LI Press Picks for NFL Week 2

Pittsburg (1-0) (18% picked) @ Tennessee (1-0) (82% picked)

Only three players in NFL history have eclipsed 4,000 yards from scrimmage faster than Titans running back Chris Johnson: Edgerrin James, Clinton Portis and Erick Dickerson. Despite being armed with the most explosive football player in the league in CJ2K, the key may be Titans QB Vince Young. The Titans are 8-1 when the versatile QB throws for two or more TD’s.

Tampa Bay (1-0) (21% picked) @ Carolina (0-1) (79% picked)

Carolina’s combination of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart will simply be too much offense for a Tampa Bay squad that allowed over 100 yards to a nonexistent Cleveland Browns run game. Fantasy Football owners of Williams and Stewart will be in for huge returns as the Panthers should have no problem dispatching the Bucs.

Seattle (1-0) (47% picked) @ Denver (1-0) (53% picked)

The U-S-C Hawks absolutely ripped into the sexy NFC West preseason champion San Francisco 49ers to the tune of 31-6. The Seahawks defense was malicious Sunday against the Niners, picking Alex Smith off twice with Marcus Trufant returning his INT for a touchdown. I’m jumping on the Seattle Seahawks bandwagon right now and predicting that they will take the NFC West in 2010 barring injuries. They start to prove my prediction true with a win against the Broncos in Denver in week 2.

St. Louis (0-1) (49% picked) @ Oakland (0-1) (51% picked)

The Raiders were torched against a good Titans team in week 1 but I expect the Raiders to come back and take care of business at home against the Rams. Raiders RB Darren McFadden carried the ball 18 times for 95 yards against the Titans defense last week and the Raiders will need another strong performance to pick up victory number one on the season.

New England (1-0) (83% picked) @ Jets (0-1) (17% picked)

After a deflating loss to the Ravens in the season opener, the Jets offense MUST be better in order to compete against New England. The Pats, on the other hand, posted 38 points against the Bengals in week 1, incorporating Wes Welker back in the mix for two TD scores. The game comes down to the Jets being able to produce more than six first downs, something that can’t be repeated from week 1.

Jacksonville (1-0) (15% picked) @ San Diego (0-1) (85% picked)

San Diego looked terrible on Monday Night Football against the Chiefs while the Jaguars were surprisingly good against the Broncos, pulling out a 24-17 at home. The Chargers are surely missing WR Vincent Jackson and it showed during the goal line stand in the 4th where the Chiefs took away Antonio Gates and forced QB Phillip Rivers to throw to another option. The Jags ability to run the ball with Maurice Jones-Drew opens up play action for QB David Garrard and if Garrard could repeat his week 1 performance (16/21, 170 YDS, 3 TD), another upset could be brewing in San Diego.

Houston (1-0) (72% picked) @ Washington 1-0 (28% picked)

Just a hunch here: Arian Foster won’t go off for 231 yards rushing and 3 TDs in week 2. Sorry fantasy owners. The Skins won an ugly affair in their first contest of the year against Dallas while the Texans held off the Colts to upset the defending AFC Champions. The Texans have too many weapons on offense and should pull away early and often from the Redskins on the road.

New Orleans 1-0 (95% picked) @ San Francisco 0-1 (5% picked)

Easy one here. The Saints march into San Francisco and continue their defense as Super Bowl Champs after using the cool Brees to start the season 2-0.

Giants (1-0) (17% picked) @ Colts (0-1) (83% picked)

In the marquee matchup between Eli and Peyton Manning, I’m going to go with the better QB: Manning of the Peyton variety. The Colts are still one of the best teams in the AFC despite a poor showing in week 1 against the Texans and I expect the Colts to rebound in a big way on Sunday night.