Week 9 Recap:
vs. W/L: (9-5)
vs. Spread: (6-8)
vs. Aggregate: (3-10-1)

For The Season:
Vs. W/L: (84-46)
Vs. Spread: (68-62)
Vs. Aggregate: (62-67-1)

Vs. “The CBSSportsline Experts”:

Richard: 72-57-0
PFN: 68-62-0
Judge: 67-62-0
Madden: 67-62-0
Prisco: 63-66-0
“SpiN”: 60-69-0
Harmon: 64-65-0

Another 6-8 week and we drop back into second place. Maybe there’s something to be said for Dave Richard’s contrarian strategy as he had another big week. We just play them as we see them here, and have won more than we’ve lost. Week 10 presents yet another terrific challenge.

Even though New England lost, Matt Cassel has to be given credit for having a great night. With each game, he plays with more poise and no longer resembles the rookie with the deer-in-the-headlights look.

Week 10 Thursday:

At Cleveland -2.5 Denver 46

The NFL kicks off the Thursday portion of the schedule with this renewal of “The Drive” classic from the 1987 AFC Championship. Since the game is being broadcast on NFL Network, there will be approximately 438 households tuning in nationwide. Too bad the League couldn’t have scheduled this game for a 3:00 am kickoff, as this matchup isn’t a display of the best that pro football has to offer. Don’t count on this one resembling that tilt as the defenses for both teams are pretty bad. Denver comes into this one minus Champ Bailey and D.J. Williams and a badly depleted corps of running backs. The other problem is that we have discovered that Jay Cutler is not developing into a reasonable facsimile of Elway, even though Denver’s passing game is currently rated #4. Brandon Marshall ought to shut his mouth and let the defensive coordinator call the defensive schemes. Publicly calling out your own team’s defense doesn’t win many friends or enhance team harmony.

After their humiliating home loss to the Old Browns on Sunday, the New Browns turn to Brady Quinn to wake up the moribund offense. Derek Anderson, we hardly knew ye. The Browns aren’t dealing from a position of strength by changing quarterbacks midstream, but they do have the advantage of playing a team that is without their two best defenders and no much of a running game.

Projected Final Score: Cleveland 27, Denver 24