NOTE: With Nick Foles on IR, I switched my Jaguars-Texans pick to the Texans.  

The weekend's biggest loser? NBC!  They broadcast that 33-3 yawner on Sunday Night Football, which confirmed: the Steelers are no longer a contender.  I turned the game off at the end of the third quarter.

Sunday night's fiasco just highlighted my reasons for dissing the Steelers: an anemic offense that has relied too long on the deep ball, a gimmicky defense that has relied too much on big hits and turnovers.  The Steelers' problems — for the past few seasons — were always much greater than those "trouble-makers," Antonio Brown and LeVeon Bell.  And I'm one of the few analysts who told you so.

The Ravens trounced one of the NFL's few perennial cellar-dwellers, the Dolphins — almost as badly as the Patriots walloped the Steelers (without even playing Antonio Brown).  I say "almost", because at least the Dolphins scored a TD!  Yes, the Ravens have much tougher competition ahead (including the Steelers, who may not make the playoffs but are still not the Dolphins), but I like Baltimore's chances.  I think the Steelers will win this weekend, but I think they are now an 8-8 team.  

 The weekend's biggest winner?  ESPN and Monday Night Football wihthe best game of the week — that Saints-Texans shootout, decided on a 58-yard field goal as time expired  Wow! That was an example of why I strongly recommend that NFL fans not limit their viewing to just their home team.

Now, let me talk about what surprised me.  The Bears' offense left me scratching my head.  Pundits want to credit the improving Packer defense, but I sense something bad in Chicago.  Bears QB Trubisky cannot afford to suddenly get cautious; the Bear defense relies on his running threat.  Let's see how they do in Denver.

My only other real surprise this weekend was how easily the Titans (who I picked to win) misused the Browns (I picked them to make the playoffs).  I will now have to wonder if last year's striking improvement by the Browns was real or just attributable to momentum.

The Vikings jumped all over the Falcons early and survived a late rally, but that outcome was not a total shock.  All in all, the Week One games mostly tracked what I expected.  Because of a tie, I predicted 11.5 games correctly and got 4.5 wrong.  

Week Two poses several big questions, not the least of which is: Can the Jags bounce back against those red-hot Texans?  Stay tuned.

This weekend's games and my picks:

Visitor             Home              My Pick
 
Bucs                Panthers        Panthers
Cardinals        Ravens            Ravens
Chargers        Lions               Lions
Colts                Titans             Titans
49ers              Bengals           Bengals
Jaguars           Texans            Texans
Vikings            Packers           Vikings
Cowboys         Redskins         Cowboys
Seahawks       Steelers          Steelers
Bills                 Giants             Giants
Patriots           Dolphins         Patriots
Chiefs             Raiders           Chiefs
Saints              Rams               Rams
Bears              Broncos          Bears
Eagles             Falcons           Falcons
Browns           Jets                  Browns

What a great start to the season.  Let's hope it stays this much fun.