Week 9 of the NFL season is here, and Cortana is back to make picks in a head-to-head showdown with Elo. Advertisement We looked at two popular systems used to pick NFL games: Cortana , Microsoft's digital assistant, and Elo , the modeling system used by Nate Silver's data-journalism site, FiveThirtyEight. In both cases, the computers are picking outright winners and not against the spread. However, each gives a likelihood that a team will win - which, in theory, could help measure the strength of certain lines.Cortana is off to a strong start this season, correctly picking 74% of the games over the last five weeks - including 11-3 last week - and 70% overall. Elo has nailed 70% over the last five weeks, was 11-3 last week, and is at 63% overall. Here are the picks for Week 9, with each model's percent chance of winning in parentheses. Point spreads are for reference, via Vegas Insider as of Thursday morning.<doc-sep>The Times’ NFL writer, Sam Farmer, examines this week’s matchups. Lines according to Pregame.com (O/U = over/under). Last week’s record 11-3 (.786); season 77-42-2 (.647). Using point spreads with the scores Farmer predicted, the record against the spread last week would have been 6-7-1 (.462); season 53-61-7 (.465). All times Pacific. Arizona, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, the N.Y. Giants and Philadelphia have the week off. Pittsburgh (4-2-1) at Baltimore (4-4) Sunday, 10 a.m. Steelers 24, Ravens 21 Advertisement TV: None. DirecTV: 705. Line: Ravens by 3. O/U: 47 1/2. These teams always seem to split, and this is a bit of a revenge game for Pittsburgh after getting embarrassed by the Ravens in Week 4. The Ravens have come back to earth as an average team. Kansas City (7-1) at Cleveland (2-5-1) Sunday, 10 a.m. Chiefs 27, Browns 17 TV: None. DirecTV: 706. Line: Chiefs by 8. O/U: 51. Advertisement The shakeup with the Browns might inspire them a bit, but they’re limited on offense and Kansas City is rolling. Cleveland’s defense can be pretty good at times, so this might not be so ugly. N.Y. Jets (3-5) at Miami (4-4) Sunday, 10 a.m. Jets 24, Dolphins 20 Advertisement TV: None. DirecTV: 707. Line: Dolphins by 3. O/U: 44. Brock Osweiler is playing well for the Dolphins but doesn’t have a lot of healthy receivers. Tough to play at Miami, but the Jets get it done on the strength of their intermittently respectable defense. Chicago (4-3) at Buffalo (2-6) Advertisement Sunday, 10 a.m. Bears 24, Bills 10 TV: None. DirecTV: 708. Line: Bears by 10. O/U: 37 1/2. Advertisement The Bills fought gamely for three quarters against New England, but will have a tough time moving the ball against Chicago. The Bears are creative enough offensively to put this out of reach early. Tampa Bay (3-4) at Carolina (5-2) Sunday, 10 a.m. Panthers 31, Buccaneers 20 Advertisement TV: None. DirecTV: 709. Line: Panthers by 6. O/U: 55. The Panthers might not be great, but they’re too good at home for the Buccaneers, who are going back to Ryan Fitzpatrick. Cam Newton will spread the ball around, and he’s got enough weapons. Detroit (3-4) at Minnesota (4-3-1) Advertisement Sunday, 10 a.m. Vikings 28, Lions 20 TV: None. DirecTV: 710. Line: Vikings by 4 1/2. O/U: 49. Advertisement The Lions are nothing special, losing at home to Seattle last week. The Vikings are legitimately good, and they just ran into the Saints’ buzz saw last week. Minnesota needs this one badly. Atlanta (3-4) at Washington (5-2) Sunday, 10 a.m. Falcons 27, Redskins 23 Advertisement TV: Channel 11. DirecTV: 711. Line: Redskins by 1 1/2. O/U: 48 1/2. The Falcons aren’t the same team on the road, and the Redskins are doing a great job of stopping the run. Washington has won three in a row, and Atlanta is desperate. Go with the team