Week One of the NFL is finally upon us. The Super Bowl champion Giants open the NFL season at home against Washington Redskins on Sept. 4. Brett Favre makes his debut for the Jets on Sunday, and Aaron Rodgers takes over the controls in Green Bay, on Monday Night Football, in front of a national audience.
Here are my Week One predictions (predicted winner in BOLD).
Washington Redskins @ New York Giants
The champs hold off the Redskins in this close divisional matchup.
Cincinnati Bengals @ Baltimore Ravens
This may be the only road victory for this dysfunctional group.
New York Jets @ Miami Dolphins
Chad Pennington, the most accurate passer in NFL history, exacts his revenge on his old team.
Kansas City Chiefs @ New England Patriots
This one isn't even close against a young Chiefs team. Patriots roll.
Houston Texans @ Pittsburgh Steelers
I smell an upset in the Steel City. Houston will be a tough opponent for anyone this season. They'll show why on Sunday.
Jacksonville Jaguars @ Tennessee Titans
Jacksonville's a better team, and their defense will be too much to handle in this physical contest.
Detroit Lions @ Atlanta Falcons
The Lions' offense will be the only unit in this game with any real NFL talent and experience. As an aside, you know you are bad when you have been cut from both of these teams in the past few years. I'm looking at you, Joey Harrington.
Seattle Seahawks @ Buffalo Bills
Seattle will win its division, but I like an improving Bills team to win their home opener.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ New Orleans Saints
While the crowd won't be quite as raucous after this hurricane, an even-more explosive offense should give the Saints the advantage in this key NFC South contest in the Superdome.
St. Louis Rams @ Philadelphia Eagles
Brian Westbrook is back, and that spells trouble for a young Rams' defense.
Dallas Cowboys @ Cleveland Browns
Tony Romo will feast upon the Browns' defense all day long.
Carolina Panthers @ San Diego Chargers
If the Panthers' defense returns to its 2007 form, expect a big day from L.T. and Philip Rivers.
Arizona Cardinals @ San Francisco 49ers
I like the veteran Kurt Warner against a quarterback making his first career start in J.T. O'Sullivan.
Chicago Bears @ Indianapolis Colts
Bob Sanders and Dwight Freeney are going to cause nightmares for Kyle Orton.
Minnesota Vikings @ Green Bay Packers
Despite the loss of Favre, don't underestimate a Packer team that was that close last season from a Super Bowl return.
Denver Broncos @ Oakland Raiders
In a battle of former SEC quarterbacks, I'll take Jay Cutler over JaMarcus Russell, who is making only his second career start—his first on Monday Night Football.
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6 comments Last one added 10 months ago — Leave a Comment
Bruce Dickenson 10 months ago
There is almost no chance of the Dolphins upsetting the JETS. If it happens I will be happy to eat my words, but I just can't imagine a rebuilding team upsetting a team that was already better than them last year and got better in the offseason.
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MJ Kasprzak 10 months ago
I disagree that this is not doable. The Phins were horrible because of a perfect storm of injuries, bad coaching, and inexperience--otherwise they would have just been bad like the Jets were. I'm not picking the upset because you are right that Jets upgrade more, but I can see Pennington helping and Favre is always good for a bad game every once in a while, especially with the spotlight on him.
However, the Steelers need this one with their schedule, and too good of a team to miss the playoffs, which might happen if they do lose this one.
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Ivahn Lachowsky 10 months ago
I agree with alot of your picks although my head says go with the Jets I have to admit an upset wouldn't be shocking. As far as Cin@Bal I like baltimore and your Green Bay over Minnesota is ballsy I've written a similar article check it out if you like
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Bruce Dickenson 10 months ago
That is the funniest friggin's picture.
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MJ Kasprzak 10 months ago
No way the Pack is a "ballsy" pick--they are favoured, and for good reason. Maybe Rodgers is a question mark, but so is Jackson. We demolished them once and beat them the other time last year. They still have no receivers, and the fact they think Berrian is the answer tells you their dearth. We have the best YAC corps in the league, and that has little to do with Favre.
That being said, picking them would hardly be ballsy either--we have a strong D-line, but theirs is better. We have a good backfield, but theirs is possibly the best in the league...time for me to do a unit by unit preview!
Here are my picks--very similar to yours, Paul. (It's bad when a brother who is community leader for his team has to stoop to such levels to get a read!) http://bleacherreport.com/articles/54030-week-one-picks
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Bruce Dickenson 10 months ago
I agree. And I picked Green Bay in my office pool.
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