No matter the weather, Barkley usually delivers.
A woman on the radio talked about revolution,
when it's already passed her by.
Bob Dylan didn't have this to sing about;
you know it feels good to be alive.
April 25th, 2019. Nashville, Tennessee.
“With the sixth pick, in the 2019 NFL draft, the New York G****s select…”
Big Blue fans were apoplectic.
“JESUS!!! JONES?!?
The pick was decried, by fans and pundits alike. Jones’s every bad practice pass was covered exhaustively by local media, and fans groaned with every report.
“Jesus, Jones!”
Then Jones took the field for preseason games. He looked good. In four games, he completed over 85% of his passes, throwing no picks.
Fans noticed.
“Jesus! Jones!!!”
Eli started the first two regular season games. In Week Two, in a blowout loss to Dallas, Jones came in for some mop-up duty.
Tuesday, September 17, 2019.
I was alive and I waited, waited;
I was alive and I waited for this.
Daniel Jones has been named Giants starting QB
— New York Giants (@Giants) September 17, 2019
Right here, right now;
there is no other place I want to be.
Right here, right now;
watching the world wake up from history.
New York has Saquon Barkley, already one of the best RBs in the league. They have some good young talent at WR. The OL is improved over last year. The defence needs a lot of work. Now it’s time to get a good look at what they have in Daniel Jones.
Right here. Right now.
In Week One, nobody knows anything.
In Week Two, everyone overreacts to Week One.
In Week Three, we try to reconcile what happened in Week One and Week Two. Or in other words, we admit that we still don’t know anything.
There are a couple of mismatches on the schedule this week. Those are pretty obvious. There are a few really good matchups as well. Just to make things even more interesting, we get to see how a couple of would-be contenders handle losing their long-time starting QBs, as well as another team moving on from a vested veteran.
Away we go.
Week Three Picks
Winners in Bold:
Sunday
Cincinnati at Buffalo
Cincy’s defence was not ready for San Fran last week. This week, they come up against a tough Buffalo defence, and a Buffalo offence that looks to be finding its footing. Rookie RB Devin Singletary is a no-go for Buffalo this Sunday.
Detroit at Philadelphia
I still think Philly has everyone fooled. They got outplayed by Atlanta last week, and you’d swear it never happened. Well, it did. Now Detroit is coming to town. Detroit’s defence has been mostly good over two weeks, and Philly’s roster is currently ravaged by injuries.
NYJ at New England
Dissatisfied with the competition that other teams in the league have been providing, New England seems to be trying to increase its level of difficulty by creating turmoil from within. Apparently, the Kraft/Chung “Hookers and Blow” scandals weren’t enough, so the Pats had to involve themselves with human dumpster fire Antonio Brown. Well, it looks like that’s over. I don’t think we need to worry about New England this week, or for the foreseeable future. As it stands, the only thing that should stop New England from winning mismatches like this one is a lack of preparation and/or effort. Does that sound like a Bill Belichick team to you?
Oakland at Minnesota
After a slow start, Minnesota’s defence shut down Aaron Rodgers last week, paving the way for a Minny comeback after falling behind early. Unfortunately, Kirk Cousins completely fucked it up, throwing an idiotic pass in the 4th quarter, on first-and-goal, that was intercepted in the end zone. This is a Minnesota team that has all of the pieces in place to be a serious contender, yet Cousins can’t seem to win the big ones. Any chance of getting Case Keenum back?
Baltimore at KC
CB Jimmy Smith is out for Baltimore, and that’s bad news for a defence that will be trying to stop the force of nature that is Patrick Mahomes. Lamar Jackson and co. will put some points up too, but not enough to hang with KC.
Atlanta at Indianapolis
I watched every snap of Philly/Atlanta last week, and what I saw was an Atlanta defence that dominated. The only reason the game was even close is because Matt Ryan played really poorly, which is uncharacteristic. It seems to me that everyone is sleeping on Atlanta, whereas I picked them to make the playoffs as a Wild Card, and I now see them as potential NFC West champs, depending on how long Drew Brees is on the shelf. Indy is coming off a hard-fought victory over Tennessee, but enters this contest without LB Darius Leonard and DE Jabaal Sheard, and with TY Hilton and Marlon Mack hurting.
Denver at Green Bay
Denver’s defence has been a disappointment thus far, with Von Miller and Bradley Chubb failing to register a Sack in two games. Add a punchless offence, and what you have is a rough trip to Lambeau. Green Bay’s offence has yet to show that it can be consistently good, but in this contest, it likely won’t have to do too much.
Miami at Dallas
After two games, Miami is looking historically bad. Dallas is among the best teams in the league right now. What else do I need to say?
NYG at Tampa
Tampa’s defence gave Carolina fits last week, but I think they were able to key on Christian McCaffrey, and banged-up Cam Newton couldn’t take advantage. If New York can get off to a good start, and Daniel Jones can find his rhythm, I think New York has a real shot in this one.
Carolina at Arizona
With Cam Newton and Bruce Irvin out, and coming off a listless loss to Tampa, Carolina makes the trip to Arizona to take on Kyler Murray’s spread offence. Murray and co. had a bit of trouble scoring against a tough Baltimore defence last week, so it will be interesting to see how he fares against Carolina. Kyle Allen starts at QB for Carolina.
Pittsburgh at San Francisco
I thought that Pittsburgh’s offence showed a little spark after Mason Rudolph took over, but that might just have been the effect of not having opposing defenders drawn in by the gravitational pull of Ben Roethlisberger’s massive noggin. Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, their defence is not playing well either, and San Fran’s offence under currently not-injured Jimmy Garoppolo seems to be finding its footing. It should come as no surprise to anyone who reads my column that I’m absolutely giddy at the thought of Pittsburgh being 0-3.
New Orleans at Seattle
As backup QB situations go, you could do a whole lot worse than having Teddy Bridgewater take over the offence, and New Orleans still has Michael Thomas, Alvin Kamara, and a talented defence. Having said that, Seattle is looking pretty good, and Bridgewater has to face a fierce pass rush in one of the noisiest stadiums in the league, and that’s a really tall order.
Houston at LAC
Hey, I love the Bolts, but their injury woes and failure to execute in the kicking game is giving me a serious case of déjà vu. TE/porcelain figurine Hunter Henry is Out yet again for LA. Deshaun Watson gives Houston a chance to win every game, and this team has really competed this year. Should be a close one.
Sunday Night
LAR at Cleveland
Cleveland laid an egg in Week One, and now they’re facing being 1-2 and two games behind Baltimore in the AFC North. If their pass rush comes through and puts enough pressure on Jared Goff, Cleveland might have a chance. If this game is still close at the half, do not change the channel.
Monday Night
Chicago at Washington
It’s time to face facts: Mitch Trubisky stinks. Chicago’s defence will have to win games. That will probably be enough this week, but it’s not really a sustainable model for success.
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