My picks for Week 3 of the NFL season (based on my thoughts, my research and what I think ONLY!):
Disclamer: These are my picks and opinions only. If you make picks and/or bet money, favors or whatever based on what is listed below with whomever or wherever, that is on you. If you win, great! Let me know (or even send me a small cut of the profits...lol!) If not, don't bitch. These picks does have 50/50 odds. Better than the lottery. If some team chokes a game due to..whatever...not my fault. I will be mad too. Maybe!
Disclaimer done: Let the games begin!
Kansas City at Philadelphia: Thursday night on NFL Network: I remembered to get this posted this week before the game was played. Celebrate. Anyway, watch this game. Why? Andy Reid goes back East with his new team to face his old team in Philly. It will be entertaining. More importantly, unless these teams meet in pre-season or in the Super Bowl (very unlikely!), this will not happen again for 4 years (per the current scheduling plan), so watch it! The Chiefs have the weapons on both sides of the ball to control this so-called high-speed offense of the Eagles. It’s called ball control on offense (run the ball, play action passing and move the chains) and keep Vick, Jackson and friends off the field. On defense, KC has some playmakers there too. Plus, Philly’s D kind of…sucks. They let the Redskins get 27 and SD, who had to come cross-country on a short week after blowing a big lead and losing on MNF to get ahead, score 33 and beat the Eagles in Philly? Oregon’s D wasn’t that great either under Kelly and they are worse here. Reid forgot more about coaching than Kelly ever will know. I hate to do it, but KC goes to 3-0 (before they start the meat of their schedule and reality sets in). Philly, giving up an average of 30 points a game means you lose most of the time (if not almost every time). Think about it.
Kansas City 34 Philadelphia 24
Green Bay at Cincinnati: The Bengals are building a nice team here. They had a fight on Monday night with a proud but nearly decimated Steelers team, but won at home. Green Bay is a lot better than Pittsburgh. Even on the road. These Bengals may well be a factor for a AFC North or a wild-card berth, but they are a LONG way from being able to smack down Rodgers and the Pack. Anywhere. Sorry.
Packers 28 Bengals 17
St. Louis at Dallas: Dallas sucks. Period. You get 7 turnovers at home versus the Giants and you only win by 5? WTF? You play better at KC, but you only score 17 and choke? WTF? Did Romo really deserve that extension now when you have so many other holes to fix and Romo is honestly not that much better than Sanchez in the grand scheme of things? NO. The Rams are a dangerous sleeper team who nearly took out Atlanta. You have to protect your house a lot better than this, and win the winnable road games. I have no faith in Romo, or Garrett, or your D and especially not Jerry Jones, no matter how young his brain supposedly is. Records say it all. Jeff Fisher is no pushover, and neither are the rams. Rams win.
Upset Special 1: Rams 27, Cowboys 25
San Diego at Tennessee: San Diego’s D is as bad and Philly’s. They are lucky to have one win. Tennessee has been playing tough and gritty, but they should have beat Houston. Any team with a healthy Chris Johnson is a challenge. However, the Chargers have not had much heart for years and that hurts. This is their second trip cross country in the first three weeks. San Diego got lucky once. Cannot see it happening back-to-back weeks unless the Titans give another one away.
Titans 27 Chargers 24 (OT)
Cleveland at Minnesota: Cleveland is not looking good. Now Weeden is out with a injury and they are starting a no-name guy I never heard of over veteran Jason Campbell. I know Campbell has a lot of history, but is he really that bad? Doesn’t matter now, since the Browns traded Trent Richardson to the Colts for their 1st round pick in 2014 tonight (Wednesday). WTF? Cleveland is now all in for 2014. 2013 season is over….now. Anyway, this is Minnesota with a healthy Peterson at home and an apparently dangerous return game again. At least Cleveland doesn’t have to worry about getting rained on this week. Enjoy it now, for by the time Cleveland sees this team again in four years (assuming the game is here and not in Cleveland), Minnesota may have an outdoor stadium again and that may help them a lot, especially late in the year. The Vikings already have two division losses. Go 0-3 and your season is basically over. But that won’t happen…will it? Hell, no!
Minnesota 27 Cleveland 13
Tampa Bay at New England: This is a potential upset game here. Tampa scored more points in their loss at the Jets in Week 1 as New England put up in their win over the same Jets 4 days later. NE needs some receiver help now. Rob Gronkowski is coming, but he is 50-50 for this game. I don’t think he plays. NE should be able to get this win…but…I am kind of worried. This is no gimme, and the game time temp won’t be under 32 degrees. Brady and his young replacement skill players better play better than last week or they will suffer many upset losses this year, with or without the Gronk. Regardless of the other off-field stuff that was out of their control, NE should have kept Welker.
New England 24 Tampa Bay 20
Arizona at New Orleans: Arizona has a serviceable QB now, but their best offensive weapon is hobbled and this team has little else. If not for Detroit’s penchant for stupid plays at the wrong time, Arizona would be 0-2. Drew Brees is not putting up Brees-like numbers yet, but this is the Saints with head coach Sean Payton back on the sidelines. That is trouble for the entire NFC. Atlanta couldn’t beat this team in the Superdome with better weapons on both sides of the ball (their penchant for choking there notwithstanding). What chance does the Cardinals have unless Brees throws 5 INTs and three are pick-sixes? None. (Oh and Drew? No more of those pick-sixes, please. You cost me a lot of points and a win in my league last week. Thanks!)….lol.
