FANTASY FURNACE

*Home team in CAPS

STEELERS over Ravens- The 6-2 Steelers take on the Ravens in a rematch of their blowout loss in week one 35-7 in Baltimore. Pittsburgh is gunning for their fifth win in a row and we don’t see any reason why they won’t get it. James Harrison is due to return for the Black & Gold and we see an overrated Joe Flacco spending much of the day scrambling, getting rushed, and sacked by a defense that has not allowed more than 20 points in any game since week one. The Ravens could only put 1 touchdown on the board vs the Jags on MNF and had to pull out all the stops to get by the 1-5 Cardinals last week. Steelers-big!

Big Ben and the Steelers will be looking for revenge vs the Ravens this week. Photo: AP

49ers over REDSKINS- The 6-1 49ers should romp in this contest. The Redskins are an injury ridden *M A S H unit! They’re hurting at RB, WR, and in the secondary as well. The offensive line allowed an unbelieable 9 sacks of putrid QB John Beck in last week’s game vs the Bills and won’t fare any better vs the defense minded 49ers. RB Frank Gore, TE Vernon Davis, WR Michael Crabtree (one of our pickups), along with their stingy ‘D’ will be too much for the “Skins.

49ers RB Frank Gore should have a big day vs the Redskins. Photo: AP

COWBOYS over Seahawks- The Dallas Cowboys return home with their tail between their legs after getting their butts kicked in Philly last week, 34-7. They probably won’t get too much done on the ground vs the ‘Hawks, however Romo SHOULD have a career day against their secondary. As for the combo of Tavaris Jackson/Charlie Whitehurst, they have been sacked more than any other QB’s in the league so we don’t see much offense on Sunday against a pretty good Dallas defense.

Jets over BILLS- This was the most difficult pick this week.  The Jets need this game more than the Bills as they don’t want to face the dreaded Patriots the following week with a 4-4 record. The Bills have a knack for putting up lots of points and have the trifecta of Fitzpatrick, Jackson and Johnson. The Jets also have an 0-2 record coming off byes since Ryan took over. They will need to limit the explosive RB Fred Jackson in order to pull off the upset win. We like the Jets because they outscored the Bills last year 76-21  in those 2 wins, and what’s even more impressive, in their last six games they have only given up one TD to a WR. We’re going with the J-E-T-S!

N.Y. Jets' Darrelle Revis, candidate for defensive player of the year, will look to keep the Bills' WRs from scoring. Photo: AP

CHIEFS over Dolphins- A much easier game to forecast as the Fish take their ‘suck for luck’ credentials to Kansas City. Plain and simple, the Dolphins just can’t seem to score more than 15 points a game. That won’t be enough against an improving QB Matt Casell, who’s looking to make it five wins in a row. There should be plenty of RB Jackie Battle in this one as well. The only negative for the Chiefs that we can see is if they are a little gassed coming off their stunning defeat of the Chargers on MNF. But even at half-speed they should be able to handle the lifeless Dolphins.

Chief's RB Jackie Battle hopes to find the endzone vs the Dolphins. Photo: AP

* Last week  3-2

**Season     22-13