Week 10 in the NFL might have been the best week so far.  There are huge shakeups in our rankings as 4 of the teams in last week's top 5 faced off against each other.  We have a new number one team and two new additions to our top 5.  Each week in the NFL brings new surprises and I highly doubt you will see the same order of teams after next week.  Why?  Because it is extremely hard to figure out who the best 5 teams are in the NFL at any given moment.  Here is my best effort...

1.  New England Patriots (7-2) - The Patriots receive our number one ranking after going into Pittsburgh and dismantling a very good Steelers team.  Tom Brady picked apart the defense and introduced Rob Gronkowski to America by throwing not one, not two, but three touchdown passes to the rookie tight end.  The Patriots defense rebounded after a horrendous game the previous week and held the Steelers in check for most of the night.  It doesn't get any easier this week for the Patriots as they will welcome the Colts into Foxboro on Sunday afternoon.  Which Patriots defense shows up will go a long way to figuring out the outcome of this game.

2.  Atlanta Falcons (7-2) - The Falcons proved they belong among the elite teams in the NFL by beating the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night.  Matt Ryan has quietly become one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.  It looked as though the Ravens were going to pull this game out but with less than 2 minutes left, Ryan guided the Falcons down the field for the winning touchdown.  Roddy White is playing like a man possessed.  The Falcons have had an extra couple days of rest which should help them when they travel to St. Louis on Sunday to face the upstart Rams.  This game could end up closer than you may think. 

3.  New York Jets (7-2) - The Jets pulled out another overtime win on the road on Sunday against the Browns becoming the first team in NFL history to win two consecutive games in overtime on the road.  Here is the problem though, the two teams they had to beat in overtime have a combined record of 5-13.  The Jets will be the first to admit they aren't playing their best football but they still are tied for the best record in the NFL.  If they start playing up to their potential they might be the team to beat in the AFC.  This Sunday they welcome in the struggling Houston Texans which could be a dangerous match up if they don't take them seriously. 

4.  Philadelphia Eagles (6-3) - The Eagles shot up our rankings this week after embarrassing the Redskins on Monday night.  Michael Vick might be the best quarterback in the NFL right now because I am not sure how any team can actually stop him.  The offensive weapons the Eagles currently have make them one of the most dangerous teams in the NFL and a team no one wants to play come January.  If Vick stays healthy, there is no telling where this team could go.  They have their biggest game of the season to date on Sunday night as their division rival, the New York Giants, travel down the Jersey Turnpike to Lincoln Financial Field.  The Eagles can prove to everyone that they are the best team in the NFC with a win.

5.  Indianapolis Colts (6-3) - The Colts move into the 5th spot in our rankings by default.  They were the only team in our honorable mentions, other than the Eagles, to win this week and with the losses by the Steelers, Ravens and Giants, they get the honor of being apart of the top 5.  Their win against the Bengals was less than impressive but nevertheless it was a win.  The Colts are really banged up on both sides of the ball and without Peyton Manning behind center they wouldn't be anywhere on our radar this year.  With that said, they have a huge game against their hated rivals, the Patriots, on Sunday in New England.  If they can find someway to win this game then they can prove that they belong in our top 5. 

Honorable Mentions:  Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, New York Giants, New Orleans Saints, Green Bay Packers

There is the top 5 teams in the NFL after week 10. Thoughts or opinions?  Feel free to leave a comment!  Also don't forget to visit my site, www.moleandmeares.com, to watch our weekly picks video and submit your week 11 NFL picks for a chance to win a weekly prize.

Meares

Not such a good week last week but I kept it at .500 by going 6-6-1 ATS.  This week is going to be a tough one and if I can find a way to win more games than I lose it will be a miracle.  Here we go...

Record to date (36-30-2)

Baltimore at Atlanta (-1) - Baltimore Ravens
Detroit at Buffalo (-3) - Detroit Lions
Minnesota at Chicago (+1) - Minnesota Vikings
NY Jets at Cleveland (+3) - Cleveland Browns
Cincinnati at Indianapolis (-7) - Indianapolis Colts
Tennessee at Miami (+2) - Tennessee Titans
Carolina at Tampa Bay (-7) - Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Houston at Jacksonville (-1.5) - Jacksonville Jaguars
Kansas City at Denver (+1) - Kansas City Chiefs
Dallas at NY Giants (-14) - Dallas Cowboys
Seattle at Arizona (-3) - Arizona Cardinals
St. Louis at San Francisco (-6) - St. Louis Rams
New England at Pittsburgh (-5) - New England Patriots
Philadelphia at Washington (+3) - Philadelphia Eagles

There are my week 10 picks ATS.  Check back next week to see how I did.

