Wellness

[gardenman]

Week two starts out with the Thursday night game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens. I'm not impressed by the Steeler defense, but I'm even less impressed by the Raven's offense. Things in Baltimore have been a bit chaotic this week with the Ray Rice debacle going on, and distraction is never a good thing for a football team. I'm giving the slight edge to the Pittsburgh Steelers in this one. Expect it to be a fairly high scoring game no matter who wins.

The first Sunday game is Miami at Buffalo. Both teams came off of good week one games with each pulling an upset. I'm giving a slight edge to Miami in this one. Buffalo is also in a bit of transition with the new ownership coming in. I don't think that's a big distraction, and it may even be a benefit having the certainty now of a new owner, but I still think the Dolphins will have the slimmest of edges in this one.

Detroit goes to Carolina. Cam Newton will be back on the field for the Panthers, but Calvin Johnson is a beast and the Lions may finally be maturing into a professional team. I'm going with the road team here again and picking the Lions. (I might be going a bit heavy on the road teams this week.)

Atlanta goes to Cincinnati. This should be a pretty good game. I'll give a slight edge to the Bengals in this one.

New Orleans goes to Cleveland. No suspense here. I'm taking New Orleans. They lost last week and won't be happy about that. They'll be out for blood this week. I've got the Saints winning this one pretty easily.

New England goes to Minnesota. I just can't see Tom Brady going 0-2 to start a season, so I'm picking the Patriots in this one.

The Cardinals go to the Giants. Until the Giants show something, I'm picking whoever's playing them. It's the Cards this week and I'm picking the Cards to win. That Giant's team has some issues.

Dallas goes to Tennessee. Tennessee's not a great team, but the Cowboys are a mess right now. If Romo plays well (and that's a huge if) they should beat Tennessee, but I'm not betting on Romo playing well. I'm picking the Titans in this one.

Jacksonville goes to Washington. I'll pick Washington in this one. The only way Jacksonville scored 17 points last week was by the Eagles handing them turnovers and making dumb mistakes on defense. You don't have to be a great team to beat Jacksonville, they'll pretty much beat themselves given half a chance. Washington should win pretty easily. (If they don't then, Wow!)

Seattle goes to San Diego. Seattle is surprisingly mortal on the road and despite being 5 point underdogs, I think the Chargers will win this one. This is a gut call on my part, but I'm taking the Chargers in this one.

Saint Louis goes to Tampa Bay. The Rams are even more hurt now than they were, with Chris Long going down with a bad ankle. They've got no quarterback and one of their best defensive players is now gone, I'm thinking Tampa will get the win here. It's probably not going to be a pretty game to watch.

Kansas City goes to Denver. Yeah, this will likely be a bit of a rout by Denver. KC lost two defensive starters to torn Achilles tendons last week, and they're just not a very good team this year. I'm picking Denver in a big, big way. This one could get embarrassing. (Something like 49-13 isn't out of the question.)

The Jets go to Green Bay. Green Bay's a nine and a half point favorite and should win pretty easily. I'll take Green Bay in this one.

Houston goes to Oakland. I don't expect a lot of points to be scored in this one. I'll give a slight edge to Oakland, but a Houston win wouldn't shock me.

Chicago goes to San Francisco. I've got to pick the Niners in this one. I'm not sure what that Bear defense is doing for run defense, but whatever they're doing isn't working and the Niners love to run the ball. The Bears gave up 193 yards on the ground to Buffalo last week and the Niners are likely to top that production. This one could get ugly.

And finally, the Eagles play the Colts on Monday night. The Eagles lost two starting offensive linemen last week and that's likely to be a problem. The backups were competent enough against Jacksonville, but this is a whole new week. I think the Colts will likely win the game. I want the Eagles to win, but replacing two offensive linemen in one week is asking a lot. I think the Colts will pull this one out. Now if they can't contain the Eagle's running game the Eagles could pull this one out, but my gut says this is a loss for the Eagles.

[teganslaw]

That's the thing: can the Colts contain the Eagles' running game? Both teams have issues with defense right now, so it will most likely come down to whoever has the ball last and whoever makes the least mistakes. I'm expecting this one to be close. The Colts have home field advantage, so it's slightly in their favor. Also, since Andrew Luck has been quarterback, the Colts haven't lost two consecutive games. We'll see if this pattern holds up. It should be a good game.

That is great news about Buffalo staying in New York! The ownership issue might be a distraction, but it also could help the Bills so they'll play well. I have no idea who will win, just have to choose someone for my football picks. It's basically a toss-up.

[yellowrose]

dang it, will be missing Steeler game tonight. GOOOO STEELERS!

Cowboys will be wearing blue jerseys on Sunday, so we have at least one thing to look forward to. I think Romo will bounce back. Hopefully they will make better calls in the red zone and hopefully not have those dreaded turnovers. I hope I hope I hope.

Looking forward to seeing Eagles play Monday night. Last week I was going back and forth between the Texan game and the Eagles, but I just stayed with the Texans during the second half so I missed the Eagles comeback. Thanks a lot Jacksonville - for nothing.

Glad to hear Buffalo is staying put.

Enjoy your games everyone.

GOOOOOO COWBOYS, GOOO TEXANS

[terrier3]

The Ralph is going to be rockin' on Sunday...

Jim Kelly is cancer free...and the Pegulas bought the Bills - the team will be staying in Buffalo.

PLUS we are playing the Dolphins and who ever wins will be in 1st place!!!

[MomOf4]

I hope you're right about Broncos/KC game!!

[sunshine45]

i hope gardenman is wrong about tonights game!

lots of steelers fans down here in baltimore tonight. it will be a tough game.....it always is......and the ravens are coming off of a first week loss (too little, too late, didnt look great).

hoping the ravens bounce back!

gooooooooooooooooo RAVENSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!

[seehorse]

Hi Sunshine45! LOL Steal-ers Don't we always have some controversial call!!! LOL

I know gardenman is always honest in his assessments, but like you, I hope he's wrong! LOL

Ravens have to play 2 halves instead of one!!! I like the new running back. He did well last week. "D" was pretty good, only allowing field goals in the first half, and only allowing 1 TD in the 2nd.

Hope Flacco and the receivers can get their timing down!

[sunshine45]

On 9/11/2014 seehorse said:

Hi Sunshine45! LOL Steal-ers Don't we always have some controversial call!!! LOL

I know gardenman is always honest in his assessments, but like you, I hope he's wrong! LOL

Ravens have to play 2 halves instead of one!!! I like the new running back. He did well last week. "D" was pretty good, only allowing field goals in the first half, and only allowing 1 TD in the 2nd.

Hope Flacco and the receivers can get their timing down!

they need to be faster, more accurate, and be able to protect flacco well!

the first half last week was terrible.....the second half pretty good. you are right.....we need a GREAT game in both halves!

LOL lets also hope that there are no controversial calls or plays. i usually chew my nails off when the ravens play the steelers.

[sunshine45]

by the way SEEHORSE.......how 'bout dem O's????!!!!!.....are you an orioles fan also?

[seehorse]

On 9/11/2014 sunshine45 said:

by the way SEEHORSE.......how 'bout dem O's????!!!!!.....are you an orioles fan also?

LOL Coming around! When I moved here from NY (1964 - just entering high school), it was hard for me to like a new team. It's taken a very long time, but now like the O's and want them to win! Very happy that they're doing so well. It's so great for Baltimore!