NFL Week 3 Predictions
Well, week 2 was definitely interesting, that’s for sure. 8 different come-back victories and a stellar game on Monday Night Football made for a great weekend. It’ll be tough to live up to last week’s excitement, but I’m sure there will be an equal amount of story lines in week 3.
A number of games this week really have me scratching my head about who to pick, but I think this is the week that we’ll start to see things come into focus a little more. Good teams (San Diego, Minnesota, maybe Seattle) will start to show up and bad teams will probably look worse (St. Louis, Kansas City, Miami). Either that, or crazy things will happen and we’ll all be even more confused.
This week’s biggest game (in my view) is the Cowboys at Packers. It should be a great game worthy of the Sunday Night Football stage, and hopefully will be every bit as good as the Eagles/Cowboys match last night on MNF. If Aaron Rodgers continues the trend he’s set so far, this could be another high-octane shootout that may come down to which team has the ball last. It should be fun! Here are my picks for week 3:
| Away | Home | Comments | Pick | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Last week: 11-4 (73.3%), Season total: 22-9 (71.0%) | ||||
 Cardinals(2-0) |
 Redskins(1-1) |
It’s great to finally see the Cardinals playing well, but it hasn’t exactly been against great teams. | |
|
 Bengals(0-2) |
 Giants(2-0) |
My statement about the Giants not making the playoffs might be way off… they’re playing every bit as good as they did in the playoffs last season.. | |
|
 Chiefs(0-2) |
 Falcons(1-1) |
The Chiefs just don’t look good, so I’ll take the Falcons to stay undefeated at home. | |
|
 Raiders(1-1) |
 Bills(2-0) |
Buffalo looks solid on all fronts and Buffalonians (and I guess Torontonians) finally have a team to be excited about! | |
|
 Buccaneers(1-1) |
 Bears(1-1) |
Will Brian Griese come back to Chicago and make his former team look silly? I dunno, but I’m going to be like Jon Gruden and stick with what’s working. | |
|
 Dolphins(0-2) |
 Patriots(2-0) |
The Patriots offense doesn’t look great, but that defense will keep them in the game every week. | |
|
 Texans(0-1) |
 Titans(2-0) |
The Titans won’t have a whole lot of room for error in this one, but I think they’ll eek out a win and stay undefeated. | |
|
 Panthers(2-0) |
 Vikings(0-2) |
I think the Vikings are better than their 0-2 record indicates, and Carolina’s magic has to run out at some point. | |
|
 Rams(0-2) |
 Seahawks(0-2) |
The Seahawks just got some much needed help at WR, but if they lose at home to the Rams, their season could be a loooonnnnnnnnng one. | |
|
 Lions(0-2) |
 49ers(1-1) |
Is Mike Martz turning J.T. O’Sullivan into the next Kurt Warner? | |
|
 Saints(1-1) |
 Broncos(2-0) |
The Broncos probably won’t need a blown call to win this one, but it might be close. | |
|
 Steelers(2-0) |
 Eagles(1-1) |
I think it’s safe to say that Donovan McNabb is finally healthy, and that makes the Eagles very dangerous. | |
|
 Jaguars(0-2) |
 Colts(1-1) |
The only reason I’m going with the Colts is because they need to get a win at home. Jacksonville could very well take this one though. | |
|
 Browns(0-2) |
 Ravens(1-0) |
The Browns definitely seem like they’re regressing… they just haven’t looked good. | |
|
 Cowboys(2-0) |
 Packers(2-0) |
Maybe a bit of a “homer” pick, but I like the Packers offense against a Dallas secondary that couldn’t stop anything last week. | |
|
 Jets(1-1) |
 Chargers(0-2) |
If only Eric Mangini was as aggressive in calling his offense as Mike Shanahan, the Jets could have knocked off the Pats last week. Missed opportunity if you ask me. | |
|
A huge thank you goes out to everyone who has been posting comments so far! It’s great to hear your thoughts and opinions, even when they differ from mine, and it makes this weekly picks even more interesting. Speaking of weekly picks, here are this week’s ESPN Expert Picks. What do you say?
Comments // rss
Crazydiamond // #
Sep 16, 2008 // 5:49 pm
Picking GB over Dallas is a MAJOR homer pick. Dallas by 20. And I am NOT a Cowboys fan!
Tracy // #
Sep 16, 2008 // 9:36 pm
I have to agree with you that I think the Dallas/Packers game should be a good one. I am hoping the Packers can pull it off as I still love the team even without Farve.
Steve King // #
Sep 17, 2008 // 1:24 pm
I have a feeling Brett will revel on a Monday night stage. I feel like picking the jets. Why do you feel SD will win? What is Brett’s MNF record?
Steve King // #
Sep 17, 2008 // 1:26 pm
Anyone have any tips on picking total points? I usually just look at the average for both teams. Maybe picking the high or low would make sense.
Any thoughts guys?
Ryan // #
Sep 17, 2008 // 4:42 pm
Panthers Bucs and Cards opposite your picks.
The Grey Cats just got Steve Smith back. Between him and Mushin they have about 23 000 combined more yards than Minny top two. The changing of the Gus wont help much in my opinion, he’s not much better. You need to pass to win in this league.
Bucs, I don’t know, I think better defense. Seeing the Chitown meltdown last week has destroyed any confidence the season opener gave me. What a tease.
