NFL week 3....Contender or Pretender?

[Tyche]

Welp, some perennial terrible teams are 2-0 and some perennial playoff teams are 0-2. Who's contending and who's pretending?

Kansas City @ Atlanta - We see a huge game for Michael Turner. I'm guessing another 120+ yard 2TD outing. Atlanta will run circles around Kansas City. I will also say that Bowe will have a big game for KC, as the Atlanta secondary is less than stellar.

Oakland @ Buffalo - Buffalo is certainly a contender. I said it last season, Buffalo was underrated, and they are finally getting some deserved credit. They are very very well coached, and if Trent Edwards can remain somewhat consistent, I see big things, possibly a trip to the AFC championship for this team.

Tampa Bay@ Chicago - Galloway is hurt, their QB sucks, and Chicago is god damned good on defense. Chicago wins.

Carolina @ Minnesota - The EPIC BATTLE OF THE PRETENDERS. Neither of these teams make the playoffs. I think Gus marches out of the tunnel, walker in hand, and leads Minnesota to their first win. Steve Smith returns with a terrible game.

Miami @ New England - I swear I picked Miami

Cincinatti @ New York Giants - New York wins, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Cinci ends up playing them really well. It sounds absurd, and I cannot justify it. I think Eli and Jacobs continue to steam roll through, but I see Palmer putting up 300+ of his own.

Houston @ Tennessee - Another pretender in lions clothing. Titans have been playing very well on defense and the running game is going rather smoothly. I still think Collins will start to falter and Young will be back in before we know it. Houston wins this game after a huge game by Johnson, Daniels, and Schaub.

Arizona @ Washington - CONTENDER! Dare I say that Warner is back to old form? 21 TDs in the second half of last season, yeah, that's more than record shattering Tom Brady had. He's firing on all cylindars through 2 games this season. He has one of the best cores of wideouts in the league and we know he can get the ball to them. Edge is starting to play well. Arizona defense is even starting to click.

Detroit @ San Francisco - Detroit has the worst rush defense in the league. Gore is a god damned monster. Detroit also has one of the best WR cores in the league. 2 less than average defenses, I'm calling an offensive showdown here. 50+ total points. Niners win.

St. Louis @ Seattle - Maybe the two most disappointing teams in the NFL right now. Seattle because of injuries and St. Louis because they just suck. Seattle usually plays well at home, but I see a big game from Jackson and Bulger. I think this will be very very close with Seattle pulling away by a fieldgoal.

New Orleans @ Denver - CONTENDER x2! I wouldn't by shocked to see another 80+ point game here. Two very very potent offenses. Denver is not going to lose this game. New Orleans is ranking in the bottom third of the league in rush and pass defense. 100+ yard game by Young and 120+ yard game by Marshall. Both QBs go over 300.

Pittsburgh @ Philadelphia - CONTENDER x2! It pains me, but I'm taking pitt. We are seeing a transformation that I like in the steel city. The QB is much more involved in the passing game than ever before. When Cowher was there, he ha the worst fucking run-of-the-mill QBs I've ever seen and was consistently great. Now they have a great QB and a great RB. This Pitt team is flying under the radar to the giants and cowboys as one of the best teams. Pitt is going to break a lot of hearts this year and possibly get back to the promised land.

Jacksonville @ Indianapolis - CONTENDER! Indi is going to win this game. Harrison and Wayne are going to break the god damned mold with 2 100+ yard performances. Sorry Jax, you aren't what we thought you were!

Cleveland @ Baltimore - Man, Cleveland is playing some brutal defenses to start the season. Baltimore has been suffocating thus far and Cleveland has shown a complete lack of ability to move the ball.

Dallas @ Green Bay - CONTENDER x2! The Rodgers slump game. Despite a win, I'm sure America's team was in the film room with the defensive coordinator having a god damned fit. Dallas defense bucks up and throttles Rodgers. Dallas continues to score as they will all season.

New York Jets @ San Diego - CONTENDER! Darren Sproles FTW in this game. Huge game by Sproles and a huge game by Favre after mounting criticism of Mangenius's lack of using Favre. Chargers still win. Remember, last year they started 1-3 and they ended up just fine.

[Akiyama]

Kansas City @ Atlanta - 3rd String QB = sacrificial lamb

Oakland @ Buffalo - Time for Buffalo to go 3-0? Please? Lynch needs to have a huge day.

Tampa Bay @ Chicago - If Galloway is truly hurt, this could suck for the Bucs... that and they play bad in the cold.

Carolina @ Minnesota - Vikings can't go 0-3... can they? Steve Smith is back for Carolina. This could be a toss-up. Vikings got sliced up against Manning in the 4th quarter this past Sunday.

Miami @ New England - Pats are still better than the dreadful Dolphins. Could we see some Chad Henne?

Cincinatti @ New York Giants - With the Cincy O-line in shambles, the Giants should have a field day.

Houston@ Tennessee - I do think Houston is better than we saw in week 1 against a super bowl contender, but I really like how Tennessee's defense is playing.

Arizona @ Washington - I want to pick Washington here because Arizona always fucks with our minds, but Warner is indeed playing so good.

Detroit @ San Francisco - Going with Detroit here to go 1-2. Both QBs are gonna throw a lot, both are probably gonna throw some picks, and yeah. I agree. Lots of points. I think the Lions, while shitty, have too much talent in terms of WRs.

St. Louis @ Seattle - Both are dreadful really. Rams are a potential 0-16 team though!

