"I don't love any of the Week 8 games, but I have Tebow-esque faith in myself, so here goes." Well, it had to happen eventually, a Tebow-esque 0-2 performance in Week 8. But, after being knocked down like Jay Cutler, I am going to do my best Alex Smith impression: Turning it around and avoiding mistakes. Alex Smith has a 9:2 TD to interception ratio, by far the best in his career. Remember his rookie campaign where he threw 1 TD and 11 interceptions?
Overall: 11-4-1
Last Week's Predictions:
New England -2.5 at Pittsburgh: LOSS
In what was the only watchable day game on Sunday, the Steelers finally figured out Tom Brady. Despite all their injuries, Dick LeBeau's pass defense (ranked 7th in the AFC in total efficiency) held the AFC's top passing offense in check.
Baltimore -13 vs Arizona: LOSS
I hate picking a double-digit spread games, and this was no different. I thought the Ravens would recover from their horrendous Monday Night performance against Jacksonville, but it took them 2 quarters to do so. Flacco and crew dominated in the second half, embarrassing Arizona who gave up a 21-point lead.
Week 9 Predictions:
Buffalo -1.5 vs New York Jets
Despite their success this year, people are still sleeping on Buffalo. The Bills have the AFC's top rushing offense behind Fred Jackson and the AFC's 3rd best passing offense behind the Patriots and Texans. The Jets, on the other hand, are below average in every offensive category. They have scored over 50 points less than an average offense would in similar situations, primarily due to their historically bad Week 4 performance against Baltimore. That being said, the Jets own the 2nd best pass defense in the league after adjusting for opponents, so we'll see if Stevie Johnson can get loose in the secondary.
San Francisco -3 vs Washington
Make no mistake, the 49ers are winning games on defense. They have allowed less points (107) than any other team in the league and prevent over 7 points per week from being scored that an average defense would give up. On top of that, Alex Smith has been close to mistake free, leading a San Francisco passing attack that ranks 3rd in the NFC behind the Packers and Saints after adjusting for strength of opponents. The Redskins have shown their true (read: awful) colors in the past few weeks; in fact, Mike Shanahan was shut out for the first time in his career last week against Buffalo. The Niners should win by at least a touchdown.
The most accurate weekly projections from numberFire.com based on wall-street style analytics. numberFire outpredicted two of the most trafficked fantasy sites 70|PERCENT| of the time and are 54-55|PERCENT| against the spread over the last 3 seasons.