Derek and I Duke it Out Through Football

In the spirit of competittion, and so that one of us will have something to lord over the other, Derek and I have decided to pick the winners of 5 NFL games each week. At the end of the season, the loser has to wear paraphrenalia of the winners choice on an episode of our show.

I'm really looking forward to seeing Derek in an Elway jersey.

Anyhow, here's this week's picks. BTW, this is getting posted after the games start, but the picks were made in advance.

Games: Chicago at Carolina, New England at New York (Jets), San Diego at Denver, Miami at Arizona, Philidelphia at Dallas.

Derek's Picks

Chicago at Carolina
Carolina. Home team with a D that can easily shut down Chicago. The question is the Panthers O versus the Bears D. I think the Panthers have enough young talent that will come through. 17-13.

New England at New York (Jets)
New England. Sure the Pats lost one of the best offensive players in the league, but that team won 18 games last year and you don’t do that just because of your QB. The Jets could barley score on a bad Miami team the Pats will hold them out of the end zone all day. 17-6

San Diego at Denver
Sand Diego. Even with Denver’s impressive win against Oakland last week I’ll stick with the Chargers. They have the running game and now an entire off season with Rivers and Chambers to get the deep threat going. 24-14

Miami at Arizona
Arizona. Miami is just too young to go on the road and win a game against a decent team. They will make too many mistakes and be flagged to many times. Arizona will be able to throw all over them. 31-13

Philadelphia at Dallas
Philadelphia. This game will be the game of the week. You will see great plays on both sides of the ball from both teams. But Andy Reid is much better than Wade Phillips, and he will make the half time adjustments to keep Dallas to one score in the second half. 27-24

Loren's Picks

Chicago at Carolina
Carolina. The Panthers have a decent offense and Delhomme looks more comfortable than we've seen him since the Super Bowl run. The Bears were surprising against the Colts but, come on, we're talking about an Ortman/Grossman led team! They can't keep it up and the Panthers D is better than people think. 24-10

Pats at Jets
Pats. The Patriots are still the team to beat until someone proves otherwise. They have a physical (if old) defense and they still have great skill on the O line and at receiver. Even if Cassel isn't terrific, his receivers are good enough to bail him out if necessary. 28-17

San Diego at Denver
Broncos. Believe me, this isn't just a homer pick. They're playing in Denver which is always trouble for sea-level teams. The Chargers didn't look sharp last week, while the Broncos did, and Denver will be getting back their greatest offensive threat not named Cutler. If this game were being played in San Diego I might not be able to see Denver taking this one. Good thing it's not. 27-17

Miami at Arizona
Miami. Here's the thing. I'm just taking Miami so that I can say to Derek, "Dude, I won with your team!" I'm not sure if Miami can pull this one out, but I don't think they'll go winless this year, so they have to win some time, and Arizona is as good a chance as any. If the Dolphins can keep Brown and Ricky Williams fresh by interchanging them, they may be able to punch it in late in the game. 16-14

Philly at Dallas
Dallas. My heart is with Philly, but my head is with Dallas, mostly because they are playing in Dallas. Screw defense, I'm hoping, and predicting, that this will be an offensive explosion. Dallas in a barn-burner. 38-31