I’ve always said that week one and week seventeen are the two most difficult weeks to make accurate picks. This season appears to be keeping that trend alive and well.

Okay, I actually picked 11 out of 16 correct, so I’m not too shaken up about that for week one. But some of the games that I missed left me scratching my head.

For instance, Minnesota vs St. Louis. I know the Rams have been hit by the injury bug, but I didn’t realize they had absolutely no depth whatsoever. This game was so bad, you couldn’t even refer to the squad as Lambs, as that would be an insult to lambs everywhere.

How about New England going to Miami and laying an egg? Granted, the Dolphins should be the #2 team in that division, but when was the last time the Patriots were in danger of starting the season 0-2? I’m guessing it was the last time they didn’t have a receiving corp.

But the game that impacted my picks, preventing me from starting the season 3-0 was Buffalo at Chicago. I really thought da’ Bears might be contenders this year, but allowing the Bills to come to town and steal the opener from them is inexcusable. No reason to think they are anything other than the pretenders they’ve been for the past few years.

This week’s Lock of the Week (0-1).

After going 16-2 in this category last season, I’m still a bit shell-shocked from last week’s miss (see Buffalo at Chicago above). I almost decided not to be so cocky about this category.

Key word here is almost!

I’ve decided not to allow that team from Chicago to impact my swag. I should have known better than to pick them in week one. This week, I’m feeling a lot better about my pick. There’s absolutely no way I could possibly miss on this one.

Have I sufficiently jinxed this one now?

I don’t think so. Even though they lost their opener at Seattle, I think the Packers will return home this week and take their frustrations out on the N.Y. Jets. After all, New York struggled mightily last week to beat the Raiders at home, while the Packers were at the defending Super Bowl champs.

Look for Rogers to have an extra second or two to get the ball downfield than he had last week. And with that will come more yardage and more points. And since we have yet to determine if the Jets are capable of scoring points, this should lead to an easy win for the home team.

Look for Green Bay to win this one by at least twenty points!

This week’s Upset of the Week (1-0).

There are a couple of games for me to choose from this week, but I’ve decided to roll the dice at the big boy table this week. Even though their super human running back is not suiting up this week, I’m still picking the Minnesota Vikings over the visiting New England Patriots.

I know that sounds like a wild pick to most of you, but after last week’s demonstrations of highs and lows that these two teams displayed, I couldn’t bring myself to pick the Patriots.

Their offense has all of a sudden become average, now that their passing attack is no longer a threat. That’s not a knock on Tom Brady, but on his supporting cast, or lack of it. With an average defense and an unsteady running game to go with it, the Patriots have all of a sudden become a very beatable team.

Meanwhile, Minnesota seemed to have everything clicking last week against St. Louis. Not only was their offense unstoppable, their defense shut down everything the Rams threw at them (no pun intended).

Even with AP out of the lineup, the Vikings should be able to run the score up again and pull off the upset.

This week’s Game of the Week (1-0).

Prior to last week’s results, I was thinking this week would have several games that could fall into this category. Now it has become clear that there is only one. And we’ll have to wait for Monday night to watch it.

That’s right, it’s the Philadelphia Eagles at the Indianapolis Colts.

Like the Packers, last week saw the Colts traveling to the other Super Bowl team, the Denver Broncos. Although they left Colorado with a loss, they were not totally destroyed. They came home as the clear cut choice to win the AFC South, even with their 0-1 record.

Although Philadelphia ended up beating Jacksonville last week, the lowly Jags exposed a lot of the Eagle weaknesses before Philly turned the game around. Don’t think for a minute that they could pull off that kind of a turnaround against Indy. If they allow the Colts to jump out to an early lead, they will not come away a winner.

In order for the Eagles to win this game, they have to shut down the Colt’s offensive machine from the opening whistle. I don’t see that happening.

This one should see a lot of points on the scoreboard, but most of them will be on the Colt’s side. Indianapolis wins this one by at least two scores.

Okay, there you have it. Carve it in stone, grab a liquid refreshment and enjoy a weekend of great football!