We are officially past the halfway point in the 2009 NFL Season. While not the sexiest of weeks, there are some intriguing matchups this week and they are our featured games: Two key divisional matchups in Miami at New England and Dallas at Philly; and two east big time east west teams in SD at NYG and Pittsburgh at Denver. We pick all 13 games this week and discuss the World Series.

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NFL Week 9 2009 Picks

Straight Up

MATCHUP	Vegas Vinny	BostonMac	RJ	Peso*	Actual
Cards @ Bears	Cards	Cards	Cards	Bears
Redskins @ Falcons	Falcons	Falcons	Falcons	Redskins
Packers @ Bucs	Packers	Packers	Packers	Packers
Dolphins @ Patriots	Patriots	Patriots	Patriots	Patriots
Ravens @ Bengals	Ravens	Ravens	Bengals	Ravens
Chiefs @ Jaguars	Jaguars	Jaguars	Jaguars	Jaguars
Texans @ Colts	Colts	Colts	Colts	Texans
Lions @ Seahawks	Seahawks	Seahawks	Seahawks	Seahawks
Panthers @ Saints	Saints	Saints	Saints	Panthers
Chargers @ Giants	Giants	Giants	Giants	Giants
Titans @ Niners	Niners	Titans	Titans	Niners
Cowboys @ Eagles	Eagles	Cowboys	Eagles	Cowboys
Steelers @ Broncos	Steelers	Steelers	Broncos	Steelers
Prev Week	9-4 (.692)	5-8 (.385)	9-4 (.692)	9-4 (.692)
Overall	78-38 (.672)	73-43 (.629)	71-45 (.612)	64-52 (.552)

Against the Spread

MATCHUP	Vegas Vinny	BostonMac	RJ	Peso*	Actual
Cards @ Bears (-3)	Cards	Cards	Cards	Bears
Redskins @ Falcons (-10)	Falcons	Falcons	Redskins	Redskins
Packers @ Bucs (+10.5)	Packers	Packers	Packers	Packers
Dolphins @ Patriots (-11)	Dolphins	Dolphins	Patriots	Patriots
Ravens @ Bengals (+3)	Ravens	Ravens	Bengals	Ravens
Chiefs @ Jaguars (-6.5)	Jaguars	Jaguars	Jaguars	Jaguars
Texans @ Colts (-9)	Texans	Colts	Texans	Texans
Lions @ Seahawks (-10)	Seahawks	Lions	Seahawks	Lions
Panthers @ Saints (-13/5)	Panthers	Panthers	Panthers	Panthers
Chargers @ Giants (-3)	Giants	Giants	Giants	Giants
Titans @ Niners (-5.5)	Niners	Titans	Titans	Titans
Cowboys @ Eagles (-3)	Eagles	Cowboys	Eagles	Cowboys
Steelers @ Broncos (+3)	Steelers	Steelers	Broncos	Steelers
Prev Week	7-6 (.538)	1-12 (.077)	6-7 (.462)	6-7 (.462)
Overall	64-51 (.557)	52-63 (.452)	53-62 (.461)	55-60 (.478)

* The peso is a coin flip of an old peso to pick the game.

Locks of the Week

Vegas Vinny: (3-5, Balance =$675) Detroit had a perfect opportunity last week to shed the mantle of “last team to go winless in a season” by beating the Rams and sending them on their way to 0-16. Now, the Rams will merely settle for 1-15. Meanwhile, the Seahawks are a team on the decline. They are a shell of their former selves and only win games because they are in the very weak NFC West. What they do have though is a decided home field advantage, especially when they are favored to win. The Seahawks are 9-2 ATS as a home favorite and they should continue that strong trend this week. Detroit has only covered once in a loss (against Pittsburgh) despite being double digit odds in 5 out of their 7 games. I’ll put $55 to win $50 on the Seahawks (-10) and hope to get back on the winning track after missing my last 5 locks.

BostonMac: (6-2, Balance = $1,340) I am sure no one in America is reading this after my 1-12 performance last week so I guess I can say whatever I want right now. It reminds me of the scene in “Wayne’s World 2” when the radio DJ isn’t listening to Wayne so he keeps saying things like, “You’re a complete tool” and no one notices. In case anyone is curious, I’m going against the terrifically bad Kansas City Chiefs this week. They might not score on the road at Jacksonville. I’m going to wager than the Jags are going to put up at least one touchdown and covers that 6 1/2 point spread. Either that or they get two safeties and a field goal. While I contemplated taking the Packers again for a bounce-back against the equally horrific Bucs, I’ll put $55 to win $50 on JACKSONVILLE (-6.5) to beat up on the Chiefs.

RJ: (3-5, Balance = $925) In the interest of oversimplification, there are two basic ways the Dolphins win games:

1) They fool teams with the Wildcat
2) They score multiple defensive/special teams touchdowns

There are also two simple truths about New England teams under Bill Belichick

1) You don’t fool the Patriots twice
2) They don’t give up an inordiante amount of defensive/special teams touchdowns

Miami was completely dominated by the Jets last week in every category except for kickoff coverage. I doubt New England falls into the same trap. Sure, Belichick got his revenge for a 38-13 loss in Foxboro with a 48-28 drubbing in Miami, but he likes to do it again, just to make sure. Miami’s too tough defensivley to let the Patriots (-11) score 94 points (their output the previous two games) but I have a feeling they’ll try. 55/50