FRIDAY FOOTBALL PICKS!
Last week:  won 7, lost 6.  Not quite as strong as I hoped; but that puts me at 78-79-4 for the season; this week--time to get over .500!

NFL PICKS

ATLANTA 10 over Arizona.  My pick:  FALCONS.  A tough loss for them last week; but it was going to come sooner or later.  Meanwhile, Matt Ryan still played well.  The Cardinals' offense?  Hasn't played well in weeks.

Baltimore 3.5 over PITTSBURGH.  My pick:  RAVENS.  Mainly because:  no Ben Roethlisberger for the Steelers.  He means that much.

Cincinnati 3.5 over KANSAS CITY.  My pick:  BENGALS.  The Bengals have momentum with their big win last week over the Giants.  And they tend to beat lesser teams such as this one. 

DALLAS 8 over Cleveland.  My pick:  BROWNS.  Not to win; the Cowboys will take this one in the end.  But--Dallas tends to play to the level of its competition.

DENVER 7.5 over San Diego.  My pick:  BRONCOS.  They're hot and playing very consistent football.  Norv Turner's Chargers, as always, find ways to beat themselves.

Green Bay 3.5 over DETROIT.  My pick:  LIONS.  I know--I picked the Lions to win last week at Minnesota, and look at how that turned out.  But--the Packers have injuries; coming off a bye, they might be stale; this is a bigger game for the Lions than for the Pack...Detroit loses this one, and the playoffs are just a pipe dream.  They will be the more desperate team.  Just a gut feeling...

HOUSTON 15.5 over Jacksonville.  My pick:  JAGUARS.  Not to win; but if you're Houston, how do you maintain focus and cover such a huge spread, yet again?  My guess is that Houston will win comfortably, but maybe by 10.

NEW ENGLAND 9.5 over Indianapolis.  My pick:  PATRIOTS.  The Colts have done well for themselves, and shown great improvement.  But on the whole, Andrew Luck has struggled a bit on the road, and against the high-powered Pats, who figure to put up points in this game, that's a bad combo.

NEW ORLEANS 5 over Oakland.  My pick:  SAINTS.  This game began at 6 and 1./2; so some betting steam has gone Oakland's way.  I think that's a mistake; look for the Raiders' leaky defense to allow Drew Brees and co. to score at will.

ST. LOUIS 3.5 over NY Jets.  My pick:  RAMS.  The Jets' offense continues to get worse and worse.  The Rams played well last week in tying up the 49ers.

Tampa Bay 1.5 over CAROLINA.  My pick:  BUCS.  Hey, the Bucs are hot; ride 'em.  And they know how to handle the Panthers--it was the Bucs' shut-down of Carolina and Cam Newton, way back in week 1, that should have told us that Cam Newton part II might have problems.

WASHINGTON 3.5 over Philadelphia.  My pick:  REDSKINS.  Nick Foles isn't bad; but wouldn't you rather have RGIII at home?

SAN FRANCISCO 5 over Chicago.  My pick:  49ers.  I have great respect for the Bears' defense.  But the Niners' D is pretty good too; and it seems certain that Chicago will not have Jay Cutler...and that just might prove decisive in this one.

COLLEGE PICKS

Ohio State at Wisconsin.  My pick:  BADGERS.  Ohio State's defense is leaky (they gave up 49 points to Indiana a few weeks ago).  They've been getting by week after week...somehow.  They can score.  But so is Wisconsin.  You get the feeling it's time for Buckeye luck to run out.

Stanford at Oregon.  My pick:  DUCKS.  A lot of people like Stanford here, due to Oregon's injuries on defense, etc.  But the Oregon offense is just fine; and I think they'll outscore their opponents, yet again.