Payton’s Plays: NFL Week 9

Last week went real good, y’all. The Raiders needed OT and almost screwed me by taking 22 penalties, but they got it done. The Chiefs lost Alex Smith and Spencer Ware but still put a beat-down on Indianapolis. That was like candy from a baby.

The better teams in the league are finally showing up on a more regular basis. There aren’t many dominant teams – maybe just New England – but there are definitely some that are above the rim and some that have like a 12-inch vert. So I’m going back to the moneyline this week, confident that a couple squads have cake matchups in Week 9.

Tennessee Titans at San Diego Chargers (-213)

The Titans actually matchup pretty good with the Chargers. Tennessee has a solid run game and San Diego isn’t great at stopping the run. But San Diego is just a way better team as a whole. They should be about 6-2 but they let a bunch of games slip away late, blowing big fourth-quarter leads. The Titans aren’t the type of team that’s built to comeback from a big hole. They don’t have the receivers or QB to put up big passing numbers when the other side knows they want to throw.

Roll with Philip Rivers to keep the Titans in their place.

Pick: Chargers (-213)

New Orleans Saints (-160) at San Francisco 49ers

I’m from the Bay so it hurts to say it, but the Niners are probably the worst team in the league. Even though the Saints aren’t great on the road, they battled hard against KC two weeks ago. Brees will be able to gash this brutal San Fran defense no matter where the game is. He’s got three receivers (Willie Snead, Brandin Cooks, and Michael Thomas) that he’s using a ton. There’s no way the Niner secondary can cover them all.

The Who Dat? defense is still a joke, but they did play Seattle tough last weekend and Colin Kaepernick is a bad QB – a lot worse than Russell Wilson, no matter how injured DangeRuss is.

Take the Saints. San Fran might not win another game all year.

Pick: Saints (-160)