Week Three NFL Picks: Steelers Dominate, Cowboys Get a Win
With two weeks in the books, the season picture now is becoming a little clearer. Some trends are starting to emerge and Vegas is getting a little better at putting out the lines.
But more importantly, picking winning teams becomes easier, the upsets become upsetier, and the unexpected still continues to happen.
These picks will feature happy Steelers fans, upset Buffalo fans, and my pick for upset of the week.
Tennessee at New York
1 of 16
Eli Manning and The Giants got a good butt whoopin' last Sunday night while the Titans ran into the impenetrable wall that is the Steelers defense.
The Giants aren't a finished product yet, that much was obvious in the Colts game.
The Titans just ran into one of the best defenses in the league, but Vince Young has to step it up.
Titans in a close one, 24-21.
Cincinnati at Carolina
2 of 16
The Bengals are a team that could bust out and challenge for the division in 2010, or it could all come crashing down if the offense doesn't start gelling.
The Bengals will get that chance to gel this week versus the Panthers, who despite a quarterback change still, statistically, have a worse defense than the Bengals.
Speaking of quarterback changes, Jimmy Clausen makes his first NFL start. It'll be a learning experience.
Bengals light it up, 35-10
Pittsburgh at Tampa Bay
3 of 16
The Steelers defense has proved they've overcome the setbacks of 2009, plus Troy Polamalu is healthy again.
Tampa Bay would have to pull off an "upset of the week" performance to win this game despite Josh Freeman's progress as a starter so far in 2010.
Freeman will have a setback this week. The Steelers offense will score just enough to win and the Steelers will end up 3-0 without Ben Roethlisberger.
Steelers 16, Tampa Bay 7
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Buffalo at New England
4 of 16
It's difficult to say which team is more painful to watch at this point when scanning through the games, Buffalo or Cleveland.
The Patriots just came off of a tough loss to division rival New York Jets and Bill Belichick is not going to let that happen two weeks in a row. The Bills are going to be the unfortunate victims of Belichick's wrath.
Meanwhile, the Bills have benched Trent Edwards and named a lucky lottery winner this week's starting quarterback.
Patriots 42, Bills 10
Cleveland at Baltimore
5 of 16
The only name that ever seems to matter when it comes to the Baltimore Ravens is Ray Lewis.
Ray Lewis is a cyborg because age doesn't seem to be having any effect on him.
The Browns can't score points in the second half against defenses anywhere near as good as the Ravens and Joshua Cribbs has yet to do much of anything on special teams this year.
Joe Flacco has been challenged by his own team this year and he's going to use the Browns as an example of what he can do.
The Browns aren't done finding rock bottom yet because Ray Lewis probably will introduce them to it.
Raven 28, Browns 13
San Francisco at Kansas City
6 of 16
The 49ers are a team that should be a lot better than their record is in this young season, and with the talent on the team, but they're 0-2.
Kansas City is a surprising 2-0 and their running backs have been more of a story than Matt Cassel, not that he's been bad by any means.
49ers Head Coach Mike Singletary almost got a win against the defending Super Bowl champs and he'll get the job done this week against the Chiefs
49ers 27, Chiefs 21
Dallas at Houston
7 of 16
The way these two teams have been playing, a Dallas win qualifies as an upset, and an upset it will be.
Houston has come out of the gate very strong, thoroughly beating Peyton Manning and the Colts and then squeaking a win out against the Redskins.
The Cowboys have just played bad football. Too many mistakes and too many poor decisions.
The Cowboys put it all together this week, though, and get one in the win column.
Cowboys 21, Texans 20
Detroit at Minnesota
8 of 16
The Lions are a team on the rise and the Vikings don't appear to have enough weapons to put together a complete game.
Brett Favre has looked out-of-step and old the first two weeks of the season while the Lions have shown they're willing to fight to the bitter end.
It will serve the Lions well, as they beat the Vikings and send them to 0-3.
Lions 24, Vikings 20
Atlanta at New Orleans
9 of 16
The Saints had a close call against the 49ers last week and Atlanta is a better team.
Atlanta lost a close one against the Steelers before blowing out the Cardinals last week.
This will be another close game that the Falcons come out on the losing end of. Despite the offensive stats matchup, heavily skewed by the Arizona game, Brees and the Saints have the better offense.
Saints 30, Falcons 27
Washington at St. Louis
10 of 16
Ladies and Gentleman, I give you the upset of the week and Sam Bradford's first Pro Win.
The Redskins are a good team this year and the Rams are not.
But Donovan McNabb is due for one of his "should've played better and lost" games that have shown up throughout his career.
There's nothing in the stats or the matchups that suggest the Rams will win and it should be one-sided for the Redksins, but my gut is telling me this will be the upset of the week.
Rams 21, Redskins 20
Philadelphia at Jacksonville
11 of 16
Forget for the moment the Michael Vick/Kevin Kolb drama, Head Coach Andy Reid has decided Vick gives them the best chance to win.
He's right.
There's no chance for an upset here. David Garrard and the Jaguars just aren't very good right now.
Eagles 28, Jaguars 7
Indianapolis at Denver
12 of 16
This game becomes very hard to predict because of the emotion on the Broncos part. It's impossible to say whether the tragic death of Kenny McKinley will inspire the Broncos to a new level, or weigh them down.
The Colts are the Colts, except now they have a running game to go along with Peyton Manning's arm.
Tossing a coin on this one, but I think the Colts prevail.
Colts 30, Broncos 21
Oakland at Arizona
13 of 16
Two teams with issues at quarterback.
The Raiders already have benched Jason Campbell for Bruce Gradkowski, and the Cardinals still have Derek Anderson on the roster.
This should be an entertaining game because the quarterback play is going to be all over the place. It will be a battle to see who has the better defense. The stats show Arizona has a superior defense in every major category, so take that for what it's worth.
Cardinals 18, Raiders 14
San Diego at Seattle
14 of 16
Phillip Rivers knows the Chargers have to overcompensate for losing to Kansas City in week one. That's a game the Chargers should have easily won.
The Seahawks are operating under the "no one believes in us" category, which always makes a team dangerous.
The Chargers just have too much on offense right now for the Seahawks to handle.
Chargers 28, Seahawks 20
New York Jets at Miami
15 of 16
The Jets and Mark Sanchez got some measure of redemption versus the New England Patriots last week, but they can't afford to rest on their laurels with the completely unpredictable Miami Dolphins coming to town.
This season has been the tale of two Jets and now it's a question of which Jets team shows up in Miami.
From Miami's standpoint, they don't have to deal with Darrelle Revis, making their offense just that much more likely to score.
Miami 31 Jets 21
Green Bay Vs. Chicago
16 of 16
The Bears are not who we thought they were, at least so far this season. The Packers, on the other hand, are exactly who we thought they'd be.
This is going to be a good Monday Night Football game with a lot of hard hitting and a true test of the Bears offense versus the Packers defense.
The Packers are going to have to rely on Aaron Rodgers arm, as the Bears have absolutely been shutting down the run so far this year and there's no reason to think Monday night will be any different.
Bears stay undefeated.
Bears 30, Packers 27
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