Wellness

[gardenman]

And we're now about one eighth of the way through the NFL regular season! The first game this week is the Patriots at Buffalo. This will be a good test for the Bills. They've played very well in the first two weeks, but the Patriots have played great. This will be our first chance to see if the Bills are for real, or if they've been feasting on inferior competition. I have a feeling this game will be close for the first half and then New England will open things up in the second half and win pretty easily.

The next game is Jacksonville at Carolina. This is the battle of the rookie quarterbacks now that Jack Del Rio in Jacksonville has given up on his Luke McCown experiment and is starting rookie Blaine Gabbert instead. Blaine Gabbert against Cam Newton in Carolina sounds like a win for Carolina to me. Cam Newton's played very well so far this season and Jacksonville is a mess.

Next up is San Francisco at Cincinnati. I have no clue who will win this game. I haven't seen enough of either team to know how they're playing right now. If I had to pick a team I'd go with CIncinnati.

Miami at Cleveland is up next. I like Colt McCoy at quarterback for the Browns. The Browns are scoring more points per game and allowing fewr points per game than the Dolphins, so I'm giving the edge to the Browns in this game. Chad Henne is doing a decent job at QB for the Dolphins, but if I had to choose between the two QB's I'd take Colt McCoy.

Next up is Houston at New Orleans. Houston is a pretty popular pick for the breakout team this year that will finally emerge to become a Super Bowl contender. This will be a good test for them. The Saints are playing good football and Drew Brees will definitely put up some points. I think the home field will favor the Saints and they'll pull this one out.

Next up is the Giants at Philadelphia. This will be a nasty ballgame. The Giants' players are already talking about wanting Vick in the game so they can knock him out and beat the Eagles at their best. (They've lost five in a row to the Eagles including blowing a 21 point lead with 8:00 to play last year.) There's been a lot of trash talk between the two teams over the offseason and the Giants are coming in breathing fire. Expect to see lots of penalty flags flying in this game and there's a decent likelihood of an ejection or two. The Eagles are relatively healthy right now and it looks like Vick will be back and playing after his concussion, so I have to give the edge to the Eagles. Their new wide nine defensive front has been giving pass blockers fits and the Giants' offensive line isn't especially solid. If the d-line/linebackers of the Eagles can shut down the Giants' running game and force Eli into known passing situations, then it could be a very long day for the Giants. The Giants have a ton of injuries at both wide receiver and in their secondary and the Eagles have great DB's and WR's to challenge the Giant's subs. If the Giants can make their running game work, they could grind out a victory, but if this becomes a shootout, then look out. It could go heavily in the Eagle's favor. I just don't think the Giants match up well now due to injuries.

Next up is Denver at Tennessee. Denver's a mess and Tennessee played well last week. I like Matt Hasselbeck and the weapons he has in Tennessee over Denver. This could be pretty one-sided.

The Jets at the Raiders is the first of the four o'clock games. The Raiders aren't a bad team and flying across the country to play is never easy for a team, but I think the Jets will win this game. It may be pretty close, but I have to think the Jets will win this one.

Kansas City at San Diego is up next. Preseason speculation was that Todd Haley would be under some pressure to improve the Chiefs this year and that his job could be in jeopardy if the Chiefs failed to make the playoffs. It looks like the players don't want Todd Haley back as their head coach next year. They've pretty much rolled over and played dead so far this year. They've scored a total of ten points this year while giving up 89. When you're losing by an average of around 40 points a game, it's not generally a good thing. Expect to see San Diego win big and expect to see Todd Haley fired early this season.

Baltimore at St Louis is up next. St Louis really needs to win this game, but Baltimore is tough. I just don't see Baltimore losing this game. They were flat last week and lost to Tennessee and they'll want to atone for that effort. I think the Rams will fall to 0-3 this week.

Green Bay at Chicago is next up and should be a really good game. Green Bay has looked really good this year. Green Bay beat New Orleans 42-34 and New Orleans beat Chicago 30-13, so this would be a good week to bet on the Packers winning.

Next up is Arizona at Seattle. This should be a pretty easy win for the Cardinals. It can be tough playing in Seattle, but the Seahawks just aren't very good right now.

Next up is Atlanta at Tampa Bay. This is a tough game to call. Both teams are pretty evenly matched. I don't have a good feeling on who will win this game, but I expect it to be a close game.

The Sunday Night game is Pittsburgh at Indianapolis. When the schedule was released in the spring this looked like a huge matchup. Without Peyton Manning on the Colts' side it now looks like a huge mismatch. Expect to see the Steelers win big. There is a chance that Kerry Collins now knows enough of the Colt's system to be effective and maybe the team will rally and play hard, but I'm not optimistic.

And finally, the Monday Night Football game is the Washington Redskins at the Dallas Cowboys. This is typically a tough, hard hitting game. I'm not sold on Rex Grossman as the Redskins quarterback. If Tony Romo was healthy I would give the nod to the Cowboys, but with Romo hurting, Miles Austin out, and Dez Bryant possibly/probably out, the Cowboys are left with mostly blanks in their gun. I think the game will be close, but I have to give the edge to the Redskins. It should be a fairly close game no matter what.