When three people boo in an almost-empty stadium — where the other 17,000 are observing a moment of silence — the news media gets their headlines wrong. Predictable.

Demonstrations by NFL teams were tasteful and inspiring, as were the socially-conscious commercials by Fortune 500 companies. Then, we got down to football — and that, in my view, was also a breath of fresh air.  Week One reminded me why the NFL is the world's most profitable sport — period.

Week one dished up several juicy, classic matches — and quite a few upsets. Throughout the weekend schedule, I felt grateful to be above .500 on my picks, ending the weekend with a 9-7 record.

My Obervations From Week One
 
1.     Dear Tom Brady: You’re not in the weak AFC East any more!
 
2.     The Eagles found a way to lose the one game everyone thought was an easy pick.
 
3.     The number one player any team can ill afford to lose is Russell Wilson. 
 
4.     So far, the Texans appear to have gotten worse, not better, in the offseason.
 
5.     Kyler Murray is an unmitigated nightmare for defenses.
 
6.     Jason Garrett and the Giants were completely unprepared for the Steelers’ blitzing.
 
7.     The Broncos still have an excellent defense and almost no offense.
 
8.     Year after year, the Vikings look super — until they play the Packers.  Isn’t there a team shrink for that?
 
9.     Kevin Stefanski and Baker Mayfield have no idea how to be competitive against the Ravens.
 
10.  The Dolphins lost, but they are clearly improved over last season.
 
11.  The AFC teams have played against fast QBs; they now have to learn to deal with a QB who will crash into a crowd of defenders and carry them for a first down or a TD.
 
12.  Because of Cam Newton, it’s Belichick -1, Brady -0.
 
My Week Two Picks:
 
1.     Bengals            Browns           Browns
2.     Giants              Bears               Bears
3.     Rams               Eagles              Rams
4.     Falcons            Cowboys         Falcons
5.     Panthers          Buccaneers     Bucs
6.     49ers               Jets                  Jets
7.     Broncos           Steelers           Steelers
8.     Jaguars            Titans              Titans
9.     Lions                Packers            Lions
10.  Bills                  Dolphins          Bills
11.  Vikings             Colts                Vikings
12.  Washington      Cardinals         Cardinals
13.  Ravens            Texans             Ravens
14.  Chiefs              Chargers          Chiefs
15.  Patriots           Seahawks        Patriots
16.  Saints              Raiders            Raiders
 
I confess: I feel shaky about picking the Browns to beat anybody, even the Bengals.
 
I feel equally as uncertain about picking the Vikings to beat the banged-up Colts.
 
Despite the nagging injury to Mike Evans and Chris Godwin's concussion, I think the Bucs can rebound against the Panthers, due to that wide chasm in QB experience.
 
I don’t see the Texans controlling time of possession enough to even slow the Ravens.
 
Bill Belichick is likely to achieve better containment of Russell Wilson than the Falcons did, and Wilson is the Seahawk offense.
 
I would have gone with the Saints against the Raiders, were it not for the injury to Michael Thomas.
 
Week Two is on.  Enjoy all the action.