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Wunderdog NFL Picks and Pro Football Predictions 2002 Weekly NFL Picks Regular
Season Week 9 Welcome to the 2002 Week 9 Wunderdog Paid Subscription NFL Newsletter Wunderdog is coming off a profitable 2-1 week with straight-up and ATS wins on Denver and Kansas City and a loss on Chicago. For the season, the Wunderdog is 19-10-2 (66%) and 23-11-3 (68%) with 7 winning weeks out of 9 (78%) for the regular and preseason combined. This week the Wunderdog likes five doggies that are either underrated, primed for a bounce-back, playing an overrated team or are getting points when they should be giving them. Week 9 Selections: DALLAS +3 OVER DETROIT Yes, Dallas has struggled offensively as of late but I expect them to right themselves against a Detroit team giving up over 30 points per game. The “luggage” of Smith’s record now behind them, expect Dallas to come out relaxed and focused. It’s all gravy for Smith from here on out and Chad Hutchison looked pretty good last week in his first NFL start. He completed 50% of his passes including a 39-yard touchdown strike to Joey Galloway. He was inches away from completing another bomb to Galloway which would have given the Cowboys the win, Hutchison a “great” day, and would have resulted in Dallas being the favorite in this game. Defensively, the Cowboys remain one of the better teams in the league (8th in scoring at just over 18 points allowed per game). Detroit’s defense is weaker than McDonald’s coffee, ranked 30th in yards allowed and dead-last in point allowed per game. Despite the hailing of Joey Harrington as a great future quarterback, we are still playing the 2002 season. Detroit is completing only 50% of its passes (again, worst in the league). With his nerve-racking first start out of the way, I expect Hutchison to play well against this defense and the Cowboys to win, as losing teams that allow 27+ points per game historically fare poorly against the spread. Take the Boys and the points!
The Jaguars need to the right a ship that has severely veered off-course. They picked the right team to do it against. The Giants are averaging a pathetic 10 points per game over their last five games. That’s less than the next worse team – Cincinnati! To make matters worse for the G-Men offense, they lost WR Ike Hilliard for the season last week against the Eagles. The Giants score a TD an NFL-worst 1 out of every 4 times in the red zone (in contrast, the NFL average is 54%). Meanwhile, the Jags have the required weapons in Brunell, Taylor and Smith. They are 8th in the league in rushing and 7th in the league in scoring. Expect Jacksonville to turn things around with a win in this game.
The Rams have looked good the last two games but the wins have come against a shoddy Seahawks squad and a Raiders team that has looked like one of the worst in the NFL the last few weeks. Over their last six games, Arizona has won 4 and lost 2 to great San Diego and San Francisco teams (both road games). This week they get three points at home against an unproven team. The formula for Arizona is simple: use their 10th ranked rushing defense to contain Marshall Faulk and keep from turning the ball over. These two teams are pretty even statistically and in those matchups, I’ll take the home dog every time.
I expect Philadelphia to be a little flat for this game. Consider this: They are coming off an always emotionally and physically draining Monday night game…against a division rival. They have a comfortable two-game lead in their division and they are probably starting to believe their own press about how great they are. Combine that with the fact that they are playing a down-and-out team that probably deserves little respect and we have the makings for a big letdown game for the Eagles. The Bears are now playing for some pride. What better way to rectify the last five weeks’ mishaps and quite the critics then by upsetting one of the league’s elites? They qualify for a 69-39 situational trend concerning teams that have lost several in a row. Having seen what McNabb did against the Giants on Monday
night, the Bears will be gearing their defense towards
containing him. Can they do it? Not sure, but against similarly-mobile
Mike Vick earlier this year, Brian Urlacher and the Bears
escaped with a 14-13 victory.
The Redskins may be without running back Stephen Davis but even with rookie backup Kenny Watson (5.2 ypc last week), the Skins shouldn’t have any problem against the league’s worst rushing defense which is giving up 177+ yards per game. The Redskins aren’t as bad as many people think. Turnovers have killed them in their four losses (3.75 per game in losses versus .67 in two wins). Also, consider these four losses have come against the league’s elite teams: Philadelphia, San Francisco, New Orleans and Green Bay (all in Sagarin Power Ratings Top 8)! They have beaten and covered against the teams they were supposed to and now are handed three points against the worst team on their schedule to date. The Redskins also qualify in a 43-19 situation featuring visiting dogs of 3+ points. They won’t even need the points. Good luck!
These selections are based on opinion. You are responsible for how you use these, if at all. Wunderdog makes no guarantees and cannot be held responsible for any actions taken by newsletter subscribers. Of course, if you wager, do so only through legal channels. Good luck!
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