Fantasy Sports Nation: Week 1 NFL Picks ~ 2012

2012 NFL Picks: 0-0-0

2012 NFL Picks (YTD regular season 'unit picks' aggregate differential): (+0)

2012 NFL Picks (YTD regular season 'exotics' differential): (+0)

2012 NFL Picks (week 1): 0-0-0

*all picks 'ATS' (against the spread)

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PREVIEW: Welcome to Fantasy Sports Nation 2012 NFL Picks... Frankly ~ I'm still shaking some cobwebs off because I haven't made a post since the Kentucky Derby, BLOGGER Layout has changed, & the NFL refs are on strike... Let's call WEEK 1 a 'LITE' version... SERIOUSLY ~ the multibillion dollar NFL needs to get rid of the pompous self serving asshole named Roger Goodell, take care of the refs, take care of it's fan base, re-instate the Saints players (which 'a court' did today), & get on with things... I'll be happy when Roger Goodell is washing dishes...

RIP ~ 'Art Modell'

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WEEK 1 NFL PICKS

THURSDAY GAMES

Dallas Cowboys at New York Football Giants

Line: Giants by 4

If I told you I had the Cowboys here you wouldn't believe me... Better to do the post mortem... It was unusual for the visitors to beat the defending SuperBowl champs on their home field in Week 1 (hasn't happened since 1999 ~ you know, when the NASDAQ was 5,000 & Clinton was POTUS)...

Think about it...

NOBODY for (0 units)...

Cowboys 24 - Giants 17 - no play

SUNDAY EARLY GAMES

Indianapolis Colts at Chicago Bears

Line: Bears by 9.5

MiamiIf you looked a my PRESEASON NFL PICKS page, you'll know that I've picked the Chicago Bears to secretly slide into the #5 seed spot for the NFC by the end of the season... You're not going to do that by losing to the rebuilding Indy Colts if you lose a game (so already you know where I'm going with this pick)...

Actually, I think the Colts will be a lot better than last year... They have a new head coach (Chuck Pagano), which is the 3rd in a long succession of former Baltimore Ravens defensve coordinators who went on to NFL Head Coaching jobs (Marvin Lewis & Rex Ryan before)... Still ~ the Indy team was s fundamentally different (personnel wise) from what Pagano will mold into a team, I wouldn't expect immedate results (despite Andrew Luck)...

The Bears (& Jay Cutler) have a kooky precedence of doing well in week 1 so I'd be willing to lay what is (to me) a hefty line here...

BEARS for (1 unit)...

Philadelphia Eagles at Cleveland Browns

Line: Eagles by 9

Fuck the city of Cleveland...

This week... NFL 'LEGEND' Art Modell died... There is only one population of people on the planet who disliked (in fact HATED) Art Modell... Art was responsible for a great deal of why the NFL is the #1 sport now... Athletes (& their huge salaries), television networks (especially ABC/ESPN/Disney) owe A LOT to Art Modell (who almost singlehandedly put Monday Night Football on the map)... Fantasy Football enthusiasts... The list goes on... RIP Art Modell...

Now ~ I've heard that the Browns (under new ownership ~ a 'Steelers' fan) are going to have a commemoration ceremony for Art Modell before this game... I hope nobodys arm got twisted too hard on tht one... Cleveland sucks dick... They FORCED Art Modell to move the team by not giving him the stadium deal that would have been needed to keep him from outright selling the team... So he packed his bags and moved to Baltimore (who welcomed him with open arms after 'Irsay' skipped town on them & moved to Indy in the middle of the night)...

Cleveland can wonder why they aways lose 'gems' like LeBron James (who is sitting happily now with his NBA trophy), & Modell (who won a Championship with the Ravens 5 years after moving)...

I'm picking Philly to win the NFC & Baltimore to win the AFC & meet in this years SUPERBOWL... Cleveland can kiss my ass & lick their wounds & worry about why gods of metal like JUDAS PRIEST still aren't in the rock & roll hall of fame...

EAGLES for (1 unit)... (check 'exotics' at end of thread)

Buffalo Bills at New York Jets

Line: Jets by 3

This line has slid from Jets (-4.5) to Jets (-3)... So I suppose the bookmakers are still in the preseason... Bettors aren't THAT stupid... Both teams went winless in the pre-season, but with the Bills having much less in the way of issues to resolve (QB ~ cough cough)... I'll take the points here...

