Since I am late posting this week, it will be a quick version. So far this year I am 74-43 picking games straight up.

Arizona @ Tampa Bay: Arizona has struggled since their big win against Pittsburgh. I expect Tampa to respond after a tough home loss last week. CORRECT

Denver @ Detroit: Denver has an absolutely attrocious run defense. I expect Kevin Jones to have a big game at home and Mike Martz and company to mix in the pass effectively in another win for the suprising Lions. CORRECT

Carolina @ Tennessee: Despite a struggling offense, especially in the passing game, Tennessee has still been winning with excellent defensive line play. I expect that to continue at home in a tough game. CORRECT

Green Bay @ Kansas City: Teams genearlly struggle after a Monday night game and KC is a great home team, but I just dont see their offense mounting much of an attack against the Packer defense. I expect Green Bay to win another tough game at home. CORRECT

San Diego @ Minnesota: After a tough start, the Chargers are playing great football. While Minnesota has had a great running game this year, their passing game sucks. San Diego wins easy on the road. THIS IS MY SURVIVOR PICK OF THE WEEK. WRONG

Jacksonville @ New Orleans: Even though I was wrong on this last week, I am picking against Quin Gray. New Orleans has been playing much better football recently and I dont think the Jags will have the balance to win on the road. CORRECT

San Francisco @ Atlanta: Atlanta is in bad shape and the players arent happy. While the 49ers have been playing very poorly as well, I think their defense shuts down the Falcons and they win on the road. WRONG

Washington @ NY Jets: Washington isnt nearly as bad as the score showed last week. The Jets are bad though and Washington wins easy in the Meadowlands. Not a bad pick for Survivor Football as well. CORRECT

Cincinnati @ Buffalo: The Bills are playing much better football recently. Their defense gives up a lot of yards, but not many points. They are also facing a bad defense in Cincinnati. Buffalo hasnt scored many points this year though, even against a team like the Jets. Cincinnati's offense wins. WRONG

Seattle @ Cleveland: Cleveland has been a big suprise this week, while the Seahawks have been inconsistent. Despite early season struggles, I expect Shaun Alexander to have a big day and lead Seattle to a close road win. WRONG

New England @ Indianapolis: I expect this game to live up to the huge hype. I think the Patriots have the slight advantage because of their edge at defensive scheming. New England in a great game. CORRECT

Houston @ Oakland: I dont expect Oaklands offense be able to do much against the Texan defense. Josh McCown gets the start this weekend and I expect him to struggle. CORRECT

Dallas @ Philadelphia: This is a great rivalry that the Eagles have owned recently, winning the last 2, 4 of the last 5 and 12 of 14. I expect Dallas to win this game though simply due to superior talent. They are rested coming off a bye week and should hold onto their lead in the NFC East. CORRECT

Baltimore @ Pittsburgh: Two extremely physical football teams that hate eachother should make for a good Monday Night Football game. Pittsburgh is simply a better all around football team and should win a close game at home.

I picked a lot of road teams this week, which will probably lead to a bad record picking. We'll see...

FOR THE WEEK I AM 9-4 WITH THE MONDAY NIGHT GAME STILL TO GO. FOR THE YEAR I AM 83-47.

1. New England Patriots: The top spot in the NFL is obviously up for grabs this weekend when the Patriots travel to Indianapolis for what should be a spectacular matchup. At this point, its hard not to rank the Pats as the best team in the NFL. This is clearly the most talented team Bill Bellichick has ever coach and the entire organization is motivated to prove the video taping scandal wasnt the reason the Patriots were able to create a modern day dynasty. The offense has been exceptional and they havent even been able to establish a running game most thought they would have. I look for the Patriots to suprise some people this weekend by running the ball with Maroney against the Colts undersized line. The Pats will obviously do what they do best though, which is spread the field and throw the ball. Tom Brady is on pace to destroy Manning's single season touchdown record and I dont see him letting up. What seperates the Patriots from the Colts is their abilty to scheme defensively. They have been playing most of the season without their best defensive player in Richard Seymore and have still kept their opposition from mounting any consistent threat. While the Colts are clearly the best offense they will play, I expect this to be the difference.

2. Indianapolis Colts: Its very difficult for me to not rank the defending champs at the number one spot when they havent done anything not to earn the top spot. In fact, they are clearly a better team this season than they were last season. They have been able to fill all of their key offseason losses and not miss a beat. They have the best pass rushing ends in the NFL and a healthy Bob Sanders has done wonders for the defense. The strong defense has allowed the offense to be more methodical in their domination. While they havent been as flashy this season as they were in past seasons, its clear this offense is able to impose its will on any defense. The fact that they are underdogs at home has to provide great motivation to a veteran led team. Sunday's game should be special.

