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Washington -7 1/2 vs. Detroit

After dropping the opening night game to the defending champion Giants, the Redskins responded with surprising victories against New Orleans, Arizona and road games against division rivals Dallas and Philadelphia. After these four straight wins, Washington came home with the intent of rolling up a winless Rams team who had just changed coaches. Of course that is why they play the games. A late field goal gave St. Louis the 19-17 upset victory. This caused some Redskins’ players to feel they let their guard down and played down to their opponents on that day. Assuming Washington has rectified this with last week’s 14-11 victory over Cleveland last week, pity the winless Detroit Lions, this week’s opponents for the Redskins.

Jason Campbell was steady in the Browns game last week, even though the Redskins (5-2) were held scoreless in the first half. He threw 14 completions on 23 passes for 164 yards and a touchdown. Campbell did not throw an interception again which extends the NFL record of 332 passes which have not been picked off. This has greatly surpassed the old record held by the 2001 Oakland Raiders of 281. Clinton Portis ran for a season best 175 yards last week and looks to duplicate his success against a pitful Lions defense.

Sadly for Detroit (0-6), even when they play fairly well, they still find ways to lose. Two weeks ago, the defense did a stellar job against Minnesota October 12 until late when the Lions saw a 10-2 second half lead turn into a 12-10 loss with late field goal to win in the Metrodome. Last week, the Lions shot themselves in the foot like they have much of this season, but spotting their opponents to large leads and having an impromptu comeback fall just short. It happened in Atlanta, against Green Bay and last week in Houston.  The Texans got out to a 21-0 first quarter lead. Detroit fought back and scored 11 points in the fourth quarter, but it was not enough and the team lost 28-21 to sink to 0-6.

With Jon Kitna on injured reserve with a bad back, the team’s quarterbacking reins have been handed over to Dan Orlovsky. With the departure of Roy Williams in last week’s trade to Dallas, Calvin Johnson struggled in Houston to break double and triple coverage, but was able to make something happen when he did get the ball. The second year receiver had a season low two catches, but had a season high 154 yards largely because of 96 yards on one catch.

Detroit has been miserable against Washington. Since 1968, the Lions are 2-18 against the Washington Redskins, including postseason play. The two wins for the Lions came in back-to-back years in 1999 and 2000, both played in the Pontiac Silverdome. But those victories were sandwiched around a 27-13 Redskins victory in Washington during the 1999 playoffs. That game marked the most recent postseason game involving Detroit.

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Crimson Tide -6 vs. Volunteers

Tennessee's miserable season took a week off last week as the Volunteers looked more like the Volunteers with a 34-3 route of Mississippi State. If the home standing Tennessee (3-4, 1-3) can see its way to upsetting second ranked Alabama and beating the Crimson Tide for the third time in a row at Neyland Stadium, it will go a long way to hitting the reset button their season and starting a late season push for a good bowl game.

Alabama (7-0, 4-0) will put their undefeated record on the line as they take on Tennessee Saturday night. The Tide knows that their destiny is in their own hands. This week's BCS rankings set them at number two as well and if they win out, they most certainly will play for the National Championship. On paper, Alabama should easily beat Tennessee, but as we all know games are not played on paper.

Alabama has not exactly routed their last two opponents. Last week, they allowed Mississippi to climb back into the game late before holding on to a 24-20 victory. Two weeks before that game, the Tide edged Kentucky 17-14.

Alabama will be missing a key defensive cog this week as nose guard Terrence Cody nurses a sprained knee. This will hurt the Tide, but they have had several impact players which has allowed their defense to become the 14th best in the nation. It should prove as a good matchup as the Volunteers rank last in the SEC in offense by averaging 19 points per contest.

Tennessee's strong point this season has been their defense as well, particularly Eric Berry. The sophomore cornerback returned a 72 yard interception for a touchdown and with the pick he became the All-time SEC interception returner leader with 397 yards.

The Crimson Tide lead the series 45-38-7, including last year's 41-17 rout last season. However Alabama has not posted a victory in Knoxville since 2002 and have not beaten Tennessee twice in a row since 1992.

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