Week 1 Predictions
The Bills of a year ago was a lousy 2-6 on the road, while the Bears were 5-3 at home. This is a tough first game for a Bills offense that doesn’t seem to have found any kind of rhythm in pre-season.
Bears have their eyes on winning the NFCN this year, and they might just do it. This time of year, when the Bears OL is still intact, it is not easy to stop Cutler, Forte and Marshall. Bills defense will need to be a force and keep this score very low.
I think the Bills will do all they can to stop Forte, but will get killed in the air. This Sunday we will learn why Byrd was such a valuable piece to this team.
Historically speaking, the Bears are incredibly successful on opening day, with an all-time record of 51-35-5 overall
Bears win this one easily: Bears 32 – Bills 17
The Gods were favorable to the Jets this season with game one. This Raiders team is not ready to win on the road in the east Coast. Raiders starting rookie Derek Carr, and Rex has killed rookie QBs (see chart below)
| Quarterback | Season | QBR vs. Jets |
| Josh Freeman | 2009 | 1.3 |
| Colt McCoy | 2010 | 42.0 |
| Ryan Tannehill | 2012 | 42.9 |
| Andrew Luck | 2012 | 35.6 |
| Russell Wilson | 2012 | 52.2 |
| Ryan Lindley | 2012 | 3.1 |
| EJ Manuel | 2013 | 30.3 |
| EJ Manuel | 2013 | 76.2 |
| Matt McGloin | 2013 | 54.2 |
Expect the Jets Defense to put pressure on young Carr early and often. Defensively the Raiders are no better, and Geno should have a field day. Jets will put all their new weapons on display in what amounts to be game 5 of the pre-season.
In 2013 Raiders were 1-7 on the road and Jets 6-2 at home. Raiders have lost their last 13 trips to the East Coast.
Jets win big: Jets 35 – Raiders 10
The marquee divisional game of the week; it should be a good game to watch. Dolphins come into this one with some questions that they would like answered. For starters, is this OL ready to protect Tannehill. Is Ryan going to make the big step forward in year 3? Does the running game have life with Moreno?
The Pats on the other hand need to see where they are defensively with the addition of Revis’ Island. The defense should be vastly improved over a year ago.
Offensively the Patriots lost their spark plug RB and traded their best run blocker. With Brady getting a bit older, a running game is a must. Is Gronk healthy? Can the young WRs step up? This game will give us all some answers.
A year ago the Patriots were a pedestrian 4-4 on the road, and Miami a lousy 4-4 at home, clearly no advantage.
I think that the Dolphins will come out fired up and take a quick lead, but the Patriots will slowly come back and make this game theirs. It will be low scoring and close. I expect the Patriots scoring machine to dwindle some more this year, and the Dolphins OL will not be able to protect Tanney enough o have huge scoring numbers.
Patriots win; Patriots 21 – Dolphins 20
Weekly Rankings
The Elite 4
Seattle, Denver, New England, San Francisco
In The Playoffs (8)
Indianapolis, Green Bay, New Orleans, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Carolina, Chicago, Philadelphia
Contending (8)
San Diego, Detroit, New York Jets, Miami, Arizona, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Atlanta
In The Hunt (6)
New York Giants, Tampa Bay, Dallas, Houston, Buffalo, Washington
Battling For Draft Position (6)
Cleveland, Oakland, St. Louis, Minnesota, Jacksonville, Tennessee
Each week I will move teams up or down, according to performances.
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