The best game this week is the Vikings at Eagles. Most people are picking the Vikings to win this one, and that makes the most sense, on the surface. Minnesota's defense has been brutal on opponents, and the last two weeks have proven that if you bring pressure, you can get Carson Wentz off his game. I picked the Vikings to win, but I'm just not entirely comfortable picking against Jim Schwartz's defense helping to keep Philly's skid to two games in a row.
Kansas City and Oakland are the two hardest teams in the league to pick right now. I'm just not sure what we're going to see from either one from week to week. Whatever the Raiders are doing, however, it seems to be working, for the most part. They're on the road this week against the Jaguars, a team that should be waaaaay better than they are. I went with my gut and the knowledge that Jalen Ramsey is so damn good.
The Chiefs are easier to pick this week than they have been because they're at home. It also helps that the Saints defense is bad enough to make Alex Smith look like Joe Montana ... Montana in his Niners hey day not his Chiefs years.
Remember last year when a Sunday night game between the Seahawks and Cardinals would have been the game of the week, hands down? Boy, I sure do. The Seahawks are rolling right now. Best of all, they seem to have realized somewhere along the way that, yes, you can indeed throw the ball to Jimmy Graham down the field and he'll make plays with it. (He used to play basketball, people forget that).
Nobody picked Houston to beat Denver this week. I get it. The AFC South is bad. Brock Osweiler is not good. But he just might be better than Trevor Siemian. I don't think the Texans have a shot here, but I do think it'd be kind of funny if he did help the Texans win and the camera pans over to Elway in the booth, thinking, wondering.
Okay, enough blah blah blah from me. Here are this week's picks. As a reminder, we do allow our panel to re-pick up to two games between now and Friday morning, so check back then.
Game | RVB | Stephen White | Thomas George | Jeanna Thomas | Adam Stites | Tyler Tynes | Louis Bien | Joel Thorman | Fooch | OddsShark computer |
CHI vs GB | GB | GB | GB | GB | GB | GB | GB | GB | GB | GB |
NYG vs LA | NYG | NYG | NYG | NYG | LA | NYG | LA | NYG | LA | LA |
NO vs KC | KC | KC | KC | KC | KC | NO | KC | KC | KC | KC |
IND vs TEN | TEN | IND | TEN | TEN | TEN | TEN | TEN | IND | TEN | TEN |
MIN vs PHI | PHI | MIN | MIN | MIN | MIN | PHI | MIN | PHI | MIN | PHI |
CLE vs CIN | CLE | CIN | CIN | CIN | CIN | CIN | CIN | CIN | CIN | CIN |
WAS vs DET | WAS | DET | DET | DET | DET | DET | DET | DET | WAS | DET |
OAK vs JAX | JAX | OAK | OAK | OAK | JAX | OAK | OAK | JAX | JAX | JAX |
BUF vs MIA | BUF | BUF | BUF | BUF | BUF | BUF | MIA | BUF | MIA | MIA |
BAL vs NYJ | NYJ | BAL | NYJ | BAL | BAL | NYJ | BAL | BAL | BAL | NYJ |
TB vs SF | SF | TB | SF | SF | TB | SF | SF | TB | SF | SF |
SD vs ATL | ATL | ATL | ATL | ATL | ATL | ATL | ATL | ATL | ATL | ATL |
NE vs PIT | NE | NE | NE | NE | NE | NE | NE | NE | NE | NE |
SEA vs AZ | SEA | SEA | SEA | SEA | SEA | AZ | AZ | AZ | AZ | AZ |
HOU vs DEN | DEN | DEN | DEN | DEN | DEN | DEN | DEN | DEN | DEN | DEN |
Last week | 9-6 | 12-3 | 11-4 | 9-6 | 8-7 | 7-8 | 8-7 | 8-7 | 9-6 | 9-6 |