NFL Week 2 Picks

As the second week of the NFL looms upon us, it's time to offer up my picks as to who'll come out on top in each game.  Along with my "thoughts on the week" article, I'll try to continue this trend every week.  Speaking of my previous article, thank you for those of you who read it (over 4,000!) and posted positive feedback.  Now on to the picks (home teams in caps):

Green Bay over DETROIT

-Detroit simply got manhandled last week by a young inexperienced Falcons team.  Aaron Rodgers played very well against a strong Minnesota defense.  I simply don't see how Detroit pulls away with this one.  Yes, the offense is there.  There's no question about it.  But when you give up 34 points to an Atlanta offense that's starting a rookie quarterback, a weak offensive line, a new head coach/running back, no real threat at WR (I'm not completely sold on Roddy White), and still have Matt Millen in the front office, I just can't pick you to win.  

KANSAS CITY over Oakland

-Remember the days of this rivalry?  I remember sitting back on a Sunday night/Monday night and watching Rich Gannon and Trent Green go at it.  Those were the best games.  That rivalry was so vivid in the early 2000s.  Kansas City had one of the best offenses in the game, and Oakland went to a Super Bowl.  Oh how the times have changed.  Oakland brought in Art Shell and Lane Kiffin (who looks like he should be out downtown in the bars, not coaching in the NFL) and things have been downhill from there.  Kansas City's luck hasn't been a problem with bad management, but more of aging players.  Trent Green moved on, Eddie Kennison got old.  The only real piece left from that vaunted offense is Tony Gonzalez.  This game should be as lackluster as any.  Oakland got mauled in the passing game by Jay Cutler (wait, wasn't DeAngelo Hall supposed to help with that?) and rookie WR Eddie Royal.  Oh yeah, and Tony Scheffler caught a ball and ran it a good 60 yards before going down.  You may think this is normal until you remember Scheffler is a tight end.  And not an Antonio Gates freak athlete tight end.  Oakland has too many questions to be a safe bet for any week.  Kansas City looked decent against a New England team after Brady went down.  That defense is a lot tougher than this Oakland team, so they should have no problem.

New York Giants over ST. LOUIS 

-This'll be the second week that the Rams get burned by an opponent from the NFC East and another week closer to Scott Linehan sitting in his living room on a Sunday afternoon with a pint of Ben and Jerry's.  Seriously, this Rams team looked BAD.  And not just the offense, which went 0-11 on third down conversions.  The defense allowed three 100 yard receivers, one of whom is a rookie and two of which weren't projected to be starters anyway (Hank Baskett and Greg Lewis played because of injuries to Reggie Brown and Kevin Curtis).  Now they come back home to face the defending Super Bowl champion Giants, who have a happy Plaxico Burress, a relatively confident Eli Manning (I say relatively because, well, it's Eli Manning), and a defense that looked pretty good against Washington.  I'll take the Giants in a blowout.

INDIANAPOLIS over Minnesota

-I can't remember a greater sense of urgency for two playoff, if not Super Bowl, caliber teams.  0-2 teams have a low, low chance of making the Super Bowl.  Yes, Eli and Co. did it last year, so its not impossible.  It's just improbable.  Both of these teams came into the season with high expectations, and now each face a must win situation. Minnesota is highly regarded as the best team in the NFC after the Cowboys and Eagles, especially with the additions on defense.  But boy, Tarvaris Jackson needs to get his act together.  They brought in Bernard Berrian to help out Jackson with his passing, but it didn't show last week.  If the Vikings want to have any shot at the NFC North title, Jackson has to play better. And tf Aaron Rodgers plays the rest of the season like he did against the Vikings, the boys in purple might be looking at a wild card spot, if that.  The Colts, on the other hand, came in to the season with their sights on another AFC South title, with the Jags breathing down their necks.  With Tom Brady going down, the Colts became the favorites of the AFC in my mind.  Well, so much for that.  Da Bears ran all over the Colts and made Peyton Manning look like a rookie version of his brother.  With Jacksonville's offensive line struggles (more on that later), the Colts have a chance to lock up the AFC South and possible the AFC.  Manning and the defense have to play better, and I think they will.  Adrian Peterson will probably run for 400 yards against them, but Tarvaris Jackson will also throw about 5 picks and have a 28% completion percentage, giving the Colts just enough room to squeeze out a win.

Tennessee over CINCINNATI 

-My thoughts and prayers go out to my boy Vince Young.  Whatever struggles you're going through, we here at the University of Texas are praying for you.  That being said, the Titans, RIGHT NOW, are a better team with Kerry Collins (and possible Chris Simms) at the helm.  Until VY gets his head cleared and his knee gets better, these two quarterbacks should suffice.  Not to mention, they have that Chris Johnson guy.  I have no real reason of picking the Titans other than the fact that Cincinnati looked horrendous.  If they couldn't rap up Mark Clayton OR Joe Flacco last week, they won't even see Chris Johnson get the ball.  By the time they know it, Johnson will be prancing around in the endzone after his fourth touchdown of the day.  Titans win this easily.

New Orleans over WASHINGTON

-Drew Brees is the happiest quarterback in the league right now.  Imagine if the Saints hadn't gotten Jeremy Shockey in the offseason.  With top threat Marques Colston out, Brees would've had to rely on David Patten and Robert Meachem (ouch) this Sunday.  Reggie Bush would've almost certainly be double teamed all game long.  But now with Shockey on the field, Brees will have a bevy of options to go to.  Watch out for Reggie Bush.  With Jason Taylor admitting that he's not 100%, Bush should have a field day running past him.  And don't forget, that defense looked pretty good.  Sedrick Ellis is going to be a star in this league.  Jason Campbell, however, may never be.  Well, that's only if he stays in Washington.  Three offensive schemes in three years is never good for a quarterback.  Whatever Jim Zorn is doing, it's not working.  One week into the season, and you can already see the tension on Zorn's face.  Against a revamped Saints defense, I don't see the 'Skins' offense doing much (except for Clinton Portis, who seems to have been forgotten).

CHICAGO over Carolina

-Was there a bigger surprise besides the Bears last week?  Okay, maybe Atlanta.  But other than that, no one had this Bears team winning.  They showed up with their 2006 Super Bowl formula of great defense and excellent running.  And how about those Panthers?  Jake Delhomme's elbow looked great, Mushin Muhammad looks happy being black in Panthers blue, and the running game excelled.  But keep in mind that Carolina won on a last second TD pass on a leaping catch by Dante Rosario.  They can't count on that magic every game.  I think the Bears' defense wins this one for them.  Matt Forte won't have the same game he had last time, but I do feel that Kyle Orton will manage the game well.  Bears win a close one on their defense.

BUFFALO over Jacksonville

-If it weren't for the Monday night game between the Cowboys and Eagles, this would've been my pick for game of the week.  The Bills caught a huge break when Brady went down (then again, so did the entire AFC).  But the Bills showed last week that they could surprise some people, as they tormented a very good Seattle team.  Marshawn Lynch ran well, Trent Edwards managed the game effectively, but the strength of this team was their defense and special teams.  Special teams is vastly overlooked in the NFL, but the Bills are set up to score at least a touchdown a game just because Roscoe Parrish is returning punts.  Jacksonville's strength is their defense, and they played well last week.  But that running game got mauled by the Titans, and that has a lot to do with the decimated offensive line.  I put the Jags in the Super Bowl, and I might be regretting that pick.  If David Garrard is running for his life like he was last week, this Jags team won't go anywhere.  This is a very talented Bills team that is being overlooked by a lot of people.  They have a chance to make a huge statement this week.  I think the Bills pull off the surprise win here, and Marcus Stroud gets back at his old team.  

SEATTLE over San Francisco

-I really have no idea what to say about this game.  Seattle's defense looked very, very bad against the Bills, and the offense has maybe 1/2 a receiver left.  I think Matt Hasselbeck should just cash in, take the season off, spend time with Mike Holmgren on the sidelines, and wait for next year.  Seattle is going nowhere with the offense they throw out there.  But in the weak, weak NFC West, Seattle is the prom queen of the local high school.  I'm picking them over San Francisco because, well, it's San Francisco.  This team is as dysfunctional as any.  The basically picked up their quarterback off the street, kicked their former first round pick to the ground, and are wasting away good players like Frank Gore and Patrick Willis.  Where the hell has this team come from, anyway?  San Francisco used to be the class of the NFC back in the 90s, and even earlier this decade with the Jeff Garcia led teams.  Something happened along the way, and it'll be a long haul for a once upon a time NFL powerhouse.

Atlanta over TAMPA BAY

-This has the potential to be a season breaker for the Buccaneers.  They've already lost to the Saints, and if they lose this one, they'll fall to 0-2 within their own division.  Ouch.  Good thing though: they're playing the Falcons.  The Falcons are like the new I-think-I'm-so-tough bullies in high school.  They come in, beat up on the little guys, get people thinking that they can roll with the big boys.  But then comes along the real bullies, the defenders of the hallways, and puts them in their place.  The Falcons beat up on a weak Lions defense last week, but now they face a perennial top 5 defense in Tampa Bay.  Matt Ryan will feel his first rookie jitters, and I don't think Michael Turner will even gain half the yards he gained last week.  Plus, Tampa Bay seems play pretty well with Brian Griese at the helm (for some odd, odd reason).  The defense will carry the Bucs to a win in this one.

