As the furor surrounding several off-field issues faded into the background for a couple days, normalcy returned to the field a bit in week three, as well. Good teams beat bad teams, mediocre teams played other mediocre teams close in games that swung our standings and two or three really good games stood out.
And we managed to fare alright this week, coming back nicely after a brutal week two. John Vomhof Jr. hit 12 of 16 contests while the rest of us trailed by a game. Tony still leads the overall pool for the season – though friend of Zoneblitz Dr. Phil went 12-4 in week three to tie him for the lead. If he can match us for the entire season we’ll have to hunt down some Zoneblitz swag for the good doc.
Name | Week 3 | Overall |
Tony | 11-5 | 30-18 |
John | 12-4 | 28-20 |
Maggio | 11-5 | 28-20 |
Andy | 11-5 | 28-20 |
The bye weeks start this week, so there are only 13 games on the slate. And again there are maybe a couple standout matchups along with a couple duds. Division games are at a minimum. So if there were a week you needed to take off for work or something, this might not be a bad one to pick.
Here are our picks:
Andy | Tony | John | Maggio | |
Thursday, September 25 | ||||
NY Giants at Washington | Washington | Washington | Washington | Washington |
Sunday, September 28 | ||||
Buffalo at Houston | Buffalo | Houston | Buffalo | Houston |
Carolina at Baltimore | Baltimore | Carolina | Baltimore | Baltimore |
Green Bay at Chicago | Chicago | Chicago | Green Bay | Chicago |
Detroit at NY Jets | Detroit | Detroit | NY Jets | NY Jets |
Tennessee at Indianapolis | Indianapolis | Indianapolis | Indianapolis | Indianapolis |
Miami vs Oakland, @ London | Miami | Miami | Oakland | Miami |
Tampa Bay at Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh |
Jacksonville at San Diego | San Diego | San Diego | San Diego | San Diego |
Atlanta at Minnesota | Atlanta | Minnesota | Atlanta | Atlanta |
Philadelphia at San Francisco | Philadelphia | Philadelphia | San Francisco | San Francisco |
New Orleans at Dallas | New Orleans | New Orleans | New Orleans | Dallas |
Monday, September 29 | ||||
New England at Kansas City | New England | New England | New England | Kansas City |
Bye weeks: Arizona, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, Seattle, St. Louis |
Game of the Week: Philadelphia at San Francisco – It’s kind of slim pickings this week – there’s not a lot I’m excited about. Other possibilities included New England at Kansas City on Monday night or New Orleans at Dallas on Sunday night, but I don’t really believe in the Chiefs or the Cowboys to this point. The 49ers have gotten off to a rougher start than expected, but the defense is still good and the team will find it eventually. Can they do it in time to take on a hot Eagles team that has been on fire since falling behind early to Jacksonville in week one? Hard to say.
Game of the Weak: Miami vs Oakland at London – The Dolphins’ week one triumph over New England has largely been forgotten following losses to Buffalo and Kansas City. There have even been whisperings of benching Ryan Tannehill – which would be colossally stupid, in my opinion. The Raiders are junk right now. This is the game the league wants to send overseas to market the product? This is probably good news for those who don’t want to see the league add a team in London – Dolphins/Raiders could lower the NFL’s popularity level overseas by several percentage points.
For some pointspread picks, click here.
It was a better week, to be sure. There is definitely the same problem this week as last week with a few games that could go either way e.g. Buffalo – Houston.
However, I’ll take Washington, Houston, Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Miami, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Atlanta, San Francisco, New Orleans, New England.
For the record Detroit – NY Jets gave me the most trouble to pick.