By
Jacob Sanders
As always, these are non-professional opinions
and you may share your opinion with me as
well! Twitter:
@jcs436 Email: jcs436@nau.edu
Week 3 was…..crazy to say the
least. There were a lot of upsets and a lot of close upsets and after the week
was over, I could only think of one thing. I. Know. Nothing. Absolutely nothing
about what teams are good and what teams are bad. Meaning that my “wait till
after Week 5” policy seems to be panning out so far. I’ll continue to stick to
it until further notice.
So, as the guy that knows nothing,
let me give you some predictions on who wins their games.
Sanders went 7-9 last week putting
him to 24-23 on the season.
Chicago Bears VS Green Bay Packers
You know what’s interesting? The
drastic difference between the Packers offense in the first half compared to
the second half. I have watched many Packers games in my life (thanks Dad) and
had to watch many Brett Favre comebacks in the second half in games. However, I
don’t ever remember Favre and Co. performing so poorly and having to play catch
up all game in the 2nd half like the packers have this season. It’s
interesting how Rodgers seems to take over the game in the second half to
create something out of nothing which is what makes him a special player at his
position. Now, there is another team in this game. It’s the Bears who always
play the Packers tough and managed to snatch a win against the Steelers in O.T.
However, this team ain’t the Steelers and the Bears won’t be in Soldier Field
either. Call me skeptical of the Packers in the first half but not in the
second half where I’m sure they’ll run away with the game.
Bears 17 Packers 34
New Orleans Saints VS Miami Dolphins
My pick in this game is more of a
comment on how I feel about the Dolphins than the Saints. They might be 1-1,
but if not for San Diego’s bad luck, they should be 0-2 and they played like it
against the Jets last week. The worse part is Jay Cutler still looks skittish
and indecisive in the pocket just like last year before he got hurt. The
Panthers offense is pretty bad but 3 INTs is still nothing to sneeze at coming
from the Saints defense. If they can continue to look decent, the Saints can
wrap up a horrible start of an 0-2 to season to start 2-2 in the first quarter
of the season.
Saints 23 Dolphins 13
Buffalo Bills VS Atlanta Falcons
Boy. The Bills came to play last
week and were able to move the ball against a smothering Denver D. The key
though to their win was that they capitalized on Siemian’s mistakes late in the
game. Don’t think that’s gonna happen with Matt Ryan here who has continued his
elite performances this season. The Bills have to slow Ryan down if they want
to even attempt to keep a lead against the Falcons. That’s just the reality and
no one has shown they can slow him down yet. They’re also playing in Atlanta so
no home crowd for the Bills to rally behind this time.
Bills 20 Falcons 31
Pittsburgh Steelers VS Baltimore Ravens
So…uh. Yeah. Pittsburgh was beat by
an 0-2 team and Baltimore was beat by a 1-1 team that was deemed to be much
worse than they are. So who do you pick here? Well, it’s the Steelers VS the
Ravens. You throw out whatever happened last week. Why? Because I’ve seen a Ryan
Mallet led Ravens teams beat the Steelers before. That’s why. Despite awful
performances, both teams always come to play each other. So let me throw some
fun facts at you to tell you who I’m picking. The first is that Ben
Roethlisberger hasn’t won a game in Baltimore since 2010. The second fun fact,
the last time the Steelers won in Baltimore was 2012 and that was with Charlie
Batch starting in place of Roethlisberger. The third fun fact is that
Baltimore, even when they are a bad team, plays Pittsburgh tough when in
Baltimore. Every year, I pick the Steelers-Ravens rivalry to go 1-1 simply
because each team is better when at home. The Ravens are at home today. And
with Roethlisberger still showing, back from last year, that he doesn’t perform
as well in away games, it’s hard to argue for the Steelers in this one.
However, come Week 14, you can bet I’ll be picking Pittsburgh barring a massive
collapse by them. Because Roethlisberger lights it up when he is at home and is
just better against Baltimore when in Heinz Field.
