Let's kick it off. I will throw an upset special or two into the mix
here, and I look forward to any thoughts an opinions anyone might be
willing to share.
Crack open a cold one, 'coz it's football season, baby.
WAS 14 @ NYG 31: Giants by seventeen here, as the offense will
roll and the defense will look good. The Redskins haven't looked too
solid. If Jason Taylor does not play, the 'Skins D will have a
difficult task ahead of them.
DET 27 @ ATL 13: Detroit will win and Jon Kitna may feel good
enough about it to promise a Super Bowl. But everyone else will know
that the Atlanta Falcons are the Atlanta Falcons, Jon Kitna is Jon
Kitna, and the Lions are still a .500 team at best.
CIN 14 @ BAL 10: Cincy has a receiver to cover for a hurt Chad
Ocho Cinco, but may struggle in the running game. Still, the Ravens have no quarterback. Joe Flacco, did it really come to you already?
SEA 24 @ BUF 20: Seattle is not as tough as they are thought to
be, and the impression of a team that barely edged the Redskins in the
playoffs last year before getting walloped by the Packers remains. They
will still edge the Bills in this one.
NYJ 14@ MIA 17: Everybody will be looking to see Favre light it
up, and while that may happen, I have a feeling Pennington will be the
story of the week after upsetting his former team. He's about as tough
as they come and has more talent (but lacked blocking) than most would
care to realize.
KC 13 @ NE 28: Just because the entire New England team as a
whole looks as though they don't even want to be out there on the
field, my gut tells me to pick against them purely on principle.
Against any halfway decent team, I would. But NE is lucky to have KC as
a get-it-together game. That could still go both ways heading into week
two though, as getting back into the habit of going for it on fourth
downs will hurt them.
TB 28 @ NO 20: Tampa Bay, the more well-rounded team will win
this one. Looking at players who want it bad, one might be inclined to
focus on Shockey. But the moment things don't go Shockey's way, he
forgets how to be a teammate and how to just shut up and play his role.
On the other hand, we have Jeff Garcia, who just a few weeks ago was
more or less told by his organization that he would be Favre's backup.
Garcia is an average quarterback, but he can get fired up and playing
well. With something to prove, Garcia will have a big game.
STL 10 @ PHI 17: Philly has looked good lately, and they will
start the season on a good note against the Rams. The game will be a
lot more one-sided than the final score will suggest.
HOU 14 @ PIT 20: Pittsburgh at home. Pittsburgh at home. The Steelers have tough schedule, but this is a game they will win.
JAC 28 @ TEN 17: Jacksonville is a tough team and can move the
ball on offense, and I don't think Vince Young will be able to exploit
their secondary.
DAL 31 @ CLE 35: Upset special. The Cowboys will be brought down
to earth in week one, losing an offensive shootout with the Browns. The
Browns didn't look great in the preseason, but they are more liable to
show up determined to pull the upset, and they have the guns on offense
to do it.
CAR 17 @ SD 24: San Diego, and it will be their playmakers on
defense that make the difference. Phillip Rivers may struggle a bit,
especially with the impending comeback of Julius Peppers, but he has an
MVP in the backfield to bail him out.
ARI 20 @ SF 10: 'Zona, with Kurt Warner at the helm.
CHI 6 @ IND 24: Not even a question, as the Bears are a team
that have no upset potential in them. They are a mess, two years
removed from the Super Bowl, playing the very team that beat them up
pretty good.
MIN 14 @ GB 20: Minnesota are similar to the Saints of '07:
overhyped and overrated. Green Bay, a very talented team before even
considering the quarterback position, is underrated. Rodgers is the
right guy for them to have, as he is young enough to withstand the
temperatures at Lambeau in January, something Favre apparently could
not do.
DEN 21 @ OAK 7: The Raiders still aren't close yet. Another year of growing pains for Oakland fans.
The reason I picked against the Cowboys was simply because I have to see them beat an above-average team before I'm convinced that they've shaken last year's downfall.
The Jets and Miami is a toss-up between feel-good headlines, so I went with Miami, Pennington, and a revitalized Ricky Williams. It's hard to gauge what to expect from either squad until we've seen them when it counts.
Vikings, well, the Vikings will lose to the Pack in Green Bay.
Well I'm glad you see my hawks winning week 1, but I don't agree with you saying they arn't tough and that they barely beat the Skins. We won by 21 points in that game.