BILLS here for (3 units)...

Washington Redskins at New Orleans Saints

Line: Saints by 7.5

I was actually going to go with the Redskins here, but today it was announced that the suspended Saints players (from the bounty scandal) were re-instated through an arbitration hearing... Obviously, they're not suiting up fo this game, but it represents a huge morale boost for the team...

RG3 might end up to be an awesome player in the NFL, but to expect a rookie QB in the NFL to go into the Superdome in week 1 & pull out a miracle... Umm ~ I doubt it... Of curse, Cam Newton's week 1 performance vs. Arizona last year made that theory suspect... Still ~ I'll side with history before anomaly anyday...

SAINTS here for (0 units)... (check 'exotics' at end of thread)

New England Patriots at Tennessee Titans

Line: Patriots by 5.5

The Public is on New England to the tune of 86%, yet the line has moved from 6.5 to 5.5... That's about all I need to know...

Super Bowl LOSERS actually have a horrible record of covering pointspreads in week 1 & from what I saw in the pre-season, Tom Brady's offensive line isn't blocking very well...

TITANS for (4 units)...

Jacksonville Jaguars at Minnesota Vikings

Line: Vikings by 3.5

Does anybody really even care?

VIKINGS for (0 units)...

Miami Dolphins at Houston Texans

Line: Texans by 12

It's too early in the season for the Texans to start choking... Here's #3 (out of 5) rookie QB's to be starting in week 1... & this one is on the road as well... Good Luck!...

Fantasy Alert... Arian Foster owners may need to start handcuff Ben Tate here...

TEXANS for (1 unit)...

St. Louis Rams at Detroit Lions

Line: Lions by 8.5

On paper this would appear to be a blowout (he said 'ON PAPER')... WTF? the line has moved from -9 to -7.5...

It probably means that the MADDEN CURSE is in full effect and that Megatron will go down on the first play with a busted hammy that will turn into a PICK 6 fr the Rams & give them a backdoor cover in the end...

How do I know?... I just write this shit...

RAMS for (0 units)...

Atlanta Falcons at Kansas City Chiefs

Line: Falcons by 2.5

The bookmakers always try to give you at least one 'trap' game a week... VOILA... Here it is...

We're in to 4 years with 'Matty Ice' & peeps still haven't figured out yet that the dirty birds are a different animal OUTSIDE the Georgia Dome than they are inside... Not to mention that they've lost their last two road openers ON THE ROAD...

I'm not bucking history until the trend changes...

CHIEFS for (4 units)... (check 'exotics' at end of thread)

LATE GAMES

San Francisco 49ers at Green Bay Packers

Line: Packers by 5

This will probably draw the most 'betting' attention, but the game doesn't mean that much to me...

I don't want to call the 49ers 'overrated'... But their overall record last year was better (& luckier) than the team was good... I expect them to make a minor regression this year... OTOH ~ I expect the Packers to be as dominant as they were last year (with the exception of the playoff loss)... Though ~ I don't expect them to get to 15-1...

Let's just say here that BOTH teams may struggle a little & the game might not turn out to be as epic as some may predict...

49ERS for (0 units)...

Carolina Panthers at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Line: Panthers by 2.5

If you read my PRESEASON PICKS... I went out on a limb & predicted the Carolina Panthers to win the NFC South this year...

Naturally, if it's gonna happen, they can't afford to be dropping games to a team whose head coach was at Rutgers last year...

Cam Newton scored 8 touchdowns against this team last year & I don't think the aquisition of Mark Barron is enough to slow that down in week 1...

PANTHERS for (3 units)...

Seattle Seahawks at Arizona Cardinals

Line: Seahawks by 3

So you're going to tell me that the Seahaks would be favored by 6 points on a neutral field & 9 points in Seattle?... I know the Cardinals are having some QB issues at the moment, but they did beat the 49ers in this stadium just last year...

CARDINALS for (0 units)...

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

Pittsburgh Steelers at Denver Broncos

Line: Broncos by 2

I'm not buying into Peyton Manning just yet... The Steelers have a score to settle as this is the field that sent them packing last winter in the playoffs... It would kind of be ironic to see IF Peyton can engineer a final drive to defeat the Steelers... Tim Tebow has already proved he can do it...

STEELERS for (1 unit)...

MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL