There was a lot of carnage in the NFL this weekend and it didn’t all happen on the field.weekly-picks

Several upsets – at least in how we picked the games, anyway – dotted the landscape, sending spiraling a picks segment that going back a few years has generally been fairly solid.

Fantasy Editor Anthony Maggio led the way this time around with an 8-8 record, to give you a sense for how bad things got. Weekly guest picker Dr. Phil got roughed up a bit too, going 7-9 – but he remains a game behind Tony for the overall lead after two weeks at 18-14.

Here are the standings through two weeks:

Name Week 2 Overall
Tony 7-9 19-13
Maggio 8-8 17-15
Andy 7-9 17-15
John Vomhof Jr 6-10 16-16

We’re shaking our heads and licking our wounds, but we’re getting back on the bicycle and taking another crack – while we wait to find out when superstars like A.J.Green and Jamaal Charles will return from injuries and ponder whether or not Adrian Peterson should be dressing this weekend for the purple.

Here are our picks for Week three:

Andy Tony John Maggio
Thursday, September 18
Tampa Bay at Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta
Sunday, September 21
San Diego at Buffalo San Diego Buffalo San Diego Buffalo
Dallas at St. Louis Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas
Washington at Philadelphia Philadelphia Washington Philadelphia Philadelphia
Houston at NY Giants Houston Houston NY Giants NY Giants
Minnesota at New Orleans New Orleans New Orleans New Orleans New Orleans
Tennessee at Cincinnati Cincinnati Cincinnati Cincinnati Cincinnati
Baltimore at Cleveland Cleveland Baltimore Baltimore Cleveland
Green Bay at Detroit Detroit Green Bay Green Bay Detroit
Indianapolis at Jacksonville Indianapolis Indianapolis Indianapolis Indianapolis
Oakland at New England New England New England New England New England
San Francisco at Arizona Arizona Arizona San Francisco San Francisco
Denver at Seattle Seattle Seattle Seattle Seattle
Kansas City at Miami Miami Kansas City Miami Miami
Pittsburgh at Carolina Carolina Carolina Carolina Carolina
Monday, September 22
Chicago at NY Jets NY Jets Chicago Chicago Chicago

Game of the Week: Denver at Seattle – The other possibility here was the San Francisco/Arizona game, which could play a role in determining a playoff spot late in the season. But the only game we really considered here was the Super Bowl rematch, where Denver has a chance to put another gash in Seattle’s wounds after a surprise loss to San Diego and where the Seahawks have a chance to seek redemption from week two while simultaneously dealing the Broncos their first 2014 defeat. I won’t get to watch a ton of football this weekend, but I’ll find as much time as possible to sneak a glance at this game.

Game of the Weak: Minnesota at New Orleans – There aren’t a lot of complete dog games this weekend, but there is this one. The use of “gate” at the end of scandals is a bit cliché and worn out, but this contest features Bounty-Gate vs Whoopin’-Gate. Selecting this game comes in part due to the Saints falling to a surprise 0-2 mark in the opening weeks of 2014 and in part due to Vikings ownership caving on any real sense of decency and reinstating their star RB Adrian Peterson for this game – a move that has sickened many, caused Gov. Mark Dayton to make a statement indicating that Peterson should be suspended, got a fan chat site to shut down and made at least one fan call 1500 ESPN Twin Cities’ hosts Judd Zulgad and Phil Mackey to tell them he would not attend nor re-sell his Vikings tickets or listen to their show anymore this season until the situation was resolved. This league has done an absolutely horrible job of allowing bad situations to completely control the narrative and the Vikings ownership is as culpable as any other individual for making that happen. Thus this game wasn’t that difficult a choice as Game of the Weak.

For our week three pointspread picks, click here.