After a week off I’m back with Ethan for a very spooky edition of our NFL picks for week 9. I’ll get the ball rolling and, as always, home teams are in CAPS.

New England over DENVER – Plummer is still out hurt, his backup Buerlein’s career is over and now they’re sending Danny Kannell to take on a 6-2 Patriots team that’s overcoming all kinds of injuries and gaining confidence each week. The home field will help the Broncos some but I don’t think they’ll be able to overcome the mismatch of Kanell v. Belichick. Look for Brady to remind people how he won that Super Bowl as the Pats roll.
I’ve been waiting for this game. The game where the Pats play someone good. Someone solid. Make no mistake: The Broncos have serious QB problems. But the Pats are overachieving and ripe for a fall at some point. A painful drubbing. It could be this week, against the Leagues #2 defense and in the thin Denver air. I like the Broncos in a close one.

MINNESOTA over Green Bay – My Magic 8-Ball reads, “All signs point to blowout.” First of all, it’s in the Metronome. Second, Green Bay is living and dying by the run and Minny’s pretty good at stopping it. I think teams are figuring out that if they can shut down Ahman Green (and it can be done), then Packers struggle mightily. Minnesota has a stout run D and an explosive offense. Meanwhile, Green Bay is ranked an embarrassing 30th in total defense. I look for Favre’s dome woes to continue.
I agree. >Burt Convy< CORRECT! CIRCLE GETS THE SQUARE >/Burt< The Packers are so sunk here. Even if Green goes nuts I don't think he'll be enough to carry the day for the Pack. The Viking pass defense is so aggressive and so good right now, I don't think Brett Favre will have a good day.

Carolina over HOUSTON – This was going to be my upset pick. I really wanted to see David Carr and Andre Johnson and Domanick Davis get a crack at that Panthers D. Carr, in my opinion, is the key to an underrated Texans offense and without him they don’t stand a chance. Stephen Davis might not find too much room to run but the Panthers won’t need to score too many points to win this week. Hmmm. I agree that Carolina’s looking mighty vulnerable right now. They were completely pwned by the Titans, then nearly lost to a mostly-bad Saints team. One of the FootballGuys noted this week that if the NFL had ties, the Panthers would be 3-1-3 and that might be a better indicator of their performance. Still, with Tony Banks at the helm, the Texans will have to run run run and that plays to Carolina’s strength. So I like the Panthers and that’s my Official Pick ™. BUT, the clock is ticking on Stephen Davis’ annual 4-week injury. It happens every year and it’ll happen this year, too. When it does, the Panthers will fall to Earth.

St. Louis over SAN FRANCISCO – I know this seems like a gimme with Garcia out, but I think this will be a close one. I’m really tempted to take the upset here. I like Tim Rattay for this week only. It seems to me that when a backup takes over the team he gets one good game. It’s a mixed blessing for cocahes, because they get a better-than-expected effort and then the inevitable QB controversy. Then the next week’s opponent exposes exactly why the guy’s a backup in the first place. So I think Rattay and the 49ers will give the Rams a scare. Only a scare, though.
This is a total gimme. The 49ers were in disarray before Garcia got scratched from this game and I don’t see Rattay being the glue to hold them together. Look for the return of Marshall Faulk in the first half but expect him to get some rest after the Rams get out to a a big lead. With a real chance to reach the postseason Martz won’t waste him in garbage time this week. The best part will be watching T.O. go absolutely bonkers when he’s held to like 3 catches and 20 yards. And I’ll watch every down as this is my FBG assignment this week.The Rams might win this by 40.

Every few years I’ll grow a beard that I’ll keep for a month or so. It’s fun to see how gray it’s getting and to see how people look at me. This most recent run started when I didn’t shave over a long weekend. I just let the damn thing go…
Not a pretty sight.

I cleaned it up a little bit, but it was still a beard. And really, who wants to put smooches on that bristly thing? No one. That’s who. Well, Millhouse did, but he’s way too stinky to take too many smooches from.

Then I figured I would roll with a Van Dyke. It’s not a goatee since I left the moustache on there. I liked this as much as the beard, I guess. Michelle thought it was a definite improvement.

Finally I hooked up the long moustache. People called it a Fu-Manchu or a porn ’stache. I called it my Cop Stache. I gave myself the giggles with my “Do you know why I pulled you over ma’am?” routine.

And now it’s gone. I’m back to looking at my big, round face. Michelle is happy about it. She always votes against the facial hair experiments. Emma thinks my face looks “so cute”.

