Sports Noise

Detroit vs. Chicago

Finally Detroit goes into a game with a win under their belt, it should do wonders for the teams confidence but they enter week 4 with a very tough match up against the Bears.  For the Lions to win this game Calvin Johnson needs to have his best game of the season against a struggling Bears secondary.  The Bears are coming of another huge win over the Seahawks which saw Cutler have his second great game of the season. Expect Cutler to abuse the Lions 30th ranked pass defense and Matt Forte to get back on track also. In the end Jay Cutler and the Bears will be too much for the Lions to take 2 games in a row.

Cincinnati vs. Cleveland

After an exciting win versus the Steelers the Bengals get to face a Browns team that is one of the worst in the league. Eric Mangini seems to have lost the faith of his team after not being able to decide on a starting quarterback, both of them have been terrible when they have played this season. The Bengals will go into this game extremely confident, currently they sit at 2-1 but could very easily be 3-0 if not for a fluke 87 yard tipped pass for a touchdown by the Broncos. This one should be an easier victory than the other 2 for the Bengals as they cruise against the Browns.

Oakland vs. Houston

Many people said that the Texans could be a sleeper pick to win their division and possibly make some noise in the postseason. This is quickly proving to be no more than just a hunch thanks to the Texans porous defense, they have struggled to stop anyone this year.  This is key for the Raiders, if they want to have a chance in this game Darren McFadden and Michael Bush have to continue the trend of running backs rolling over the Texans defenders ala Thomas Jones, Chris Johnson, and Maurice Jones- Drew.  While Matt Schaub has been great the past 2 games for the Texans he has always struggled against the Raiders mostly due to Raiders corner back Nnamdi Asomugha shutting down Schaub’s favorite target in Andre Johnson.  The key for the Texans is Steve Slaton, he needs to get going against a Raiders defense that struggles against the run.  Even with Nnamdi shutting AJ down the Raiders lose this game due to the ineffectiveness of JaMarcus Russel.

Seattle vs. Indianapolis

The Colts look to stay unbeaten against the Seahawks who will be without quarterback Matt Hasselbeck again.  The Colts have offense hasn’t missed a beat this year without Marvin Harrison and the injured Anthony Gonzalez, in fact Peyton Manning is looking better than ever this year with at least 300 yards passing in every game.  Pierre Garcon has shown game changing speed and has made his share of big plays so far this season. Dallas Clark has been pretty much unstoppable and the Colts are finding ways to get him the ball, even running end arounds for their All Pro Tight End. It will be very interesting to see how the Colts defense responds to being without Dwight Freeney who will miss the game with an injury. Peyton Manning will continue his hot streak as the Colts move to 4-o this season.

Tennessee vs. Jacksonville

Both teams have to win this game if they want to stay in the hunt for the division that the Colts are already running away with.  This match up favors this Titans, as the Jaguars rely on the run and the Titans biggest strength is shutting down the run. The Jaguars will have to win this game with David Garrard’s arm, as Tennessee’s defense is weak against the pass. Mike Sims-Walker is quickly developing into Garrard’s favorite target with 12 catches for 187 yards in the past 2 games including multiple catches on the Jags game winning drive against the Texans.  The Titans cannot afford to fall to 0-4 on the season, they should come out playing extremely motivated enough so to win this game.

New York Giants vs. Kansas City

The Chiefs are coming off a lose in which the Eagles didn’t have Donovan McNabb or Brian Westbrook, their 2 best offensive weapons, and the Giants are coming off a victory agaisnt the Bucs in which they allowed just 35 yards through 3 quarters. This game has blowout written all over it. Look for Brandon Jacobs to have his best game of the year, he has struggled very badly this year.  The Chiefs are prone to giving up the big play, Mario Manningham could have a huge week.

Baltimore vs. New England

This could be the best game of the weekend as Baltimore looks to continue their dominance and the Patriots try to establish their offense. While the Patriots finally seemed to be effective running the football in week 3 do not expect that to continue against the Ravens defense that is the best in football in stopping the run. Yet the Ravens secondary has the toughest task considering how they have struggled this season, if Wes Welker plays they could have a long afternoon.  The Ravens have to get pressure on Tom Brady and not allow him to get comfortable in the pocket, just like the Jets did in week 2.  This game is the toughest to predict but the Patriots are smart enough to realize that they have to throw the ball beat the Ravens and they will do just that. While the Patriots have struggled this year they improve to 3-1 while the Ravens fall to 3-1.

