Week 2 NFL Game Picks

2018 PICKS RECORD SO FAR: 10-6-1

CHIEFS @ STEELERS

The Steelers have the Chiefs’ number in the Andy Reid era, but luckily for Kansas City the biggest part of those past Pittsburgh wins is not with the team right now. That being said, however, I still think James Connor is more than capable of having a huge Le’Veon Bell-ish day against this very porous KC defense. Throw in the deadly combination of Brown and JuJu on the outside as well, and there is way more firepower here than the Chiefs can handle. Considering that this game is in Pittsburgh, and the Steelers always seem to bring their best stuff against the Chiefs, put me down for the black and yellow in this one.

DOLPHINS @ JETS

I don’t think that the Jets are just a flash in the pan. If anything, I think that their dominant win over the Lions last week is just a sign of what’s to come over the next 10-15 years. The Dolphins are also a team that I expect to outperform expectations this season, but with some key early injuries already slowing them down and the encouraging performance of Sam Darnold, I think the Jets win this game fairly comfortably. Look for Isaiah Crowell and Leonard Williams to both have big days in this one.

EAGLES @ BUCCANEERS

The Bucs are a sneaky talented team, and the Eagles still seem way out of sorts offensively without Carson Wentz under center. A few months ago this game looked like a slam dunk in favor of the Eagles, but now I’m not so sure. As long as Ryan Fitzpatrick can just be decent against this nasty Eagles defense – not even GOOD, just decent – the Bucs have a shot here. Hell, they’ve got MORE than just a shot to be honest. Tampa has the weapons to exploit Philly’s favoritism for man coverage on the back end, they have a front seven that has enough talent to limit Jay Ajayi on the ground, and if this thing turns into a shoot out…call me crazy but I think the Bucs can win that.

BROWNS @ SAINTS

This Josh Gordon situation is extremely weird to me…and I don’t think we’ve quite heard the real story yet. Whether he was going to play for Cleveland this Sunday or not, however, I still think that the Saints would have won this game anyway. Their offense is insanely efficient, and overall I think last week’s loss to the Bucs was the exception, not the rule. Remember that the Saints defense got lit up in week one last year too against the Vikings, but they soon made their corrections and bounced back to finish the year strong. I expect those same corrections to be made this year as well, starting with a good outing against Tyrod Taylor and the Browns. 

COLTS @ REDSKINS

If there is one thing that the Colts cannot do, it’s stop the run – and if there is one thing that the Redskins want to do, it’s pound you into submission with the run. This feels like a throwback game in the making for Adrian Peterson where he gets over 20 carries and 100 yards on the day with a few powerful, back-breaking touchdowns in the process. He may be at the end of his career, yes, but it sure won’t seem like it this week. I think Washington wins this by a field goal or less with Peterson scoring the game-winner.

CHARGERS @ BILLS

Do I even need to explain why? How about I just use this space to start a candlelight vigil for Josh Allen instead, because I feel like he is going to get absolutely beaten into submission in this game. That poor kid. 

VIKINGS @ PACKERS

If two of the Packers’ three best offensive players were not dealing with injuries right now I would have more confidence in Green Bay’s ability to win this game, but as it stands right now I just don’t have 100% confidence that Aaron has yet another miraculous one-legged performance in him. I mean, yes, technically anything is possible because this is Aaron freakin’ Rodgers we’re talking about after all, but I would rather bet on the Vikings front seven instead. Kirk Cousins doesn’t even really have to do anything spectacular to earn his 30 million this week – just don’t make mistakes and let that defense do all the heavy lifting (again). 

PANTHERS @ FALCONS

The Falcons are in a world of hurt right now. Keanu Neal and Deion Jones are already on IR, Matt Ryan had one of the worst games of his entire career in the season opener, and we still don’t know if Steve Sarkisian has what it takes to execute as a play caller in the red zone. It seems like a lot has to go right for this team to win a game right now, and that goes double if they are trying to win a game against an extremely talented Panthers team that smells blood in the water. I know that this game is in the dome and on paper it SHOULD favor Atlanta, but something just isn’t right with this ball club right now. I’ve got more confidence in Cam, Luke, and Christian to get it done right now than I do in Matt, Julio, and Devonta. 

