Buffalo Rising Online

Nov 25th 2006, 7:48pm By Dave Staba

What a day for a blackout.

A forecast for predicting 50 degrees and partly cloudy skies at kickoff will make the first non-televised Bills game of the year more bearable for the football addicted. At least they can distract themselves by raking leaves, cutting the grass one last time or simply wandering around aimlessly.

The unseasonably mild conditions won,Aeot be much help against the Jacksonville Jaguars, though.

Snow and/or rain, cold and, especially, swirling winds usually make Ralph Wilson Stadium a miserable place for visiting teams, especially those with Florida addresses. With feeble gusts only expected to reach 12 mph, Buffalo,Aeos atmospheric advantage should be non-existent.

The Jaguars don,Aeot look like a great match-up for the home team under the best of conditions, with a strong running game and a stout run defense.

But their reputation, and 6-4 record, has been built mainly at home. The Jaguars are just 1-3 on the road. They,Aeove lost twice to Houston, who the Bills topped last week, and somehow managed to give up 36 points in Washington to a Redskins team that hasn,Aeot been able to generate much offense against anybody else.

Given Jacksonville,Aeos strength against the run and injuries in the secondary, including losing safety Donovan Darius for the season in last week,Aeos 26-10 win over the New York Giants, the Bills,Aeo chances depend largely on J.P. Losman producing at least a decent performance.

That, it must be said, is anything but a sure thing, despite the last week,Aeos early- and late-game heroics against the Texans. But his counterpart with the Jaguars, David Garrard, is winning gushing praise simply by not screwing things up too badly since replacing Byron Leftwich.

That has worked pretty well at home, but winning on the road, even against mediocre opposition, requires a little bit more.

And even though this will be the first game of the entire NFL season to not sell out in time to lift the blackout, there will still be close to 72,000 very loud fans to rattle the visitors, even without the help of high winds and sleet.

Logic would suggest taking Jacksonville, a 3-point favorite, anyway. But the way this season has gone, maybe going against sound reasoning is the way to go.

Bills, 23-20.

Houston at N.Y. Jets (-5): Losing to the Bills at home couldn,Aeot have done much for the Texans,Aeo confidence. Jets, 24-17.

Pittsburgh at Baltimore (-3): The Steelers are desperate and it,Aeos too early for them to be completely out of contention. Steelers, 16-13.

Cincinnati (-3) at Cleveland: The Browns don,Aeot have the firepower to keep up with Cincy. Bengals, 30-16.

Arizona at Minnesota (-6.5): Why couldn,Aeot they black this out? Vikings, 12-8.

San Francisco at St. Louis (-5.5): The 49ers have won three straight, the Rams have lost five in a row and San Francisco won the first meeting. Yet St. Louis is favored by this much? Seems like there must be a catch, but ,AeP 49ers, 20-13.

New Orleans at Atlanta (-3): The Saints have lost three out of four, but Atlanta,Aeos lost three in a row and Michael Vick is regressing. Neither team,Aeos been playing much defense, so at least it should be entertaining. Saints, 36-33.

Washington at Carolina (-4): Carolina,Aeos getting it together, the Redskins are falling apart. Panthers, 20-13.

Chicago at New England (-3.5): The Bears,Aeo bubble bursts with such intensity, it will affect weather patterns along the East Coast. Patriots, 26-14.

Philadelphia at Indianapolis (-8.5): The Colts don,Aeot cover very often these days, but the Eagles are in very big trouble with Jeff Garcia -- who couldn,Aeot cut it with the Browns, for god,Aeos sake --at quarterback. Colts, 34-6.

N.Y. Giants (-3) at Tennessee: Battered and pointing fingers, the Giants are ripe for a road upset. And the Titans aren,Aeot all that bad, either. Titans, 17-14.

Oakland at San Diego (-13.5): Hard to pick against San Diego here, even with that many points involved. Chargers, 35-7.

Green Bay at Seattle (-9): Brett Favre,Aeos elbow will supposedly be healed enough for him to play, which should help the Packers keep it relatively close. Seahawks, 23-16.

Thanksgiving was a mixed bag for Uneducated Guess, when we were 2-1 overall, 1-2 against the spread. Last week, it was 9-7 overall, 8-7-1 against the spread. For the year, 56-47 overall, 44-51-8 against the spread.