Week 1 Preview

A little late, but better late than never. I talked about this on my show on BlogTalkRadio, but here is my preview for Week 1 of the NFL.

Week 1 Picks
(spreads courtesy of Sporting News Today - http://today.sportingnews.com/)

Local Picks
* Philadelphia is the road favorite (1) at Carolina: CAR (win and cover)
* N.Y. Giants is the favorite (6.5) at home against Washington: NYG (win and cover)
* N.Y. Jets is a road dog (4.5) at Houston: NYJ (win and cover)
* New England favored by 10.5 points at home against Buffalo (Monday): NE (win), BUF (cover)

Big-Game Picks
* Tennessee-Pittsburgh (Thursday) (PIT -5): PIT (win and cover)
* Chicago-Green Bay (GBY -3.5): GBY (win), CHI (cover)
* Miami-Atlanta (ATL -4): MIA (win and cover)

Knockout Pool Pick - Round 1
Saints (over Lions, Saints are -13)

Game of the Week: Tennessee-Pittsburgh (Thursday)
Right off the bat, the best game of the week is the first game of the week. It will be on NBC on Thursday night. Great running backs seem to do well historically against Pittsburgh, but I am still going with Pittsburgh since they are at home and their defense is better overall.

Picking the Winners
Tennessee at Pittsburgh (Thursday): Pittsburgh
Miami at Atlanta: Atlanta
Kansas City at Baltimore: Baltimore
Philadelphia at Carolina: Philadelphia
Minnesota at Cleveland: Minnesota
Jacksonville at Indianapolis: Indianapolis
Dallas at Tampa Bay: Dallas
Detroit at New Orleans: New Orleans
N.Y. Jets at Houston: N.Y. Jets
Denver at Cincinnati: Cincinnati
San Francisco at Arizona: Arizona
Washington at N.Y. Giants: N.Y. Giants
St. Louis at Seattle: Seattle
Chicago at Green Bay (Sunday night): Green Bay
Buffalo at New England (Monday night): New England
San Diego at Oakland (Monday night): San Diego

Picking with the Spread
Minnesota (-3.5): 14 confidence points
Indianapolis (-7): 11 c-pts
Dallas (-6): 10 c-pts
New England (-10.5): 8 c-pts
Arizona (-6): 7 c-pts
N.Y. Jets (+4.5): 6 c-pts
Green Bay (-3.5): 5 c-pts
N.Y. Giants (-6.5): 4 c-pts
Miami (+4): 2 c-pts

Fantasy Start ‘Em/Sit ‘Em
Start 'Em:
* Anthony Gonzalez/Pierre Garcon (IND vs. JAX) - Jacksonville has trouble in their secondary
* Reggie Bush (NO vs. DET) - Pierre Thomas will not be 100%
* Eddie Royal (DEN vs. CIN) - Brandon Marshall is not a happy camper

Sit 'Em:
* Mark Bradley/Bobby Engram (KCY vs. BAL) - Kansas City will throw, but Baltimore will shut them down
* Jamal Lewis (CLE vs. MIN) - His big-game ability is long gone and the Vikings defense is excellent
* Laurence Maroney/Fred Taylor (NE vs. BUF) - Brady will throw the ball all over the place in his return

We will analyze these picks on our next show (#24), as well as offer a recap on Week 1 action so far, this Sunday, September 13th, from 8-9pm. Join us live on http://www.blogtalkradio.com/The-StatMan.