Alternative Picks: Week 2, 2020

Andy jumped out to a solid 11-5 lead in week one, mostly by holding serve. After botching his top pick of the week, he got six of his last seven picks correct. Tony hit on just three of his.

Here are the standings:

Andy chose to pick first in week two. Will his blazing-hot start continue?

1) Andy: 49ers over Jets – The Bills completely shut New York down. They’re likely minus Le’Veon Bell for the week. And San Francisco is A) better than Buffalo and B) angry after giving away week one’s loss to Arizona. Gonna be a long day for the J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets.
2) Tony: Packers over Lions – From what I can tell reading Twitter after Sunday, apparently pointing out that Aaron Rodgers skills appear to have declined some (they have) means that everyone thought he was terrible (they didn’t), and by shredding a Vikings defense that appears to be somewhere between raw and terrible, that means he’s back in the MVP hunt (he’s not even close…yet). He gets to take on the second coach that should already be fired this week (the first being picked to lose in the game above…funny how that works)…which also won’t put him any closer to Mahomes/LJax territory.
3) Tony: Bengals over Browns – I don’t love Cincinnati that much…but has any quarterback ever gotten as many advertising deals as Baker Mayfield having done so little in his career? Not to mention…who is advising him on taking these deals? “You want my client to act like an idiot in your ads? Sure thing.” Joe Burrow is already ahead of Baker in my QB list…and if things keep up, companies will be looking to have him rep their product over Mayfield in 2021.
4) Andy: Chiefs over Chargers – Wow. I, too, like the Bengals over the Browns in an upset this week. But as your second pick? That’s a ballsy call. I’ll stick with the Super Bowl champs over a team led by Tyrod Taylor that barely beat a rookie starting his first NFL game last week.
5) Tony: Titans over Jaguars – I didn’t even realize that picking the Bengals was an upset…I get that the Browns are at home, but 6 point favorites with the way they played? In this one, the Jags week 1 win was cute, but can they manage to have an actual winning streak? If they beat the Titans, I’ll really start to believe.
6) Andy: Cowboys over Falcons – The Sunday night game felt like a case of deja vu for me. I think the Cowboys are going to beat up on subpar teams again, but I’m not sure they’re going to do any better against contending teams. That’ll put them somewhere just north or south of .500. But it would bode well for a win against Atlanta.
7) Tony: Bills over Dolphins – I get it that the Bills only played the Jets, but Miami looked like a team that could still give the Jets a run for their money.
8) Andy: Saints over Raiders – Okay, the Raiders were able to steal a road win in Carolina. The Saints remain one of the NFC’s elite and wil provide a much stiffer test, one I think they win comfortably.
9) Tony: Steelers over Broncos – Pittsburgh is at home, coming off a solid win, and may finally have the RB they’ve really been waiting for to replace Le’Veon Bell. The Broncos didn’t look terrible, but they also didn’t look great–and the last second loss may take some wind out of their sails.
10) Andy: Ravens over Texans – what last week proved to me was that Baltimore is one of the league’s best teams. And that Houston isn’t.
11) Tony: Seahawks over Patriots – Something tells me playing a team tougher than the Dolphins is going to be tough for Cam & the patchwork Pats defense.
12) Andy: Cardinals over Football Team – Washington played a great defensive game against the Eagles last week, but Kyler Murray is a different kind of QB. If he can take the 49ers apart I’m going to guess The Football Team won’t put up much resistance.
13) Tony: Buccaneers over Panthers – There’s a lot not to love about the Bucs in Week 1, but just as much to not love about the Panthers in 2020 overall. This one will be closer than many seem to think, but I’ll give the edge to the home team.
14) Andy: Bears over NY Giants – New York screwed me the last time I picked them to beat the Bears a couple years ago, but Chicago still has the better team and 14, it’s kind of a what the heck pick.
15) Tony: Rams over Eagles – Philly blew a sizeable lead in week 1 to a lesser team, and is still fighting numerous injuries. The only slight concern here would be the Rams traveling east, but I’ll give them the edge here.
16) Andy: Colts over Vikings – Both of these teams crapped the bed to varying degrees last week. I trust the Colts to fix more of their issues in a week than I do the Vikings. Philip Rivers, Jonathan Taylor and at least one of the Indy wideouts should have a field day.

Straight-up picks in week one were, as one might suspect in a season without a preseason or off-season training program, spotty. Andy and Tony only disagreed on one game, but as it turns out, they should have gone different directions on many of their picks.

Here are the picks for week two: