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[volimhtown]

So I'm doing pretty good picking winners so far this season at 24-8, but being sub .500 against the spread at 15-16 pretty much sucks. At least I won't worry about anyone needing or relying on my handicapping expertise (and there lack of) for anything important. Anyway, lots of good and important games this week. Some teams have their first real tests while others desperately need to get things turned around quickly to avoid being written off so early in the season.

NY Giants at Carolina (-2.5) - Interesting game! Neither team has played anything resembling consistent, good football this year. Both teams do have the ability to put points on the board however. In a short work week, I'll take experience over youth. GIANTS 33-31

St. Louis at Chicago (-9) - The Rams are a play away from being 2-0 while the Bears already look like they have alot of internal strife going on. I'm tempted to call for the upset but I just think the Bears defense does enough at home. BEARS 19-17

Buffalo (-2.5) at Cleveland - Which Bills team is gonna show up? Last year's hot start seems like a distant memory. This is a good spot for the Browns to get their first victory of the year. BROWNS 24-20

Tampa Bay at Dallas (-9.5) - Two more teams that I really don't have a good feel for yet. Surely the Bucs have just been playing WAY over their heads, right? Home opener in Dallas and I expect Romo to have a big day. COWBOYS 34-21

Jacksonville at Indianapolis (-3) - Vikings beat Jags and Indy beat Vikings, so...... Are the Colts REALLY the 2nd best team in the AFC South? For what it's worth, yes! COLTS 23-17

NY Jets (-2) at Miami - The Dolphins are not a good team but do have a really good RB in Bush and can be pesky on defense. Until the Jets prove that they're not a complete circus freak show, I see no reason to take them seriously. DOLPHINS 21-17

San Francisco (-7) at Minnesota - After two good tests, a letdown against an inferior opponent on the road would not be a complete surprise. Of course letdown would mean that the Vikes stay close in this one... nothing more. NINERS 24-16

Kansas City at New Orleans (-10) - The two biggest disappointments of this early season get together this week to see which one we write off first. Ultimately I think both teams are far better than we've seen thus far, but I think the Saints just have too much frustration built up that's eventually gonna come pouring out. The Chiefs are just going to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. SAINTS 42-20

Detroit (-3.5) at Tennessee - I'm not sold on the Lions by any means but it sure looks like the Titans are a trainwreck in mid-derailment. Maybe the Titans can muster up some heart and pride and put up a good fight. I'm not holding my breath though. LIONS 34-20

Cincinnati at Washington (-3) - Home opener in RFK and you know the place is going to be going ape-sh*t over RG3. Bengals look like they're back to being the Bengals. REDSKINS 31-21

Philadelphia (-3) at Arizona - Can you believe that one of these teams is actually going to be 3-0??? I predicted the Cards to be one of the worst teams in the league this year and Philly has looked like warm garbage in their first two wins. Coin flipper for me. I just gotta believe that the other shoe has to drop some time in the desert. EAGLES 27-17

Atlanta at San Diego (-3) - Another battle of undefeateds out West. More poignantly a virtual battle of bridesmaids in regards to recent years. The Falcons look like they've been more heavily tested, but that margin may very well may just be marginal when it's all said and done. At the end of the day I just think the Falcons are the better, more complete team. A statement game?? FALCONS 31-27

Houston (-1) at Denver - Gonna find out alot about both teams in this one. Texans need to take away the underneath stuff and dare Peyton to beat them deep and prove the arm's ok. Broncos need to defend the middle of the field. Texans D > Broncos D and I expect Owen Daniels to have a big game. Texans make an early statement on the road. TEXANS 27-16

Pittsburgh (-3.5) at Oakland - Sometimes you come across those matchups that look like slam dunks on paper and seem easy picks using simple common sense...BUT for whatever reason just don't pass the "smell" test to you. This is one of those games for me. I just don't think this is a good matchup/spot for the Steelers. There's just too many question marks surrounding this Steelers team and the Raiders are bound to put a couple of decent games together throughout the season. Make this one of them. RAIDERS 23-14

New England at Baltimore (-2.5) - A pretty gosh-darn good Sunday night game. Will be a close game but the Ravens are simply a different team in that home stadium. I just can't see the Pats going in there and coming away with a win. RAVENS 27-21

Green Bay (-3) at Seattle - The Seahawks are traditionally tough at home. That said, they seem to perform MUCH better when the spotlight's NOT on them. The Packers aren't going to come in an "wet the bed" like the Cowgirls did last week. PACKERS 34-17

GO TEXANS!!

[Highball]

I agree with your picks for the most part. The only game I'm really up in the air on is NYG and Carolina. Plus, even though I'm a huge Falcons fan, I can't help but shake the feeling that we're walking into a trap game against the Chargers. That emotional, LONG win Monday night could cause a cross country hangover.

[volimhtown]

Highball, on 20 September 2012 - 11:27 AM, said:

I agree with your picks for the most part. The only game I'm really up in the air on is NYG and Carolina. Plus, even though I'm a huge Falcons fan, I can't help but shake the feeling that we're walking into a trap game against the Chargers. That emotional, LONG win Monday night could cause a cross country hangover.

Yikes... I picked the Giants to win but never expected that epic beatdown. I love me some Cam but someone might want to tell him to lose the Superman antics when his team's getting the sh*t kicked out of them.... makes him look like an idiot!

I think this is a HUGE game for the Falcons. They've been knocking at the door for years. They have an opportunity to take an early stranglehold on the division and make a statement as well by going into San Diego and defeating a pretty good team. It's not like they couldn't recover from a loss here, but it'd be nice to make statement!

[Mizzou_Lou]

GO RAMS!

Beating Chicago teams is always fun.

[PuddingTime]

I'm not sure what to expect from us this year.  Disapointing against Baltimore but we picked it up against Cleveland last week.  Gonna be interesting to see what Zimmer does to plan for RG3.

[Highball]

volimhtown, on 21 September 2012 - 10:03 AM, said:

Yikes... I picked the Giants to win but never expected that epic beatdown. I love me some Cam but someone might want to tell him to lose the Superman antics when his team's getting the sh*t kicked out of them.... makes him look like an idiot!

I think this is a HUGE game for the Falcons. They've been knocking at the door for years. They have an opportunity to take an early stranglehold on the division and make a statement as well by going into San Diego and defeating a pretty good team. It's not like they couldn't recover from a loss here, but it'd be nice to make statement!

Yeah, that game was... um... humiliating for the Panthers to say the least. I just read that Steve Smith ripped into Cam on the sidelines and I can't say that I blame him. Guy's gotta get it together, especially when he's not playing well.

This game is pretty damn big for the Falcons. People keep touting Smitty's 5-0 when going west record but that means nothing really. San Diego is a damn good team, and Philip Rivers is a damn good QB who is more in sync with his receivers than Peyton was with his new team. I'm not concerned about our offense that much (drops and the running game are still bothersome), but I worry that our defense will revert back to it's old self. Like you said, this can be huge for our division lead. Even though the Saints are down 0-2 right now, there's no way in hell I'm going to ignore Drew Brees and the way he can lead that team.

[Highball]

I don't know how they've managed it, but the Vikings are up 17-3 on the 49ers at the half.

[volimhtown]

Another very interesting Sunday in the NFL! A bad, bad week for my picks BUT the Texans won a big one so it was a great day in the end. 7-8 picking winners and 4-11   against the spread going into tonight! Thank goodness for the late games as I don;t think I got a single Noon game right. Some thoughts on the day....

These replacement refs are really totally and completely incompetent. In every game you're just seeing incredibly bad calls. The league is still happy and saying that they've yet to cost a team a win, but I'm not so sure. They are completely changing games with their lack of knowledge and their inconsistency. This is especially evident in the defensive backfield. They obviously just don't know how to comprehend what they are actually seeing. They are calling PIs where there's not any, and when they get obviously confused they are calling illegal contact kind of as a safety net. This is just getting really old and the league needs to get serious about finalizing a deal with the real refs and get them back on the field ASAP. That Ravens-Pats game last night was a travesty!

ALL HAIL the Falcons, Texans, and Cardinals... the last undefeated teams remaining.  All 3 passed big tests this week and what else do all 3 teams have??? Great Defenses. I think the Falcons and Texans may have their divisions locked up by Thanksgiving (haha) but how many are "buying" the Cards? Looking at their schedule there's a real good chance this team is 7-0 going into their Monday Night matchup with the Niners. Are they a wild-card team at worst?

RIP.... the Saints are officially dead. So much for being the first NFL team to play in a Super Bowl they host. How do you blow a 24-6 late lead to a crappy Chiefs team..... at HOME?? Even if they miraculously somehow turn things around, anything less than 10-6 isn't making the playoffs in the NFC. They have road trips to Green Bay, NY Giants, Denver, Dallas, and still play 2 games against the Falcons. No way they are finishing 10-3 with that schedule. One more tidbit... as if 0-3 isn't bad enough, the three opponents that the Saints have lost to have not won a game over anyone BESIDES the Saints. To be 0-3 against teams that are a combined 3-6 is pretty pathetic.

[Highball]

I'm not buying into the Cards yet. I think last week against the Patriots was all luck or an off day for Brady & Co., and this week they were just the one's to finally beat Philly with their turnovers. If the Falcons keep playing like this, I think the NFC Championship game will come down to Atlanta and San Francisco... and I have no idea how that game would turn out. Houston... congrats on winning the AFC.