Week 2 NFL selections/picks

The Jets have to be feeling great about their Week 1 win over the Buccaneers after being dismissed as one of the league's worst teams, but they run into Tom Brady and Pats in Week 2, and should be on the wrong end of a spanking. This is an obvious candidate for your suicide pool.

Over the last 5 seasons, the Falcons have a 33-7 home record. That's a wining percenage of 0.825. Over that same span they're 23-17 on the road (0.575). I get the feeling that the Falcons need home field advantage in the playoffs like they had last season if they're ever going to make a serious run. If they lose this week, they'll be 0-2, which will  make it extremely difficult to pile up more wins than the rest of the NFC. That has nothing to do with this specific game, but I like the Falcons to get back to 0.500 against a talented Rams defense.

The Bills ran the fastest paced offense last week. That's over the course of the entire game, so it doesn't completely factor in things like the score, which affects the pace. Still, that's impressive for a team starting a rookie (E.J. Manuel) at QB. Manuel looked good in his debut, and the mighty Pats needed all 60 minutes to take out the Bills. I'll buy in on the Bills for a week. The Panthers are 3 point road favorites in this one. I'm not quite sure why.

If you read my hierarchy post yesterday, you already know that I think the Vikings are the worst team in the NFC. Christian Ponder simply isn't a legitimate starting NFL QB.

The Redskins can't tackle. Or cover. Brandon Meriweather should be back this week at safety for the Skins, but that's probably not enough to fix a really bad secondary. The Packers have too many weapons on O for the Skins to stop.

I'm not in love with the Colts' defense and don't think they're anything close to a legitime contender, but I do think they can handle a Dolphins rushing attack that got 20 yards on 23 carries last week (0.9 YPC), with a long run of 5 yards. The Colts play well enough on D for Andrew Luck to outscore the Fins.

Andy Reid has himself a nice advantage here, being very familiar with the Cowboys' personnel. Additionally, the Chiefs played outstanding defense last week, even if it was against the hapless Jags. The Jags didn't enter the Chiefs' side of the field until the 4th quarter. The Chiefs had 6 sacks, and their pass rush could pose problems for the Cowboys' creaky offensive line.

Despite not trailing by more than one score until there were roughly 7 minutes left in the 4th quarter last Sunday, the Browns passed on 81.9% of their plays. 59 dropbacks, 13 runs. Considering the Browns' best threat in the passing game, Josh Gordon, is suspended, and the best skill player on their offense is their RB (Trent Richardson), that just seems awfully dumb. Remember when Joe Banner said that Chip Kelly was too big a gamble? Oops. Ravens come home and celebrate their Super Bowl win in front of their fans in style, romping this Browns team.

You know who the #1 defense in the NFL is right now? The Tennessee Titans! They won't be for long. Houston sputtered early against the Chargers on Monday, but once they got in gear, they looked like the contender they're supposed to be.

This is a game I would have penciled in as a W before we thought the Eagles might be good, and now that... you know... we think they might be good... It's just that much easier to pick the Birds this week.

At times the Lions looked impressive against the Vikings last week. At other times, they looked like the mistake-prone team that went 4-12 last season. Meanwhile, I was encouraged by the way the Cardinals played in St. Louis. If there's one player who can slow down Calvin Johnson on his own, it might be Patrick Peterson. That will be an awesome matchup. Ultimately, I just don't trust the Lions. Give the home team in a game in which I just don't have either team figured out yet.

The Bucs stink, and the Saints may very well be a contender again. Saints all day.

The Lol Bowl. Attendance: 8.

The Giants turned the ball over 6 times last week, almost won anyway, and now have to face a Broncos team that looks like it might be a juggernaut. The Giants are staring 0-2 in the face.

I absolutely cannot wait to watch this game. The Niners and Packers played perhaps the most intense game Week 1, and this one might surpass it. That stadium is going to be insanely loud, however, I think the Niners are the superior team at this point, even in the hardest place to play in the league. Both defenses are outstanding, but I think the true differentiator is that the Niners' OL is better.

The entire AFC North is 0-1. One of the biggest surprises in Week 1 was how bad the Steelers look. They had 195 total yards against the freaking Titans. Give me the Bengals at home.

Last week: 11-5.

Season: 11-5.