Stripe Hype Week 1 Picks
By Jason Marcum
The opening kickoff of the 2012 NFL season between the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants is inching closer and closer, and now its time to do our weekly picks of every NFL game this week:
Giants over Cowboys– Defending Super Bowl Champions have won 12 straight, but the Cowboys have won 5 straight against the Giants in season openers, so something’s gotta give tonight. The loss of Jason Witten coupled with the departure of Laurent Robinson will have the Boyz struggling to find any offensive flow against a stout Giants defense.
Bears over Colts-Andrew Luck won’t start off his NFL career with a win against the Bears defense, who will contain the Colts’ offense while Jay Cutler picks apart a horrendous Colts secondary and cruise to an easy win.
Eagles over Browns-The Browns are breaking in a new starting QB, RB, and #1 wide-out, all of which are rookies. The Eagles pass-rush wil terrorize Brandon Weeden while Michael Vick and LeSeasn McCoy puts on an offensive clinic.
Lions over Rams-The Lions bounce back from a horrible offseason as Matthew Stafford pick apart arguably the NFL’s worst secondary while Calvin Johnson makes fantasy owners everywhere happy.
Patriots over Titans-This will be one of the more competitive week 1 matchups, as a banged-up Patriots o-line will have them struggling early against the Titans, but in the end, Tom Brady will be to much for a young but talented Titans defense.
Falcons over Chiefs-The Falcons open up with a quality road win over a Chiefs team looking to rebound from an injury-plagued 2011 season, but aren’t ready to roll with the big boys just yet.
Vikings over Jaguars-I believe the Vikings will win at home with or without Adrian Peterson, as Maurice Jones-Drew won’t have his feet under him quite yet after a long holdout, and Christian Ponder shows why he is another promising young QB going forward.
Saints over Redskins-The Saints come out and set the tone early for what will be one of the more lopsided games in week 1, as RGIII is unable to solve the Saints defense and Drew Brees has a field day as he looks to go have back-to-back 5,000 yard passing season.
Jets over Bills- This might be the ugliest game in week 1, as both offense struggled to find any consistency this preseason, and week 1 will leave both teams with more questions than answers going forward.
Texans over Dolphins- This is my lock of the week. The Dolphins are in full-rebuilding mode, while the Texans are in Super Bowl-or-bust mode.
Packers over 49ers- This highly touted matchup of last year’s top-2 NFC teams sees the Packers scoring early and often and showing why they are the best team in the NFL when healthy.
Seahawks over Cardinals- No QB? No chance for the Cardinals this year, as they battle with the Dolphins for the #1 overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft.
Panthers over Buccaneers-Cam Newton has an field day running and throwing against a porous Bucs defense.
Steelers over Broncos-This is my upset pick of the week, as I believe Peyton Manning will struggle in his first regular season action in almost 2 years, and Big Ben makes just enough plays for the Steelers to steal one on the road.
Ravens over Bengals-Injuries are the biggest story here, and right now, the Bengals just have to many to overcome what is still a good Ravens defense even without All-Pro DE/OLB Terrelll Suggs, while Joe Flacco will take full advantage of a banged up Bengals secondary while Torrey Smith torches Bengals defenders.
Chargers over Raiders-The Raiders keep this one close, but Carson Palmer throws a pick-six late in the 4th-quarter to kill a late rally attempt. Where have we heard that one before?
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