Saints 33 Cardinals 17
New York Giants at Carolina: This game will be nasty. Can Eli start playing like playoffs Eli and not befuddled regular season Eli? I know big bro stuck it up your rear…again. But this team is 0-2. You need to turn on desperate playoff Eli NOW. If it wasn’t for Dallas and Philly choking last week, your team’s season would be all but done now. You really think the entire division will lose again this week? It could happen, but I wouldn’t depend on it. Lose this one and the Giants are done…period. Carolina…you are already done. Newton, you and that D need to learn how to close out games and step on the throat when leading. You should be 2-0 right now. Atlanta and New Orleans will not wait for you to catch up. Sorry.
Giants 27 Panthers 14
Atlanta at Miami: This could be trouble for Atlanta. This is their first outdoor game and they already had two hard games indoors to start. Roddy White is barely playing (as he is now benched in my fantasy football league) and I am worried about these Falcons. You are already down a division (road) loss to the Saints. You fall further behind in the standings this early, and you will not catch up, and a wild-card is no sure thing. We already know you suck on the road in the playoffs (well, honestly, you suck EVERYW/HERE in the playoffs), so get it going now. Miami, you upset the Colts on the road. Good. Now upset the Black Dirty Birdies at home and get that moribund fan base excited again for the first time….in a LONG while.
Falcons 30 Dolphins 28
Buffalo at the New York Jets: Ugh! 1st battle of the rookie QBs. Buffalo has more viable weapons, but Geno is making more mistakes than Manuel. This game will be a toss-up. A tie is not inconceivable here. The winner stays in the hunt to possibly steal this division if the Patriots really falter later, which I fear will occur. Got to take Buffalo, but I would not be surprised by any result here, other than a blowout.
Bills 23 Jets 20 (OT).
Houston at Baltimore: Houston survived twice already. But giving your fan-base heart attacks the first two weeks is not good, even when you win both games. The Ravens are still shaky, but they are tough to beat at home. Denver lucked out on that one. Houston, you have problems and I do not think you can beat the champs, even if Ed Reed dresses this week. Your division is better than you think and you need to keep winning and get that home-field advantage for the playoffs. You cannot win every game at the gun. Baltimore will not let that happen.
Ravens 27 Texans 25
Indianapolis at San Francisco: Must watch TV. Luck versus Colin K. Tonight’s surprise trade that brings former Browns 2012 1st round pick Trent Richardson here makes this more interesting. But like a few other dome teams, this is the Colts’ first road game, first outdoor game, plus a cross-country trip. That spells bad news for the Colts. Richardson will be okay with outdoors, but he will not have time to learn the Colts system, much less players to matter but so much this week, unless someone messes up. Luck is good. Colin is good, too. But the Niners have better overall D and they protect their house better than most teams not named Baltimore, New England, Chicago or dare I say…Seattle? Luck and these Colts will learn how to win these tough road games. It just won’t be this week.
49ers 33 Colts 28
Detroit at Washington: This will be a fun game, but a must-win for both teams. RGIII has to get off to a better start this week at home. More importantly, the Redskins D must be far better than it was the first two weeks. You cannot allow 30-plus points every week, even if the offense puts you in a hole a lot. You have to stop the opposition. Detroit, as usual, needs to learn how to finish. Unfortunately, this, like for a few other teams is their first outdoor game. And I don’t have to start on the Lions have difficulty winning versus the Redskins anywhere. Detroit has that great D line to slow down the running game…if they can stop with the stupid penalties (Suh!!!!) The Redskins cannot afford a 0-3 start, even in the woeful NFC East, but then, Detroit cannot afford another conference loss to put them further behind the 2-0 Bears. So they must beat history. Is Stafford and Calvin Johnson enough, especially if Reggie Bush is not able to perform? If the Redskins of the last two weeks shows up, yes. If the Redskins of last year finally appears, probably not. I am going to go with history…and hope. Redskins by a nose at home.
Redskins 28 Lions 27.
Jacksonville at Seattle: The only smart thing the Jaguars did was to not fly home after losing at Oakland, knowing they had to come back West to face Seattle. That saved a lot of wear and tear on the plane and on the team. That might get them an extra 3 points this week. With that said, this game will not be close, unless the Seahawks that played in Carolina two weeks ago shows up. With this home field advantage and after what they did to their rivals after the storm delay last Sunday night, who wants to go to Seattle for a game? NOBODY!
Seahawks 38 Jaguars 12
Chicago at Pittsburgh: Sunday Night on NBC: This game will be boring. This is all about the defenses here. How did the Steelers get prime time games back-to-back, and weren’t even a playoff team last year??? Whatever. Pittsburgh is done after this one unless they pull out a miracle here…or Jay Cutler goes into stupid mode...possible, but not likely this early. Bears win and go to 3-0, but they better find some more scoring fast.
Bears 25 Steelers 15
Monday Night Football on ESPN. Note the 830pm start time.
Oakland at Denver Okay, everyone thinks Denver crushes another one this week. Here is why that does not happen. 1) Denver is coming back from New York after winning the Manning Bowl (Peyton wins again) 2) They are overlooking the Raiders. 3) Manning is one good hit away from being down and out, which will crush the Broncos. The Giants came fairly close on that. 4) The Raiders have nothing to lose, and have an extra day to prepare and don’t have to travel that far. 4) Crazy **** does happen on MNF, even on the potential snooze-fest games. 5) ESPN needs the ratings. 6) If Oakland keeps it close and it comes down to Janikowski kicking to win the game…you want to bet against him kicking in Denver from any distance under 65 yards, especially if there is a tailwind? I didn’t think so.
UPSET SPECIAL 2!
Raiders 31 Broncos 28
Think my picks suck? Send me a reply and tell me why! Good luck to everyone.
Record: 15-16 after 2 weeks, 1-1 on bonus picks: Total 16-17 overall. Don’t worry…it will get better.
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