With Week 9 upon us, that means we are now officially halfway through the 2021 https://www.redsoxgearfan.com/boston-red-sox-jersey/joe-kelly-jersey NFL season, which makes right now the perfect time to hand out some midseason awards. Actually, I'm only handing out one award and it's going to me and I don't even want it: It's the award for worst picker from Week 8.I clearly spent way too much time trying find a Halloween costume last week and not enough time researching my picks, because that's the only way to explain how horrible I was last week. Next year for Halloween I'm going to go as someone who's good at picks. The good news for me is that despite going 6-9, I still have the top straight-up record around here at CBSSports.com. However, my lead is now down to one game, so no more making dumb picks. For instance, after picking the to win last week, I can a sure you that I will never be picking the Lions to win ever again. The bye week opens as a 13.5-point favorite over the Lions. Chris Burke (@ChrisBurkeNFL) I will take the bye week to cover.Who else will I be taking to cover this week? Let's get to the Week 9 picks and find out.Actually, before we do that, here's your weekly reminder that you can check out the NFL picks from everyone here . If you need proof that I have the best picks record, you're going to want to click here. Also, for the rest of the season, I'll be podcasting three days per week -- Monday, Tuesday and Friday -- with Will Brinson and Ryan Wilson. My own family can't even handle hanging out with me three days per week, so I'm not quite sure how Brinson and Wilson do it. We got together for a show on Tuesday and you can listen to it https://www.redsoxgearfan.com/boston-red-sox-jersey/andrew-benintendi-jersey below. The reason you're going to want to listen is because we spent an inordinate amount of time debating whether the are going to make the playoffs this year. That being said, if you're a Chiefs fan, you may not want to listen. Alright, let's get to the picks because the sooner we do that, the sooner I can get more fans to hate me after I pick against your team.1 p.m. ET (CBS) Latest Odds: Cincinnati Bengals -2 If you watched the lose to the on Sunday, then you already know that there's only one person to blame for their lo s and that person is, yup, you gue sed it, . i blame one person, and one person only, for this browns lo s: tony romo mrs. garrett (@unlvkelly) Romo is one of the three most likable guys on the planet and I have no idea how anyone could blame anything on him ever, but as it turns out, it seems Browns fans have a decent reason for not liking him. For the past three years, any time that Romo and Jim Nantz have showed up to call a Browns game, the Browns have lost. Including the lo s to the Steelers, the Browns are now 0-8 since 2018 when Romo and Nantz are at one of their games. When Tony Romo calls the game, the Browns are 0-8 since 2018.'18: Ravens'19: Titans, Patriots, Ravens'20: Steelers, Chiefs'21: Chiefs, SteelersNext week: Browns/Bengals Nantz & Romo on the call John Kazar (@KazarNFL) As the resident homer here at CBSSports.com, I made sure to pull a few strings so that Romo and Nantz would be at the Browns-Bengals game this weekend to ensure another Cleveland lo s. Just kidding, I don't have any strings and I wouldn't even know where to start pulling, so although Romo and Nantz WILL be in Cincinnati on Sunday, I had nothing to do with it. However, if they're looking for any recommendations on where to get some tasty Cincinnati chili, I can definitely help with that.Speaking of help, the Browns could definitely use some help at quarterback. Since injured his shoulder back in Week 6, Cleveland's offense has been an absolute me s. Over the past three weeks, the Browns have scored 14, 17 and 10 points, and that 17-point performance didn't even come from Baker because it came in the only game that started. I think the Browns pa s-rush will give the Bengals some trouble, but not enough trouble for the Browns to https://www.redsoxgearfan.com/boston-red-sox-jersey/j-d-martinez-jersey-boston-red-sox-jersey win this game. I actually did think about taking Cleveland here, but if Browns fans think a Tony Romo jinx exists, then who am I to argue with them.The pick: Bengals 23-20 over Browns1 p.m. ET (Fox) Latest Odds: New Orleans Saints -6.5 I'll be honest here, 10 minutes before I was set to send my Week 9 picks into my editor, I was going to pick the in this game, but then I remembered that this is a game involving the , which means I'm supposed to do the opposite of what my gut tells me to do. We're headed into Week 9 of the NFL season and somehow, I'm 1-6 picking Saints games this season and I don't even feel good about the one game I got right because I picked them to beat a team that didn't have . Even my 18-month old daughter knew the Saints were going to win that game. As I mention here every other week, I'm horrible at picking Saints games. The Saints are now officially living rent-free in my head. https://www.redsoxgearfan.com/boston-red-sox-jersey/mitch-moreland-jersey No matter what I do, my pick always ends up being wrong. I've picked the favorite. I've picked the underdog. I've done the opposite of what my gut told me to do. I've done the opposite of what my first instinct told me to do, which was to do the opposite of whatever my gut told me to do. As you can see, I have now completely psyched myself out and there's now a 97% chance that I'm never going to pick a Saints game correctly ever again.Every week, just when I think I'm starting to feel good about my Saints pick for their upcoming game, something crazy happens. This week, the crazy thing that happened is being out for the season. If Jameis was starting in this game, I would pick the Saints to win by double-digits. However, with no Jameis, that means that Saints will either be starting or . The problem with Taysom Hill is that he's been out the past three weeks with a concu sion. The problem with Trevor Siemian is that he's Trevor Siemian.The good news for me (and the Saints) is that it shouldn't matter who the starting quarterback is in this game because I don't think the Falcons are going to be able to move the ball on New Orleans' defense. The bad news for the Saints is that I'm picking them to win this week and if history is any indication, that means they're going to lose. The pick:Saints 19-16 over Falcons1 p.m. ET (Fox) Latest Odds: Miami Dolphins -4 On paper, this is easily the worst game of Week 9 and po sibly the worst game that's ever been on any NFL schedule ever. At this point, fans barely want to watch the Texans play, fans barely want to watch the Dolphins play and no one wants to watch them play each other. However, I should probably point out that the watchability of this game will shoot up by roughly 5000% if gets traded to the Dolphins this week.The Texans trading Watson to the Dolphins by Tuesday's trade deadline only to have to face him five days later would definitely be the most fitting way https://www.redsoxgearfan.com/boston-red-sox-jersey/david-ortiz-jersey for Watson's career in Houston to end. That being said, I have no idea if