Week 4 picks

• Det @ Chic (-10.5). I heard Detroit is getting cocky now. It’s funny to think they have won more times in 3 games than last year’s team did in 16.
• Cincy @ Cleve (+5.5). This is the kind of game where Mangini might think of something and somehow pull out a surprising victory. No, that won’t happen. The lowly Cleve may in fact be rated just right (is there a word for this? not underrated or overrated…how about ratedjustright?)
• Oak @ Hou (-9.5). Houston has been bad at home and they are costing me dearly in pools. Still, I’ll be stubborn about it and say Houston should handle Oakland unless JaMarcus gets his passing percentage over 40%, then they could be in trouble.
• Sea @ Indy (-6.5). Would not pick many teams to beat Indy in Indy right now. They look tough. Ever get the feeling that you could spend all Saturday night out partying and eating brats, and then just show up to Lucas Oil Stadium and line up in the slot for Indy Sunday afternoon and suddenly become the fantasy football sleeper everyone talks about? Manning is really that good.
• Tenn @ Jax (+2.5). Apparently David Garrard hosted a radio show each week that coach Jack Del Rio just found out about – and canceled promptly. Del Rio found out about it because he tuned into the show one afternoon. This is true.  About the only interesting story to come out of Jax in 2 years.
• NYG @ KC (+9.5). Will this be the week that I finally pick the Giants? That I stop losing pools because I pick against them constantly? That I stop believing that they overachieve and will at some point, start to play down to the level I believe they should truly play at? No, I will very foolishly take KC to cover here in an inspired effort.
• Balt @ NE (-2.5). Tough game. I started to write that Brady’s rust would wear off in this one and was going to pick the Pats, then I just thought about the fact that this is a very symbolic game for Balt. Even though Pitt has won Super Bowls and Indy has been no slouch, I still think many believe the Pats are the kings of the AFC because they’ve been so good for so long. Balt will want this more and their superior talent will lead them to victory.
• TB @ Wash (-6.5). Who cares? (Actually, this is an important game. Wash has a weak schedule coming up and if they can win this game and the other easy ones they may find themselves having a not so bad record come the second half of the season – which is something that can even inspire bad teams to make waves.)
• Buff @ Mia (+2.5). Man, it would be hard to be a Buffalo fan. You almost take out the Pats in the first game and would have had Leodis McKelvin not made a bonehead play. Then you get pissed at McKelvin, vandalize his house, and he suffers a season ending injury a couple games later. So, you still hate him for disrupting the tone for the entire season, but you also feel bad for him. Then, you have TO, Jauron, and a RB controversy. But the big question I have is what ever happened to Aaron Schoebel? Wasn’t that guy one of the best in the business a few years ago?
• NYJ @ NO (-6.5). I have liked the Saints for years so I have a bias here – but I really, really want the Saints to win. Rex Ryan thinks he’s the bomb and the Jets need a humbling loss. One thing to watch for here is the Saints’ defense, they’re not as bad as they have been recently.
• Dal @ Den (+3.5). Weird game. I’ll bet Josh McDaniels has learned a valuable lesson about how to exist in an offseason. But so far, once the real season has started, he seems to be down to business and effective. I don’t care if their schedule has been weak – good teams win games they should win. It’s the bad teams who puke those kinds of games. While I don’t think their run of success will continue necessarily, they may end up with a far better record than I thought they would. DC Coordinator Mike Nolan deserves some credit for what he’s put together defensively so far. Let’s see how he things this week against a team with a potentially huge running game.
• StL @ SF (-9.5). Interesting in a league with a salary cap and draft-advantage-for-losers that some teams can stink for as long as the Rams and Lions have. It would be hard to be a fan of the Rams right now. SF will look really good this week, really good.
• SD @ Pitt (-6.5). Man, the spread here alone is great bulletin board material for SD. They are playing a team with a worse record that is missing their best player. I think SD covers, but as they often do, Pitt will pull out an ugly win by 3-4 points.
• GB @ Minn (-3.5). Anyone else tired of Brad Childress? I have spent a bit more time over the last year reading his quotes and watching his interviews and I find him to be very annoying. Here’s why: he acts more confidently than he should  because he hasn’t done jack as a coach. He acts like a coach who has won 3 Super Bowls with all the joking and attempted ‘coolness’ he pulls during press conferences and interviews. He thinks he’s very cool and very hilarious. He strikes me as one of those people who has had to develop thick skin over time due to being a tool, but then he forgot why he had to develop the thick skin and now he mistakenly thinks he’s not a tool. Tool. (Read here, for more quality Childress bashing by Aaron at Cheeseheadtv.com.) Packers by 50 (or 3) – goat of this game: Ryan Longwell. Hero: Mason Crosby.