NFL week 9 picks. Ezekiel Elliott will play Sunday against the Chiefs.

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A lot can happen in a week! Before we get into the Week 9 picks, we have to take a look back at the aftermath from the eighth week on the NFL schedule. To my astonishment, Ezekiel Elliott hurdled over the judicial system again and won another appeal extending the courts final decision on his seemingly inevitable six-game suspension. If I were Jerry Jones I’d probably want to get this whole thing over with and have Zeek serve his sentence. It’s better to have him for the final few games and possibly the playoffs as opposed to not having their star running back when it really counts. Hey, I hope he plays in every game…he’s my stud fantasy running back!

As the Dallas Cowboys and Ezekiel Elliott got some great news, their in-state rival Houston Texans truly do have a problem. The potential rookie of the year and in my opinion an MVP candidate, DeShaun Watson tore his ACL in practice. You gotta be kidding me! Just terrible news for the Texans, the city, their fans, the league and especially Watson himself who is showing everyone why he should have been the number one overall draft pick. While my fantasy team gets Zeek for another week, I lose the hottest quarterback in the league for the entire season. In all sincerity, I wish Watson a speedy recovery because the NFL has fallen in love with him!

We also had some big trades involving some playoff-bound teams including the Buffalo Bills who got handled at Met-Life Stadium by their AFC East rival New York Jets on Thursday night. The Jets are one of the least talented teams on paper but man oh man do they play hard for their head coach Todd Bowles every single snap. He deserves a ton of credit for getting the Jets four more wins than anybody thought and we’re just halfway through the season.

Time to go through each game remaining on the NFL schedule this week with a few more highlights involving a number of teams. Here are The Sports Prophet’s Week 9 predictions. Not too shabby last week going (10 – 2). A Little pat on the back.

Falcons vs Panthers: Atlanta needs to open up the playbook and get their stud players the ball. I believe if they run the no-huddle offense then they’ll have more success. Carolina may be on an emotional low after players expressed their displeasure by sending Kelvin Benjamin to the Bills. Cam needs all the help he can get. The Falcons fly fast on defense so this could be a tough one for Cam and his offense. Falcons 26 – Panthers 16

Colts vs Texans: Houston wins the World Series one night and loses their star quarterback the next. Tom Savage will fill in at QB but can’t fill Watson’s shoes. I assume the Texans will run the ball so Indy’s head coach Chuck Pagano better have his defense ready for a physical game. Offensively the Colts need to get Marlon Mack more involved and find T.Y. Hilton for those big plays he’s capable of. Colts 23 – Texans 20

Bengals vs Jaguars: Geez, who would have thought the Jags would be 6 point favorites over Cincinnati before the season started?! But it’s well deserved. Leonard “The Force” Fournette returns to the backfield this week and you can bet he’ll get plenty of touches. Head coach Doug Marrone doesn’t want Blake Bortles throwing too many times. He’ll rely on the run game and that fierce defense. If Cincinnati wants to win this contest then they’ll have to get a lot of production from rookie Joe Mixon and the rest of the Bengals backfield. It would help if Andy Dalton and A.J. Green can put together one of those magical performances too! Turnovers will be the story-line in this game! Bengals 33 – Jaguars 29

Bucs vs Saints: The New Orleans Saints fans called the “Who Dat” Nation is back! Not all of the Saints five victories have been pretty but a win’s a win. Tampa Bay hasn’t done too well in the win column as they sit last in the NFC South at (2 – 5) while the Saints are currently in first place at (5 – 2). Logic says the Saints should win in their home dome. I like logic! Keep feeding Ingram and Kamara to open up the passing game and allow the new look defense to make plays on a struggling Jameis Winston. Saints 24 – Bucs 20

Rams vs Giants: Let’s see how the young rookie head coach, Sean McVay handles the first bye week of his NFL coaching career. The Rams are playing solid football in all three phases of the game. The Giants only strength is their defense. The G-Men faithful better get loud in New Jersey when L.A. has the ball. I expect Todd Gurley to have a field day with about 150 yards from scrimmage. If we base our predictions off talent and coaching then the Rams have the edge. The Giants can keep this one close enough where the time zone difference of the Rams playing a 1:00 pm EST game can make a significant impact. Sometimes talent doesn’t win! Bad day for Goff! Giants 20 – Rams 17

