(Michael MacDonald – September 24, 2009)
After 2 weeks of play in the 2009 edition of the NFL, the New York Jets sit atop the AFC East with a 2-0 record after a dominating performance over Houston and a more grind-it-0ut victory over New England. The Patriots are 1-1 following their one-point win over the Buffalo Bills and the loss last Sunday to the Jets. The Bills are also 1-1 following their solid win over Tampa Bay. Last year’s division champ Miami Dolphins is 0-2 following losses to both Atlanta and Indianapolis.
How much read into this? Just as the standings would imply right now, the Jets are an improved team, the Dolphins have lost ground, and the jury is still out on both the Patriots and the Bills.
Without further ado, my picks for week 3:
San Diego 17 Miami 10-The Dolphins have allowed just 128 yards rushing so far this season and QB Chad Pennington has completed nearly 70% of his passes; unfortunately, he has also given up 2 picks versus just one TD. LaDanian Tomlinson may not play for the Chargers this Sunday. The Dolphins are coming off a short week and are traveling to San Diego and as much as I’d like this to be my upset of the week, look for the Dolphins to fall to 0-3.
New Orleans 38 Buffalo 35-Odds makers have installed the Saints as 6 point favorites, I think the Bills will keep things closer than that. The Saints have lit up both Detroit and Philadelphia for a total of 93 points in two games and seem to be firing on all cylinders. The Bills have a lot of weapons of their own and finally got Terrell Owens involved late in their Sunday win over Tampa Bay. Still, the Bills are accumulating injuries and Marshawn Lynch still has one game to serve on his sentence. The Saints will win by 3…or by 23.
New England 31 Atlanta 21-In my depression following the Patriots’ loss to the Jets last week, I looked ahead to their next two games with trepidation. The Falcons’ QB Matt Ryan is a great player already in just his second year and has already tossed 5 touchdowns. Ex-Kansas City TE Tony Gonzalez has been a frequent target of the Falcons and will draw a lot of New England attention. The Pats are a team with something to prove right now and though they will not have Wes Welker, I expect to see much better timing between QB Tom Brady and WR Julian Edelman. I also expect to see something dramatically different in the running game.
Tennessee 19 New York Jets 13-A journalist has to be objective but a blogger is under no such constraints and so I say up front that this pick may be so much wishful thinking. The New York defense is sprawling for lack of a better word. Teams will be hard pressed to run up the score on this team. On the other side of the ball, rookie QB Mark Sanchez is off to a solid start and looks poised. At some point he going to be pressured and we will see then what the kid is made of. I am betting that he is human and will get rattled and throw the ball to places he’ll later regret. The Titans are a good team that hasn’t played all that well including a loss to the Texans (whom the Jets beat handily). I am looking for QB Kevin Collins to mix short passes with a running attack spearheaded by Chris Johnson. When the smoke has cleared, the Titans will have their first win and the Jets their first loss. Maybe.