NEW YORK JETS over New England

-This would've made for one hell of a game.  Brett Favre vs. Tom Brady.  Mangini vs. The Genius. Spygate.  So much history surrounds these rivals.  And yet, the entire scope of the game changed in 8 minutes.  Now with Brady out, the Jets become the clear favorites in the AFC East.  I think this'll make for a decent game, just for the fact that the Patriots defense will give Favre his first test in his return to the NFL.  But lets be real: the Patriots are not the Patriots without #12.  Cassel is not the next Brady, and this team will not play the same way without him.  It'll be interesting to see how Randy Moss reacts.  Will he become the leader of the team, or will he return to the disgruntled receiver whose receivers could only throw 20 yards?  I longed for a gun slinging, MVP quarterback battle when I saw this game on the schedule.  Now all it'll be is a test of Favre's willingness to play in the NFL and an Eric Mangini smile fest.

ARIZONA over Miami

-Do we really have to talk about this game?  Miami looked okay last week.  Okay is the key word.  They have a lot of work to do on their defense, and they need a few receivers.  But if there's any man who can turn a team around, it's Bill Parcells.  Arizona has been my sleeper pick for the past two years, only to disappoint me and make me look like a fool in front of my friends.  Then, of course, they take their "quarterback of the future" and replace him with a former grocery boy.  Okay, so Warner is pretty good quarterback, probably even better than Matt Leinart right now.  I'm just bitter because I drafted Leinart in one of my fantasy leagues.  Stupid, stupid sleeper picks.  Here's hoping Warner throws only to Fitzgerald, leaving Anquan Boldin to pout and piss off Warner and the Cardinals front office so much that they have no choice but to trade him to my Cowboys.  Romo to Boldin sounds so nice...

DENVER over San Diego

-This is probably the one pick I'm wavering on.  Jay Cutler looked great against Oakland last week.  But that's the problem.  He looked great against Oakland.  I've been enamored with Jay Cutler ever since Denver traded up to get him.  When a coach trades up to select a hand picked quarterback, you have to have faith in that player.  Not to mention that Mike Shanahan is a genius.  Cutler and rookie Eddie Royal developed an instant chemistry last week, and both complimented each other well.  With the return of Brandon Marshall, Cutler will have one more target to throw to, opening up this offense even more.  But San Diego played well last week too.  With the exception for that last second TD pass, the defense played well enough against the pass to give the rehabbed offense a chance.  Philip Rivers showed his knee was more than alright, but LT is listed as questionable (although, there's no way he doesn't play in this game).  I also think that the Chargers will miss Shawn Merriman more than people think.  I'm leaning towards Denver in this game, just because Marshall is returning and Cutler is out to show he's better than Rivers.  Speaking of, isn't this just one of the best new rivalries you've seen?  I see the Rivers and Cutler rivalry as heated as Shaq and Kobe, except none having won a championship.  Rivers says his trash talking days are over, but before you know it, he'll be out at midnight "freestyle" rapping about how he's been to the playoffs more than Cutler: "Last year, I gave New England a scare, and my knee still looked better than Cutler's hair...".

PITTSBURGH over Cleveland

-Cleveland came into this season with high, high expectations.  They went 10-6 last year, barely missing the playoffs.  Why?  They lost to the Steelers twice.  This can and probably will happen again, except the Browns wont finish 10-6 this year, at least not after last weeks showing against Dallas. This is a must win game for Cleveland.  Only problem is that they won't.  I can't wait for the point in the game when Browns fans start calling for Brady Quinn, only to have NBC focus their cameras on Quinn, who's wearing the look of someone who just found out he has to go one on one with Jason Bourne in a cage match.  The odds are not pretty.  I wouldn't want to be a quarterback playing in a game against this Steelers defense.  They looked awfully good against the Texans last week.  Big Ben is hurt, but with Willie Parker back to form, the offense should be okay.  Watch out for Santonio Holmes as well.  This could be his breakout game.

DALLAS over Philadelphia (Game of the week)

-As an NFL fan, this game makes me excited.  A great rivalry game.  Two great teams going at it, both with something to prove this year.  Donovan McNabb looks to have regained form, and the Cowboys offense and Tony Romo looked glorious.  But as a Cowboys fan, I'm shaking in my boots.  The Eagles have always played well against us.  But this Eagles team legitimately scares the cracker jacks out of me.  McNabb knows how to pick apart this defense.  He's always found a way to make plays, whether it be passing or running the ball.  This is a new defense that he's facing though.  It'll be interesting to see if the Cowboys blitz a lot or if they stay back in coverage after McNabb went crazy last week.  Another key point for the Cowboys: the offensive line has to play as well as they did last week.  Jim Johnson does a great job at designed blitz schemes to disrupt the quarterback, so the line has to keep up the good work and keep Romo on his feet.  I think the Cowboys are just too strong for the Eagles though.  Felix Jones provides nice depth in the backfield, and Terrell Owens is on a mission to again prove that he's better in the Cowboys uniform.  Cowboys win a close one on Monday night.