NFL Week 2: Cheaters Always Win, Even When They're Caught

After one week, the records continue on my typical pace. Even some first week madness can’t affect these records on the whole.
Overall: 10-5 (66%)
Vs. Spread: 11-4 (thank you Arizona)

As always, the following picks should not be used for gambling purposes, because you never know who is watching me with a video recorder.

SUNDAY

Indianapolis Colts (1-0)(-6.5) vs. Tennessee Titans (1-0)
1:00 p.m. LP Field
To all those who thought the Colts would be on their way to an early demise were sorely mistaken last Thursday. Holding an outstanding offense, especially one that had been clicking all preseason, to 10 points is very impressive. Now they get the Titans, a team they routinely dominate. They should win fairly easily, which is why they probably won't.
Pick: Colts, Titans cover

Cincinnati Bengals (1-0)(-6.5) vs. Cleveland Browns (0-1)
1:00 p.m. Cleveland Browns Stadium
I saw what Cincinnati could do against a pretty good defense. They didn’t play all that well and still managed to put up 27 points. Plus, they are playing the aforementioned Browns in what should be a cakewalk.
Pick: Bengals

Buffalo Bills (0-1) vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (1-0)(-10)
1:00 p.m. Heinz Field
Before everyone, including myself, gets all excited about the Steelers, let’s remember who they trounced in their opening game. If week one is any sign, the Browns have the potential to be one of the worst teams in the league this year. So all those who picked Pittsburgh as their sleeper (this guy right here), need to wait a couple of more weeks until we see them play against a real team.
Pick: Steelers

Houston Texans (1-0) vs. Carolina Panthers (1-0)(-6.5)
1:00 p.m. Bank of America Stadium
Just wondering what fans in Philadelphia and New York think of the Houston Texans having a better record than their respective teams. It’s kind of funny from my perspective. The Panthers will take care of that this weekend.
Pick: Panthers

San Francisco 49ers (1-0) vs. St. Louis Rams (0-1)(-3)
1:00 p.m. Edward Jones Dome
Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Carolina all came through for me last week. The Rams did not (Carolina did have something to do with it). I would hope the Rams will be able to find more that 49 yards rushing for Stephen Jackson this week.
Pick: Rams

Green Bay Packers (1-0) vs. New York Giants (0-1)(-1.5)
1:00 p.m. Giants Stadium
The Giants are lousy, awful and headed straight to a ten-loss season. And that’s what I said before all the injuries that occurred last Sunday night. Man, is it going to be fun watching this team fall apart all year.
Pick: Packers

Atlanta Falcons (0-1) vs. Jacksonville Jaguars (0-1)(-9)
1:00 p.m. Alltell Stadium
It won’t be fun watching the Falcons fall apart all season. It truly sucks that an entire team of relatively decent players were taken out at the knees because of one idiot’s actions. Meanwhile, Jacksonville was up to their old tricks again last week. Let’s see, we have Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor in the backfield, so we’re going to throw the ball 70% of the time. Yeah, that makes sense.
Pick: Jaguars

New Orleans Saints (0-1)(-3.5) vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-1)
1:00 p.m. Raymond James Stadium
Am I nervous about my Super Bowl pick? No, not yet. I just hope they don’t run into the Colts in February.
Pick: Saints

Minnesota Vikings (1-0) vs. Detroit Lions (1-0)(-3)
4:05 p.m. Ford Field
Boy, did these two teams luck out in the scheduling. Minnesota got the soulless Falcons and the Lions got the talent-less Raiders for their openers. Then the two of them get each other. Someone has to go 2-0. I’ll take the team with the better defense.
Pick: Vikings

Dallas Cowboys (1-0)(-3.5) vs. Miami Dolphins (0-1)
4:05 p.m. Dolphins Stadium
Regardless of the sorry state of the Giants defense, 45 points in an opener is noteworthy. Not noteworthy enough to get all that concerned about the Cowboys (considering their defense gave 35 points back), but enough to take notice. Let’s see how they do against a better defense before we put them on the fast track for a playoff berth.
Pick: Cowboys

Seattle Seahawks (1-0)(-3) vs. Arizona Cardinals (0-1)
4:05 p.m. University of Phoenix Stadium
As I said last week, until further notice, the NFC West still belongs to the Seattle Seahawks. Until one of the other three teams show they can play well on both sides of the ball, or just play well in general, Seattle is going to continue to run away with this division.
Pick: Seahawks

