It has been a great first weekend of NFL action and it continues tonight when the Minnesota Vikings visit Green Bay to play the Packers without Brett Favre.  Let me get right into it, the Green Bay Packers are going to be fine.  This was a good team last year WITH Brett Favre, but not BECAUSE of Brett Favre.  They are still a good team, and whatever trait of Favre’s that Aaron Rodgers doesn’t have, Rodgers more than makes up for with all of his other skills.

I know, I know, you aren’t sure what Aaron Rodger’s skills are.  We only saw him play once last year, and he came in and nearly won the game for the Packers in Dallas going 18/26, 201 yards and 1 touchdown; he then had 17 yards passing the rest of the year.  What we do know about Aaron Rodgers is that he was excellent in college at Cal and his skills have not diminished.  He is healthy, and he has had 3 full seasons to learn about his team and to train under Brett Favre.  Don’t worry about the Packers this year, they will be fine.  Green Bay won both games last year, winning 23-16 in Minneapolis, and 34-0 at home.  These teams haven’t changed that much, and remember it was the Vikings that were dying for a Quarterback in the off-season.  Did they ever get one?  I am taking the Packers -2 for 3-stars and the Over 37 for 1-star.

All week long I just believed I would take the Broncos tonight.  Betting against the Raiders has been such a staple in the lives of so many people that it really does feel unnatural to instinctively take the Raiders.  But then I sat down and did a little homework.  Last year these two teams split their regular season games, each winning at home.  Denver need an Overtime Field Goal to win 23-20; while the Raiders almost gave away a big lead before finally winning 34-20.  In both games, the running of the Raiders was the most consistent.  Add to that Darren McFadden, JeMarcus Russel, and Dominic Rhodes and there is no reason to think the Raiders running game won’t still control the game.  Yes Denver did make some upgrades to their defense but I am more comfortable with the more proven, in this case its the Raiders and their ground game.  I am taking the Raiders +3 for 2-stars and the Under 40.5 for 1-star.

Who the hell is Dean Browski?!