Games of the Week: 4 Games You Don’t Wanna Miss!

Week 11 has some very interesting matchups, simply put – there are teams who can’t afford to lose! Now is the time of the season that teams really want to start getting on a role. Teams want to play their best ball in December and hope to ride the wave into the playoffs. Week 11 offers divisonal matchups, losing streak matchups that need to stop and a battle for first place! Without further ado…

New England Patriots vs New York Jets
In Week 2 the Jets stunned the Patriots with a win in the Meadowlands in a game that was exciting to watch. The leading receiver in that Week 2 contest was Julian Edelman! We are willing to wager that he won’t be the leading receiver again in Week 11. Tom Brady to Randy Moss has starting to get it going and that could be doomsville for the Jets. The Patriots, after losing to the Colts and having to deal with the media scrutiny is something that Bill Belichick doesn’t really enjoy. There is nothing he would like more than to beat down a divisional rival that has been a bit mouthy when it comes to the Patriots. New England is still in firm control of the Division but they sure don’t want to lose two straight! The Jets meanwhile were the Darlings of the NFL in the first few weeks of the season. Mark Sanchez was nicknamed, the Defense was written about with all their new found swagger and the sky was the limit. Then it happened, reality! Sanchez has faced his growing pains and now must find a way to win this ball game. A loss to the Pats this week in New England will put a major blow in their playoff hopes. The AFC is loaded with good teams who are all going to be fighting it out for the Wildcard spot. If we had to look at it from a step back perspective – Brady vs Sanchez? Yeah, New England  at home in this one!

Indianapolis Colts vs Baltimore Ravens
The Indianapolis Colts simply know how to win! Call it the culture, call it the mentality, we are going to call it Peyton freakin Manning! This man is a coach on the field! Take away the great Tony Dungy, take away the great Marvin Harrison, add in a pleathora of injuries and what you have – an undefeated season so far! The Colts simply put are a machine…with Manning, Wayne, Clark, Addai and Brown on offense this team is lethal. They can come from behind like they showed a week ago against the Pats or they can win by barely touching the ball like they did against the Dophins when they only had possesion for exactly 1 quarter of play! There is simply too many things that this team does well but it all starts with #18. Even last week when he threw some awful looking ducks, he still made it work. For the Ravens, they need to keep pace with the Steelers and Bengals. The AFC North is a battle and along with a few other teams in the Conference the Wildcard will be hard fought. At this point in the season every game is must win. To make matters much worse for this game, Terrell Suggs will be sidelined with a Knee injury that he sustained when Brady Quinn threw a pick then threw a block!?! It was a strange play that looked delibriate but we aren’t going to go their. The key to this game is going to be two fold. Where is the pass rush going to come from…can Kruger get it done in Suggs stead? How will the Ravens Corners hold up to the passing attack of the Colts. If Baltimore plays with the passion and fire that they did against the Broncos than they can definitely win. If they come out flat and uninspired than they will lose. In Baltimore, I don’t think Ray Lewis and Ed Reed are going to allow their season to go down the drain and the Ravens proved that they are the undefeated slayer! We are going out on a limb here and saying that the sea of purple gets the Ravens playing on another level and they win one for their injured comrade! We like the Ravens at home to stay in the playoff hunt!

Atlanta Falcons vs New York Giants
Well, here is the game that something has to give! The Giants started off 5-0 to now find themselves at 5-4. The Falcons meanwhile are also at 5-4 and both teams feel their backs against the wall. The GMen had a bye week to figure things out, work out the kinks and get back to their winning ways. Here is an interesting situation. Did the Giants catch a break by having Michael Turner unable to play? At first you say, of course they did…he is a beast and without him the Falcons won’t be as strong. Then you think about it longer and say…well if they don’t run as much they might pass more and the biggest bugaboo for the Giants has been stopping the pass! I think that the Matt Ryan to Roddy White combination will get going early and often and put the Giants on the ropes. On the flip side, the Giants passing attack has been very good this year also and if Atlanta has one glaring weakness it’s their pass defense as well. This game should be a fun, high scoring ariel show with the home team finally getting off the schnide and picking up a much needed win! The Meadowlands fans will rally the GMen to a win and knock the Falcons down to .500!

San Diego Chargers vs Denver Broncos
The battle for AFC West supremacy takes place on Sunday in the Rockies. This game highlights two teams headed in different directions. The Broncos are losers of 3 straight after starting off 6-0 and their last win was against the Chargers in Week 6. San Diego has won 3 straight to draw their record even with Denver’s at 6-3. For the Broncos, a key will be the health of Kyle Orton. He suffered an ankle injury against the Redskins and was forced out of the game. Chris Simms was his replacement and his two Interceptions proved costly in their loss to the Redskins last week. The Defense hasn’t been as dominant as it was in their first 6 games and they need to sharpen the pencil if they want to slow down the Chargers who have been playing very well. The Chargers meanwhile are riding a nice win streak and feel very confident right now. If Orton suits up we like the Broncos chances to win at home and regain control of the West, if Simms starts than the advantage goes to the Chargers who would love nothing more than to get revenge against their rivals. This should be a great game regardless and the fate of both teams playoff chances may ride on this one!