Week three of the NFL season officially kicked off on Thursday night, with Christian McCaffery and the San Francisco 49ers topping the visiting New York Giants, 30-12.
It resumes today, with a passel (apparently I’ve been watching “The Beverly Hillbillies, or something, don’t know where ‘passel’ came from) of great games all the way through the two games Monday night.
On tap today (all of these times are Central Standard Time):
Tennessee at Cleveland, noon, CBS
Atlanta at Detroit, noon, FOX
New Orleans at Green Bay, noon, FOX
Denver at Miami, noon, CBS
L.A. Chargers at Minnesota, noon, FOX
New England at New York Jets, noon, CBS
Buffalo at Washington, noon, CBS
Houston at Jacksonville, noon, FOX
Indianapolis at Baltimore, noon, CBS
Carolina at Seattle, 3:05 p.m., CBS
Chicago at Kansas City, 3:25 p.m., CBS
Dallas at Arizona, 3:25 p.m., FOX
Pittsburgh at Las Vegas, 7:20 p.m., NBC
Monday’s games
Philadelphia at Tampa Bay, 6:15 p.m., ABC
L.A. Rams at Cincinnati, 7:15 p.m., ESPN
Staff picks
Seven members of our staff, plus Mitch Lucas’s daughter Ashtyn (don’t laugh: she’s a college student and she’s kicking butt right now in both the NFL and college picks), have attempted to pick the outcomes of every single NFL game on the schedule. That would be our founder, the big Kahuna, the man himself, Mitch Lucas; his lovely wife, Jenna Hagler Lucas; assistant editor Clayton “Fletch” Fletcher; Mitch’s son and videographer Jacob Lucas; photographer Alex Nabor; correspondents Mitchell Molandes and his wife Shelby Thompson Molandes; and, as mentioned, Ashtyn Lucas.
Now, everyone picked the outcome of San Francisco-New York correctly. But that’s a part of this week’s picks.
Going into this week, Mitch wasn’t looking so good. He had an off-week on that first week and is 16-16. He assures me he’s bouncing back. Jenna leads the pack with a 24-8 record, going into today. Ashtyn is 21-11. Fletch is 20-12. Jacob, Alex, Shelby and Mitchell are each 16-16, along with Mitch.
Here we go.
Tennessee at Cleveland: Three of them picked Cleveland (Jenna, Alex and Mitchell), and everyone else took Tennessee, so a 5-3 pick in favor of the Titans.
Atlanta at Detroit: Another 5-3 pick, with Mitch, Jenna and Ashtyn – the Lucas’ – taking Atlanta, and everyone else on Detroit.
New Orleans at Green Bay: You guessed it, 5-3 again: Jacob, Alex and Ashtyn, the three youngsters, picked Green Bay. Everyone else took the Saints.
Denver at Miami: Fletch was the odd man out and took Denver. Everyone else was sober, and took the Dolphins (just kidding, Fletch, please don’t do anything to me while I’m sleeping).
L.A. Chargers at Minnesota: Well, 5-3 is a popular number today. Jenna, Mitchell and Shelby took the Vikings, and no one else believed the Chargers would fall to 0-3, and took them.
New England at the New York Jets: Hey, 6-2! Jacob and Alex took the Patriots. And everyone else took the Jets. Not sure what the thinking is there, but, hey, ok. I’m not picking.
Buffalo at Washington: Clayton, Jacob, Mitchell, Shelby and Ashtyn each took Buffalo – so, 5-3 again.
Houston at Jacksonville: Unanimous (finally), 8-0 Jags.
Indianapolis at Baltimore: Same thing: unanimous pick in favor of the Ravens.
Carolina at Seattle: Well, Alex kept it from being unanimous and took the Panthers. 7-1 is the pick, in favor of Seattle.
Chicago at Kansas City: Unanimous, in favor ot the Bears! HA, just messing with you. But it is unanimous, in favor of the Chiefs.
Dallas at Arizona: Not a single soul picked Arizona. Unanimous for Dallas.
Pittsburgh at Las Vegas: Mitchell and Ashtyn took the Steelers on the road; everyone else said, gimme the Raiders. 6-2 is the pick.
Philadelphia at Tampa Bay: Jenna and Mitchell took Baker Mayfield and company to upset the Eagles. Everyone else picked Philly, so a 6-2 pick.
L.A. Rams at Cincinnati: Jenna took the Rams. Everyone else said Cincinnati. The joke may be on them if Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is out. MM-hmm.