New Orleans @ Denver - Denver's passing game is ridiculous. NO's pass defense is dreadful. Put 2 and 2 together.

Pittsburgh@ Philadelphia - I liked Philly's play this past weekend. I do think they can beat Pitt's secondary. This is sort of a hopeful pick here.

Jacksonville @ Indianapolis - Jacksonville and Indy both have their o-lines in a mess, but I think Indy's pass rush will get the best of the Jags here. That and the Colts can't possibly go 0-2 at home.

Cleveland @ Baltimore- We saw Baltimore once. That's not a lot to go on. Surely Cleveland can get to Flacco.

Dallas @ Green Bay - Green Bay is pretty good, but with this marque match-up, we'll see just how good. Can Romo handle himself in a big road game? Is Grant still banged up? Who knowwws!

New York Jets @ San Diego - Chargers can't go 0-3. There are a lot of teams this weekend that can't stay winless, but this is the biggest. Sorry Brett and the Jets. I smell a blowout here.

First Tyche, you need to fix some of your mistakes. You have some home/road teams backwards. :3

Our choices are pretty close though. Just a couple changes.

[Tyche]

Hmm, had 2 backwards. Dunno why, but fixed.

[Kyo]

I agree with aki's pick except carolina will beat Minn. and baltimore will beat the browns.

[Fistandantilus]

Baltimore's defense has been suffocating so far? They played one game against the Bengals. Granted the Bengals have played the Ravens and Steeler's so far, but their offense has pretty inept at doing anything no matter who they are against, I think it's a bit premature to be saying the Ravens defense has been suffocating 'thus far' through one game. As a small note, I do think it is pretty likely that we see the Ravens defense that we've seen periodically over the last few years that posted super bowl wins and 13 win seasons. Just pointing out some poor word choice I suppose.

[Akiyama]

Uh, you're wrong Fist. The Bengals have played the Ravens and the Titans. >.>;

[Koyuki]

Kansas City @ Atlanta

Oakland @ Buffalo

Tampa Bay @ Chicago

Carolina @ Minnesota

Miami @ New England

Cincinatti @ New York Giants

Houston@ Tennessee

Arizona @ Washington

Detroit @ San Francisco

St. Louis @ Seattle

New Orleans @ Denver

Pittsburgh@ Philadelphia

Jacksonville @ Indianapolis

Cleveland @ Baltimore

Dallas @ Green Bay

New York Jets @ San Diego

[Fistandantilus]

Really not sure how that happened, I meant to say Tennessee and managed to type Steeler's. That's pretty fail, especially when my post was to point out poor word choice. Massive self own.

[Akiyama]

It's okay, Fist. You're from Seattle. Your pro teams out there have been made of massive fail. Lost the NBA team. Seahawks are pretty bad, and we won't start on the Mariners.

[Kyo]

Dallas @ Green Bay

Hattttteeeee, I want to hear reasoning!

[Koyuki]

Hattttteeeee, I want to hear reasoning!

Green Bay is pretty big at home and I'm still not convinced on Tony Romo or the Dallas D for that matter.

[Denchi]

My Vikings would be good if it weren't for Tavaris McFuckcakes.

I don't know if I've ever seen a starting QB perform so badly.... *sigh*

[Kyo]

Besides 2 mistakes Romo had an excellent game, and yeah I understand the D, but I think that'll change this week, I think they'll crack own, they showed some promise towards the end, found ways to get to MCnabb, but also Ive never been a fan of the 3-4, w/o fast tackles its hard to work, but we have the linebackers to pull it off. Plus newman will be back fulltime next week Im excited about that and that new saftey Jenkins is showing some promise.

Edit: <3 Felix.

[Kyo]

My Vikings would be good if it weren't for Tavaris McFuckcakes.

I don't know if I've ever seen a starting QB perform so badly.... *sigh*

I guess ur not aware they benched his ass today and starting Gus.

[Tyche]

Carson threw for under 100 yards for the first time in 2 years, around 150 total yards, and 2 turnovers. That's pretty god damned suffocating for any team. They held a really really good QB to under 40% passing. You act like I'm jumping out on some sort of limb by saying that. You realize they were a top defense last year and have been for the last 5 years...

[Akiyama]

Carson threw for under 100 yards for the first time in 2 years, around 150 total yards, and 2 turnovers. That's pretty god damned suffocating for any team. They held a really really good QB to under 40% passing. You act like I'm jumping out on some sort of limb by saying that. You realize they were a top defense last year and have been for the last 5 years...

They were a top defense last year? I seem to remember by about Week 10 or so, their defense was rather crummy due to injuries. You also realize that Cincy's offensive line is hoooooorrible, right? That's why Carson threw for like.. 94 yards. He had maybe 2-3 seconds to get the ball off. That's not even enough time for Tom Brady or Peyton Manning.

I just don't think 1 game against an awful team is a good judge of a team. I didn't believe the Rams game was a good judge for the Eagles either, but they proved me wrong against the Cowboys. We'll see this weekend how the Ravens do against a better team though.

[Kyo]

Ravens have had a good defense for years man, their offense has always been lacking, they relied on jamal lewis and MC Nair too much, never got any quality talent besides heap and he's always hurt.

[Akiyama]

No, no. I know they have had a good defense for a long time, but it lacked a bit last year compared to earlier years. They are just getting old and slower. That's all I mean.

[Tyche]

They were 6th in total defense despite injuries in the second half of the season. I'd call that "tops".

[Kyo]

Ah okie yeah.