NFL Rundown - Week 9

This post written while laughing a little inside at Oregon.

Week 8 Recap

Chris	Adam
Most Surprising Team: Carolina. The fact that they beat Arizona is surprising enough. But when you consider their utter collapse against those same Cardinals in the playoffs, and that they forced Warner into 6 turnovers... that's shocking.	Most Surprising Team: Houston. Don't look now, but after a convincing win @ Buffalo, Houston has won 4 of their last 5. I'm not sure they have the talent to make the playoffs, but with their bye still to come, they can win 10 games this season.
Most Disappointing Team: New York Giants. Way to come out mondo flat. The Giants went into halftime down 30 to 7, then gave up over 100 yards rushing to the Eagles in the second half alone. After starting 5-0, New York is now 5-3 and trailing in a tough division.	Most Disappointing Team: New York Jets. They started off strong, but have lost 4 of their last 5. Their schedule isn't very easy for the rest of the season either. If Sanchez struggles in the cold New York air this winter, the Jets will miss the playoffs.
Offensive Player of the Week: Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers. It was impossible for the game to live up to the hype, but the quarterbacks sure did. They combined for over 500 yards with 7 TDs and 0 (0!!!) interceptions.	Offensive Player of the Week: Ryan Moats. 23 carries, 126 yards, and three trips to paydirt. He was very impressive against the hapless Bills. I'm not sure he'll have a better game than that for the rest of the year, but he was absolute money last week.
Defensive Player of the Week: Shawne Merriman. Yeah, he was playing the Raiders, but it's the first big game for Merriman since 2007. He had his first 2 sacks since that 2007 season, and his 7 tackles is nearly half of what he had in the first 6 games combined (11).	Defensive Player of the Week: Julius Peppers. A sack, a forced fumble, and a INT returned for a touchdown sums up how Carolina beat the defending NFC Champs in Arizona last week. Peppers is still amazing, but can be overshadowed by an overall bad team.

Top 10: (I had comments typed up for these. Then Blogger screwed up and I lost all the work. So, screw it. Just teams this week.)
1. New Orleans Saints (7-0)
2. Indianapolis Colts (7-0)
3. Pittsburgh Steelers (5-2)
4. Minnesota Vikings (7-1)
5. New England Patriots (5-2)
6. Denver Broncos (6-1)
7. Cincinnati Bengas (5-2)
8. Philadelphia Eagles (5-2)
9. Dallas Cowboys (5-2)
10. Houston Texans (5-3)

Week 9 Picks:

	Chris	Adam
Washington @ Atlanta	Atlanta	Atlanta
Arizona @ Chicago	Arizona	Chicago
Baltimore @ Cincinnati	Cincinnati	Baltimore
Houston @ Indianapolis	Indianapolis	Indianapolis
Kansas City @ Jacksonville	Jacksonville	Jacksonville
Miami @ New England	New England	Miami
Green Bay @ Tampa Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay
Carolina @ New Orleans	New Orleans	New Orleans
Detroit @ Seattle	Seattle	Seattle
San Diego @ N.Y. Giants	N.Y. Giants	San Diego
Tennessee @ San Francisco	San Francisco	San Francisco
Dallas @ Philadelphia	Philadelphia	Philadelphia
Pittsburgh @ Denver	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh
Week #8	7-6	9-4
Overall	68-48	70-46

Players to Watch

Chris	Adam
Offensive Player to Watch: Alex Smith. If he's going to make a statement, it's here. Tennessee is the 32nd ranked pass defense and has given up the most passing TDs (19) in the NFL. Opposing QBs have put up a passer rating of over 108 on the Titans.	Offensive Player to Watch: Maurice Jones-Drew. 8 carries for 177 yards and 2 TDs in a loss last week. Jax goes up against a terrible KC team, and MJD could put up a repeat performance. Don't be surprised if he finds the end zone two more times this weekend.
Defensive Player to Watch: Darren Sharper. Sure, Jake Delhomme played well last week against the Cardinals. But the Saints ain't no Cardinals, and Darren Sharper, the good kind of NFL leader in picks, could get a couple against Delhomme, who's the bad kind of leader in that category.	Defensive Player to Watch: Charles Tillman. The Bears CB looks to be completely healthy for the first time in a while, and had an INT returned for 6 last week as evidence. The Bears play Arizona this week, and they are last in the league in rushing. Look for Tillman to have another pick this week.