Pittsburgh 9 Ravens 12 (In OT)
Cincinnati Bengals VS Cleveland Browns
The most important part of this
game is that we will be minus one winless team in the NFL. The worst part?
Neither team is probably going to make the playoffs. The bigger issue here is
for the coaches involved. If either team starts 0-4, the Browns experiment will
lose most, if not all, of the optimism and praise it has been given or the
Bengals fan base will be angry at the front office and question why Marvin
Lewis hasn’t been fired yet. In fact, they’ve been questioning why he hasn’t
retired since 2015 and replaced with their then OC. Want to know who that OC
was? Hue Jackson, the current head coach of the Cleveland Browns. Uh-oh.
Bengals 20 Browns 17
UPSET OF THE WEEK!!!!
Los Angeles Rams VS Dallas Cowboys
I wonder how much trash I am going
to get for this pick when I find Dallas has won the game. Well, that’s not
guaranteed, at least in my opinion. Dallas’s D has surprised me. They have
shown up and played well this season contrary to what I believed coming into
the season. You know what else has surprised me? The lack of offensive movement
on the Cowboys outside of Prescott and Witten. The funny part, is I know people
said they saw this coming. Well that’s half true but most people thought Dak
Prescott would get exposed and not Elliot. Actually, Prescott just took apart
one of the best secondarys in football IN GLENDALE, AZ TO WIN ON MONDAY NIGHT.
Now that’s Sophomore growth and putting the team on your back. However, my
question here is can he keep it up every game? I’m not sure yet. What I am sure
of, is that the Rams offense is for real and they can score points. Also, the
Dallas offensive line isn’t exactly the monster we know it used to be and Aaron
Donald still is the monster we know him to be. Jared Goff vs Dak Prescott
shoot-out. Hmm. I like the sound of that.
Rams 34 Cowboys 30
Tennessee Titans VS Houston Texans
Fun fact. I have been doing this
blog and these picks for 3 years now and auto-correct still has to tell me that
it’s spelled Houston and not Houstan like I keep spelling it. Anyhoo, this one
is a doozy. It really comes down to which QB can perform better. Usually, the
team with the better secondary can control that. Without a doubt, the Texans
have the better secondary. And honestly, after watching Tom Brady put up a Hall
of Fame game JUST to marginally beat Houston IN FOXBOROUGH, I think the Texans
are better than their 1-2 record. I love the Titans, but I the Texans just look
like a better team.
Titans 24 Texans 30
Detroit Lions VS Minnesota Vikings
Okay. I can’t pick Vikings games
for the life of me. But I CAN pick Lions games. If you ask me, the Lions should
be 3-0. The call last Sunday was correct, but the matter of the fact is the
Lions still had 8 seconds left on the clock with at least one more attempt on
the one-yard line. Didn’t happen due to the 10 second run off. Yes, they could
have still missed, but with the way the Falcons D was performing, you can bet
Stafford would have punched it in for another “let me pull a 4th
quarter win out of my magic hat” kind of deal. As for the Vikings, they
absolutely obliterated Tampa Bay last week. But how much of that was it Keenum
having the game of his life? How much of it was Tampa Bay just being the
over-rated team of the year? We don’t know. What I do know, is the Lions are
currently at full strength and the Vikings are not with Bradford still M.I.A.
Dare I pick against the Vikings again and they win, I might put a gun to my
head or just quit this blog. This one’s for you Adam. I’m picking them to lose
because you say they always win when I pick them to lose. Because for some
reason, Detroit likes to pull BS wins at the last minute every time they win
and I get the feeling they do it again.
Lions 24 Vikings 23
Carolina Panthers VS New England Patriots
Well, you have one of the worst
offenses in the NFL matching up with one of the worst defenses in the NFL. That
would sound boring and like a snoozer of a game if not for the fact Tom Brady is
still playing some of his best football. Actually, that might still make this
game a snoozer. Cam Newton still looks hurt and like he is recovering from
surgery and there’s no telling how well he can play even if he has a favorable
matchup. The healthy QB is the way to go hear.
