Week 2 Picks

Last week I went 11-5 in my NFL picks, which do not factor in the point spread. And now, the picks for week 2 in the league...where they play......for pay...



Sunday

Arizona Cardinals (1-0) @ Atlanta Falcons (0-1): Last week the Falcons lost a hard fought game with the Steelers in Pittsburgh 15-9 and the Cardinals beat the Rams in St. Louis 17-13. The Cardinals are still developing chemistry between new QB Derek Anderson and WR Larry Fitzgerald, meanwhile the Falcons are well settled with franchise QB Matt Ryan and a quality defense. One cause of concern for the Falcons has to be RB Michael Turner's lack of production, but that could be attributed to a superior Pittsburgh defense in week 1. Pick: ATLANTA



Baltimore Ravens (1-0) @ Cincinnati Bengals (0-1): The Ravens won 10-9 in a low scoring defensive struggle against the Jets at the new Giants Stadium and the Bengals were shredded by Tom Brady and the Patriots 38-24 in Foxboro. Last year the Bengals swept the season series from the Ravens en route to winning the AFC North, but the Ravens have added big play WRs Anquan Boldin and TJ Houshmandzadeh to make a run at winning the division and the AFC. If they're going to beat the Bengals they'll have to stop Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco with a suspect secondary and keep RB Cedric Benson contained. The Ravens' run defense should be good enough to keep Benson from running wild and I think they'll get enough pressure on QB Carson Palmer to keep the passing game in check. Pick: BALTIMORE



Kansas City Chiefs (1-0) @ Cleveland Browns (0-1): The Chiefs beat San Diego 21-14 at home on Monday night in the rain and the Browns lost 17-14 to the Bucks in Tampa last week. The Chiefs defense and special teams looked very good against San Diego and the Browns lost to Tampa Bay, predicted by many to be one of the worst teams in the league. Pick: KANSAS CITY



Chicago Bears (1-0) @ Dallas Cowboys (0-1): The Bears beat the Lions 19-14, and were fortunate to do so, and the Cowboys lost in Washington 13-7. Dallas did not look like a team that should be good enough to threaten to win the NFC in losing to the Redskins. An awful play to end the half resulted in a fumble and recovery for a touchdown for the Redskins pretty much summed up the night for the Cowboys. The Bears are fortunate that the NFL rulebook saved them from a loss to the Lions after WR Calvin Johnson made what seemed to be a game-winning touchdown catch for Detroit. Dallas should be able to win this game. Pick: DALLAS



Philadelphia Eagles (0-1) @ Detroit Lions (0-1): Philadelphia rallied behind QB Michael Vick, but lost 27-20 to Green Bay in week 1 and the Lions lost on an unfortunate call to the Bears in Chicago, 19-14. Both teams will be without their starting QBs from week 1, but for the Eagles this seems to be an improvement. The Lions did look like a team that really is improving, but they should be overmatched by the Eagles. Pick: PHILADELPHIA



Buffalo Bills (0-1) @ Green Bay Packers (1-0): Buffalo looked punchless at home against Miami in their 15-10 week 1 loss and the Packers hung on at Philadelphia, 27-20. Even without RB Ryan Grant the Packers should be good enough to get to 2-0. Pick: GREEN BAY



Pittsburgh Steelers (1-0) @ Tennessee Titans (1-0): The Steelers slugged it out with Atlanta and won 15-9 in OT and the Titans rolled over the Raiders 38-13 at home. The Steelers have a top 5 defense, which they are going to need against QB Vince Young and RB Chris Johnson. Johnson will have a tough time getting his 100 yards, but I think the Steelers will struggle behind backup QB Dennis Dixon, who should face relentless pressure from Jeff Fisher's relentless defense. Pick: TENNESSEE



Miami Dolphins (1-0) @ Minnesota Vikings (0-1): Miami relied on its defense to hold on for a 15-10 win in Buffalo and the Vikings played a low scoring physical contest against the Saints in New Orleans, but lost 14-9. Without Pro Bowl WR Sidney Rice the Vikings could not get much going offensively against the defending Super Bowl champions, but they should have an easier (but not easy) time of it against the Dolphins, who held the one dimensional Bills down all day. WR Percy Harvin should help the Vikings free up RB Adrian Peterson for some big gains. Pick: MINNESOTA



Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-0) @ Carolina Panthers (0-1): The Bucs beat Cleveland last week, 17-14, and the Panthers lost to the Giants, 31-18. QB Matt Moore did not look good for the Panthers in week 1, and certainly not as good as he looked in the last few games of last season. The Bucs won one of the few games last week they'll win all year. Pick: CAROLINA



Seattle Seahawks (1-0) @ Denver Broncos (0-1): The Seahawks created a lot of doubts about the NFC West in beating the 49ers, 31-6, and the Broncos lost in the final minutes to the Jaguars, 24-17. Both of these teams come from each conference's weakest division, the West in both cases, and they're both probably the 2nd or 3rd best team in their division. Seattle has the edge at QB with Matt Hasselbeck, who is probably on the 2nd tier of the league's QBs, and the Broncos over the last two years have rid themselves of two of their better players, QB Jay Cutler and WR Brandon Marshall. Denver started 6-0 last year, but closed 2-8 under first year coach Josh McDaniels. While playing in the thin air of Denver is an edge for the Broncos, I don't think it's enough. Pick: SEATTLE



St. Louis Rams (0-1) @ Oakland Raiders (0-1): The Rams lost 17-13 at home to the Cardinals in QB Sam Bradford's debut and the Raiders were beaten up by the Titans, 38-13. These two teams are bad, but the Rams are supposed to be worse. Pick: OAKLAND



New England Patriots (1-0) @ New York Jets (0-1): The Patriots opened up strongly and sent a message to the rest of the AFC East in their impressive 38-24 victory over Cincinnati at home and the Jets did nothing but cause panic and questions in doing very little in a 10-9 loss to the Ravens. There is little doubt that Jets CB Darrelle Revis will shut down whoever he lines up against, whether it is WRs Randy Moss or Wes Welker, but the Jets will still have to cover the other, and they looked very poor against the Ravens WRs on Monday night; the Jets did, however, shut down the Ravens running game. Playing a disciplined game and avoiding penalties will be crucial to the Jets' success. On offense the Jets are going to have to find their game quickly, because they do not want to dig themselves too deep a hole while they wait for WR Santonio Holmes to come back from his suspension. While it is hard to call a game in week 2 must win, this is pretty close.

I also think that the Jets might be better off if this game were up in Foxboro because it might galvanize them into the "us against the world" mindset that they seemed to adopt during last season's run to the AFC Championship. Another reason that they would be better off being on the road this week is that if things don't start out well for the Jets, the crowd could turn ugly and then panic may set in. Pick: NEW ENGLAND



Jacksonville Jaguars (1-0) @ San Diego Chargers (0-1): The Jaguars used a 4th quarter touchdown to beat the Broncos 24-17 and the Chargers struggled in the rain in Kansas City while losing 21-14 to the Chiefs. I think this game is very similar to the Chicago-Dallas game and I think the Chargers will keep RB Maurice Jones-Drew in check and get back to .500. Pick: SAN DIEGO



Houston Texans (1-0) @ Washington Redskins (1-0): The Texans finally beat the Colts, winning 34-24, and the Redskins knocked off the Cowboys 13-7. The Redskins relied on their defense to hold the Cowboys down, although it was a hold by the Cowboys that was the difference in this game on the last play. The Texans defeated their longtime nemesis, Indianpolis, and now may be ready to break through and make the playoffs for the first time in team history. Houston should use the momentum from that win to defeat the Skins, who may be too satisfied after defeating their rivals last week. Pick: HOUSTON



New York Giants (1-0) @ Indianapolis Colts (0-1): The Giants beat the Panthers to open the new Giants Stadium and the Colts fell to division rival Houston in week 1. The Giants may be able to exploit the porous Colt run defense, but even if they do that it is hard to imagine that they will be able to stop Peyton Manning, who will be well prepared to prevent his team from falling to 0-2. Pick: INDIANAPOLIS



Monday Night Football



New Orleans Saints (1-0) @ San Francisco 49ers (0-1): The Saints opened their title defense with a win over the Vikings and the 49ers, picked by many to win the NFC West, were humbled by the Seahawks. I still think the 49ers are going to win the NFC West, but they're going to have to do it after an 0-2 start. Pick: NEW ORLEANS and 43 total points for the tie-breaker