Games of the Week
New England Patriots at Buffalo Bills (Sunday, 1 p.m., CBS) – Bills QB Drew Bledsoe faces his old team for the first time since being traded to Buffalo on Draft Day 2002. The Bills defense has improved, and is finally catching up to the caliber that Bledsoe has the offense playing at. The Patriots are a team scrambling for answers, and will not find them against the Bills. Prediction: Bills 38, Patriots 27.
San Francisco 49ers at Oakland Raiders (Sunday, 4:15 p.m., FOX) – This game is for San Francisco Bay supremacy, at least in the regular season. The Raiders were bogged down by bad weather and an ineffective running game, and were held to 10 points by the Kansas City Chiefs, who averaged giving up over 30 points a game. San Francisco held off a surprise rally by the Arizona Cardinals last week. The Niners run defense showed some holes, and the Raiders will have to exploit them to be successful. Prediction: Raiders 37, Niners 34.
Miami Dolphins at Green Bay Packers (Monday, 9 p.m., ABC) – This game features two of the best teams in football right now. Both teams had this past week off, and the team that benefits the most from this is Green Bay, as it gave Packers superstar QB Brett Favre time to heal his sprained knee. The Dolphins are still short-handed, with backup QB Ray Lucas filling in for the injured Jay Fiedler. Throw all variables out of the window on this game, because Favre doesn’t lose games at home on Monday night. Prediction: Packers 27, Dolphins 21.
Power Poll
Cream of the Crop
1. Green Bay Packers (6-1, 1) – The Pack survived the scare of Brett Favre going down with a knee injury. Favre gets another chance to shine on Monday night.
2. San Diego Chargers (6-1, 3) – The Chargers had this week off, and will be ready for the North Jersey Jets on Sunday. Blow out alert!!
3. Philadelphia Eagles (5-2, 4) – The Birds will go as far as QB Donovan McNabb can carry them. McNabb has proven he can take them deep into the playoffs.
4. Denver Broncos (6-2, NR) – Denver has been impressive, adding a convincing win at New England last week to their record.
5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-2, NR) – Tampa’s win over the Carolina Panthers wasn’t pretty, but no one gets style points in the standings.
Bottom of the Barrel
28. Carolina Panthers (3-5, NR) – The Panthers have now dropped five straight games heading into their off week. Football fans, rejoice!! No Panthers game to take away airtime from real NFL games this week!
29. Detroit Lions (2-5, NR) – Detroit couldn’t stop Buffalo Bills QB Drew Bledsoe on Sunday. The Lions have a winnable game (yes, you read that right) this week with the Dallas Cowboys coming to town.
30. Houston Texans (2-5, 30) – Houston was efficient, if not exciting, in winning their second game of the season. Rookie QB David Carr led two scoring drives in the fourth quarter, showing that he is a star in the making.
31. North Jersey Jets (2-5, 28) – The Jets fell apart last week against the Cleveland Browns, blowing a 21-6 halftime lead to lose 24-21.
32. Cincinnati Bengals (0-7, 32) – Star RB Corey Dillon has threatened to retire if the Bungles don’t get things together. Here’s hoping Dillon has a good 401(K).