There's no way around this - Monday night's game is big for both the Dolphins and Patriots. Below are some "expert" picks, followed by some (basically meaningless) ramblings of my own:

An even split from the experts above - which is surprising since most of the country is leaning towards the Pats. Can you blame them? To outsiders, Tom Brady vs Chad Henne is an easy choice to make.

But we know that the Pats' secondary has serious problems. They made Ryan Fitzpatrick look like a good NFL quarterback a week ago. Henne is going to have some open receivers to throw to with opportunities to make big plays. It's up to him to connect on those passes.

But in any game like this - where two teams who are rather close in talent face off - I tend to take the team that is more desperate for the win - especially early in the season. Last week, the Jets were more desperate. They couldn't allow themselves to fall two games back already within the division. As it turns out, my theory held true last Sunday night.

I expect it to hold true again. So who is more desperate? The Dolphins would fall to 0-2 against their two division rivals already with a loss despite both games being at home in Miami. They also have a very tough next four games before the schedule lightens up a little. So they are the more desperate team. And I think the Dolphins will find a way to win this game.