New York Jets (0-1) vs. Baltimore Ravens (0-1)(-9)
4:15 p.m. M&T Bank Stadium
Now the Ravens enter the part of their schedule that looks like this: Jets, Arizona, at Cleveland, at San Francisco, St. Louis and at Buffalo. They shouldn’t lose more than one of those games. The reason this team will go 8-8 comes after their October 28th bye week. Not to mention the fact that Steve McNair already looks tired and beat up and it’s only week 2. That means more Kyle Boller.
Pick: Ravens

Oakland Raiders (0-1) vs. Denver Broncos (1-0)(-9)
4:15 p.m. Invesco Field at Mile High
The one thing that sucks about going to Redskins games is that you can’t see the rest of the league as well as a true football fan would like. All I’ve seen from the Broncos-Bills game is the unfortunate Kevin Everett injury and Jason Elam’s game-winning field goal. What I haven’t seen is how bad Denver’s offense was. Only 15 points against the Bills without Nate Clements and London Fletcher? Really?
Pick: Broncos

Kansas City Chiefs (0-1) vs. Chicago Bears (1-0)(-13)
4:15 p.m. Soldier Field
As bad as Kansas City is, the one thing you have to ask yourself when taking the Bears and the 13 points, is can the Bears even score 13 points to cover the spread? I have my doubts.
Pick: Bears, Chiefs cover

San Diego Chargers (1-0) vs. New England Patriots (1-0)(-4)
8:15 p.m. Gillette Field
Huge props to the NFL for sticking it to the Patriots. I was sure they were going to let them off the hook since they are one of the Holy Quintet. But a first round draft pick or a second and third round draft pick? That’s excellent. I would have preferred a couple of games suspension and mandatory shower for their grungy coach, but nothing’s perfect.

The actual mechanics to how the Patriots cheated isn’t what interests me. I mean, of course they cheated. And of course they got a significant advantage by doing so. Why would anyone even attempt to do this if there wasn’t a huge benefit for cheating and getting away with it? No coach in his right mind would allow this to happen if the rewards didn’t outweigh the risks. That’s why there are rules against videotaping signals. It’s one thing for a linebacker to steal signs at the line of scrimmage. That’s just gamesmanship. But to use someone outside of the playing field to gain any type of advantage just isn’t part of the sport. I don’t like the difference in NFL games coming down to which team can find the better spy. And for an organization that’s built it’s “dynasty” around one rule (Tuck rule anyone? It was a stupid rule, but a rule nonetheless. Anyone from the greater New England area will defend that point to the death.), it’s hypocritical to think you can break a different rule and get away with it.

But that’s not what really interests me. Like Angela Bassett in Contact, what interests me is how much static was on the videotape. What interests me is how many times the Patriots have cheated. And I’m not just talking about videotaping other teams. Although they have been warned about that before. You factor this videotaping scandal into the Rodney Harrison steroid suspension, and this nonsense with Belichick threatening Brad Childress and the Vikings not to claim several of his players, and this one incident at the Meadowlands becomes a significant trend. What else don’t we know? What else has no one figured out? Because of this list of transgressions, we have no choice but to assume that for everything the Patriots have been caught doing, they have probably gotten away with at least a handful of other illegal activities. Who else is using steroids and HGH? Does Belichick send spies out to videotape other teams’ practices? Does he pay mafia agents to do it for him? Have the Patriots lied about their salary cap figures? Have they paid players under the table to make up for their pay cuts (ala Randy Moss)? You may laugh and say that this sounds like a conspiracy. However, the Patriots bending or breaking the rules is not an isolated incident. If they were in the NCAA, they’d have investigators looking at all of these possibilities. Since they’re in the NFL, they’ll be fined, stripped of a couple of draft picks, and it will be over. You seriously have to take all these incidents, and all the perceived incidents that have been covered up by the NFL (like the last two times the Pats were accused of cheating) and you have to mention them every time you start talking about this so-called “dynasty”. You have to. It’s all tainted.

Hopefully the loss of draft picks will serve as a wake up call to this organization. But if I know Belichick, this will just serve as a warning that he has to be more careful when he cheats.
Pick: Chargers.

This weekend we talk the main event: Redskins-Eagles