Well, nice to be on the right side of a couple upsets, but there still were a few stunners I wasn't ready for. Denver came through, but did not anticipate teams like Carolina and Dallas going down.
For our picks contest, it came down to Monday Night Football. One had 11 correct picks, and four others had 10 correct picks going into the Philadelphia at Chicago contest. Only one of those five picked Chicago to win, and as such JOE LEWIS from Granville is our Week 3 top picker in the North Country and wins $50 IN FOOD AND DRINK TO UNCLE MARIO'S GARAGE, Route 9 in Queensbury.
This is the last full 16 game slate before Thanksgiving week, so let's get to predicting this week's games. And remember, this begins the consecutive Sundays of a 9:30am England/European game on the schedule, so don't get shut out.
As I will put every week in this space., these picks are for entertainment purposes and not meant for gambling purposes.
Thursday Night
Pittsburgh @ Cleveland - Okay, can we get an understanding who are the real Pittsburgh Steelers? A week after looking lifeless against the New England Patriots, who have quite a list of issues themselves after this week ... more on them shortly, they piece together a better effort against Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals. And Cleveland survives to come out ahead of the Carolina Panthers. Does Deshawn Watson look real? I'm going to go with the home advantage here on Thursday night.
Rick's Pick: CLEVELAND
Sunday Morning
Indianapolis vs. Washington in London - Are we looking at how Marcus Mariotta looks with proper preparation, or is this smoke and mirrors? Beating Sam Darnold an the Seattle Seahawks -- snapping the defending champs' 12 game win streak -- is impressive. Now can they keep it up against an Indianapolis squad who finally got their first win of the season with their 19-17 win over the Houston Texans. Jonathan Taylor was kept in check, but Daniel Jones did just enough to avoid the 0-3 pit. But will it be enough in London?
Rick's Pick: WASHINGTON
Sunday Early Afternoon
New England at Buffalo - Maye Day. In 3 games this season, Drake Maye has thrown 1 touchdown and 6 interceptions. He did not look good at all against the Jacksonville Jaguars coming off what seemed like a good overall team performance for the New England Patriots. And now here's Buffalo seeking a reclaim of their AFC East they didn't have last year. Now the Bills looked a little sluggish against the Los Angeles Chargers, but two rushing touchdowns from Josh Allen made sure the team wasn't about to lose to a Chargers squad with a bunch of questions 3 weeks in.
Rick's Pick: BUFFALO
NY Jets at Chicago - No Caleb Williams? Case Keenum says the only problem Chicago is going to have is how do they settle the QB depth chart after the 3rd stringer performed as well as he did against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Jets are better this season, as shown by Geno Smith going nearly perfect with 31/37 completed passes for 321 yards and 3 touchdowns, but have yet to show anything for it after losing late to the Detroit Lions. Since giving up Sauce Gardner last season to the Colts, the Jets defense has weakened, and Jahmyr Gibbs took advantage of it with 3 rushing touchdowns. And that defense will make a big difference to whether or not the Jets can avoid their third straight loss in a row.
Rick's Pick: CHICAGO
Jacksonville at Cincinnati - This may be the strongest game on the early docket. The Jaguars, despite that questionable moment with 8:45 to play in the 4th quarter where Trevor Lawrence stopped at the 1 yard line to avoid scoring against the New England Patriots, looked strong, feasting on Drake Maye's turnovers to emerge victorious. Cincinnati may of had a divisional letdown last week against Pittsburgh, but Joe Burrow has looked strong through the first 3 weeks, and the defense has held strong.
Rick's Pick: CINCINNATI
Arizona at NY Giants - Okay, how you holding up, Giants fans? Because that was not a comfortable win last week against Tennessee, needing field goals to get past the Titans. And then news coming out that the Giants traded a 5th round pick for J.J. McCarthy from the Minnesota Vikings... though if the Giants were patient they could have made an offer for Case Keenum once Caleb Williams returns to Chicago. It'll likely still be Jameis Winston slinging the ball for the Giants this week, and luckily for them, they'll have Arizona in town. The Cardinals have had moments where they look like they could break free of their 0 wins, but just haven't yet. This could be close, but the home team is who I'll take.
Rick's Pick: NY GIANTS
LA Rams at Philadelphia - The Eagles lost Jaylen Hurts for a few plays due to a potential concussion, but came back out after passing protocol. But it was an uncomfortable Monday Night against the Chicago Bears, and now he'll have to put up with one of the stronger defensive units in the Los Angeles Rams. There's only so many times the tush push will work, and you have to get in position to pull it off. It won't be easy for the Eagles to get into that position against the Rams.
