Before I delve into my Week 3 Picks, some storylines from Week 2 in the NFL.
I'm very confused.
Mark Sanchez outplaying Tom Brady. Alex Smith leading a 4th quarter, game-tying drive against the defending Super Bowl champions. Teams coached by Raheem Morris and Todd Haley sitting at 2-0 after two weeks of play. Will Week 3 restore some normalcy to the league?
Jahvid Nearly Bests Philadelphia.
17 carries for 78 yards and two touchdowns. Nine catches for 154 yards and another score. Now those receiving stats are a bit inflated by the fact that Shaun Hill can't really throw the ball downfield, but a very impressive start for the rookie from Cal. The rushing yards are a bit down, but four touchdowns in two games puts him at the top of the (very) early Rookie of the Year conversation.
Has Jay Cutler Finally Turned The Corner? (Gasp!)
Kyle Orton, Rex Grossman, Brian Griese, Chad Hutchinson, Jonathan Quinn, Craig Krenzel, Kordell Stewart and Chris Chandler. These are not players you want starting at quarterback for your NFL franchise. So when Chicago traded for Jay Cutler, they felt they had finally solved their quarterback woes. And after getting called out by everyone in North America for his 26 interceptions last season, Cutler has thrown for 5 touchdowns and only 1 pick while leading the Bears to a 2-0 start.
Without further ado, the Week 3 picks!
Overall: 16-12-4 Last Week: 8-7-1
Cleveland at Baltimore (-12.5)
When your team is hoping Jake Delhomme can return to action, the situation can't be good. It can't be good at all. And when Mohamed Massaquoi is leading the team in receiving touchdowns, things look even worse. So goes the life of a Cleveland sports fan.
Pittsburgh (-3) at Tampa Bay
And your Week 3 starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers..... Charlie Batch! Surprisingly Batch is still in this league and in fact, I have an autographed jersey from him during his time with the Lions. I feel like I have to pick them now. That, and I don't see Josh Freeman doing anything against the Pittsburgh D.
Cincinnati at Carolina (+3.5)
Cincy is coming off an impressive division win against the Ravens, while Carolina just lost at home to Tamp Bay. So it's only logical that Carolina would only be getting 3.5 points. As a friend of mine would say, "This is a sucker bet extraordinaire!" and I refuse to get sucked in.
Tennessee (+3) at New York
Both teams are 1-1, and both teams are coming off ugly losses. The Titans got thoroughly outplayed by Pittsburgh and, as has become tradition at some point in the season, pulled Vince Young. The Giants are coming off an equally bad loss, and I see this game being close throughout.
Dallas (+2.5) at Houston
Houston really impressed me by coming back from 17 points down in the 3rd quarter to shock Washington. I watched that game and Washington must have had about 15 chances to end the game, and they didn't. And no, that is not an exaggeration. Meanwhile, Wade Phillips may be coaching for his job and I see this as a perfect game where things balance out, with Dallas going to 1-2 and Houston going to 2-1.
San Francisco (-3) at Kansas City
Kansas City can't go 3-0. Kansas City can't go 3-0. Kansas City cant go 3-0. If I repeat it enough times, maybe I can convince myself that this is not humanly possible, at least not this year. Anyway, I'm very surprised San Fran is favored here, especially after the problems they had when they went into a very hostile stadium in Week 1. After a blowout loss and a stomach punch loss, it'll be interesting to see which 49ers squad shows up.
Buffalo at New England (-14)
At the rate Buffalo is going, they may soon set the record for largest underdog of the last 10 years. Come Week 10, they may be getting 17.5 points. And even that might not be enough to convince me to take the Bills.
Detroit at Minnesota (-13)
Minnesota is 0-2. Favre is not looking good. Why yes, I'm sure they'd love to play Detroit! I really thought Detroit had a chance at an eight win season this year, but that Stafford injury just killed any thought of that. Although Minnesota may not be good, I think they put it together for one week.
Atlanta (+3) at New Orleans
This spread was in the 4.5-5 point range at the beginning of the week, before a ton of money came in on Atlanta, pushing the spread all the way down to three. This is the best game on the 1 PM slate, and the games are usually close between these two NFC South squads.
Washington (-5) at St. Louis
What's the best way to recover from a Jim Zorn-esque loss? By traveling to St. Louis, of course! The Rams have been more competitive early in the season, but I think Washington makes a statement here.
Philadelphia at Jacksonville (+3)
When I took the Michael Vick-led Eagles against the Lions last week, it just felt wrong. So even though the Eagles are playing a schizophrenic Jacksonville squad, I'm going with the home team here. Now this is not an AFC South opponent, so the Jags might not care, but it's still early in the season, and that has to count for something (Searching for ways to convince myself I made the right pick).
San Diego (-4) at Seattle
What will the 2010 Seattle Seahawks look like? The team that dismantled San Francisco in Week 1? Or the team that got dominated at Denver in Week 2? For one particular SportsZone analyst, here's to hoping the former is true. While Seattle always plays better at home, I'm not sold on this whole Pete Carroll as an NFL coach thing.
Indianapolis (-6) at Denver
Reactions after Week 1: "The Colts are in a down year!" "Indy's defense is the worst in years!" Yeah, I think the Colts will be OK this season. This game reminds me a bit of last season's New England-Denver early season contest, when the Patriots went into Invesco Field and lost. But I think Indy is clicking right now and will start to get in its usual groove.
Oakland at Arizona (-5.5)
Sheesh. One thing I am definitely not looking forward to is this game. Oakland made the move to Bruce Gradkowski, who played well last season and could give the team a spark. But at the same time, I can never endorse Oakland on the road. It usually doesn't end well.
New York at Miami (-2.5)
Nice Sunday Night Game- really looking forward to this one. Mark Sanchez had a great game for the Jets last week after a terrible Week 1, as he threw for three touchdowns and New York took care of New England in a key early season contest. Week 1- bad, Week 2- good. So by rule, Sanchez must play poorly on the road as the city of New York directs its anger towards him on Monday morning.
Green Bay (-3) at Chicago
I'm not buying into Jay Cutler yet, but he could do a lot to sway me in this key Monday night matchup. I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop, when he has his four interception game and looks like he could care less whether his team wins or loses. It's going to happen, and I don't want to pick Chicago when it does.
As always, enjoy the games!
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