NFL picks, Week 9: Broncos, Cowboys favored in high-profile games

A quick glance at a team's strength of schedule can reveal a wealth of information for those trying to pick winners the rest of the season. For example, the San Francisco 49ers are 4-3 and two games back of the NFC West-leading Arizona Cardinals, but have played the league's toughest schedule so far. San Francisco's remaining opponents have a combined .462 record, the easiest among its division rivals. The New England Patriots are widely considered one of the league's top teams, but don't pencil them in for a first-round bye quite yet. The Pats have faced the second-easiest slate in starting 6-2, and now face the NFL's second-hardest remaining schedule.

Teams in the playoff hunt are not the only ones concerned about the road ahead. We still have one winless team left in the NFL, and there is a good chance that the 2008 Detroit Lions could have some company in the record books at the end of the season. The Oakland Raiders have lost their first seven games and face the league's hardest remaining schedule as they try to avoid becoming the second team ever to go 0-16. They face just one team with a losing record, and that game is on the road at St. Louis (2-5) in Week 13.

Week 9 brings a reduced slate of games with six teams on byes, but it still offers a bunch of intriguing matchups and divisional battles. The early afternoon schedule is highlighted by the Dallas Cowboys (6-2) hosting the Arizona Cardinals (6-1), and in the late afternoon we get the highly anticipated contest between the Broncos (6-1) and Patriots (6-2). This might be the best set of back-to-back games all season, and it's arguably the finest we've seen in the regular season in nearly three decades. This is the first time that a single week includes two games featuring teams with at least six wins each this early into a season since 1986 (Week 9).

The week's major matchups have our experts divided, although the Cowboys and Broncos are favored by most. Other games that should be competitive are equally as hard to predict, including the Indianapolis Colts against the New York Giants. At the very least, the bottom dwellers are expected to remain as such with not a single expert predicting the Jaguars, Bucs or Jets to win this week.