NFL Picks - Week 3

The second week of the NFL regular season is in the bag, and I was 10-5 picking winners (20-11 on the year), while Las Vegas was 9-6 picking winners (20-10-1 on the year)

Here are my picks for Week 3 (Las Vegas odds in () ):

Sunday, 21 September:

Kansas City (0-2) (+5.5) at Atlanta (1-1): Atlanta by 10
Oakland (1-1) (+9.5) at Buffalo (2-0): Buffalo by 6
Houston (0-1) (+5.5) at Tennessee (2-0): Houston by 3
Cincinnati (0-2) (+13.5) at NY Giants (2-0): NY Giants by 17
Arizona (2-0) (+3) at Washington (1-1): Washington by 7
Miami (0-2) (+12.5) at New England (2-0): New England by 13
Tampa Bay (1-1) (+3.5) at Chicago (1-1): Tampa Bay by 3
Carolina (2-0) (+3) at Minnesota (0-2): Carolina by 3
St. Louis (0-2) (+10) at Seattle (0-2): Seattle by 13
Detroit (0-2) (+4) at San Francisco (1-1): San Francisco by 7
New Orleans (1-1) (+5.5) at Denver (2-0): Denver by 4
Pittsburgh (2-0) (+3) at Philadelphia (1-1): Pittsburgh by 3
Jacksonville (0-2) (+5.5) at Indianapolis (1-1): Jacksonville by 3
Cleveland (0-2) (+2) at Baltimore (0-1): Cleveland by 3

MONDAY, 22 September:

NY Jets (1-1) (+9.5) at San Diego (0-2): San Diego by 3

The home team is favored by Las Vegas in 15 of 16 games.

My Chargers played poorly on offense in the first quarter, and poorly on defense in three quarters against Denver, who eked out a 39-38 victory with the help of two botched referee calls. Of course, if the defense had stopped the Broncos on any one of Denver's TD drives, we would be 1-1. The running game is still poor - blocking especially. The pass blocking is mediocre too - Rivers buys time with his feet well. The defense overruns running plays and can't rush the passer effectively. The pass coverage is only fair.

The Monday Night Football game against the Jets is a real must-win for both teams. I'm tempted to say the Chargers will win 37-34 in a shootout between Rivers and Favre. Will Tomlinson play effectively? Will the pass rush play well? I'm not optimistic.