Thursday, September 15, 2016

NFL Picks, Week 2 - Thursday Night Edition

THIS WEEK'S NFL TV MAPS: 506SPORTS


The majority of the country (in terms of map coverage, not necessarily number of households) will see 
Kansas City at Houston (CBS, 1 PM)
Dallas at Washington (FOX, 1PM)
Indianapolis at Denver (CBS, 4:25 PM)

The entire country will see 
New York Jets at Buffalo (CBS/NFLN/Twitter, 8:30 *Thursday*)
Green Bay at Minnesota (NBC, 8:30)
Philadelphia at Chicago (ESPN, 8:30 *Monday*)

New York Jets (+1) over BUFFALO

My rule for Thursday Night games is, unless the visiting team is MUCH better than the home team, take the home team on the short week. I thought Denver's offense would cripple them last week, making Carolina a significantly better team. I was wrong.

Now I'm set to do it again. I'm set to pick the Jets on the road on Thursday night because I don't trust Buffalo's offense to find its way out of a paper bag. Their opening week effort was pretty dreadful, and their best offensive weapon, Sammy Watkins, is banged up. He'll play, but he won't be anywhere close to 100%, and even though Darrelle Revis is officially no longer prime Darrelle Revis, the Jets defense ought to make mincemeat out of what Buffalo can trot out there on offense.

The trouble is that the Jets were a better team than Buffalo last year as well, and Buffalo swept them (by identical 22-17 scores, interestingly enough). How? By forcing 7 turnovers in those two games. Normally I'd just say, take care of the ball and you'll do fine, but unfortunately for the Jets, their quarterback is a Harvard man, and Harvard men believe turnovers are only caused by the invisible hand, and thus, they will either happen or they won't. So Ryan Fitzpatrick could throw for multiple interceptions, or he could throw for none. Given the fact that his career record against a Rex Ryan defense is 2-8, multiple picks are probably more likely, but I just can't shake how poor Buffalo's offense looked, and how dominant the Jets defensive front looked against a much better offensive line.


2016 Midweek Picks: 0-1

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