October 2nd, 2011, Sunday
Keys 2 Sunday
Week 4 Previews
(just a couple)
New England Patriots @ Oakland Raiders
Normally when a team has to travel across the country, it’s already a tough matchup, but add that it’s the Raiders and your destination is “The Black Hole” and you can’t even imagine how tough it’s going to be. Well that’s what lies ahead for the Patriots today and while I do like what Hue Jackson has done in Oakland this season I can’t begin to imagine Bill Belichick letting his team drop two in a row.
Quite simply for the Patriots, to beat the Raiders today they will have to outscore them. Yes, the object of the game is to have the most points after 60 minutes, but today’s game has all the makings of being a shootout and if the Patriots paid attention two weeks ago, they know the Raiders can be had. Against the Bills in week two the Raiders let a 21-3 lead slip away and lost 38-35.
The Raiders are doing a lot of things right on the offensive side of the ball and although they are averaging a hefty 30 points per game this season, they are not built for a shootout. The Raiders would like to run the ball, control the clock and tempo of the game, but with their 28th ranked defense that is allowing over 27 points per game they could very much find themselves in a barn-burner.
Tom Brady and the Patriots understand they will have to dictate tempo and they will need to put pressure on Jason Campbell and the Raiders offense. I expect to see the Patriots to come out spreading the field and watching Tom “Terrific” chucking the rock all over the place; Brady could post another five-bills in the air today!
My Pick; Patriots 40, Raiders 31
Detroit Lions @ Dallas Cowboys
Without question the Lions are one of the feel-good stories this season with their 3-0 start. When they take the field today against the Cowboys, one player that will be going out of his way to make sure quarterback Tony Romo does not feel good is Lions defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh.
Suh is off to a quiet start this season with just two sacks, but you can bet part of the game plan today will be to get the Motor-city Terror off to a fast start. The Cowboys are going to be short-handed once again with wide receivers Miles Austin (hamstring) OUT and Dez-Bryant (quadriceps) a game-time decision. The Cowboys will have to turn to the ground game today if they hope to have any success and keep pressure of Romo; they had better stay away from third and long or Suh and the Lions defense will be bringing a ton of heat.
Offensively with Matt Stafford and Megatron playing well the Lions will need to get out of the gate quickly against the leagues 12th ranked passing defense. The Cowboys lead the NFL with 13 sacks this season and the Lions have struggled a bit with pass protection allowing five last week to the Vikings, but I expect Lions to address this issue by having Stafford get rid of the ball quickly; running back Jahvid Best and tight end Brandon Pettigrew could be instrumental.
What this game is going to come down to is offense, the Lions have all the playmakers and Cowboys will simply be unable to keep pace.
My Pick; Lions 28, Cowboys 17
The rest of my picks today….
Bears over the Panthers
Bills over the Bengals
Titans over the Browns
Texans over the Steelers
Saints over the Jaguars
Vikings over the Chiefs
Eagles over the Niners
Redskins over the Rams
Giants over the Cardinals
Seahawks over the Falcons
Packers over the Broncos
Chargers over the Dolphins
Ravens over the Jets
Buccaneers over the Colts
So far this season I have been struggling with my picks, making some bone-head calls. This is the week I get back on track.
By David Ortega
