NFL Picks, Week 3

After two weeks, the NFL was pretty evenly divided.  There were 10 teams that were 2-0, 12 that were 1-1 and 10 that were 0-2.  Although, those records are not equal.  Some are the result of who you've played more than anything else.  There are 0-2 teams that are better than 2-0 teams.  So, there's still plenty that we don't know (and we probably won't for a long time).  The 3-0 Bills, though, are a safe bet to be in the mix all season.

Thursday Night: Buffalo (Win)

Packers (2-0) at Browns (0-2): Green Bay-Green Bay is another team that we can already tell is really good.  The Packers won two games in five days against opponents that made the playoffs last season.  That had never happened before in NFL history.  And now they've had 10 days off before their matchup against a team that very much did not make the playoffs last season.  The Packers go to 3-0 and the Browns go to 0-3.

Colts (2-0) at Titans (0-2): Indianapolis-Leave the Giants, become the best player in the league.  That's apparently how it works.  It happened with Saquon Barkley, and it's happening so far with Daniel Jones.  Can he keep it up?  Probably not.  But he's got the Colts off to a 2-0 start and in first place in a weak division.  They should be able to build on that lead by picking up a division victory here.

Bengals (2-0) at Vikings (1-1): Minnesota-Cris Collinsworth said it best on Sunday night.  The Vikings have played one really good quarter of football this season and seven really bad/mediocre quarters.  Yet that one quarter was enough to get a win.  They should get a second against a Cincinnati team that'll be without Joe Burrow for the next two months at least.  As we saw when he got hurt two years ago, the Bengals simply aren't as good without him.

Steelers (1-1) at Patriots (1-1): Pittsburgh-Maybe the Steelers got a little too amped up for Week 1 and the Jets.  Because they had absolutely nothing against the Seahawks.  New England also surprised me last week the other way.  I didn't think much of the Patriots' chances in Miami, but they came away with the road win.  So, this one presents a very interesting matchup.  I think Pittsburgh is better, though.  And I think the Steelers are eager to bounce back and show that last week was just a bad game.

Rams (2-0) at Eagles (2-0): Philadelphia-The Rams are the team that came the closest to beating the Eagles in the playoffs last season.  You know Philadelphia remembers that.  They certainly won't be overlooking the Rams.  Will the Rams have enough to beat the Eagles, though?  That's the question.  I'm not sure they'll have enough.  Especially since everyone got the Eagles all fired up and pissed off because of the conversations about the Tush Push (which should be banned) during the week.

Jets (0-2) at Buccaneers (2-0): Tampa Bay-In Week 1, the Jets marched back and forth up the field, matching the Steelers score for score.  In Week 2, their offense completely disappeared in a loss to Buffalo.  Will they remember to bring it with them to their first road game of the season?  For Tampa, it hasn't exactly been pretty.  But they've gotten the job done.  This team finds different ways to win games.  Which will make them very dangerous come playoff time.  That's a long way away, of course.  They'll just have to settle for a 3-0 start.

Raiders (1-1) at Commanders (1-1): Washington-For as good as the Commanders looked against the Giants, the Packers' defense sure brought them back down to Earth.  They aren't as good as they were in Week 1.  They aren't as bad as they were in Week 2.  Like most things, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.  Maybe it's playing at home against teams they should beat that's the difference.  I guess we'll find out against a Raiders squad that will annoy the crap out of them, but is a team Washington should easily be able to handle.

Falcons (1-1) at Panthers (0-2): Atlanta-Well, would you look at that?  Atlanta's defense showed up last week!  I don't want to get too far ahead of myself since the Falcons beat the Eagles in Week 2 last year and we saw how that season ended.  But there's definitely something encouraging about their performance on the road against Minnesota.  The fact that Carolina is their next opponent certainly bodes well for their being a follow-up performance.

Texans (0-2) at Jaguars (1-1): Houston-Here's where we start to really find out about the Texans.  Their first game against a team that wasn't an NFC division winner last year.  Are they 0-2 because of who they've played or because of who they are?  And who are the Jaguars?  The team that looked great beating Carolina in Week 1 or the team that had trouble stopping Cincinnati in a loss last week?

Broncos (1-1) at Chargers (2-0): Chargers-We might be experiencing a changing of the guard in the AFC West.  Because the Los Angeles Chargers haven't been home yet (officially) and they're already 2-0 with a pair of division wins.  A win here not only makes them 3-0, it makes them 3-0 in the division and gives them a two-game lead (with the tiebreaker on all three currently).  That's a pretty good position to be in after only three games and could easily put them in the driver's seat the entire rest of the way.

Saints (0-2) at Seahawks (1-1): Seattle-Did Seattle get a little lucky last week?  Absolutely!  But they also really took it to the Steelers for most of the game and earned that victory.  The Saints, meanwhile, are already 0-2 against the NFC West after losses to Arizona and San Francisco.  Make it 0-3.  They haven't done anything to show me they can go into Seattle and win.

Cowboys (1-1) at Bears (0-2): Dallas-Jerry Jones said after the Giants game that the Cowboys needed help on the pass rush, which is why they signed Jadeveon Clowney.  Now, they wouldn't have needed help on the pass rush if they hadn't traded their best pass rusher a week before the season started, but I digress.  Brandon Aubrey's two clutch kicks are the reason they won that instant classic last week.  They were thisclose to being 0-2.  Instead, they'll be 2-1 after Week 3.

Cardinals (2-0) at 49ers (2-0): San Francisco-There's a three-way tie atop the NFC West, where the Cardinals, 49ers and Rams are all 2-0.  That'll obviously change this week with Arizona meeting San Francisco.  They both won surprisingly close games in New Orleans, while the Cardinals barely held on against Carolina last week.  So, we'll find out how good their 2-0 actually is as they play by far their strongest opponent of the season so far.

Chiefs (0-2) at Giants (0-2): Kansas City-This is an example of not all 0-2 records being equal.  You know there's a large number of people enjoying the fact that Kansas City started the season with two losses, completely ignoring the fact that those losses were to the Chargers and Eagles.  The Chiefs will be fun.  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see them still end 13-4.  The Giants, meanwhile, really needed to hold on last week.  Because things aren't getting any easier for them.  Five of their next six games are against playoff teams from last season (the three from the AFC West and Philadelphia twice).

Lions (1-1) at Ravens (1-1): Baltimore-Neither one of these two has had it particularly easy to start the season.  They both lost on the road to playoff teams in Week 1, then beat up on a weaker opponent in Week 2.  Now they play each other, and one of them will fall below .500.  That won't be the end of the world for a good team that will have lost to a pair of good teams, but it's not a situation either wants to be in, either.  It's the situation the Lions will find themselves facing, though.

Last Week: 12-4
This Week: 1-0
Overall: 25-8