Last week I began a quest that was not food related. Just for fun, not for gambling reasons or anything like that, I’m picking winners for every single NFL game this season. No real reason, it’s just something I’ve always wanted to keep track of and never have. We don’t discriminate on different football around here, so for s**ts and giggles I also decided to start picking the CFL and Canada-West games from that point on too… why not, right? The more the merrier!
Before we get into it… Shout out to the U of S Huskie football team and all of Saskatoon for putting on one heck of a show last Friday night at Griffiths Stadium. The place was packed! Also, how good has the Huskies offence looked these first two weeks?!
Tomorrow night (Friday) is Cruz Night at Griffiths Stadium when the Huskies take on Alberta. More on them in a bit when we do the Canada West picks!
(If you’re wondering about PFC/CJFL… Hilltops by 30 every game, Regina wins the rest of their games but loses to Saskatoon, the rest are coin tosses. Hilltops win the Natty, Trey Reider has that team buzzing right now. Boom, there you go)
NFL
Minnesota vs Philadelphia – Have a hunch that the Vikings are going to have a big bounce game after a sloppy week 1 performance. An angry Justin Jefferson could make him play harder and go off, fantasy wise. Kirk Cousins does have that ‘plays bad in primetime’ stink on him, but can definitely see him stepping up here. If they were playing any other team than the Eagles, I’d probably pick them to win
Pick: Eagles – Their defence looked pretty scary last week. Offence will be scary good later this season too.
Kansas City vs Jacksonville – The sexy pick here is the Jags. Slight underdog here for a team with huge expectations before the season and a loaded offence. I mean, they did look pretty good vs the Colts week 1. It’s still the Chiefs though, which means Patrick Mahomes. I can see him having a big day against their secondary.
Pick: KC – Trying not to over think this one. Jaguars are good just not good enough to beat the champs yet.
Green Bay vs Atlanta – My heart says Falcons, and will probably say Falcons for the rest of the season… because I fell in love with Bijan Robinson on this play…
He is SO filthy and I’m tempted to offer next years picks in fantasy for the guy based on this play alone! The problem is the rest of the Falcons offence. They don’t drive the ball down the field.
Pick: GB – Not a Jordan Love believer quite yet, but can’t wait to see what he does with Christian Watson back in the lineup.
Baltimore vs Cincinnati – This game should be a dandy. Division matchup, both teams hate each other, two great QB’s… Joe Burrow and the Bengals can’t start 0-2, can they?
Pick: Ravens – Yes they can. The Ravens are so scrappy and feisty this year, I love the way they play. The Bengals started last season the same way and we’re just fine. They’ll still be a playoff team. Joe will play good this game.
Seattle vs Detroit – Going back and forth on this one. Detroit didn’t look perfect last week, but it looks like they took the next step to being a really good team in the league. Seattle is still a bubble team in my eyes, and Geno Smith did not look great in the 2nd half last week.
Pick: Lions – Really want to pick the Seahawks, but I think Detroit’s defence and run game will be too much. Also, it’s hard to bet against Dan Campbell…
Chicago vs Tampa Bay – Can’t sugar coat it, the Bears look stinky. Lots of hype for Justin Fields coming in to the season. But he can’t do it all on his own. Defence looked pretty vanilla in a huge game at home vs a huge division rival too. That can’t be a good sign…
Pick: Da Bears – Perfect timing for a rebound game!!! The Bucs got kind of lucky week 1, not sold on them quite yet.
Las Vegas vs Buffalo – Speaking of bounce back/rebound games…
Pick: Bills – Josh Allen is way better than he looked on Monday night against the Jets. He’ll prove it this week. The Bills got caught up in a weird game last week, they’re still a real contender.
LA Chargers vs Tennessee – Classic Chargers against Miami, am I right! Somehow they just find ways to lose despite putting up big offensive numbers. They have a pretty good matchup this week, they’re poised for a bounce back game too!
Pick: Chargers – The Titans stink. Tannehill Time might be over there, he had some iffy throws last week. The Chargers are just the better team, no way they find a way to lose this one.
Indianapolis vs Houston – It would be a real tough start to the season for the Colts to go 0-2 against division opponents. Anthony Richardson looked like the real deal last week, but he might have to pass and run for Indy. Who is gonna play running back for this team?! The other young QB in this one, CJ Stroud, looked solid in his debut as well.
Pick: Colts – In the battle of young QB’s Richardson wins this one. Not saying he’s better, but the team around him is at this point. The Texans will be good in a few years but they will have to endure a bad one, maybe two before they get there.
New York Giants Vs Arizona – Yes, the Giants looked awful in a 40-0 blowout against the Cowboys in primetime on Sunday night… but it’s the Cardinals…
Picks: Giants – Don’t think we’ll be picking the Cards once this year.
San Francisco vs LA Rams – The Rams looked pretty decent in the season opener. Lots of people expected them to take a big step back, but they still got some fire power. San Fran looked VERY good in week 1 though. The pre-season hype is well deserved. Brock Purdy man, can’t decide if he’s a solid QB or not… but he keeps on winning and that’s all that matters! Nothing rattles him.
