NFL Week 9 Picks & Announcers
Winners- Atlanta, Arizona, Baltimore, Indianapolis, New England, Green Bay, Jacksonville, Seattle, New Orleans, San Diego, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh.
Announcing Schedule
Fox
1 p.m.
Arizona @ Chicago (Joe Buck, Troy Aikman)- Bears look to keep momentum, Cards are coming off a 5 pick Warner game.
Washington @ Atlanta (Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, Tony Siragusa)- The Falcons are down but will Washington prove to be the league’s biggest slump buster?
Green Bay @ Tampa Bay (Sam Rosen, Tim Ryan)- Tampa is still looking for their first win and Green Bay looks to bounce back from their home loss to Minnesota.
4 p. m.
Detroit @ Seattle (Dick Stockton, Charles Davis)- The Lions are coming off a loss to St. Louis and the Seahawks will be hungry at home.
Carolina @ New Orleans (Thom Brennaman, Brian Billick)- Carolina is looking for momentum after a big win over Arizona and the unbeaten Saints look to break their spirits.
CBS
1 p.m.
Miami @ New England (Greg Gumbel, Dan Dierdorf)- The Dolphins got a huge win over the Jets, but the Patriots is a step up in talent as New England looks to put this AFC East lead out of reach.
Baltimore @ Cincinnati (Dick Enberg, Dan Fouts)- Cincinnati has been a huge surprise thus far, but the Ravens are looking to follow up beating the biggest surprise with a win against the division rival Bengals.
Houston @ Indianapolis (Kevin Harlan, Solomon Wilcots)- Ryan Moats gets the call again as the Texans try to run the ball more to jump into the AFC South race against the undefeated Colts.
Kansas City @ Jacksonville (Bill Macatee, Steve Beurlein)- Larry Johnson is suspended and the local home market is blacked out. Can MJD and co save the Jaguars’ season?
4 p. m.
San Diego @ NY Giants (Jim Nantz, Phil Simms)- Big Blue has lost three straight and looks to get back on their feet against Phillip Rivers and the Chargers who could get right back in the AFC West race. Remember that Rivers and Eli Manning were traded for each other, if you hadn’t already heard about that angle…Of course you have.
Tennessee @ San Francisco (Ian Eagle, Rich Gannon)- It’s a tale of highly touted QB’s as Vince Young takes his Titans, after their first win against Alex Smith’s Niners.
Around The Majors- Saturday Night
Trade Reaction- You could look at the Twins-Brewers trade sending JJ Hardy to Minnesota for Carlos Gomez in two ways for each club. Minnesota was able to alleviate an outfield glut by dealing the low on base Gomez and save money by having the fiscally friendly Hardy at short instead of free agent Orlando Cabrera, but Cabrera is the far better player than Hardy, who was sent down to the minors for a stretch during the regular season. Milwaukee traded from a strength, dealing Hardy to make way for slick fielding prospect Alcides Escobar and will use the speedy Gomez in center and not resign Mike Cameron. But Gomez isn’t very good, meaning that there are questions on both sides of this deal.
-Chicago got a solid 3B for the first time since Joe Crede left, trading for Mark Teahen from the Royals for Josh Fields and Chris Getz, two players that were never going to see the field with Gordon Beckham and Alexei Ramirez in the middle infield. Getz could start at 2nd for Kansas City, but they did a good job shedding salary. They’ll get Alex Gordon back at 3rd and he should put up similar stats. A lot to like on both sides. For Chicago, this puts into question whether they’ll go after top free agent Chone Figgins.
Hot Stove- ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian thinks the Yankees will let both Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui go and go after Matt Holliday and Jason Bay. He thinks they’ll resign Andy Pettitte for at least a year. John Smoltz and Pedro Martinez will probably pitch next year, but Randy Johnson may hang it up. On Aroldis Chapman: “I love his arm,” one GM said. “But he’s got a ways to go before he’s ready to pitch in the major leagues, physically and emotionally.” The Dodgers may not have enough money to resign Randy Wolf. It’ll be very difficult for the Cubs to trade Milton Bradley with the $20 million left on his deal.
-The Blue Jays and Diamondbacks are discussing a Lyle Overbay-Chris Snyder deal, says the Arizona Republic. Snyder is a very good catcher but may only be a one year stopgap with JP Arencibia waiting in the wings, and Arizona really likes Miguel Montero as their everyday guy. Arizona has been missing production at 1B since Overbay was dealt from the D-Backs to Milwaukee and having him in the order would move Conor Jackson into the outfield and give more protection to Mark Reynolds.
-Another year of Manny Ramirez means another trade search for Juan Pierre and the Dodgers, says the LA Times.
-Bill Maddon doesn’t think John Lackey will be a Yankee, but Wolf could be.
-Raul Ibanez, Brad Lidge and Scott Eyre will all have surgeries this coming week, says Todd Zolecki via Twitter.
