Alternative Picks: Week 9, 2021

And then there was an actual competition. Tony had an off week and Andy capitalized, making up nine games in the standings. Tony still leads, but it’s an actual contest now.

Was it a blip? Or is this really going to turn into something?

1) Andy – Bills over Jaguars – In the last three games, Jacksonville got killed by Seattle, narrowly beat Miami and gave the Titans the life support necessary for them to get back on track. The schedule has been brutal but this team is also just bad.

2) Tony – Rams over Titans – The Titans are 6-2, but so much of their offense was based on the threat of Derrick Henry–not sure Jeremy McNichols and Adrian Peterson can open up the play action passing game the way Henry could. Likley was picking the Rams regardless, but would have been a lot further down the list.

3) Tony – Cowboys over Broncos – I’m still not sure if I think the Cowboys really are that good, just from beating a pretty mediocre Vikings team–but they should be able to beat a pretty mediocre Broncos team regardless.

4) Andy – Steelers over Bears – There seem to be a couple games I’m supposed to pick before this one, based on the Vegas lines, but none of them make me feel very confident. While I am not confident Pittsburgh is good, I am confident Chicago is horrible right now

5) Tony – Colts over Jets – I’ll take one of those games you were supposed to pick…I’m sure Mike White is a great guy, but I just don’t see it happening two weeks in a row.

6) Andy – Chargers over Eagles – I’m a little worried that Philadelphia might win a few more games after rediscovering the run game last week, oddly after putting their best RB on injured reserve. But despite a couple bumps in the road, I think the Chargers are pretty good and they should have a rebound game here.

7) Tony – Ravens over Vikings – I generally avoid picking Vikings games if I can. At least by picking against them, if (when) they find a new creative way to lose this one, I’ll get a game in our standings right.

8) Andy – Patriots over Panthers – I’ll be damned. I thought for sure I had three or four more rounds before I had to pick against Minnesota. Anyway, these teams seem headed in opposite directions. After a solid start, Sam Darnold has regressed to his old ways with Carolina. Mac Jones, however, seems to be indicating that New England has hope for the future.

9) Tony – Chiefs over Packers – Yes, the Chiefs have looked putrid. But they’re at home, and they’re facing Jordan Love. Part of me hopes that Love goes out and throws for 600 yards and 7 touchdowns to re-stoke the flames of quarterback drama from the offseason…but I sure don’t expect it to happen.

10) Andy – Raiders over Giants – It’s been a tough few weeks for Las Vegas, with the Gruden scandal and the Ruggs charges. They played well after Gruden quit. This will be another interesting test. Not sure how it goes long-term, but they should have a pretty good shot at taking out the Giants.

11) Tony – Cardinals over 49ers – I think we both tend to use the Vegas lines in picking our games for this bit–which might explain why this game is going at #11. But what isn’t explained is how the 3-4 49ers are one point favorites against the 7-1 Cardinals, even at home, and even without JJ Watt.

12) Andy – Dolphins over Texans – Miami sucks, but Tua has looked incrementally better the last couple weeks. The Texans just suck.

13) Tony – Bengals over Browns – The other remaining game seems to have another line that is way out of whack, but I really don’t want to pick it heads up–so I’ll grab the Bengals based on the struggles the Browns have had the last few weeks. The Bengals do still have issues of their own, losing to the Jets, but the Browns offense has struggled mightily the last three weeks.

14) Andy – Saints over Falcons – No Jameis? No problem. The defense will step up and win for them.

The straight-up picks were ugly for both, but Andy managed to pick up a couple more games here too.

Week nine already? It seems like just two months ago …