Picks: 49ers – The experts are picking them for the Super Bowl for a reason!
New York Jets vs Dallas – Would have been an amazing game if Aaron Rodgers were playing. How is Zach Wilson going to do against one of the best defences in the league?
Pick: Cowboys – The answer is not great. It’ll be fun to see if the Cowboys offence is for real against a legit defence this week.
Washington vs Denver – There’s always a stinker game in the afternoon block… Giants/Cards could also be considered a stinker game I guess, but these two teams just don’t excite me. Don’t like watching Russell Wilson ‘cook’ and Washington is so, so boring. Sam Howell is kind of fun I guess, but yeah… Snooze fest here.
Pick: Washington – Sean Payton makes me want to pick the Broncos, but think they lose another close on here.
Miami vs New England – The Dolphins are the opposite of the Commanders. So much fun to watch their offence when everyone is healthy. Did Tyreek Hill get faster somehow? Mike McDaniel’s play calling is always a treat too.
Pick: Dophins – The Pats time as always being that good team might be over.
New Orleans vs Carolina – The Panthers had a better showing last week than expected. Though the offence was going to be non-existent, but they moved the ball well at times. New Orleans is such a mystery team to me. They have weapons, but also they don’t have weapons at the same time… do you know what I mean? Just a weird, in-limbo team.
Picks: Saints – They’re in limbo but they will be 2-0.
Pittsburgh vs Cleveland – Its hard to ignore how bad the Steelers offence looked in week 1. To be fair, it was against a really, really good defence. San Fran is a super bowl contender. But the Browns defence is also pretty scary. Plus, Deshaun Watson is gonna get his groove back (as much as I don’t like the guy)
Pick: Browns – I have Nick Chubb in all 3 of my fantasy leagues, so I’m hoping for a big Monday night performance.
CFL
Toronto vs Montreal – Montreal needs a win badly. Cody Fajardo needs a good game to silence his doubters badly as well. If the Als could get an upset ‘W’ here, it would be a huge momentum boost heading into the home stretch of the season.
Pick: Argos – They’re the best team in the league. Chad Kelly looks to be the real deal, and if he’s a bit off they can rely on that run game.
Saskatchewan vs Edmonton – Two very different situations for both teams. Edmonton is playing loose, expectations are low, playoffs aren’t really on anyone’s horizon. Meanwhile in Riderville… expectations are high, playoffs are expected, and every game feels like a playoff game. It’ll be interesting to see how Jake Dolegala rebounds after some adveristy in his last start. The friendly confines of Mosaic Stadium will make it a lot easier on the Riders… But they also have
Pick: Riders – I mean, we are THE Rider station in town. Who else do you think we’d pick?!
Winnipeg vs Hamilton – Easy one here. Hamilton won last week, but they have no QB. That will be exposed against the Winnipeg defence.
Pick: Bombers – No upset happening here.
BC vs Ottawa – The only reason the Ti-cats won last week is because they were playing the Redblacks. It was fun watching their come from behind wins earlier this year… but yeah.
Pick: Lions – Easy Saturday picks in the CFL this week.
Canada West
Saskatchewan vs Alberta – The Huskies are the #3 ranked team in the country. Their QB Anton Amundrud looks like the real deal. The 3-headed monster at running back hasn’t shown their true brilliance yet either. Alberta has a good thing going with their program, Eli Hetlinger is a legit QB too! Going to be fun watching these two QB’s go head-to=head for the foreseeable future!
Pick: Huskies – It’s Cruz Night at the Griffiths Stadium, no way they lose! LETS GO HUSKIES!
Calgary vs Regina – The top 3 in the Canada West is probably Sask, Alberta, and UBC. The bottom 3 (Calgary, Regina, & Manitoba…who are all 0-2 right now) will be battling for that final playoff spot all year, so this is a big early game in the season. Regina’s offence has sputtered to start the season. Calgary’s hasn’t been much better though.
Pick: Rams – The Dinos aren’t what they used to be. They’ll be going through a rebuild period after a decade of being on top.
Manitoba vs UBC – Long road trip for the Bisons here. They had some bad luck to start the year with the 2nd half collapse agaisnt the Huskies and a tough loss last week to Alberta. Their offence needs to get going as well! As for UBC, Garrett Rooker is starting to look like the hyped up QB we were expecting. He’s had a great start to the season.
Pick: Thunderbirds – They can run and pass the ball pretty efficiently. If the defence can hold up they’ll move to 3-0.
BONUS PICK: Holy Cross plays St. Joes in Saskatoon high school football action on Friday. This rivalry goes back decades, the two teams do not like each other. Should be an awesome crowd at SMF Field for this one! I’m taking the Guardians in the city final rematch. Tyrell Mohr is a stud at receiver (remember the name, he’s going to be amazing in a few years) and QB Carter Casey is ready for a big year.
