Alternative Picks: Week 3, 2020

After a rough week one, Tony rebounded to a 7-1 mark in his picks. Andy kept pace, resulting in a tie for week two. Andy maintains a healthy early lead overall.

Here are the alternative picks for week three.

1) Tony: Colts over Jets – I don’t think the Colts showed that much in beating the Vikings…but the Jets continue to show plenty.
2) Andy: Titans over Vikings – Not sure Tennessee is great. They’re definitely good. But Minnesota is horrendous right now. No pass rush, first-time starting CBs and nickel back and backup-level DTs against Derrick Henry and Co. — not a good look. Can’t believe the Titans are only favored by 2.5, up from the opening of 1.5 within about seven seconds.
3) Andy: Patriots over Raiders – New England almost pulled off a fascinating upset of Seattle Sunday night. The Raiders travel east after a short week. Bill Belichick & Crew will use the favorable schedule to take out some frustrations on the Sin City Raiders.
4) Tony: Cardinals over Lions – Dating back to last season, the Lions are the first team in NFL history to blow double digit leads in four straight games. On the plus side, I don’t think that will extend to five games this weekend…and Lions fans may only have one more game after this to put up with Matt Patricia, with the bye coming up.
5) Andy: Chargers over Panthers – Feeling super unconfident early on here, but this one should be good. Carolina and its lacking … well, everything … travel west to face a team that nearly knocked off KC Sunday. The LA Chargers are far from great, but they got a glimpse of the guy they hope is their future and there will be some momentum to ride as a result.
6) Tony: Buccaneers over Broncos – Jeff Driskel played pretty well in relief of Drew Lock last week. I’m thinking a week of planning will make that less likely next week.
7) Andy: Seahawks over Cowboys – Ok, Dallas engineered a nice comeback in week two to beat Atlanta. Not going to happen if they fall behind Seattle 29-3. Russell Wilson will blow the doors off a Dallas team that, for the most part, has been listless and mediocre the first two weeks.
8) Tony: 49ers over Giants – Yes, the 49ers are likely without their starting QB…top RB…top WR…maybe their TE…their top DL…and top CB. Probably a few others. Yet Vegas still has them at -5.5, and I’ll take them here. Sucks to be a football fan in New York City (or Jersey) these days.
9) Andy: Steelers over Texans – Houston drew the short straw when it came to scheduling this season, with a starting trio of KC, Baltimore and Pittsburgh. This may provide the bright spot, however, of helping ease Bill O’Brien’s way out the door.
10) Tony: Jaguars over Dolphins – Not sure how this matchup made it to Thursday night, while the Baltimore/Kansas City tilt gets the normally terrible Monday night slot. Also not sure anyone would have said that the Jags have looked…alright through two games. Unlikely to be world beaters, but they don’t need to be to beat Miami.
11) Andy: Ravens over Chiefs – The defending Super Bowl champs have looked a bit pedestrian so far. Or maybe their last couple seasons have set my expectations too high. But the Ravens are firing on all cylinders and I don’t think this game is even particularly close.
12) Tony: Bears over Falcons – On paper, this is Falcons all the way. But the Bears are finding ways to win, and the Falcons are inventing ways to lose.
13) Andy: Eagles over Bengals – I’m not sure any game is “Falcons all the way” right now. I was going to pick the Bears here. Oh well. I really, really want to go Cincy here. The Burrow is willing, but I don’t think the defense is ready. Carson Wentz gets right here and the Eagles, for a week, stave off irrelevance.
14) Tony: Packers over Saints – As much as it pains me to say, it’s tough to pick against the Packers right now. The Saints are likely still going to be missing Michael Thomas (and if not, will he be full strength), while the Packers are content in driving Aaron Jones 2021 contract out of the price they’ll be willing to pay.
15) Andy: The Football Team over Browns – Two of the most dysfunctional organizations in recent history face off in Cleveland this weekend. Their respective clusterbleepery hides this fact: Ron Rivera has Washington playing relatively sound football.
16) Tony: Bills over Rams – Who would have thought these two teams would be a combined 4-0 after two weeks. Going with the Bills solely because they’re at home, and their QB has been slightly more on fire than the Rams.

There’s too much agreement between Andy and Tony in the picks these days. Only three disagreements all season, to date, and Andy has taken those.

Here are the week three picks