The Cards are the class of the NFC West this year. Now’s the time for them to prove it. Starting Kurt Warner is the best thing this franchise has done in recent history.
Regarding the Tavaris Jackson experiment. Everyone besides #28 on that team should be fired.
Ryan // #
Sep 17, 2008 // 5:02 pm
@Crazydiamond the Packers defense is severely underrated. Also didn’t a core of rooks just shred the Dallas secondary last Monday night!? I wonder what a group of experienced receivers will do.
I will go on record that the Packers are the underdog. You’re not the man until you beat the man. But now is as good a time as any for the Packers to win. Key to the Packers success this week will be improved safety play. If Collins and Bigby don’t step up, Witten is going to run all over them.
This is the matchup we missed last year thanks to huge injuries surrounding the game. Charles Woodson and KGB were missing from week 12 2007. Rookie Jarrett Bush was helpless against T.O. all night. Aaron Rodgers had already proved what he can do back then. His mobility was key to ruining the cowboys secondary gameplan that night. After Tramon Williams took over covering T.O. in the second half, it anchored an offense that went on to outscore the Cowboys 17-10. This should prove to be an even better game than last year.
Jonathan Eckmier // #
Sep 17, 2008 // 5:08 pm
@Steve: Really, there are a couple of reasons I’m going with San Diego. First, they’re at home, so that’s an advantage for them right away. No cross-country travel, comforts of home, etc. Second, I think the Chargers just have more talent on their team. That’s not a slam to the Jets, but let’s be honest here, there’s a reason they had to spend big in free agency this off-season.
Finally, I look at the game they just lost (but should have won due to an obviously blown call that changed the outcome of the game) where they came back from an 18 point deficit on the road against the Broncos. It was an impressive performance that I think the Chargers should be able to build on.
Full-disclosure though, I’m a HUGE Brett Favre fan and would love to see him and the Jets march in there on Monday night and get a win. I just don’t think it’ll happen.
Ryan // #
Sep 18, 2008 // 11:32 am
Just to clarify, I just saw that you picked the Bucs to beat the Bears as well, I thought you had it the other way around. So my pick is FOR the Bucs as well.
Jonathan Eckmier // #
Sep 18, 2008 // 11:37 am
@Ryan: thanks for the comment about the Packers chances this week, you nailed my thoughts on that game. I also have no confidence in the Bears after what happened last week.
The Cardinals definitely made a great decision to start Kurt Warner this season, and I think they will be rewarded with a playoff birth, finally! This week though, I’m just hesitant to pick them against a higher quality opponent than the teams they’ve beaten so far.
Also, thanks for clarifying your comment about the Bucs/Bears match.
Ryan // #
Sep 18, 2008 // 11:46 am
@Jon One more thing about T-Jack.
What QB didn’t start off with shaky results in his first 16 starts? Okay, a few, but those exceptions prove the rule. He’s coming along just fine, and if you want him to be the future, you have to give him the reps and absorb the growing pains. If you wanna judge someone on two games then how does this sound? Tom Brady’s debut wasn’t as good as Matt Cassel’s believe it or not. Cassel so far is out performing him. Brady didn’t have a touchdown his first two games, and went 1-1.
Also did it not dawn on anyone that they just played two 2007 division champs? Can you blame them for losing? And they were close games, in a position to win both. That’s a mighty fine performance IMHO.
Me thinks the expectations from the Zigmiester are too high, and he is handing down sentences that are out of touch with what is required for the team right now and the future.
Jonathan Eckmier // #
Sep 18, 2008 // 12:02 pm
@Ryan: Yeah, they’ve put themselves in a real tough spot with Jackson now. I agree that it’s a bit of a snap judgment to bench him already because he played fairly well for them last season. Sure, he didn’t put up Peyton Manning or Tom Brady numbers, but they won their fair share of games with him starting.
I’m wondering what the thinking is behind benching him though, because there are only so many demotions that a young QB can take before his psyche is damaged permanently (at least, permanently as a member of the Vikings). If they truly believe that this kid can be effective for them, they may be jeopardizing his long-term success by benching him for short-term results.
Ryan // #
Sep 18, 2008 // 12:16 pm
@Jon: They will not get short term results either here. They have to hunker down and accept that they are in a long term situe.
The worst case scenario for TJ is that he turns into a QB just like Gus, but one that can run. So he’s instantly better than him. Their numbers are startlingly similar by percentage. Everyone harps on TJ’s Comp.% but it’s only 1% lower than Gus’ career. His TD-Int Ratio is nearly dead on. The difference is, TJ has a 5.0 YPC, and can only get better from here on in. Frerotte is at the end of his rope and any value he could have brought to the game has been exhausted by now.
I agree, they are ruining TJ. His agent should get him the EF out of there ASAP.
Ryan // #
Sep 18, 2008 // 12:50 pm
Slight correction to make on the numbers I put out. TJ Has 12TD’s and 17INT’s, Frerotte has 102TD’s to 91INT’s I had reverse TJ’s numbers by accident. Frerotte has a better TD-INT ratio.
Their YPA are quite on the money though as well at 6.4YPA and 6.7YPA in favour of Frerotte.
Tracy // #
Sep 22, 2008 // 6:19 pm
What a surprise the Pats lost! I did pick Dallas over GB even though I am a GB fan. Hard to bet against Dallas though.
On the upside I am ONE win from winning a football pool. I picked the Jets over San Diego so if the Jets win, I win. If they lose then I lose… GO JETS!