Week 3 of the NFL season is time for the good teams to shake off a bit of rust and show themselves. Conversely it's time for the crap teams to confirm our suspicions and head straight for the Andrew Luck sweepstakes. In the middle the remains a few teams, like Arizona and Atlanta, who could easily head in one direction of another based on what goes down over the weekend.
Of course, the Vegas odds makers know all this as well so they adjust the lines to make our task even harder. But we can't be stopped, so here's our picks against the spread for Week 3 of the 2011 NFL season. We already made our home town pick and picks for the Sunday morning games (including a few locks). Here's our expert picks for the rest of the slate.
New York Jets at Oakland Raiders (+3.5): The Jets destroyed the Jaguars and the Raiders blew a 17-0 led last week so of course Vegas sets the line at just over a field goal. All this tells us is that too many degenerates from Raiders Nation are spending their mortgage money at the betting window. Pick: Jets
Kansas City Chiefs at San Diego Chargers (-15): The Chiefs are the new Lions. Will they win any games this year will all those injury problems on top of an already iffy team? Will Todd Haley have a job by October? Will Norv Turner find a way to blow another sure thing? Not this time. Pick: Chargers
Baltimore Ravers at St. Louis Rams (+4): Poor Rams, they were supposed to be the NFC West's new champions but instead they've suffered some tough injury blows and are dealing with a difficult schedule. Life sucks when you're the darling. On the other hand, the Ravens bouncing back from a Titan defeat is as certain as death and NFL fines: Pick: Ravens
Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears (+4): Good game for our Midwest friends. The only thing missing will be blowing snow. We get giving the Bears a couple of extra points at home, but Aaron Rodgers is in another class and Jay Cutler is always just one snap away from the end of his season: Pick Packers
Atlanta Falcons at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-1): Josh Freeman a one-point favorite at home over the high flying Falcons. At some point Atlanta is going to get on the same page and start blowing teams away. It won't be this week. Pick: Buccaneers
Pittsburgh Steelers at Indianapolis Colts (+11): The Steelers covered a 15-point spread last week against the Seahawks when we picked against them. Not this time. Pick: Steelers
Washington Redskins at Dallas Cowboys (n/a): The line on this Monday night game hasn't been set yet although the latest news seems to imply that Tony Romo's ribs will be padded and playing. Pick: N/a