Ben Roethlisberger, showing obvious disapproval of his terrible performance week 1 against the Ravens (photo via Kissing Suzy Kolber)Week 1 may just be nothing more than the beginning of a 21 week marathon towards deciding the Super Bowl, but that doesn't mean that it isn't fun to overreact to every little thing that happened. The Cleveland Browns? STILL CAN'T BE TRUSTED TO WIN! Cam Newton? CAN THROW THE FOOTBALL AFTER ALL! Tom Brady? GOD-LIKE! Buffalo? DOESN'T COMPLETELY SUCK! The Steelers? PANIC TIME! The Colts? ANDREW LUCK, HERE THEY COME! Chicago? NFC NORTH REPEAT! The Eagles and Packers offense? DID SOMEONE SAY '98 VIKINGS?
I'm joking, of course. After all, there's no way in the world that Tom Brady will finish the season with 8272 yards and 64 TDs, or that the Steelers will lose by 25 points every game, or that the Bills will finish 16-0. There's still plenty of weeks left to go and plenty more games left to be played. That said, I think there are things that we can conclude will happen throughout the rest of the year. For starters, we do know that without Peyton Manning, the Colts are not making the playoffs and might possibly not even finish 3rd in the division. We can also infer from guys like Randall Cobb and Tedd Ginn Jr. that kickoffs starting at the 35 yard line will not completely diminish the threat of the kickoff returns, that great quarterback from Rodgers to Brees to Rivers will continue to play great football is healthy, that teams like the Ravens and the and even that analysts like . But most importantly, this week shows us that it is just the beginning of a fun to watch five months of football, and I, for one, will be excited to watch it all unfold, week-by-week.
Incoherent rabble aside, time to finally do what I assume you all came for, and that is to see my picks. Week 1 didn't offer a very generous start to myself this week as it did the year before, to say the least. My record? 9-7; good but underwhelming, especially considering how mj50 finished the week 10-6. So, what will this week offer? There aren't as many close matchups to decide compared to last week, so hopefully things for myself should turn out better.
Let's begin (Note: game times are based on the Central time zone):
Oakland Raiders vs. Buffalo Bills (-3): Sunday- 12:00 p.m.
mj15's pick: Buffalo
Both teams started the 2011 season on the right foot. The Buffalo Bills crushed the Kansas City chiefs 41-7 complete with Ryan Fitzgerald (who's from Harvard, if haven't heard about 1,818 times from the media about now) throwing for over 200 yards and 4 TDs, while the Sebastian Janikowski's record-tying 63 yard field goal and Darren McFadden's 150 yards rushing helped the Raiders edge past the Broncos. Because both these teams are pretty similar, I'm just going to go ahead and believe that once again the Mike Greenberg theory will work once again and that West Coast teams will struggle playing 1 p.m./ET games on the East Coast more than they succeed (as has been the case for many number of years). Expect to see another Ryan Fitzpatrick shine yet again in this matchup over the weak Raiders pass rush.
mj50's pick: Oakland
Green Bay Packers (-10) vs. Carolina Panthers: Sunday- 12:00 p.m.
mj15's pick: Green Bay
There are two things I know for sure in this world: that Green Bay is as good, if not better, than last year and that Dom Capers and the Green Bay defense will not underestimated Cam Newton's ability as the Arizona Cardinals, and the majority of America really, did last week. If the Panthers can gain 477 yards offensively against the Cardinals and lose, what chance do they have against the defending champions?
mj50's pick: Green Bay
Arizona Cardinals vs. Washington Redskins (-3.5): Sunday- 12:00 p.m.
mj15's pick: Washington
See the Oakland/Buffalo game above for my reason why.
mj50's pick: Washington
Seattle Seahawks vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (-14): Sunday- 12:00 p.m.
mj15's pick: Pittsburgh
Yeah, so the Steelers performance against the Ravens Sunday was pretty bad. Like, most turnovers in one game (seven) since 1995 bad. Luickily for Pittsburgh, though, their next game is not against a team as good as the Ravens, but rather a much more inferior Seahawks team who needed 10 points in the 4th quarter late just to make it a 16 point deficit against San Francisco. And it's not on the road either, but in Heinz field. Expect last week's beatdown, a "humble experience" in the words of Troy Polamalu, to result in a more focused Steelers team crushing the Seahawks.
mj50's pick: Pittsburgh
Jacksonville Jaguars vs. New York Jets (-9): Sunday- 12:00 p.m.
mj15's pick: New York
Yeah, I don't know about you, but I seriously do not expect Luke McCown to be a serious threat for the Jets' talented defense.
mj50's pick: New York
Chicago Bears vs. New Orleans Saints (-6.5): Sunday- 12:00 p.m.
mj15's pick: Chicago
The Bears have had the Saints number over the years, and their front seven is one of the few in the NFL that can actually do a great job pass rushing Drew Brees. In addition, I expect to see the team both inspired and dedicated to win after the sad death of Brian Urlacher's mother, Lavoyda, on Wednesday.
