Against the Odds (2009) – Week 4

Vinnie has another mix of home and away teams, favorites and underdogs to recommend to you. This includes opinions on some Week 4 games whose teams might see one another again in the postseason.

Cincinnati

Bengals @

Cleveland Browns (+5.5): Vinnie isn’t usually one to expect a visiting team to defeat its divisional foe by a touchdown and then proceed to make that his pick of the week. Great matchup for Cedric Benson and the Bengals running attack; great matchup for Carson Palmer and that passing attack.

Cleveland is giving up over 400 yards of offense per game. On the other side of the ball, the Browns have made the switch to Derek Anderson. Even if

Anderson does provide a spark, enlisting the help of Braylon Edwards of course, Vinnie has full confidence in Cincy’s revamped defense – at least in this case.

  

Gimme the Bengals minus the points.

Green Bay Packers @ Minnesota Vikings (-3.5)

: Since looking good against Matt Forte in Week 1, Green Bay’s run defense has really fallen off. Adrian Peterson could really do a ton of damage on his home turf on Monday night. Then there’s Brett Favre, back in his all-too-familiar role of primetime quarterback, and he, too, should be able to get things done against the Packers defense. Aaron Rodgers is an emerging quarterback who can take it to any team, but that isn’t going to happen often enough this week. A big factor in

Minnesota’s stout pass defense is the pass rushing ability of its D-line, something that bodes horribly for Rodgers (sacked 12 times already in ‘09). Vinnie says he can already see Favre with a huge cheesy grin across his face right after Week 4 is in the books.

  

Gimme the Vikings minus the points.

Oakland Raiders @ Houston Texans (-9.5)

: Steve Slaton matches up well against Oakland’s subpar run defense, and Matt Schaub is playing about as well as any quarterback right now, but this point spread seems awfully high to Vinnie. Granted, it’s a home game for the Texans plus JaMarcus Russell gives most any opposing team a shot in the arm. But a glaring matchup that the Raiders would do well to exploit centers around how badly

Houston’s run defense has been. Not only is this unit giving up in excess of 200 yards per game, but boy eight rushing touchdowns is a lot to give up! And we’re talking a one-dimensional Raiders offense, one whose only fantasy viable players right now are Darren McFadden and occasionally Michael Bush. Keep it close,

Oakland.

  

Gimme the Raiders plus the points.

New York Jets @ New Orleans Saints (-6.5)

: Drew Brees has picked up where he left off a year ago, expertly dissecting defenses again this season. Nor can you argue with the results of the Jets’ aggressive defense and its effect on games. This is a great game between undefeated teams, one Vinnie is hoping to watch every minute of. Sure, it’s more palatable to go with Brees’ chances than a rookie quarterback’s in a game of this magnitude. But while the Saints defense is pretty good in its own right, Rex Ryan’s team appears at least good enough to keep

New Orleans from winning by seven or more. Besides, a key to the Saints success has been stellar play from whoever is running the ball in a given week; Vinnie sees

New York making it hard to move the ball on the ground from start to finish.

 

Gimme the Jets plus the points.