Broncos vs Eagles: This looked like a marquis match-up a few weeks ago. However, Denver has benched Trevor Siemian in favor of Brock Osweiler. Well they had to do something since the Broncos forgot how to put drives together! Maybe John Elway ought to come out of his presidential suite for half the season! Too much turnover on a coaching staff usually effects the team strategy and game-plan. This seems to be the case in Denver other than their quarterback issues. We know Philly is a top three team in the league and unless the Eagles lose their quarterback then the Broncos don’t stand a chance. Eagles 24 – Broncos 10

Ravens vs Titans: This is actually a very important game! Tennessee is looking to take control of the AFC South since DeShaun Watson went down a few days ago. The Ravens are a .500 squad right now and if they want to keep their postseason hopes alive they’ll have to win on the road this week. Falling to (4-5) especially in the AFC North doesn’t bode well for their future. Baltimore will run heavy, play desperately and be coached well by Super Bowl winner John Harbaugh. But it won’t be enough as the Titans will run the ball often and allow Marcus Mariota to find open receivers including rookie Corey Davis who was the fifth overall pick in the 2017 draft. Titans 16 – Ravens 13

Cardinals vs 49ers: No Jimmy Garoppolo for the Niners this week. No Pierre Garcon either who is likely done for the season. San Francisco is dealing with a bunch of injuries at the moment and have yet to win a game. The Cardinals aren’t a very good team but they’re better and more skilled than San Fran. Not to mention they have the coaching advantage. Honestly it would be embarrassing if Arizona lost. Then again Carson Palmer is also out for the year as the Cards placed him on IR. He is eligible to return in week 16 if needed. So in comes another backup QB Drew Stanton. Looks like both teams will run the ball 75 times each since neither quarterback can complete a pass. Defense will decide the outcome of this game and Arizona simply has more play-makers. Cardinals 20 – 49ers 15

Redskins vs Seahawks: This may be the best game on the Week 9 schedule. The Redskins are much better than their record suggests (3-4) despite what Bill Parcells says! They’ll give Seattle all they can handle. Washington can run the ball, pass it and create turnovers on defense. The Hawks have become one dimensional on offense abandoning the rushing attack. The Skins are aware of this and will scheme their defense accordingly. Kirk Cousins likes to take chances down the field and while we’ve seen the Seahawks secondary get beat on a few occasions, Washington’s receivers aren’t as good as the Texans. Did I just write that!? Well, it’s true so I predict Cousins will throw about three picks against the 12th man in Seattle Sunday. I wouldn’t be surprised if Washington outplayed Seattle. But those turnovers deep in their own territory will change the outcome in the end. Seahawks 31 – Redskins 21

Chiefs vs Cowboys: Ezekiel Elliott won his appeal again and will play Sunday against the Chiefs. Kareem Hunt will have to match Zeke’s production on the ground and Dak Prescott must stay on point against the flawless Alex Smith. These two teams are very similar. The one big difference is the Chiefs defense. They’re just flat out better than the Boy’s D. Prescott is extremely careful with the football like Smith, but Dak needs to be extra careful with one of the NFL’s best cornerbacks Marcus Peters. Dez Bryant may be in for a tough day. But Dallas can beat you with other players by controlling the pace of the game with short passes and long runs. I do expect a lot of scoring and very few punts. The question is which team will be crossing the end zone and which will be kicking 30-yard field goals? I’m going with the home team in a close one. Cowboys 38 – Chiefs 34

Raiders vs Dolphins: It feels like Miami has thrown in the towel for 2017. They traded Jay Ajayi away to the Eagles and their quarterback woes continue as neither Cutler or Moore can sustain and put together successful drives. The Raiders aren’t what we thought they’d be this season but they’re still dangerous. Oakland has too many weapons that the Phins can’t defend. I see the Raiders taking an early lead and never looking back. Derek Carr should throw for 300+ yards and three TD’s against the deflated Dolphins. Raiders 31 – Dolphins 14

Lions vs Packers: Matthew Stafford has been throwing the football all over the place. Detroit can’t run the rock consistently and their defense is underachieving. Good thing they’re playing the Aaron Rodger-less Packers on Monday Night Football. All the Pack can do now is run with some success and hope Brett Hundley can get better each week. Hundley will have to run the ball himself on some Run/Pass Options (R.P.O.). However, Detroit is ranked 25th against the pass so maybe Jordy Nelson and the crew can give their backup quarterback some open looks downfield and maybe even complete a few passes! With Rodgers out all signs point towards a Lions road victory. I think Lambeau Field will help provide a little magic on Monday. Packers 25 – Lions 23