TotalBroncos

Denver Broncos at Cincinnati Bengals The Bengals selected Alabama cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick with the 17th overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, only to watch and wait as the talented defender spent the first half of the season recovering from a knee injury. Bengals defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer says that Kirkpatrick is a cinch to make his NFL debut against the Broncos, and Zimmer could certainly use him — and anyone else who can cover. The Bengals currently rank 29th in Football Outsiders’ opponent-adjusted metrics against the pass, and their task this Sunday looks just about impossible — shutting down Peyton Manning, who has been as effective in the last few weeks as he’s been at any time in his great career.  Meanwhile, Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton, who looked great in his rookie season of 2011, is trying to avoid becoming the first signal-caller in team history to throw an interception in each of his first eight games of a season. This would be a perversely impressive accomplishment for a franchise that has counted Akili Smith and David Klingler among its passers. Denver’s defense is gaining confidence at the wrong time for Dalton. Pick: Broncos 35, Bengals 14 Baltimore Ravens at Cleveland Browns The Ravens had a bye last week, all the better to figure out their issues. Several injuries have left this formerly great defense floundering, but the real story is Baltimore’s offensive identity crisis. Against the Houston Texans two weeks ago, three different receivers had more playing time than did fullback Vonta Leach, which indicates a serious change in the way the Ravens have done business. Baltimore’s offense used to revolve around multiple blocking concepts and getting the ball to running back Ray Rice. But with offensive coordinator Cam Cameron opening things up in the passing game, Rice is often tasked with pass-blocking, which takes Joe Flacco’s most consistent weapon away from him. Rice ranks 20th in carries in the NFL this year, a stat that needs to change if the Ravens have any hope of going deep in the playoffs. As for the Browns, they’ll try to use top draft pick Trent Richardson to exploit a Ravens run defense that has been unusually vulnerable of late. This could be a close one, and upset alerts abound. Pick: Ravens 17, Browns 14 Arizona Cardinals at Green Bay Packers Last Monday against the San Francisco 49ers, the Arizona Cardinals seemed to want to prove Steve Spurrier’s theory that Alabama could hang with the worst NFL teams. Jim Harbaugh’s power running game made the Cards look silly, Alex Smith came one pass completion away from setting the NFL record for completion percentage in a single game, and the Arizona “offense” managed just seven yards rushing. If Alex Smith could put a near-all-time beating on this defense, what do you think Aaron Rodgers is going to do to it? Sometimes, this stuff is too easy. Pick: Packers 37. Cardinals 10 Chicago Bears at Tennessee Titans If the Titans had the Bears’ pass defense, they might be scary. As it is, Tennessee is still on track to become the fourth team in NFL history to give up 500 or more points in a single season, and the problems compound when facing a high-octane offense like Chicago’s. The Titans are unable to generate a consistent pass rush (29th in FO’s Adjusted Sack Rate metric ), which leads to situations in which a vulnerable secondary had to cover opposing receivers far too long. Only the Cardinals’ offensive line is worse than Chicago’s when it comes to pass protection , and the key to a Titans upset is exploiting that weakness. Offensive tackle Michael Roos is expected to play after an appendectomy stopped his consecutive games streak at 119 last week. Good news for quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, but probably not good enough. Receiver Kenny Britt is unhappy about his targets, tight end Jared Cook expressed interest in a trade before last week’s deadline, and you don’t want to be in turmoil when facing Chicago’s defense. Pick:  Bears 29, Titans 14 Miami Dolphins at Indianapolis Colts There’s an interesting battle of potential Coach of the Year candidates when these 4-3 teams face off. Miami’s Joe Philbin looked overmatched when the Dolphins were featured in “Hard Knocks, but he’s got an excellent defense and a surprising rookie quarterback in Ryan Tannehill. Even when Tannehill could not finish last week’s game against the New York Jets, backup quarterback Matt Moore came in and helped to engineer a 30-9 beatdown. Meanwhile, Colts interim head coach Bruce Arians has not only installed a very different offense in Indy with a new quarterback; he also took the reins with great sensitivity and authority after Chuck Pagano was diagnosed with leukemia. it’s kind of a shame that either team has to lose, but we’ll take the Dolphins to roll on the road here. Pick: Dolphins 17, Colts 13 Carolina Panthers at Washington Redskins The lead story is the first matchup between Cam Newton and Robert Griffin III, though RG3 would rather be compared to Aaron Rodgers , and Newton would like to be compared to the Newton that shocked the NFL in 2011. Griffin may play as well as Rodgers does someday, but there’s only two ways that’s going to happen in the near future — his receivers actually have to catch the damned ball, and he’d have to face his own defense, which is one of the NFL’s worst against the pass. The Panthers seemed to rediscover their run game last Sunday, and that should be enough of a difference to give the Panthers the edge. Mitt Romney fans, feel free to rejoice . Steve Smith fantasy players should also feel free to rejoice — the ‘Skins have allowed 114 yards per game to #1 receivers this year. Pick: Panthers 23, Redskins 21 Detroit Lions at Jacksonville Jaguars

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Week 9 Sunday Picks: Elite teams, starting with Falcons, looking to set themselves apart (Shutdown Corner)