Brad's NFL Picks was 9-5 last week. Here's the good, the bad, and the ugly.

     the good:

Green Bay 26, Lions 0 - Aaron Rogers got sacked five times, but still was 29-37-1-358 and two TD's

New Orleans 48, New York Giants 27 - It wasn't that close. But two turnovers by the Giants didn't help.

Pittsburgh 27, Browns 14 - Ben R threw for 417 yards; Derek Anderson threw for 122.

Panthers 28, Tampa Bay 21 - 14 of Tampa's points came on a 97 yard kickoff return and a 26 yard INT return. But the Panthers put up 267 yards on the ground. Didn't the Bucs have a defense at one time?

Jacksonville 23, Rams 20 (OT) - What can I say about this one? Oh, Tory Holt had 101 yards receiving for the Jags (against his former team).

Minnesota 33, Ravens 31 - Vikings were up 30-17 with six minutes left in the 4th when the wheels came off the Viking D. They needed a 58 yard pass from Favre to Sidney Rice and a 31 yard field goal to retake the lead, with just under two minutes left. Even then the Vikings needed a lot of luck as Ravens kicker Steve Hauschka missed a 44 yard FG attempt with two seconds to go.

New England 59, Titans 0 - Tom Brady set an NFL record with 5 TD passes in one quarter.

Atlanta 21, Bears 14 (SNF) - Bears had the ball in the red zone 4 times, but only scored once.

Broncos 34, San Diego 23 (MNF) - Broncos have outscored the oppo 73-10 in the second half.

     the bad:

Chiefs 14, Washington 6 - Chiefs were so happy to finally get a win they gave the coach a Gatorade shower.

Oakland 13, Eagles 9 - Not even Jehovah saw this one coming.

Bills 16, New York Jets 13 (OT) - Both teams were pretty bad in OT. When it ended, there was just 2:44 left on the clock.

     the ugly:

Texans 28, Cincinnati 17 - Texans previously inept defense held Cedric Benson to 44 yards on 16 rushes.

Cardinals 27, Seattle 3 - What happened to the Seattle team that whupped the Jags 41-0 just a week ago?

     Brad's Picks is 67 - 23 on the season. NFC 1, AFC 3 last week. On the season, it's NFC 13, AFC 10. Home teams won 8 last week, visitors won 6. On the season it's homers 52, visitors 38. 90 games have been played, 166 to go.

     this week: Teams with a bye: Denver, Baltimore, Detroit, Jacksonville, Seattle, and Tennessee.

     the 11:00 MDT games:

Minnesota (6-0) at Pittsburgh (4-2)  -  Vikings hadn't allowed a rushing TD this season, until Ray Rice got two long ones last week (22 and 33). Vikings all pro CB Antoine Winfield is probably out with a sprained foot. The injury happened in the second quarter last week versus the Ravens. The Ravens scored all of their 31 points after Winfield went down. Ben R passed for 417 yards versus the Browns and leads the league in passing yards and I'm taking the Steelers here - they are at home and need it more and the Vikings aren't going to be real focussed with next week's game being at Lambeau.

San Francisco (3-2) at Houston (3-3) - San Francisco is off a bye, and the Texans are off a big win at Cincinnati. Texans were previously inept at stopping the run, but held Cedric Benson to just 44 on 16 carries. Even after that, Benson is 2nd in the AFC in total yards on the ground. Texans Matt Schaub is on pace for 37 TD's this year. Niners get RB Frank Gore back. Aargh. Tough call. Might be a little warmish in Houston so I'll hope the home team keeps it going.

Undianapolis (5-0) at St. Louis (0-6) - Undy is off a bye. I'm sure they needed it to get ready for the juggernaut Rams. Rams are feeling so good about themselves that they just traded a starting line backer to the Eagles for a rookie WR and a 5th next year. Colts won't know what hit them.

