NFL picks, Week 10: Cowboys, Broncos should bounce back

Speaking of firsts, the Cardinals own the best record in the league (7-1), the first time they've held the top spot outright in November or later since 1966. Could we see a Super Bowl involving a host team for the first time in league history? Arizona doesn't have a particularly challenging slate left, with only four of its remaining eight games against teams currently above .500. But given the week-to-week inconsistency in today's NFL and the unpredictability on any given Sunday, I wouldn't run to Vegas quite yet.

The most likely candidate appears to be the New Orleans Saints, who lead the NFC South with a 4-4 record and are coming off two dominant wins in the last two weeks. Or maybe it's the team they'll be facing this Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers, who are also 4-4 but headed in the wrong direction after suffering back-to-back losses. The 49ers have played the toughest schedule of any team so far, but have the easiest remaining slate of any NFC West team. Could the 4-5 Minnesota Vikings possibly slip into the last wild card spot in the weaker NFC? They've won two in a row and could possibly see the return of one of the league's best running backs before the end of the season.

Week 10 once again gives us a reduced slate of games (six teams on a bye) and lacks a marquee matchup like we had last week with Brady-Manning XVI, but that doesn't mean there aren't a bunch of compelling games to pick. Perhaps the most interesting one is in Buffalo, where the Bills host the Kansas City Chiefs in a battle of two 5-3 teams that are both in the thick of the playoff race. The experts give the advantage to the surging Chiefs, but it's hard to bet against a rejuvenated Bills squad that is on a roll since Kyle Orton took over as the starting quarterback in Week 5.