It has to be a late and slightly truncated picks post today as I am being treated for my birthday so I will run few a quick bits and get my post up.

This week’s Thursday night game might not have looked like much on paper, but the Giants visiting Washington provided a back and forth game where after a slow start Taylor Heinicke dragged Washington back into the game after the Giants took a lead in the first quarter.

The Giants could and possibly should have wont his game, particularly as Washington kicker Dustin Hopkins missed his first attempt at a game winning field goal, but after a back breaking offsice penaly against Dexter Lawrence, Hopkins got a retry and just about put the winning kick through.

Giants’ quarterback Daniel Jones actually finished the game with the better quarterback rating and had long run for a touchdown called back for an iffy holding penalty, but the Giants fall to 0-2, although the Falcons might offer an easier chance to get back to winning ways, but let’s see how Atlanta look in their second game.

As for Washington, the defence is giving away points given how good people (including myself) have proclaimed them to be, but they have their first win on the board and

Early Games:

The three games I will be watching this week all come from the early games. Of course I will be watching the Bengals, hoping they can build on their opening week win whilst worrying about them having played a full period of overtime in week one and travelling to take on Chicago so I will be very interested to see if they can consolidate their good start.

The game I’m watching out of pure interest is the Bills visit to Miami to face Dan’s Dolphins. I both want to see how the Bills react to their week one loss, but also think this is a cracking game that as an AFC East showdown should provide plenty of entertainment as well as tension given both teams’s aims for the season.

The final game I’ll be watching is Dan’s pick, as he wants me to see how good the Eagles look when facing sterner opposition, although the 49ers are once again struggling with injury, but should be good test for the Eagles who were underestimated by so many of us going into the season.

Bengals @ Bears (-2.5)

Gee’s Pick:      Bengals
Dan’s Pick:      Bengals

Texans @ Browns (-12.5)

Gee’s Pick:      Texans
Dan’s Pick:      Texans

Rams @ Colts (+3.5)

Gee’s Pick:      Rams
Dan’s Pick:      Rams

Bills @ Dolphins (+3.5)

Gee’s Pick:      Dolphins
Dan’s Pick:      Bills

Patriots @ Jets (+5.5)

Gee’s Pick:      Patriots
Dan’s Pick:      Patriots

49ers @ Eagles (+3.5)

Gee’s Pick:      Eagles
Dan’s Pick:      Eagles

Raiders @ Steelers (-5.5)

Gee’s Pick:      Steelers
Dan’s Pick:      Raiders

Saints @ Panthers (+3.5)

Gee’s Pick:      Saints
Dan’s Pick:      Saints

Broncos @ Jaguars (+6.5)

Gee’s Pick:      Broncos
Dan’s Pick:      Broncos

Late Games:

The late games all have their intrigues this week.

The Cardinals are coming off an excellent opening day win butwill they be able to maintain that against a Vikings team who will be looking to recover after the opening week loss against the Bengals in overtime.

The Falcons had a terrible start in week one so new head coach Arthur Smith will be looking for a reaction against the Buccaneers and whilst it might be a bit much to expect them to win, you would expect some kind of reaction and I have backed them to cover the big line.

The Cowboys are already picking up injuries, but after looking good against the Bucs in week one even if they lost, they will be hoping to get a win against the Chargers who’ll be welcoming fans to their new home for the first time.

Finally the Titans will be desperate to bounce back from a horrible start to the season, but on the road against a nasty looking Seahawks team who’ll have notoriously noisy fans back it could very easily be an 0-2 start fro them.

Vikings @ Cardinals (-4.5)

Gee’s Pick:      Vikings
Dan’s Pick:      Cardinals

Falcons @ Buccaneers (-12.5)

Gee’s Pick:      Falcons
Dan’s Pick:      Buccaneers

Cowboys @ Chargers (-2.5)

Gee’s Pick:      Chargers
Dan’s Pick:      Cowboys

Titans @ Seahawks (-5.5)

Gee’s Pick:      Seahawks
Dan’s Pick:      Seahawks

Sunday Night Football:

Chiefs @ Ravens (+3.5)

This should be an absolute cracking game, which is only not on my watch list because of seeing the other three AFC North teams at least twice a year and sometimes more depending on the Thursday night schedule. The stories about Lamar Jackson’s 0-3 record against the Chiefs are certainly prominent in the build up, and the injuries the Ravens have picked up certainly have made the start of the season difficult. I may live to regret this, but this is just enough points to make go with the Ravens to cover, even if I suspect that Patrick Mahomes might win out yet again.

Gee’s Pick:      Ravens
Dan’s Pick:      Chiefs

Monday Night Football

Lions @ Packers (-10.5)

You have to think there will be a reaction from the Packers after their woeful showing against the Saints last week, and the Lions are getting these many points for a reason. The consensus line is actually a little higher, but given how the Lions fought back last week I’m still ready to give them a chance to stick within eleven given this line contains an extra half point through a key number.

Gee’s Pick:      Lions
Dan’s Pick:      Lions

DVOA is Football Outsiders statistic for measure a team’s success on every play versus the league average and you can read more about it and other football topics at https://footballoutsiders.com.