In this world, they say there are only two things you can count on… Death and Taxes. However, I think the start of the NFL season is quickly joining them both in my book. 
I so look forward to that first day of remote control in hand switching between games and the taste of pizza and beer as I bite my nails over every possible scenario that will allow me to win every fantasy league game, pick against the spread or survivor league.
As I look at this year’s schedule, parity stands out as a giant hurdle each week. I can not recall a season starting out with so many potential dangers and traps. If you are in a true survivor league (only pick a team once in a season) then this may just be the hardest season ever. I suspect many of those leagues will be crowning winners by week 7 or 8 this year. If you are in a league that just doesn’t let you pick for or against a team in consecutive weeks, it doesn’t get much easier right out the gate. I play in the latter but I truly envy anyone playing in the former.
This year I plan to give you my picks based on my league and let you know who I’ve used in the past week. I’ll also tell you who I considered and those that I think are traps. This week there seems to be 5 safe bets out there… NE over KC, PIT over HOU IND over CHI, PHI over STL and SD over CAR. All are 7 point favorites or greater and all teams are playing at home. Since I was burned by HOU on the road in MIA many years ago (ok maybe it was just 2003) I vowed to never pick against them on the road. PHI is my favorite team and I know they are capable of laying an egg against anyone not named DET. SD has too many question marks on their team to be confident in week 1. And IND has the big Manning question looming so I went with New England as my choice this week. It’s better to survive week 1 then to die trying to plan out to week 8. I’ll worry about week 2 in week 2!
Good luck!
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