Vet's Picks for Week 10

The Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers appeared to be a couple of teams on the rise after strong finishes last season, and earned a prime-time TV match-up this year. While the Cardinals lead the NFC West, the 49ers haven’t lived up to expectations and interim coach Mike Singletary hasn’t been afraid to say so. Arizona (5-3) won its last two games last season to finish 8-8 under first-year coach Ken Whisenhunt, while San Francisco (2-6) went 3-3 down the stretch en route to a 5-11 record. Both teams showed progress, and were expected to improve in 2008.

As poorly as the San Diego Chargers have been playing lately, they know they have enough time to make a playoff run. Getting a win over the lowly Kansas City Chiefs would be a good place to start. Despite their struggles, the Chargers are within 1 1/2 games of AFC West-leading Denver. Kansas City looked like it would earn its second victory last Sunday as it led Tampa Bay 24-3 with a little more than 2 minutes to go in the second quarter, but the Buccaneers rallied to win 30-27 in overtime. It was the biggest lead the Chiefs ever lost.

This stretch of games was supposed to help the Jacksonville Jaguars gear up for a postseason run. Instead, they’re falling further out of the AFC playoff picture. After losing to a previously winless team their last time out, the Jaguars look to avoid a similar fate Sunday when they visit the 0-8 Detroit Lions, who might start recently signed Daunte Culpepper at quarterback.

A season’s worth of adversity dimmed the New Orleans Saints’ high hopes for the first half of 2008, and the second half isn’t off to a great start with key players still sidelined. The Atlanta Falcons, meanwhile, have a surprisingly rosy outlook after taking advantage of a soft schedule to reach the midway point in much better shape than expected.

Saints the dog? I have to go with the Saints coming off the bye. Atlanta is also 0-2 in the Division. Saints should have been favored.