Man, it’s hard being a Knicks fan these days. I have to root for Keith Van Horn (so soft) and Dikembe Mutombo (old and obnoxious). Sprewell is gone and McDyess is coming back from his 3rd surgery in 2 years. At least we still have Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward and Kurt Thomas, the 21st century Charles Oakley.

It looks like red is the new Hot Color in the NBA this year. Both the Cavaliers and the Rockets have gone solid red for the 2003-4 season.

My good friend Chris was in San Diego visiting his girlfriend this weekend. The fires are really getting scary out there. Here are two photos he sent me. The captions are his.

This is what the sky looks like out here. These are from this morning (10/26). It’s a lot worse now. My eyes are burning and all my clothes smell like smoke. Ash is falling out of the sky like snow and the few people that are walking around are wearing masks. It sucks.

View from the porch this morning (10/26).

My good friend (and frequent subject of Emma’s photos) Chris is in San Diego for a few days. Apparently they have a Rhino problem in Southern California.

I’m pretty sure I emailed everyone about it already, but I did a big update over at The Emma Blog earlier today.

Check it out. She’s awesome.

#1 gets all the pub but #2 looks pretty damn cool.

I am such a good sharer. Emma would be proud of me.
Ethan is back again this week as we pick some games for this weekend. Home teams are in CAPS:

MINNESOTA over Denver: This game will be closer than it looks on paper. It should be a Viking walk given all of the injuries in Denver. I still think the Broncos aren’t as good as their record, too. They surprised me with how well they matched up against the Chiefs, so I don’t think they’re a total fraud. Plummer has been better than I expected and defensively they did a good job of taking the Chiefs out of their game. I don’t see them being able to match up against the Viking WR’s on Sunday, though. Too much Randy Moss. The Vikings will win and go to 6-0.
I agree and I have a little more confidence in Minny. I think that Beuerlein will show his age this week against a tough Vikings D. MIN D-Coord George O’Leary has the brains and the personnel to make at a bad day for Beurlein. If Portis was 100%, I might feel differently. But Portis hasn’t seemed… right lately.

Dallas over DETROIT: This game is a great example of why it’s good I don’t live in Vegas. Did you see the line? Dallas by 3? C’mon. Being a lifetime Redskins fan and having so much faith in the coach of the Cowboys is disturbing. But here we have two teams that were horrible in 2002. Both teams have new coaches… good coaches… and they’re improving. Here’s the difference: The GM of the Lions is Matt Millen. The GM of the Cowboys is Bill Parcells. Not only is Parcells probably a better coach, but he also has more to work with.
I am dying to call “Trap Game” on the Cowboys but I don’t see Detroit poised to make it happen. If Charles Rogers were healthy, then maybe, because he can dominate a game, but he’s out for another few weeks. In another year this will be a great game. I think Mariucci will be successful in Detroit, it’s just a year away. Cowboys will win and hold their lead in the NFC east (damnit).

New England over Miami – Now this is a trap game. Miami is having some crisis at the QB position and Bill Belichick is a master gameplanner, especially against a shaky QB. The Patriots will give up a bunch of yards to Ricky Williams but I think they will win the game by capitalizing on Dolphin turnovers. Tom Brady will wake up and have his monthly Big Game, so look for nice numbers for the Pats receivers, too. Patriots will win and it won’t be as close as the score will indicate.
I like Miami here. It’s an impressive coaching job Belichick is doing in New England. He’s lost, what, 8 starters?… and the Pats are still 4-2. But they’ve rung up wins against struggling teams like the Eagles and the Giants(sorry)(grrr). And I read this week that the Dolphins are #1 in red zone offense and defense. Yikes. I think it’ll be close for three quarters and then you’ll look up and notice that Ricky Williams has 160 yards rushing.

Titans over PANTHERS: My upset pick. Holy cow, the Panthers are playing well. And I picked against them last week and they beat the Colts in overtime. And I think that, probably, the Colts are a better team than the Titans. So why? Because the Panthers are 6-0 and they won’t go 16-0. They’re going to lose at some point and I think the Titans are the team to do it. Tennessee’s playing at a very high level and the Panthers are due for a bit of a letdown after last week’s huge win.
I love it when we disagree! I’m a ticketholder on the Panthers Bandwagon, especially after that huge win last week (which I called, FYI). Steve McNair has been playing at an MVP-level but I think he’s due for a letdown. The total lack of a running game will really hurt the Titans against this awesome Carolina defense.The Panthers will get an even better peformance out of Delhomme this week with the new dynamic duo of Stephen Davis and DeShaun Foster taking the offensive pressure off of him. Panthers will win.

Courtesy of Sox Fan (with a sense of humor) Brad at Bradley’s Almanac.