It's That Time of the Year Again

It's that season, when the Simpsons picks up its new season, and men alternately leap or weep like 2-year-olds who discovered the sugar jar.

That's right, kids, it's football season again!

And to kick things off, one quick note: I have, by my ownself, initiated a skins program for the NFL picks thing that Chris and Lucas and I do. The way it works is that whoever gets the most picks right in a week wins a skin. If there's a tie, there's no skins. And the skins winner gets bragging rights that may or may not also go to the overall pick winner. You'll see the running score to the right, right under the running picks score.

Anyway, here's the rest of this week's picks.

And honestly, who the hell picked Pittsburgh to win on Thursday? First upset of the season, in the first game.

Baltimore at Tampa Bay: Steve McNair or no, it's still Baltimore. Picking them to win seems somehow...dirty. TB
New Orleans at Cleveland: First game with Reggie and Deuce, first game with Drew Brees - a lot of firsts, along with first win of the season for the Saints. NO
Atlanta at Carolina: I am finally willing to admit it - Mike Vick is pretty overrated. And he's not smart enough to know how to get the team to pick him up when he faces a challenge. CAR
Seattle at Detroit: Can Jon Kitna save the Lions? Maybe, but certainly not from the Seahawks. SEA
Philadelphia at Houston: OK, bear with me here. I think Houston will win, and I'll give you three reasons why: No Dom Capers. HOU
New York Jets at Tennessee: It's a matchup of AFC woulda coulda shouldas. The most interesting subplot is whether Jeff Fisher will have selected a starting quarterback by the second quarter. TEN
Cincinnati at Kansas City: Tough call. I think the difference for the Bengals will be that Herm Edwards is coaching the Chiefs. CIN
Denver at St. Louis: I'm tortured by this one too. I think that the Rams could have a shot at winning, and I'm picking them, but they won't beat the spread, that's for sure. STL
Buffalo at New England: Why is it that I keep picking winners based on who's on the other team? J.P. Losman's inexperience will ensure that this is a rebuilding year for the Bills. Again. For the fifth straight year. NE
Dallas at Jacksonville: Jimmy Smith has retired, which makes the Jags a little less dangerous, but I still think they've got a good outside shot at winning the AFC South this year. JAX
Chicago at Green Bay: Brett Favre says that he has the most talented (if inexperienced) team he's ever had. I have a hard time believing a guy who's taken as many knocks as he has, but I just can't buy into all the Rex Grossman hype. GB
San Francisco at Arizona: Losing Kevan Barlow automatically makes the 49ers a better team. But still not good enough to beat the Cardinals on their new rolling field (honestly, how cool is that?). ARI
Indianapolis at New York Giants: Sunday game of the week, and the first time two brothers have ever faced each other on the field as starting quarterbacks. I think the Colts are going to miss Edgerrin James more than they thought they would. NYG
Minnesota at Washington: The Redskins have been pretty inept over the preseason. I mean Laurel and Hardy inept. It's like the President asked FEMA to run an offense. MIN
San Diego at Oakland: You don't have to be Drew Brees to pass to Antonio Gates and hand off to LaDanian Tomlinson. You probably don't even have to be alive. Unless you're Aaron Brooks, at which point even YOU couldn't win with those guys. Heaven knows he won't be winning much with Randy Moss. SD