Tampa Bay vs. Washington

This game is easily the most boring of the weekend. Both teams have been terrible on offense and the Bucs have decided to start second year quarterback Josh Johnson this does not bode well for them. If Clinton Portis doesn’t get it going this week it would be obvious that he has lost a step thanks to the large load that he has had to carry in previous seasons.  The Buccaneers are probably the worst team in football this year, there is no way the pick up their first win of the season this week, even against the struggling Redskins.

Buffalo vs. Miami

The Dolphins go into this game without their starting quarterback and still searching for their first win of the season. The key for the Dolphins to get win number is being able to run the ball which they have done extremely well so far this year and is something that the Bill have had a hard time stopping.  The Bill will be getting running back Marshawn Lynch back, this should give Trent Edwards another good offensive weapon. It will be interesting to see if the Bills try to change their game plan to get the ball to Terrell Owens.  This should be a close game with the Bills coming out on top thanks to a strong game by Trent Edwards.

New York Jets vs. New Orleans

The match up provides a battle of two unbeaten teams, one with a great offense, the other a great defense.  This should be a great battle between a top QB and a defensive mastermind and it will be interesting to see who wins this match up. Brees is coming off an average week by his standards, just 172 yards and no TD passes. The key for the Saints offense this week is to make sure that the rest of the offense, besides Marques Colston, can make plays. Colston is going to be shadowed by one of the best corner backs in the leauge, Darrelle Revis, who has shut down both Andre Johnson and Randy Moss this season.  The Jets defense will be too much for the Saints this week as they move to 4-0 on the young season.

Dallas vs. Denver

Denver goes into this game looking to remain unbeaten, their defense has played great this season but Dallas will be the first real test for this team.  So far they have faced the Bengals, Browns, and Raiders all below average offensives. The Cowboys come into this game with the number 1 ranked rushing offense but will be without the second head, Felix Jones, of their three headed monster. While the Broncos defense is greatly improved they will have a hard time with the Cowboys this week and their quest to say undefeated fall shorts, Cowboys win this game.

St. Louis vs. San Francisco

Even with out running back Frank Gore the 49ers should be able to handle the helpless Rams who will be without starting quarterback Marc Bulger. The Rams are one of the worst teams in the NFL yet again, besides Steven Jackson, the offense doesn’t have enough weapons and their defense has problems stopping everyone. Last weeks loss to the Vikings is the definition of heartbreaking for the 49ers, they should come out gunning to dominate this game. Shaun Hill seemed to be on the same page with Vernon Davis who has all the talent in the world, having Davis finally break out would give the 49er’s a legitimate receiving threat. This should be an easy win for San Francisco.

San Diego vs. Pittsburgh

The Steelers go into this game realizing that have to turn things around, they cannot afford to lose 3 games in a row this early in the season. Not having Troy Polamalu has really hurt this defense who has had a hard time closing games out. The Steelers will be without RB Willie Parker and back up Rashard Mendenhall has not done enough to warrant this much playing time, this injury comes at a bad time as Willie Parker had his best game of the year last time out. The Chargers have to have a big game from Philip Rivers as they will have a tough time running against the Steelers front 7. Great teams find ways to win football games when their back is against the wall, the Steelers will win this game.

Green Bay vs. Minnesota

This game will be all about Brett Favre’s first meeting against his former team and it will be covered like crazy. Minnesota is coming off of a huge win which was won by Favre last second heave to newly acquired wide out Greg Lewis. It was a great play and showed exactly why the Vikings wanted Favre as their QB. It will be interesting to see if the Packers come out wanting to put a hit on their old teammate.  The key to this game will be Adrian Peterson, he had a tough game last week but now he faces a defense that isn’t great against the run. This is going to be a great Monday Night Football game with Brett Favre getting the last laugh against his old team.

Last week’s record- 14-2