Also what about TJ Houshmanzedah? You say that Cinncy has no WR out side of Ocho Cinco, but TJ is one of the best in the NFL.
Ah, didn't realize Houshamazilli was back and ready for the opener. Haven't checked his status in about a week or so. That would change things quite a bit.
Even in that game, they scored big very late in the game to stretch the lead, and it was much closer than the score suggested.
The Seahawks are a playoff team, but they have injuries and Hasselback is not at full speed. They should win 10 games this year, but these first few games are critical, as they do have some tough opponents on the schedule.
Edged the Redskins? Hmmmm? 21 points is not just "getting by" in my book. Yes, Green Bay blew Seattle out, but then again, they turned around and got stung by the Giants. Thanks for the week one victory though, but you should do some more research before you assume that Seattle is soft.
The game was a very close for the majority, against a team who had their backup quarterback playing. The Seahawks put up points late, but it was more of the Redskins shooting themselves in the foot.
I did watch the game. From a fan's perspective, it might be easy to disagree, but the Seahawks, despite winning by three scores, did not by any means blowout the 'Skins. The Seahawks were locked in a dead even contest for most of the game with an average team.
The way I look at it, there is a difference between weak/strong and soft/tough. Tough is putting opponents less talented than you away from start to finish, and staying in games with teams that possess greater talent. If I thought the Seahawks were lacking talent, I would call them weak.
The Seahawks are not by any means weak, but toughness is something you can only prove with performance, and considering their division, I have to see it to believe it. The Bills will be a good start.
Last edited by ruggedest on September 2nd at 9:59 AM.
Well put!! I now see your reason behind writing what you did and now have a lot more respect towards your opinion. I do however, all bias included, disagree with you though. Seattle, despite going stagnet against a decent Redskins defence, was totally shutting the Skins down. If you minus two Hasselbeck turnovers, it would not have even been that close. In the end though, Seattle proved their collective resolve and pulled out a game that should have never been that close, or close at all for that matter. Green Bay though, well, lets just chalk that up as one UGLY game in which I was all but beside myself by the start of the 2nd quarter. Oh well, sometimes you just have it handed to you. Seattle should be a lot better this year, injuries aside.
Yes, and I respect yours as well. The perspective of a fan usually comes with some bias, but the perspective of the fan usually comes with bias as well. A fan who is well thought-out and is reasonable will usually provide some of the best insight, because chances are good that nobody follows their team closer, except for perhaps fans of the same team.
That being said, Seattle is definitely a team you can't sleep on this year. If they get that running game on track, they are liable to be a serious threat. Week five will be their first real test, taking on the Giants at home.
They should be 3-0 at that point, but they hit a rough stretch, playing two division winners and a Super Bowl champion in three weeks. If they can come out of their first six with a 4-2 record, they'll be in good shape, and they could even take 2 of 3 over that stretch.
Thanks for your response. Once again, well put. I've been a fan of the Seattle Seahawks since the 1982-83 season, when I was the young age of seven. I am not the best Seahawk fan, by far, but consider myself somewhat versed on their players and personel. Again, thanks for such a well written and civil response and I hope your predictions come true--at least the positive ones that is. Keep up the good work.
You know, maybe I'm stupid, but can you name any players on the browns defense that are worth a ####? And they're going to survive a shoot-out with a team with 13 pro bowlers...including atleast one more probable pro bowler in Zach Thomas? I think not. The Cowboys are going to march up and down the field against the Browns.
Gimpi_9- It's funny how, with the Saints, they seem to be picked as Super Bowl favorites every year. When they fall short, it makes no difference. I'm not quite sure if it will be the same way with the Vikings. Only time will tell.
SCOTTRENO- That's a viable possibility, but let's not forget that the Giants of '07 had less Pro Bowlers than the Browns. It's an upset pick, as Dallas is clearly the favorite to win.
Oh, and though I don't know the Browns D very well, Shaun Rogers is one solid D lineman to note, and he should upgrade the Browns line quite a bit this year.
Towelboy- Cowboys did struggle at times against average teams. They finished very poorly last year, considering their great start. I have the Browns picked for the upset, on the strength that I'm not entirely sure what kind of attitude the Cowboys are going to take to start the season.
The Cowboys are the better team all around, but Cleveland does have the firepower if the Cowboys decide to take it easy.
