Julius Jones will have the best season of his career in the absence of the Seahawks entire receiving corps. I'm not doing so poorly on this prediction as of now. Most people who drafted Julius Jones did so after sighing and saying to themselves "Well, it's either this guy or Ahman Green...". I snagged Julius in the 10th round and so far don't regret it one bit. He's been one of the few guys that's been solid every game for me. We'll see if he can keep this up with the return of Bobby Engram and Deion Branch.
Jonathan Stewart and Chris Johnson will be more impressive than Darren McFadden and Rashard Mendenhall. I was hoping desperately that McFadden would have a poor season after he became part of the Al Davis regime. I have no problem with the players on the Raiders, but I will never want Al Davis to EVER be right. Mendenhall was getting an unbelievable amount of hype, but we'll have to wait til next season to see if they're right. Jonathan Stewart and Chris Johnson have both taken over the role of featured back on their teams, and aside from Matt Forte, are the most impressive rookie backs this season.
Someone will pick up Joey Harrington. They won't want to, but they will. The Saints signed him, cut him, and signed him again. In the event that Drew Brees and Mark Brunell go down, the Saints can rest assured that OH GOD JOEY HARRINGTON IS OUR QUARTERBACK. I can only hope it never comes to that.
Later in the season, Steve Slaton for Clinton Portis will seem like a reasonable trade. Not a reasonable trade as of yet, but Slaton has been off to a great start since the inevitable Ahman Green shit-the-bed show. Why the Texans didn't make Slaton their starter from the beginning is beyond me, but he's looking like he'll be pretty diesel.
Brady will have his worst season on record. You will wish you had drafted JT O'Sullivan over Brady when it's all over. This was more about O'Sullivan being a great quarterback than Brady having a bad season, but regardless, I was very right about this one.
The Colts will lose one of their first 4 games. They've lost 2, so I was right twice. Dammit.
Anyway, to combat Adam-Man's more than likely egregious picks, here's who I'm taking this Sunday/Monday.
Chicago at Detroit
Does this game really even matter? Does the season matter anymore for Lions fans? Matt Millen's gone, so they got the next best thing to winning a Super Bowl. I've never been as happy for a team that I cared nothing about as I was for Detroit once the Millen era ended. I think this, added on to Chicago's top receiver Brandon Lloyd being out gives the Lions the edge they need to win their first game of the season. I thought Detroit would be a hell of a lot better than they were this season, so with Millen out, it's time to start acting it.
Lions win 35-17
Atlanta at Green Bay
The Falcons have surprised me. I thought they were going to be a bottom 3 team, but it looks like they might come out with a semi-respectable record for the problems they've dealt with in past years. Matty Heisman might not be putting up huge numbers yet, and Michael Turner might be a bit streaky, but they might pull together 6 or 7 wins this season. Still, even with Rodgers a game time decision, I see Green Bay taking this one.
Packers win 17-10
San Diego at Miami
What's interesting about the Chargers this season is that they're a botched call and an amazing last second play away from being undefeated right now. Instead, Hochuli's boo-boo and Delhomme to Rosario have put them at 2-2. Ronnie Brown gave the Fins a huge win over New England two weeks ago, and they've had an extra week to bask in that glory. However, that game was won very much on the element of surprise, and the Dolphins won't surprise San Diego this week. The Chargers are a much better team than the Patriots and will win this game.
Chargers win 38-13
Seattle at New York Giants
This will be an interesting matchup to say the least. Hasselbeck gets two of his weapons back this week, but has to go up against a Giants defense that won't give him much time to throw to Engram or Branch. There's still plenty of people out there who don't believe in the Giants. Going into the season, it was expected they wouldn't be close to the same team they were in their Super Bowl run. This game will silence doubters if they can improve to 4-0 and have first place in the toughest division in football outright. I haven't even mentioned the 7 TD's Eli Manning's going to throw yet.
G-Men win 45-28
Washington at Philadelphia
I'm going to get tired of these great NFC East matchups week after week. Wait, no I won't. Anyone can win against anyone else, which is the beauty of this. The Giants beat the Skins, the Skins beat the Cowboys, the Cowboys beat the Eagles. The only team without a divisional win here is Philly, but Westbrook practiced this week, and they'll take this must-win game to stay on track in the division.
Eagles win 21-18
Kansas City at Carolina
This is why I love football this season. Granted, there's a better chance of Al Davis admitting he was wrong and that Lane Kiffin was a good coach than the Chiefs/Panthers being shown in Boston, but this game actually excites me. The Broncos didn't bring their best game last week, that's true, but the Chiefs downright outplayed them. Larry Johnson reemerged as a serious running threat, and Damon Huard seems like a much less awful option as their interim QB than I initially thought. Carolina needs this win to go 4-1 and guarantee a worst-case scenario of a tie with Tampa Bay for the NFC South. I see this being an exciting game, but the Chiefs will come out surprise victors against two very solid teams in a row.
Chiefs win 28-25
Tennessee at Baltimore
Here's two teams that play hard nosed football, but in very different ways. The defenses for the Ravens and Titans are scary good, and if I were Jeff Fisher, I'd be giving Lendale White more carries than Chris Johnson this game (for fear that Chris Johnson will get injured and be useless for my fantasy team). Kerry Collins has been getting the job done on offense, and Albert Haynesworth's 5 sacks haven't been hurting their defense too much. Still, I don't see Tennessee going 5-0. Baltimore's got a lot of things to like about them this season and they're going to come out on top and win this won.
