Week 3: Hopelessness Settling In

Two weeks into the season and both my picks and the NFL are looking about as bad as they possibly can. The NFL is doing much worse than my picks, but that would be the case even if I was 0-32 at this point.

Hopefully at some point soon teams and/or the league will think about their decisions before they make them. The current process seems to be make a poor decision, receive a negative public reaction, lose sponsors due to negative public reaction, then change decision. It is not surprise it is still all driven by money. If teams knew they could still keep all their sponsors and sell tickets and merchandise at the same rate, they’d never suspend anyone unless they were forced to do so.

Sports has become really depressing. I turned on Sports Center as I was eating breakfast and did not see a single sports highlight or even read any sports scores on the bottom line. The items were about – Peterson and child abuse, Rice and domestic violence, Hardy and domestic violence, and Tony Stewart killing a guy. Other recent sports news involves Oscar Pistorius getting charged with homicide (and being allowed to run again), drug suspensions, and racism in front offices. Since then another NFL player has gotten in trouble for domestic violence. Sports are a fun escape from the depressing news, right guys?

Last Week: 6-10
Lock of the Week: 2-0
Season: 12-20

Home team in CAPS

FALCONS (-6.5) over Buccaneers

Tampa lost to Derek Anderson and Austin Davis. Those were both close games, but I can’t imagine how they can stay close to Matt Ryan at home in the dome.

Chargers (+2.5) over BILLS

Buffalo has looked like one of, if not the best team in the league over the first two weeks. I expect some sort of return to normalcy.

Cowboys (-1.5) over RAMS

Through two games and the Dallas defense is looking downright competent. I am not pleased with this trend.

Redskins (+6.5) over EAGLES

Kirk Cousins in relief against a terrible team is one thing. Expecting Cousins to keep pace with this Eagles offense is an entirely different thing. I firmly believe that he is benefiting from backup QB syndrome and now that he is starting, it will be a different story. BUT, I also don’t think the Eagles are a special team and expect divisional games to be close all year in the NFC East.

GIANTS (+2.5) over Texans

I can point to exactly zero things that have happened this season that give me any reason to bet on the Giants or confidence in this pick, yet, still I’m going to take the home dog.

Vikings (+9.5) over SAINTS

Looking at things objectively, I want to take the Saints. But trends support taking the underdog and taking the away team.

BENGALS (-7) over Titans

If the Titans looked bad against the Dallas defense they really shouldn’t have any hope here.

BROWNS (+1.5) over Ravens

Take the home teams in the AFC North.

LIONS (-2) over Packers

This Green Bay defense looks painfully bad.

Colts (-7) over JAGUARS

It is going to be very hard for me to find a time to bet on the Jaguars regardless of the spread after how they have looked over the last six quarters.

Raiders (+14) over PATRIOTS

Really don’t like taking double digit favorites, even against the Raiders.

CARDINALS (+2.5) over 49ers

I bet the Cardinals would have under 7.5 wins this season, which should have been the clearest possible indication that they will go 11-5.

SEAHAWKS (-5) over Broncos

Seattle at home coming off a loss. Nothing more needs be said.

DOLPHINS (-4.5) over Chiefs

It doesn’t look like Andy Reid and Alex Smith will change the Chiefs’ inability to have back-to-back good seasons.

PANTHERS (-3) over Steelers

Greg Hardy is lucky he is not a skill position player, because his charges are certainly the worst of the current group of embattled NFL stars. The Panthers finally decided to ban him from team activities, but the fact that he played in Week 1 is reprehensible and the fact it is getting far less coverage than Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson is equally reprehensible. The man received a guilty verdict and STILL played. All NFL teams are garbage.

Oh, but, hey, football. The Panthers are considerably better than the Steelers.

Bears (+2.5) over JETS

Lock of the Week

The Jets currently have the top ranked rushing offense in the NFL. They also happen to have played against rushing defenses currently ranked 31st and 32nd. The Bears also have a bad rush defense, so maybe New York will continue to have good rushing numbers. This does not mean Chris Johnson and the Jets are among the best rushing teams in the league, I refuse to believe that.

Also, I don’t understand how the Jets are favored by 2.5 points here. The Bears lost in overtime to what looks to be the surprise team of the NFL in the Bills and then beat a supposed juggernaut in the 49ers.