Week 9 NFL Predictions

Is everyone ready for the second half of the NFL season?  We have finally arrived at Week 9 and despite Covid-19 and a contested presidential election, we’re playing football again this Sunday.  Without further adieu, here are my Week 9 NFL Predictions for November 8th, 2020.

Miami +4.5 over Arizona

Fumble return for a TD, 1 yard return, special teams TD, 33 yard drive.  That’s how Miami scored last week.  And the Rams are no slouches.  So the defense is clearly impressive and now they face an unimpressive offense in Arizona.   Kyler Murray has Hopkins, ok, and he’ll get some catches off a lot of predictable targets but outside of him, it’s another game of Murray running for his life and scrambling on third and long to get first downs.  They don’t have any impressive wins this year.  The Jets and Redskins don’t count and neither does a gift from the officials to beat Seattle.  At best they win this by a field goal or less and the Dolphins are clearly clicking right now and I would even play this moneyline as well.

Chicago + 7 over Tennessee

With the Bears defense, you’re never out of the game.  Tennessee laid the ultimate egg last week against the Bengals but even despite that, they have been in so many close games this year where they need to rely on Henry busting a long one to win the game or cover in the 4th quarter.  I just don’t see that happening this week and this line teetering on a touchdown is just what I’m looking for.    Khalil Mack is unblockable and Tannehill is very good but he takes forever to release the damn ball.  I’m not a huge Foles fan but the Bears will hang around in this one like they always do and getting a TD is exactly what I need to feel comfortable.

Dallas +14.5 over Pittsburgh

This is one of those games I’m going to hold my nose and take the points on.  Classic trap game for the Steelers after the emotional comeback win over the Ravens which they should not have won.  But I just can’t imagine how they can get motivated for this non-divisional roadie.  It’s just so much wood to chop on and they don’t need to win the game by this much.  They also are great at completely taking the air out of the ball and grinding the game to a near halt with Conner.   The problem with this strategy is that the Cowboys actually showed up on defense against the Eagles and showed a little backbone.  I can just see the Steelers doing exactly enough to win this game and nothing more.   Like Tampa playing the Giants.  Just get out of there with a win and wreck the three team teasers while you’re at it.

Chiefs / Carolina over 52.5

I have The Carolina defense ranked 30th in the league based on Footballoutsiders DVOA which only means one thing, the Chiefs at home are going to light them up.  Now I understand McCaffrey is back and that has a lot of people backing the Panthers here but what that means to me is that they’ll put up more points than they normally do.  The strength of this Carolina team is actually their passing offense (ranked 12th) and I just see this game as finishing with numbers like 35-21, 35-28, etc but either way, cover or no cover on the pointspread, I think some very high numbers are going to hit the board here.

Tampa -4.5 over New Orleans

Tampa struggling against the Giants last week is just what the doctor ordered for a little value on this premier matchup on Sunday night.   The Saints are banged up and Michael Thomas status remains “Q”.  I’m expecting an inspired performance by the Bucs defense in this divisional war, similar to what we saw against the Packers.  Bottom line, Tampa has the best defense in the league and the Saint’s defense is overrated in my opinion.  The Saints won by 11 in the first matchup back in September and payback is coming on Sunday night.