Wooooooo!!!!!! Footbawwwwww is here!!!! It’s Week 1 of the NFL season. Everyone has hopes of making the playoffs and winning the Super Bowl. Clean slates for everyone! And once again, everyone thinks they have a chance of beating Doc Brown in NFL picks. And once again, that won’t happen.
The Doc has a pristine record as a prognosticator and will continue his run of success this season. Just like many years in the past, the experts here at LBS will be picking games each week. Doc and Del will post our picks straight up and against the spread and keep track of our running totals all season. As usual, we’ll also do our weekly top 3 picks. Those are the money in the bank locks.
This time around we’re also adding a twist — the previous week’s winner in the LBS weekly pick ’em pool (go here for details on signing up) will also make picks each week. Since it’s Week 1, we’ve asked last year’s league champ BMK to make his picks as well. Those are far below.
Below are Doc and Del’s Week 1 picks against the spread and straight up with some analysis below.
(ATS = Against the Spread, SU = Straight Up)
All three of the LBS expert pickers have locked in the Chicago Bears for Week 1. It’s easy to see why. The Bills’ offense was terrible in the preseason and E.J. Manuel looked so bad Buffalo signed Kyle Orton as a backup. Their defense is good, but who trusts their offense? Nobody. The Bears, meanwhile, have an offense that seems ready to explode. The Doc is expecting big things from them starting in Week 1.
Lots of people are big on the Bucs this year as a sleeper team. They should be better. They have a good coach, better defense and veteran QB. But the Doc doesn’t think anyone should sleep on the Panthers. Sure, Cam Newton is coming into this game hurt, but they’re a better team than Tampa Bay. That Carolina D is still solid as heck. The Doc likes the Panthers to win the game outright, even if Derek Anderson ends up starting the game over Cam.
Much like the Bills, the Giants offense looked terrible in the preseason. Detroit’s offense looks nice and their defense should be steady enough to cover this line. This is mostly a pick against the Giants, who already are missing weapons at their specialist positions and just didn’t look good all training camp.
Below are the picks against the spread from last year’s LBS Pick ’em Challenge winner BMK.
Pats over Dolphins: Every year, the Dolphins come into the year overrated and overhyped. It was just a year ago ESPN predicted them to win the AFC East. After getting embarrassed by the Broncos in Denver, a healthy and improved Patriots team should enter the season focused on securing home field advantage. I like the Patriots to win in a blowout.
Bears over Bills: The Bears typically aren’t the type of team that will blow another team out, given that Jay Cutler usually throws a few interceptions and its defense is shaky. That being said, the Bills simply have too many question marks to be an above average team – Sammy Watkins, CJ Spiller, EJ Manuel all could be great, but that’s yet to be proven. The Bills oftentimes struggle away, and any time a team gives Kyle Orton 11 million, it usually isn’t a promising sign. I like the Bears to win by a touchdown.
Chiefs over Titans: The Titans have too many question marks on both sides of the ball. Kansas City is always a tough place to play, especially for a home opener. I expect the Chiefs to win the turnover battle and end up winning by a touchdown.
