So last week wasn’t the greatest but also wasn’t the worst. We went 7-9 in a valiant attempt to do well in picking the winners. We didn’t pick a single game correctly based on perfect score but we weren’t really expecting that to happen. Now with all the information we learned from last week let’s start picking games.

New York Giants vs. Washington Football Team 7:20 PM Thursday

Let’s start with the positives. Saquon’s back! But he got slaughtered by a very good defense in the Broncos last week and the task just gets harder from there. WFT defense looks even better than last year with the defensive front leading that pack. Even with the loss to the Chargers last week, they put up a fight to say the least. Now they’re playing an offense that only scored 13 points last week. This should be a good division win for Washington.

Giants 10 WFT 20

Las Vegas Raiders vs. Pittsburgh Steelers 12:00 PM Sunday

The Raiders looked really good against the Ravens only a couple of days ago. They’re now playing a very experienced Steelers defense. They are also coming off of a class performance against the Bills. I don’t know how much Darren Waller can do for this Raiders team, especially when his QB Derek Carr is getting rushed by 6 all pro linemen and edge rushers.

Raiders 13 Steelers 28

San Francisco 49ers vs. Philadelphia Eagles 

These are two teams I am very surprised about for two different reasons. The Eagles showed me that they are somehow for real, even if they played the flimsy defense of Atlanta. The 9ers showed me they have holes on that defense. When Jared Goff is shredding your defense for over 300 yds and 3 TD’s you have some problems. The 9ers front 7 are so good to ignore and with how great Jimmy G played, I expect a 2-0 start for San Fran.

49ers 30 Eagles 24

Houston Texans vs. Cleveland Browns 

The Texans surprised me last week with a win over the Jags. But I’m not going to pretend like they’re a good enough team to beat anyone with a half decent team. Browns by a lot. 

Browns 38 Texans 13

Denver Broncos vs. Jacksonville Jaguars

The Jags disappointed me last week. It might be because they lost to the Texans or just that Urban Meyer isn’t as NFL ready as I expected either way. If Trevor Lawerence and Urban thought it was a hard game last week, they got another thing coming. The Broncos were amazing last week and the defense looks fully healthy, which is huge while Teddy-two gloves looked perfect for what they needed. I expected this to be a defensive masterclass from the Broncos. 

Broncos 21 Jags 10

New Orleans Saints vs. Carolina Panthers

Well that was surprising. If you were gonna tell me famous Jameis was going to show out and throw for 4 TD’s and 0 INT’s I would’ve thought you were crazy. But the Saints balled out last week, including the dominant defense that we saw last year as well. The Panthers also surprised me. Darnold looked really good over a very bad Jets defense, so I’m not going to overreact to it too much. A big test is the Saints defense and I do not think this is going to go in favor of the panthers.

Saints 31 Panthers 21

Los Angeles Rams vs. Indianapolis Colts

The Rams are for real. Matty Staff looked like a top 5 QB in the league, the offensive line balled out over a good defensive front in the Bears, and the defense looked stellar especially in coverage situations. The Colts were the exact opposite. They disappointed me in many different ways. Jonathan Taylor looked sluggish and couldn’t catch the ball. Wentz looked hurt, in which he was. And the defense couldn’t stop anything Russ threw. Will they bounce back? Probably. Am I still picking Matty Staff and the Rams? Yes.

Rams 34 Colts 23 

Buffalo Bills vs. Miami Dolphins

Two different sides of the spectrum here. The Dolphins looked good. They beat the Belichek led Patriots. The defense was stellar and the offense did just enough for a win. The Bills looked bad. And by bad, I mean put in a cage like a dog. They couldn’t get anything going on offense and although the defense played solid they were playing 80 year old Big Ben so. Still the Bills are playing a way lesser defense than the Steelers and Josh Allen should cook. 

Bills 27 Dolphins 20

New England Patriots vs. New York Jets 

Yes the Jets played well. But they scored 14 points on a terrible Carolina defense. This is an easy one for me. Belichek off of a loss is almost unbeatable. And it’s also the Jets.

Patriots 31 Jets 17

Cincinnati Bengals vs. Chicago Bears

The Bears aren’t here to play. It shows in the defense letting up big plays deep downfield and it shows in Andy Dalton’s repeat four and outs. Nagy’s play calls are terrible and the defense looks lost letting up literal wide open plays down the field. The Bengals though. They aren’t bad? Beat a decent team in the Vikings and on offense looked explosive. Ja’marr Chase looked incredible (still could’ve used the o-lineman) and Burrow looked healthy. Let’s hope Khalil Mack doesn’t kill him. 

Bengals 38 Bears 24

Atlanta Falcons vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 3:05 PM

Well this might be the easiest one on this slate of games. The Falcons defense looks and plays like a flag football team. Bet the bucs and the over. 

Falcons 13 Bucs 45

Minnesota Vikings vs. Arizona Cardinals 3:05 PM

If this was week one I would pick the Vikings. But with the poor play of Primetime Kirk Cousins and the defense losing to a Bengals offensive line that compares to swiss cheese. Basically they scare me. A lot. The Cardinals looked so good beating up on a good Titans team both offensively and defensively. Kyler threw for over 250 yards and 4 TD’s while Chandler Jones had 5 sacks and two forced fumbles to go on top of that. With all of that being known. I still think it’s going to be a good game, but I’ll have to take Kliff Kingsbury’s dangerous squad in the Cardinals

Vikings 27 Cardinals 31

Tennessee Titans vs. Seattle Seahawks

Why do I ever doubt Pete Carroll and Russ at the start of the year? The Seahawks are one of the most predictable teams every year. The first half of the season they look unstoppable and then their whole running back room gets injured, resulting in 45 year old Marshawn Lynch to be their RB1. But the Titans looked so bad last week that
I can’t see them having another terrible week. So you know what I’m going to do. Doubt Pete Carroll and Russ at the start of the season.

Titans 27 Seahawks 21

Dallas Cowboys vs. Los Angeles Chargers

Ah yes, this week’s complete shoot out. The Chargers looked really good, beating the Washington Football Team. The Cowboys looked surprisingly healthy and good against the reigning champs. With that stated, both these teams’ defenses suck so I expect a big game from both QB’s with America’s team pulling it out. 

Cowboys 38 Chargers 34

Kansas City Chiefs vs. Baltimore Ravens 7:20 PM

The Ravens frighten me. When you lose to a one man team in the Raiders, that’s just not good. Lamar’s passing is still shaky and now that teams have found out he’s basically a running back at QB, they know he’s going to run a lot. Also they’re playing the Chiefs this week and the defense couldn’t stop Darren Waller, so let’s see them try and stop Travis Kelce. I see a big Chiefs win. 

Chiefs 31 Ravens 20

Detroit Lions vs. Green Bay Packers 7:15 PM Monday

You guys know where I’m going with this. The Lions surprisingly played well against a good 9ers defense. And the Packers were terrible. Just straight bad. They got killed and I’m going to bank on the fact that they’re still stuck on that loss. I already know this is going to be a loss if I predict it as a win. But screw it Jared Goff to the moon baby!

Lions 27 Packers 20