It was good to get back into things, and at least through one week I feel like we're relatively in midseason form as a lot of the trends from last year continued. On the whole, I took a narrow five of nine disputed games from Adam, four of seven from Joe, and the two of them split their six disputes. It results in me holding the slimmest of leads through a single week. I'll take it for now, given the discussions I had with our current last place person in Jim while he was in town this past weekend, insisting that we cannot let Adam win.
As I have in years past, I'm keeping track of how we've all picked in relation to each other. It was a rough start for hero picks (1-3 so far, though Adam split his two) while I dominated in 3-2 split games. And as has been tradition, we're under .500 in consensus games.
As we look ahead to Week 2, Adam and I disagree on seven games, Joe and I on four, and Joe and Adam on five out of 16. Let's get to it!
Thursday Night
Minnesota Vikings @ Philadelphia Eagles (-7.5)
Lucas: Eagles. Between the fact that Kirk Cousins at night isn't that good (11-18 record, numbers slightly worse than his daytime counterparts), the fact that the Eagles showed they're not ready to drop off, combined with the point that I'm going to hammer home in that the Vikings are going to regress to the mean... Eagles by double digits.
Adam: Vikings. Call this an overreaction to Philly not blowing the Pats out as I thought, or maybe its Minnesota losing to what I expected to be a weak Bucs team. But I’ll take the points.
Joe: Vikings.
Sunday, Early Afternoon
Green Bay Packers @ Atlanta Falcons (+1.5)
Lucas: Packers. Jordan Love looked good in his debut as The Guy. Assuming the other injuries that cropped up throughout the continued owning of the Bears are minor, a 2-0 start should be easily doable.
Adam: Packers. I expect Bijan to get more touches this week, and he looked good, but Green Bay really surprised me at how good they look under their new leadership.
Joe: Packers.
Las Vegas Raiders @ Buffalo Bills (-8.5)
Lucas: Raiders. This is more an indictment that the line is too damn high than an endorsement of the Raiders. Unless Josh Allen is broken by all the overtime losses...
Joe: Raiders.
Baltimore Ravens @ Cincinnati Bengals (-3.5)
Lucas: Ravens. Joe Burrow is gonna die this season, isn't he.
Adam: Bengals. What happened last week? Kevin did not defend his house. I think this is more due to having the whole preseason getting back from the early injury... at least I hope it is.
Joe: Ravens.
Seattle Seahawks @ Detroit Lions (-6.5)
Lucas: Lions. Detroit has every reason to be full of hope and optimism this year. Pulling off a win in Kansas City in the opener (who cares that the Chiefs were shorthanded, a win's a win) should give them a ton of momentum to start the year.
Adam: Lions. Coming off a W against the powerhouse Kansas City Chiefs, I see them continuing what I now see as their drive to their first division championship in what, this millenium?
Lucas note: Revised Adam's comment here, but confirming that yes: the Lions have never won the NFC North. Their last division title was in 1993, back in the NFC Central days.
Joe: Lions.
Los Angeles Chargers @ Tennessee Titans (+3.5)
Lucas: Chargers. I could go either way here because the Chargers are the Chargers, but I think they bounce back this week.
Adam: Chargers. LA lost in a shoot out to the Miami team that put up some points, and Tennessee is coming off an L to the middling Saints. I see the Chargers taking control early and cruising to a win.
Joe: Chargers.
Chicago Bears @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-3.5)
Lucas: Buccaneers. I haven't wanted to write off Justin Fields yet, but... I'm thinking he might not be the answer. Thankfully for the Bears, they're gonna have a couple top 10 picks and can reset again.
Adam: Buccaneers. Much surprised by them. Maybe Baker can bake in Tampa.
Joe: Bears.
Kansas City Chiefs @ Jacksonville Jaguars (+2.5)
Lucas: Chiefs. We're due for a bounceback here, but this should be a good game.
Adam: Chiefs. With the expected return of Kelce, who the KC sorely missed last Thursday, the entire offense will open up and they roll. And don’t get me wrong, I really like the Jags, but KC is better.
Joe: Chiefs.
Indianapolis Colts @ Houston Texans (+1.5)
Lucas: Texans. Flip a coin. I'll take the home team plus a little margin for error.
Adam: Colts. Just banking on who I thought looked better last week. Both teams struggled, but Indy less so.
Joe: Texans.
Sunday, Late Afternoon
San Francisco 49ers @ Los Angeles Rams (+7.5)
Lucas: Rams. While the Niners looked good in Week 1, I underestimated a shorthanded Rams team. I'll take the touchdown.
Adam: 49ers. The Rams looked good, but may have been helped by a Seattle team that is dealing with some offensive line injuries. They won’t get that same help this week with Run CMC crew visiting.
Joe: 49ers.
New York Giants @ Arizona Cardinals (+3.5)
Lucas: Giants. Good way for Danny Derps and company to bounce back is facing the desert tank.
Adam: Giants. I am scratching my head from last week for both teams. The G-Men ran up against a Dallas squad that was ready, and Arizona was able to take advantage of a meh Washington team. Both teams move closer to where they will end up for the season; New York is the much better team here and covers without much difficulty.
Joe: Giants.
New York Jets @ Dallas Cowboys (-8.5)
Lucas: Cowboys. The football gods are a**holes.
Washington Commanders @ Denver Broncos (-3.5)
Lucas: Commanders. I'm still not sold on the resurgence of Chef Russ.
Adam: Broncos. I was encouraged by how Denver played, even in the loss. Russ wasn’t great by any means, but encouraging. And certainly, felt better than how Washington looked.
Joe: Broncos.
Sunday Night
Miami Dolphins @ New England Patriots (+2.5)
Lucas: Dolphins. I really hope Tua stays healthy this year. He looked good in Week 1 and it carries over into primetime.
Adam: Dolphins. Holy Hell. Tyreek Hill is not real. 11 grabs on 15 targets for 215 and 2 touchdowns. That’s a QB stat line, not a WR. Tua was 28/45 for 466 and three scores to one pick. There are some quarterbacks that don’t do that in two games, let alone one. Unreal.
Joe: Dolphins.
Monday Night
New Orleans Saints @ Carolina Panthers (+3.5)
Lucas: Saints. I don't really want anything to do with the NFC South. Saints win fairly handily.
Adam: Saints. Don’t really care, taking the Saints since they won last week and have more playmakers.
Joe: Saints.
Cleveland Browns @ Pittsburgh Steelers (+1.5)
Lucas: Browns. If Myles Garrett keeps his head on his shoulders this year... dude could be in the running for DPOY.
Adam: Steelers. I just see the Steelers coming back from that embarrassment of a game against the 49ers. Pickett needs to be better, and if he is, Pittsburgh should cover just fine.Crossover hesi mid game?
— SN Ohio (@SN_Ohio) September 11, 2023
Myles Garrett 🐐 pic.twitter.com/mYTeaj0JcK
Joe: Browns.
Records Last Week
Lucas: 9-7
Adam: 8-8
Joe: 8-8
Geoffrey: 7-9
Jim: 6-10
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