NFL week 2 picks

NFL picks week 2
So these are going up a bit early cause I’m not sure when I’ll be able to get them up over the weekend and I’d prefer them to be early rather than late.

Before I get to the picks, a few things we learned from week 1:
I knew this already, but it was very much highlighted. My NFC picks (5-2)are much better than my AFC picks(2-5). Whether I just know the NFC better or whether the AFC just has a few more unpredictable teams, that’s how it is. My 8-8 start in week 1 was disappointing, but not entirely unexpected. Week 1 is always tricky and a few games like San Fransisco vs Seattle where one team is talked way up and the other way down cause everyone problems. I’m settling in to my laughing chair as I saw a surprising number of people pick the Raiders to be good or even make the playoffs. Jason Campbell isn’t going to change much moving from one bad organization to another. Finally, I’ve come to the realization that when God created our amazing bodies, he clearly didn’t have football in mind. I’m finding it very frustrating to be a fan of a sport where it’s a miracle not to have 2 or 3 key players lost for the year throughout the season, and having 2 go down week 1 isn’t entirely outrageous.

Now to the picks:
NFC

CHI vs DAL- I’m not ready to tag Jay Cutler as a bum yet, but you have to expect him to turn the ball over to the Dallas defense a couple times. Even if the Cowboys manage to shoot themselves in the foot as much as they did against the Skins, those turnovers will be the difference. Cowboys win.

PHI vs DET- I was a bit worried about the Stafford-Johnson combo, but with Stafford hurt and not much time for the two to get in sync even if Stafford plays, I’m far less threatened. Despite some serious lapses, the Eagles defense showed the ability to stop even the Packers offense when it counted. Should it come down to the end, they’ll be able to do the same. Eagles win.

ARI vs ATL- The Cardinals struggled with the Rams. The Falcons struggled with the Steelers defense. The latter is much more acceptable. Falcons win.

TB vs CAR- Not impressed with either team, but I’ve got to pick someone. Now I’m going to do exactly what I said not do last week. Rely on the Panthers good run at the end of last season as the only really positive thing going for either side. No, beating the Browns doesn’t quite count as positive, not yet. Panthers win.

NO vs SF- We know the Saints will be good. As for San Fransisco, they’re either not nearly as good as we thought they’d be, or (and I suspect the following) they’ll put up a good fight and make this a game. Either way, though, the Saints prevail.

AFC

BAL vs CIN- The Ravens offense was held to 10 points by the Jets defense. The Bengals defense isn’t the Jets defense, but expect them to figure things out a lot more than they did in week 1. This game comes down to the Ravens ability to stop the Bengals offense and I think they’re up to that challenge. Ravens win.

KC vs CLE- I never like to jump on the bandwagon of a lower echelon team that managed a high caliber upset, but fortunately, favoring someone over Cleveland doesn’t quite equate to jumping on a bandwagon. Nevertheless, expect a low scoring game that could turn out to be a kick/punt returning battle that could go either way. I’ll give the Chiefs the edge, though. Kansas City is 2-0?

PIT vs TEN- This game is in Chris Johnson’s hands, but comes down to Dennis Dixon/the absence of Roethlisberger. Last week, Dixon had a good outing…and still only scored 9 points (the OT touchdown was a one play 50 yard run). If Chris Johnson can do his thing, Titans roll.

NE vs NYJ- Another thing I learned from week 1 is that the Patriots offense deserves respect, and the Jets offense does not. The Patriots offense should bail out a weak defense on multiple occasions throughout the season. Mark Sanchez seems to have taken a good step back from his rookie season, and unless he reinvents the wheel of throwing the ball downfield and making plays, the Jets defense will be required to bail out their offense multiple times this year. That task just may be too much to ask against Tom Brady and Co. Patriots win.

JAC vs SD- In my opinion, San Diego’s struggles had as much to do with the rain and slop as it did with the excellent performance by Kansas City. Rain affected passes, slipping receivers (including on the final 4th down play in which the receiver may have otherwise caught the pass and tied the game), and crowd noise hobbled an offense that looked quite able to move the ball even so. Chargers correct mistakes, look great, and win.

INT

BUF vs GB- The Packers offense looked shaky at times and still put up 27 points against the Philly defense. No worries here about an offensive drop off from last year. And Buffalo…I don’t feel the need defend picking against them. It’s possible this will be the last time I’ll even talk about them in this column. Packers win handily.

MIA vs MIN- Concerns about Minnesota: the Favre-Harvin connection and the offense gelling in general. Concerns about Miami: They only beat Buffalo 15-10…um, okay, THIS might be the last time I talk about Buffalo. The positives: An extended week of practice should help the Vikings offense, so they should do better, and especially in week 1, a win is a win, no matter how ugly. They did what they needed to do to get the win, so they deserve credit. In the end, I’ll take Miami to pull the upset and have Favre wondering if it was a good idea to come back out of retirement.

STL vs OAK- It’s hard to know whether to attribute the Rams contention with Arizona to an improved St Louis team, or to the Warnerless Cardinals, but their performance was certainly better than that of the Raiders. Bradford gets his first NFL win.

SEA vs DEN- What do you do when a lowly team blows away a highly hyped team in week 1? First, don’t over react. The Seahawks and Matt Hasselbeck seem to have an offense worthy of recognition again. It remains to be seen if Denver will show any flashes of their 6-0 start last year or whether they will remain a mediocre team with limited potential. The Seahawks probably aren’t contenders yet, but Pete Carroll seems to have the team fired up to prove some people wrong this year, and they’ll be able to ride the momentum from last week to victory over Denver.

HOU vs WAS- I’ve seen that Washington/Dallas game several times before. The Skins offense doing almost nothing, and their defense bailing them out time and time again against all odds. Before, however, the offense they were shutting down was McNabb and the Eagles. So if the rest of fans haven’t figured out how good the Redskins defense is, take it from me. They’re disgusting. Despite this fact, however, their offense held them back to a 4-12 record last year, and it didn’t seem to get any better with McNabb present, though it was against the Dallas defense so it’s too early to judge. A tougher test for the Skins defense awaits in the Texans offense which can now apparently run the ball as good as they can throw it, which has to be frightening to anyone with Houston on their schedule. Until Washington’s offense shows me something, I can’t rely on their defense to carry them to wins against good teams. Texans win again.

NYG vs IND- Says NBC, “A game so intriguing it only happens once every four years!” Sorry, NBC. The game you’re talking about is the World Cup Final, not the battle of the Mannings. Now that I got that off my chest, the game. Last week the Colts defense was annihilated by Houston and they were still only an untimely turnover and a play or two away from being right there if not winning. This week the defense won’t have to be worried about Andre Johnson, so they’ll be able to play against the run a lot more. If I were the colts, I’d make the Giants prove that three touchdowns from Eli Manning to Hackeem Nicks is more than a one time show before I worried about it too much. Peyton beats Eli for the second time.