San Diego (2-3) at Kansas City (1-5) - Division game. I missed one last week by picking Washington over the Chiefs, thinking that the Chiefs were really bad. What I failed to see is that Washington is worse. Statistically, they are better on both O and D, but they still haven't played a team that had a win going into the game. Anyway, the Chargers got thumped at home on MNF so they have a short week, but they will try to take out their frustrations at Arrowhead this Sunday. That is, if Philip Rivers can stand up - he got sacked 5 times by the Broncos and knocked down several more times on Monday night. Chargers won both games last year, but only by one point. I won't be surprised if I'm wrong on this one.

New England (3-2) at Tampa Bay (0-6) - Well, this game isn't actually at Tampa Bay. It's in Ye Merrye Olde Englande. But Tampa gets to be the home team, which means they get to wear their home team uni's. It also means that the Bucs only play 7 games in Tampa this year. Memo to Roger Goodell: if Englande wants to see some footeball, let them start their owne league. Anyway, the Bucs are going through major changes with wholesale turnover in roster and coaching staff, while Newe Englande strolls along at a bloody jolly goode level.

Green Bay (3-2) at Cleveland (1-5) - Browns had 12 players home with the flu, five of them starters, in the middle of the week. Browns starting LB and defensive captain D'Qwell Jackson is out for the season. Aaron Rodgers leads the league with 25 sacks. Except for that stat (his O line is less than good) Rodgers is a very good QB. You have to take the Packers here.

     the 2:05 MDT games:

Buffalo (2-4) at Carolina (2-3) - Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson at RB for the Bills, DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart for the Panthers. They'll go up against two of the worst run defenses in the league. Steve Smith is irked that he's been ignored and Jake Delhomme (who's been playing a little better) says he'll be looking for him. Taking Carolina at home, where they are 9-1 recently.

New York Jets (3-3) at Oakland (2-4) - Jets DT Kris Jenkins is out for the season (a huge loss), and Rex Ryan has benched two other D guys for slugging a Bills player last week. Mark Sanchez has tossed 10 INT's, JaMarcus Russell a mere 6. Raiders did a job on the Eagles last week in the Black Hole and I think the Eagles are a better team than the Jets (although the Jets have been put on notice) and I'll take the Raiders at home.

     the 2:15 MDT games:

Atlanta (4-1) at Dallas (3-2) - Dallas is off a bye. Atlanta had a big win on SNF over the Bears. Dallas' two losses are to Denver and the Giants, with a combined W/L record of 11-1. Dallas wins are over teams with a combined record of 3-14. Teams are about even stat wise (yardage and all that). I think Atlanta is maybe the better team, but I'll take Dallas off a bye in their bizarro dome.

Chicago (3-2) at Cincinnati (4-2) - Bengals lost DT Domato Peko for a couple weeks, but also lost DE Antwan Odom for the season - Odom had 8 sacks going into last weeks game. Bears lost starting LB Pisa Tinoisamoa for the season, but get Hunter Hillenmeyer back after missing 3 weeks with an injury. Both teams lost last week, Bears at Atlanta and Cincy at home to the Texans. Cedric Benson tries for a little payback on the team that drafted him 4th overall in 05, then cut him in 08 and (he says) tried to blackball him. This is a hard call - can Jay Cutler duplicate Matt Schaub's success (28-40-1-392 and three TD's) of last week? My guess is not. Take the Bengals.

New Orleans (5-0) at Miami (2-3) - Miami is off a bye, Saints are off a drubbing of the Giants in the Big Easy Dome. Drew Brees is playing great, but he has his mortal moments - he was just 16-29-0-172 and no TD's at Buffalo, and 20-32-0-190 with 0 TD's in 24-10 win over the Jets at the Easy Dome (2 defensive TD's for the Saints in that game). We may see some thunderstorms in Miami, and I'll take the home team after a week off. Fins are really a powerful team on both sides of the ball, and Chad Henne has been playing real good at QB.

     the SNF game:

Arizona (3-2) at New York Giants (5-1) - Giants got whupped last week in New Orleans and will take it out on the Cardinals.

     the MNF game:

Philadelphia (3-2) at Washington (2-4) - Division game. Hey, the Redskins finally get to play a team that starts the game with a win. But the Redskins are in total disarray, and the Eagles are smarting from the big loss on the West Coast last week.