There were only two head to head match-ups of AFC teams this past week and neither game was close. The San Diego Chargers evened their record at 3-3 with a 37-7 romp over their AFC West division opponent, Kansas City. The Chiefs fell to 1-6 on the year and pretty much out of the picture. In the other game, the N.Y. Jets ended their three game losing streak by beating the Oakland Raiders 38-0. I think we can effectively end any mention of the Raiders and the word playoffs in the same sentence. Some other teams in the AFC made some noise against their opponent from the NFC, especially Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. The Bengals hosted the Bears and made their visit a miserable one with a convincing 45-10 win. The Steeler defense returned two 4th quarter turnovers for touchdowns in their 27-17 victory over Minnesota, handing the Vikings their first loss of the year. Indianapolis and New England both had routine wins with the Colts handling St. Louis 42-6 and the Patriots traveling all the way to London to beat Tampa Bay 35-7. The Texans survived a furious comeback attempt by the 49ers but held on to win 24- 21.
Moving onto week eight in the AFC the key match ups we will be reviewing are; Denver Broncos @ Baltimore Ravens, Miami Dolphins @ New York Jets, and Oakland Raiders @ San Diego Chargers.
Denver Broncos @ Baltimore Ravens (-3.5) Current Over/Under 41.5
Both teams are coming off their bye week so they should be more than ready for this game. Denver comes into this one 6-0 and firmly in control of the AFC West. Baltimore, on the other hand has lost three straight tough games by a combined 11 points and at 3-3 desperately need a win to keep pace in the AFC North. While the Broncos 2nd ranked defense has been getting all the attention, QB Kyle Orton along with WR Brandon Marshall and rookie RB Knowshon Moreno have quietly been getting the job done on the offensive side of the ball. This combination makes Denver on of the most complete teams in the AFC. Baltimore’s defense has been the weak spot for this team so far as they have slipped all the way down to 19th in the overall rankings. If they have any hope of winning this game they will have to keep Orton from having a big day. I think a well rested Joe Flacco does have a big day for the Ravens, pulling of the upset in a game that goes over the total.
Miami Dolphins @ New York Jets (-3.5) Current Over/Under 41
The Dolphins had the Saints on the ropes early in last week’s game building a three touchdown lead. Unfortunately, they once again let it all slip away like they have in other losses this year. The Jets bounced back from losing three in a row by getting back to basics against the Raiders. New York cannot rely on rookie QB Mark Sanchez to go out and throw the ball 35-40 times a game. Rather, their strength is in their running game with Thomas Jones and their defense. Both these teams will look to control the ball on the ground and whichever team does the best job of this should win. To me, the Dolphins lack the ability to play a complete 60 minute game which should allow the Jets to come out on top and cover the spread in a low scoring game.
Oakland Raiders @ San Diego Chargers (-17) Current Over/Under 42.5
Leading up to last week’s game against the Jets, there was some talk of the Raiders being a playoff team after their upset win of the Eagles in week 6. They then promptly went out and showed everyone that this is just false bravado by getting shut out 38-0. The Chargers, who are déjà vu all over again, started the third season in a row 2-3, and then won a big game to jump start their season. In their 37-7 win over Kansas City, they showed their big play ability on offense while finally establishing their running game. Defensively, they held the Chiefs to only 203 yards of total offense while intercepting QB Matt Cassell three times on the day. Against the Raiders they have a good opportunity to duplicate this type of performance as Oakland may actually be worse that the Chiefs. Take the Chargers to cover the double digit spread, but I do not see the total going over.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.