NFL Rundown - Week 3

This column written while listening to Battle Without Honor or Humanity on loop.

Week 2 Recap

Chris	Adam
Most Surprising Team: Houston. After their dismal start against the Jets, nothing could be more surprising than putting up 34 points on a pretty decent Tennessee defense. Matt Schaub's passer rating was more than 70 points better in their week 2 win than in their week 1 loss. 70.	Most Surprising Team: Cincinnati. I had written them off already. Losing to Denver the way they did, coupled with going to Lambeau Field in their second game makes for a terrible start to the season. The Bengals surprised me and the rest of sports nation with a good win last Sunday.
Most Disappointing Team: It's close - the Patriots were awfully flat in week 2 as well - but the Steelers losing to the Bears, who had just endured not only a phenomenally bad game from Jay Cutler but also the loss of defensive team captain Brian Urlacher, wasn't very defending-champion-like. Neither were the 2 missed field goals.	Most Disappointing Team: Kansas City. We all know they're not a great team. But any time you hold the opposing QB to under 30% passing, you should win the game. Plain and simple. Losing a game like that, and going 0-2, means Chiefs fans can't wait for the Jayhawks to tip off.
Offensive Player of the Week: Generally speaking, if you heard the words "284 yards and 3 TDs", you'd assume they were about a quarterback's great day passing the ball. But those are the combined rushing and receiving yards of Chris Johnson. Think about it. Yeah.	Offensive Player of the Week: Chris Johnson. This guy is, in a word, unstoppable. When he hits the open field, there's no catching him. 284 total yards and 3 TDs against any team in the NFL, regardless of their skill, is enough to warrant OPW honors.
Defensive Player of the Week: Antwan Odom. Damn, dude. I mean... damn. That was downright Derrick Thomas-esque. Just because it's fun to exrapolate, Odom is on pace for 56 sacks this season.	Defensive Player of the Week: Antwan Odom. 5 sacks? For one guy? In ONE game? Nearly unprecedented. He couldn't be stopped, by any player, or couple of players. One more week like this, and he's a lock for the Pro Bowl.

Top 10:

1. New York Giants (2-0) - They struggled against the Cowboys ground game, but beating a fired-up team in their brand new billion dollar stadium is nothing to scoff at, regardless of how you earn it.
2. New Orleans Saints (2-0) - Week 1 was against the league doormat, and I didn't even have the Saints in my top 10 last week. Look where they are now, after manhandling a pretty good Philadelphia defense.
3. New York Jets (2-0) - The Jets are to defense what the Saints are to offense. Only the Broncos have allowed fewer points - and the Broncos didn't have to play Tom Brady and Randy Moss.
4. Atlanta Falcons (2-0) - The Falcons don't really stand out in any particular statistical category. They're winning by forcing turnovers, keeping the ball safe, not committing penalties, and converting on third and fourth down.
5. Indianapolis Colts (2-0) - The question at hand is whether their run defense is really that bad, or whether they just couldn't handle the wildcat. I'm betting that it's more of the latter than the former.
6. Baltimore Ravens (2-0) - Another team I didn't have in my top 10 last week. That the Ravens have scored the second most points in the NFL through 2 weeks is slightly perturbing.
7. Pittsburgh Steelers (1-1) - Disappointing loss aside, they still have a strong defense, even in the absence of Troy Polamalu. If the offense can get it together at all, they'll be a good team. If they can't, they'll lose a lot of these 17-14 or 13-10 games.
8. San Francisco 49ers (2-0) - They're above the Vikings because they've at least played a legitimate, albeit injured, team in the Cardinals. Shaun Hill is vastly underrated.
9. Minnesota Vikings (2-0) - The utter lack of a passing game thus far has to be a concern - what happens when Peterson has a bad day? Big game this weekend.
10. New England Patriots (1-1) - They have to start to click at some point. Right? If they don't, they might enter their bye at 3-4, with Atlanta, Baltimore, Denver, and Tennessee over their next 4 weeks.

Week 3 Picks:

	Chris	Adam
Cleveland @ Baltimore	Baltimore	Baltimore
Tennessee @ N.Y. Jets	N.Y. Jets	Tennessee
N.Y. Giants @ Tampa Bay	N.Y. Giants	N.Y. Giants
Green Bay @ St. Louis	Green Bay	Green Bay
Washington @ Detroit	Washington	Washington
Jacksonville @ Houston	Houston	Houston
San Francisco @ Minnesota	San Francisco	San Francisco
Kansas City @ Philadelphia	Kansas City	Philadelphia
Atlanta @ New England	Atlanta	New England
New Orleans @ Buffalo	New Orleans	Buffalo
Chicago @ Seattle	Chicago	Chicago
Pittsburgh @ Cincinnati	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh
Miami @ San Diego	San Diego	Miami
Denver @ Oakland	Oakland	Denver
Indianapolis @ Arizona	Indianapolis	Indianapolis
Carolina @ Dallas	Dallas	Dallas
Week #2	10-6	11-5
Overall	23-9	21-11