Panthers 17 Patriots 27
Jacksonville Jaguars VS New York Jets
My apologies for the Jets as I
assumed they would be the worst team to talk about this season. Apparently not
so at the moment. However, it’s not a confidence booster when they beat the
Dolphins, an opponent who looks just as weak. The Jaguars on the other hand,
are riding high at 2-1 after beating the Texans and Ravens to a pulp in two of
the last 3 weeks. Considering how dominant their D has been, color me
optimistic about the Jaguars after they wrap up a 3-1 start.
Jaguars 23 Jets 17
San Francisco 49ers VS Arizona Cardinals
This one feels easy. Almost too
easy. But, Palmer played lights out last week. The same can’t be said for his
O-line. It’s often that games are won in the trenches and the Cardinals have so
far proved that this season. However, the Cardinals, overall, are just a better
team than the 49ers. They can right the ship to a 2-2 start on right here at
home. However, if they lose to the 49ers, that’s two home games in a row and
you can call me the man who quits on the Cardinals before Week 5 has started.
And that’s against my policy.
49ers 20 Cardinals 28
Philadelphia Eagles VS Los Angeles Chargers
Can I just say the Chargers are
going to throw away the game to a superior team like they always do? Well…yeah
I can. And I might. Let me just say this though; the Chargers haven’t changed.
They are still a great roster on paper with poor ability to close out a game or
be in the clutch. It also doesn’t help when your QB gives the ball away 3
times. Yikes. Oh…I haven’t said anything the Eagles? No need. They are a great
team who will take advantage of the Bad Luck Chargers.
Eagles 30 Chargers 24
New York Giants VS Tampa Bay Buccaneers
So….ugh. I hate this matchup. Why?
Because it’s between two teams I don’t have a real read on. I feel like I
should throw a dart at a piece of paper with the logos scrambled on it and pick
from there. Actually, that doesn’t sound bad. But, I’m going to be lame and
just say the better defense wins. Both QBs aren’t playing as well as they
should thus I feel like the better defense decides the game.
Giants 24 Bucs 16
Oakland Raiders VS Denver Broncos
Broncos win it here. They may have lost
to Buffalo last week but they are back at home where they just perform better.
Also, the Raiders looked downright pathetic against the Redskins last week in
primetime. Yes, the Raiders were on the road but guess what, they are on the
road here too. They have to step up if they don’t want to fall to 2-2 and 3rd
in the division.
Raiders 17 Broncos 23
Indianapolis Colts VS Seattle Seahawks
So, there is potential for an upset
here because the Seahawks just haven’t looked that good. However, I’m not sure
if Brissett will be able to hand the Seattle D. The Legion of Boom might be a
ghost of what it used to be, but the roster talent is still there to give
Brissett some trouble. Also, Wilson is still performing well. Bad news for the
Colts D.
Colts 17 Seahawks 27
Washington Redskins VS Kansas City Chiefs
Ok. Now I just feel bad. I love the
Redskins after that absolute beat down of Oakland in primetime. And I would end
my streak of picking them to lose because I have that much confidence in them.
However, I am picking them to lose 4 times in a row because they are playing,
in my opinion, the best team in the NFL currently. If the Redskins win it here,
then you might see my getting super excited about the Redskins. For now though,
the thought of Smith’s smart play, Hill and Hunt’s explosiveness, and the
Chiefs D just being on top of their opponent, is just too much for me to not
consider the Chiefs as the favorite here. Cousins will also be trying to call
plays in the loudest stadium in the NFL. A recipe for disaster if you ask me.
That doesn’t mean the Redskins won’t be putting up a fight though. I expect
this game to be close.
Redskins 23 Chiefs 31
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