Don't forget to visit my NFL picks site at www.moleandmeares.com where we have a weekly video talking about the four biggest games of the week.  We also have a place for you to submit your picks for week 10 straight up for a chance to win our weekly prize!  Good Luck!

Meares

There were two games this past weekend that had huge early playoff implications between 4 teams that no one would have expected to 3 of the teams to have a chance at making the playoffs before the season started.  The Chiefs at the Raiders and the Buccaneers at the Falcons were the weekend's two biggest games, that just goes to show you the parody in the NFL from year to year.

1.  In a battle between two divisional rivals, the Raiders prevailed in overtime.  You have to give the Raiders credit for stopping the vaunted Chiefs rushing attack, holding them to 100 yards rushing as a team.  They did just enough to squeak this game out in overtime and now are looking good in the AFC west.

2.  Brett Farve broke a record yesterday, he threw for more yards in a game than he ever had in his career, 446.  In Brett Farve's career, he has only twic thrown for over 400 yards, that is really surprising.  At the same time he lead the Vikings back from 14 points down with less than 5 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime and then watched as his kicker sealed the deal to complete a victory that allows Childress to remain the Vikings coach for at least one more week.

3.  To quote a famous line, Houston, we have a problem.  After starting the season defeating the Colts for the first time ever and then winning a game in OT against the Redskins, the Texans have fallen flat on their face.  Their defense was an issue early and now has become a glaring problem after 9 weeks.  San Diego wins again and is trying to stay alive in the AFC west.  

4.  I am so happy I am not a Detroit Lions fan, I couldn't take the close losses week after week.  It looked as though they had this game in the bag and then they allowed the Jets to score 10 unanswered 4th quarter points to send the game to overtime and then watched as they marched down the field for the winning kick.  Matthew Stafford injured his shoulder again.  He would be a good quarterback if he could find a way to stay healthy.

5.  The Browns might be the best team in the NFL right now, at this very moment.  They sandwiched incredible wins against the Saints and the Patriots around their bye week.  Peyton Hillis continues to impress as he shredded the New Englad defense for over 180 yards on the ground.  I thought the Patriots were beginning to show some improvement on the defensive side of the ball but they took a huge step backwards on Sunday.

6.  The Panthers should forfeit the rest of their games for the season.  There should be a rule in the NFL that if you can't achieve 200 total yards of offense, at home no less, you have to let a college team play for you for the rest of the season. Granted, they lost their first and second string running back and their first string quarterback to injuries but come on, have some pride and move the ball, 68 yards passing isn't going to get it done.

7.  Poor Buffalo, I feel like I start every recap of a Bills game like this every week.  They lose another game by a field goal to a team that is really not very good right now.  Have the Bills ever won a game in Toronto?  If not they should stop playing there because the fans are wondering why the field is only 100 yards long!

8.  Baltimore out played Miami and put an end to their road winning streak.  I thought this game was going to be closer and I thought wrong.  Miami seemed out of sorts the entire game and couldn't muster any points in the second half.  The Ravens are now tied with 15 other teams for the best record in the NFL at 6-2.

9.  I am going to give the Buccaneers a ton of credit for playing a very good game on the road in Atlanta and coming up just short.  This game could have been a blowout after the opening drive when the Falcons methodically marched down the field and scored on their opening possesion.  The Bucs had a chance to steal a win in the waning seconds but came up just a bit short, but this team is definitely for real and will fight for a wild card berth.

10.  Wade Phillips will be fired this week, I guarantee it.  That was one of the most embarrasing games I have ever witnessed since I began watching football.  The Cowboys have completely given up and aren't even trying anymore.  At least Jerry Jones can be happy that the Superbowl will be played in his stadium because that is about the only thing he has going for him right now.

11.  The New York Giants are good, the best team in the NFC right now and they destroyed the Seahawks who can't seem to figure out a way to put two good weeks together.  But if I was a Giants fan I would wait on buying my plane tickets to Dallas for the Superbowl because the only two teams that you have played that have winning records were losses.  The Giants are doing what they are supposed to do, beating the teams that they know they are better than.  It is going to get tougher and it will be interesting to see how this team responds.

12.  Andy Reid is now 12-0 after a bye week as the Eagles coach and now has beaten the Colts for the first time in his career.  I really hope that Austin Collie is okay but with that said, there was no reason for a flag, he wasn't a defensive less receiver when he got hit and it was an incidental helmet to helmet hit.  I am really happy the Eagles won because two calls in this game were the only reason for 14 of the Colts points.

