Season: 25-24 Last Week: 8-8 This Week: 0-1
Cleveland at Baltimore (-13.5)
An angry defense playing at home after having given up 54 points in its last two games? Thankfully this is Brandon Weeden's problem to deal with, not mine.
And with the era of replacement referees coming to a close, below is my favorite call from the whole fiasco. Thank God this ends tonight.
After having to pick up a friend well past midnight at Union Station, getting basically no sleep, and then working the AU men's soccer and volleyball games Saturday (11 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.), Quick Picks it is for Week 4.
San Diego (-1.5) at Kansas City San Francisco (-4.5) at New York Jets
Carolina at Atlanta (-7.5) Tennessee (+12.5) at Houston Seattle (-1.5) at St. Louis New England (-3.5) at Buffalo
Minnesota (+4.5) at Detroit Miami (+6.5) at Arizona
Oakland at Denver (-6.5) Cincinnati (-2.5) at Jacksonville
New Orleans at Green Bay (-6.5) Washington (+3.5) at Tampa Bay
New York Giants (+2.5) at Philadelphia Chicago (+3.5) at Dallas
Season: 17-16Last Week: 8-8 This Week: 0-1
New York Giants at Carolina (+1.5)
For the simple fact that I am going against my team, I deserve to drop to 0-3 on Thursday night games.
Full picks will be posted prior to kickoff on Sunday.
Buffalo at Cleveland (+3.5)
It was either Buffalo on the road, or Brandon Weeden returning home after posting a passer rating of 5.1 in Week 1. Buffalo: 3 Cleveland: 0
Kansas City (+9.5) at New Orleans
In a battle to see which team can hit rock bottom first, the Chiefs should be able to stay within 10 of the Saints in New Orleans.
Cincinnati (+4.5) at Washington
With Raheem Morris the defensive backs coach in Washington, I'm being conservative when I say I'm expecting no less than an 8-125-2 performance from A.J. Green. And nothing good can come from the fact that Morris was calling the defense in the 4th quarter last week in St. Louis.
Jacksonville (+2.5) at Indianapolis
My goodness. And we get to see these two square off once again (on Thursday Night Football, no less) come Week 10. Tampa Bay (+7.5) at Dallas
Tampa Bay has now covered two straight spreads, and no reason to jump off them now when they're getting more than a touchdown at Dallas.
San Francisco (-7.5) at Minnesota
It's always great on a Sunday when FOX doesn't have sound and NBC has no signal, as was the case last week for me, causing me to miss just how good the 49ers looked against Detroit.
Detroit at Tennessee (+3.5)
While Tennessee has struggled to resemble a competent football team, it's also hard to be confident in the Lions after they narrowly beat the Rams and were manhandled (or so I'm told) in San Francisco last Sunday night.
New York Jets (-3.5) at Miami
St. Louis at Chicago (-8.5)
Went back and forth on these games before realizing 1) Who will Ryan Tannehill be completing passes to? and 2) Who will Jay Cutler not be completing passes to against the Rams secondary?
Philadelphia at Arizona (+4.5)
At this pace, Michael Vick is projected for the highly realistic possibility of throwing 48 interceptions while leading his team to a 16-0 record.
Houston at Denver (-.5)
Surprised this is essentially a pick, especially with Houston having played no one (Miami, at Jacksonville) and Denver having two tough games to start (Pittsburgh, at Atlanta).
Pittsburgh (-4.5) at Oakland
Carson Palmer. Against the Steelers defense. Let the hilariously bad play ensue!
Atlanta at San Diego (-3.5)
Are we ready to live in a world where Norv Turner and the Chargers are 3-0 at the end of September? Yes! Yes we are! New England (+3.5) at Baltimore
For the same reason I should have picked the Giants on Thursday: Whenever anyone counts out the Pats, they play their best. (And because the 3.5 points doesn't hurt either, of course).
Green Bay (-3.5) at Seattle
The Aaron Rodgers-Matt Flynn matchup didn't quite materialize, but a very intriguing way to end Week 3 action.
Season: 9-8 Last Week: 9-7 This Week: 0-1 Chicago (+6.5) at Green Bay
A little bit of a high spread for this rivalry game, if I may blog so myself.
The referees follow up last week's disaster in Arizona by giving Chicago five timeouts in the second half, allowing the Bears to cover in Lambeau.
The rest of the picks will be posted prior to kickoff on Sunday.
Arizona at New England (-13.5)
Kevin Kolb against Tom Brady in New England? Ahahahaha! Ahahahaha!
Cleveland (+9.5) at Cincinnati
Brandon Weeden will most likely be attempting 20 or so passes Sunday, some of which are bound to go complete. Let's just hope they're to the team without the black stripes on their orange helmets.
Kansas City (+3.5) at Buffalo
Considering Buffalo somehow managed to be down three touchdowns before it was even 2:00 p.m. last Sunday, I'll gladly take the points.
Houston (-7.5) at Jacksonville
On the road, in a dome, with less than two minutes left, Blaine Gabbert led Jacksonville on a touchdown drive to momentarily take the lead last week in Minnesota. This actually happened!
But as for trusting him two weeks in a row, I will pass on that.
Oakland (-2.5) at Miami
A furious comeback capped by Darren McFadden's 13-catch performance in the late Monday game moved me to 1-0 in my main fantasy league heading into Week 2. And I have Carson Palmer's obsession with the check down to thank for it!
