JIM RUBERA
(Rubera writes for The Spop)

Last Week:  9-5 /  Best Bets:  1-2 /  Monday Night:  1-0

Overall:  33-40 /  Best Bets:  7-8-1 /  Monday Night:  4-2

San Diego –8.5 @ St. Louis

This HAS to happen.  HAS TO!  The LIONS hung 44 on the Rams!

Houston –4.5 @ Kansas City

The Chiefs are still a tough out at home and held Peyton to no touchdowns, but something tells me Houston is due to break out of their offensive funk.  Andre Johnson feels better than he has since week one.  Mario Williams and the Houston defense should be able to force a few mistakes out of Matt Cassel.

Baltimore +2.5 @ New England

Really?  Same game same field 9 months ago:  Ravens 33 Pats 14.  Ravens got better.  Pats got worse.  Oh, but the Patriots are what?  Really mad?  Angry about that playoff game?  Ooohh OK.  Well guess what.  I bet the Lions were angry when the kept losing 16 in a row too.  Most of the time wanting to win doesn’t mean you are going to win.

New York Jets @ Denver –3

Jets almost coughed up an easy win on Monday night.  They were lucky.  Now they have a short week to get ready for a Broncos team coached by Josh McDaniels who has plenty of experience scheming against Antonio Cromartie and Jason Taylor.

New Orleans @ Tampa Bay +4

Saints can’t run and aren’t covering spreads.  Tampa Bay is and has a young quarterback ready to pounce on the wounded champs.

Atlanta @ Philadelphia –3

Kolb looked comfortable having his job back.  He’ll only have it for a couple more weeks so he better have some fun while it lasts.  The Falcons are good, but they’re not going to win every week.  Should be a tough road game for them.

Detroit +10 @ New York Giants

This is all about Calvin Johnson who is a game time decision.  They won’t throw him out there unless he’s ready to do some damage, so if he plays the Lions should cover the 10.  If not, the Giants could very well take away the other options and make it a rout.  But these picks are made on Friday so the official pick is Detroit.

Seattle +7 @ Chicago

The Seahawks are known for poor road performances, so the spread is pretty high.  I think they get to the suddenly unconfident Jay Cutler a few times.  Marshawn Lynch should be able to chew a lot of time off the clock, keeping it close.

Miami +3 @ Green Bay

Technically there is no official spread for this game (as of Friday), but +3 is the best one I could find online.  If that’s the case, even with Rodgers playing, Miami should be able to go into Green Bay and win.  The Packers have shown that they can’t run and just aren’t as good as we thought they were.  Cameron Wake an Karlos Dansby are quarterback killers that will intimidate, if not hurt, the already wobbly Aaron Rodgers.

Cleveland @ Pittsburgh –13.5

The last time Colt McCoy had the ball he pulled it down to run and got knocked out by an Alabama linebacker.  Don’t try that stuff Sunday Colt.  Gonna be a lot worse.  The Steelers also welcome back Roethlisberger from his bathroom break, so their offense should get a nice boost as well.  I don’t see how this game could be close.

Oakland +6.5 @ San Francisco

No reason for an 0-5 team to be giving 6.5 points, even to Oakland.  The Raiders have an 11.5 mile road trip and are riding a high after beating the Chargers.  The 49ers almost benched Alex Smith for David Carr last week.  6.5 points huh?

Dallas @ Minnesota –1.5

The home team gets the call in this battle of crappy good teams.  Favre looks like he’ll play and they have arguably the best running back and best wide receiver in the league.  I think Dallas is sunk because they refuse to run the ball.  But…that Miles Austin takeaway catch last week one one of the manliest things we’ve ever seen on a football field.

Indianapolis @ Washington +3

This is stupid.  But the Redskins just keep beating teams that we think are way out of their league.

Tennessee –3 @ Jacksonville

The Jags have been surprising, but Tennessee is much more complete and looked dominant on both sides of the ball when they dismantled the Cowboys in Dallas last week.

Best Bets: Tennessee, Pittsburgh, San Diego

Photo: Getty

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