NFL Football Picks
This week on Monday night the New England Patriots travel to Cincinnati to play the disappointing Bengals. Before the season this was billed as a possible playoff match up and the Patriots are heading to the playoffs but the Bengals need to pick it up to get to the post season. Last week the Bengals lost a tough one to the Seattle Seahawks 24-21 while the Patriots crushed the Buffalo Bills 38-7. The Patriots have been on fire and are clicking right now while the Bengals are not, kind of an understatement if you consider they gave up 51 points to the Cleveland Browns. The Bengals defense is nothing to write home about and they must play better to have any shot in this game. This game may be a shoot out and the Bengals have the offense to keep up but they have to make some stops on D.
The Patriots are led by the NFL's top rated QB Tom Brady (887 yds 10 TD 1 INT), who has played great and led the Patriots to an undefeated start. The Patriots rushing attack is a tandem effort with starter Laurence Maroney (252 yds) and Sammy Morris (151 2 TD) These guys have played well and can pick up yards as defenses continue to focus on the Patriots passing attack. If these guys can pick up some yards against a suspect Bengals D then they should be sitting pretty. Brady's main targets are Randy Moss (22 rec 403 yds 5 TD) and Wes Walker (20 rec 221 yds 1 TD). The Patriots have the 1st rated offense in the NFL (3rd passing 4th rushing). The Patriots D is also ranked 1st in the league as they have addressed their needs in the off season and are playing with a chip on their shoulder, as they are still miffed about losing to the Colts in the playoffs last year. Linebacker Mike Vrabel leads the D having 3.5 sacks. The Patriots play great team D and swarm the ball, as even though they are the top rated D in the NFL no New England defender is in the top 35 in tackles.
The Bengals are led by QB Carson Palmer (937 yds 9 TD 4 INT) who has played well but had to air it out often as the Bengals D has given up a lot of points. Workhorse Rudi Johnson (177 yds) needs to play better so they Patriots D does not just focus on Palmer. The Bengals strength is their receiving corps with the NFL's top ranked receiver in Chad Johnson (25 rec 442 yds 4 TD) and T.J. Houshmandzadeh (29 rec 260 yds 4 TD), as these guys need to score, as it may be a shootout this week. The Bengals have the 5th rated offense and are 2nd in passing but only 20th in rushing. Johnson needs to have a breakout game for the Bengals to have any chance. The Bengals D is ranked 29th and have not played well, especially giving up 51 points to the Browns, ouch. They are ranked 27th against both the pass and rush this season. They have no defenders in the top 35 in tackles or with more than one sack. Their D needs to play above what they have been to have any chance at all. Cincinnati is at home where they play well and are still a good team. The Patriots have the firepower on offense but so do the Bengals. Look for a high scoring and exciting game. The Bengals will not win but will surprise some people this week, as they will cover the spread in a close game on Monday night.
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