Editor Matt Loede’s NFL Picks for Week Three

Last Week: 10-6
Season Record: 19-12

Week three of the season is here, and for some teams like the 49ers, Cowboys and Vikings it’s now or never to turn their seasons around. Here we go after a 10-6 week last week with our picks for week three.

Cincinnati at Carolina – The Bengals defended their home turf a week ago with a big win over the Ravens, and now play a Panthers team that is in disarray three weeks into the season. Carolina is 0-2, and will go with Jimmy Clausen at QB. Look for Carson Palmer to have a big day, and for the Bengals to on the road get to 2-1 with a big win over a Panthers team that is having issues on both sides of the ball. Cincinnati 27 Carolina 14

Buffalo at New England – The game you fans voted as our ‘Lock of the Week’ for week three, a struggling 0-2 Bills team also with a new QB tries to win in New England. Ryan Fitzpatrick goes for Buffalo, and this after two pretty bad outings for Trent Edwards. The Bills can’t do much on offense, and will need to do some major changes on both sides of the ball to beat an upset Tom Brady team that isn’t happy about last weeks loss to the Jets. Won’t happen. New England 37 Buffalo 10

San Francisco at Kansas City – The Niners are another 0-2 team looking to get on track. They hung tough with the Saints Monday night before losing late, and now head to play a 2-0 Chiefs team that has won two games ugly – but yet have won. The Niners will look to have the same effort they did against New Orleans, and Alex Smith will have to make sure to not make mistakes, and they need to say sound running the ball. This will be the week SF gets on track with a big road win. San Francisco 24 Kansas City 14

Tennessee at New York Giants – Two teams coming off awful losses a week ago, the Titans have to get back to handing the ball to Chris Johnson and keeping Vince Young confident in making plays. The GMen lost to Eli’s big brother, and looked bad in doing so. This week the Giants will get at least 20 looks at Johnson, and the Titans defense will bear down and get some mistakes from Manning as they will score a win on the road to get to 2-1. Tennessee 23 NY Giants 20

Cleveland at Baltimore – Ray Lewis is simply drooling at the thought of this one. A Browns team that has yet to score in the second half, is turning the ball over, and making way too many mistakes on both sides of the ball to win a game. Look for Lewis and the upset Ravens D from last weeks loss to the Bengals to dominate, and the Ravens to get to 2-1 with a pounding of the lowly Browns. Baltimore 27 Cleveland 10

Pittsburgh at Tampa Bay – The Bucs are a surprise at 2-0, while the Steelers may call Mark Malone out of retirement to play QB this week. Instead they will go with 35-year-old Charlie Batch, who last week threw for just 25 yards in the teams 19-11 win in Tennessee. The Steelers D will be the story here, as they will make for a long day for Bucs QB Josh Freeman, and the Bucs won’t have many chances to score, and the Steelers offense will do enough. Pittsburgh 20 Tampa Bay 10

Atlanta at New Orleans – The best game of the 1pm slate, two good NFC South teams do battle in what could be a shootout. The Falcons need to keep Drew Brees off the field, and that is done with a run game and no mistakes by Matt Ryan, who looked like a Pro Bowl QB last week vs the Cards. The Saints hung in and had a big drive late vs the 49ers to pull out a 25-22 win, but will be without kick returner Reggie Bush. The Saints are still the better team, and will do enough to stay perfect against their biggest division rival. New Orleans 24 Atlanta 21

Detroit at Minnesota – The Lions played hard with backup QB Shaun Hill last week, but fell to the Eagles 35-32, and now have to play with that same energy vs the Vikings in Minnesota. Brett Favre is looking old, and the O-line isn’t keeping him safe nor opening enough holes for Adrian Peterson. This could be the week though that the Vikes get on track, as Favre will hit for a couple score and AP will go for 150. Minnesota 29 Detroit 24

Dallas at Houston – The Cowboys look punch drunk on offense, playing like a team that is trying to hard and not being cohesive enough to win much of anything. The Texans are off to a 2-0 start after a huge OT win in Washington, and want to land a knockout blow vs the Cowboys here. Look for Matt Schaub and his two targets, Andre Johnson and Kevin Walter, to make for a long day for the Dallas secondary, and Wade Phillips will feel the seat get even hotter as they fall to 0-3 on the year. Houston 31 Dallas 17

Philadelphia at Jacksonville – All eyes will be on Mike Vick, as he is now the man at QB for the Eagles. JVille plays a lot better at home, as they showed opening day as compared to the egg they laid last week in San Diego. Vick needs to play with the same reckless abandon like last week, throwing to his wide outs and using his legs when needed to make plays. The Jags will look to be more like the opener when David Garrard was near perfect in the win over Denver. It won’t be easy, but the Eagles are the better club and will win it late. Philadelphia 17 Jacksonville 13

Washington at St.Louis – Last week the Skins had a lead late, but fell to the Texans at home, and this week will look for a little revenge vs the Rams, who they lost to a season ago. Look for Donovan McNabb to follow up on his game vs the Texans with another good outing, and while the Rams have hung around the first two weeks with Sam Bradford, they simply are not talented enough to win many games, yet. Washington 19 St.Louis 10

Indianapolis at Denver – The Colts got their season on track in a big way last Sunday night with a huge win over the Giants, and now play at Denver, who pounded the Seahawks at home last week. Denver plays much better at home, and Peyton Manning and co. cannot overlook that. The Colts though have won some big games over the years over the Broncos, and they will have their offense in sync again here with a big road win. Indianapolis 27 Denver 21

Oakland at Arizona – The Cards will look to rebound after a big loss last week at Atlanta, while the Raiders want to show last weeks win over the Rams was no fluke. Derek Anderson should be able to attack the Raiders secondary, and their run game also could have some solid numbers. The Raiders have turned to Bruce Gradkowski, and while he is better at running the west coast offense, they won’t have enough firepower to hold the Cards in check all day. Arizona 23 Oakland 13

San Diego at Seattle – What Seattle team shows up here is the big question, as in week one against the Niners they played with a lot more energy than last week vs Denver. The Hawks should be able to exploit some things against San Diego, who laid out the Jags at home last week. Ryan Mathews needs to give Philip Rivers some help in the run game, and Antonio Gates will have a couple big plays in the pass game to help SD pull this one out. San Diego 24 Seattle 20

New York Jets at Miami – No Darelle Revis for the Jets, which could mean big issues against Brandon Marshall and a Dolphins team playing with a lot of confidence right now. The story will be if Miami’s D can keep the heat on Mark Sanchez, and if they can make sure not to give up the big play. They played takeaway against Brett Favre a week ago, and here’s a vote that Sanchez will have a couple turnovers and the Fins will take advantage of it. Miami 17 NY Jets 10

Monday Night:

Green Bay at Chicago – A true NFC North battle, the Packers at 2-0 vs the 2-0 Bears in an early North showdown. The Bears look like a different team with Mike Martz running the show, and they need on defense to get to Aaron Rodgers and put him on the ground a couple times early. If Rodgers can hit some pass plays and have the Bears playing from behind, it could be the Bears making the mistakes like the Cowboys did against them a week ago. Rodgers outduels Cutler as the Pack take the early division lead. Green Bay 26 Chicago 20