Week 2 Picks

Week 1 Picks went to my favor. I think I'm leading Mister Joe Miller by a score of 10-6 vs 7-9. Joe's picks are in brown and mine are in orange. Go Browns!


Car (+6.5) @ ATL
ATL. We have now run out of fingers and are on to toes to count Delhomme's total turnovers his last 2 games played. That's not good. Matt Ryan takes care of the ball and of Carolina today.
ATL. Atlanta is my sleeper pick for 2009. Bold prediction: Ten regular season wins for the Falcons and maybe more.

MIN (-9.5) @ DET
MIN. Its bad when 9.5 points isn't even tempting. Stafford to Johnson may end up being something special down the road, but right now Peterson is the something special and his count to 2000+ yards continues with another huge game today.
MIN. Lions will need more points than this.

CIN (+9.5) @ GB
CIN. If Cincy's offense is as bad as it looked last week then there is now way they cover but I think they have to be better than that and they keep this game relatively close. Also, I think the Bengals defense isn't bad and will cause a couple TOs to balance out the lack of offense.
CIN. The Bengals aren't great and they're playing to a tough crowd but I think they cover the spread here.

HOU (+7.5) @ TEN
HOU. Houston will cover because the pass rush of the Titans is not what it was last year without the big man in the middle. Big Ben put up great numbers on the Titans last week and the Houston offense is, supposedly, more high powered than the Steelers.
HOU. A team relocates, changes colors and names then comes back into town to face the new home team. These factors will keep the game close.

OAK (+3.5) @ KC
OAK. I like Oakland to win the one outright. They run the ball all game and just make Russell make 2-3 throws. This one stays close throughout and Janikowski knocks home a long FG to win the game for the Raiders (in Berman voice).
KC. Wow. I'm glad I don't have to watch this game.

NE (-5.5) @ NYJ
NE. I really want to pick the Jets to win outright in this one but until they beat NE once I can't pick against the Pats. When you win 8 straight in someone else's stadium, there is a reason. And that reason is the QB for the Pats who is back for more this season and also got called out by maybe the dumbest defender in the league. That worked out real well for the last guy to do that to TomTom.
NE. Keep on talking, Gang Green. The Pats win this one in an absolute blow out.

NO (+1.5) @ PHI
NO. This line must have been made before McNabb became McOUT of the game. The Saints will win my 2 TDs and Brees will again throw multiple TDs in his quest to break 2 amazing QB records this season.
NO. If the weather was worse, I'd go with Philly. But on a nice field, the Saints are tough to beat anywhere.

StL (+10.5) @ WASH
WAS. StL is terrible. Washington will not play well but it doesn't matter because what's St. Louis going to do about it. Steven Jackson plays 1 v 11 today and has a decent game but its not near enough.
STL. Yes, the Rams are bad but I think they'll stick close to the underachieving Redskins

ARI (+3.5) @ JAX
ARI. The Super Bowl Losers will come back off of last week's poor showing and defeat the not-so-good Jags. Kurt Warner may not make it through the game and maybe will see some Leinert power but either way Arizona makes some big plays to take the game.
ARI. Surely the defending NFC Champs won't start the year 0-2...

SEA (+1.5) @ SF
SF. I picked Seattle to win the division but this early season divisional matchup will go to the 49ers. Singletary has the 49ers full of confidence and their D is for real. It will be a close game but SF at home will have the advantage.
SF. The 49ers are only a player or two away from returning to their old glory.

TB (+4.5) @ BUF
BUF. Tampa got picked apart by Romo last week and Trent Edwards looked pretty good in the no huddle vs the Pats so I expect a big passing day for the Bills. TO actually gets to make some catches today and even scores a TD. GET YOUR POPCORN READY!!!
BUF. The Bills blew it last week but against the QB-less Bucs, a win is certain.

PIT (-2.5) @ CHI
CHI. I like Chicago in this one because their D is going to pressure Ben all day and Cutler cannot be as terrible as he was last week. Polamolu will be a big injury for Pitt and the Bears will take advantage.
PIT. Pains me to pick them but the Steelers minus Polamalu are better than the Bears minus Urlacher.

CLE (+3.5) @ DEN
CLE. You guessed it, Cleveland will win this one outright ending a terrible drought against the Mile High City Team. If Cleveland doesn't win it will be because they can't stop the run OR can't stop Brandon Marshall OR can't move the ball OR throw to Robert Royal 9 times and Braylon 5 times. But like those things ever happen to Cleveland.
DEN. There's no point in picking the Browns for anything, ever.

BAL (+4.5) @ SD
BAL. AFC North pride. Baltimore's D is still a scary force even though Brodie Croyle was not impressed last week. Flacco continues to progress at a rapid rate and puts up stats in this one comparable to Rivers.
BAL. The Ravens will give the Steelers a run for their money for the AFC North this season.

NYG (+2.5) @ DAL
DAL. I don't know how Dallas will do it but they will beat the Giants. It could have something to do with playing in a BILLION dollar stadium in front of a NFL-record crowd. I don't know how pretty the game will be but the stadium will look awesome, well unless the scoreboard gets hit again.
NYG. Playing underneath that scoreboard reminds me of the dogs getting squashed in A Fish Called Wanda.

IND (-3.5) @ MIA
IND. Pretty boring Monday night game for me. The Dolphins could be really bad this year again and Indy hasn't been bad in a decade. Oh yeah, and I hate Joey Porter.
IND. Dolphins overachieved using gimmicks last season while the Colts are simply solid year after year.