NFL Picks 2013: Week 2

The football season got off to an exciting start last weekend. Chip Kelly’s Eagles gave us a glimpse of what his offense is going to look like. Larry Fitzgerald caught eight passes from a quarterback who was able to actually get the ball within his zip code once in awhile. And Anthony Maggio kept fantasy footballers informed with updated rankings right through Sunday’s kickoffs. It was a good start to the season.

Our pick segment didn’t go so well, at least for me. Two of our other three pickers beat me this week, with Tony and Anthony both nailing the Eagles upset over Washington on Monday night. Maggio also stood alone in taking Chicago to beat Cincinnati and New Orleans to beat Atlanta. So that duo tied at 11-5. I did hit 10 while contributing writer Rich Larson struggled to a 7-9 mark in week one. So the standings go like this:

Without further ado, here are the picks for week two:

Game of the Week: San Francisco at Seattle – There is no real debate this week as far as I am concerned. There are a few good games. Washington will travel to Green Bay in a game that will further test the Packers’ ability to defend the read option, but RGIII looks less than 100 percent to me, so he’s probably a little less likely to run than he normally would be. Chicago hosts Minnesota in an always entertaining divisional rivalry. The Manning brothers face off as Denver travels to the Big Apple. And Cincinnati hosting the Monday night game against Pittsburgh would generally be a contender, but that game lost some luster with the tearing of ligaments and snapping of bones that took place in Pittsburgh during week one.

I’ve been touting the NFC West division and, in particular, the strength of both San Francisco and Seattle all summer long. And they’ll face off in the first of two battles Sunday night. Seattle was less than impressive in a week one comeback win over Carolina, but come back and win they did. Good teams win when they play less than their best. San Francisco put another win up against Green Bay, even though the Packers were much more successful this time around than they were in the \January matchup at containing Colin Kaepernick’s running skills. This game has been circled on my calendar for months and it is easily the Game of the Week.

Game of the Weak: Jacksonville at Oakland – Last week Jacksonville and Kansas City matched up in a contest of teams coming off of 2-14 seasons. The Chiefs were more talented on paper and they prevailed in convincing fashion, jumping them at least temporarily off of the NFL’s trash heap. The Jags, however, scored just two points in the loss, lending credence to those who say this team is a long way from being competitive.

Oakland looked far better than I expected in traveling to Indianapolis for week one. They hung right with the Colts, pressuring Andrew Luck and almost pulling off an upset. But they didn’t. And they are coming off of a 4-12 season that left them just slightly out of the running for a top pick in the draft that nobody really wanted.

I think Oakland may be a bit improved over 2012, but a matchup this early in the season featuring teams that combined to go 6-26 the year before would be hard to knock off the perch.

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