NFL Picks Week 1: 3 Teams That Will Give False Hope with Week 1 Wins

All 32 teams are in action during the opening week of the season. Obviously, what that means is that 16 teams will win this week.

Well, only 12 teams make the playoffs. So, we're going to have at least four teams that win that will not make the playoffs. We're also going to have a few teams lose that will come back and make the playoffs.

But we're not going positive here. Let's take a look at the teams who will win their opener but will won't make the playoffs.

Arizona Cardinals

The Cardinals are playing at home against Carolina. The Panthers' quarterback situation is stable, but it's nowhere near good.

Cam Newton has been named as the starter. In all honesty, as long as he stays healthy, he should remain the Carolina starter for the 2011 season.

But he's not shown himself terribly ready for the NFL game. At least, he hasn't yet shown himself to be ready for the NFL game.

The Cardinals should handle this one with relative ease. But they do have their own issues. The main one is that they have invested a lot of talent and hope into Kevin Kolb, who has never played a full NFL season.

Arizona plays in the NFC West. Winning the division there is not impossible, but still not likely. But against Carolina, look for Kolb to find Larry Fitzgerald early and often.

Prediction: Cardinals-27, Panthers-13

Oakland Raiders

This is actually an interesting game. In 2011, I fully expect the Raiders to regress and the Broncos to progress from what they did in 2011.

But let's look for that evening out to come later in the season. Denver will have a hard time stopping Darren McFadden, who torched the Broncos in two meetings last year.

I know that Oakland won all six games against AFC West opponents last year. Still, I like the Chargers in that division. They have learned their lessons from the past and will start the season in a much better way this year.

Oakland's pass defense will come back to hurt them, especially in the two games against Philip Rivers and the Chargers.

Kyle Orton and Denver will get some passing yards, but not enough to make a difference in this game. The Raiders will win this one, but will struggle for the remainder of the season. Denver will lose, but eventually find a better stride, although neither will make the playoffs.

Prediction: Raiders-34, Broncos-24

Tennessee Titans

Okay, I am picking the Titans in this one. Because of that, I am going to focus my attention on the Titans. But if you're picking the Jaguars to win this one, you can insert their team name in this slot.

The winner of the AFC South will be either Indianapolis or Houston. Granted, the division is much more open if Peyton Manning's injury causes him to miss several weeks, but Houston is the top team if that happens.

The Jaguars just released David Garrard, who was the team's starting quarterback. I know they have done something similar with Byron Leftwich in the past, but Luke McCown is a little more of a known quantity than David Garrard was, and that's not a good thing.

Chris Johnson is finally signed and in camp. Frankly, I don't expect the loss of Training Camp to hurt him too much.

The Jaguars did a reasonable job containing Johnson in 2010, especially in the team's second matchup. Still, I expect him to be the difference maker.

The Titans will pick up the win here, but they won't have the firepower to stay with Houston or Indianapolis (assuming Manning finds the field) for the balance of the season.

Prediction: Titans-23, Jaguars-17