Super Bowl.

He has to enhance his performance to topple the elite teams in this league. The Bengals are incredibly talented but inexplicably lost to the Browns and had an OT losing safety againt Miami.

This is a key game to determine the AFC North. Geno Atkins tearing his ACL is a huge blow to the Bengals and diminished their chances moving forward.

The Ravens now have a great chance to take advantage of the Bengals while they are down. Bengals have a great passing attack and they defend the pass very well, which could make Baltimore’s offense one-dimensional.

The Picks

Cincinnatti: Julia, Stu and Owen,

Baltimore: Colin, Taylor, Jake and Rory