Also, Jim Cornelison is the man:
mj50's pick: New Orleans
Kansas City Chiefs vs. Detroit Lions (-8): Sunday- 12:00 p.m.
mj15's pick: Detroit
Another reason for why Detroit could very well break out this season and actually contend with Green Bay and Chicago for the NFC North: their very winnable schedule to start the season. Up until the team's Thanksgiving Day showdown against Green Bay, I could very well see a possibility in which they could win 7 out of their 9 upcoming games. This Chiefs game is one of those seven, fresh off their game against the Buccaneers in which they finished in the top 15 in almost every major offensive and defensive category.
mj50's pick: Detroit
Cleveland Browns (-2.5) vs. Indianapolis Colts: Sunday- 12:00 p.m.
mj15's pick: Cleveland
It really is amazing to see how really bad really quickly the Colts have gotten without Peyton Manning under center at QB. One moment, they're the favorites to win the AFC South. Another moment we find out that Manning is out for three months, possibly three season, and all of a sudden we're talking about the possibility of the team drafting Andrew Luck because of their awful performance against Houston. Makes you just want to give Manning his 6th MVP trophy without him doing anything.
mj50's pick: Indianapolis
HALFTIME! This week's comedy clip comes from Louis C.K. I heard he's all right.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Minnesota Vikings (-3): Sunday- 12:00 p.m.
mj15's pick: Tampa Bay
Think about this for a second: in week 1, 14 out of the 32 starting quarterbacks passed for over 300 yards. Those fourteen quarterbacks ranged from the ones that you'd expect (Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers) to the ones that you might have not guessed otherwise (Rex Grossman, Chad Henne). In addition, 27 out of those 32 quarterbacks that started had at least 175 yards, including Kerry Collins, Matt Hasselback and Luke freakin' McCown. And how did Donovan McNabb do? He passed for 39 yards. 39 yards! I don't care how good Adrian Peterson might be this week; I am not going to pick the team for as long as they have that in-his-twilight passer, not unless he proves me otherwise.
mj50's pick: Minnesota
Dallas Cowboys (-3) vs. San Francisco 49ers: Sunday- 3:05 p.m.
mj15's pick: Dallas
God Bless Tony Romo. His team had a 14 point lead with 10 minutes to go Sunday night, and all he had to do was to not screw up and turn the ball over to secure the Dallas victory. Yet, what did he do? He fumbles the football with the Cowboys three yards away from the endzone, and he throws an interception, allowing the Jets to score 10 out of their 14 fourth quarter points to help New York get the win instead. It's like he practically does these things on cue. Painful loss aside, I still have the Cowboys defeating the 49ers. San Francisco's offense just doesn't have the firepower to complete with Dallas, and there's no way that Tony Romo will repeat his late game struggles two weeks in a row.
mj50's pick: San Francisco
San Diego Chargers vs. New England Patriots (-7): Sunday- 3:15 p.m.
mj15's pick: New England
After the game that Tom Brady had last week (517 yards and 4TDs, joining Y.A. Title and Norm Van Brocklin as the only quarterback to post similar stats in a single game), only a madman would pick the Patriots to lose.
mj50's pick: New England
Cincinnati Bengals vs. Denver Broncos (-3.5): Sunday- 3:15 p.m.
mj15's pick: Denver
Because Kyle Orton will be driven to avoid the "WE WANT TEBOW!" chants from stubborn Broncos fans for at least another week.
mj50's pick: Denver
Houston Texans (-3) vs. Miami Dolphins: Sunday- 3:15 p.m.
mj15's pick: Miami
This was a tough game to choose. On the one hand, Houston is coming off giving a beatdown to the Colts and Indianapolis, with Arian Foster expected to return on the field. On the other hand, the Texans were expected to win the game against the Colts (as I assume every team facing them will for the rest of the year) while Chad Henne (who unexpectedly threw for over 400 yards last week) is projected to have another decent game against a Texans passing defense that I think is still pretty bad regardless of the addition of Daniel Manning. Also, if there's anyone that could potentially stop Houston's rushing attack it would have to be the team that finished in the top ten in rushing defense last season. With that in mind, I've decided to go with the Dolphins at home.
mj50's pick: Miami
Philadelphia Eagles (-3) vs. Atlanta Falcons: Sunday- 7:20 p.m.
mj15's pick: Atlanta
Because Georgia Dome is to the Falcons since 2008 as Broncos Stadium is to Boise State: they hardly ever lose there. Also, don't think for one minute that Matt Ryan isn't going to do whatever it takes to win over the crowd during the game, most of whom will definitely be sporting their old #7 Falcons jersey in support of their former franchise QB playing on the opposing team (Atlanta, after all, is the anti-Boston).
mj50's pick: Atlanta
St. Louis Rams vs. New York Giants (-7): Monday- 7:30 p.m.
mj15's pick: New York
The injuries to the Rams' three best offensive weapons (Sam Bradford, Stephen Jackson, Danny Amendola) does leave me a bit worried about the team's chances of succeeding against this Giants defense, even though the Giants defense itself is chock full of injuries to important players. Also, this is the first time that this relatively inexperienced Rams team has played a Monday Night Football game in five years. Are they ready for such a big spotlight? I hardly think so.
mj50's pick: New York
RECAP
The Undertaker at "WrestleMania" Lock of the Week: Pittsburgh over Seattle
The Virginia Commonwealth over Kansas in the 2011 Elite Eight Upset of the Week: Chicago over New Orleans
The "Mad Men" vs. "Breaking Bad" "I'm Not Sure" Pick: Atlanta over Philadelphia
Be sure to come back next Friday as I recap my week 2 picks and move on to predicting week 3. Enjoy the games, everybody!
Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15
If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you just have any suggestions or tips for my next blog entry, e-mail me at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mails are greatly appreciated.
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