that needs it more. Houston (5-3) at Denver (3-5) Advertisement Sunday, 1 p.m. Texans 28, Broncos 24 TV: None. DirecTV: 712. Line: Broncos by 1. O/U: 46. Advertisement Losing Will Fuller hurts the Texans, and they’re still not hitting on all cylinders, but they have won five in a row. The Broncos are respectable at times, but they’re just not very good right now. Chargers (5-2) at Seattle (4-3) Sunday, 1 p.m. Chargers 31, Seahawks 24 Advertisement TV: Channel 2. DirecTV: 713. Line: Seahawks by 1. O/U: 48. When is Joey Bosa going to come back? Not yet, it seems. The Chargers still have enough in the tank to win here, even though Seattle is on an upward trend. Philip Rivers has too many ways to win. Rams (8-0) at New Orleans (6-1) Advertisement Sunday, 1:15 p.m. Saints 31, Rams 28 TV: Channel 11. DirecTV: 714. Line: Rams by 1. O/U: 59 1/2. Advertisement Rams are unbeaten, and they’re getting Cooper Kupp back. On the flip side, they’re facing Drew Brees after Aaron Rodgers picked apart their corners. A key will be stopping the Saints’ ground game. Green Bay (3-3-1) at New England (6-2) Sunday, 5:15 p.m. Patriots 30, Packers 27 Advertisement TV: Channel 4. Line: Patriots by 5 1/2. O/U: 56 1/2. The Patriots are banged up and coming off a short week, but they’re in Foxborough and also coming off a sharp defensive performance. Rodgers will make it interesting, but go with the home team. Tennessee (3-4) at Dallas (3-4) Advertisement Monday, 5:15 p.m. Titans 24, Cowboys 20 TV: ESPN. Line: Cowboys by 5 1/2. O/U: 40 1/2. Advertisement We’ll get a first look at Amari Cooper, so maybe the Cowboys will throw more. Marcus Mariota can move around enough to take the bite out of the Dallas pass rush, and Titans can stop the run.<doc-sep>
Week Nine of the NFL season should be the best week yet. Look at all the good games this week. We have the Los Angeles Rams at the New Orleans Saints, pitting the top-two teams in my Power Rankings. We have Aaron Rodgers vs. Tom Brady for just the second time in their careers. The two best quarterbacks in the game go head-to-head when the Green Bay Packers face the New England Patriots in Foxboro, Mass. Then we have the always-fun Steelers-Ravens game, this one in Baltimore after the Ravens beat the Steelers earlier this year in Pittsburgh. l can't wait to see the Atlanta Falcons offense against the Washington Redskins defense and Russell Wilson against Philip Rivers. It shapes up as a heck of a week. The Rams stay at the top spot here after narrowly beating the Packers this past Sunday when a Ty Montgomery fumble cheated us out of a chance to see Aaron Rodgers with the ball down two and in his two-minute offense with a chance to win. Sorry to interrupt your reading, but just a quick PSA here. We have a pretty amazing daily NFL podcast you may not be aware of. It's hosted by Will Brinson and it's all the things you're looking for: news, fantasy, picks, really, just football stuff for football people. Subscribe: via iTunes | via Stitcher | via TuneIn | via Google Play. Los Angeles held on to stay undefeated, but the trip to New Orleans this week will be even tougher. The Saints are right behind them in the NFC with six straight victories after losing their opener to the Bucs. The Saints have improved on defense since that debacle against the Bucs. They've impressed winning road games at Baltimore and at Minnesota the past two weeks. The Saints-Rams game matches the two best play-callers in the NFL in Sean McVay and Sean Payton. It should be an offensive feast. The winner will have the top spot in the league at the halfway point, and also have the inside track to being the top seed in the NFC playoffs. It's the highlight game of a good NFL weekend. Let's hope it lives up to the hype.