NEW ENGLAND (14-3) -9 OVER BALTIMORE (13-4)(50) – Last week the Ravens barely held on to
beat a tough, scrappy Texans team by a score of 10-13. The 3 picks rookie QB T.J. Yates threw in
the game was the difference. Baltimore, undefeated at home, ran their record there to 9-0 but
didn’t look that good in doing so. I’m not sure if the Baltimore offense can score with Tom Brady
and the Pats. However, two years ago, the Ravens traveled to Foxboro to bury the Pats 33-14. It
wasn’t much of a game. However, this isn’t the same two teams. Tom Brady and his receiving corps
is almost impossible to stop. The only chance that the Ravens have of upsetting the Pats is to
control the ball on offense and put plenty of pressure on Brady to make him uncomfortable in the
pocket. With their pressure from the middle and the corners, the front 7 of the Ravens have to
make Brady get rid of the ball before he wants to and they’ll need to create at least one or two
turnovers. Last week, however, the Ravens didn’t have one sack of the QB and Yates seemed to be
pretty safe in the pocket. He did force 3 turnovers however. What the Ravens do have going for
them is the running game featuring Ray Rice. He ran and caught passes for right around 2,000
yards this season. When he touches the ball more than 25 times a game, they are almost
unbeatable. OC Cam Cameron, however, sometimes falls in love with throwing the ball downfield and
since the Pats defensive backfield is one of the worst in football, that might be tough to ignore.
From a handicapping standpoint, the 9 points to me seems a bit high. I see the Pats being 7 point
favorites at home but the betting public and Tom Brady have pushed this number up. This game is
going to be a late decision on my part probably on Saturday. Stay close to my blog to see changes
in my thoughts. If you held a gun to my head right now, I’d take the Pats minus the points, just
because the Ravens have struggled on the road this year, losing to Seattle, Tennessee, Jacksonville,
and San Diego. Those four teams had a combined record of 28-36 this season. The Chargers, who
like to throw the ball, beat the Ravens by 20 points late in the season.

NEW YORK GIANTS (11-7) +3 OVER SAN FRANCISCO (14-3)(50.5) – This is the game of the day
in my opinion. The Giants are playing at a peak level for the season with all cylinders pumping. They
have almost everyone on their roster healthy. Last week they knocked off the defending champion
Packers in Lambeau and looked good doing it. After beating the Pats 24-20 at the midseason point,
they lost four in a row to four of the toughest teams in the league, only to right the ship after that
and win 5 of their last 6 games. One of the reasons I love the G-men here in this game is the fact
that they LOVE to play on the road. This week they’ll be outside in a wet, nasty environment in
Candlestick Park. The tides will play a part in this game as will the 4 days of rain they seem to be
getting as we speak. The forecast on Sunday is 50% chance of rain also. Eli has always been known
as a bad weather QB. Wet balls don’t’ seem to bother him. He has maybe the best receiving corps
left in the Super Bowl tourney. Hakeem Nicks has caught 4 TD passes the last two weeks. Victor
Cruz had as good of a year as any receiver in the NFL this season. Mario Manningham is running
great routes. TE Jake Ballard is healthy. The past two games the running game seems back with
the O-Line clicking with Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs. The Giants defense hasn’t played
better all year long. Last week I made the statement that the team with the best defense would
win the Packers-Giants game. I was right and they did. Now, the Giants face a 49ers team that

HAS the number 2 defense in the league. They are number 2 also in scoring defense. This is going
to be a very physical game for sure. San Francisco may be the hardest hitting team in the NFC.
They have sent out 7 starting RB’s out of their games this year. Last week they did the same.
I have to think that Alex Smith and his offense will run the ball 25-30 times for sure this game
against the Giants in order to open up passing lanes for their OK receivers. Their star receiver is
their TE Vernon Davis who can create matchup problems for the Giants in the secondary. However,
the Giants secondary didn’t seem to have many problems with the Packers receivers although there
were several drops by their receivers last week of Aaron Rodgers passes. I see this game being
a similar game to their game during the season. Both teams were able to move the ball and the
49ers held on to win at the end of the game. One interesting tidbit of info on this game is that
SF outstanding LB Patrick Willis was a teammate of Eli Manning’s at Ole Miss for one year. It was
the last year Willis was on a team with a winning record till this season. I’m going to STAY WITH
MY PICK FROM EARLY THIS SEASON AND TAKE THE GIANTS TO CONTINUE THEIR ROAD
WARRIOR MENTALITY AND BEAT THE 49ERS OUTRIGHT AND BEAT THE SPREAD AS WELL
FOR 4 STARS.