NFL picks 2019, Week 9: A difficult Sunday slate is tearing our expert panel apart

The experts nailed Week 8.

Everybody on our panel — with the exception of the still very good dog, Bailey — got at least 11 games right. DraftKings Nation gambling editor David “Fooch” Fucillo led the pack with a 14-1 record in Week 8, only missing the Eagles’ road upset of the Bills.

This group will have its hands full replicating that success in Week 9, though. While the primetime games are easy, the Sunday slate is a doozie.

There are five different games that have our experts in disagreement:

1. Jaguars vs. Texans: The early kickoff London matchup pits the up-and-down Jaguars against the J.J. Watt-less Texans. Houston won the Week 2 meeting when Leonard Fournette was stuffed at the goal line on an attempt to win the game with a two-point conversion.
2. Vikings vs. Chiefs: Kirk Cousins started the season so poorly that his pair of star receivers, Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs, were vocally pissed off. Then, beginning in Week 5, he started playing like an MVP. He’ll need to continue that trend if the Chiefs get Patrick Mahomes back in the lineup, although that still looks unlikely.
3. Jets vs. Dolphins: The two AFC East teams have one win between them. The Dolphins are tanking on purpose, and the Jets are trying to convince the world they’re a competitive football team.
4. Lions vs. Raiders: Both teams have three wins through seven games. Both play above average on offense and bad on defense. The most significant difference is that the Raiders try to grind out teams with their rushing attack, while the Lions lead the league in passing touchdowns. Choose your fighter.
5. Browns vs. Broncos: It really speaks to how bad the hype train in Cleveland has derailed that a handful of experts are siding with Denver. The Broncos announced Joe Flacco won’t play and will be replaced in the lineup by Brandon Allen, a fourth-year quarterback who has never taken a snap in the regular season. But the Browns are 2-5 and can’t stop turning the ball over. It’s hard to trust them to win any games.

All five are tricky to pick, and didn’t garner much agreement. Even Fucillo and his trusty sidekick, Rio, didn’t see eye to eye on every game.

Meet the Good “Dog” of Week 8: Rio

Rio is not what you would call a “Good Dog,” but for purposes of Halloween week, we can reasonably pretend he’s dressing up as such.

Rio was adopted from the DC Humane Rescue Alliance back in 2016. He started out as a cuddly kitten, and has grown into a slightly moodier cat. He’ll show some love in the morning and when he’s ready to nap, but sometimes he just enjoys sleeping in his green chair or his mini-tower. His favorite hobbies are eating, napping, and trying to wrestle with Fooch. As you can see in the picture, he’s a big boy.

There’s some obvious choices with cats being a regular pick. However, not all animals got the nod. When Rio is sitting on his tower near the window, birds will fly by and he’s not a fan of them. Rio probably thinks they’re mocking him and wants to bat at them. So, no birds picked this week. And most definitely not the Cleveland Browns because a cat will not be siding with the Dawg Pound, even for Halloween.

Week 9 picks

Here are all our picks for Week 9, although they’re still subject to change until Friday. Injuries — like the one that could keep Mahomes out of the lineup — could make someone change their mind.

Our guest this week from the NFL blogs is Lester Wiltfong, the manager at our Bears blog, Windy City Gridiron.