Make sure to visit our site, www.moleandmeares.com, to see our weekly NFL picks video and to submit your weekly picks for a chance to win our weekly prize.  See you week 10!

Meares

Okay...finally, back on track...last week I went 11-2 ATS with my picks and it is about time.  The only two games I lost were the Broncos and the Titans and both are on a bye this week which should indicate I will go 13-0 this week!  Here we go...
 
Here are my picks this week

Record to date (30-24-1)

Tampa Bay at Atlanta (-8.5) - TAMPA BAY Buccaneers
Chicago at Buffalo (+3) - BUFFALO Bills
New England at Cleveland (+4.5) - NEW ENGLAND Patriots
NY Jets at Detroit (+4) - NEW YORK JETS
New Orleans at Carolina (+6.5) - NEW ORLEAN Saints
Miami at Baltimore (-5) - MIAMI Dolphins
San Diego at Houston (+3) - HOUSTON Texans
Arizona at Minnesota (-9) - ARIZONA Cardinals
NY Giants at Seattle (+7) - SEATTLE Seahawks
Indianapolis at Philadelphia (-3) - PHILADELPHIA Eagles
Kansas City at Oakland (-2.5) - OAKLAND Raiders
Dallas at Green Bay (-8) - GREEN BAY Packers
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati (+5) - PITTSBURGH Steelers

There are my week 9 picks ATS.  Check back next week to see how I did.

Don't forget to visit my NFL picks site at www.moleandmeares.com where we have a weekly video talking about the four biggest games of the week.  We also have a place for you to submit your picks for a chance to win our weekly prize!  Good Luck!
Meares

After three weeks in the NFL there are only 3 unbeaten teams left, 2 in the AFC and 1 in the NFC.  I am going to break my usual tought process on best teams this week and actually leave one of the undefeated teams out because I am still not convinced they are for real.  These rankings seem to be changing a lot this year.  Here we go...

1.  Pittsburgh Steelers (3-0) - The Steelers took care of business on Sunday by dismantling the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with their fourth string quarterback.  Their defense is honestly the best in the game, hands down.  If their offense can click the way it did on Sunday once Ben Roethisberger comes back in two weeks than this team is going to be very hard to beat.  They have a huge divisional game this week against the Baltimore Ravens at home.  Their defense is going to have to come up big this week because the Ravens are a way more complete team then anyone they have faced so far.

2. Chicago Bears (3-0) - The Bears answered the question of whether or not they were for real on Monday night, defeating the Packers in a huge divisional showdown.  Jay Cutler is showing his maturity at quarterback and their defense is playing extremely physical.  They are the best team in the NFC right now but are actually underdogs this week against the New York Giants.  Vegas must know something that I don't know because I would bet my salary on Chicago beating the Giants outright.

3.  New York Jets (2-1) - I would not have thought after their week one performance that the Jets would be back in our power rankings after week 3 but they have defeated the Patriots and the Dolphins convincingly in back to back weeks and now sit atop the AFC East.  Mark Sanchez seems to have found his stride as they coaching staff has finally allowed him some leeway to throw the ball downfield.  The Jets will play their third consecutive division opponent this week when they travel to Buffalo.  Barring an enormous let down, the Jets should end week 4 at 3-1.

4.  Atlanta Falcons (2-1) - Some people are going to argue against us putting the Falcons this high in our rankings but they did just defeat the defending Superbowl champions and their only loss has come at the hands of our number one team.  Matt Ryan is quietly putting up some solid numbers and Michael Turner is running the ball well.  They have also allowed the second least amount of points of anyone in the NFC through 3 weeks.  They will host the desparate, under performing San Fransisco 49ers this week.  Watch out, this could be a trap game.

5.  Philadelphia Eagles (2-1) - This will be another controversial pick for our power rankings but you can't ignore the fact that their offense is very explosive with Michael Vick at the helm.  They have scored the most points through three weeks in the NFC and when Stewart Bradley is in the game on defense they look good.  The held the Jacksonville Jaguars to less than 200 yards of offense last week and only 3 points.  This week brings the most hyped game in recent memory as Donovan McNabb and the Redskins travel to Philly for Donovans first ever game in Philly in an opposing team's uniform. 

There is the top 5 teams in the NFL after week 3. Thoughts or opinions?  Feel free to leave a comment!  Also don't forget to visit my site, www.moleandmeares.com , to watch our weekly picks video and submit your week 4 NFL picks for a chance to win a weekly prize.

Meares