Tampa Bay (+7.5) at New York Giants
I was one of the few who had the Bucs over Carolina last week, as everyone seemed to forget that Raheem Morris is no longer coaching this team, and I'll be one of the few taking the points against the Giants Sunday.
Minnesota (-1.5) at Indianapolis
I took Indy last week, forgetting that 1) They have no defense. 2) Their wide receivers other than Reggie Wayne include Donnie Avery, Kris Adams and LaVon Brazill and 3) They REALLY have no defense.
Baltimore (+2.5) at Philadelphia New Orleans (-2.5) at Carolina
Rather than give a half-hearted explanation of why I like the Ravens and Saints, respectively, I'll just say that these were the two toughest games to pick from the 1:00 slate and leave it at that.
Washington at St. Louis (+3.5)
With the way the Saints defense looked, I think RG1 and RG2 could have thrown for 300 yards and two touchdowns in the Superdome. But a (Yes, don't laugh) improved Rams team will keep it close with Washington this Sunday.
Dallas at Seattle (+3.5)
To be expected: Braylon Edwards dropping a game-winning touchdown. Not to be expected: Kevin Kolb (Kevin Kolb!) engineering a game-winning drive to snatch away Seattle's first victory. Thankfully the Seahawks head home, where they should be able to play Dallas close. Tennessee (+5.5) at San Diego
After their win in Oakland everyone loves the Chargers but Norv Turner is still the coach in San Diego right? He is? OK, just checking.
New York Jets at Pittsburgh (-6.5)
After dropping to 0-1 on the week thanks to Jay Cutler, I could see this game playing out in a similar way to what we saw Thursday in Green Bay.
Detroit at San Francisco (-6.5) At this point, anything other than Jim Schwartz running across the field and clotheslining Jim Harbaugh during the post game handshake would be a HUGE disappointment.
Denver (+3.5) at Atlanta.
Because it's Peyton Manning, indoors and on Monday night, getting more than a field goal against the now Brent Grimes-less Falcons.
Casual fans and gambling addicts alike, we have finally made it: The start of the 2012 NFL regular season. Prepare yourself for 21 weeks of backdoor covers and confusing explanations/hilariously bad calls from replacement referees, among other things.
The rest of the picks will be up before kickoff on Sunday.
Dallas at New York Giants (-3.5)
Because the defending Super Bowl champion never loses its season opener. Because the Cowboys have no offensive line. Because even though Dallas' improved its secondary, the thought of taking Tony Romo on the road against the Giants pass rush is something I'm going to pass on. And lastly, BECAUSE THE COWBOYS HAVE NO OFFENSIVE LINE.
On an unrelated side note, mostly everyone I've talked to missed the return of the 'Junglebird' of U.S. Open fame during this past Saturday's Notre Dame-Navy game in Dublin, Ireland, so I figured I'd post the video below.
I have no idea how he continues to get tickets to these events, but I was watching the game and then all of a sudden he appears out of nowhere and performs an Irish jig at the goal line.
Indianapolis (+9.5) at Chicago
My hope is that with Reggie Wayne and the rest of the Colts receivers having balls spiral towards them instead of into the hands of defenders, they can keep this close in Chicago.
Miami at Houston (-10.5) ...And the Ryan Tannehill-led Dolphins quickly become one of our favorite teams to pick against in 2012!
New England (-6.5) at Tennessee Washington (+9.5) at New Orleans
These will be the two 1 o'clock games I'll get here in D.C., and there's a good chance one of them will have the underdog furiously driving down the field in the final minute looking for our first backdoor cover of the year.
Philadelphia (-8.5) at Cleveland
When was the last time picking a rookie quarterback who will be throwing to Greg Little and Mohamed Massaquoi and handing off to a running back who had surgery one month ago EVER worked out?
Jacksonville (+4.5) at Minnesota
Two awful teams playing in a game no one cares about; A perfect time to talk fantasy football!
After keeping A.J. Green and DeMarco Murray from a season ago, my opening day roster (12-team, PPR) shakes out as follows:
QB- Michael Vick
RBs- Murray, Darren McFadden
WRs- Green, Wes Welker, DeSean Jackson
TE- Antonio Gates
K- Robbie Gould
D/ST - Minnesota
I'm telling you, ANYTHING other than 16-0 this year would be a disappointment. Atlanta (-1.5) at Kansas City
This feels a lot like last year, when everyone loved Atlanta heading into their Week 1 opener at Chicago, and then the Bears won 30-12. And yet, I am being suckered in again. St. Louis (+9.5) at Detroit
Hopefully bringing in Jeff Fisher can reduce the 20 and 30-point blowouts of last season down to single digits this year.
Buffalo (+3.5) at New York Jets
Very hard to do but simply through their preseason play, the Jets moved from 6-point favorites to where they are now at 3.5.
San Francisco at Green Bay (-5.5)
Let me be the first to state that the 49ers passed on Aaron Rodgers in 2005 to select Alex Smith, and that now they'll be going head to head on Sunday.
Carolina at Tampa Bay (+2.5)
Seattle at Arizona (+2.5)
One of these picks is bound to be terribly, terribly wrong. Pittsburgh (+1.5) at Denver
What a great start to the Sunday night season, and great way to conclude a day of having not moved for 10 hours straight.
Cincinnati at Baltimore (-6.5)
San Diego at Oakland (+1.5)
Every year, I always mention how great it would be if we had two Monday Night Football games on a weekly basis. And then, I'm reminded what an awful idea it is when it's 1:45 a.m. and I'm watching the Raiders commit their 38th penalty of the night.