Rick's Pick: LA RAMS
Green Bay at Tampa Bay - This game is essentially the Hot Bowl. The winner doesn't claim the prize, in this case the loser sees its head coach's hot seat grow even hotter. Todd Bowles has watched his Buccaneers start 0-3 and now has to deal with a Bucs squad that has Baker Mayfield with a dislocated thumb and out for 3 weeks. And Wide Receiver Jalen McMillan has a PCL sprain that will sideline him for 6-8 weeks. Green Bay has an offensive line problem that isn't getting any better due to injuries, and the offensive output has been affected by it. But they have Jordan Love... for now.
Rick's Pick: GREEN BAY
Tennessee at Baltimore - How did Baltimore win that game?!! Getting the benefit of the 1 second timeout call, then the deep field goal for the victory against the Dallas Cowboys in Rio should rejuvenate this Ravens squad. Getting Tennessee this week should help ever more.
Rick's Pick: BALTIMORE
Dallas at Houston - Meanwhile, Dallas was on the verge of overtime in that game in Rio. Their defense just fell apart. Houston has a lot of questions from their 0-3 start, and while some of that is because of tough teams early in their schedule, their defense that is supposed to be one of the best in the league has been underperforming. And now they get Dak Prescott and the Cowboys receiving corps. I smell an 0-4.
Rick's Pick: DALLAS
Sunday Late Afternoon
Miami at Minnesota - Miami without Achane or Minnesota without Jefferson? Well, one is for certain, the other is a question mark. Even if Jefferson doesn't play, I'm liking Minnesota more than I would Miami at this point, so if I was the front office, I'd ask Jefferson to take this week off to get fully healthy prior to the stretch where they have to face the Lions and Bills in early November.
Rick's Pick: MINNESOTA
Kansas City at Las Vegas - Okay, this should be a good one. If Las Vegas wants us to take them seriously as a contender, a win at Allegiant on Sunday will go a long way towards establishing them as a team to watch in the AFC West. Brock Bowers came off his injury in Weeks 1 and 2 for an impressive showing against New Orleans when there was questions on how many snaps he was going to take. Kansas City may have had a slow start against Miami but turned it on once De'Von Achane went down with injury. A rushing and receiving touchdown for Kenneth Walker III sure helps. While I think Las Vegas is a playoff contender, I think they are a step behind the Kansas City Chiefs.
Rick's Pick: KANSAS CITY
Denver at San Francisco - Another good game. It didn't look like it was going to happen at first after going down 16-0 at the half, but Denver had a stunning win over the Los Angeles Rams. It may of been aided by a questionable pass interference call, but a win still is a win. Now they have to move onto another tough opponent in the San Francisco 49'ers, and this time they won't have the mountain air to help. The 49ers have been rolling through the early season despite injuries. Brock Purdy was a strong reason for the win last Sunday over Arizona thanks to his 4 touchdowns. Can the Broncos make it two against the NFC West?
Rick's Pick: DENVER
LA Chargers at Seattle - The Chargers for 30 minutes showed some life against the Buffalo Bills, but couldn't maintain the lead in the 2nd half. Now 0-3, things remain difficult as they face the defending champs stunned from their loss in Washington last week. And that is likely the worst case scenario for the Chargers, as how Seattle adjusts to last week's loss to Washington will set the tempo for how this game is likely going.
Rick's Pick: SEATTLE
Sunday Night
Detroit at Carolina - That was a letdown last week for the Carolina Panthers. Bryce Young completed 26 passes for 291 yards, but needed to throw the ball 48 times to get to that metric last week against the Cleveland Browns. Chubba Hubbard averaging better than 4 yards per carry isn't bad, but for the Carolina quarterback, you're not always going to get 48 snaps to make your stats look great. Especially if Jahmyr Gibbs runs the ball like he did against the NY Jets. He'll be looking to get past the century mark against the Panthers and dictate clock usage.
Rick's Pick: DETROIT
Monday Night
Atlanta at New Orleans - You have an Atlanta squad that has been treated to extra rest coming off their Thursday night game last week against Green Bay, with Michael Penix Jr looking rust-free for the most part, taking on a snake-bitten New Orleans squad that lost to the Raiders. The Saints have their first opportunity to show they are better squad with their offseason acquisitions before a national audience. But the Falcons have Bijan Robinson, who nabbed 194 yards and 2 scores against Green Bay, and Drake London picking up another 194 yards receiving. I was expecting a week or two for Penix to shake free of the rust, he only needed 15 minutes.
Rick's Pick: ATLANTA (25-21)
So get your picks in on the Q101.7 App or classichitswnyq.com and you could win $50 in food and drink from Uncle Mario's Garage in Queensbury! Good luck!