3. San Diego Chargers: While the Chargers are only 4-3, its pretty clear to me that they are becoming the team everyone expected at the beginning of the season. Some even said they were the most talented team in the NFL, ahead of the Patriots and Colts. The team (especially the offense) has adapted to Norv Turner and they are beginning to play with great confidence. As the season progresses, I expect the addition of Chris Chambers to be huge for this team. While LaDanian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates are tremendous weapons for qb Phillip Rivers, having the outside threat of Chambers is going to make a great offense that much more difficult to defend. Their defense has also seemed to be more aggressive as the season has gone on, which is what they need to do with Shawn Merriman and Shaun Phillips at OLB. Whichever team (the Colts or the Pats) draws them in the playoffs is going to be very unlucky.

4. Pittsburgh Steelers: Even with a new coach, this team still resembles Pittsburgh teams of the past. They play extremely tough defense, ranking very high in the NFL in both pass and rush defense, and they feel like they can run the ball against any defense. Ben Roethlisberger's progression is what makes this team different. Ben has a unique ability to shake off defensive lineman, escape out of the pocket to keep the play alive, and find a reciever downfield. It does seem to matter which team the Steelers are playing, Ben is constantly shrugging defensive lineman off like they are cornerbacks. This makes it especially difficult to defend the Steeler offense. Once they get a lead, the Steelers play excellent time possession football, making it extremely difficult to come back. Each team only had 6 possessions in their game against the Bengals last weekend. That makes it especially difficult to come back against an aggressive defense.

5. Dallas Cowboys: This was a difficult pick as there are many teams playing good football right now. The Cowboys have great balance on offense with reciever Terrell Owens and Patrick Crayton as well as Tony Romo's go to target in Jason Witten at tight end. The running back combination of Julius Jones and especially Marion Barber has also been very effective, making the Cowboys extremely difficult to defend. While they lost by a pretty wide margin at home to the Patriots, the score was somewhat misleading as the Cowboys were leading in the third quarter, making them the only team that has challenged the Patriots this season. Their defense has some question marks, but I expect there will be continuous improvment under new coach Wade Wilson.

Missing Out:

Green Bay Packers: They have had a strong start to the season despite an inconsistent running game. They have one of the best young defenses in the league anchored by two excellent cornerbacks. To go with that defense, Brett Favre now has an emerging Greg Jennings and James Jones at wide reciever to go along with the always consistent Donald Driver. This team is definitely a contender for the Super Bowl in the NFC.

New York Giants: Since week 2, this team has been playing at an entirely different level defensively. After two losses to Dallas and Green Bay, the Giant defense, anchored by exceptional defensive ends, has been playing fabulous football. Eli Manning to Plexico Burress has been an extremely reliable option for the offense and the combination of Brandon Jacobs and Derrick Ward at running back has provided good balance. Despite the early losses to the Cowboys and Packers, I still expect the Giants to challenge them in the NFC. I just cant put them ahead of either of those teams at this point.

Jacksonville Jaguars: Part of putting the Jaguars in this list of contenders is the assumption that qb David Garrard will come back healthy for the offense. While the Jags had impressive victory over the weekend in Tampa Bay lead by Quinn Gray, I dont see that success continuing. The Jags are an extremely physical team that will wear their oposition down, both offensively and defensively. However they need Garrard to provide a balanced offense that can keep defenses guessing. With that threat, the combination of Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew will be tough to stop for any defense.

Keep an eye on:

Tennessee Titans: The defense has been very strong but the offense has been struggling a bit. They will need to play better if they want to beat the NFLs best. Still they are a young, intriguing team.

New Orleans Saints: A team with very high expectations to begin the season is playing much better football halfway through the season. The defense has considerably improved and their offense has been better despite not living up to expectations. In the NFC South, this team is very much a contender.

Not a True Threat:

Baltimore Ravens: Despite a 4-3 start, this team has had some serious struggles that will only get worse as the season continues. They still have games against the Chargers, Colts, Patriots, as well as two against the Steelers and one against the Bengals (a team that has beat them 5 out of 6 times).

Cleveland Browns: Their only win on the road came against the St. Louis Rams, who again lost Steven Jackson to injury. Despite a relatively easy remaing schedule, road division games in Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati will keep this team from making the playoffs.