Mike T's Week 2 NFL Picks: Two Totals and a Dog

by Mike T.

It was a pretty rough start for me in week 1 going 0-3. The Bengals only decided to show up for the 2nd half, the Colts gave up 257 yards on the ground and the 49ers failed to score any touchdowns in the redzone on their first 3 possessions.

I'd like to get back to just taking dogs and their is one that I like but their are two totals I just can't stay away from.

Bears @ Cowboys over 40.5

This number seems a little low to me. With all the offense that both of these teams had in week one it was surprising that they didn't score more. Romo has two of his starting offensive linemen returning which should give him more time to throw as well as opening up the run game. Jay Cutler threw for 372 yards and the Bears ran for over 100 yards while only putting up 19 points. I expect to see these two offenses to get in the endzone a lot more than they did last week.
Cowboys 28 Bears 21

Texans @ Redskins under 43.5
The Texans were able to run the ball for over 250 yards against the Colts last week. That will not be the case when they play the Redskins on Sunday. The Texans will face a front seven that is much better against the run and will have a much tougher time gaining ground yards. The Redskins offense looked as slow and boring as they did the last few years when they had Campbell. Kind of makes me wonder why they traded for McNabb. I do believe that both teams will still try to establish the run early with little success. I could see this game starting out with a scoreless first quarter and remaining low scoring throughout.
Texans 17 Redskins 16

Giants +5.5 @ Colts

Sunday night the Manning brothers will face off for only the second time in their careers. All the talking heads in the newspapers and on TV have been saying that there is NO WAY the Colts go 0-2. I believe they can and will. The Colts gave up over 250 yards on the ground last week and now have to go up against a solid veteran offensive line paving the way for Bradshaw and Jacobs. If the Colts plan is to stack the box to try to slow down the run Eli will have one on one matchups with his young talented receivers.

Peyton did throw for over 400 yards last week but will now face a much better and deeper Giants secondary. Peyton was also sacked twice and hit ten times last week and now will have to deal with Tuck, Kiwanuka,Osi and the rest of a deep and healthy defensive line. I expect Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell to have an agressive game plan by abusing an already banged up Colts offensive line while trying to create turnovers in the secondary.
Giants 31 Colts 21