Ravens win 14-10
Indianapolis at Houston
I'm telling you this right now, Indy will not lose this game. It's hard being a diehard fan of a team, analyzing every starter, every backup, every guy on the practice squad, and trying to figure out for yourself why the equation isn't working. A lot of people have said "The Colts just aren't that good this year". I was watching the Colts/Chiefs wild card playoff from 2006 when they won it all, and focused on how the league's worst rush defense turned themselves around to absolutely shut down the Kansas City running game. How did they do it? Guys like Cato June, Jason David, Nick Harper and Booger McFarland were certainly factors, and having a Tarik Glenn as opposed to a Tony Ugoh watching Manning's blind side sure helped them on offense, but football is a game of adjustments.
These first 3 games, Indy's offensive line's timing was off, their defense was playing like a finesse team instead of the rabid gang tackling defense that won a Super Bowl, and they definitely didn't look like the Colts teams of year's past. That's too be expected. Early injuries that force rookies to play out of position will do that, but Howard Mudd is one of the best offensive line coaches in the game, and now that they're healthier and back to normal, the Colts can get back to their old winning selves.
The Texans are 0-3, but might have found a key ingredient in stepping up their offense in Steve Slaton. Matt Schaub performs well when his job is on the line, and the Texans have lost to some solid teams (Pittsburgh, Tennessee, and a revamped Jacksonville team). This will be the fourth 2007 playoff team Houston gets before their schedule eases up a bit. Still, I'm going with Peyton and my boys. This week and next week are must wins, and the best quarterback in the history of the universe won't let his team slip to 1-3.
Colts win 38-14
Tampa Bay at Denver
The Bucs and Broncs face off in a matchup of two first place teams. Denver's offense has exploded this season, but their defense has a lot left to be desired. In just three games, Brandon Marshall has put himself up with the likes of Terrell Owens, Randy Moss and Reggie Wayne. If Marshall can stay out of trouble, he's going to be the name that people compare the next great receiver to someday. Tampa Bay is lacking in star power, but they are a great team. Love him or hate him, Gruden's done a great job with what he's got this season, and Tampa Bay might be one of those teams that quietly slips into the playoffs once again. Typically, the matchups you're looking forward to (in this case, Denver's offense against Tampa's defense) never end up being half as exciting as the matchup you weren't expecting, so I'm thinking this game will come down to how Denver can stop Brian Griese. The thing is, I don't think they will. I think Graham will punish them down the middle, and the Bucs will take away a big win in Colorado.
Buccaneers win 27-21
Cincinnati at Dallas
Listen, the Bengals suck. They're one of 3 teams playing this week without a win, and going up against the Cowboys won't make things any easier. Chad Javon Ocho Sucksreallyhard-o (I figured Ocho Stinko is getting worn out) better get his popcorn ready, because I've got a feeling Terrell Owens has a touchdown dance he's been saving for a while now. Also expect Jason Witten to be at the 50 yard line in the case 85 actually scores a touchdown, so that when he kisses the star, it'll be his last move of the season. Yeah, Ocho Cinco says it's "out of respect", but I buy that less than I would buy a Travis Henry plea of "I thought it was sugar".
Cowboys win somewhere around a billion - 2
Buffalo at Arizona
The unbeaten Bills (my third favorite team, by the way) travel a long way for this one. The Cards have to be tired still from their east coast trip, but they've also got to be happy to play at home on Sunday. Kurt Warner and the defense's suck-fest last weekend is something they want to get past, and they know that Buffalo's won their games by the skin of their teeth so far. You wonder if the Bills can go into their bye week 5-0, which would be absolutely huge for that organization. This will be their biggest test of the season. The Seahawks were still trying to figure out who was playing where during week 1 when they beat them, and the Jags didn't bring an offensive line to the game week 2, and Oakland and St. Louis made what should have been blowouts close games. Buffalo can't afford to bring the game to another fourth quarter comeback, so this game will be over one way or the other by midway through the third quarter or earlier. I'm rooting for the Bills to win this, but even without Anquan Boldin, I think the Cards will pull away with this one.
Cardinals win 20-10
New England at San Francisco
It's interesting to see this quarterback matchup. Preseason expectations would have been for a lousy team led by Alex Smith to get beat up by Tom Brady and the Patriots. This is football though, and J.T. O'Sullivan has a confident team looking to get some respect. The Patriots still look like they're trying to figure out what to do in the absence of Brady. Their defense straight out of the geriatric ward isn't helping things either. San Fran's defense is solid, and while they're far from great just yet, they should hold the Patriots back from playing like the Patriots are used to playing.
49ers win 30-23
Pittsburgh at Jacksonville
You've got a banged up Steelers team who after week 1 were touted as the best looking team at a first glance. Then you've got an even more banged up Jaguars team who looked like they had no hope for the season after losses in weeks 1 and 2. The past couple games have made Pittsburgh look a lot less powerful and Jacksonville a lot better gelled. The makeshift offensive line was able to make Indy's defense look like a joke. They were able to pull off an overtime victory in Houston, and they're going to save their season by winning their third game in a row against the overrated Steelers.
Jaguars win 27-10
Minnesota at New Orleans
I don't know what happened to the Vikings, but it's not good. Yeah, they've lost to Tennesse and Green Bay, both contenders this season, and if they could have come through with just one touchdown against Indy they would have pulled away with the victory, but they just don't look like the Minnesota team that had such high hopes. On the plus side, Frerotte has thrown for over 200 yards per game, where Jackson missed that mark during his first two starts. If Frerotte can get the Vikings' offense jump started, Minnesota's got a shot. However, New Orleans has a high powered offense with a cannon behind center. If they can get more than 20 points on the board, the Vikes haven't scored more than 20 all season.
Saints win 34-17
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