TEXANS @ TITANS

If the Titans were fully healthy I think this would be a great (and even) fight, but they just simply are not healthy at all. They are dealing with major injuries on both sides of the ball to several key players – including quarterback – and usually the Texans play their best games the week after they get all pissed off from losing against New England for the millionth time in a row. Hell, this time last year they played against Tennessee the weak after yet another loss in Foxborough and they dropped almost 60 points on them. Obviously they (probably) won’t duplicate that score again, but I still expect Houston to win this game by a comfortable margin. Again, if Tennessee was healthy it would be a different story, but they just aren’t. 

CARDINALS @ RAMS

The Rams are one of the most, if not THE most complete team in the NFL. They barely even played their starters in the preseason, took one half of regular season football to “warm up” against the Raiders, and then flat out crushed them in the remaining 30 minutes. This team is locked and loaded for a deep playoff run, and that run starts this week by winning their first division game against Arizona. For the record, I do think that the Cardinals have a lot of very underrated talent and they will exceed expectations this year overall, but this Rams club is a freakin’ juggernaut right now, and I don’t think Arizona quite has enough firepower to keep up.

LIONS @ 49ERS

Jimmy Garoppolo’s stat line looks a lot worse than his actual tape from last week’s loss to Minnesota. There were several injuries to the offensive line that caused a some mid-game shuffles, Marquise Goodwin got hurt early on, and his other receivers (cough cough George Kittle) dropped a couple balls that would have been gigantic plays to help swing momentum. Jimmy made two terrible throws that resulted in interceptions, yes, but I personally believe he only made those throws because he was pressing to make a play while the rest of the offense crumbled around him. Don’t read too much into that week one performance, in my opinion – he’s still a great quarterback and the Niners are a good team. And on that note, I expect San Francisco to bounce back this week against Detroit and eek out a tough win against a Lions team that is looking for a big bounce back themselves. Both of these teams are better than their openers would indicate, but I still like the 49ers in this one by a nose. 

RAIDERS @ BRONCOS

This Broncos pass rush is just as nasty as I expected it to be, and the Raiders offense is just as inconsistent as I expected it to be. Oakland is going to live and die by Marshawn Lynch rather than Derek Carr, and unfortunately for them they are going up against a Denver front seven this week that probably won’t give Lynch a whole lot of room to work with. Case Keenum won’t light the world on fire this season, but I think he has more than enough talent around him right now to at least light up the Raiders this week. 

PATRIOTS @ JAGUARS

Some would call this game the main event for the week, but unfortunately that main event lost a little bit of its luster with the injury to Leonard Fournette. As of the time of me writing this it looks as though he is not going to be play, but even if he DID play I still don’t think he would be very effective with a bad hammy. If the Jags were fully operational and they could lean on Fournette to carry the offense I might even favor them in this game, but without their bell cow I just don’t see it happening. I picked Fournette to win Offensive Player of the Year before the season for this very reason – he’s just THAT important to Jacksonville. 

GIANTS @ COWBOYS

As I explained rather long-windedly on this week’s episode of The Film Room, I think that Dak Prescott is really, really holding the Cowboys back. Until either Scott Linehan finds a way to get him more comfortable in commanding this offense, or until Dak just magically becomes more accurate as a downfield passer, I don’t expect this Dallas offense to be very successful. Teams know they can just stack the box against Zeke on every single play and dare Prescott to beat them (which he won’t for the most part), and that’s exactly what the Giants will probably do again this week as well. Is it possible for the Cowboys to somehow have a drastic turnaround in just seven days? Sure, of course it is…but it’s not very likely. 

SEAHAWKS @ BEARS

Soul-crushing loss to the Packers or not, I still think that the Bears are extremely talented, extremely balanced, and very well equipped to handle the Seahawks on Monday night. Khalil Mack looked to fit right into this Chicago front seven from the moment he stepped on the field, and I think that after that heartbreaker last week he’ll be locked and loaded to take his frustrations out on Russell Wilson. Mitchell Trubisky’s performance in the opener was less than stellar, but I still think he’s good enough to manage this game against a depleted Seahawks defense while his own defense and run game does most of the work. Mark me down for Chi-Town.